It may seem strange to title a sermon on temptation "Just Say Yes!" because people of our world say yes to just about anything.  But Jesus' wilderness temptation was saying "Yes" to God and "No" to Satan.  Hebrews 4:15 says, "We have a high priest who... has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin."  Jesus was tempted many times during His life.  And because He said "Yes!" to God, so can we.  To be human is to be tempted.  Temptation itself is not a sin; giving in to it definitely can be.  We must rely on His power in those sticky times.

          In the Australian bush country grows a little plant called the "sundew."  It has a slender stem and tiny, round leaves fringed with hairs that glisten with bright drops as delicate as fine dew.  But woe to the insect that dares to drink from it or dance on it.  Its pretty red, white, and pink blossoms are harmless, but the leaves are deadly.  The shiny drops on each leaf are sticky and snares any bug that touches them.  As the insect struggles to free itself, the vibration causes the leaves to close tightly around it, and the little plant has its lunch.

          Every day Satan has his lunch on unsuspecting people.  Many of us who have successfully resisted the temptations we're used to have fallen prey to new kinds, internet temptations, medicine cabinet temptations, or honesty temptations.  They're not only lurid but subtle, ensnaring us one step at a time, unto we find ourselves trapped in a web of deceit and guilt.  As we see in Jesus' temptations, the subtle ones are often the worst.  Jesus' temptations were these:  1- To use blessings selfishly,  2- To take the easy road,  3- To sell out to the world.

          (1) "If you are the Son of God, make these stones into bread."  It's tempting to use our blessings selfishly.  God gives us great stuff in life, and we like to think it's all ours.  But we're just using it awhile.  Even time is on loan from God.  Doesn't it seem like the days are going by faster and faster?  I can't believe how quickly Sunday comes each week.  Everything we have is on loan from the Lord and it can disappear in a flash.  World Trade Center, Enron -- gone!  If the dot.coms did anything, they reminded us that it's not ours to keep.  Jesus' first temptation was to use His blessings selfishly, and He resisted!

          (2) "If you're the Son of God, throw yourself down..."  Take easy road, Jesus, skip your responsibilities.  God's road is narrow and hard, but Satan's road looks wide and smooth.  We try so hard to avoid the hard road.  Feel bad?  Take a pill.  Someone bugging you?  Hire a lawyer.  Too much talk about sin?  Find another church.  Don't like your marriage?  Dump him!  Jesus could have fallen for this one.  He had the hardest road, and it was tempting to find another way.  Like the Olympic athlete who dopes up to win.  There are easier ways to get a job done, but we lose every time we try to trick God.  He could have taken the easy road, but He stayed the course.  Thanks be to God!  He could have given up, but where would that have left us?

          In 1968 Sen. John McCain was still a prisoner of war in Hanoi.  He'd been held captive over a year, with dysentery, heat rash and a broken leg that wouldn't heal.  One day the prison commander made him a great offer.  "You can go home now.  To show how compassionate we are, we're setting you free."  Can you imagine his emotions?  What he didn't know was that they would be using this as a ploy because his father had just become Pacific Fleet commander.  And his early release would demoralize the other prisoners.  But there was a code of honor among prisoners:  First in, first to leave.  Five others had been there longer, so he said, "No, I'm not going until you set the others free.  And by saying no to freedom, he said yes to four more years of beatings, torture and hardship.  He could have taken the easy road, but he didn't.

          (3) Satan tried one last time.  "Worship me, and I'll give you the world..."  We've heard that before.  Sell out to the world and you'll have all the stuff you want!  Pleasure and power are where it's at!  Ever wondered whether Jesus was tempted by a sexy woman?  Of course He was.  That's why He told His disciples, "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." (Matthew 26:41)   He wasn't just talking about spiritual things, but about all of life.  When we're tempted, will we say "Yes" to the world, or "Yes" to God?

          We live in a fallen world.  It's the same world today as it was for Jesus.  One of His great men, St. Paul, once said, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful;  he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out..." (1 Corinthians 10:13)   I love that passage, because it first tells me I'm not sick or corrupt when I'm tempted - just human.  It tells me we're all the same;  temptation gets to us all, but God will always give us a way out.

          We all have our pet temptations, ones we think we can't resist - certain foods, certain images, certain possessions.  But temptation isn't the problem, but falling to it.  Martin Luther said, "You can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair."  The birds of temptation will always fly overhead.  It's up to us to keep them from landing.

          When I was eight years old, my dad met a stranger who was new to our area.  From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with us in our home.  I'll never forget the first time I saw him.  As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family.  Mom taught me to love the Word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it, but the stranger was our storyteller.  He could weave the most fascinating tales!  Adventures, mysteries, and comedies - he could hold our whole family spellbound for hours.  He was a friend to the whole family.

          He took Dad, my brother and me to our first major league baseball game and professional wrestling match.  He was always encouraging us to see the movies and even introduced us to some movie stars.  The stranger was an incessant talker.  Dad didn't seem to mind, but sometimes Mom would quietly get up, go to the kitchen, read a book, and do her work.  Maybe she prayed the stranger would one day leave our home.

          You see, my dad ruled our house with moral convictions, but this stranger never felt an obligation to honor them.  Profanity was rarely allowed in our house, not from us or from our friends.  Our visitor, however, eventually began using four letter words that made Dad angry.  But to my knowledge he was never confronted about this.

          My Dad rarely drank, but the stranger felt we needed exposure to other ways of life.  He offered us beer and cigarettes.  He talked much too freely about sex.  His comments were sometimes funny, but mostly suggestive and often embarrassing.  He showed us pictures that made us blush, but he knew we wanted to see more.  My early concepts of the man-woman relationships were influenced by the stranger who lived with us so long.

          As I look back, I can see it was the grace of God that the stranger didn't influence us more.  Time after time he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.  Almost fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family.  And when I left home he came along.  And if you were to walk into my home today, you'll still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him show his latest suggestive pictures.  His name?  We just called him by his initials - T.V.

          Did you notice how Jesus resisted temptations?  With the Word.  When tempted, He quoted God's Word.  Jesus had memorized all kinds of passages.  He didn't come by all His knowledge naturally.  As a true man He had to learn it just like we do - only He just didn't have as many distractions as we have today.  Kids today tell me they just can't memorize, but it's not true.  We all still memorize, kids or adults, but now it's song lyrics or computer programs or how to use your DVD.  Would that we all would memorize His Word so we'd have it handy when we're tempted.  You and I may have to fight a battle more than once to win it, and, for sure, you can't defeat Satan without God's Word.

          What wilderness are you in right now?  One of aimlessness, no direction, bad relationship, or doubts about yourself or God?  Go to the Word and let Him speak to you.  What temptations are assaulting you right now?  Go to the Word for His strength.  Temptations are not all your fault - others throw them at our faces every day.  Temptations are a fact of life.  You can't avoid them, but you can avoid giving in to them.

          Last night I watched as one of our Olympic hopefuls fell and came in second.  It's easy to get negative about bad things that happen.  Saying yes to sin is not the way to solve that.  Sin separates us from God, from each other, and from the world.  Separation can dehydrate us, even kill us.  Even Christians can get lost.  We need God and the roadmap of His Word.

          The Word gives us hope in Jesus.  He never sinned, but He took away our sin.  He did nothing wrong, but He died to pay our penalty.  He heard the judge say, "Guilty!" for the things we did.  He showed His power over death.  He died to set us free, and rose again to bring us eternal life.  In Him we can say "No" to Satan and "Yes" to God.

          So when you're tempted, don't forget -- Satan has been defeated.  Jesus beat him fair and square out there in the wilderness, so now Satan's powerless, just making a lot of noise.  He's that rattlesnake with his head cut off, scaring people but unable to bite them.  Jesus overcame the Tempter and so can we - with His Word.

          Remember the TV show "Hee Haw?"  Most every episode Doc Campbell was confronted by a patient, especially one who said, "Doc, I broke my arm in two places."  Doc replied, "Well then, stay out of them places!"  You and I cannot regularly put ourselves in the places of temptation and not fall to them.  When faced with temptation, we need to take the good doctor's advice and "stay out of them places."  If you want to keep from slipping, avoid slippery places.  May God grant us His joy and peace each day.  Amen!

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.