Matthew 4

Our preacher was on vacation this last Sunday so his grandson filled in. His name is Ryan Lavin and he gave an AWESOME sermon!! The scripture was Matthew 4: 1-4:

 ¹Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

 ²And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

 ³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

 ⁴But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

                                              

The main thing that struck me as he was preaching (and y'all know I make notes upon notes!) was what he said about the sin. He said that one could think that it was sin because Satan was suggesting it. But, and here's the whammy, God is the author of righteousness therefore He (and He alone) sets the standard for what is sin. Satan does not have that power. Satan does not tempt us to do right and then it became sin, it was sin to begin with but he does disguise sin so that we do not recognize it.

WOW! Duh! God does not tempt us. If we are tempted, guess who it is? And we know that when we are tempted, it is because Satan wants us to 'come over to the dark side' so to speak. So, what was the sin in Jesus making food? He fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish. The sin would have been in not trusting God to take care of Him. The sin would have been to rely on Himself and not God. The sin of self-sufficiency. And that hit me like a bucket of cold water.

How many times have I said I can do this alone? How many times have I been bound and determined to do things all by myself, asking for no help? How many times have I felt that if I could just find another job that pays more, all would be okay? How many times have I been tempted to be proud of the stuff we have and the place we have? Not just tempted but jumped right off the edge of that river and wallowed around in it? And enjoyed it like a pig wallowing in mud in the sunshine? The sheer number scares me white headed!!