[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 26th of February, 2017. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
This coming Wednesday we step into the Christian season of Lent. This period is intended to prepare us for observing the last days of our Lord’s life on this earth. But it also reminds us of the time, at the very start of Jesus’ ministry, when He was led by God’s Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tried by the devil. For forty days, our Lord resisted Satan’s temptations.
We could never have succeeded at that, but God could. We could not have resisted because Satan is cunning. His traps are clever. His temptations hit us where we are weakest. And when I say “we”, I mean all of mankind, going all the way back to the very first man and woman. Listen and follow along as I read from the Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verses 1 through 13, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…
We could never have succeeded at that, but God could. We could not have resisted because Satan is cunning. His traps are clever. His temptations hit us where we are weakest. And when I say “we”, I mean all of mankind, going all the way back to the very first man and woman. Listen and follow along as I read from the Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verses 1 through 13, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
--Genesis 3:1-13 (NKJV)
Let us pray… Father God, we are not trying to hide from you now. We know we have sinned, and our very souls lie open and naked to Your examination. Look inside us, Father, and speak into each of us the message we need to hear. In the loving name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
A new lawyer watches as the very first person enter his office. He decides he should look busy, so he picks up the phone and starts talking: “Look, Harry, about that amalgamation deal, I think I better run down to the factory and handle it personally. Yes. No, I don’t think three million will swing it. We better have Rogers from Seattle meet us there. OK. Call you back later.” He looks up at the visitor and says, “Good morning! How may I help you?” And the prospective client replies, “You can’t help me at all. I’m just here to hook up your phone.”
It sounds like this lawyer fell victim to temptation, doesn’t it? He was brand new at his craft, but he didn’t want to appear to be inexperienced to his first potential client. So he quickly concocts a pretense, basically a lie, just to make himself look good in front of his first visitor. But he was quickly caught in that lie, and even though it probably didn’t hurt him professionally, I bet it sure embarrassed him, and I hope it humbled him some. I can’t help but wonder, though, how many of us have done pretty much the same thing.
Satan is cunning, more cunning and crafty than any other of God’s creations. He’s been at the deception business for a long time and he knows how to trap us, where to hit us, how to most easily lure us into his clutches. He tricked Eve by playing word games. It went something like this:
“Really? God said not to eat any of this luscious fruit?” “No, we can eat any of the fruit, except for what grows on that one big tree out in the middle of the garden. If we eat it, we’ll die.” “Oh come on now! Do you really believe that? God wouldn’t kill you! He just made you. He doesn’t want you to eat that fruit because if you do, then you’ll be just as smart and powerful as He is. Here, go ahead - take a bite and see. It tastes great! You’ll love it!”
And when it was all over, the only thing Eve could say was, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Eve was the first victim of Satan’s trickery, but nowhere near the last. No one is safe from his lures and temptations - not even Jesus, the Son of God. Almost immediately after He was baptized in the River Jordan, God’s Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the sole purpose of submitting to Satan’s wiles. The devil worked on Jesus for forty days, saving his best material for last. But Jesus is God and He was able to resist everything Satan threw at Him. Mortal man has a much more difficult time.
And although Lucifer stopped trying to tempt Jesus after that forty-day ordeal, he didn’t stop trying to influence those around Jesus – His friends as well as those who hated Him. Listen to what the Apostle Luke says in his Gospel account about one very infamous disciple, from chapter 22, verses 1 through 6…
A new lawyer watches as the very first person enter his office. He decides he should look busy, so he picks up the phone and starts talking: “Look, Harry, about that amalgamation deal, I think I better run down to the factory and handle it personally. Yes. No, I don’t think three million will swing it. We better have Rogers from Seattle meet us there. OK. Call you back later.” He looks up at the visitor and says, “Good morning! How may I help you?” And the prospective client replies, “You can’t help me at all. I’m just here to hook up your phone.”
It sounds like this lawyer fell victim to temptation, doesn’t it? He was brand new at his craft, but he didn’t want to appear to be inexperienced to his first potential client. So he quickly concocts a pretense, basically a lie, just to make himself look good in front of his first visitor. But he was quickly caught in that lie, and even though it probably didn’t hurt him professionally, I bet it sure embarrassed him, and I hope it humbled him some. I can’t help but wonder, though, how many of us have done pretty much the same thing.
