7 Things ChristiansShould Hear Often - PART 1

Hayward’s note:  We only covered first 3 in class.  Another very good discussion.

“This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you ….” (2 Timothy 1:6)  “Remind everyone about these things….” (2 Timothy 2:14).

Sometimes we need to hear things over and over before they really “sink in”.  This can be especially true about Spiritual things.

“Remind you….” is a phrase that shows up a lot in the letters of the Apostle Paul.

The most important spiritual truths need to be emphasized again and again if the hearers are to truly learn them and benefit from them.

Here are seven biblical truths hopefully will help us “get it.” (The list is not meant to be exhaustive. You’ll think of other essential truths that need hammering home again and again.)

1) Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and the only Savior.

That is the theme of so much Scripture anyway, isn’t it?  How could we not keep the focus on the Lord Jesus–His identity, His life and ministry, His teachings, His being over the church, and His place in our lives–if we are being true to the Word?

We need to hear –over and over again; the theme never wears out–”Why we make so much of Jesus.”  Recently in North Carolina the state legislature voted to make a certain Baptist preacher their chaplain, then firing him when he refused to take “In Jesus’ name” out of his prayers.  And they call this “political correctness”.  Go figure. (Note: Many a New Testament prayer did not use the actual words “in Jesus’ name” and we should not feel ours must always, either. However, if someone asked me to say a prayer but leave out Jesus, then I’m gone!

Jesus Christ is Lord, for now and for eternity, and no one else is.

We should always stay focused on the Lord Jesus with people we are around.

2) The Church is an essential part of the Lord’s plan, for now and forever.

And we are most definitely not referring just to our local congregation. As important as that is–this will come as a surprise to a many–the Kingdom of God is more than our church.

When Jesus saved us, He knew something we were about to find out: “We cannot live this new life in isolation. We need the family of God.” They hold onto us, we hold onto them. They instruct and nurture us; we turn around and do the same for others. This need for interaction has been God’s plan from early on.

“…..I will build my church,….” the Lord said in Matthew 16:18. It’s His and He builds it.  The Christ-follower who claims to be able to live for Christ better without the church is insulting His Lord. The church-leader who would run the Lord’s church “for Him” is asking for big trouble fast.

3) Salvation is all about the cross.

Salvation is not by works of righteousness but humility, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on Calvary.

The threat to turn salvation into a matter of works will never go away. It’s grounded in man’s way of thinking, his human (and thus self-centered) reasoning.  From what we read about most other religions of the world teach variations of “do this and you’re saved” or “do not do this and you are saved.”  Only one religion proclaims that everything necessary has already been done and our task is to repent and receive it through believing in the Lord Jesus!

One pastor says that when people tell me they believe their good works will get them to Heaven, I ask, “Then, what was the point of the cross? If all God had to do was tell us ‘Y’all be good now, you hear?’ then He sure went to a lot of trouble for nothing by sending Jesus into this world to die on a cross for our sins.”  (They have no answer since they have never given these things the first thought. If we need further evidence of man’s sinful heart, there it is.)

Celebrate the grace of God, always, with our church family. Keep them at the cross.

 

PART 2: Can we still believe in Romans 8:28?

We continued on Part 2 of this Sunday,  We again had a great deal of discussion.

 Can we still believe in Romans 8:28?

So many things in life seem unexplainable. Why does a tornado destroy one house and leave another untouched? Why does one brother excel while another struggles all his life? Why does a tumor come back when the doctor said he thought he got it all? The list of such questions is endless. Seen in isolation, they make no sense whatsoever. If there is a purpose behind such tragedy, we cannot see it.

 

Our danger is that we will judge the end by the begin­ning. Or, to be more exact, we judge what we cannot see by what we can see. When tragedy strikes, if we can’t see a purpose, we assume there isn’t one.

 

But the very opposite is true. We ought to judge the begin­ning by the end. Here is where Romans 8:28 gives us some real help. Paul says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good.” The phrase work together in Greek is where we get our English word synergy from it. And what is synergy? It is what happens when you put two or more elements together to form something brand new that neither could form separately. It’s what happens when I make a big pot of Brenda’s enchilada soup.  I put a bunch of different ingredients in the soup.  Several I would never eat by themselves – hominy – ugh, Rotel – hot, so I don’t think so, cumin, no way. But all combined together make for a great pot of soup.  That’s synergy–the combination of many elements to produce a positive result. (BTW:  See end of lesson for recipe.)

 

That’s what Paul means when he says that God causes all things to “work together." Many of the things that make no sense when seen separately are in fact working together to produce something good in our life. There is a divine syn­ergy even in the darkest moments, a synergy that produces something positive. And the “good” that is ultimately pro­duced could not happen any other way.

 

Paul is saying that our experience is like making soup. God begins with the different materials of life, including some parts that seem to serve no good purpose. Like “cumin”.  When putting all the items in the pot and applying heat we get good results.  That is how we must look at life. We must not judge the end by the beginning, but rather the beginning by the end.

 

Can we still believe in Romans 8:28? Yes, we can. But we need a long-term perspective.

 

This is the crux of the matter. Paul says that “all things work together for good.” But what is the “good” he is talking about? For most of us, “good” equals things like health, hap­piness, solid relationships, long life, money, food on the table, meaningful work, and a nice place to live. In general, we think the “good” life means a better set of circumstances.

 

Once again, that’s not necessarily the biblical viewpoint. In this case we don’t have to wonder what Paul means. He defines it for us in the very next verse: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son” (Romans 8:29). That makes it very clear. God has a plan for each of his children. That certain end is the “good” of Romans 8:28. It is that we might be like Jesus.

 

Put plainly, God is at work in our life making us like Jesus. IF we let him! Anything that makes us more like Jesus is good. Anything that pulls us away from Jesus is bad. When Paul says that all things work together for good, he is not saying that the tragedies and heartaches of life will always produce a better set of circumstances. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. But God is not committed to making us happy and successful. He is committed to mak­ing us like his Son so that we can be with him for eternity. And whatever it takes to make us more like Jesus is good.

 

Everything that happens to us-the tragedies, the unexplained circumstances, even the stupid choices we make-all of it is ingredients for God to make us like His son. He will not give up even when we do.

 

The main problem we have fully understanding Romans 8:28. Our good and God’s good are not the same. We want happi­ness and fulfillment and peace and long life. Meanwhile, God is at work in us and through us and by everything that happens to us to transform us into the image of his Son.

Does that include the worst that happens to us? Yes.
Does that include the things that hurt us deeply? Yes.
Does that include the times when we are heartbroken? Yes.
Does that include the times when we sin? Yes.
Does that include the times when we doubt God? Yes.
Does that include the times when we curse him to his face? Yes.

He is always at work. He is never deterred by us. Noth­ing happens to us outside his control. God use all these things even when we don’t believe it.

 

There are many things we don’t know. We don’t know why babies die or why cars wreck or why planes crash or why families break up or why good people get sick and suddenly die. But this we do know-God is at work, and he has not forgotten us.

 

Can we still believe in Romans 8:28? Yes, but we must properly define what “good” means.

We must understand limitation of this verse. Notice the last phrase of Romans 8:28. It is a promise to “those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” That is an all-important limitation. This verse is true of Christians and only of Christians. It is not a blanket promise to the whole human race. Why? Because God’s pur­pose is to make his children like his Son.

 

This raises a very important question:  Have we ever responded to God’s call?  We either answer “Yes” or “No” to this question.  There is no middle ground.  Until we can answer “Yes”, this verse does not apply to us.

 

Can we still believe in Romans 8:28? It sounds good. We want to believe it.

 

We can believe in Romans 8:28 as long as we keep two things in mind.

 

1. We must not try to explain the unexplainable.

Sometimes in our zeal to protect God, we try to explain why bad things happen to good people. That’s almost always a bad idea. We are like little children looking into the face of an infinitely wise Father. It is not possible that we should understand all he does. It is enough that we love him and know that he is there. We need to be very careful with our feeble attempts to justify the mysterious ways of God. Better to say nothing than to speak of things we know nothing about.

 

2. We must understand that God’s values and our values are not always the same.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.   “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God values His children – their souls and where they will spend eternity.  We tend to value things like houses, jobs, cars, vacation and the list could go on and on. We must understand that we will often not understand at all. Let’s be clear on this point. We are not called to praise God for evil, sin, and death. But we can praise God for the good he can work in the dark­est days of life. Romans 8:28 is not teaching us to call evil good or simply to smile through the tears and pretend everything is OK. But it is teaching us that no matter what happens to us-no matter how terrible, no matter how unfair-our God is there. He has not left us.

