INTRO.- ILL.- One bright, beautiful Sunday morning, everyone in the tiny town of Johnstown got up early and went to the local church.
Before the services started, the townspeople were sitting in their pews and talking about their lives, their families, etc.
Suddenly, the Devil himself appeared at the front of the congregation. Everyone started screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from evil incarnate.
Soon everyone was evacuated from the Church, except for one gentleman who sat calmly in his pew, not moving, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God’s ultimate enemy was in his presence. Now this confused Satan a bit, so he walked up to the man and said, "Don’t you know who I am?"
The man replied, "Yep, sure do."
Satan asked, "Aren’t you afraid of me?"
"Nope, sure ain’t," said the man.
Satan was a little perturbed at this and asked, "Why aren’t you afraid of me?"
The man calmly replied, "Been married to your sister for over 30 years."
Brothers and sisters, regardless of whether or not you think you’ve been married to the devil’s sister or even the devil’s brother, you’d better fear Satan! Satan is a deceiver and a destroyer! He’s something of a lunatic and definitely a liar!
If you are led by God’s Spirit then you WILL be tempted by the devil. Now, what if you are not being tempted by the devil? That’s probably when you need to worry.
ILL.- A Christian slave in America was overheard by his master. The black man was groaning, weeping and praying to the Lord for deliverance from the devil. His master said, “You seem to have a good deal of trouble with the devil and he never bothers me at all. And yet you are a good, praying Christian and I am not a Christian. Why doesn’t he bother me?”
The black man replied, “Master, I will explain this. When you are out shooting ducks, which do you send the dog after first, the ones that fall dead or the ones that wounded and are trying to get away?”
The man replied, “Well, of course, I send the dog after the wounded ones. The dead ones we are sure of and can pick them up later.”
The black man said, “And so it is with Satan. He already has those who are not born again, fast and sure. But those that know the Lord are the ones that he sets his dogs after. He knows he can pick up the others later.”
If someone doesn’t know the Lord then, in a sense, Satan already has them in his grasp and he doesn’t have to work too hard to keep them there. But Satan wants to deceive everybody and if someone is already a Christian then he has to work very hard to trip them up! And he may work harder on them than others.
In our text, Jesus had an encounter with Satan, a face-to-face encounter with Satan. And I’m not sure that anybody in their right mind would want to face up to Satan in any kind of contest.
I’ve seen a few people in life that I considered to be in league with Satan or on the same league, but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone I considered to be Satan or as evil as him. Nevertheless, we all need a healthy respect for him because he is a deceiver and a destroyer of souls.
PROP.- From the Lord’s face-to-face encounter with Satan, let’s consider some thoughts about temptation in this life.
1- Satan always makes us question our faith
2- Satan always has a comeback temptation
I. SATAN ALWAYS MAKES US QUESTION OUR FAITH
Matt. 4:3 “The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Satan questioned Jesus. IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD.
ILL.- Some time after the conversion of Augustine, he came face to face with the woman who had been his evil genius for many months, having dragged him deeper and deeper into the slavishness of sin until he had been freed from its bonds by the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he passed her with only a formal nod, she stopped him and said, “Augustine, do you not know me any more? See, it is I.”
Looking at her a moment, and knowing that she no longer held him in her evil spell, Augustine replied, “Yes, but it is not I.”
Augustine knew himself. He knew who he was just as Jesus did. He was no longer the “old” Augustine. He was the new Augustine who was in Christ. He was new a person in Christ.
Sometimes we get into trouble simply because we forget who we are and whose we are! I’ve done it and you’ve done it.
ILL.- The disappearance of Natalee Holloway from Aruba nearly a year ago (May 30, 2005) is still getting a lot of press. Of course, her disappearance is no more important than any child’s disappearance and there are tons of them that disappear every year, never to be seen again. Very sad.
The thing I want us to think about, however, is what contributed to her disappearance. Where was she and what was she doing? Was she doing something that could have led to her disappearance? Very possibly.
Holloway and 124 fellow graduates of Mountain Brook High School were visiting Aruba on a five-day unofficial senior class graduation trip. Natalee was seen leaving a popular tourist-oriented bar and grill. Could that have had something to do with it? Very possibly.
When we forget who we are and whose we are, we sometimes end up in places we shouldn’t be.
ILL.- The ten-year-old boy was walking with his parents down Elm Street in a certain town. Spying a movie theater, the boy ran off. His frantic mother found him some 30 minutes later inside that theater. Outside she said to him, “Whatever possessed you to go in that theater? You know that our preacher teaches that it’s wrong to go to the movies?”
“Mama,” he said, “I just couldn’t help myself. I smelled that popcorn, and it smelled just so good that I had to go in there and buy some. And then the floor of that movie house was so slick and that I just slid right inside.”
Obviously, there are worse places to go to than movie theaters. But when we forget who we are and whose we are, we sometimes end up in the devil’s territory. Of course, the devil is always trying to convince us, “It’s alright because everybody else is doing it too.”
However, when we were youngsters our parents often told us differently. “Just because everybody else is doing it, it doesn’t mean you’re going to do and it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.” The devil, however, is a slick salesman.
