[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the 3nd Sunday morning in Lent, the 24th of March, 2019 at Pilgrim Reformed Church. Look for the video of this and our other services on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
Today is the third Sunday in the season of Lent. This is the time of year when we believers reflect on all that Jesus suffered and endured on our behalf. One of those points of reflection occurred in the wilderness, right after Jesus was baptized, when He fasted for 40 days and was strongly tempted by Satan. Jesus could resist the devil’s enticing temptations, but too many times we fail when we’re put to the test.
And not just us today, we Christians. Even God’s chosen people, the children of Israel of long ago as well as of today, fail when Satan comes testing. More sadly still, they – and us – too often try to test God, to see just how far His love goes. Maybe because we don’t really trust Him?
The Apostle Paul, in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 1 through 14, tells us of some of those failures, and warns us about pushing our Lord too far. Please listen and follow along as I read this passage from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…
And not just us today, we Christians. Even God’s chosen people, the children of Israel of long ago as well as of today, fail when Satan comes testing. More sadly still, they – and us – too often try to test God, to see just how far His love goes. Maybe because we don’t really trust Him?
The Apostle Paul, in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 1 through 14, tells us of some of those failures, and warns us about pushing our Lord too far. Please listen and follow along as I read this passage from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…
1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that traveled with them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing twenty-three thousand of them to die in one day.
9 Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.
14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.
--1 Corinthians 10:1-14 (NLT)
Let us pray… Father God, Your Son Jesus was able to resist the devil’s trials and temptations, but we are not as strong. All too often we fail the test, we fail You. We need Your help, Father. We need You to put out Your hand and stop us when we begin to test our Lord Jesus. We need You to speak to us this morning and teach us what we must understand so we can pass any test. This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son Jesus. Amen.
Several years ago at Ohio State University, nearly 1000 students filled a large lecture hall for their calculus final. This particular professor was the pompous type, and a stickler for the rules. During the exam he constantly shouted out how much time was left before their failure on the test was complete. Once finished, he had the students stack their test papers on a table at the front.
One student who needed a decent grade to pass the course had a problem in that he performed poorly when rushed. So he worked diligently and ignored all the professor's shouts and rants about not cheating and completing on time. When time was called, all the students obediently piled their papers on the table, except this one, who kept on working.
Nearly an hour after the professor called time, the student finally finished, stood up, and headed to the table. The professor stared at him silently as he approached, having put all the papers into neat stacks during that hour, obviously waiting so he could give the student a hard time. Just as the student was about to place his test on top of a stack, the professor asked what he thought he was doing. "The test ended an hour ago," he said. "It's over and done. You failed."
The student asked, "Do you know who I am?". "What?", snarled the professor, now annoyed with the student. The student rephrased his question: "Do you know my name?" "No, of course not!", laughed the professor.
The student looked the professor straight in the eyes and replied, "I didn't think so", as he lifted half the papers off one stack, slid his paper into the center, then let the stack fall, burying his test in the middle. Then he turned around and walked casually out of the lecture hall.
In a way, the student cheated. Not necessarily on the exam itself, but he cheated the professor, he cheated the rules. Unfortunately, when it comes to life, we can't cheat God. He knows our name.
Pastor and evangelist F. B. Meyer once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know: First, we do not know how hard they tried not to sin. And second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed them. Oh, and one other thing we do not know is what we would have done in the same circumstances. I can’t think of a better reason why we should follow Jesus’ command to “judge not, that you not be judged”.
In our scripture reading, Paul reminds the church family in Corinth about the time when the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness after being led out of captivity in Egypt. During this forty year trek, the people tested God often, and they paid a great price for it. They constantly questioned why they were led out of the known into the wilderness filled with unknowns. They complained about being taken from the comforts of captivity and left to die of starvation and thirst. Each complaint was answered with God’s provision, but it was never good enough so still they complained. They gave in to the temptation to build and worship a golden calf, a false idol, because they thought God had abandoned them.
Yes, Satan was testing them, but in a way, God was testing them too. God was testing whether His people would remain faithful to Him no matter what their situation. They failed, and paid with their lives.
Led by God’s Holy Spirit into the wilderness, Jesus was tested by Satan. Do we test Jesus? Do we put God to the test? Do we understand that we are being tested too?
I want to jump ahead a little in our church calendar and look at the night before Jesus was arrested. This would be what we observe as Maundy Thursday. The time is immediately following our Lord’s last supper on this earth with His followers. Please listen as I read from the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, chapter 22, verses 39-46…
Jesus knew that we mortals are weak and subject to temptation, that we too often fail our tests. So what does He tell us to do? Pray. He prayed! Jesus felt the temptation to test God, as we can see that when He begged, “take this cup away from me”. So He prayed.
And He told His disciples - including us - to pray so that they and we not be tempted. Too often we are spiritually asleep, unaware of what we are doing, of what is being done. We need to rise up and pray. Pray for strength to resist temptation. Pray for wisdom and discernment to do God’s will. Pray for maturity of faith in God in all matters. Pray that we stop before we even begin to test God or Jesus or some other person. Pray that we pass our test. Just pray!
Testing others is not always good. Testing God is never good. We ourselves are being tested, very often by Satan but sometimes even by God. We must understand when we are testing someone else’s ability to resist temptation, and know that is not good for us to do.
We must humble ourselves and pray. We must awake from our spiritual slumbers and pray. Pray for God’s mercy and His help. Just pray. In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, by Your word saved for us in our holy Bibles, You teach us what we need to know to live righteously in Your eyes. And at times You test us to see how well we have learned our lessons. Thank You, Father, for loving us this much, that You want to make sure we know what we need to know for our own sakes. At too many other times, Satan tests us to try to pull us away from You. This is when we really need to understand and follow what You have taught us. Please help us pass our tests, whether they come from You or the devil. Help us not doubt You but trust in You fully. Please forgive us when we grow weak or slumber and fall victim to Satan’s wiles. Strengthen our faith that we may be ever true to You.
