Romans Chapter 5 Verses 1 to 5 & Luke Chp 4 Vs 1 to 22: 'Triumphs in Testing'
A friend who has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemo, a young man, said to me 'people say I am brave and standing up well, but I'm not, when I was in the police and I was faced with an opponent with a knife or a gang and I chose to stay rather than run away, then I was brave, but now I have nowhere to run to, I'm not brave, I'm terrified but I've got no choice.'
My friend correctly identified that the essence of any test is the presence of a choice – to continue or to capitulate, to go on or to give up, to fight or to surrender.
- Circumstances may provide the test
- Choice provides the temptation
There is no age barrier to testing, remarkable examples exist of those presented with a real test at the extremes of age: Josiah the child King, Samuel the child Priest, John the child Prophet, and Caleb 85 years old and still gaining ground for God, still choosing to press forward (Josh 14:9)
There are these times in the Christian life, times of testing, times when:
- The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
- When the mind lies perilously exposed to the questions unanswered by human intelligence
- Life's experiences are unyielding to natural explanation
- Physical demands exceed our personal resources to deliver
At such times the:
- Test lies in the DEMANDS
- Temptation lies in the DECISION
The temptation consists of this: wither or not to persevere with the seemingly impossible, the unclear, the unexplained, the apparently unachievable and in so doing to cast myself wholly and completely upon His resources, His supply, His sufficiency or under the weight of the mental anguish from unanswered questions, experiences unexplained and of demands that seem to crush my physical frame under their sheer weight, I capitulate, I resign, I renege on my commitment, I choose the easier path, more often trod but leading to another destination.
Only one resource will suffice to maintain the believer in testing and before such temptation that is the resource that draws deep from the well of living water, that draws deep from the relationship I have with Him alone.
The Divine purpose of all testing is to bring me to precisely this point!
Each trial is designed in the purposes of God, a God who is sovereign over:
- Life's Problems (Rom 5:1-5)
- Salvations Plan (Rom 5:6-11)
- Man's Plight (Rom 5:12-21)
To exceed my:
- Mind and its wisdom
- Body and its strength
- Wealth and its riches
How tragic it is when a soul in testing turns in the midst of lifes problems to resource other than Christ with the cry: I can't cope anymore, that is precisely the purpose of the trial, but not to stop there, but to then bring us on to draw upon our resources in Him, not in anyone else or in anything else, not to look for the answers in a bag of heroin, a bottle of whiskey, a session of psychotherapy or a handful of homeopathy, but to look for and find those answers in Him.
“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” (Jer 9:23-24)
Each trial designed to exceed my:
- Mind and its wisdom: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,”
- Body and its strength “ neither let the mighty man glory in his might”
- Wealth and its riches “ let not the rich man glory in his riches”
Each trial intended to bring me to those rich resources of relationship to Christ: “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me,”
As we face the adversary, He alone has the answers.
- I cannot answer it – do I trust Him?
- I cannot bear it – do I rest in Him?
- I cannot manage it – do I depend on Him?
In His will and in my willingness these trials will bring me to this: “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2Co 12:9)
To survive the test I must go beyond the the resources of my own:
- Wisdom : “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,”
- Work: “ neither let the mighty man glory in his might”
- Wealth “ let not the rich man glory in his riches”
Everyone who has been used and who has been useful to God has had to learn these lessons!
God can only use those to build His Kingdom and advance His cause who draw on His resources!
- Not a Saul who depended upon his armour but a David who rested on His God
- Not a man with his chariots but a woman Jael who would drive a tent peg through the temple of Sisera
- Not a general to deliver His people from the Midianites but a farmer boy, least amongst the tribes of Manasseh : Gideon
There were those who came with natural strength and ability – they had to learn to draw from resources deeper than that:
- Jacob – came with his cunning and wisdom – he must first walk with a limp
- Samson – came with his strength – needed first to be humbled and broken
- Peter – self confidence
In Luke 4: all natural resources are removed: wilderness testing, a fast for 40 days, but a time determined by God and into which He was led by the Spirit of God; the endurance was possible.
The temptation for us is one of:
- Resources: To draw on resources other than Him (4:3-4)
- Reasons: To pursue other goals, or other reasons for going on
- Relationship: To doubt and challenge our relationship with Him (4:5-11)
Resources: To draw on resources other than Him (4:3-4)
The temptation to draw on other resources: “And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.” (Luk 4:3)
- To draw on our own WISDOM
- To draw on our own WORK
- To draw on our own WEALTH
To draw from His resources: “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” (Luk 4:4)
Reasons: To pursue other goals, or other reasons for going on
“And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” (Luk 4:6)
“And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:” (Luk 4:9)
To go on for His Glory alone brings opposition, easier at times to pursue a more congenial goal
His Glory to be put to the side, His Kingdom no more paramount in our purposes
When holiness is too hard, compromise comes calling!
Temptation to drop the standards, any Kingdom will do!Promotion of self rather than Christ!
- Promote Self (III John)
- Please Men (2 Tim 4:3)
- Pursue Prosperity (1 Tim 6:9-10)
- Power and Place (Luke 4:6)
Relationship: To doubt and challenge our relationship with Him (4:5-11)
No longer simple trusting faith in the tender mercies of God, day by day, nor in the undeniable progress of Divine purpose in my life
I become bold, arrogant and showy, demanding of God and seeking proofs and evidences of His care and concern for me.
But why should I trust Him?
- I Desire it (v4) – I desire Him and His Word, “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (Joh 6:68). “All the way the Saviour leads me what have I to ask besides...” What brought Naomi back from Moab? There was the negative: her husband and boys died, but what of the positive: “The Lord had visited His people in giving them bread” (Ruth1:6). What brought Josephs brethren to him again? There was famine in Canaan – the negative but Gen 42:2 “Behold I have heard that there is corn in Egypt” - the positive pull of bread!
- God Demands It (v8) – God is God!! God demands my worship! I know He is God: OT prophecies, OT pictures, OT patterns, answered prayer, the power of His word! In the OT people never worshipped God because things were easy or because they had all the answer or because they had no problems, and no obstacles in the way, they worshipped God because He was God and they knew He was God because:
He had brought them out of Egypt by a might y hand
He had performed miracles in their midst
He had met their need
He had spoken by Moses in the law
He had refreshed their souls with water from the rock and with manna from heaven
He had fulfilled and kept His word, His promises to Abraham and to Moses and to the prophets!
God is God! Illust: Howdoes a baby breath in its mothers tummy? Answer: it doesn't! What goes into its mouth and nose? But it would drown! The maternal – fetal circulation! - Christ Deserves It – His tender mercies, sustaining grace, grace for every trial, a Saviour who pursued Glory by the way of the cross, God did not present to me a gospel of works, of self effort, of self improvement but of salvation by grace, through faith.
Consider also:
- Reason for the Trial
- Result of the Trial
- Resources in the Trial
Reason for the Trial
In this testing we easily recognise that Christ was “tempted of the Devil” (4:2)
There is in this testing: Satanic Confrontation
We may well have anticipated Satanic Confrontation – after all we have just heard Divine Commendation of Christ from heaven (3:22)
Hell does does not ignore the man that heaven commends!
But whilst there is Satanic Confrontation there is Divine Control
Satan may confront Christ in the trial but God is in control of the trial
The Spirit of God takes the initiative, the Spirit of God “led” Christ into the wilderness (4:1). Everything had not gone wrong!
God is in control of the trial, it lasted 40 days - a time of testing
40 days, often linked in scripture with:
- Division – 40 days of trial effectively separate what come before from what comes after that trial, eg the 40 days of rain in the time of Noah – separated the old and the new world, Josephs mourning for Jacob 40 days in Gen 50 marks a water shed experience in his life!
- Provision – the 40 years in the wilderness for the nations of Israel were a time of Gods gracious provision (Ex 16:35; Deut 8:2,4) when they learned dependance on Him.
- Decision – Caleb at 40 years of age spied out the land of Canaan (Josh 14:7) and Elijah after 40 days in the wilderness (1Kings 19:8) had a life changing experience and decision to make!
- Preparation – for 40 days at Sinai Moses prepared himself to receive the law from God! (Deut 9:11-25)
- Limitation – Deut 25:3 – punishment by whipping, within the nation of Israel was limited by God to 40 strips, a trial with set limits, under Gods control: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1Co 10:13) – Gods judgement is tempered with Gods Grace.
Satan may be on the attack but God is in control of the trial, it lasted 40 days , God had set the bounds and the limits to this testing.
Result of the Trial
Gods control of the trial can be particularly seen in the results that flow from that trial.
Prior to the trial Christ is “Led of the Spirit” and “full of the Spirit” (4:1) and after the trial He “returned in the power of the Spirit” (4:14)
This trial was part and parcel of the ministry and life of the person of Christ
Practically we can have the Spirit and be led by the Spirit but not necessarily move out in the power of the Spirit.
