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Matthew 4:1-4

Thursday Nights

October 20, 2022

Announcement – I’m retiring and stepping away from the church at the end of October.

Introduction

In the first three chapters of Matthew we’ve seen Matthew lay out an amazing genealogy.

We’ve peeked into the amazing birth of Jesus.

We’ve seen the beginnings of Jesus’ public ministry, initiated at His baptism by John the Baptist.

This week we will peek at another essential event that will lead to Jesus’ public ministry.

We will look at Jesus’ encounter with Satan.

Illustration

A little boy always went next door to the old cranky neighbor’s house to play even though his mom had warned him against doing so. This worried the mom so badly that she asked him why he was so disobedient. He replied that Satan tempted him so bad and he did not know what to do. The mom then advised him to say ‘get thee behind me Satan’ whenever he was tempted. Then she built a fence around their house. This worked for a week, then one sunny afternoon the mom looked out the window and there was her son playing on the neighbor’s lawn having cut a hole in the fence. “John”, she yelled, “Come here!” She then said “did I not tell you to say ‘get thee behind me Satan’ whenever he tempted you?” “Yes”, the boy replied, “I said, ‘get thee behind me Satan’, then he went behind me and pushed me through the hole in the fence.”

To be honest, some of us try to face temptations much like this mother taught her son.

We learn little formulas and hope that if we say the magic words that the temptation will stop. Good luck with that.

Temptation is part of the crucible that tests what we are made of and how well we will cling to God when the devil shows up.

In case you’re curious, try to see how many times Jesus responds to temptation with “Get thee behind me Satan”. You won’t find any.

4:1-4 Jesus’ First Temptation

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

:1 Jesus was led up by the Spirit

led up – anago – to lead up, to lead or bring into a higher place

Mark has “the Spirit drove Him” (ekballo)

Luke has “led by the Spirit” (ago)

God was involved in this time of “temptation”

Temptation to sin doesn’t come from God, but God may allow temptation into our lives to “test” us and see what we are made of.

:1 into the wilderness

The word for “wilderness” is eremos, literally “desert”.

We’ve talked about this several times already – for the Jew, the desert was a place where you meet God.

You have no food or water. No people to help you. All you can do is to depend on God.

Moses spent years in the wilderness before he was ready to lead Israel out of Egypt.

Israel spent years in the wilderness before they were ready to conquer the Promised Land.

Elijah spent time in the wilderness before he took on the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel.

:1 to be tempted by the devil

tempted – peirazo – to try, make trial of, test

It can be used in a positive sense as testing to see whether a runner can qualify in a race.

It can be used in a negative sense as testing one’s character by tempting them to sin.

The temptation of Jesus seems to be a bit of both.

devil – diabolos – slanderer, one who accuses falsely

Mark uses the devil’s name, Satan (satanas), which means “adversary”

Lesson

When I’m strong

Do you remember what had happened before Jesus was led into the wilderness?

He had been baptized, the Spirit had come upon Him, and God the Father had spoken “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

We can sometimes think that we will only be tempted during our lowest moments, but that’s not quite true.

Sometimes at our highest moments we can find ourselves being tempted.

Uzziah was a good king.

He did good things. He won wars against the Philistines. He built strong fortified cities. He built up the walls of Jerusalem. He was known as a man of science and increased the agriculture of the nation.

(2 Chronicles 26:15 NKJV) And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.

Until he became strong. That’s when Uzziah had a problem.

(2 Chronicles 26:16 NKJV) But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

His pride nudged him to cross a line and he tried to do something that only priests were allowed to do, and as a result he was a leper for the rest of his life.

Back to Jesus in the wilderness…

:2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.

:2 He had fasted forty days and forty nights

The timespan of forty days first appears in Genesis.

(Genesis 7:12 NKJV) And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

The flood of Noah was a time of judgment, as well as a time of cleansing for the earth.

Two other people in Scripture are recorded as having fasted for forty days.

Moses fasted for forty days the first time he went up Mt. Sinai to receive the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments.

(Deuteronomy 9:9 NKJV) When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

But when Moses came down from the mountain, the people were worshipping the golden calf.

Moses would intercede for the people and then spend another forty days on the mountain receiving more commandments from God.

