"You Deserve It" Sermon: Matthew 4:1-11 (manuscript)

“You Deserve It”

[Matthew 4:1-11]

YouTube March 8, 2020

            McDonald’s slogan, “You deserve a break today,” is not far from our current American slogan, “You deserve it.” Many believe that they are deserving of whatever they desire by virtue of breathing – that they have a right to have certain things “just because,” and they are just in taking them.

Jesus says, “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So, you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” (Luke 17:7-10, ESV).

Jesus tells us that if we were without sin and obeyed the law perfectly, we would not have merited anything, for we would only have done what is our duty.  The devil tempts us to think we are worthy and deserving – and that is not to say that it is wrong to enjoy things or to receive something in return for our labor.  The devil tempts us according to our weaknesses and during times of weakness so, as with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, when God says not to eat it, we think, ‘But, you know, I really deserve it.”

            Last week, we considered how sin came into the world and how we have all been affected by it.  We saw that God cannot lie and, in fact, He has given us blessings beyond measure out of His Grace.

            This morning, we turn to the work of the devil as we look at Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.  Jesus spends thirty years in His parents’ house, is baptized by John, at which time the Father declares Jesus to be God the Son, the Beloved, and then the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness.

            “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

            And we might well ask why?  Why did God the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness?

            The first answer is blatant in the text – to be tempted by the devil.  But why?

            We need to remember that Jesus is both in One Person, the One God and a real human being – and one of the things Jesus had to do to merit salvation for His people was to keep the Law of God perfectly – to be both sinless and holy.

            So, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for two reasons:  to prepare Him for ministry, and to tempt – to attack – Jesus in human weakness and while He was in a time of weakness – a fast of forty days and forty nights.

            First, the Word of God always takes precedence over what we want.

            “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”

            Jesus is a real human being – after forty days of not eating, He was hungry.  This is a proof that Jesus is a real human being – as well as being the One God.  Just imagine not eating for forty days – many of us can’t get through worship without longing for the coffee hour cake.

            Jesus, in His humanity was very hungry.

“And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’”

And the devil comes to Jesus and says, “I know You are the Son of God.  I know You are hungry.  Your Father wouldn’t want You to be hungry.  I know You want to eat.  Why don’t You just turn these stones into bread and satisfy Your hunger?”

“But he answered, ‘It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

            Jesus answers, “My desire for food is not as important as obeying God’s Word.  I will not doubt My Father’s care and goodness because My body is crying out for food.”

            Is Jesus saying it is wrong to break a fast early if you can’t handle it?  No.  Jesus is not saying it is wrong to break a fast or to eat when you are hungry.  He is saying that He is undergoing temptation to be able to fulfill the Father’s call on His life, so He will not disobey God – He will not sin – He will continue to discipline His body and put it under the authority of the Word of God.

            And Jesus quotes the Word of God to show that what we want does not take precedence over the Word of God.

            We may be going through a time when it seems good to get drunk, and we want to get drunk to feel better – to forget – whatever.  But God says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” (Ephesians 5:18, ESV).  So, we must not get drunk, no matter how much we may want to and can justify it to ourselves.

            We may desire to have sexual relations with someone, and that person is fine with having sexual relations with us.  But God says, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4, ESV). So, we must not have sexual relations with someone unless we are married to them, no matter how much we may want to and can justify it to ourselves.

            The Word of God always takes precedence over what we want.

            Second, correct exposition of God’s Word is key.

            “Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

            The devil says, “Ok, if we have to go by the Scripture, look at these two Scriptures that say You can do whatever You want, and the angels will protect You.  So, prove You are the Son of God to everyone by jumping off the top of the Temple and be saved by the angels – as the Word of God says.”

            The texts the devil quotes come from Psalm 91, in which the Psalmist is explaining that God cares for and protects all those of the elect – all those who believe throughout time and space.  The Psalmist is telling us that all the angels of God assist in the care and protection of all the elect.  This text is not specifically about Jesus, but He would be included.

            This is when I remember that Bob Dylan rightly said, “You can prove anything you want with the Bible.”  The point being – you can pull texts out of the Bible – out of context – distorting their meaning – and force them to support whatever position you desire.

            “Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”’”

            The Word of God says that the angels care for and guard the elect, therefore, we can life a life without fear.

