Tuesday, February 19, 2013

February 17, 2013  -  Lent 1  -  Sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - Luke 4:1-13
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    The season of Lent started this past week with Ash Wednesday.
Let’s do some counting.  Not counting the Sundays, from Ash
Wednesday to Easter Sunday comes to 40 days, a number that is used
a number of times in Scripture.  In the Old Testament we might think
especially of Israel’s exodus from slavery in Egypt and then spending
40 years wandering in the wilderness before reaching the promised land
where our Savior was to be born.  The number 40 is connected with a
wilderness in the New Testament too.  In our sermon text we hear of
Jesus being in the wilderness for 40 days.  The wilderness wandering
for Israel was difficult.  What of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness?
JESUS FACED TEMPTATION FOR US.
I  JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY BEGAN WITH THIS.  (1-2a)
    1. There are few details about Jesus before this. (1-2a)
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. 
        a) We know Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that He was taken to
Egypt as a child to escape from King Herod who wanted to kill Him,
that He returned to Galilee and lived in Nazareth, and that He was in
the temple in Jerusalem at age 12.
        b) After that, up to His present age of 30, about the only thing
we know is that Jesus was a carpenter like his stepfather Joseph.
    2. His ministry had begun with His Baptism.
        a) When Jesus now was being tempted in the wilderness, the
devil challenged Him by saying, “If you are the Son of God.” 
        b) Just before this wilderness encounter, God the Father had
attested to the fact of His divine Sonship when at Jesus’ baptism He
said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
    3. Jesus now went face to face with the devil.  (2a)
--- for forty days he was tempted by the devil. 
        a) There weren’t only the three temptations we hear about in our
text.  Those came at the end, after 40 days of other tempting.
        b) Can you just try to imagine what the devil all threw at Jesus?
    4. Jesus here was doing His substitute work for us.
        a) We might feel Jesus can’t understand what we have to face
every day as our world gets more and more immoral and dirty.  We
may find it hard to imagine Jesus facing all of the temptations that
come to us, like anger, lusting, stealing, breaking laws.
          b) Then remember, He faced 40 long days of tempting here.
Whatever we have to contend with, Jesus had it too.  The difference is
that He did not fall.  Listen to these words from Hebrews 4:15: “We
do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way,
just as we are - yet was without sin.”
        c) My dear fellow believers, Jesus, to be our substitute, faced the
sin we have to face. He can understand us.  But He did not sin.  He
survived to be our perfect substitute on the cross. 
    Now let’s look at the 3 special temptations mentioned in our text. 
II  TEMPTATION INVOLVED DAILY EXISTENCE.  (2b-4)
    1. Jesus had truly humbled Himself for us. (2b)
He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was
hungry.
        a) He, God’s eternal Son, had humbled Himself when He left the
glories of heaven, took on Himself our human flesh and blood as a
helpless baby and grew into a true flesh and blood person.
        b) Here He willingly humbled Himself again.  Yes He, as the Son
of God, positively was stronger than the devil.  But here He was
substituting for us.  He let Himself become weak in hunger.  And the
devil tried to take advantage of that, exactly as he does that with us,
tries to exploit our weaknesses of which we have plenty, tries to make
us listen to him, the devil, and not to what our God wants.
    2. Could Jesus have turned stone into bread? (3)
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to
become bread.”
        a) He could have, easily!  Think of how He on separate occasions
fed crowds of over 4000 and over 5000 people.  Think of His many
other miracles proving His power, even raising the dead to life.
        b) We too could get bread by our own doing, like stealing it. But
would you as a Christian listen to the devil urging you to do something
wrong instead of listening to God’s will about getting daily bread, what
we need for our daily existence?  Jesus refused, passed the test.
    3. May we too be guided by God’s revealed will. (4)
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread
alone.’”
        a) In effect Jesus was saying to the devil: “You’re not my boss.”
        b) Let us say the same thing if evil is behind temptation, and get
the needs for our daily existence in ways that God approves of.
    4. In other words, listen to and trust God.
        a) Remember the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily
bread” and “Your will be done.”
        b) God in His correct wisdom will answer that prayer, providing
for our needs of life, mainly by working and certainly not by stealing.
        c) Trust Him.  And thank Jesus that He did not give in to
temptation here.  Had He, He could not have paid for the times we fall.
III  TEMPTATION INVOLVED THE GOALS OF LIFE.   (5-8)
    1. How appealing the goals of life can be. (5-7a)
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.” 
        a) How stupid the devil was!  Jesus already had all this.  He was
with the Father and the Spirit when this world was made.
        b) What the devil did have was sin, deceit, deception.  And Yes,
by following him, by doing wrong things, by cheating and stealing and
lying, some people can gain a great deal in the eyes of the world.
    2. But there is a price for worshiping the devil.  (7b)
“So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
        a) Whom do you worship?  It’s the devil if you follow his will.
        b) Might you outwardly gain much?  Yes.  But Scripture says,
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet
forfeits his soul?”
    3. Remember our God’s goal for us. (8)
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and
serve him only.’”
        a) Worship God, acknowledge Him, praise Jesus for refusing to
listen to the devil, for being our Savior, a perfect substitute for us.
        b) And serve Him by letting fruits of faith be evident in our lives.
        c) Remember God’s goal for us: eternal life with Him in glory.
IV  TEMPTATION INVOLVED CHALLENGING GOD.   (9-12)
    1. Misusing God’s Word challenges God. (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) If I would trip and fall in front of a moving bus, God could
take care of me, whatever His good will for me would be.  But if I did
it deliberately without God telling me to do that, that is another matter.
        b) Here the devil’s temptation was “another matter.”  This was
the devil, not God, telling Jesus what to do.
    2. Again Jesus overcame temptation. (12)
Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the
test.’”
        a) Don’t misuse God’s Word, try to get around it by somehow
excusing cheating at school or in a marriage, or deliberately putting
yourself into a dangerous spot God has told you to avoid.
        b) Let’s face it.  We do at times try get around God’s Word, in
effect challenging God.  Thank God Jesus didn’t do that.  This
temptation He defeated too, all to be our perfect substitute who never
failed, who could be an innocent sacrifice on the cross for our sins.
V TEMPTATION INVOLVES REMAINING ON GUARD. (13)
    1. More temptations were coming for Jesus. (13)
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an
opportune time.
        a) The 40 days of temptations continued for the days of the next
three years of Jesus’ public ministry.
        b) You may think especially of the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’
struggle knowing what was coming.  But there too, like here in the
wilderness, Jesus did not let the devil’s will get done.  His prayer there
ended with “Your will be done.”  God came first, though Jesus faced
a terrible death on the cross.
    2. We too need to be on guard.
        a) The devil will use opportune times to tempt us because he
wants us to be a part of his kingdom of hell.
        b) So that we might be a part of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus
endured all He did without sinning, died an innocent death in place of
us the guilty, victoriously shouted out, “It is finished.”
    3. So fight the devil, keep on coming to your victorious Savior.
        a) Earlier I referred to these words from Hebrews 4: “We do not
have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way,
just as we are - yet was without sin.”
         b) The next words are: “Let us then approach the throne of
grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help us in our time of need.”

    Yes, take the times you fell into temptation to Him who was
tempted and did not fall.  Take from Him His mercy and grace, His
forgiveness because of His love.  And ask for the Spirit’s
strengthening to fight harder against temptation and to serve ever
better our Savior who is waiting to welcome us one day into the
kingdom of heaven.


          





















































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