Sermon: The Enemy of our Faith

Text: Matthew 4:1-11
(North Toronto, January 6^th, 1991 AM)
(South Shore, June 4^th, 1995 AM)
(Glen Vowell BC, November 24^th, 1996 AM)
(Chatham Citadel, January 9^th, 2000 AM)

Can I ask you to be honest with yourself for a moment?

Have you ever been tempted? Of course, you have.

Do you remember the last time? Was it to gossip about someone you know? Was it to over indulge in candy, food, drink, or maybe some drug? Was it to covet something that you just should not have? Was it very long ago? How long ago was it?

If it seems like it has been a really long time since you were last tempted, then I have to wonder why Satan seems to have forgotten about you. Hmm… There is really only one reason I can think of that Satan would leave you alone... he would only forget about you if he figured he already has you and has no need to worry. Otherwise, I’m sure you are tempted daily!

Anyway, when you were last tempted, did you give in to that temptation? Did you do what it was you were being tempted to do? If no, then praise God because you won another victory over Satan. If yes, then think about how hard it was to resist. Was it impossible to resist? Not likely. Did you just give in because you wanted to? Perhaps. But either way, the scoreboard was increased in Satan’s favour. He won that victory. The good news is; he never has to again!

The story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness holds all kinds of theological truth. We could discourse on it for a very long time - but this morning I want us to take it simply at face value: Jesus was tempted, and he did not sin. This morning, let us consider that for a few minutes and learn from Jesus, and realize for ourselves that we do not have to sin.

THE CONDITIONS

Before we can look at anything objectively, we have to understand where it is placed; the context of the situation.

When someone writes a book, they have to take time to set the scene so that we can understand where the characters are coming from, and why they interact the way they do. Movie makers do the same. They literally spend millions to build sets that develop a particular mood. They spend hours setting up just the right lighting, and days clipping pieces of film together to get just a few seconds worth of a sequence that will help you understand what is happening in a scene.

I can't spend millions of dollars this morning (sorry), but it is important that we understand some of the background to Jesus being tempted, so that we can better understand what happened in those moments.

Just before he entered the wilderness, Jesus was baptized by John. The Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven said “This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased.” In a sense, Jesus was coming from a “Mountain top experience” into the "wilderness." It would have been easy at that time to be filled with pride. He was happy and content. It would have been easy to relax and enjoy the feeling. But Jesus knew temptation would come.

In the first part of Chapter four we read how the spirit led Him out. Jesus knew he would be tempted, and he knew he needed to humble himself after his experience in the Jordan. So, He fasted and prayed.

Fasting is not something we practice a great deal these days. It was an act of devotion meant to purify a person in body and soul. It was more than just the act of physically allowing the body to purge itself, there was a self-sacrifice involved. When offered to God as a sacrifice, it was usually done as an act of repentance for sin. Jesus had not committed any sin, nor would he ever. He had no need to fast to cleanse himself. Instead, he fasted as an act of devotion to God. He believed God would provide all he needed, and relied completely on Him.

Luke tells us that all through the forty days, Jesus was being tempted constantly, but of all the temptations that came upon him, Matthew and Luke only record the last three. These were the climax; the worst Satan could throw at Him. These were the temptations that were tailor made and most crucial to Jesus.

THE QUESTIONS

Did you know that when we are tempted, it is not really the act of sin that Satan is looking for. It does not matter to him what we do. In fact, he doesn’t really care. What he is really after is the state of our heart. That’s what concerns him. He wants to bend your will. He wants you to reject God, to turn to your own selfishness.

Take a closer look. When Satan tempted Jesus, he did not really need Jesus to do anything. What he wanted was for Jesus to turn from God and place all of his trust in Himself, or worse yet place his faith in Satan.

Satan had no need for bread, and although Jesus was hungry, He would survive without it. Satan had no need to see Jesus jump from the temple, and Jesus was not seeking the thrill either. Perhaps Satan would have enjoyed the King of Kings bowing down and worshipping him, but all he really required was for Jesus to turn away from God. Satan knew very well that Jesus could do any of the things he asked him to do, but what he really wanted was for Jesus to turn from God and follow himself.

Satan’s goal is not to destroy our bodies. When he uses drugs, alcohol, abuse, harassment, or any of a thousand weapons, it is not the physical effects he is concerned with. He is looking for companionship in rejecting God.

