“Good News In Temptation” Mark
1:12-15
Intro.: In the movie
Dennis the Menace, temptation always gets the best of poor Dennis. When tempted to touch something he knows he
shouldn’t, such as Mr. Wilson’s dentures which are left in the bathroom, his
fingers just start fiddling, until finally he breaks down and disaster
follows. The temptation and disaster of
the little boy in the movie is cute. But
in real life temptations are not. Every
day, in so many ways we are tempted to turn away from the Lord, and turn ourselves
on; to tune God out and tune into ourselves.
Children face many temptations as they grow
up and are faced with making tough decisions.
Teenagers feel the pressures of temptation as they struggle to live
their lives for the Lord, while the media and their friends push them toward a
life without restraint. Singles are
tempted by our narcissistic society and an immoral age in which sex is
worshiped as some kind of perfect drug. Couples
and parents are tempted by an easy life of conformity, when its
difficult to maintain a home where love is nurtured, and Christ comes first. For the aging the temptation may be to
despair in face of an ongoing battle with loneliness, a lost sense of worth,
and an increasingly diminished capacity.
Whatever situation in which we find
ourselves temptation is right there with us.
Everyday as we live in this sinful, broken, god-forsaking world we feel
its weight, and the disasters which befall us when we give into it. Thank God through Christ we are given Good
news in temptation.
In today’s Gospel we learn that we have the
victory over every temptation because....
I. Christ
Endured Temptation For Us. (v.12-13)
A. Out of love
for us God placed His Son into this world, face to face with Satan and his
seductive, lying temptations to overcome the world and Satan for us.
It may be difficult for some to imagine
God’s Son actually being under the pressure of temptation, but that is exactly
what was happening when Jesus was driven into the wilderness. There for the forty days of our Lenten season
he suffered deprivation and temptation for us.
While Jesus was “Very God of Very God” he was at the same time “born in
the likeness of men” In his human nature he endured what all we do and
more. He was tempted as we are, and felt
all of the real pressures of real life in a real world for us.
In describing the temptation of our
Lord, Mark is not rehearsing some staged play wherein Jesus runs through his
lines with a fictitious devil. Jesus
experienced life in the trenches for us: battling hunger and thirst and
struggled with the harsh realities of life in a hostile environment.
He felt the subtle temptations of Satan, as
he was offered quick fixes for His problems, if only He would turn away from
God’s plan. Satan tried to convince
Jesus that the need of the moment was more important than faithfulness to His Father. The devil offered him the world in exchange
for just one act of disobedience to God.
B. This was not
our Lord’s only test. Christ’s entire
life was one lived in the face of temptation.
In carrying out His Father’s plan for our salvation Jesus was, and in
some instances remains, the most despised of all men. His life was marked by loneliness, rejection,
disappointment and the daily temptation to look upon us as we are and ask, “Are
they really worth it?”
In addition to the trials we all face, he
bore the weight of the sins of the whole world, and the burden of our
salvation. Remember his weeping over
Jerusalem, his bloody sweat in the garden, his betrayal with a kiss, his
standing before the people he loved and hearing them cry out for his blood;
remember his hours of agony hanging on that cross to be spit upon, taunted and
cursed; think of his final act of death as He announced the completion of our
salvation. He endured all of this; all
these sufferings and temptations for us...
II.
Because We Have Been Overcome By Temptation. (v.14-15)
A. While
none of us have experienced the burdens of our Savior, we know what life under
temptation is like.
The first century Christians who would
have originally read Mark’s Gospel experienced incredible temptations. For them a bold confession and holy life may
result in persecution and even death. On
top of the heavy taxes, crooked government, and difficulty in doing business in
a corrupt world, they faced the hatred of others as they stood up for what the
Lord had taught them and rejected the polytheism and immorality of their day. Many of them were arrested, unjustly judged,
and condemned to death. Some were
crucified, some dismembered, and others were clothed in animal skins and torn
apart by beasts. At one point they were
taken together covered with pitch, ignited and used as human torches for Nero’s
garden. Their faith brought intense
pressure, and great temptation to turn away from the Lord. Around the world, we have brothers and
sisters in Christ who continue to face such pressure and temptation.
