Good morning. I hope that the title this morning caught your eye, I will get to it in a moment. But I would like to begin with a word about the sermon message I am preparing for this Sunday, November 27. It will be the final message from the “Jesus Said What?” series and is titled “No” to Temptation. The scripture text is Matthew 4:1-11 which records the ordeal of Jesus being attacked by Satan with temptations.
As I said, the scripture text will come from Matthew 4 but for our thought today I would like to refer to Luke’s account of the same episode. Luke says this in Luke 4:13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until a more opportune time.
I have always been intrigued by that notion, that Satan, soundly and fully defeated by Jesus, didn’t give up. He withdrew while waiting for a better opportunity. Now remember, this occasion of the temptation of Jesus came after He had been fasting for over a month and was at His physically most weakened and vulnerable state. What could be a more opportune time?
We also read in Hebrews 4:15 regarding Jesus, our great High Priest: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
What could have been “the more opportune time”? As we read the verse from Hebrews it says everything that has tempted us was thrown at Jesus. So perhaps every day, day after day, temptations arose which provided another meaningful opportunity. But note the end of the verse telling us about Jesus’ consistent response: yet without sin.
Jesus wins the victory. Time after time, day after day, no matter what the enemy threw at Him, Jesus won. The same power and strength are promised to each of us as we try to endure the temptations of each day.
As for the title, it points to a personal issue. Perhaps one that we might share?
Last Saturday I decided to surprise Pam by having the smell of freshly baked Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies greet her as she got up in the morning. I got out the yellow tube of cookie dough, put the spoon sized balls of dough on the pans, 30 of them filled the pans to the max, and put them into the oven. That was when temptation struck. At the end of the roll of dough, after the 30 cookies-to-be were put into the oven, there was still an inch of uncooked dough in the yellow plastic sleeve. Not enough to bake but certainly too precious to waste. And oh, how I love that uncooked dough!
Is it good for me? Probably not. Do any of the rest of you fall for that same temptation? I would guess that many of you do! So, I have given that left over uncooked dough in the last folds of the plastic sleeve a name: Nestle Toll House Sushi.
There. Now doesn’t that sound healthier?
Vern