We can have a car, filled with petrol, with a Sat Nav telling us the way and yet never switch on the ignition and put our foot to the floor and move forward with power and with confidence.
So often it is in trial and testing in our life that this transition is made from potential to practical from theory to practice, from knowing to doing from considering to committing, from possession to power!
Trial and testing can so often mark a water shed in our spiritual pilgrimage
We can discern a water shed here in the life of Christ: this trial marks the division between the private years and the public years (3:20-23).
God will always PROVE those of whom He APPROVES!
This is a water shed experience linked with a Jordan crossing (4:1)
Here we have a Jordan crossing, linked with 40 days, linked with a wilderness experience and linked with the NT Joshua, and linked with a 3 X quotation from the book of Deuteronomy (Lk4:4,8,12)
The Jordan was a river that divided:
- Victims in the wilderness from victors in the land
- Slaves out of Egypt from Soldiers in Canaan
- Egypts rejects from Canans rulers
- Those whose only inheritance so far had been the graves they had dug in the wilderness from those who possessed the Glory of the promised land!
- Those who had drunk water from the rock from those who would now enjoy the land flowing with milk and honey!
- The Jordan divided between those who were content with mediocrity – out of Egypt but not in possession of the promises of God from those who were like Caleb and Joshua determined to possess there inheritance and claim their rights!
First a Jordan to cross, and whenever a Jordan is crossed in our spiritual life thre is opposition looming on the horizon!
They had not “gone this way heretofore” (Josh 3:4)
The ark would go before and Christ would lead the way
Here in Luke 4 He goes before, He leads the way!
Having crossed the Jordan of spiritual experience we move into a period of spiritual progress and expansion (4:16ff).
Resources in the Trial
It is the use of Divine resources in trial that so often bring us to that place of expansion
Rom 5:1-5 – what is Promised in Trust is Proven in Trial, the Glory Expected (Rom5:2) becomes the Glory Experienced (Rom5:4,5) in trial and testing.
When faced with spiritual opposition and satanic opposition we are forced to draw from the only resources that are fit for the task, to dig deep and to draw from those deep wells in Christ (Gen 28, John 4).
It is the digging of these deep wells and the drawing from His resources that truly constitute the purpose of the trial and the test.
Consider the resources the Lord draws on:
- Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (4:4,8,12)
- Breast plate of Righteousness (4:12)
- Girdle of Truth (4:8,9-12)
- Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel (4:18) – the best plan of defence is attack!
Satans opposition forces us to draw deep from the wells of Divine resources
The only kind of men can use to advance His Kingdom is men who draw their resources from Him and from Him alone:
“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” (Jer 9:23-24)
It is so easy at times for us to depend upon our own:
- Wisdom “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,”
- Work “neither let the mighty man glory in his might.”
- Wealth “let not the rich man glory in his riches.”
God needs men who relinquish there own resources in favour of His
- Wisdom “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:” (1Co 2:4)
- Work : Samson at his strongest when at his weakest, Gideon the farmer who was least in the house of Manasseh
- Wealth : the rich young ruler would have to learn that he could not buy his way to heaven!
The kind of men whom God uses to enlarge His kingdom are men who draw their resources from Christ!
We begin so often to truly use these resources in trial and in testing!
Consider the spiritual progress made by Gods people in 1 John 2:12-14 – the child who knows his sins forgiven and who knows the Father and the young men who have overcome the wicked one by the Word of God (v14) – tey have matured spiritually by virtue of the fact that they are drawing from those spiritual resources that are theirs in Christ!
Beware these resources are under attack in the trial!
One of the deadliest viruses in the world: HIV – it is so deadly because it attacks the immune system – the T Cells that are needed to kill it!
Satan attacks the resources needed to defeat him!
- Word of God (4:4)
- Worship of God (4:8)
- Ways of God (4:9-12)
Satan attacks:
- Person of Christ (4:3) - Christ
- Priority of the Kingdom (4:5ff) - Crown
- Plans of God (4:9ff) - Cross
Word of God (4:4)
One thing about a 40 day fast – it gives you an appetite!
An appetite for the true bread and for no substitute (4:3)
These stones will do as no substitute for the Word of God!
We need the real stuff!
Amidst all of the questions and grumblings in the wilderness from the people of Israel: where are we going to? How will we be fed? Where will we get water from? Whatever will happen to our children? They received 1 answer from God!
It must have been a big answer to answer all of those questions!
It was: that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” (Deu 8:3)
God is all sufficient!
There is nothing like famine conditions to make us appreciate the sweetness of the bread of life!
Worship of God (4:8)
Ways of God (4:9-12)
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