Our troubles, especially those brought on
by our faith, may not be as intense as those suffered by the early Christians,
but they still press in on us, and tempt us to turn to the left or to the right. But this is exactly the life Jesus promised
us; not one free from pain and sorrow, but one which involves a cross to carry. He held up his life as a reflection of our
own and told us: “Truly, Truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater
than his master.”
B. And how have
we held up under the pressure? If you
are like me you are rightly ashamed of the many times when you have caved in,
buckled under, and failed to stand-up. Because of the weakness of our sinful
nature we have often been turned to mush by the pressures of life and given
into temptation.
Know this what Satan tried to do to Jesus
in the wilderness, he wants to do to us.
Jesus’ warning to Peter is the same one that is offered to us, as we
daily give into temptation, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have
you, that he might sift you like wheat.”
Satan’s cunning has often gotten the best of
us hasn’t it? For the sake of those
tempting quick fixes, we turn away from our Father’s will. Husbands and wives trample their vows
underfoot and cast their marriage aside for a fleeting moment of selfish pleasure. People, young and old, wallow in self-pity
because they are convinced that their lives are the most wretched. When we give in to these thoughts and
feelings we have in effect taken to ourselves another god. We have decided that the need of the moment
is more important than faithfulness to our Father. We have abandoned our relationship with
Christ to have our “needs” met in some other way. Every one of us here this morning/evening are guilty. We have all
failed to stand-up under the pressures of temptation. We are broken people, but that is where
Christ comes and finds us, isn’t it.
C. Christ comes
to us when we are crushed under the weight of our lost battle with temptation,
and calls us to repent and believe the Good News. In today’s Gospel Jesus assures us that we
are not alone in our battle. In the
worst of times, when the pressures seem to be unbearable - God’s kingdom is
near. Christ promises us that He will
always be with us, and as he, Himself, experienced in the wilderness, He will
send his holy angels to attend to us.
We’re not alone, Christ and His kingdom of grace and promise of victory
is with us.
There is relief from the pressure -
repent and believe. Right here, right
now confess your failure to stand up under temptation. Admit that you have fallen and broken. Lament the ways you have turned from the Lord
to meet the need of the moment. And
after you have cast those burdens on the Lord, believe that Christ has taken
away your sin and given you the victory.
Find relief in the strength of God’s love in Christ. God wants us to know that...
III.
We Can Overcome All Things
With Christ. (
A. In the
wilderness and upon the cross Satan sought to crush God’s Son the same way he
has repeatedly crushed us. But thanks be to God Jesus turned it into our victory.
Jesus prevailed as He trusted in His
Father’s plan, and leaned upon the power of the Word. When challenged to turn stones into bread he
responded with: “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.”
When challenged to test whether the Father truly loved him and would
protect him he answered, “you shall not tempt
the Lord, your God.” When
tempted to exchange the worship of God for temporal power and glory he said, “You
shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”
Our Lord never compromised with evil. He stood up against every temptation and
said, “NO, The honor and glory of my Father, His Will and Purpose to save His
people is more important than the needs I have at this moment! I don’t need a quick fix. I can wait for my Father to do His
thing!” For us Jesus endured every
temptation, and rather than being crushed, crushed instead the head of Satan
for us. His singleness of purpose was to remain
obedient to save us who have been disobedient.
First he lived the holy life for us, then He
died the cursed death for us. And now he has called us to share in His
victory.
B. With Christ,
and the victory he has given us over death and the devil, we have been led out
of temptation, and been filled up with the Holy Spirit in baptism, so that
these clay jars will not be crushed.
With a Savior like ours it is no wonder
that those first century Christians stood up under the pressure of persecution
and met death with words of forgiveness and songs of praise on their lips. Through Christ the
If your life is full of worries, hurts or
temptations, look to your Savior who won the victory for you in the wilderness
and on the cross, and never stop using that Word of God which Christ has taught
you. Live in the full assurance that “in
all things God works together for (your) good”.
And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting…. Amen.