Satan is cunning, more cunning and crafty than any other of God’s creations. He’s been at the deception business for a long time and he knows how to trap us, where to hit us, how to most easily lure us into his clutches. He tricked Eve by playing word games. It went something like this:
“Really? God said not to eat any of this luscious fruit?” “No, we can eat any of the fruit, except for what grows on that one big tree out in the middle of the garden. If we eat it, we’ll die.” “Oh come on now! Do you really believe that? God wouldn’t kill you! He just made you. He doesn’t want you to eat that fruit because if you do, then you’ll be just as smart and powerful as He is. Here, go ahead - take a bite and see. It tastes great! You’ll love it!”
And when it was all over, the only thing Eve could say was, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Eve was the first victim of Satan’s trickery, but nowhere near the last. No one is safe from his lures and temptations - not even Jesus, the Son of God. Almost immediately after He was baptized in the River Jordan, God’s Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the sole purpose of submitting to Satan’s wiles. The devil worked on Jesus for forty days, saving his best material for last. But Jesus is God and He was able to resist everything Satan threw at Him. Mortal man has a much more difficult time.
And although Lucifer stopped trying to tempt Jesus after that forty-day ordeal, he didn’t stop trying to influence those around Jesus – His friends as well as those who hated Him. Listen to what the Apostle Luke says in his Gospel account about one very infamous disciple, from chapter 22, verses 1 through 6…
1 And now the Passover celebration was drawing near—the Jewish festival when only bread made without yeast was used. 2 The chief priests and other religious leaders were actively plotting Jesus’ murder, trying to find a way to kill Him without starting a riot — a possibility they greatly feared.
3 Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, 4 and he went over to the chief priests and captains of the Temple guards to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. 5 They were, of course, delighted to know that he was ready to help them and promised him a reward. 6 So he began to look for an opportunity for them to arrest Jesus quietly when the crowds weren’t around.
--Luke 22:1-6 (TLB)
But remember: Judas was one of the twelve Jesus chose as His very own. If the devil could so easily take control and turn Judas, what chance do we have? Judas was tempted, and could not resist. We are tempted constantly. Some we can resist, some we can’t seem to ignore.
Temptations come in all shapes and sizes. The big ones we can usually recognize and avoid, we that try our best to follow Jesus. The little ones can be more insidious, they can sneak up on us, they’re often hidden in plain sight, or wrapped up in bright, shiny paper.
We all have some temptation that we struggle with. Maybe it’s sweets, or too much food in general. Maybe it’s juicy gossip. Maybe it’s trying to love others that aren’t just like us. Satan is cunning. It’s the little traps that he sets in our path that can be the hardest to resist and avoid.
Fortunately for us, God loves us and cares about us. He knows we’re not able to resist Satan’s temptations like Jesus could. Jesus knew it too, which is why He included, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, in the model prayer He taught us.
And God is not only our friend, He is our Father who listens to our prayers and looks after us. He has given us some very good gear, the means to protect ourselves from the evil one. Listen to what the Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 12…
10 Last of all I want to remind you that your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand safe against all strategies and tricks of Satan. 12 For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies — the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.
--Ephesians 6:10-12 (TLB)
We have God’s Holy Spirit within us that we can call on any time the devil whispers in our ear. We have God’s holy word in our Bibles, that we can reach out and read whenever Satan presses us. We have our promise of resurrection from death and eternal salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, and Satan cannot take that away. We just need to remain strong in our faith, and remember God’s promise to us, His covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus. We know how this story ends, we just need to remain strong, true and faithful to the end, and we’ll share in the great victory.
Satan is cunning. But with God’s help, we can resist him. We don’t have to be like Eve, whom the serpent deceived. We don’t have to follow the path of Judas, who betrayed our Lord at the devil’s bidding. Shielded by God’s word, armed by His Holy Spirit, and saved by Jesus Christ our Lord, Satan doesn’t have a prayer.
In the blessed name of Jesus. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, since You first fashioned man from a lump of clay, Satan has been hard at work trying to take us from You. He is cunning and crafty and pulls tricks that we just don’t see coming. Father, You know our weaknesses, so You give us Your strength and the power of Your Holy Spirit to help us resist the devil’s schemes. We thank You, Father, for we could not stand fast without Your help.
Please listen and hear us now, Father, as we pray silently from our hearts, repenting of our disobedience and seeking Your forgiveness, asking for Your continued help in resisting Satan’s temptations…
Lord Jesus, You have personal knowledge of just how persuasive Satan can be. You were able to resist all his temptations, but You know we have more trouble avoiding all the snares and traps he sets for us. Thank You for the sacrifice You made that grants us salvation. We can use that surety in our fight against the devil, knowing that we are Yours and You will claim us as Your own before our Father God. Please keep on helping us fight this greatest fight of all, for Your name’s sake.
This we pray in Your blessed name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith. Amen.
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