 

Can we still believe in Romans 8:28? Let answer this question with another. What is our alternative? If we don’t believe in Romans 8:28, what do we believe in? Fate? Chance? The impersonal forces of nature?

 

This does not answer every question. But it does answer the big question: Does God know what he is doing? Yes, he does, and we know him, and that is enough.

 

 

For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: hdunkin@charter.net. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/

ENCHILADA SOUP

 

2 lbs. ground chuck - Brown meat, drain of grease and add a teaspoon of cumin and chopped onions. Cook until onion is “clear”.  Then add this mixture to pot and then these ingredients:

 

2 cans      -     Pinto beans w/jalepanos (Trappey’s)

2 cans      -     Hominy (white or yellow)

2 pkgs     -      Taco seasoning (El Paso)

2 pkgs      -     Hidden Valley Ranch Party DIP mix

1 sm.can  -     Green Chilies (chopped, El Paso)

2 cans      -     Rotel (mild but can use hotter if desired) This is what will make soup “hot”

2 cans      -     Black Beans (Green Giant)

4 or 5 cups of water *

 

Cook for about an hour.

*My pot will not hold that much water, so I rinse several cans out with water and add to mixture. Then I add more water as it cooks -- if it needs more.

Can We Still Believe in Romans 8:28? Part 1

This lesson generated a great deal of discussion so this is what we covered in class.  Part 2 will be sent next week.

 

Can We Still Believe in Romans 8:28?

 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. “

Do all things really work together for good? Consider the following.

·         A seemingly healthy 12-year-old girl develops severe migraine headaches. On Friday she is taken to the hospital; on Saturday she dies. Her father calls her “the sunshine of my life.”

·         A mother of 3 young children is working in front yard of a church and is killed by a by a man learning to drive.  This is what happened to our own Youth Pastor.

·         A policeman stops a man known to be a drug dealer. It happens on a busy down­town street and a crowd gathers to watch the unfolding drama. There is a struggle and somehow the drug deal­er grabs the officer’s gun and shoots him at point-blank range, in the face. The officer was in his early 20s.

Do all things work together for good? Do they? Can we still believe in Romans 8:28

 

Let us be honest and admit that we have at least two problems with these words by the apostle Paul.

1. They promise something we have trouble believing. Our text says, “we know that God causes everything to work together for the good”.  Paul, how can you be so sure about that? Most of us are not as sure as Paul was. We hope all things work together for good; we believe they do. But do we really know that to be true?

2. They include things that we think ought to be left out. When Paul says “that God causes everything to work together for the good,” that seems too definite for us. Everything? We might go far as to say that “some things” work together for good. We understand that out of dif­ficulty we learn great lessons of faith that cannot come any other way. Yes, some things clearly work together for good. But can we be sure it is really all things?

There are many who secretly doubt it. They hear this verse quoted, and instead of a soothing to the soul, it seems like a mocking, cruel joke.

They say, “What do you mean by good?”

- Sickness is not good.    
- Murder is not good.       
- A young mother’s untimely death is not good.
- The death of a child is not good.

This verse is sometimes misused by well-meaning Chris­tians who throw it in the face of those who are suffering as if it could answer every question of life. When it is misused that way, it produces an effect opposite to that intended by Paul.

But like it or not, it’s in the Bible. And it won’t go away. Which brings us back to the basic question: Can we still believe in Romans 8:28?

We will never properly understand this verse unless we understand that God is at work. God is there at the beginning, he is there at the end, and he is there at every point in between. God is at work. Not luck, or chance, or blind fate. And that answers the great question, “Where is God when it hurts? Is he there at the beginning, or is he there only at the end?” The answer is He was there before it all happened, he is there when it happens, and he is still there after it is all over. That forever puts an end to the happy-ever-afterism that says, “No matter what happens, God will turn a tragedy into a blessing.” That’s fine for fairy tales, but not for real life.

What do you say when a little child dies? Or when a cop is killed by a drug dealer? Or when a man dies on the mission field? Or when a woman is cheated out of her inheritance? Or when a loved relative dies of from a sudden heart attack? It is hard to see how these things are good.

