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MARCH 1, 2009
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. (ESV)
Mark 1:12–13
The story is told about a pastor who had to tell his congregation that they needed to raise a substantial amount of money. The church was falling into disrepair. He was uncomfortable about having to make the appeal. With all of this weighing on him, he was distressed to find that the regular organist was sick and a substitute had to be brought in at the last minute. The substitute wanted to know what to play. “Here’s a copy of the service,” he said. “But you’ll have to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the finances.”
During the service, the pastor paused. “Brothers and Sisters,” he said, “We are in a terrible bind. The roof repairs are going to cost twice as much as we expected and we need to raise $4,000 more. Any of you who can pledge $100 or more, please stand up.” At that moment, the substitute organist played “The Star Spangled Banner.” And that is how the substitute became the regular organist!
Shrewd Organist! But there is one more shrewd. He will never give up. The Bible calls him the devil and Satan. There are a few things we need to know about him:
He tempted Jesus. And he will also tempt us to cash in our faith.
When a man, woman, or child comes to faith in Jesus Christ, he often believes that his life will go better. He expects that God will bless him and give him success in his endeavors. He expects that his faith will be rewarded in mysterious but tangible ways.
It would seem, at least to our limited human reason, that the struggle should be over and that the great spiritual battle is behind us. But that is not necessarily true. More often than not, the real battles and spiritual struggles begin in earnest. That is to say, the Christian will face temptations that he never faced while he was on the unbelieving side of the cross.
From God’s Word, we know that the Christian life is constant struggle against sin. But frequently, we really don’t believe it. Too often we believe the very opposite, that the Christian life is one in which we will master our temptations. But it’s lie!
And, unfortunately, it’s a lie you hear from many pulpits. And Satan uses it to his advantage. Say, for example, that a Christian man is at Home Depot. But suddenly, right out of nowhere, a beautiful woman crosses his path. She ignites an ember of lust as his eyes follow her until she fades out of view. For a few minutes, he can’t get her out of his mind. He remembers the words of his Lord: “Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”1 There is now a titanic struggle within this man. To chase her or not to chase her? That is the question! He is afraid about what’s going on inside of him.
This battle against lust goes on for days. It seems that every woman who crosses his path is worthy of “further inspection,” so to speak. “This can’t be happening,” he says to himself. So he talks with a few trusted Christian friends. They urge him to try harder. He does, but he can’t get over it; instead, the struggles get worse. He is finally convinced that his faith is a sham. He despairs and walks away from the Church and God’s Word. Satan rejoices. Another one bites the dust!
But the point I want you to see is that Satan and the bad advice and teaching of his friends deceived him. They deceived him, first into misbelief, and, second, into disbelief.
If only he had been properly taught. You see, to feel the daily battle against sin is common to every true believer. We are simultaneously saints and sinners. That is, we are simultaneously righteous in Christ and unrighteous as to our sinful nature. There will be times when our sinful nature will get the best of us. But there will also be times, hopefully more often than not, when our new nature wins.2
I’d like you to consider the apostle Paul. He was one of the greatest Christians who ever lived. And yet he experienced the same conflict common to all of us. In Romans 7, speaking some 20 years after his conversion, he says of himself, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. … So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”3 And so this sinner/saint cried out in distress, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”4 But he does not despair like the man who walked away from the faith. Why not? Because he knows that his Savior will forgive his falls and defeats. So he cries out in relief, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”5 And we can rejoice in that forgiveness as well.
But there is another error about temptation that is equally dangerous and, I fear, far more common. Satan appeals to our sense of fair play and asks us to compare ourselves with others.
