Sex, drugs, booze, gambling, financial impropriety, embezzlement stealing, that kind of stuff. I suppose these are the things that we usually associate with the concept of temptation. It's really naughty stuff that if you get caught doing it, you're going to be super embarrassed, you're going to look like a hypocrite. Everybody's going to imagine that you lead some kind of double life. These are destructive things that hurt other people, but they tend to be things that happen kind of in secret, and we really don't want them to come to the surface. And so this idea of temptation, for whatever reason, over the years, I think has really taken on those kind of scandal-ridden connotations. Or we flip it all the way around, and when we talk about temptation, we're like, chocolate, budge, an extra long hot tub weekend, or things like that. And so it's like almost wink-wink, temptation is cool and indulgent, and everybody should be allowed to indulge every now and then. But the concept of temptation that we're about to see described in Jesus' temptation in the wilderness in Matthew chapter four is nothing like that. There is no sexy time temptation. There is no booze or drugs or anything scandalous. The temptation is very simply that the best persuader, the best tempter in the history of tempting is trying to get Jesus, the Son of God, the redemptive plan incarnate himself, to stub his toe and fail at this whole redemptive thing that he's here to do before he even gets started, not by doing something scandalous, but simply by prioritizing his own pleasure, his own comfort, his own pride over the plan of his father, over his love for his father. In other words, the temptation here is this super sneaky internal thing. This is the kind of stuff where if you got it wrong and you're not Jesus and you got it wrong, you could just lie to everybody and be like, I didn't, I didn't think that. I wouldn't think that, because it's entirely internalized. And other, as we'll see when we get into the actual passage, we'll see that there's, you know, externalizations that go along with the specific temptations that are laid out before Jesus. But these temptations are frankly pretty mundane. Like for you and me, if somebody came to us and was like, I succumbed to temptation recently and I need to tell you what I've done, we'd be like, Oh boy. The heart starts going a little faster, and you're like, Well, let me hang on a minute, let me turn off my phone and let me shut some doors, and I don't want anybody to hear this super scandalous thing. Okay, what happened? And we're probably thinking like a fair or maybe like meth trafficking, and then this person instead is like I prioritized my own self-aggrandizement ahead of God's. Oh, I'm sorry, I was waiting for the actual thing that you did that was like freaky and bad. But what's so weird is that if we look at what Jesus is saying, who Jesus is, what the values of the kingdom of God are about, kind of at the heart of any kind of thing that we might be tempted for is this tension between am I God? Are world values what dominates my thinking and prioritizing, or is God God, is he king of my life, is he king of everything? And are the values of his kingdom what shape my priorities and shape my mindset? And frankly, that friction explains most of the frictions we feel in life in general, in the Christian life. And so it's very, very fascinating for me, as we get into Matthew chapter four, to see that Jesus kind of skips right past all of the dirty, super secret, sneaky, behind closed doors, scandalous stuff, and that Satan isn't even going to bother with those things. Like, ah, that's never gonna work. That's just too dang obvious. And he skips right to stuff that is largely invisible and strikes right at the soul. And frankly, the temptation is a lot like the one that happens at the end of Empire when Luke is offered inappropriately the keys to the empire, the keys to the kingdom. Let's rule the galaxy together, father and son. Well, he knows it's wrong. I mean, in order to do that, you have to go to the dark side. And that is more what the temptation we're about to learn about is like than the I'm sweating and nervous because I'm thinking about doing a naughty, and I would hate it so much if my parents found out that I did a naughty thing, or my wife or my girlfriend or my best friend or my employer. Very, very different stakes, very, very different thing going on. So here's three themes that I want you to look for as we march through this next passage, which is gonna be Matthew 4, verses 1 through 11. I'm gonna read the whole thing to you here in just a minute. One, I want you to keep an eye out for the theme of temptation itself, as we just discussed. What it looks like when the king of everything, the king of our kingdom, is subjected to temptation. What does he do? How does he respond? What is the nature of that temptation? And we also get a chance to kind of learn a little bit about the one who is behind temptation. Now, I know there are some Christians who believe that Satan is kind of a metaphor, not a literal physical character with a will and a personality, and that he is sort of the embodiment of the notion of temptation. Straight up disclosure so that you know where I'm coming from, and you can just roll your eyes and think something else if you want, or roll with me on this if you read it the same way. I think the text, both Old and New Testament, holds out Satan as an actual character, and I will break down why and what that looks like as we move forward. So, one, I think we're gonna learn about the nature of temptation, what it's like when Jesus himself is subjected to it, and what the play is on the part of the one who's trying to trip Jesus up. The second theme that I'd like to ask you to keep an eye out for as we move forward is the theme of Jesus' dependence upon Scripture as he engages in this tennis match, this sword fight, this battle of wits, this battle of rightness for, well, with nothing more than just the fate of everything on the line. Hebrews 4.12, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. I want you to keep that verse in mind. It's gonna come up a ton in the coming, I don't know, like five, ten episodes, however long it takes to get through this. I would also encourage you to just memorize that one. Now, I know that there are a ton of people who listen to this who are not here because they're doing the Christian faith thing. And I love that that is the case. I love that you don't feel like you have to believe the same things I do in order to value the Bible, learn about these things, and try to understand it more. So maybe you're gonna come at it from a little different angle. But even for those of you who are in that situation, I would still encourage you to memorize this verse because this verse is really a cipher for understanding how Christians think, how Christian thought through the ages has unfolded, an assumption that would underlie the mindset of the original audience. This really is a key, crucial thought. I'm gonna read it again, and I encourage you to put this in the back of your brain somewhere and just make this a part of what you're doing this week. Hebrews 4.12, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul into spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. We'll talk more about what that exactly means in a little bit. But if you recall, right now we're talking about what I want you to keep an eye out for as we go through this passage. One, the concept of temptation, how Jesus responds to it, what Satan does with it. Two, this concept of scripture as being something that Jesus weaponizes to defeat temptation. This idea that scripture is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword. And particularly keep an eye out for how Jesus employs it, how fluent and conversive, uh conversant rather, he is in this, and uh what it means that he goes to the scriptures that he goes to as we work this through. And frankly, that points to the third thing that I want you to keep an eye out for, if you would please, and that is just the narrative significance. You know, we've done three chapters of working on this together. We've practiced together the art of putting ourselves in the shoes of the original audience, trying to hear it more as they would hear it. And I want to challenge you to be thinking about that on your own as we go through this passage. Why is this in here? Why is this passage even in the Bible? What would this have meant to the original audience? What does it mean to you and me? All right, this one's a little different because I did want to kind of frame it up in advance because there's just so much here, and we're gonna break it down into such small, incremental little elements. But just so that you know what I'm talking about, let me just read Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 through whatever I just said 11. Framing it up once again, remember, Jesus is an adult now. He just got done with his baptism at the hands of John. The whole Trinity showed up and affirmed him, and now we're gonna flip it around, and it looks like the whole Trinity is not physically there anymore. Jesus is out in the wilderness, seemingly abandoned, and the opposite of the Trinity shows up. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, If you're the son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered, It's written, man doesn't live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point in the temple. If you're the son of God, he said, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him, It's also written, Don't put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me. Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. I want to tear into all of it now, but we're not gonna, we're gonna tear into it tomorrow, and it's gonna be awesome. Love that you guys are here. I'm Matt, this is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. We'll catch you soon.