When we look at these situations, we must at all costs resist the cheap explanation. It’s too quick, too easy. Sometimes tragedies happen and well-meaning people say, “That’s not a tragedy. It only looks that way. Just have faith.” If you believe that tragedy is not really tragedy, you will probably lose your faith altogether.

The point is, we must see the active involvement of God. What happens to you and to me is not the mechanical turning of some impersonal wheel. It is not fate or kismet or karma or luck. God is actively at work in our life!

Is Paul saying, “Whatever happens is good"? No.
Is he saying that suffering and evil and tragedy are good? No.
Is he saying everything will work out if we just have enough faith? No.
Is he saying that we will understand why God allowed tragedy to come? No.

What, then, is he saying? He is erecting a sign over the unexplainable mysteries of life, a sign that reads, “Quiet. God at work.” How? We’re not always sure.

Little children will often be afraid at night. They are scared because they can’t see in the darkness. They cry out until at last Daddy comes. He sits on the bed and takes them in his arms and holds them and says, “Don’t be afraid. I’m right here with you." The fear goes away when Daddy comes. Even so, the darkness of life frightens us until we dis­cover that our heavenly Father is there. The darkness is still dark, but he is there, and that makes all the difference.

 
Lesson continues next week.

The Battle!!

Song by Chris August:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtzNecqxeSI

The theme of today’s lesson is “There's a battle between good and evil and it's raging inside of me
There's a struggle, it's God and the devil It's love against the enemy” even if we don’t realize it... and the only way that we can be victorious in this war is to be on the right side and that right side is Jesus Christ.

This is about a war between “Good” and “Evil”, a war between the “Powers of Darkness” and the powers of Heaven......a battle between “Light” and “Darkness”. This war is about the eternal destiny of every man, woman and child on the face of the earth, from Adam to the last child that will be born before time ceases to exist as we know it.

Signs of this great battle for the souls of men are everywhere. All we have to do is look around and we can see many who have the scars of the battle. Many are wounded emotionally........... some are not able to cope with everyday life and its pressures. Some carry around scars of guilt and shame. Some carry a wounded spirit or a broken heart that sends them over the edge and makes them feel like life just isn’t worth living.

The weapons in this war are not bullets, knives, but words, prayer, sin and faith. (See Ephesians 6:10-17) Satan’s arsenal is filled with temptation, loaded fiery darts of passion and he lays traps, or minefields, where we walk every day. He’s an enemy that’s out to kill, steal and destroy everything that he can, including our very soul.

God’s weapons of this warfare are love, faith, prayer, a sound mind and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Blood of the Lamb and the Cross of Christ. God’s weapons are more powerful than the devil’s, BUT none of them can be used without faith and trust in God to make them work.

The problem is that most people won’t use God’s weapons because they don’t want to surrender their will to God’s will.

When an addict is fighting for their life, doing everything in their power to overcome whatever has them bound, it’s a fight with eternal consequences. To many try to fight this battle alone, believing “will power” can be strong enough to break that bondage.

“Will power” just won’t work most of the time. If you don’t think that’s so, ask yourself how long an addict can go without a fix from the needle or the pill, just relying on will power? How long can the person who needs a cigarette stand the jitters of needing that next puff...there may be a few cases where people claim to overcome these addictions through will power, most fail, and then this adds to their hopelessness and frustration.

The reason that people can’t overcome these things on their own is that these are not just physical battles with a physical addition. They are spiritual battles that can only be fought, and won, in the realms of the supernatural. Listen what the Word of God says about it.

Look at the Apostle Paul..... Paul was an addict before he was an apostle. He didn’t take drugs, he wasn’t hooked on tobacco and he wasn’t a man given to drink. Paul was a Pharisee, a man who dedicated his whole life to obeying the commandments of the Law. But he was an addict. He was addicted to ambition and to recognition.

Paul was first called Saul. As Saul, he was a defender of the faith of the Jews and he loved the idea of persecuting Christians. He was constantly going before the High Priest to obtain letters of authority to kill, maim and imprison every Christian he could find. Saul was fighting the battle against God. He was trying to win a battle that he couldn’t win. He could do nothing to overcome his desire for recognition and power. In fact, he saw nothing wrong with the way he was living and the things he was doing.