Suppose a woman faces the temptation of envy. She looks at all the lovely things her neighbor has — a to–die–for house, two European imports in the garage, money to burn, and a maid. All this in our current economic crisis! She, on the other hand, is just barely getting by. Not fair! Instead of being thankful for what she has, she is jealous of what everybody else has. It seems to her that her family, friends, and neighbors have everything she wants. Even among her Christian friends, she is jealous. But instead of fighting against her jealousy, she nurtures it. “I deserve better!” she says. No, she doesn’t! Scripture says that she must learn to be content with what God has given her.6
My friends, if we continually give in to the temptations that assault us, we will soon be consumed by them. Let’s consider the man once again. Suppose he gives in to his lust, time and again without a fight or without repentance. What will become of him? Soon enough he will become a slave of his erotic passions. That is, his will become an addict of his desires. You see, sin (like drugs) is addictive.
Do you see what has happened? Both the lust–driven man and the envy–ridden woman have become mastered by their sins. Now each time temptation strikes they just do what comes easy and not what is right. Their god is no longer the Triune God, but sex and affluence. Each now serves and bows down to the god he or she worships.
But Jesus was without sin.7 We see this in our text. Satan makes three assaults against him. He knows that if he can get Jesus to sin just once, mankind will have no Savior and he would win the victory over God. For 40 days and 40 nights Satan throws temptation after temptation at Christ.
The Gospels record only three of them, probably the last three, or, perhaps, the most important three. In each temptation, Jesus thwarts the attack by throwing God’s Word back into Satan’s face. This is the key to rebuffing the temptations we face. When we face sexual temptation, we should say, “Away from me, devil, for it is written, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’”8 When we face the green fangs of envy, we should say, “Begone, Satan, for it is written, ‘You shall not covet.’”9
The reason we can be confident in facing the temptations of the evil one is that Christ, our Substitute, has already defeated him. In Hebrews we read, “[Christ] has in every respect been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”10 What that means to us is that, in Christ, we have never yielded to temptation. Moreover, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us, we do not fight temptations alone. God helps us in all of our battles. And if it should happen that we fall into sin, God forgives us in Christ. So we see that the entire Christian life is one of constant repentance.
At a very practical level, think of yourself as living in an apartment. Your landlord is unjust and charges exorbitant rent. When you can’t pay, he loans you the money, but the interest is outrageous. He barges into your apartment and threatens you. He never makes repairs. He even dirties up the place and charges you extra.
But then a new owner buys the complex. And he tells you that you can live there free as long as you like. “I’ve already paid the rent for you,” he says. How wonderful you feel. You have been rescued!
But then the old landlord shows up and demands rent. Are you going to pay him? Of course not! You tell him to take it up with the new landlord. So every time Satan comes calling with his long list of accusations, threats, and new temptations, just say, “Go away Satan! You no longer control me. Take up the matter with Jesus.” Satan will not hang around for long. In Christ, he knows he is a defeated enemy. He knows it! He just hopes you don’t know it.
So we fight against the temptations that come our way. But if we should fall into sin, we look to him who forgives sin. We look only to him who never sinned, i.e., to Jesus. To his repentant people, he richly bestows his forgiveness to those to trust in him.
He is, after all, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Simple trust in him gives us forgiveness, life, and salvation, for it is written, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”11 Let us stand on this promise of God and cherish the gift he has given to us.
In the name of Christ, the crucified, Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Endnotes
1 See Matthew 5:28.
2 There is a good explanation of simultaneously saint and sinner at http://xrysostom.blogspot.com/2005/10/sinner-and-saint-why-do-i-do-wrong.html. Also see the December 11th program of “Issues, Etc”. at the following link: http://www.issuesetcarchive.org/05dec.php.
3 See Romans 7:19, 25b.
4 See Romans 7:24.
5 See Romans 7:24a.
6 To the Philippians the apostle Paul says, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Phil. 411, NIV). In his instructions to Timothy, he also says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Tim. 6:6-8NIV).
7 St. Peter says of Jesus, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22, ESV).
8 See Exodus 20:14.
9 See Exodus 20:20:17.
10 See Hebrews 4:15.
11 See Ephesians 2:8-9.
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