Matthew 4:1-11
The Temptation of Jesus
Manuscript
Last time I preached from Matthew we looked at Matthew 3:13-17: Jesus’ baptism. We looked at baptism in general as well as Jesus’ baptism. You might remember when I spoke about baptism in general, that I explained why in this church we baptise by immersion, because that is what the word “baptism” means: it means to “immerse” or “wash”. And I also explained why as baptists we only baptise after someone has repented from their sins for themselves and made their own confession of faith, because that’s what they did in the New Testament, and also because baptism in the NT was always the marker of someone choosing to follow Christ, and no-one can chose that for you, however well intended. We all must decide for ourselves, and that’s why in this church we don’t baptise babies or young children, because they are not old enough to make that decision for themselves. And it’s also why we urge those of you who were christened as infants or young children or baptsied anytime before you made your own confession of faith, to be baptised now as a sign of your own, personal, decision to follow Christ. And a couple of people have talked to me about baptism since then, and I would encourage you, if that’s you and you haven’t talked to me or someone else about it, please do so!
And last time we also looked at Jesus baptism in particular. We saw in Mattheew 3:17, that as Jesus came out of the water after His baptism, the Father spoke from Heaven
saying: Matthew 3:17b “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God the Father made a declaration - a public declaration, that Jesus was His beloved Son. That is – the Son of God. And now we turn to chapter 4 and find that the next event after Jesus’ baptism is his temptation in the wilderness. The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, or the desert. Why? The reason is so that Jesus can be tested, or tempted, by the devil. And we read in verse 2 that Jesus has been in the wilderness for 40 days and nights, and during that time He was fasting - that is, not eating anything. Now if you had been fasting for 40 days and nights, how would you feel at the end of that time? Hungry! And so no wonder it says in verse 2 that after the 40 days and nights that Jesus was hungry! And then after this 40 days, while still in the desert with no food, Jesus is tempted 3 times by satan.
But before we look at those temptations, we ask the question - why was Jesus tempted? Why did the Holy Spirit lead Him there to be tested? Well the Scriptures don’t tell us directly but it is not hard to deduce why. We remember the purpose that Jesus came to earth - why? To die on the cross - on our behalf, as the sinless One. That is, Jesus came to do what we didn’t or couldn’t do. As the sinless One, to bear our sins on the cross.
And Jesus’ test in the desert stands in stark contrast to the tests that people had undertaken in the past and failed. A few months ago we looked at the first test that humankind ever underwent. Remember when we went through Genesis, we looked at Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-3. You might remember that at that time our ancestors Adam and Eve lived in a paradise that God had made for them. It was perfect. No sadness, no discouragement, no fear. No fear of death, because there was no death. And God gave them everything they needed. Plenty to eat, and told them they could eat of anything they liked in the garden, with one exception.
Genesis 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
They had everything and could do everything except one thing. They were in a beautiful garden. And in Matthew 4 Jesus is not in a beautiful garden, but in the desert. Adam and Eve were not hungry - they had so much to eat, there was no thought of hunger. Jesus was hungry. He hadn’t eaten for 40 days and nights in the barren desert. And in the garden of Eden, satan comes to tempt Adam and Eve. Gen 3:1b He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” The devil knew what God had told Adam and Eve. And it seems as though he quoted some of God’s words back to Eve when asserted that God has said “you shall not eat of any tree in the garden.” But did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”? No He didn’t. And Eve corrected satan when she replied:
Genesis 22 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” And so we see right from the beginning that satan distorted God’s word. But despite Eve’s good initial answer, we see that satan continued to tempt Eve, and told her that God’s word was wrong and that she wouldn’t die. Eve, and then Adam, believed the devil rather than God, and disobeyed God and fell into sin. And as we are reminded by Paul in Romans 5:12, Sin came ionto the world through one man – that is – through Adam.
And so we see that Adam and Eve had perfect conditions, and yet they failed the test. And now we have Jesus, who underwent another temptation as our representative. Would Jesus pass or fail the test? The conditions are different. Not a garden and lots of food, but desert and hunger. But the temptation is remarkably similar. In Matthew 4.3 we read:
Matthew 4 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Interesting that both these temptations had to do with food. Adam and Eve were tempted to eat some fruit, but they already had plenty of fruit and other goodies to eat. Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread. Remember, Jesus hadn’t eaten for 40 days: there were plenty of stones in the desert, but no bread, no food. And like he did with Eve, satan tempts Jesus with a question. His question to Jesus is almost a challenge. He says, “IF you are the Son of God.” Now we’ve just seen at the end of chapter 3
when Jesus is baptised, that God the Father had declared that Jesus is His Son, that is - the Son of God. And so now satan tempts Jesus with this: “are you really the Son of God?” “If you are, then command these stones to become bread.” Surely making bread from stones was a pretty simple task for God’s Son. Well, it would have been a simple task. Jesus was well able to do it. But was it the right thing to do it? To do something just because the devil egged Him on to do it? Let’s have a look at Jesus’ answer to satan.
Jesus replies with Scripture – about the Scriptures. And we must remember that in our temptations in life, when we are confronted with choices of right and wrong, it is God’s word, the Scripture, that arms us with both the right answer and the power to follow through with that right answer. And so we need to know our Scriptures well as Jesus did, and we looked at that last week when we saw that film on the Bible “The Dangerous Book.” Jesus’ reply is:
Matthew 4 4 But He answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
This is a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3. You see – Jesus read and knew Deuternomony, and we need to too! In Deutronomy Moses was speaking to the Israelites just before they entered the promised land, after their 40 year journey through the desert. And he reminded them that during that journey, that they had survived on manna. That is – food that God gave them directly from heaven. The Israelites didn’t have to work for manna, didn’t have to grow it, it just fell from the sky and every day they went out and collected it, and it was an illustration for the Israelites, and for us, that people do not live on physical bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Where are God’s words? How do we find them? We find them by reading, studying, and putting into practice in our lives. The words of the Bible, which is the words of God. Friends, if Jesus was hungry in a desert, and hadn’t been able to eat for 40 days, and yet He still put God’s word ahead of physical food, as the priority in His life - well, what about us? With our food on the shelves, our abundance, are we like Jesus who put God’s word first, or are we like Adam and Eve, who despite their abundance, still wanted yet more things? Friends, Jesus passed the test. He put God’s words above physcial needs and comfort.
But the devil wasn’t finished with Him yet. Jesus had used Scripture to resist the temptation, and so satan now throws Scripture back at Jesus.
Matthew 4 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
This Scripture is a quote from Psalm 91. Psalm 91 is a psalm about how God protects and looks after those who seek refuge in Him. In verses 11-12 it says:
Psalm 9111 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
In the Psalm we see God’s protection of those who trust in God. We see God protecting the faithful from the harmful things of this world. And so satan throws this Scripture at Jesus. But satan is missing something, as Jesus points out.
Matthew 47 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
Why does Jesus say that? Well if you look at Psalm 91, it is talking about protection from dangers that someone might accidentally be in. But the Psalm is not talking about manufacturing situations which would try and force God to act in a particular way. It’s one thing to look for God’s protection if you accidentally trip over something while walking, it’s another thing to jump off from a great height to try and force God to rescue you. And Jesus reminded satan of that by quoting from Deuteronomy - yes, Deuteronomy again. Deuternomomy 6:16 where it says,
Deuteronomy 6:16Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.
If Jesus was to throw Himself off from the temple on purpose, it would be trivilising the power of God, and it would be testing God, trying to force Him to to something, testing Him. We are not to test God. How do we test God? I guess it’s a bit like that person you are witnessing to, who says: “If God is real, then let Him say something to me from the sky.” That’s trying to order God around, to test Him. I guess we can do the same. Yes, we can pray for God to look after us as we drive on the roads, but if we go driving recklessly and still expect God to watch over us, well that’s testing God.
And it is also important to note, that satan used Scripture, but used it incorrectly. Firstly, he didn’t use it in the context of the psalm itself. It’s quite obvious when you read Psalm 91, that it talks about God protecting us from accidents, not from purposely putting ourselves in harm’s way. And also satan did not know the whole scripture. He conveniently ignored Deut 6:16 that tells us not to test God. And we need to be careful, that we know all the Scripture, that we don’t quote bits of Scripture out of context, or without reference to other Scripture.
When you listen to teaching, when you read Christian books, when you listen to the preaching on Cooloola Christian Radio, and when you listen to me preaching, listen carefully, and don’t just believe everything that’s said because a Scripture is quoted here and there. Think about, weigh it, and search the Scriptures, to see if what is being said is actually in conformity with the whole counsel of God.
And so, Jesus passed the second temptation. But satan is not finished, and so comes the third temptation, which is the most audacious of all!
Matthew 4 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
This has got to be the most audacious temptation of all. Here is Jesus – the Son of God, that is – God. That is, Jesus is the one who should be worshipped. And here is satan trying to tempt Jesus to worship him! Now with the Israelites in the desert, satan succeeded in tempting the Israelites, and they worshipped the golden calf in the desert. No wonder in Deuteronomy, yes, again Deuternomony!, Moses has to warn the Israelites in Deut 6:13-14
Deuteronomy 6 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you.
Throughout history, we human beings have been tempted in this and have failed, whether it is openly worshipping some other god besides the One True God, or whether it is worshipping something else - fame, power, glory, or cars, boats, sex, leisure, our house. Putting something else above God. And here Jesus is tempted by the devil. The devil says, if you will worship me, then I will give You all the kingdoms of this world. That the Son of God would worship satan! How prepostorous! It’s probably the most prepostorous thing I’ve ever heard or read! And no wonder it says in verse 10
Matthew 410 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan!
And then Jesus quoted Scripture reminding satan:
Matthew 4:10b For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
And at that, the devil left Jesus. Jesus had been tempted 3 times. He’d been tempted to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger. He’d been tempted to test God’s care for Him by jumping off the top of the temple. And He’d been tempted to gain all the kingdoms of the world by worshipping satan. And unlike our ancestors, unlike Adam and Eve who failed, unlike the Israelites in the desert who failed, and unlike us who fail each day when we succomb to sin, Jesus did not fail. He passed the test. He was the perfect sinless one, who demostrated in this temptation, that He was indeed the perfect Son of God, and the only human who was sinless, and therefore that He is qualified to stand on our behalf, and to represent us before the judgement seat of God and to stand in our place in something we could not do: that is, to withstand the temptations of satan, and not sin.
And if you are here, and you haven’t put your trust in Jesus Christ, I want to you to know firstly the bad news, that like all of us, you are not perfect. You failed the test of temptation so many times, and that separates you from God. But the good news is that God sent His Son Jesus Christ, who did not fail the test, who was perfect, and who came to stand in our place, ultimately on the cross where He died for our sins. And any who come to Christ, repenting of their sins, and who are born again, can stand with Christ, and receive forgiveness of their sins and right standing with God. And if that’s you, don’t leave here today without talking to me or someone else here about how to get right with God.
But for the rest of us, what can we learn from the temptation of Jesus? There’s a few things we can learn from this passage that we can apply to our own lives:
1). To understand that Jesus passed the test that we failed. Adam and Eve had perfect conditions but failed the test. Jesus was in a desert, famished, without food for 40 days and nights, yet He passed the test. Authenticating God’s declaration that He truly is the Son of God, and that He is the sinless one, able to stand in our place and bear our sins on the cross.
2). The use of Scripture. Last week we looked at the film, “The Dangerous Book.” We learned how those who live in terrible circumstances draw such comfort from God’s word, that they risk all to have the Bible, even though owning and reading the Bible brings them sufferings. What is our attitude to the Bible? Do we read it? Absorb it? Obey it? And all of it? - not just a few Psalms and Proverbs and bits of the New Testament that we like. Notice Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy each time He rebuked satan. Deutronomony - a book we often don’t spend much time in. We need to read ALL the Bible. It is all God’s word. Start from page 1 and read the whole book.
3). We can learn something from Jesus’ temptations.
In the first temptation, which has to do with the Word of God, Jesus was hungry and satan tempted Him to turn stones into food, and Jesus reminded him that the words of God are more important than food, physical things. And in the life of our own church here, this one is bit close to the bone. Some of you may have noticed that in the last week or two, something has come to the surface in the life of this church which has the potential to be a source of division. What is it? Yes, morning tea and biscuits. You know, since I have been here, the debate over how to do morning tea has been the single most divisive thing we as a leadership have had to deal with. A couple of weeks ago I preached on baptism. I know for a fact that many of you don’t agree with my position on baptism, yet I got no emails or phone calls of complaint. A few weeks before that, I challenged us all to consider personally financially supporting a missionary to a place where Christ is not named. As I prepared that sermon I thought my challenge was quite bold, and I wondered how it would go over. But I’ve had no complaints. While I was away in Central Asia, Warren preached on the controversial topic of giving. And neither he nor I have received any complaints about that. You know, there are kids in state schools in Gympie who aren’t taught RE, because there aren’t the techers to teach them. And no-one has complained to me about that. You know, I receive very few complaints that our church isn’t doing more about evangelism, both here in Gympie and abroad. Or isn’t doing enough with discipleship, or counselling – helping people with their marriages, raising kids. Or even hospitality. Or isn’t doing enough to allievate the suffering of the poor in Africa or India or other poverty – stricken places. But I’ve got more emails and phone calls and comments about morning tea and the distribution of biscuits in morning tea and the church leadership’s decision in relation to that than any of those other issues.
Friends, where does our heart lie? Are we more concerned with biscuits at morning tea, that with the lost souls in Gympie? Or the lost souls in Libya, Yemen and Japan heading to a Christ-less eternity? Are we as concerned with the health of our marriages and families in our church, the discipleship and spiritual growth of our members, the people dying from starvation in Africa and India, as we are with the distribution of biscuits at morning tea? Now I do realise that morning tea is an important aspect of our fellowship each Sunday, and it is important that as the leadership of the church that we come up with a good solution to the morning tea issue. But, where do our priorities lie? Jesus was tempted with food. So were Adam and Eve. But man does not live on bread alone.
And I’m guilty of this too. A few weeks ago we got our electricity bill for the last quarter. I always hate opening that piece of mail, and I was shocked as I opened it. $240 more than the previous quarter – nearly double! I was livid. I rang AGL. I thought of complaining to my local pollie. I was incenced with the audacity of it. But after I calmed down, do you know what concerned me more? What concerned me the most, was that I was more upset about our large power bill, than that many of my neighbours were heading for hell.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let our heart’s desire be every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Yes sure, we need to pay our power bills. We need to find a good solution to the morning tea issue. But at the end of the day, what’s more important? Biscuits, a high power bill, our pool, our car, or the souls of men and women and God’s word? For Jesus, every word from the mouth of God was the most important, and He said that after 40 days without food.
And that’s also related to Jesus’ 3rd test. Worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone. All of us need to ask, if that is true in our lives. Let us close now with a song of worship to the Lord, “I worship You,” deciding as we sing it, to worship only God, to serve Him alone, to feed on the words of God, and put God’s concerns ahead of those of the world, and to be able to do that, we need to know His word – the Bible, and learn to obey it - all of it.
