Word of Salvation – Vol.34 No.04 – January 1989

 

Resistance, The Only Way

 

Sermon by Rev. J. TerHorst on Matthew 4:8-11

Reading: Hebrew 5:1-10, Matthew 4:1-12

Singing: Bow.H.6; 811; Ps.H. 427; 28; Bow.H.7; PsH.491

 

Congregation, brothers and sisters in Christ;

The devil is very crafty and clever.  You probably know that from experience.  For we are all at different times tempted by him.  Jesus was no exception.  Jesus too was tempted to sin.  We have recorded for us even specific times and the ways in which Jesus was tempted.  Jesus too had to struggle with temptation.  Jesus also had to fight to resist temptation.

It is not always that easy for us to see that.  Perhaps we may think that because Jesus was fully God, as well as fully man, temptation was really no problem for Him.  But it was.  It caused Him much suffering.  Through that suffering, Jesus had to learn obedience.  And that lesson was learnt with sweat and tears.  Although Jesus was, and still is God, while he was on earth He could have sinned.  This is the thing that made temptation so real for Him.  In His human nature, Jesus could have sinned.  And the devil knew that.  So when Jesus is led into the wilderness, and He has been there for forty days, the devil comes to tempt Him.  To tempt Him to disobey God.  To tempt Him to test God.  To tempt Him to doubt God.

In our text, the devil has shown Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.  And he says to Jesus that He can have the lot, if only Jesus will worship him – will worship the devil.  The O.T. taught that only God was to be to be worshiped.  The devil is asking Jesus to disobey that teaching.

The devil wants the same respect as that which God alone is worthy of.  That is why he wants Jesus to worship him.  And if Jesus does worship him, God’s plan of salvation will have failed.  For salvation was only possible if Jesus did not sin.  That is, if Jesus would desire God above everything else.

I believe that the temptation not to worship God is also very real for you and me today.  And if the devil can get us to worship anything but God, then he has been successful.  When we give more attention to anything besides God, we have fallen into the trap of the devil.  The same trap that he has set for Jesus in our text.  We may not literally bow down and praise the devil for what he is.  Yet, the moment our utmost praise and admiration is not given to God, that is what we do.  And it can be very difficult for us to only worship God.  For there are so many other attractions.  There are so many things that lead us away from worship of God, instead of bringing us closer to Him.  The temptation not to worship God is very real for us.  It was just as real for Jesus.  In fact for Jesus to resist, was even more difficult than it is for us.

It is always the attraction of the temptation that makes it difficult to resist.  The promised result is what is made to sound so pleasing.  The more pleasant the promised result, the harder it becomes to fight that temptation.  It is like saying to a child that if he behaves himself for a whole month, you will give him 20 cents.  Well, that does not sound so attractive to him and will prove to be very little inspiration.  But, if we were to say to our children that if they sat still in church this morning, then they could have anything they pleased, that would be quite a motivation.  The promised result is all the more attractive.  And that is the way it is with temptation.  The more attractive it sounds, the more difficult to resist.

That is also what made this temptation so difficult to resist for Jesus.  For Jesus, the way to exaltation was through humiliation.  For Jesus, the road to the throne, led through the valley of suffering and death.  But the devil here offers Him a short-cut.  The devil promises Jesus the throne without suffering.  The devil promises Jesus all authority by way of compromise.  And the devil in all his cleverness is appealing to a natural desire that Jesus must have felt.  For was He not the Messiah.  Was He not God’s Son?  So why should He suffer for what is rightfully His?  It is all yours Jesus, just worship me, says the devil.  Worship me, Jesus, and I will let you have it all.  After all, it belongs to me and I can give it to anyone I want to.  Forget the rejection, the abuse, the crown of thorns, the cross, the grave, just bow down and worship me.  What could be more simple or easy?

For us the circumstances may be different but the temptation is the same.  We may not be directly approached by the devil and asked to worship him.  But we too are tempted not to worship God as our Highest God and as the One from whom alone all good things come.  The devil also offers us a shortcut to life the and world which God promises to those who trust in Him.  The devil invites us to enjoy the world now, not by way of trust in God, but by ignoring God and His Word.  The devil also invites us to think that we can get the greatest blessing and pleasure if we will bow to his will instead of God’s will.  The devil also pretends to us that he has the best in mind for us.  And he will use all his cunning to tempt us away from relying on God alone.  He will do his level best to make us despise God instead of admiring Him.  The devil will try to make us think that God does not want the best for us.  He will tempt us to think that God is out to make life difficult and unpleasant for us.  God does not really love us.  That is what the devil would have us believe.  And to get us into that frame of mind, the devil will try to divert our attention away from God.  He will use all his cunning to draw us away from worshipping God, on Sunday and on every day of the week.  One way he may do that that is by giving us the impression we do not have the time to worship God, especially during the week.  Our work often demands a lot from us.  School also can make many demands on time, even late into the evening.  And then there is our need for rest and relaxation.  Sometimes we find it hard to worship God during the week.  Apart from reading the Bible at meal times, and family prayer, we are often led to believe we do not have the time to worship God.  And Sundays too, it is sometimes such a rush to get to church once, let alone twice on the Lord’s Day.  And then our worship of God is replaced by the worship and enjoyment of something else.  And the devil scores another victory.

All of us, and that includes me, we need to be on the alert from the devil.  We need to be on guard and strive to worship God always.  Temptation is always very real, and often very attractive.  But there is always a trap involved.

When studying this text in the original Greek language, one thing in particular made quite an impression on me.  The word translated ‘devil’, in verse five, has the dictionary meaning of ‘the slanderer’, and then the comment follows, ‘specifically, the devil’.

And it is it is both interesting and important that we see that here.  For that is the trap of this temptation.  The devil said that he had all this authority, but did he?  And even if he did, with a title like, ‘slanderer’, could he be relied upon to give this authority to Jesus once Jesus had bowed and worshipped him?  What do you think?  Can he who is called in Scripture, the father of lies, be trusted?  No!  He certainly can’t be trusted!

In the first place, all that authority is not is not his, neither is he the one to give it to whom he pleases.  The Bible makes it quite plain that God is the one who has this authority.  We could look for example at: Dan.4:17; John 19:11 or Rom.13:1.  And so the slanderer shows his true colours.  He makes promises he cannot keep.  That shows us again how much we must be on guard against his clever schemes.  People’s attention is often drawn away from the worship of God.  It is said by many that God, and religion, is old-fashioned.  It is out of touch with reality.  To give life real meaning, or to gain real satisfaction, one needs other interests.

Yet I wonder how many people live a satisfied life, when that life excludes God.  How happy is a person really who does not have the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour?

Jesus deals with this temptation by quoting Scripture.  That was the way He was able to resist.  By going back to the Bible.  By telling the devil what God actually said.  The devil also quotes Scripture at times.  He quotes the word of God, but always out of context, always in a way to

make people disobey rather than obey God.  Yes the devil tries to back his arguments with Scripture, but he always twists the words of God.  Jesus on the other hand accepts and practices the true spirit of the Word.  He quotes the Word in such a way that God is really honoured as God.  Jesus desired nothing more than God Himself.  So the will of God was given its proper place in the life of Jesus.  The will of God, and the desire to live accordingly was what was uppermost in His mind.  And so also in this temptation, Jesus identifies Himself fully with mankind.  He uses the Word of God which was given to man, to fight off the temptation.

By thus identifying Himself in this way with us He achieves two things.

Firstly, it makes Him able to sympathize with us when we are tempted.  The letter to the Hebrews also tells us that.

Secondly, He sets the example for us.  For we too can fight off the attacks of the devil by knowing God’s Word, and using it, living according to it.

After Jesus had successfully resisted the devil, the devil left Him.

In James 4:7, we read: “Resist the devil and he will and he will flee from you”.  That is a promise of God, also for us.  And in 1Cor.10:13 Paul tells us that when we are tempted, God also provides a way to avoid that temptation.  And we may believe that because Jesus overcame the devil.  Even the grave could not hold the Son of God.  Yes, Jesus suffered, but that suffering led Him to the throne of glory, honour and power.  He now has dominion.  As our Saviour, we can share that resurrected power.  As His children, we share in His victory over the evil one.  At times we will still fall into sin, but even then we do not have to despair or give up, for we have a Father who loves us, a Father who will forgive us, a Father who will help us in our struggle against the devil.  Let us then indeed give Him all praise, and worship Him in the beauty of His holiness.

AMEN.