(Exodus 34:28 NKJV) So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Elijah was fleeing from Queen Jezebel. He headed south where he met an angel who fed him…

(1 Kings 19:8 NKJV) So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

Horeb is another name for Mt. Sinai. It’s at Mt Sinai that Elijah would be reminded that God still had things for him to do, and God sends him back to Israel.

Lesson

Fasting

What’s the purpose of fasting?

There is a new health practice called “intermittent fasting”, and the idea is that you incorporate the discipline of fasting either during a specific time of day, or during an entire day or two once a week.

There may be health benefits for this, but the kind of fasting the Bible talks about isn’t about losing weight.

Biblical fasting is about drawing near to God.

I think it’s similar to the “desert” experience.

Fasting shows you that you can get by without food for awhile, no matter what your body is screaming at you.

Fasting gives you time to seek God instead of the things that you feed your flesh with.

Fasting doesn’t even have to be about food.

I think it might be an interesting thing for some of us to try fasting from Social Media, or from TV.

Fasting doesn’t have to be for forty days.

There are many times in the Bible where people fasted for a day or two.

In Isaiah’s day, the people practiced fasting, but it seems that it was all about trying to twist God’s arm. God’s kind of fasting is about getting myself into alignment with God, not trying to manipulate Him. God said this through Isaiah:

(Isaiah 58:6 NKJV) “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?

In other words, when you finish your fast, your life and those around you should look a little better.

:2 afterward He was hungry

I have never been good at fasting. I’m not sure I ever have fasted for more than a day or two, except for times in the hospital.

I am told that when you fast, the first couple of days are the hardest. After the first three days, your body starts to get used to not eating, and for a few weeks you may not feel hungry at all.

But the next time you start to feel hungry, it’s your body’s way of telling you that you are close to dying.

If you want to take up this discipline of fasting, think about talking to your doctor first.

:3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

:3 the tempter came to Him

Lesson

When I’m weak

It is not uncommon for temptation to come when we are weak.

Jesus has been fasting for forty days and He is hungry.

Don’t misunderstand me, you can also be tempted when you are at your strongest, but don’t be ignorant of how the tempter works.

If you are a person who drives themselves by working long days, and never takes breaks, don’t be surprised when temptation shows up on your doorstep.

Learning the discipline of balance is important in life.

There will be times when you do indeed have to put in long days.

But look forward enough to plan for times to rest and be refreshed.

There is nothing unspiritual with getting proper rest. Remember that the Sabbath was God’s idea.

:3 If You are the Son of God

Satan knew who Jesus was.

This temptation and the next one are aimed at “testing” Jesus in who He was.

Being the Son of God, He could do just about anything. Would He exercise His divinity and just solve the problem of hunger with a snap of His finger?

Lesson

Human frailty

Even though Jesus was indeed God in human flesh, I believe that most of what Jesus did on the earth He did through His own human weakness.

We might look at some of the things that Jesus did and say, “Well I could never do that because I’m just human and Jesus was God.”

You will see the problem with that kind of thinking when you are confronted with what Jesus said at the Last Supper:

(John 14:12 NKJV) “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

God uses real, ordinary people who will trust God.

How about with temptation?

Did Jesus pass the tests of temptation because He was the Son of God? Or did He pass the test because He was an obedient Son of Man?

How about you?

When you fail at temptation, are you going to say, “Well I’m just human”.

Or will you see that it might be possible to find victory over temptation with God’s help?

:3 command that these stones become bread

It is interesting what God can do with “stones”

In the wilderness, Moses struck a “rock”, and water came out (Ex. 17:6)

(Exodus 17:6 NKJV) Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

David killed the giant Goliath with just a stone and a sling (1Sam. 17).

The Jews were proud to call Abraham their “father”, yet John the Baptist said,

(Matthew 3:9 NKJV) … For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

When the crowd was singing and shouting over Jesus entering Jerusalem, some of the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke His disciples about this…

(Luke 19:40 NKJV) But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

I’m sure that Jesus as the Son of God could certainly have turned stones into bread.

:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

:4 It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone

I’ve got five lessons I want to draw from this…

Lesson

Know the Word

You are going to see that Jesus answers each temptation with a Scripture.

He doesn’t just say, “the Bible tells me not to do that…”

Instead He actually quotes the Scripture word for word.

Do you allow the Word of God to affect your choices in life?

I think one of the most important things you can do as a believer is to memorize Scripture.