My Mom used to say, "Misery loves company." Sin thinks it justifies itself when friends agree with it. Satan is out to destroy our souls. He is the enemy of our faith. Physical calamities are only a side effect. His real purpose is to have you reject God and turn somewhere else.

Every temptation Satan presents Jesus with used that one little word that creates doubt everywhere it is heard: “if.” And each time the “if” is used, it is followed closely by the word “you.” In two words, we see the pattern of temptation – “if” creates doubt and “you” promotes selfishness.

In the first two temptations, Satan tried to create doubt that Jesus was really the “Son of God.” The truth about Satan revealed here is one he would rather you not think about. He is a deceiver and a liar. Of all creatures, he and his demons knew more than anyone that Jesus was the Christ; the Son of God. Luke four records an incident not long after Jesus was tempted, when a demon cried out in front of Jesus “Ha, what do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know who you are - the Holy One of God!”

The devil uses the same tactic when he tempts us today. He may not ask us to turn stones into bread, but his goal is the same. He wants us to doubt God and place our faith in our government, or ourselves or worse yet, in Satan himself. Anywhere except the one place our trust should be - in God.

Satan’s method of choice for delivering the temptation might be different. The words might change, but the motive and goal is exactly the same. He wants you to turn from God. He does not care which way you turn, so long as it is away from the Almighty God.

If the question is always, ultimately, the same, then we might assume the answer is also be pretty much the same. That means it may be possible to find a ready-made formula to answer the temptations Satan throws at us. So let’s see…

THE ANSWERS

1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

That scripture holds a lot of important things for us to remember, and in the answers Christ gave the devil, every defensive weapon in the arsenal of that verse was used against Satan.

None of the temptations presented to Jesus were beyond his ability to resist. and the same is true for us: No temptation ever comes upon you that you cannot resist. That does not mean you cannot fall, only that you do not have to. If your will is set on God, and you want to resist, the devil has no power over you, and he will flee from you. The temptation will have no effect.

It is extremely important, however, to note that it is impossible to resist temptation on our own. The passage we just read says that God provides the way of escape from temptation. Without God on our side, we would fall to temptation in an instant, so although you do not have to fall, you do have to keep your eyes firmly fixed on Jesus to resist. Don’t expect to toss him aside and do it on your own.

It is also important to realize that we are talking about temptation itself here, because we who have fallen to sin also face the results – the consequences - of falling to past temptations: An addiction to alcohol, for instance, is the result of falling to an original temptation to drink, and is not completely a new temptation every time. It has created a physical addiction because the will was weak in the beginning. If the original temptation had been resisted, there would never be an addiction, and the resistance to temptation would now be easier.

Once an addiction has taken hold, the temptation becomes whether to accept your fate and let the booze control you, or to take action to combat the problem. Now you are faced with the addiction, and the fresh temptation of every drink to go even deeper. The problem seems compounded, but God’s promise still holds true! With God’s strength, and his assurance that you can beat it, it is possible.

Remember, in the end, it is not the physical condition Satan is seeking in you. It is not that he wants to see you become a drunk. It is what becoming a drunk means to your relationship with God that he is concerned about.

In each of Jesus’ temptations, He used scripture to help him resist. Ephesians six tells us the word of God is a sword. Jesus wielded it in battle with Satan during his time of temptation. The devil even tried his own hand at using the weapon of the word to support his arguments, but he did not use it properly. Instead, he misquoted, and Jesus easily refuted what he said from another part of scripture.

Scripture can help us to know what is right in times of temptation, but it is important that we understand the whole Bible, not just a few key verses. Knowing only a few verses makes it easy to be swayed by those who misquote it. And knowing the direction given by the whole bible helps us not be lead astray by misquoting it ourselves. We must have an understanding of what the Word of God says so that we can know the Words of God. It is not enough to be able to recite it from memory either, because one who recites it may not really understand it. We need to know it, to understand it.

Psalm 119:11 says “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul instructs Timothy to work hard at correctly handling the word of truth.

By reading, studying and meditating on God’s word, we learn His will, not by rote, but by message. Without knowing God’s word, the best we can hope for is to avoid temptation all together, and we all know that is impossible because we all are tempted.

The answer to the temptations is simple though. Scripture helps us do it. Remembering that it is possible to resist helps us do it. But the one thing that keeps us from falling to temptation is keeping our focus on God. To the people of Zion in Isaiah 30:19-21, Isaiah said that when their focus is on God, a voice will be in their ears saying "This is the way, walk in it." Like a guide leading us along a hazardous path.

THE HOW TO

Jesus was victorious over every temptation. He was able to escape even the more deceptive of Satan’s ploys. He did it by maintaining his trust in God, and using the word provided in scripture. We too, in God’s power and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can resist the Devil’s temptations. Remember what Satan wants when he tempts us. If you do not, you might find yourself giving in to him without even having to be deceived. The solution is only this: Follow Christ, look to God and worship no other; Obey his commands, and listen to no one else, including yourself. Focus on Jesus.

Now, do you still remember your most recent temptation? Think about it honestly; with God’s help, could you resist? Was there a way of escape from the temptation that you fell under? Was your focus on Jesus, or was there doubt created by an “if” and a selfish desire? God has promised us that you can resist, and I believe it is true. Next temptation… what will you do?

Sermon: God’s Reminders.

Text: Genesis 6:9-13; 7:5-18; 8:13-15; 20-22; 9:8-17

(South Shore, November 7/93 AM - Remembrance Day)

In welcoming Emperor Hirohito of Japan on his visit to England in 1977, Queen Elizabeth said, "We cannot pretend that the past did not exist. We cannot pretend that the relations between our two peoples have always been peaceful & and friendly. However, it is precisely this experience which should make us all the more determined never to let it happen again!"

As we approach Remembrance Day, there are still some alive who remember, first hand, the atrocities of World War II, and even more who remember later wars such as Vietnam, or Korea, or Iran. Yet, many of us have not really known what it means for the world to be at war. Conflict seems distant and outside our influence.

Sometimes we seem to think that if we were in control, it would never happen. But the fact is that any of these tragedies could still happen at any time. It is important for us to remember our own fallibility and the price that is paid for it. Remembrance Day serves draw our minds back to terrible times in our history for the purpose of preventing that history from repeating itself.

November 11th has become a sign to remind us of the dreadful consequences of sin that result in catastrophic, worldwide war; to remind us of the millions of men and women who gave their lives fighting to defend the cause of right in a world gone wrong.

In Noah’s time, there was also a reminder. A rainbow. A sign in the sky to remind people of the terrible consequences of sin – and of the grace of God.

God hates Sin. It was sin in the lives of corrupt people in Noah’s day that He detested, and that He felt He had to destroy. God came to a point where He grieved so deeply over the mess that man had become, that he decided the only thing left to do was to start over. And so the world was wiped clean.

The Flood seems distant now, just as for many of us, the World Wars seem distant, and yet both remind us of the fatality and futility of sin.

THE COST OF SIN

During World War II, it has been calculated that 54,800,000 men and women lost their lives in combat.

That is a horrendous number of people. To put that in perspective, that’s almost twice the entire population of Canada in 1980. The cost financially was $338 Billion dollars. To give you some idea of how much that is: if an average income were $60,000 dollars a year, and the average working life of a person was fifty years, 115,000 people could live comfortably on that much money – and those dollars were 1940’s dollars, so $60K represented a wealthy income!

And those dollars and lives were not the only cost of war. There were other losses to people as well. Millions of people were missing, captured in war camps, tortured, left homeless, left without parents or siblings.

Sin is costly, and not just in war. Romans 6:23 tells us "...the wages of sin is death…", but I wonder if Paul perhaps meant this in a broader sense than the literal statement? Could he have meant not only physical death, but mental, emotional and spiritual death as well?

In 2nd Kings 4:40, there is a story about a stew pot in which a vine that was not eatable was cooked. When the men of the camp tasted the stew, they exclaimed "there is death in the pot". They didn’t die when they ate it, so they probably meant it was poisoned. Perhaps it gave them indigestion, or made them sick.

In the same way, Sin corrupts us. It creeps in without us realizing it. Sometimes… we even invite it.

It corrupts us and it begins to destroy us. Maybe not all at once, but eventually it will cause broken relationships, tortured minds, loss of possessions, and yes, even death.

In the time of Noah, the people became corrupted by sin. Genesis 6:11 tells us "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence." Many times we have heard people ask why God allows those who sin to remain on this earth. Why should these Hitler's and Hussain’s remain to hurt so many people. Perhaps that is a question we should all consider as we continue to look at the story of Noah. I believe there is a clue in this story, and maybe even an answer.

THE CONSEQUENCES

At the time of Noah, God decided he would destroy everyone who sinned. No-one was exempt. I don’t even think Noah would have been exempt except that, as 6:8 tells us, “Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.” That doesn’t mean he was sinless, or even that he was a really great person. In fact, after he lands the ark, we find him drunk and naked in his tent (Genesis 9:21).