Please hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, speaking from our hearts, promising to turn from our sin, seeking Your forgiveness for our disobedience…
Lord Jesus, You easily resisted Satan in the wilderness when He tried to get You to worship him. Lord, we are not that strong. Too often we find ourselves in a wilderness of our own making and we greedily accept whatever the devil has to offer. You tell us to wake from our slumbers and pray, pray that we not enter into temptation. Thank You, Jesus, for giving us the means and the strength to resist if we would just ask for Your help. Forgive us when we doubt You really will help us. Forgive us when we refuse to even ask for help. Forgive us when we fail our test. Wake us from our spiritual slumber. Help us to ever be true to You and our Father God.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus our Lord, our Master, our Savior. Amen.
Several years ago at Ohio State University, nearly 1000 students filled a large lecture hall for their calculus final. This particular professor was the pompous type, and a stickler for the rules. During the exam he constantly shouted out how much time was left before their failure on the test was complete. Once finished, he had the students stack their test papers on a table at the front.
One student who needed a decent grade to pass the course had a problem in that he performed poorly when rushed. So he worked diligently and ignored all the professor's shouts and rants about not cheating and completing on time. When time was called, all the students obediently piled their papers on the table, except this one, who kept on working.
Nearly an hour after the professor called time, the student finally finished, stood up, and headed to the table. The professor stared at him silently as he approached, having put all the papers into neat stacks during that hour, obviously waiting so he could give the student a hard time. Just as the student was about to place his test on top of a stack, the professor asked what he thought he was doing. "The test ended an hour ago," he said. "It's over and done. You failed."
The student asked, "Do you know who I am?". "What?", snarled the professor, now annoyed with the student. The student rephrased his question: "Do you know my name?" "No, of course not!", laughed the professor.
The student looked the professor straight in the eyes and replied, "I didn't think so", as he lifted half the papers off one stack, slid his paper into the center, then let the stack fall, burying his test in the middle. Then he turned around and walked casually out of the lecture hall.
In a way, the student cheated. Not necessarily on the exam itself, but he cheated the professor, he cheated the rules. Unfortunately, when it comes to life, we can't cheat God. He knows our name.
Pastor and evangelist F. B. Meyer once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know: First, we do not know how hard they tried not to sin. And second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed them. Oh, and one other thing we do not know is what we would have done in the same circumstances. I can’t think of a better reason why we should follow Jesus’ command to “judge not, that you not be judged”.
In our scripture reading, Paul reminds the church family in Corinth about the time when the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness after being led out of captivity in Egypt. During this forty year trek, the people tested God often, and they paid a great price for it. They constantly questioned why they were led out of the known into the wilderness filled with unknowns. They complained about being taken from the comforts of captivity and left to die of starvation and thirst. Each complaint was answered with God’s provision, but it was never good enough so still they complained. They gave in to the temptation to build and worship a golden calf, a false idol, because they thought God had abandoned them.
Yes, Satan was testing them, but in a way, God was testing them too. God was testing whether His people would remain faithful to Him no matter what their situation. They failed, and paid with their lives.
Led by God’s Holy Spirit into the wilderness, Jesus was tested by Satan. Do we test Jesus? Do we put God to the test? Do we understand that we are being tested too?
I want to jump ahead a little in our church calendar and look at the night before Jesus was arrested. This would be what we observe as Maundy Thursday. The time is immediately following our Lord’s last supper on this earth with His followers. Please listen as I read from the Gospel account of the Apostle Luke, chapter 22, verses 39-46…
39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
--Luke 22:39-46 (NKJV)
And He told His disciples - including us - to pray so that they and we not be tempted. Too often we are spiritually asleep, unaware of what we are doing, of what is being done. We need to rise up and pray. Pray for strength to resist temptation. Pray for wisdom and discernment to do God’s will. Pray for maturity of faith in God in all matters. Pray that we stop before we even begin to test God or Jesus or some other person. Pray that we pass our test. Just pray!
Testing others is not always good. Testing God is never good. We ourselves are being tested, very often by Satan but sometimes even by God. We must understand when we are testing someone else’s ability to resist temptation, and know that is not good for us to do.
We must humble ourselves and pray. We must awake from our spiritual slumbers and pray. Pray for God’s mercy and His help. Just pray. In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, by Your word saved for us in our holy Bibles, You teach us what we need to know to live righteously in Your eyes. And at times You test us to see how well we have learned our lessons. Thank You, Father, for loving us this much, that You want to make sure we know what we need to know for our own sakes. At too many other times, Satan tests us to try to pull us away from You. This is when we really need to understand and follow what You have taught us. Please help us pass our tests, whether they come from You or the devil. Help us not doubt You but trust in You fully. Please forgive us when we grow weak or slumber and fall victim to Satan’s wiles. Strengthen our faith that we may be ever true to You.
Please hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, speaking from our hearts, promising to turn from our sin, seeking Your forgiveness for our disobedience…
Lord Jesus, You easily resisted Satan in the wilderness when He tried to get You to worship him. Lord, we are not that strong. Too often we find ourselves in a wilderness of our own making and we greedily accept whatever the devil has to offer. You tell us to wake from our slumbers and pray, pray that we not enter into temptation. Thank You, Jesus, for giving us the means and the strength to resist if we would just ask for Your help. Forgive us when we doubt You really will help us. Forgive us when we refuse to even ask for help. Forgive us when we fail our test. Wake us from our spiritual slumber. Help us to ever be true to You and our Father God.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus our Lord, our Master, our Savior. Amen.
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