Annual Sermons: Vol. 7 No. 4 Text Matt. 4:1-11 Concord Baptist Church 1992 Bob Marcaurelle, Pastor Info: Yahoo search Homeorchurchbiblestudy.com bob marcaurelle Anderson, sc HOW TO TALK TO THE DEVIL Last week I talked about how the world tries to pull us apart and pull us down (From Exodus 32). Well, when we become Christians, we will still feel the pull. There will be the pull of the devil, the pull of the world and the pull of our old nature, God leaves within us when He saves us. The word for these pulls is temptation. Satan and the world speak forcefully to our weak and wicked side and do their best to pull us away from the will of God. And this happens especially when we commit ourselves to do God s bidding. We see this in the life of our Lord. As some point in His growth to manhood He came to believe that He was God s Son the Messiah. As He pored over God s Word, written on the sacred scrolls, to find out what kind of Messiah He would be, He no doubt came to Isaiah 40 and Malachi 4. Each passage spoke of a forerunner, who in the spirit, power and resemblance of rugged Elijah, would come forth and announce Him ( Isa. 40:3-5; Mal. 4:5-6; Matt. 11:14; Lk. 3:4-5; etc.). How it must have thrilled the soul of young Jesus to know He was God s own Son. How He must have wondered when the Elijah-like prophet would come forth. But then the terrible day came when Jesus learned from the Father s Word what He the Messiah would have to endure. Isaiah 40 said He is coming! but Isaiah 53 tells what would happen to Him... He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows...smitten by God and afflicted...he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities...he was oppressed and afflicted...like a lamb being led to the slaughter...he was cut off from the land of the living...and made his grave with the wicked. (Is. 53:3-9).
Can t you see His strong young hands tremble? His keen eyes fill with tears? His young heart pound? I see Him running off to the hills, or kneeling there in His shop, in His first Gethsemane, as He looks up and says, Oh, Father, is this true? Oh, Father, isn t there some other way thn the same and pain way? But then I hear Him as He wrestles through and says, Nevertheless - not what I will, but Thy will be done! How long Jesus had to live under he shadow of the cross, we do not know. But what we do know is that when John the Baptist stood up looking and eating and preaching like Elijah and said he was the forerunner of Isaiah 40 (Jn. 1:23) Jesus knew the time had come and came forth to do God s will and suffer and die for you and me. That s what His baptism by John was all about. He stood in line with sinners to be baptized because on the cross He would take our punishment as a sinner, though He was sinless. And I believe that when the baptism was over, the full weight of this hit Him and led by the Spirit, He went into the desert to fast and pray and do battle with the devil. What kind of battle? The same one we face when we commit to live for God. Satan tried to pull Him away from the Old Rugged Cross - to being some other kind of Messiah than a Lamb being led to the slaughter. He felt the pull. Look first at... I. THE TEMPTER (Matt. 4:1) The Bible says, He was tempted (enticed to sin) by Satan, the devil (Mt. 4:1; Mk. 1:13). The word Satan means ENEMY (See Nu. 22:22) and the word devil means ACCUSER or SLANDERER. As our enemy he accuses man before God as he did Job (Ch. 1). He points at us and says to God, Look at the weak, wicked, stupid thing you call your child. And he accuses God when he talks to man as He did to Adam (Gen. 3). He says, Do you mean to tell me that mean old God won t let you eat that fruit? And he says to Jesus, here, Do you mean to tell me that mean old God wants you to die on the cross? Surely not! This can t be the will of a loving God! A lot of folk have trouble believing in the devil - a personal, persuasive, powerful voice within each of us that pulls us down to
horrible depths. As I look around at what man does I have no problem believing in Satan. Do you know that every week in New York City, four children are beaten to death BY THEIR PARENTS? You say, That s terrible! That s unbelievable!: Sure it is, but the seed of that lives in every one of us. Be honest! What parent can say he has never felt like killing one of his kids. Erma Bombeck says every time she went on vacation she felt like letting the kids off at a rest stop and then DRIVING AWAY. (I can relate to that.) Jesus did not have our evil nature, but like Adam and Eve, He had the foul pull of the Enemy upon His mind, body, emotions and soul. I ll tell you why the devil isn t real to most of you. It s because you are not committed to the will of God. The devil leaves you alone because you re already doing what he wants. You re not serious about prayer, about supporting your church, about witnessing, about taking unpopular stands. You don t meet the devil because you and he are heading in the same direction. When Jesus was baptized and in essence said, I will do your will, Father! I will go to the cross!, all heaven broke loose, but SO DID ALL HELL! The devil said, I can t trust this to any of my demons, I ve got to go myself and stop this Jesus if I can. In commitment to the will of God He met Satan within Him head on, and you and I will too. II. THE TIME (Matt. 4:2) I want you to notice the TIME. This was a HIGH time and a HARD time in Jesus life. It was HIGH because Jesus saw heaven split wide open (Matt. 4:16). He saw the Holy Spirit come down like a dove (Matt. 4:16). And He heard God s voice of approval, This is My beloved Son (Matt. 4:17). But it was also a HARD time. The signs from heaven let Jesus know He was right about his mission. Up until then He BELIEVED He would have to die a bloody death, but now and hereafter, He KNEW it. And He was physically exhausted. The scorching, barren desert southeast of Jerusalem is unbelievable. I got out of an air conditioned bus to look at the cave there where David lived and in ten minutes of 120 degree heat I could care less about that cave. I got back on the bus, panting and fanning and hoping I would
live to get home. Jesus was there 40 days and 40 nights without food when the devil came. He was exhausted body, mind and soul. Listen, friend, the old devil knows just when and just where to come at you. It can be at the point of your strength. David was a soldier who loved his soldiers but the devil got him to sleep with one of his soldier s wives and then have him killed to keep it secret. He can also come at the point of weakness as when he came at Job through his three so-called friends. It is when husbands and wives are at odds that Satan sends someone else to entice you. It is when you walk away from a grave or into a hospital room that he whispers, God doesn t care one thing about you. It is when you are depressed that he will send someone to criticize you. III. THE TECHNIQUE (Matt. 4:3-11) Jesus received God s Word and God s will from the Bible. Like the Reformers, He believed When scripture speaks, God speaks. Like David He said, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path (Ps. 119:105). His answer to His critics was, Have you not read or It is written or The Holy Spirit says... (Mt. 12:3; 22:43; 4:4). And so Satan, as he does every Christian, attacked Jesus MIND and what He believed about the Word of God. First... 1. He Tempts Us to Doubt God s Word (Mt. 4:2-4). He said, Since you are God s Son, give the command and turn these stones (probably lying all around) into bread. When I was young I rode my bike past a bakery to get to school. Is there a better smell on earth? I would close my eyes and just breathe in. Think about the hot homemade bread the Son of God could bake. He would have drawn every wild animal and bird from ta hundred miles. He was tempted as a MAN to use His miraculous power to satisfy His physical needs. He was tempted as the MESSIAH to use His power to avoid suffering, to by-pass Calvary. Satan was saying, Why should God s Son be out here blistered and starving and half dead? Why don t you blink your eyes and build a Holiday Inn? Why should God s Son die on a cross to win men? Why don t you give everyone a Holiday Inn of their own?
