Monday, February 22, 2010

February 21/22, 2010 sermon - Pastor Paul Eckert

February 21/22, 2010 - Pentecost 20
Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text: Mark 14:1-13
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4 Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’"
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8 Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’"
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.
10 For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a
stone.’"
12 Jesus answered, "It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
+ + + + + + +
This Monday is observed as the birthday of George Washington, commander-in-chief in the Revolutionary War, and first president of the United States of America. I don’t know if he ever had anything to do with a desert which is where we find Jesus in today’s sermon text. But I can mention here a couple of contrasts to a desert.
For the contrast let’s go to something very cold, to winter. I’ll mention two memorable ones. The first winter is Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. Washington with his troops spent the winter of 1777-78 there under very difficult conditions. It was a waiting time. During that winter he never engaged the enemy. The second winter I mention was referred to as the hardest winter of the war. It was in Morristown, New Jersey, the winter of 1779-80. That was a very bad winter. After that winter came more battles, and finally victory in 1783.
Now let’s leave the winter locations and go to a desert where Jesus was. This location was not just a waiting place. It was a place where Jesus engaged the battle when he faced the commander-in-chief of the angels that had rebelled in the beginning, the commander-in-chief who had won the victory when he tempted Adam and Eve. But in the desert he failed. He did not win when he confronted God’s Son, Jesus, our Savior. From this battle in the desert let us now consider
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM JESUS’ TEMPTATIONS
I TO EXPECT TEMPTATIONS TO COME (3,5-7,9-11)
1. They came to Jesus in three areas (3,5-7,9-11)
a) the first was to survive by following the devil’s directions: The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." - the second was power, control, having everything: --- The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours." - the third was challenging God by distorting what God’s Word said: --- The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"
b) basically all temptations were: listen to the devil, not to God
2. We need to expect such temptations
a) to survive, why not cheat and steal; to get ahead in business
and in the world, to gain power and the good things of this life,
why not forget morality and ethics and honesty; to be able to
have fun and do what we want even if God says it is wrong,
why not distort and twist His words (like what He says about
perversion) into permitting what God actually forbids?
b) then, the devil says, you’ll be more like the world around you
3. They come because of who we are (3,9)
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God,---."
a) the devil went after Jesus because of who He was, God’s Son
b) in the same way the devil comes after us because of who we
are: through faith in Jesus we are members of our heavenly
Father’s family, children of God who are in the world but not
of the world
c) and the devil doesn’t like that; he wants us in his family, he
wants us to spend eternity with him in his home, in hell
II TO REALIZE WHAT FALLING WOULD MEAN (3,7,9)
1. Realize what Jesus’ falling would have meant (3,7,9)
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God,---."
a) Jesus proved He was the Son of God by not doing the devil’s
will, but by doing His Father’s will: going to the cross to pay
for our sins, arising from the dead to conquer death and grave
b) had Jesus done the devil’s will, "So if you worship me, ---" -
and this is beyond our imagining - then we would still be
accountable for our sins, then heaven’s door would remain
shut and death would open up another door: hell
2. Realize what our falling would mean
a) there is no need to go through the door of hell and into eternal
misery since Jesus defeated the devil, covers those who believe
in Him with His forgiveness, with His righteousness, and is the
Resurrection and the Life for all who believe in Him
b) but whoever does not believe will be condemned; for whoever
does not believe, even one sin, one fall into temptation, is all it
takes to slam heaven’s door shut and open hell’s door wide
3. Realize that this could not be changed
a) do people worship the devil ("if you worship me") by putting
the devil’s will above God’s will, by seeing this world and what
the devil offers here as more important than what God did for
them, by scorning the price Jesus paid on the cross and the
victory He won over the grave?
b) if so, after death it’s too late; then hell’s door will be entered
and heaven’s door will remain forever shut
c) and the devil? - he’ll laugh and say "Gotcha"
III TO BE WELL PREPARED TO FACE TEMPTATIONS
1. Jesus used the Word (1-2,4,8,12) (1-2,4,8-12)
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
a) Jesus put Himself at the disadvantage of physical weakness
b) His strength - and let us learn this for ourselves - He showed
by turning to God’s Word, by faithfulness to God’s Word
Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’" --- Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’" --- Jesus answered, "It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"
2. That Word can often be misused (9-11)
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a
stone.’"
a) the devil misused Scripture by setting a promise of God’s
protection against a clear command of God not to challenge
God, like telling someone to jump in front of a bus because
God has promised to protect him; now certainly God can
protect, never doubt that; but He hasn’t told us to jump in front
of a bus as little as God told Jesus to jump from the temple
b) churches today too can be devilish, rejecting God’s Word by
saying you don’t have to pay attention to what God says about
the creation of the world, or what He says about unborn life
being life, or what He says is perversion in the area of sex; in
other words: challenge God, twist His Word to get what you
want and to set aside what He said! - to all of which Jesus says,
"Do not put the Lord your God to the test."
3. How can you be well prepared for this? (4,8,12)
"It is written"--- "It is written" --- "It says"
a) you are not prepared if you don’t know what God’s Word
says, if you stop learning after confirmation, stay away from
church, don’t grow in Bible truth at home or at Bible classes
b) instead show that you are children of the heavenly Father by
continuing to learn from Him, to hear His Word regularly, so
that you can contend with the wrong all around us
c) and try to help family and fellow church members do the same
IV TO REJOICE THAT JESUS OVERCAME ALL OF THEM
1. The devil did not rejoice here (13) (13,3,5-7,9-11)
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
a) the devil was defeated here; but he did not stop here
b) he was also defeated at the cross, with any doubt about that
defeat being removed by Jesus’ victorious resurrection; but he
did not stop there either - now he keeps coming after us
2. Don’t give the devil a chance to rejoice over us (3,5-7,9-11)
a) remember the promises he made at Jesus’ three temptations? -
"listen to me and you will be taken care of; listen to me and
you will have power and all the good things of life; listen to
me and you can challenge God Himself by distorting or paying
no attention to His Word and doing what you want instead"
b) while some of these promises may seem to be fulfilled for a
while, the devil can give no true lasting blessings; instead he
will have the last laugh when all blessings are gone and he
ushers those who follow him into his eternal home which is hell
3. Instead let us rejoice in Jesus’ victory for us
a) through Jesus our eternal home is heaven with fullness of joy
and no more pain or suffering or death
b) the devil lied, as he lied in the Garden of Eden, when he said
people could have all kinds of good things by listening to him
c) Jesus’ victory over temptations and on the cross and over the
grave proved He speaks the truth when He tells us He is our
forgiveness of sins now and our Resurrection and Life - rejoice!
Who is your commander-in-chief? To whom will you listen?
 
 

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