It’s a sad thing to see most of the world living for the devil, and fighting in his army, and not even realizing what they are doing.... No one would admit that they are fighting against God. Every man is right in his own eyes because he is blinded to the truth. The truth is that unless we are living for God and serving Him, and working for Him, then we are fighting for the devil.

Saul was soon going to come face to face with the war that was raging around him. He was fighting on the side of Satan, thinking he was doing God a favor, but he was going to meet the Lord on the Road to Damascus. It was there, in the middle of the day, that he was knocked off of his horse into the dust by the True Light from Heaven. Jesus knew that Saul was a sincere man, sincerely wrong even though he thought he was right; and Jesus also knew that Saul’s sincerity needed some direction.

Saul didn’t know who he was fighting for. He thought that he was doing the right thing the whole time. But he soon found out that he had been in the devil’s army, fighting against the very God that he thought he was serving. It took the power of God to break through his blindness and to shatter Saul’s addiction, and it still takes the power of God to truly break any addiction today. We can’t do it on our own, but with God’s help, according to Jesus, in Mark 9:23, “… Anything is possible if a person believes." When Saul gave his heart to Jesus on that road to Damascus, God changed him completely, making him a new creation in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Saul’s addiction to power and ambition to the chief among the Pharisees came to an end, broke down forever by the power of God. From that day on, God gave him a brand new name, Paul...... and a new purpose, to preach the gospel; and a new life. All that he had been in the past was forgotten by God and forgiven. The blood of Jesus had washed away every sin and Paul was filled with the Holy Ghost and power.

He kept fighting the same war between the worlds of good and evil, but now he was on the right side for a change.

In Acts 16:16-31, Paul and Silas are battling the forces of darkness as they walked the streets of the city. They were going about doing good, praying and ministering, but Satan never stops trying to win the war, so even in the simple things of living for the Lord, they are still in midst of the war.

Let that be a lesson to us all. Don’t ever think that the war isn’t raging just because life seems to be good right now. Our next battle with the devil is just ahead, so be ready for it.

There was a girl that followed Paul and some other disciples. She was “…. a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” (Acts 16:16-17) BUT, she wasn’t there to be a part of their evangelistic team. She was fighting in the devil’s army against them and she was doing everything she could to play on the ego and the former addiction that Paul had for recognition and power. What she was saying sounded good, but it soon became evident that her intentions were nothing but bad..

Sometimes we can become involved with people, on a job, or in a relationship that seems so right in the beginning. We can’t see anything wrong. But before long, something just doesn’t feel right anymore. That’s called the power of discernment, where the Holy Spirit living in us, begins to warn us that everything is not like it looks....

Finally Paul became so “exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.” (Acts 16:18)  Uh oh!  Now the disciples were messing around with the girl’s “masters” pocket books. They were making a lot of cash from her fortune telling skills. By the way, where do you think these skills came from?  

Now the girl’s masters had the disciples beaten, tortured and then cast into prison and put in chains; locked away to be forgotten.

Satan plays for keeps. He meant to destroy the disciples completely. His methods are subtle most of the time, but he can be as confrontational as he wants to be when the battle gets harder. He was perfectly happy to allow the little girl to do his dirty work for him, but now it was time for the “big guns” to go into action.

Sometimes living for the Lord is tough. Sometimes God allows things to happen to us that we just don’t understand. Paul and Silas may have thought, “Lord, we were doing our best, so why are we in jail?” It’s okay to ask questions, but then we need to accept the answer and leave it in God’s hands. Nothing can happen to us that God don’t know about.

Like Paul and Silas in that jail, God will make a way for us to escape the traps that the devil will lay for us. We may face some strong temptations to fall into our old life but we can’t quit, we must keep fighting. All of us face temptation, but that don’t mean that we have to give in to it.

And even if we fail, and all of us fail from time to time, God don’t give up on us. He says in Hebrews 4:16, "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

"My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”  (1 John 2:1-2)

Jesus paid the debt for our sin. His blood washes away all sin, that from the past, from the present and for the future. We can’t do anything that the Blood of Jesus can’t wash away. All we have to do is repent of the sin, ask for forgiveness and then get up and walk on in our service to the Lord.

We’re in a spiritual battle, A War of the Worlds of Good and Evil. Whose side are we on? If we aren’t on the Lord’s side, then there’s only one master that we can be fighting for, the devil. There is no neutral ground. There is no fence. It’s either all for Jesus, or all for the devil.

