What God Has Not Withheld

What God Has Not Withheld

Gen 3:1-21; Matthew 4:1-11 T Lent 1

INI

Does God withhold anything good from you? Does He hold back any knowledge? Or any freedom you wish to enjoy?

Those questions are at the heart of any temptation. Satan whispers into our ear – “God didn’t REALLY say THAT, did He? He didn’t really MEAN that?” To us the temptation could be small or big. It could be an obvious transgression to our conscience, or it could be subtle, and we hardly realize what’s happening. But each and every time a temptation occurs, Satan tries to make you question God’s Word, and allure you away from it.

In fact, Satan’s goals are accomplished little by little. His overall goal is to lead anyone away from God. Away from His Word – through sin. But he plays the long game. He’s subtle – he’ll start with a little transgression, and make it grow into outright unbelief and distrust. But he always starts subtly by getting us to question – ‘Is God holding anything back from me?’ To answer this question, he appeals to our mind, our heart, and our flesh.

Look at the story of his temptation to Eve in the garden. What’s the first thing he tempts her with? “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” So, first, Satan appeals to her mind. He gauges what she knows about God’s Word, as she’s been told it from her husband, Adam. At first, she responds in faith – ‘We may eat of any tree, but not THAT tree.’ She even adds a little extra rule to protect herself from falling into temptation – ‘We can’t even touch it!’.

Then, Satan introduces doubt to what Eve knows. He says – “You will not surely die.” This clearly questions God’s Word and command, but then Satan justifies his claim by telling a half-truth: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan makes disobedience to God’s Word look like wisdom. He makes it look like God’s holding something back from Eve. Thus, Satan’s appeal to Eve’s heart begins.

And what sealed Eve’s fate? Satan appealed to her flesh. Having questioned God’s Word, appealing to her mind, and having questioned if God’s holding something back from her, appealing to her heart, now Satan appeals to the flesh. Once she SAW that the fruit was pleasing to the eyes, sight replaced faith. Satan held before her the promise that wisdom could be seized by her own hand. And when what she SAW became more desirable than what God had SAID, her fate was sealed.

Adam stood by and let this all happen, failing to do His God given duty of protecting His wife. And then, he listened to Eve instead of God. He took the fruit and ate it too.

But if you notice, Satan wasn’t convincing Adam or Eve that God wasn’t real. His goal isn’t necessarily to make the whole world atheists. He was convincing them to distrust God. Distrust His Word. Because if we distrust His Word, we WILL fall into sin. Eventually, becoming enslaved to it. And if never dealt with, we’ll be separated from the Father.

And we don’t have to wonder what that sort of distrust in God’s Word produces. God’s curses on Adam and Eve show us. By their own doing, they now lived in a world of disordered desires within marriage. Pain in birthing and raising children. Difficulty with harvesting food. Work won’t always be fruitful – it’ll have much turmoil. And the curse that we just remembered on Ash Wednesday – we are dust and to dust we shall return.

Simply, chaos from God’s created order is the result of sin. Satan knew that. And he knew that through Adam’s sin, sin would spill out to all the rest of creation.

And that spill reaches us. We don’t just imitate Adam’s sin. It’s inherited. Our lives of sin are a result of the fall. We’re born with disordered desires. We’re inflicted with disease, sickness, and pain. Our work is laborious; our flesh is weak and lazy. Our relationships with our families or neighbors are often fractured from a prideful, calloused heart. But of course, Adam or Eve isn’t to blame. Satan even isn’t solely to blame. The corruption may be passed down to us – but the choice to participate in it is still ours.

When this is our lives, Satan’s temptation becomes a whole lot easier on us. Because we know good and evil. We live in the fruit of the “wisdom” Adam and Eve were searching for. And now, we can clearly see there’s no wisdom in that fruit. Because the truth is, we weren’t created to know evil; and by ‘know’, I don’t just mean awareness, but participation. In the garden, Adam and Eve only knew good. They only knew God’s provisions. They didn’t know any deviations away from God’s goodness. But Satan, appealing to their mind, heart, and flesh, convinced them that rebellion was freedom, and sin was wisdom. And so, through one man’s transgression, sin came to us all.

But also through one man’s obedience, the many are made righteous (Rom. 5:19). That man is Jesus of Nazareth, who’s defeated sin, death, and the devil. And in the Gospel lesson, we see that Jesus is the only man that’s walked this earth who’s overcome Satan’s temptation to sin.

In the first temptation, Jesus overcame Satan’s appeal to His flesh. Satan tempted Jesus to eat, just as he did to Eve. Yet, though Jesus’ stomach had been empty for 40 days, He feasted on the very thing that Eve didn’t: God’s Word. For man cannot live by bread alone. He can’t live by what he eats. But He can only live by feasting on God’s Word.

In the second temptation, Jesus overcame Satan’s appeal to His mind. Deviously misquoting Scripture, Satan tempted Jesus to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, twisting God’s Word to make presumption look like faith. Just as he did to Eve, Satan tried to corrupt what God had spoken. But Jesus did what Adam and Eve did not — He answered with the Word rightly spoken – “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Where Eve entertained the distortion, Jesus rejected it. Where Adam stood silent, Jesus spoke the word of truth. He would not demand proof of the Father’s love. He simply trusted it.

Finally, in the third temptation, Jesus overcame Satan’s appeal to His heart. Showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, Satan promised Him a crown without a cross — authority without suffering — if only He would bow down and worship him. Just as in the garden, Satan offered what appeared good, glorious, and desirable. But Jesus’ heart was not swayed. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” His heart remained steadfast. His love remained rightly ordered. He would receive a kingdom — but only through obedience to the Father.

Jesus is what we are not. He is innocent, sinless, and holy. He trusts in His Father’s will and Word. He knows it well and applies it wisely. He has self-control over His flesh and desires.

But He didn’t do all this to show us how it’s done – how to combat the devil’s temptations in our own lives. He did this as our substitute. In our place.

Man couldn’t conquer Satan. Adam and Eve couldn’t. And we can’t either. But Jesus became your brother in the flesh, to do what we couldn’t. He is our substitute. And it’s in His victory that  we rest.

So, to answer the question that undergirds every temptation – “does God hold something back from you?” Well look at the cross. He didn’t even hold back His own Son. So, no. God hasn’t withheld anything from you. He’s given you everything through the gift of His Son.

For this reason, we proudly sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Not because we are strong or resist perfectly. But because the Word made flesh has already crushed the serpent’s head. Even though Satan still whispers, appealing to our mind, flesh, and heart, The Word of God made flesh speaks for you to dismiss his accusations and deceitfulness. For you are His. You are baptized. You belong to the obedient Son. His righteousness covers your rebellion.

So, let the devil whisper. Because the Word made flesh has already spoken.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston