Good evening to the blessed of the Lord. I am so glad to see you. Would you join me in turning to Matthew 4 please. This a passage we’re very familiar with. It says:
(1) Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
(2) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
(3) And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Do you think that question caught Jesus off guard? Do you think Jesus hesitated as He search in His mind Old Testament passages that talked about bread and stones? You have to remember ladies and gentlemen, this was the same 12 year old who debated scripture with he religious leaders!
(4) But 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.
Do you think Jesus chose this response by accident? Do you think He understood the context of the passage He chose as a response to Satan?
Let’s look in Deuteronomy 8, the passage from which Jesus quoted. I want you to see the context of this passage because it’s very important ladies and gentlemen. It sets the tone for everything Jesus does in His ministry.
(1) All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, [Man shall not live by bread alone.] that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And we see in this verse that when you do that, you will live, have children and possess your inheritance.
(2) And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, [What purpose did the Lord have in leading the people in the wilderness?] to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commands, or no.
Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone and, based on the context, the reason he does this is because he is being humble in his response to God’s commandments. And God will know what’s on the inside of him because of the way he responds.
(3) And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; [Why, why?] that he might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
So Jesus is saying in Matthew 4:4 is that when God speaks the man is humble enough to listen and then obey,
Look in John 5, another verse we’re very familiar with. Remember I said that Jesus’ response in Matthew 4:4 set the tone for His ministry? “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Verse 19 says “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, [Was that true? Yes. He said it.] but what he seeth the Father do: for what things so ever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”
Now, I was being facetious when I asked if what Jesus said about not being able to do anything other than what the Father said. He could have. But in Matthew 4:4 Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Jesus was humble enough to say that He would never speak anything His Father would not speak.
The reason I am pointing this out is because it takes humility to say I am not going to do what I want to do but what someone else wants me to do, in this case, my Father.
Now look at verse 30. “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear [Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.], I judge: and my judgment is just; [Why was Jesus’ judgment just?] because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
Do you see where we have gone so far? There is nothing that Jesus did in His life here on earth, and I’m going to say it this way, that did not have the Father’s approval. Are you with me?
Ephesians 2. We’re going to read verses 4, 5 and 6. I really want you capture what we’re about to read.
(4) But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.
This verse starts with “But” because the first three verses describe who we used to be before being born again.
(5) Even when we were dead in sins, [Even when we were verses 1, 2 and 3.] hath quickened us (made us alive, given us a nature that is just like His) together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
(6) And hath raised us up together, [When God raised Jesus from the dead, He saw us being raised with him 2000 years ago! Hallelujah!] and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
The reason I wanted you to really see verses 4, 5 and 6 is this: verse 6 says we are seated together with Him in heaven. Our residence is the kingdom of God. Our perspective on the things of this world should be above this world. Our perspective about the things happening in this world should not be based on what we see but who we know. Are you following me?
So many in the body of Christ are making decisions based on what they see and not who they know. And part of the reason that they’re doing this is because they don’t know Him.
I wanted to read those verses because Jesus made it a point of saying “God speaks. I listen.”
In May of this year, Gallup polled 15,000 concerning their beliefs and values. I want to share some of the results with you. Now this is the question that the pollsters asked.
“Next, I’m going to read to you a list of issues. Regardless of whether or not you think it should be legal, for each one, please tell me whether you personally believe [whether you personally believe] that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong. How about …”
We’re going to look at the morally acceptable issues. Now, what Gallup did was look at responses based on age, political affiliation and ideology. Ideology was broken down into three categories: conservative, moderate and liberal.
I am going to share with you tonight the overall general response and those with a conservative ideology. Conservatives, for this poll, measured what they believed based on the Bible.
Divorce – 77% of the general population said it was morally acceptable. Those who have a conservative ideology - 64% said divorce is morally acceptable. 64%!
How many of you recall the interaction that Jesus had with the religious leaders who confronted Him about why Moses allowed for a bill of divorcement? Jesus response: it was because of the hardness of YOUR hearts. And then to clarify it even further Jesus said that FROM THE BEGINNING it was not so.
Sex between an unmarried man and woman – 72% of the general population said it is morally acceptable. Ladies and gentlemen, 55% of those with a conservative ideology said sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable.
The more I read about things, the more clear it is to me that the body of Christ does not resemble the body that Jesus intends.
Gambling – 71% of the general population said it morally acceptable to gamble and 61% of conservatives agreed. And you wonder why God doesn’t trust more Christians with money!
Smoking marijuana – 70% of the general population said it morally acceptable and 51% of those with a conservative ideology agreed.
Gay or Lesbian relations – 66% of the general population said it is morally acceptable for same sex people to have “marriage type” relationships. Now, I going to tell you ladies and gentlemen, any conservative and I mean any – even it’s one percent – who say gay or lesbian relationships are morally acceptable is an abomination. 43% of those with a conservative ideology say it is morally acceptable.
Having a baby outside of marriage — 66% of the general population said it is morally acceptable. 55% of those with a conservative ideology said it is morally acceptable. Did you hear me?
What we are seeing in these numbers is an understanding of why those who don’t belong to the Church aren’t rushing to belong to the Church. They don’t see any difference between them and the Church. And if they don’t see any difference between you and them, they are not the ones with the problem! We are the ones with the problem.
Doctor assisted suicide — 57% of the general population said it is morally acceptable and 32% of those with a conservative ideology agreed.
Abortion — 44% of the general population said it is morally acceptable. 18% of those with a conservative ideology said adoration is morally acceptable.
What bothers me? They say it is morally acceptable. It wouldn’t bother me nearly as much if they simply said “This is what I believe.” When they say something is morally acceptable, they’re saying “God is with me on this one. God believes the same thing I do.” And Church wonders why it is so powerless.
Sex between teenagers – 38% of they general population said this is morally acceptable and 20% of those with a conservative ideology said it is morally acceptable for teenagers to have sex.
Pornography – 36% said it morally acceptable while 19% of those with a conservative ideology agree.
This is why I wanted to read Matthew 4, Deuteronomy 8, John 5 and Ephesians 2 before reading this. I wanted you to see Jesus’ approach to things versus many in the Church. It is completely different.
Now the question is this: how did those with a conservative ideology get to this place?
Let’s turn to 2 Timothy 2 and we’re going to read verse 4. “No man that warreth (No soldier that goes to war) entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a solder.”
The word “entangleth” means to braid in, interweave. And notice it says “No soldier entangleth himself.” In other words, he doesn’t allow himself to be entangled. What is that saying ladies and gentlemen? When a soldier gets entangled, he has ALLOWED it to happen.
The image that this communicates: our souls, emotions and desires are not to become so ensnared, entangled and caught up in the things of the world that we become meshed together with them. Here’s another image: the world doesn’t see anything that we do or say that is different from what they do and say.
There’s another word that’s translated from the same Greek work and it’s found in Matthew 27, verse 29. “And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head …” The word platted is the same word as entangleth but it is a little more descriptive.
Think about what the soldiers did to make the crown of thorns. In other to plait that crown, they had to take thorns and vines and weave them together. That took time.
These individuals who responded to the survey, they didn’t respond out something that had happened to them yesterday. They responded to the survey out of beliefs they had allowed to be woven into the fabric of their lives.
When my wife was working on her doctoral degree, she was away from home four days a week so I had an opportunity few fathers ever have – I had a lot of time with my children. And it was during that time that I learned to plait my daughter’s hair. It wasn’t pretty the first few times. But, over time, the more I understood how to weave her hair and make it tight, the better at it I became.
What we are seeing in these responses are the result of thoughts and beliefs that have been constantly woven into their lives. That’s why 20% of those with a conservative ideology don’t see anything wrong with teenagers having sex. They see on television. They read it in magazines. They see it on social media. It has become acceptable to them.
All of us have areas with degrees of, and this is a Barry word, of “plattedness” in our lives.
Right now, our Father has asked us to spend more time in prayer to pave the way for His revival. What would happen if we “platted” more times of prayer into our lives? What would happen if we “platted” more reading and meditating the Word into our lives? What would happen if we “platted” more worship into our lives? What would happen if we “platted” more fasting into our lives? What would happen to us spiritually if these things were platted into our lives?
Ladies and gentlemen, we choose what we allow to be platted into our lives. We choose. Let’s choose to platt into our lives what God would choose. Please stand.