The Hardest Test We Will Ever Take

There are two different types of tests we will be called upon to pass as we move through this world. One of those tests is to measure the content of our knowledge; that is a head test. The other kind of test measures the content of our character; it is a test of the heart. Sometimes the tests we must face will have to do with knowledge and information, and other times they will have more to do with our character and our moral convictions. To put it another way, some exams are designed to find out what we know, but just as important are those exams that are designed to find out who we are.

All of us probably understand what temptation is. There is a story told about a little boy in a grocery store that I think illustrates the nature of temptation. The boy was standing near an open box of peanut butter cookies. “Now then, young man,” said the grocer as he approached the young man. “What are you up to?” “Nothing,” replied the boy: “Nothing.” “Well it looks to me like you were trying to take a cookie.” “You’re wrong, mister, I’m trying not to!” That’s temptation!!

We understand that temptation leads to trouble. There was a story in Reader’s Digest. This man said he was shopping in the mall with his wife when a shapely young woman in a short, form fitting dress walked by. He said as she walked by his eyes followed her. Without looking up from the item she was examining his wife asked, “Was it worth the trouble that you are in?  That’s the trouble with temptation.

How many of us have shrugged and said, “The Devil made me do it!” and used that as an excuse when caught doing something we weren’t supposed to? It’s a convenient defense. But there’s one problem: the Devil can’t make us do anything. He may be clever, but he’s not all powerful. It may feel that way, however, when we’re dangling on temptation’s hook, because Satan has a tried-and-true strategy for luring us into his net.

First, he lays out the bait. Satan knows people like a skilled fisherman know fish. He notes our habits. He observes our hangouts. Then he prepares a custom-made lure and drops it right in front of our noses.
Second, comes the appeal. He can’t make us bite, but he does know what happens inside us when we catch a glimpse of that tantalizing bait. Our worldly nature draws us to it. We linger over it. We toy with it. We roll it over in our minds until it consumes our imagination.

Third, the struggle begins. Immediately, our conscience (Can we say Holy Spirit?) jabs us in the ribs, warning us of the danger. We know it’s wrong to take a bite. We may even see the barbed consequences poking through the bait. But Satan’s invitation looks so delicious. What do we do?

Fourth, the temptation ends with the response. Either we resist or yield; swim away or swallow the bait whole. Anyone who has resisted knows the feeling of freedom that this decision brings. On the other hand, anyone who has yielded knows the feeling of emptiness that follows and the pain of the hook in their cheek.

In this lesson we are going to see Jesus meet and master temptation. In this story we will see three general kinds of temptation that our adversary is still using against us. By way of introduction I want you to see with me when the testing of Jesus came about. “Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. (Luke 4:1-2)

First, Matthew 4 records that this temptation of Jesus came directly after He was baptized. It was here that God the Father spoke and said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” (Matthew 3:17) What a spiritual high. You will discover that testing will often come on the heels of a spiritual high point in your life. Secondly, it came at time of physical weakness; Jesus had not eaten in 40 days. Temptations often come when we are a weakened state physically or emotionally, when we are exhausted and emotionally spent.

Third, this temptation came to Jesus when he was alone. We are the most susceptible to temptation when we are alone.

We need to understand that these temptations were very much real. No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is that good people do not know what temptation means. That is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is....Christ, because He was the only Man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what temptation means. The temptations of Jesus had to be real for Hebrew 4:15 to be true: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” To sympathize with us, Christ had to have fully experienced the Devil’s temptations!

THE TEMPTATION TO DO IT OURSELF

“And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” (Luke 14:3)
The first temptation would be no temptation at all if Jesus were not indeed the Son of God. The devil is well aware that God exists and he doesn’t spend a great deal of effort trying to dissuade us from a belief in God. His basic strategy is to make us believe that God can’t be trusted. In the Garden of Eden when Eve told Satan that God said that they would die if they ate the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. He told her “You won’t die!” (Genesis 3:4)

The temptation sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? You could almost sense the innocence in the devil’s presentation of this temptation – “just make these stones into bread” – what’s the big deal? You the Son of God – just do it! There is no law against turning stones into bread. It won’t hurt anything. Jesus had been without food for six weeks! Because he was the Son of God he could invoke his supernatural powers, the temptation was very real. Jesus could have done it in an instant and his hunger was screaming, “Do it.” Satan is suggesting to Jesus that there must be something wrong with the Father’s love since “His beloved son” was hungry. Satan was tempting Jesus to disobey the Father’s will by using his divine power for his own purposes.

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, People do not live by bread alone.” (Luke 4:4)
We often brag that we are “people of the Word.” But are we really? The question is not how much Bible do we know but how much of the Bible that you know are you applying in our lives. Jesus lived by the Word. The key phrase in each of his answers is, “The Scriptures say.” He did not allow the situation or the circumstances or even the enemy to dictate the truth. Jesus in his answer was saying, “ I will not complain. Neither will I take matters into my own hands. I will trust my Father and his word.”

Our temptation is not to turn stones into bread. The devil’s ploy for us is to make us believe that if we want something done we need to do it ourselves – not trust in God. We regularly are tempted to go outside the confines of God’s will to satisfy our personal needs or desires. We often go ahead and do it ourselves because we are sure that God will not do it. We scheme and we plan for our well-being, because we assume that God does not care or maybe does not know about our needs.

THE TEMPTATION TO TAKE THE EASY WAY

“Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” (Luke 14:5-7)
The devil was not lying when he promises Jesus “this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish” (v.6). The devil was offering Jesus a kingdom without the cross. Why go to all the trouble and pain to win the world when it can be handed to you on a silver platter. No suffering, No Struggling, No Sacrifice. But a crown without the cross would mean that there would be no forgiveness for our sins.

“And Jesus answered and said to him, The Scriptures say, You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”  (Luke 14:8)  We do not have to look for to see the application for today. Our world teaches us to avoid pain, to take the easy way, the path of least resistance. Avoid sacrifice. Why give all that money to the church when you can spend it on a new fishing boat. Why spend the rest of your life with the same mate? Go out and find yourself someone new – after all you only live once. You deserve to be happy. What is the result? We are living in a country with children whose lives are being destroyed because of their parent’s selfishness.

THE TEMPTATION TO NOT BELIEVE IT UNTIL YOU SEE IT

Having seen Jesus defeat him two times by quoting Scripture, Satan now quotes it himself, for his own purposes.  “Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.” Luke 14:9-11)

Satan misquotes the promise of God, it was right as far as it went, but he did not quote it all. For Jesus to have supernaturally survived a fall from the pinnacle of the temple in the full view of the people would have immediately identified Him as the Messiah. But it would have insisted that God “show” that you love me and is a test of God. This would be the equivalent of saying to God –“I won’t believe in you until I see you SHOW it to me by MY terms.”

“Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.” (Luke 14:12)
Jesus understood to start His ministry by dramatically jumping from the Temple would be completely contrary to the will of God. To do so would be to test God. Jesus refused to take this shortcut.

There are many subtle ways that we can put God to the test. We may not jump from the top of the church – but we do it in other ways. We do it when we do not put the worship of God and attendance at church as a priority – and yet we expect God to keep our children on the right path – that is putting God to the test. We do it when we dive into a path of our own choosing and then cry out to God to bail us out. We do it when we test the boundaries of known sin. God says, “Here is the line,” and see how close we can get to that line. Then we are surprised when we fall. Then we blame God. But it happened because we tested God.

The one thing common to all three temptations is that they attempted to distract Jesus from his mission or destroy his relationship with His heavenly Father.

Don’t miss the truth given in Luke 14:13 “When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.” This battle was over but he had not given up. Margaret Thatcher, the first woman prime minister of England stated, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” This verse reveals that the Devil will always be lurking in the shadows, watching, waiting for the next vulnerable moment.

When you are weak – expect a major assault
When you resist – be ready for a different approach
When he leaves – count on another attack.

 

There are two lies Satan wants us to believe:
1. Just once won’t hurt.
2. Now that you have ruined your life, you are beyond God’s use, and might as well enjoy sinning.

But these are not true. When Martin Luther was asked how he overcame the devil, he replied, “Well, when he comes knocking at the door of my heart, and asks ‘Who lives here?’ the dear Lord Jesus goes to the door and says, “Martin Luther used to live here, but he has moved out. Now I live here.” When Christ fills our lives Satan has no entrance.