The Psalmist wrote,

(Psalm 119:11 NKJV) Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

David wrote,

(Psalm 1:1–3 NKJV) —1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

There is a type of soul prosperity that comes from meditating on God’s Word regularly.

Jesus said,

(John 14:26 NKJV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

When you memorize Scripture, you are installing little handles and knobs into your life by which the Holy Spirit can grab you, nudge you, and help you change direction.

But it’s kind of hard for the Spirit to “bring to your remembrance” something that you’ve never learned … or memorized.

What verses should you memorize?

Perhaps you should write down a key verse or two from the Sunday sermon. Caleb is constantly putting some of these gems into his messages.

I’ve just given you a couple of verses that are pretty important – like Psalm 119:11 and John 14:26.

Jot down some of these verses and get to work memorizing them.

When I’ve taught at the Bible College, I think that one of the most important assignments I’d give my students was to memorize a verse each week. I’ve had several mention that this was the most important part of the course.

Lesson

Remez

Here’s another Jewish term that I’ve been learning about from our friend Ray Vander Laan.

Remez was a method of teaching by the great rabbis in Jesus’ day where they would only quote a portion of a passage, but would assume that their listeners knew the rest of the passage and then be able to deduce the fuller meaning of the passage. Sometimes the portion that was quoted came after something important in the passage, sometimes it came before.

One example took place during Jesus’ triumphal entry when the children and the crowd were shouting “Hosanna” to Jesus.

(Matthew 21:15–16 NKJV) —15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”

Mark records that the torah teachers (scribes) and chief priests sought to destroy Him after this (Mark 11:18).

Why were they so angry?

Jesus was quoting from Psalm 8:2 (out of the mouth of babes), but the Psalm didn’t stop after that portion. David went on to write in Psalm 8 that the reason babies were praising God was because God’s enemies were being silenced.

Jesus was implying that the religious leaders were God’s enemies.

These religious leaders understood the implication Jesus was making and got very angry.

There are many more places in the gospels where Jesus does this sort of thing, throwing out a quote, but assuming the crowd understood the context and implication.

How about our passage here? Is there more to the context of what Jesus is quoting?

Remez doesn’t have to do with a “gotcha” moment that makes people mad.

It has to do with using a small snippet of scripture and assuming that your listeners understand the bigger context.

But because we modern Gentiles don’t know the Old Testament as well as the Jews did in Jesus’ day, we don’t always get the implications of “Remez”.

So let’s examine the context of the quote “Man shall not live by bread alone…”

Lesson

Live the Word

I’ll explain the actual lesson from the temptation in a minute.

First let’s take a lesson from the context of Jesus’ quotation and see if there’s a “remez” lesson in it.

It comes from Deuteronomy 8. The nation of Israel has been delivered from Egypt and have wandered for forty years in the “wilderness” (!!!). Before they cross the Jordan and go into the Promised Land, Moses reminds them of their history. See if you can find any parallels between what Moses is talking about and what Jesus was living…

(Deuteronomy 8:1–3 NKJV) —1 “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

The “manna” was food that came from God’s mouth, from His decree.

Do you see the parallels with what Jesus has been going through for the last forty days in the wilderness?

God was “testing” Israel by allowing them to go hungry so they would learn to depend upon God.

They would learn that they could count on all that God wanted to do in their lives.

They could count on all that God “commanded”, by everything that came from the mouth of the Lord (like sending manna in the wilderness).

Jesus knew all this.

He knew all this while going into His own “wilderness” experience.

He knew He could depend on God to sustain Him. He was choosing to let God take care of Him (not Satan).

He could count on all that proceeded from the mouth of God.

So is it any big surprise that Jesus would quote this verse back to the devil?

It was the perfect verse for the situation He was in.

This is what I mean by “Live the Word”.

Jesus knew the principles in the Word of God and He was already living His life by them.

It’s not just important that we “know” the Word or “memorize” the Word. It’s important that we actually put it to work in our lives and live the way God describes in His Word.

Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with this story:

(Matthew 7:24–27 NKJV) —24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Storms will come into everybody’s lives.

Temptation will come into everybody’s lives.

It is important to hear Jesus’ words, but if you don’t put them into practice in your life, they will be of no value to you.

Two more lessons…

Lesson

Needs and Wants

Jesus’ temptation to turn stones into bread was not really a temptation to sin. It was more about being tempted to let Satan tell Him how to meet His needs, rather than letting God guide Him.

There is no commandment that forbids turning stones to bread. There is no commandment that says it’s wrong to eat.

But there is a principle here we should look at.

Are there things in your life that you’ve begun to label as “needs” even though they are nothing more than just “wants”?

Are there things in your life that if pressed, deep down you’d have to say that you believe they are as necessary as eating?

To be honest, even eating is not always a “need” for most of us, that’s what we learn from fasting. For most of us, eating is a “want”.

Let me give you two examples.

1. Sex

Mankind is a sexual species.

Video: I am sin - temptation

That’s true for all kinds of sin, not just sexual sin. And no, don’t think of “sin” as being a “woman”.

Yet it’s certainly true of sexual sin – just when you think you’ve had enough of it, it draws you back in.

I find it fascinating that God designed sex in such a way that it not only allows for the propagation of the species, but it can also be pretty enjoyable.

Is it wrong to have sexual intercourse? Not at all, as long as it’s with your spouse.

God designed you to function sexually, but with your spouse.

(1 Corinthians 7:2 NKJV) Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

(Hebrews 13:4 NKJV) Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

In a way, sex is about as “evil” as eating.

Eating is good. There is nothing “evil” about eating … unless you are eating unhealthy things or eating more than your body can burn off in activity.

Some people fall into the trap of thinking that sexual activity is a “need” that must be fulfilled at all costs.

They might seek to fulfill this “need” with multiple people that they are not married to. They might seek to fulfill this need by themselves.

My friend, you won’t die if you abstain from sex when it’s outside it’s designed boundaries.

For you, God’s word is this: “Man (or woman) shall not live by sex alone, but by every word that proceeds from God, learning to do things God’s way”

Some of you may say, “But my spouse doesn’t meet my sexual needs”.

I would respond with two very oversimplified suggestions:

First, maybe you need to reexamine your sense of “need”. How much is “need” and how much is a “want”? Are you willing to let your life be inside the boundaries set by God and His word?

Second, maybe you need to reexamine how you treat your spouse. Sometimes the troubles or joys of a sexual relationship are simply a manifestation of how we treat each other outside of the bedroom.

Video: Emotional Infidelity

Learn to put “all your eggs” into one basket – your marriage. Treat your spouse with the kindness and grace they deserve.

For some of you, you may need to think about counseling to untangle the mess.

2. Substances

By “substances”, I mean both drugs and alcohol.

The Bible does not say it’s a sin to drink alcoholic beverages. It just says that we shouldn’t drink to the point of getting drunk.

I have a young friend who came to the realization that he needed to stop smoking marijuana.

He realized that he was masking all the pain and conflict in his life by getting high.

He’s now been sober for 100 days.

And he’s realized that even though life can still be painful, with Jesus he can actually face those difficulties and even grow through them.

The Bible says,

(Ephesians 5:18 NLT) Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,

We can try to mask or find comfort in our pain with things like alcohol or drugs, but God has a different path. He wants to give you the strength and comfort you need through the “other comforter”, the Holy Spirit.

For some of you, God’s word is this: “Man (or woman) shall not live by these substances, but by every word that proceeds from God”.

Some people say, “Well I can quit any time I want”.

Can you? Why don’t you?

There are many things in life by which we can become entangled or trapped.

We can begin to think that these things are as necessary to us as food.

God desires that we learn to look to and listen to Him for that sense of fulfillment we are looking for.

Lesson

Grace

As we talk about temptation, let me say that inevitably we will all stumble and fall from time to time.

Paul wrote about his own failures when he wrote,

(Romans 7:18–19 NLT) —18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

Some of you might say, “Well if I’m going to fail, then I’ll just fail. Why try to fight temptation?”

Because Jesus wants you to fight.

You will not regret the struggle against temptation and the moments that you find victory.

You will not regret having one less night of conviction and condemnation over sin.

You will not regret not hurting those who are hurt when you sin.

You will not regret finding yourself becoming just a little more like Jesus with each victory.

And yet with all that, there will still be times when we stumble and fail. I still stumble and fall after fifty years of following Jesus.

(Hebrews 4:15–16 NLT) —15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

How do I find that “grace” when I need it? I learn to come quickly to Jesus when I fail and admit my failure. I learn to quickly receive the forgiveness and grace that I don’t deserve. John wrote,

(1 John 1:9 NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Let’s pray