Matthew 4:5-7 Don't Jump!

Rev. David Holwick ZN

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey

November 27, 2016

Psalm 91:9-13

Matthew 4:5-7

DON’T JUMP!

I. Taking a leap.

A. It can be thrilling in a terminal kind of way.

There used to be a popular railroad bridge in New Jersey.

It was 50 feet above the Delaware River near Portland and

teenagers would jump off it.

An otherwise-reasonable woman in our congregation did it.

A definitely unreasonable pastor’s son from this congregation

climbed up to the upper arch of the bridge and dropped

80 feet to the river.

He was filmed doing it, of course.

In 2009 a young man jumped off and his body wasn’t found

for seven months.

Authorities altered the bridge so no one could ever jump off

it again.

That bridge attracted amateurs.

A higher level of thrill comes from BASE jumping.

BASE jumpers find extremely tall buildings, cliffs or bridges

- and jump off them.

They carry special parachutes on their backs and release them

at the last possible moment.

It is supposed to be very thrilling.

The movie “Sunshine Superman” is about the man who invented

BASE jumping.

Carl Boenish was a nerdy guy who loved to parachute and

especially to video himself and others while parachuting.

He got the idea to do it without an airplane by going to

Yosemite National Park and jumping off El Capitan, one of

tallest cliffs in the world.

It made a great video.

It wasn’t legal, of course, but he felt the laws of nature

trumped the laws of man.

I am not sure which law of nature says it is a good idea to

throw yourself off a cliff or skyscraper but the idea soon

caught on and thousands were doing it.

This week a British guy jumped off a bridge attached to a bungee

cord, dropped hundreds of feet, and dunked a biscuit in a cup

of tea.

One of the tallest cliffs in the world was in Norway.

Carl flew there with his wife and crew and made a world-record

jump.

Soon after this he went back up the mountain with some locals.

At the top, he asked them if they knew the Bible.

He then proceeded to tell the story of the temptation of

Jesus.

The devil took Jesus to a high point of the temple and

challenged him to jump off.

Satan even quoted a Bible passage that promised that God would

send his angels to deliver his devoted follower from danger.

Carl Boenish pointed to his parachute and said, “This is my

angel.”

He jumped.

The locals filmed him as he fell, but then they froze.

Carl’s body had turned into the cliff face and tumbled down

until he lay motionless on the rocks below.

About one out of every 700 BASE jumps ends this way.

Over 300 have died in the sport, averaging 25 a year.

Carl omitted a critical part of the temptation story.

Jesus had said to Satan, “The Bible also says, don’t put God

to the test.”

Jesus never jumped.

#65378

B. Do you ever jump?

1) There are many ways to test God.

a) Sometimes we think we can outsmart his laws for Nature.

b) Sometimes we defy his clear moral commands.

c) More subtly, we may challenge his spiritual promises

for us or treat him like a genie.

2) Do you do any of these?

II. The biblical background.

A. It begins in the Old Testament.

1) After the Jews escaped from Egypt they wandered in the

wilderness of the Sinai peninsula.

2) They were not happy with the conditions.

3) Exodus 17 tells the story:

2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to

drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you

put the LORD to the test?”

3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they

grumbled against Moses....

4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with

these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5 The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people.

Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take

in your hand the staff with which you struck the

Nile, and go.

6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.

Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the

people to drink.” ...

7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the

Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD

saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

4) You should notice the allusion to the staff which struck

the Nile River, causing it to turn to blood.

a) God has repeatedly shown them that he can do miracles

to deliver them, and sustain them.

b) They are refusing to remember that.

c) Instead, they defiantly taunt God by saying, “Is the

LORD among us or not?”

B. Fast-forward to the temptation of Jesus in the New Testament.

1) Satan tempts Jesus to doubt his relationship with his

heavenly Father by repeatedly saying, “If you are the

Son of God....”

2) Jesus is challenged to turn stones into bread, and to

receive all the nations of the world if he will only

worship Satan.

3) The second temptation (in Matthew’s version) is to throw

himself down from the pinnacle of the temple mount.

a) Satan even quotes the Old Testament to justify it -

God promises to miraculously deliver his servant.

b) In other words, if you really are the Son of God,

prove it now.

c) Jesus counters with a Bible verse that recalls the

lesson of Massah - don’t put God to the test.

4) Jesus did not need to prove God was his Father.

a) He had heard it from heaven when he was baptized.

b) That was enough for him. He had nothing to prove.

III. Be like Jesus and don’t test God.

A. Respect God’s laws of Nature.

1) Gravity is real. If you jump off a bridge, you will

descend at a rapid rate.

a) 32 feet per second per second, to be precise.

b) Are you prepared for the consequences?

2) More of us can relate to driving cars.

a) You should drive within the speed limits.

b) You should wear seatbelts.

c) Plenty of people speed, and don’t wear seatbelts

and even have accidents and survive.

1> But should you test God on this?

3) Prudence is God’s gift to the wise.

a) You must be responsible with your actions.

1> A 17-year-old can justify thrill-seeking.

2> A 30-year-old mom has to consider other aspects.

b) Note that Psalm 91 offers protection from stumbling,

not jumping. There is a difference.

B. Obey God’s laws of Morality.

1) There are good reasons why the Bible forbids adultery.

a) It may feel good, and seem perfectly natural, but it

destroys trust between spouses.

b) The fact that you may be unsatisfied in your marriage,

or your spouse has issues, doesn’t justify the sin.

1> Instead, seek counseling and therapy.

2> There are positive things you can do to make a

marriage better.

2) Spiritual highs are better than chemical highs. Eph 5:18

a) Marijuana did better than Trump in the elections.

1> Some places were voting for medical pot and others

for recreational use.

2> I suppose you could justify a medical use of a

drug but the reason behind most of the campaigns

is total decriminalization.

b) People want to feel good, they want to get high.

1> Illegal drugs, legal booze, it all has the same

purpose.

2> It also has a big downside, leading to accidents,

violence in families, and despair.

3> God provides better options. Use them. Be filled

with his Spirit.

3) Moral laws are not intended to stifle us, but to corral

the corrosive effects of sin.

C. Abide by his laws of the Spirit.

1) God’s love for you is promised in the Bible.

a) You shouldn’t question it, or ask God to prove it.

1> We don’t need to prove something that God has

already promised those who have faith.

b) In his temptation, Jesus teaches us that God is God;

he is not to be manipulated by His people.

1> Jesus preferred the way of quiet trust in God.

2) Don’t force God to reveal his plans for you.

a) Many Christians seek signs from God.

1> It has a history in the Bible, like Gideon’s fleece.

2> But Gideon has already had an angel appear to him

to give him God’s plan.

3> The fleeces were a sign of doubt and weakness.

Myron Augsburger writes: [1]

“Faith is an attitude that opens one’s will to God,

that allows God to fulfill His own will through

one’s life.

Faith that can respond more to signs and wonders

than to the Word of God is not authentic faith.”

b) God has already given you two important signs:

1> The birth of Jesus to a virgin, predicted 600 years

before it happened.

2> The death and resurrection of Jesus, predicted by

himself.

A> Everything in faith will hinge on these.

IV. You can trust God.

A. He can protect you in spite of yourself.

1) We have no idea how many times God intervenes for us.

a) We are unaware of his angels most of the time.

2) Even so, live responsibly.

B. We don’t need to force God.

1) Let God be God.

2) He will reveal his will for you in his own good time.

3) There is no system that can bend him to your desires.

C. But we do have to believe in him.

1) You can trust God’s promises for your salvation.

2) He loves you and has wonderful plans for you.

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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:

1. Myron S. Augsburger, “The Communicator’s Commentary: Matthew” (Dallas:

Word, 1982), p. 50.

#65378 “Jesus Didn’t Jump,” Rev. David Holwick, November 27, 2016.

The following sources were used in the illustration:

Wikipedia, “Carl Boenish,” <link>.

“Trollwall 1984,” by Stein Erik, February 8, 2010 (last

modified December 12, 2014); <link>.

“Film Review: ‘Sunshine Superman’,” by Dennis Harvey,

January 16, 2015; <link>.

“‘Sunshine Superman’ Review: Leap of Faith,” by

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2015; <link>.

These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be

downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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