The President Writes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  HOW HOLINESS PEOPLE

Please read Matthew 4:1-10. The temptation of Christ in the wilderness has a multitude of practical lessons for the believer. The perspective from which you view this incident in Jesus’ life will produce a variety of lessons that are helpful in all the different areas of Christian living.

I want to look at the temptation from the perspective of a Christian that is conscientious and committed to the work God put them in this world to do. Jesus was here on assignment from heaven, and the devil knew it. The temptation is part of the devil’s effort to thwart the purposes of God. We often forget that even though you and I believe the final outcome of the struggle between good and evil is a forgone conclusion, Satan doesn’t. The devil is not fighting for what he thinks is a lost cause - he believes he can win. Every time he succeeds in deceiving another human being, or causing a Christian to backslide, it pumps up his pride and boosts his confidence. He really thinks he is going to win, and fights like he believes it.

So the temptations of our text are the intelligent attempts of an enemy to cancel the positive efforts of a child of God committed to do the work of the kingdom. Just as God presumes that anything that has breath should praise the Lord, Satan presumes that anything that has flesh can be tempted. From our earliest Sunday School experience to now, we have studied that story of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness to our profit. We have seen in action our High Priest touched by the feeling of our infirmities, tempted on all points like we are -yet without sin. We have seen the gospel itself, wrapped in man’s flesh, fought by Satan through temptation to try and stop the salvation of others.

It is worthy to note that it is not Jesus in peril or danger in this text. It is not even us who must worry, will Jesus resist, will He go on, will He go to Calvary, will He by His own blood purge our sins? No, our salvation was then as it is now, "in good hands"–nail scarred , but good.

It was the devil who was in danger. The Rock of Ages had come to build His church and the gates of hell would never withstand what He was fixing to hit them with–His blood.

Of course, that was Jesus and this is us. He has no hands but our hands, no feet but our feet. We are His ambassadors. And the lessons from the temptation in the wilderness can help us see what the devil is using in an attempt to stop us–to prevent us from doing the will of God. Note, Satan did not intend to stop Jesus from having a ministry and working in religion–no, he was going to help Him do that. He wanted to stop God’s will from being done.

Consider, THE FIRST TEMPTATION (Verses 2-4). Notice that a complete and intense devotion in the spiritual realm had caused a huge lack in the physical realm, "he was afterward, an hungered." Satan came with the logic of the flesh that says you have made a huge sacrifice that now entitles you to use your spiritual power and authority to satisfy the void created by your sacrifice..."if thou be the son of God, command these stones to be made bread" (verse 3).

It was logic of this sort that caused certain televangelists to do what they did. But the temptation to feel you are entitled to satisfy personal desires because of your sacrifice for the kingdom did just what the devil wanted - stopped people’s usefulness in the kingdom. Jesus said the proper attitude toward our labors are found in the servant’s attitude who had just returned from the field and was met with a command from his master for more labor –"I am an unprofitable servant for I have done only that which was my duty to do" (Luke 17:10). Gratitude is a key here.

If you can resist the craving of your flesh and Satan’s logic that makes it sound reasonable and say with conviction, I’d rather hear the voice of God, I’d rather know His will and what He approves of than satisfy my flesh, you will go on to great achievements in God as well as tremendous spiritual growth.

Notice, THE SECOND TEMPTATION (verses 5-7). When Satan could not persuade the Savior to abuse His station and privilege to satisfy the flesh, he appealed to pride. "If thou be the son of God"–Satan questions the validity of who He was. Then He attempts to get Jesus to take a risk and act in a reckless manner that God disapproved of to try and prove by visible success who He was.

Spiritually reckless behavior that tempts God has been one of the leading causes of compromise and unfulfilled ministry. We don’t win everyone we see, but we need to try. I don’t have to get all of you into heaven, but I have to please God. I have to live right. I have to preach holiness.

Reckless spiritual behavior because we feel we have something to prove is deadly. When we want notoriety or acceptance by the worldly crowd because the devil is taunting us, we are putting ourselves in danger–when we are on the pinnacle of the temple in the Holy City and Satan says, "Now, produce. If your holiness is better or makes you more godly, prove it." You may have to forget a pulpit standard or membership qualifications to look successful. Or you may have to stop challenging people to put on Christ and make no provision for the flesh.

Your risks are for a "good cause." You are trying to make it possible for all to get in by lowering the qualifications. It reminds one of the new immigration laws being proposed. They are already in, lets just grant them amnesty, it would be a lot of hassle to make them go out and come back in right. Politicians will decide that for America but who will decide it for the church? "Don’t tempt God"–what does that mean? One translator said, "don’t test God," but we are told to prove Him in other places. This implies don’t provoke God’s disapproval by doing spiritually dangerous things for no good reason. Personal pride is not a good reason.

Finally, THE THIRD TEMPTATION (verses 8-10). The devil couldn’t get Jesus to abuse His privileges to satisfy His own desire, nor could He provoke His pride to make Him take risks to prove who He was. So, his final temptation was to try and get Jesus to take an easier way. Satan said, "Make a deal with me and I’ll give you what you came for without the Cross. All you have to do is change the focus of your worship from the true God that is holy to an unholy one."

Of course the devil doesn’t make it as obvious to us as he did to Jesus. What he presents to you and me is a false representation of the true God. A God who loves but never condemns, has mercy but never executes judgment, and to whom holiness is not important. This describes an idol, a false God. You say, "I don’t think anyone I know would worship the devil" Maybe not intentionally, but if they are worshiping a false representation of the true God it amounts to the same thing. "What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils" (I Corinthians 10: 19-21)

If I were the devil and was trying to get a holiness preacher to compromise, this is what I’d do:

And in reality these are the very things he is doing, and most of us have faced them.

Thank God we have a Savior who knows what we are facing and how to lead us to victory. Jesus resisted the devil’s temptation in the wilderness, and the Bible makes this promise: "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18).

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Last modified: 09/02/08