There was not one person in the land who was sinless, and this one time in the world’s history, God decided to totally destroy mankind, with the exception of one chosen family.

For forty days it poured rain and the waters rose. For another hundred and fifty days, the water remained. It took another forty days for the water to recede. By that time, there was not a living thing left on the Earth except those that could swim, and those that had been carried with Noah in the ark.

Greek culture used to teach their children that if you stole a chicken and got caught, you would be severely punished, but if you stole a chicken and got away with it, you would be rewarded for your stealth and your ingenuity. But they did not recognize the right of the farmer to enjoy the assurance that his chickens were safe from burglars and they did not compensate him for his loss.

One of the greatest grievances we have of sin is that it leaves victims. Sin does not only affect the sinner, but those closest to them as well. The person committing the sin is not always the one to suffer. Often it is the innocent party who suffers needlessly, while the sinner may even benefit from his evil deeds. Such is the economy of a corrupted world.

The good news is, that’s not the economy of God's Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom there is justice, righteousness, and fair play. God detests sin and all of the consequences of it. It was for that reason that he became so grieved at the world that he decided to destroy it and start over. There was not one man worthy on his own accord to be saved.

But wait a minute. Am I not a sinner? Am I not included then in those that God detests? Am I also one of those who, if living in the time of Noah, would have been washed away in the flood? It’s a sobering though that you and I are included in those who are unworthy – who sin.

THE SIGNS TO REMIND US

When the earth had been purged, and the Ark come to rest again on solid ground, Noah offered up a sacrifice to God. An offering of thanks. God seems to pause and consider this, and what he has just done. In 8:21 he says "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done."

It is almost as if it is for the sake of the earth that he decides to let man live. But in these verses, we find the first hint of God's. redemption. Here we see a glimpse of God’s working towards healing the consequences of sin in our lives. For the first time in our Bible, God shows that he is not only a wrathful God who judges sin severely, but that he has compassion for even those who have wronged him, and desires that we might be better than we are.

Right there and then, God makes a covenant with Noah, and with the whole earth. He tells Noah that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood because of man's sin. He does not tell Noah to go off and do as he pleases, though. There are limits to - what man can get away with. Very specific limits. Limits that show the boundaries of righteousness and will not allow Noah to sin.

What is unusual, though, is that there are no conditions to the covenant that God makes with Noah. God simply says that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood. He will give each of us the chance to live and find redemption; to follow his ways and find faith in His provision. “As long as the earth endures," He says in 8:22, "seed time and harvest, cold and-heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Along with the new covenant comes a sign: the rainbow. And, even more unusually, the rainbow is not a sign to remind the people of God’s promise, but a sign to remind God of His promise to the people.

Nonetheless, it is a sign that also speaks to us of God's desire to see each one of us redeemed for his kingdom. It is a sign of the love that no longer says, "I must destroy you because you are evil", but now says, "I will let you be for a time, so that you might come back to me and find redemption." It is a sign to us to remember that the only reason we are not destroyed is because we have "Found favour in the eyes of the Lord."

CONCLUSION

We have not yet had our stay-of-execution. We are still accountable to God for the sin in our lives, but God has given each of us an opportunity to come back to him. He has provided a method of payment for our past sins. He has displayed the sign of his love before all people: the sign of the rainbow, a promise of hope, and the sign of the cross, a sign of God’s providence.

Remembrance Day is a reminder to us. A reminder of the atrocities of war, and of the high price paid for peace. The rainbow is a reminder to us of God's love, but it is also a reminder of the high price of our sin. Similarly, the cross is a reminder to us of God's love, but it is also a reminder to us of the terrible price God had to pay to redeem us – a price too high for us to pay ourselves.

None of us can excuse the sins of the past. None of us can go back and fix what we have caused to go wrong in our lives, and how that has in turn hurt others. But it is precisely that lack of excuse that should make us cling to God and be even more determined never to let sin grasp a hold of us again!

God has given you time. Time to consider your sinfulness. Time to seek redemption. Time to accept the gift of blood offered on your behalf. Time to return to him; to set your life on the straight path of righteousness that leads to eternal life and not death.

As you are reminded of the sacrifices made so that you might live in a peaceful world, remember the consequences of what some call evil, and others call sin. Remember the promises God made to Noah, and to us; promises of forgiveness, and redemption. Remember the cross and the high price paid so that you may be forgiven.

Remember.