He was trying to get Jesus to doubt what God had told Him, to forget about Isaiah 53. And, friend, he will do the same to you. Before you are saved he will tell you, Forget about all this blood and cross and Christianity junk. Just do the best you can and you ll be better than half the hypocrites in churches. After we are saved he will tell us committed Christians who care about church, who care about what they say, who care about what they put into their bodies, who care about what s on TV and movies, and who care about what their kids are taught in school, are a bunch of fanatics. Satan will get you out of church, off your knees, out of your Bibles, out of your billfolds and purses, and out of any public stands for Christ and he ll get you to believe God doesn t really want you to do these fanatical kind of things. 2. He Tempts Us to Distort God s Word (Mt. 3:5-7). Jesus answered this first temptation with a verse He had memorized in Deut. 8:3. He said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes forth from the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4). In other words, Satan, I have a road map, I have a compass, I have an authority for everything I believe and do, and it s not what you or the world or the church says, it is my Bible. No there is one good thing we can say about the devil - He never gives up. He is persistent. And so, knowing Jesus loyalty to the Bible, he quotes the Bible in such a way as to distort the Bible. He says, OK, go to the highest point of the Temple and jump down and the angels of god will catch you because this is promised in Ps. 91:11-12. Jesus, probably in His mind, looked down from the Temple into the Kidron valley and thought about being a SPECTACULAR, miracle working Messiah, instead of a SUFFERING one. Jesus knew that if He healed all the ills of mankind He would be crowned King of planet earth. But He knew miracles and healings may change the body but not the soul and only the cross could deliver from sin. And so He thought of Deut. 6:16 and said to Himself and the devil s voice within, It is written, you should not test the Lord your God (Mt. 4:7)
Friends, the old devil is so smart he can get us to disobey the Bible by obeying the Bible. The Pharisees were experts at this. They were so messed up in obeying scripture that when the God it told about came to them, they called Him the devil (Mt. 10:25). Paul says we can obey the LETTER of the Law and deny the SPIRIT (2 Cor. 3:6). Several months ago the Hospice ladies told me of a man dying with cancer who had accepted Christ but could not leave his bed and be baptized. He wanted to die as a member of a church but the pastor who led him to the Lord said it was not possible. Why? Because the Bible teaches, he said, you have to be immersed in water to be a member of a local church. Well, I took the matter to our deacons and to you, the local church. And we voted that I could baptize him spiritually into our fellowship. When we told that man, his face lit up with the glory of heaven. The day we went to his bedside will live in my memory forever. He had his hair combed. He had on a brand new shirt. With family, Hospice ladies, friends and your church staff there, we prayed, sang amazing grace, joined hands, and I, as your representative, welcomed him into Concord Baptist Church with a wave of my hand symbolizing baptism. The pastor who led him to Christ is a friend of mine and man I admire. Later, he said to me, I would like to know what scriptural authority you had to make that man a member without water baptism.. I said, All the scripture I have and need is Love your neighbor. My friends, I do not have one doubt in this world that God did not want that child of His to die as a church member. 3. He Tempts Us to Disobey God s Word (Mt. 4:8-11). The devil s last pull was simply for Jesus to disobey. In His mind Jesus stood on a high mountain looking at the world, and probably thought of many ways He could win men without going to the cross. But He knew that when we deviate one inch form God s will we stop worshipping God and start worshipping Satan. Are you three today? Is there one unyielded area in your life? Then, my friend, at that point you stand with Satan and with those who killed your Lord.
Why didn t Jesus use His power and blast Satan into hell? Why didn t He use His matchless wisdom to tie him in knots and make him leave there. As E. V. Hill said, With his head rattling! Because YOU AND I CAN T DO THAT. He did what you and I can do. He lifted up His Bible and said, I am going to obey and listen and live by this Book. Will you do the same? How do we knot it is God s word? The same way Jesus knew. It is soul food. When we come depraved and full of guilt we see the blood and are set free. When we come in darkness we find light. When we come in weakness we find strength. When we come in confusion we find wisdom. When we come in despair we find hope. And when we come to the end of life s journey we find heaven opening before us. We say with Jesus, Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.