The devil makes us question ourselves and our faith.
ILL.- A young Bible college student was witnessing in a suburb of Atlanta. As he approached one house, there was an elderly gentleman sitting on the porch. He said, “Are you a Christian?” The old man said, “No, I’m a Smith. The Christians lives two doors down.” “You don’t understand. I mean, are you lost?” The old man said, “No, sonny, I ain’t lost. I’ve lived here for 25 years.” “But are you ready for the Judgment Day?” The old man said, “When’s it going to be?” The young man said, “Well, it could be today or it could be tomorrow.” The old man replied, “WELL, PLEASE DON’T TELL MY WIFE, BECAUSE SHE’LL WANT TO GO BOTH DAYS.”
Many people are terribly confused about Christianity. They don’t know if they’re a Christian or not. They’re really not sure about many things, including the next life.
Why are some people not sure? Because Satan makes us question our faith. He’s a con artist. With everything that’s happening in the world we begin to question whether or not there really is a God and Christ is the Savior. And then we begin to even wonder if there’s a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned.
Brothers and sisters, don’t let Satan con you! Be sure. And be assured!
Be like Paul who said, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” (II Tim. 1:12).
How can we be sure of our Christian faith? Rom. 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
The more we worship, the more we study, the more we pray, the more we’ll know for sure. Don’t doubt. Be assured of who you are and whose you are and this will make a big difference in overcoming temptation to sin.
II. SATAN ALWAYS HAS A COMEBACK TEMPTATION
Satan tried to knock out Jesus with three different punches, so to speak: an uppercut, a left hook and an overhand right. Satan tempted Jesus first with hunger. “Command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Second, he tempted him with pride, “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down. The angels will take care of you.” Third, he tempted Jesus with lust, “If you fall down and worship me I will give you all these kingdoms of the world.” But none of these temptations worked on Jesus.
Satan tempted Jesus with three different temptations. You may get beyond some things, but eventually, it seems that Satan will come back and throw another curve ball at you. If He can’t get to you one way, he’ll try another way.
ILL.- Little Alexander was trying to save all the pennies he could in order to buy a baseball bat. But he had a hard struggle. One night when he was saying his prayers, his mother heard him say fervently: “O Lord, help me save my money for a baseball bat. And, God, please don’t let the ice cream man come down this street!”
ILL.- When I was in Virginia visiting my daughter, the kids always wanted to play outside on their bikes, etc. And it wasn’t long before we heard the ice cream truck in the neighborhood. Well, ice cream treats and kids go together so there was no way that papa was going to get out of that.
Hope got an ice cream bar with pretty sparkles on it. Little Caleb is into Spiderman stuff so he got a Spiderman Popsicle, which ended up all over his happy face. It didn’t wash off very well. Of course, that’s the way it is with sin. It doesn’t wash off very well. Not that they sinned. If they did, then papa led them to it!
If ice cream is not your big temptation, what is? Everybody has their own temptation or their own area of weakness. If Satan can’t get to us one way, he’ll try another way.
ILL.- When my mother was living in a nursing home in Joplin, MO, I would go back every month and spend three days with her. I would often take her out to eat wherever she wanted to go. One time she wanted Pizza so we went to a Pizza Inn for a lunch buffet. When we sat down, mom said, “I want a beer.” Well, it turned out that they didn’t serve beer, but I probably would have gotten her one. It wasn’t that she was a drunk or was going to get drunk. Throughout her life she’d had a few beers and I guess she figured a beer sounded good with pizza.
Now it’s true that for some people a beer could lead to trouble. One beer could lead to more beers and more beers could lead to drunkenness and drunkenness can get most people into a whole lot of trouble.
If Satan can’t get you one way, he’ll try another way. About the time you think you got it made or things are going to be a bit calmer and easier, Satan will throw another curve ball.
I am like many of you, thinking that when you get older things will be better or get better. DON’T BET ON IT! I like to think this way but whenever I do, something else hits me in the face. Satan is clever. He has many ways to get to us. He throws many different curve balls.
CONCLUSION--------------------------------
The good news is: Satan can be defeated!
Matt. 4:3-4 “3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus defeated Satan. With the Lord’s help we also can defeat Satan. BUT NOT ON OUR OWN OR BY OURSELVES.
ILL.- John Burroughs, the naturalist, says that when a hawk is attacked by crows or kingbirds, he does not make a counterattack, but soars higher and higher in ever widening circles until his tormentors leave him alone.
The secret to overcoming Satan is to soar higher, to go higher. How so? Jesus answered Satan after each temptation: IT IS WRITTEN.
If we don’t know the Word of God we can’t overcome Satan! If the Word is not a part of our lives, Satan cannot be defeated. The Word of God is powerful, our weapon, and our defense mechanism.
I Pet. 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
Our faith in Christ is the only thing that will save us when it comes to the temptations that Satan throws at us. Our faith, our study, our worship, our knowledge of God’s Word, and our surrender to Christ. HE ALONE IS OUR SAVIOR AND OUR STRENGTH TO OVERCOME IN THIS LIFE!
