Gtcotr/ss032215
Last
Sunday we read the account of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the
wilderness as recorded in the book of Luke, chapter 4. The first temptation
Jesus faced was to: 1. Provide for Himself by
turning stone into bread instead of waiting on God’s provision. The second
temptation Jesus faced in that wilderness was to: 2.
Promote Himself by taking a short cut to becoming King of all of the
Kingdoms of the world. All Jesus had to do was to submit and pay tribute to the
devil. The third temptation Jesus faced was to: 3.
Prove Himself and show that He really was somebody important and that
God wouldn’t let Him down.
We
observed how Jesus used the Word of God to defeat each temptation and we learned
that:
·
The Word of God supplies our daily bread.
·
Worship and Service to God secures our destiny.
·
Relationship with God assures our eternity.
In
other words, we found that we can trust God with our today, with our tomorrow
and with our eternity. And we realized that these are the very things that the
devil tempts us with the most. Can we trust God with our today, our tomorrow
and our eternity?
How
can anyone trust God with their eternity if they cannot even trust Him to for
what they need today?
About
2 years after Jesus encountered these specific temptations He was ministering in
the far north of Israel not too far from the snow capped Mountain of Hermon.
The area today is called Banias and the Hermon
stream comes to a waterfall that is commonly known as the source of the Jordan
River.
The
scriptures in Mark 8 say that Jesus was at the
town of Caesarea Philippi, named after the son of Herod the Great in the year
2BC.
During
the two years Jesus had been ministering since His encounter with the devil in
the wilderness, Jesus had faced several obstacles presented to Him by the devil
in attempts to detour, derail or otherwise destroy His ministry. In fact one
such attempt had just occurred in verses 32 and 33 of Mark 8 when Peter thought
He was doing Jesus a favor and giving Him support by trying to discount the
need for Jesus to face any hardships. Jesus promptly rebuked Peter and kept His
focus on His trust in God to see Him through whatever might come.
With
these temptations in mind Jesus calls the people who are with Him together for
a little refresher course on what it takes to defeat the devil’s temptations.
Mark 8 NKJV
34 When He had called the
people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them,
"Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me.
35 "For whoever desires
to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the
gospel’s will save it.
36 "For what will it
profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
37 "Or what will a man
give in exchange for his soul?
38 "For whoever is
ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the
Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with
the holy angels."
This
morning I want to encourage you with these same words Jesus spoke to those with
Him on that day. Allow me to paraphrase: If we are going to be a Disciple of
Jesus … then we must:
1.
Be Willing to Pursue Him
a. Recognize the desire
resident within you to come to Jesus …
b. This desire comes
from God and when we answer the call it is strengthened and grows.
2.
Separated Unto God
a. Separated from self
and selfish pursuits
b. Denying worldly
lusts and earthly rewards
c. No provision for the
flesh – the first temptation
3.
Yoked with Christ
a. Joined together
under the burden of the call without respect to the costs
b. Not talking about
the death of the cross but rather the weight of the cross. – the burden and
responsibility of being like Christ
c. “No crown without a
cross …” – the second temptation
4.
Committed to the End
a. Not just a passing
fad but a continuing perseverance
b. This decision to
follow Jesus is a relationship for all eternity
c. Not going to stop
short of heaven – the third temptation
Today
I ask:
·
Are
you willing?
o Will you separate
yourself from this world unto Christ?
o Will you shoulder
the burden of the call of God on your life?
o Will you commit the
rest of your life to following Jesus?