            Satan says, you can walk in front of a bus and not be hurt, because the Word of God says the angels will care for and guard you.

            God wants us to know that God and His spiritual army will not allow anything outside of His will to happen to the elect.  God and His angels have prevented unnumbered pains and sorrows on behalf of the elect.  This is a promise to comfort us and to make us thankful.

            This is not permission to sin all we want because the angels will keep us from harm.  No.  That’s why Jesus tells the devil that God’s Word also says not to test God.  If we pull a text out of context, we may suffer in unimaginable ways.

            There is no promise – even for the Son of God – that if He jumped off the top of the Temple that He would not hit the ground and die.

            Correct exposition of the Word of God is key.  The devil will twist and misapply the Word of God to get us to sin.

            For example, the very titling of Jesus as the “Son of God,” has led some to conclude that Jesus is less God than the Father is – or that He is not God at all, but the highest of creatures.  We understand that this is a lie of the devil when we read the texts of Scripture within their context.  Jesus is not the biological Son of God, nor a creation of God, but God Himself.  The title, “Son of God,” refers to His work within the Godhead, not to His being (eternally) subordinate to the Father.

            Third, the Triune God Alone is to be worshipped.

            “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’”

            Finally, the devil takes Jesus up to a place where He can see all of the kingdoms of the world, and the devil says, “all of these kingdoms are full of sinners – they are all full of people who acknowledge that I am the Lord and Sovereign of the earth.  If You will worship me as they do, I will give You the entire earth, all its peoples, and kingdoms.”

            The devil likes to tell partial truths – it is true that this world is full of sinners and kingdoms of sinful people, and people who delight to follow the devil.  But he is not the Lord and Sovereign – the King of the earth.  God has never for one moment relinquished Absolutely Sovereignty over a single molecule in all of Creation.  If He did, God would not be God.  God is either Absolutely Sovereign, or, by definition, He is not God.

We read, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you” (2 Chronicles 20:6, ESV).

God is God over all the kingdoms and all of Creation.  The devil is an “influencer” in modern parlance, but he is not sovereign over anything.  Even in his wickedness, he serves God’s plan (cf. Job 1).

            But there is a bigger issue, isn’t there:

“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”’”

God says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:2-6, ESV).

            Even if the devil is the most powerful creature in all of existence, he is still a creature.  He is still a being made by God the Creator.  The devil is less than God.  He is not to be worshipped.

            God and God alone is to be worshipped.  If we worship anyone other than the One Triune God, we are committing idolatry.  We are idolaters.

            And I hear some of you breathing a sigh of relief because you have never worshipped the devil.  But what is idolatry?

            Paul writes, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5, ESV).

            Covetousness is looking at Mike Bloomberg and saying, “It’s wrong that Mike Bloomberg has sixty billion dollars – he should give some of that money (all of the money?) to me.  I deserve to have Mike Bloomberg’s money.”

            Covetousness is seeing what someone else has and not just wanting it, but saying you are more deserving of it, and Paul says that this is also idolatry, because – in this example – you have put Mike Bloomberg’s money in place of God.

            Lust is saying, “I wish I had that.”

            Covetousness is saying, “I wish I had that because I am more deserving of it than you.”

            Why does he get to have – why does she get to have – I have done – Don’t I deserve to have – that’s idolatry.

            When we live in the most free and prosperous country in the world – when we believe in our hearts and minds that Jesus is the Savior and know that God has saved us from His Wrath – and we say, but it’s not enough – I deserve to have such and such like him or her – that’s idolatry.  When we do that, we are worshipping something other than God.

            The Triune God alone is to be worshipped.

            And then, look:

            “Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.”

            The author of Hebrews writes, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18, ESV).

            Understand, the devil will tempt us in our weak areas and when we are weak.  He will twist the Word of God and take it out of context.  He will try to get us to commit idolatry.  But God came to earth in the Person of Jesus, and Jesus suffered when He was tempted by the devil – in the wilderness and throughout His life on earth – and He can help us when we are being tempted.

            James writes, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7, ESV).

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, we thank You that Jesus lived to save us as well as died to save us.  We thank You that He gave us an example to being obedient and fleeing from sin.  Help us to quickly turn to You for help so we would always turn from temptation and deny sin.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.