The Test Is Over
Lent in the Missio Dei • Sermon • Submitted
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Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Temptation, Testing and
In the New Testament, the word translated “temptation” (peirazo) has two shades of meaning. When used of God’s tempting of man, it carries a positive intention. However, when it refers to the temptation of man by Satan or another person, the word implies a desire to bring out one’s bad points.
The second idea might be likened to Ralph Nader’s taking a G.M. car and running a group of tests on it. The emphasis and aim of this testing would be to bring out the bad traits of the car. However, if G.M. were to run tests on its own car, the motivation would be to point out the good traits.
On a lighter note...
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Temptation
A pastor warned his handsome new assistant about the dangers of immorality in the ministry. The assistant said that he always did his socializing in a group setting and concluded that “there is safety in numbers.” The wise pastor replied, “Yes, that is so, but there is more safety in Exodus.”
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
All three of the Synoptic Gospels tell of Jesus’ temptation by the devil in the wilderness (Matt 4:1, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2). Likewise, they all reveal that the Holy Spirit put Jesus in the position of being tested.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Given the truth of this Scripture, what are we to make of our Gospel text? Why has God made known to us what took place in the wilderness, where Jesus spent 40 days without friends, family or food? Why is it that the Church of Jesus Christ spends each 1st Sunday in Lent looking at Jesus’ trial in the Wilderness?
Was it to give us a model to follow? Should we try to spend Lent doing what Jesus did in the wilderness - 40 days without food?
Was it to teach us tactics for defeating the devil? Should we treat the Bible like it is a weapon to fight Satan? After all, doesn’t Eph 6:17 speak of “the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God?”
Is the purpose of the Bible to give us a template for how to live so as to please God, AKA “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth?”
It would be so easy to answer “yes” to each of those questions, and many preachers do. I saw a sermon while I was preparing this one that talked about going on 21 day fasts and studying the Bible so that you can answer the devil the way that Jesus did.
That kind of attitude, however, does not explain the fact that the message of the Gospel is not what you need to do for God, but what God has done for you. Jesus did not say that we would be witnesses of ourselves, but that we would be witnesses of Him. The Bible is not a weapon - Eph 6:17 refers, not to the λόγος, but to the ῥῆμα of God - it is God’s revelation of Himself to you.
The Holy Spirit takes the Scriptures and births faith in us as we hear them. The Scriptures make us complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work, not because we throw them around like stones to vanquish our enemies, both human and demonic, but because God works through the Word to transform us into the image of Christ as He sanctifies us by His presence within us.
When we watch Jesus being tempted by the devil, we are watching the One who is fully God and fully man overcome Satan’s attempt to disqualify Him from being our Savior. Jesus fought Satan for us, not as an example to us. Satan attacked the God-Man at the only level that he could, the human level, and he did it when, by his experience with humans, Jesus should have been at His weakest point, physically, emotionally and spiritually. He did it hoping that the assumed human nature of Christ would give him the same advantage that Satan had enjoyed over humans ever since Adam first fell by not trusting God in the Garden, but instead sought to live independently from God by developing an independent sense of right and wrong.
Jesus chose to identify with us, as it is written,
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Jesus’ human nature was pure, and it submitted to His divine nature, unlike ours, which, corrupted by the Fall, rebels against God. That makes the difference. That’s why we need to be united to Christ in His death through Baptism, rather than simply try to copy His life of obedience.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
Jesus, the Son of God, never acted independently of His Father, but we come into the world with a sin nature; we are by nature, sinful and unclean. We can no more in our sinful nature replicate Jesus than sewer water can clean dinner dishes.
You take food to nourish your body, and you take in God’s Word to nourish your faith. You don’t get into food fights with natural enemies, and Jesus didn’t get into a “food fight” with the devil.
He succeeded that day, and the devil left for a time, and He succeeded again the next time, on the Cross, because,
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Jesus didn’t lose focus; He never forgot His mission and He didn’t forget His strength was in His relationship with the Father. We don’t need to remember God’s utterances, we need to remember God’s promise. Indeed, because the Holy Spirit has been given to us,
When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
When the devil seeks to defeat you, he does it the same way that he did with Adam, by enticing you to think that God is holding out on you. Adam entertained the idea that he could know good and evil independently of God. Those who reject the Gospel believe that they can know true righteousness independently of God and love their neighbor in ways that don’t involve God’s Commandments, or worse, deny them.
The only antidote to this poison is the Gospel. Jesus took our place, to gain the victory that was out of our reach:
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Beginning with Jesus’ baptism, when He “fulfilled all righteousness,” continuing with His rejecting the devils temptations in the wilderness, Jesus embarked on a campaign to destroy the works of the devil. It would end with His body absorbing all the hate, all the scorn, all the violence that sinful man could throw at Him, and He did it all for you.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
The way to the Father is wide open to you. His arms are wide open for you. His banner over you is love. He only bids you to come to Him. Trust in His promises, trust in His unfailing love. Then, secure in His love for you, we can love one another, help one another, encourage one another, hold one another accountable, and forgive one another.
That’s how we defeat satan when he seeks to sow discord among us. That’s how the fiery darts of the wicked one get quenched and our hearts and minds are secured by the full armor of God so that we can, indeed, stand - even when the days are evil. We can stand because satan is fallen, vanquished by the Son of God.
And let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen