SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, we'll be starting a series in the temptations of Christ that'll go the least next three weeks.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's just so much to say here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful to have a few weeks to do it.
SPEAKER_00: But this, what we're gonna study this morning, Matthew chapter 4, the first part of it, is one of the most significant passages in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I know every word of the Bible is inspired, every word is from God's mouth, every word is to be believed and cherished and trusted, and every word is an ocean of truth behind it.
SPEAKER_00: But some passages are where lots of those oceans come together.
SPEAKER_00: There's a confluence of truths and themes throughout the Bible that just have certain junctures in certain places, and this is one of those passages, the temptation of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is the showdown that was prophesied at the very beginning of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember, God created the universe good.
SPEAKER_00: He created earth in particular good and sinless and perfect.
SPEAKER_00: It was very good indeed, and yet it had the capacity to change, and it changed through sin.
SPEAKER_00: Satan snuck into the garden, and when I say snuck into the garden, I don't mean he snuck in away from God's knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, God is sovereign and omnipotent and omniscient and knew Satan's whereabouts at all times.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, God decreed, in a sense, all that would happen.
SPEAKER_00: He decreed redemption from before he made the earth.
SPEAKER_00: He knew the fall, he ordained the fall.
SPEAKER_00: So this is not a surprise to God.
SPEAKER_00: But the devil snuck into the garden and snuck in reference to Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: He came in the form of a serpent so he could sneak up to them, and he introduced sin.
SPEAKER_00: He introduced sin by causing them to question God's word, question the truthfulness of God, causing them to doubt the truth of what God had said.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, Adam and Eve believed the doubt, believed the lie, and fell into sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so the world was marred.
SPEAKER_00: And Adam and Eve were exiled to the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: But before they could make it to the wilderness, God prophesied, the first prophecy of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And God said that a descendant of Adam and Eve would come and crush the head of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: But he said the serpent would strike out and strike the heel of the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the prophecy back in Genesis chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for the rest of the Old Testament, there is a tension mounting about who the Savior will be and when that cosmic showdown will happen.
SPEAKER_00: You recognize that the devil is no match for God as God is reigning on his throne.
SPEAKER_00: You see that in Job chapter 1, where the devil goes before God and God directs him to test Job.
SPEAKER_00: You see this in 1 Kings, the end of 1 Kings chapter 22, where the Lord summons a demon from his presence and sends him to be a lying spirit in someone's mouth.
SPEAKER_00: So God is obviously sovereign over Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Satan can't latch out at God with any real threat.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's this tension.
SPEAKER_00: Where will the showdown happen?
SPEAKER_00: Where will Satan finally come face to face with the descendant of Adam, who the descendant of Adam we know will crush the head of Satan, but when will that showdown happen?
SPEAKER_00: Will they meet each other for the first time here in Matthew chapter 4?
SPEAKER_00: For the first time, Jesus in his humanity, truly God and truly man, on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, the devil has afflicted him before at his birth.
SPEAKER_00: The devil, uh, through demonic activity, inspired Herod to slaughter all of the infants that were born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: And that's clearly, I think, demonic and has lashed at him in that sense.
SPEAKER_00: But the devil's not using an intermediary here.
SPEAKER_00: Here, the devil is going face to face in some kind of physical appearance against the Lord himself.
SPEAKER_00: This is the great showdown that has been hanging in the background of the Bible ever since Genesis chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: It takes place here.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to take place over three different temptations.
SPEAKER_00: With all three of these temptations, the devil attacks Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: All three of them, by the way, are given to us because they're the same way the devil attacks us.
SPEAKER_00: There's a progress through them.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see that in a second.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of them Jesus resists, and every one of them, the devil tries a different approach.
SPEAKER_00: He changes the physical location every time.
SPEAKER_00: He changes what Jesus is looking at every time.
SPEAKER_00: He changes the motives behind the temptation every time.
SPEAKER_00: The devil has a multi-pronged attack here.
SPEAKER_00: It's not always the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: And that's so helpful for us to know as we study the devil and understand how to strike back against him, how to stand against his attacks on us.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, this temptation takes place in three acts.
SPEAKER_00: There's three different temptations.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at them over the next three weeks.
SPEAKER_00: The first is the temptation about the bread, and I'm sure you're familiar with these.
SPEAKER_00: The first is the temptation about the bread, where Jesus demonstrates that he is the true Israel.
SPEAKER_00: The second is the temptation where Jesus is offered to have the angels wait on him and catch him, and that demonstrates that Jesus is the true Adam.
SPEAKER_00: And the third is the temptation where he looks at the kingdoms of the world, and that demonstrates that Jesus is a true God.
SPEAKER_00: The true God.
SPEAKER_00: And the three temptations have different approaches behind them.
SPEAKER_00: The first is an attack trying to appeal to the lust of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: The second is an attack that appeals to the pride of life.
SPEAKER_00: And the third is an attack that appeals to the lust of the eyes.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter 2 says these are the same ways the devil attacks us.
SPEAKER_00: So he has multiple tricks in his bag, multiple schemes, multiple traps.
SPEAKER_00: Snare is the word that Paul uses in 2 Timothy 2.
SPEAKER_00: The devil has snares that he lays out for people.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't have an infinite number of them.
SPEAKER_00: He preys on people in the same way.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at the first of those attacks this morning, which will show that Jesus is the true Israel.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to call our outline this morning just temptation's trail.
SPEAKER_00: Temptation's trail, so you can follow the way temptation works from the baptism of Jesus all the way through the first temptation will be the trail we'll mark out.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, to follow this temptation's trail, I want to remind you that God had a son before Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It was a son who was in slavery in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: It was a son who, though in slavery of Egypt, God sought and rescued and delivered him from slavery, called him out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: He called him out of Egypt through the waters, through the waters into the wilderness, where the son went through 40 years of a trial through food, 40 years of depending upon the Lord for the food.
SPEAKER_00: And a trial, of course, that the son failed spectacularly.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible refers to Israel as God's son.
SPEAKER_00: It says in Hosea chapter 11, out of Egypt I called my son, a reference to this fact.
SPEAKER_00: God had appointed Israel to be his son.
SPEAKER_00: Israel was in slavery in Egypt, and God summoned Israel out of Egypt through the waters into the wilderness, where they, first of all, Moses fasted for 40 days, followed by Israel failing.
SPEAKER_00: Moses comes down from the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he had fasted for 40 days.
SPEAKER_00: He received the law from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He comes down from the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: By the time he gets down from the mountain, he already finds Israel breaking three of the Ten Commandments, at least.
SPEAKER_00: He enters the camp and they are worshipping another God.
SPEAKER_00: There's commandment one.
SPEAKER_00: They've made an idol.
SPEAKER_00: There's commandment two.
SPEAKER_00: They're calling that idol Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: They're taking Yahweh's name in vain.
SPEAKER_00: That's commandment three.
SPEAKER_00: If it happened on Saturday, that'd be the first four, but I don't know when it happened.
SPEAKER_00: Israel failed the test.
SPEAKER_00: As a consequence of that, they were spending 40 years in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the test.
SPEAKER_00: Now we turn to the New Testament and we see Jesus, who was called out of Egypt, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: You remember this in Matthew chapter 2, out of Egypt I called my son.
SPEAKER_00: Through the waters that happened in Matthew 3, where he was just baptized in Matthew 3 through the waters, launching his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, Egypt waters wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: That's the pattern of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And that will be the pattern of Jesus as well.
SPEAKER_00: He finds himself in the wilderness for the first stop on Temptation's trail.
SPEAKER_00: It's the leading here.
SPEAKER_00: Every word in verse 1 is significant.
SPEAKER_00: Every word is important.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
SPEAKER_00: The then, this is happening after his baptism.
SPEAKER_00: He's baptized.
SPEAKER_00: The voice from heaven declares, This is my son with whom I'm well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove.
SPEAKER_00: This is a Trinitarian testimony.
SPEAKER_00: Father, Son, and Spirit, all three, same place, same time, with the same testimony.
SPEAKER_00: That the man, Jesus Christ, is the eternal Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: The Father is well pleased with him.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is setting him aside for ministry.
SPEAKER_00: That is what's happening in chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: It is after that that the Holy Spirit leads him to the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted.
SPEAKER_00: This raises a lot of questions.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't the Bible command us to pray to God, asking God to lead us not into so?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus is going to teach that prayer next.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he just hadn't prayed it yet.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: How come the Holy Spirit is leading Jesus into temptation?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I said every word is important here.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Spirit who is leading him.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit is the agent here.
SPEAKER_00: It is God who is, of course, leading him.
SPEAKER_00: Here it's the Spirit taking on that function.
SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing hidden in the word leading here because Matthew or Luke says that Jesus went to be tempted when he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just the Holy Spirit led him, the Holy Spirit led him from inside.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit filled Jesus at his baptism, and then through compulsion, is leading him into the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: So he's not leading him by the hand.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit is indwelling in Christ, as he indwells in every believer, by the way, starting at Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a pre-Pentecost indwelling of the Holy Spirit, empowering Jesus for ministry, and God, through his indwelling of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, is compelling him to go into the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: Mark uses an even different word.
SPEAKER_00: Mark says the Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, drove him from the inside.
SPEAKER_00: So God is drawing, driving, leading, filling, and compelling Jesus to get into the wilderness for the purpose of temptation.
SPEAKER_00: But God doesn't tempt anyone.
SPEAKER_00: We know this.
SPEAKER_00: And so Satan's presence here is significant.
SPEAKER_00: God wants Jesus to be tested here.
SPEAKER_00: It's God's desire for Jesus to be tested, but it is the devil that will do the tempting.
SPEAKER_00: And you cannot confuse those two.
SPEAKER_00: Do not call the work of the devil the work of God or the work of God the work of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: That's a pretty catastrophic error.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's significant that God in his sovereignty ordains this.
SPEAKER_00: God in his eternal plan ordains this.
SPEAKER_00: God in his sovereignty makes it happen.
SPEAKER_00: He decreed it, he drives it, he drew it up, and he's enacting it.
SPEAKER_00: But it is the devil who will do the tempting.
SPEAKER_00: Moreover, in the Old Testament, you may know this in Greek, in the New Testament, the word for tempt and test is the same word.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, testing is something that God often does.
SPEAKER_00: And the Hebrew word for testing that is happening in the Old Testament, it's a word that has two people in a covenant relationship with each other, and one is testing the other person to see their commitment to the covenant.
SPEAKER_00: That's how that word is used in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: A very specific word.
SPEAKER_00: Two people in a covenantal relationship, and one is testing the other to see their faithfulness in the covenant.
SPEAKER_00: You can probably think of some of the uses of this word in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The most famous, of course, is Abraham is going to be tested by God.
SPEAKER_00: God tells Abraham, I'm going to test you, and commands him to go up on the mountain and sacrifice Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham obeys.
SPEAKER_00: And then God stops the knife and says, Now that I've tested you, I've seen that you do love me, you do trust me, you do have faith.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, the test is not for God's benefit.
SPEAKER_00: You know this, right?
SPEAKER_00: God, he's seen the answer key.
SPEAKER_00: Like he knows how the test is going to go.
SPEAKER_00: So God doesn't test Abraham to find out what's really going on in Abraham's heart.
SPEAKER_00: The test is for Abraham's benefit.
SPEAKER_00: So God is testing Abraham's commitment to the Abrahamic covenant.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham exercises faith in God.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, God gives Abraham the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham exercises the faith that God gave him.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham passes the test, and this helps Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: It strengthens Abraham's faith.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that he passed the test.
SPEAKER_00: You see people in the Old Testament fail the test.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: God tells Israel, I put you in the wilderness for 40 years, and I tested you with manna to see if you would be committed to me and my covenant.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, Israel failed to test Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_00: They grumble throughout their whole wilderness wanderings.
SPEAKER_00: They hate the manna.
SPEAKER_00: They want the onions from Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They want the quail from the sky.
SPEAKER_00: So God chokes them with quail and they go back to complaining about the manna again.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah, two chronicles, was tested by God to expose what was in his heart.
SPEAKER_00: Is he committed to the Davidic covenant or not?
SPEAKER_00: So again, it's a word that's used to demonstrate people's commitment to the covenant.
SPEAKER_00: There's one example that I really like is the Queen of Sheba tests Solomon.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, how are the Queen of Sheba and Solomon related in the covenant?
SPEAKER_00: The Queen of Sheba is testing Solomon's commitment to his covenant with Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: That's a reference in Deuteronomy chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: That if Israel obeys the Lord, there will be wisdom and the people will be wise, and poverty will be driven out of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: The Queen of Sheba arrives and tests Solomon and Solomon's people and finds out that they passed the test.
SPEAKER_00: Solomon is wise, the people are obedient.
SPEAKER_00: Silver is as common as stones on the grounds.
SPEAKER_00: And she says, I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_00: It takes her breath away.
SPEAKER_00: That's where that expression comes from.
SPEAKER_00: She's astonished about how well Solomon passed the test.
SPEAKER_00: So here, the Holy Spirit is driving, leading Jesus into the wilderness so that he will be tested.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what covenant is being tested here?
SPEAKER_00: What's the covenantal relationship that is being put to the test?
SPEAKER_00: Of course, this is the, I would say this is the covenant, the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son, the covenant of redemption, the plan of salvation enacted before time, before the world was created, Jesus is described as the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: This is the eternal plan between the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_00: The Son would go to earth, take on a human nature.
SPEAKER_00: He would leave the glories of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He would set aside the riches of heaven for the rags of this earth.
SPEAKER_00: He would humble himself.
SPEAKER_00: He, being rich, became poor for our sake.
SPEAKER_00: He, knowing all things, had to learn how to speak.
SPEAKER_00: He knowing all things had to learn how to walk.
SPEAKER_00: He who made all things had to be dependent upon his parents for food and sustenance.
SPEAKER_00: That's the humility.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: That was what was planned before the foundation of time, that Jesus would come be the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, his death is planned as well.
SPEAKER_00: The eternal Son of God will become a human son.
SPEAKER_00: With a human nature, a human desire for food, human body in full humanity.
SPEAKER_00: And now he's there.
SPEAKER_00: And now he's experiencing it.
SPEAKER_00: His family will turn against him.
SPEAKER_00: His father is probably died by now.
SPEAKER_00: He's experiencing what life in Nazareth is like.
SPEAKER_00: He's drawing his disciples to himself.
SPEAKER_00: He's starting his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Is he committed to this?
SPEAKER_00: So that's the test.
SPEAKER_00: That's why God is enacting this test.
SPEAKER_00: Now, whose benefit is this test for?
SPEAKER_00: Who is this designed to demonstrate something to?
SPEAKER_00: I think in one sense, you could say to Jesus, in the same way that God tested Abraham, he's putting Jesus, the man Christ Jesus, to the test.
SPEAKER_00: But I think in even bigger ways, he's putting this test on for our benefit.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul says in Hebrews.
SPEAKER_00: This is happening for our benefit.
SPEAKER_00: So we would look at Jesus and see him tempted in every way like we are tempted.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus endures our temptations.
SPEAKER_00: Temptations that we endure, he endures in every way.
SPEAKER_00: Now when it says in Hebrews that he endured every temptation, that doesn't mean he endured every single temptation that we endure, like Jesus was never tempted to watch too much Netflix.
SPEAKER_00: There's temptations unique to being elderly that Jesus was never subject to.
SPEAKER_00: There's temptations unique to being a parent that Jesus was never subject to.
SPEAKER_00: There's categories of temptation that Jesus didn't experience in that sense.
SPEAKER_00: But he experienced every kind of temptation, namely the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, that boastfulness, the desires of the eyes, covetousness, wanting things, wanting people to esteem you, wanting things for your own body, like food.
SPEAKER_00: He experienced those temptations.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's where you need to understand in the New Testament, the word for testing and temptation is the same word, which makes it confusing.
SPEAKER_00: Testing is the word that's used when you pass the test.
SPEAKER_00: Tempting is the word English word that you would use when you fail the test.
SPEAKER_00: So you understand this?
SPEAKER_00: You're tempted to sin in some way.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, you're tempted to sin.
SPEAKER_00: You want to sin, you justify it, you rationalize it, you're like, I deserve to sin in this way, I really want it, and I deserve it, and so I'm gonna do it, but then you fight back and you're like, no, I'm not gonna see you.
SPEAKER_00: Remember your memory verses.
SPEAKER_00: I've got memory verses for this.
SPEAKER_00: Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
SPEAKER_00: Not today, Satan.
SPEAKER_00: And you resist sin and you walk away from sin.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that a great feeling when you walk away from sin?
SPEAKER_00: And it happens in your heart, you know, it's not really with your feet.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it might be with your feet you walk away from it, but most of the time it's in your heart where you're tempted to it, and then your heart you land the plane, you're like, not gonna do it, boom, and the temptation's over, and you're like, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Take me to heaven now, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: So that's a test.
SPEAKER_00: You passed it, and it demonstrates your commitment to the Lord, which strengthens you, right?
SPEAKER_00: But what about when you fail it?
SPEAKER_00: You're tempted to sin, you justify it, you rationalize it, and then you do it.
SPEAKER_00: Did God make you sin?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is not tempted himself by able, nor does he tempt you with evil, but each one of you is tempted.
SPEAKER_00: When you plant a seed of a wrongful desire in your heart, and then you water it, and then you grow it, so you did that.
SPEAKER_00: You put that desire in your heart, you fed that desire, you watered it, so don't turn around and blame the Lord for it.
SPEAKER_00: You did it.
SPEAKER_00: You have a fig tree for five years, you put fertilizer on it, you water it, you put a little jacket on it in the winter, and then one year suddenly it grows figs, and you're like, whoa.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't see that coming.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you fed it and you watered it for five years.
SPEAKER_00: What did you think would happen?
SPEAKER_00: That's how it is with temptation.
SPEAKER_00: So when you give into sin, you can't blame the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know if it's a trial or a temptation or a test?
SPEAKER_00: Before no.
SPEAKER_00: That hinges on how you respond to it.
SPEAKER_00: If you fall into sin, that's on you.
SPEAKER_00: If you stand strong, that's that's thanks to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the difference.
SPEAKER_00: Here in Matthew 4, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to be tested.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to do what happened to Israel in the Old Testament, where Israel was called out of Egypt, Jesus is called out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Israel went through the water, Jesus goes through the water, Israel goes to the wilderness where they're given the restrictions on manna, and Israel spectacularly fails the test.
SPEAKER_00: And now Jesus is right back there again.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.
SPEAKER_00: And you're allowed to laugh when you read that.
SPEAKER_00: That's like Mathian understatement right there.
SPEAKER_00: He went 40 days without food.
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
SPEAKER_00: And he was hungry.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus here is truly human.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, God wouldn't be hungry.
SPEAKER_00: God owes the cattle on a thousand hills.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't hunger or thirst.
SPEAKER_00: He makes water and he makes food.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, in his humanity, he's operating in his humanity here, is hungry.
SPEAKER_00: It's important that he's operating in his humanity because when the devil tempts him, he could operate in his deity and banish the devil to hell.
SPEAKER_00: That would be under his authority to do that.
SPEAKER_00: He has prerogative to do that.
SPEAKER_00: But he is being tempted like we are in his humanity.
SPEAKER_00: It would not be encouraging to us if Jesus withstood the devil by falling back on his deity.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like that wouldn't encourage you.
SPEAKER_00: Like, of course, Jesus could endure temptation because he was God.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's operating in his humanity here.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why it's significant.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with the lust of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with the desire for food.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is sinless.
SPEAKER_00: He's never sinned.
SPEAKER_00: So this tells you a very critical thing about what it means to be truly human.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand that sin is not an essential part of humanity?
SPEAKER_00: When God made Adam and Eve, he didn't make them with sin.
SPEAKER_00: To be truly human does not involve sin.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is an alien.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is snuck into your life through Adam's sin.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at that more next week.
SPEAKER_00: To be truly human does not mean to be a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus is truly human.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what is a true part of humanity?
SPEAKER_00: Hunger.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's where Jesus finds himself.
SPEAKER_00: Tempted in this regard with hunger.
SPEAKER_00: You see next to the line.
SPEAKER_00: You see next to the line that Jesus is approached by the devil here.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that the devil seizes the moment of hunger for his attack because people are weak when they're hungry.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you miss lunch, you get grumpy.
SPEAKER_00: If this sermon goes late today, you know you have a flight that's delayed.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to buy airplane food, so you're just gonna eat lunch when you land, but then the flight's delayed by 30 minutes, and now you're hungry, and now you don't want the airplane food, and now it's like you get angry.
SPEAKER_00: You're angry at the gate agent, she's not flying the plane, don't get angry at her.
SPEAKER_00: You're at a restaurant and you order the food a certain way, and it comes wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You wanted the dressing on the side, and the dressing's all over it, and I don't deserve this, and that dressing is gross.
SPEAKER_00: And I said clearly on the side, can't you listen?
SPEAKER_00: And you get angry at the waiter because you ordered it a certain way, and that's not what you got, and you're obnoxious to the people at the table.
SPEAKER_00: They got all their food the right way, and they don't seem concerned that yours is wrong, and people get so upset about food.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus has gone 40 days without it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where Satan launches his attack.
SPEAKER_00: All who are led by the Spirit are, of course, sons of God, the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness for the devil's attack.
SPEAKER_00: The tempter, it says in verse 3, and that I love how Matthew calls the devil that.
SPEAKER_00: The tempter.
SPEAKER_00: That's who he is, that's what he's doing.
SPEAKER_00: He came and said to Jesus, If you are the Son of God, and you can just stop reading there.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way the devil attacks.
SPEAKER_00: Learn this well, my friends.
SPEAKER_00: The devil attacks with conditional clauses.
SPEAKER_00: He attacks with the if-then.
SPEAKER_00: That is classic devil temptation.
SPEAKER_00: If then, with a logical fallacy right in the middle.
SPEAKER_00: You don't even need to know what the then is.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't even matter.
SPEAKER_00: That's irrelevant.
SPEAKER_00: The devil structures the if, and the if is often true, followed by with a then, and the then is not true.
SPEAKER_00: And you fall for it.
SPEAKER_00: If God loved you, he would let you eat from that tree.
SPEAKER_00: Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_00: Well, of course God loves us.
SPEAKER_00: So of course we can eat from the tree.
SPEAKER_00: They believed the lie.
SPEAKER_00: If you're the son of God, then X.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the temptation then?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: So then X, right?
SPEAKER_00: And when you think that way, you fell for it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, is Jesus the Son of God?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: And why does the devil start here?
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk more about this next week, but it's interesting to think why the devil starts here.
SPEAKER_00: Because what happened yesterday, well, 40 days ago yesterday, was the baptism of Jesus, where the voice from heaven said, This is my son.
SPEAKER_00: The voice of God him said, it's no ambiguity.
SPEAKER_00: God's own voice said, This is my son, and that's where the devil attacks.
SPEAKER_00: If what God said is true, then do this.
SPEAKER_00: And so you can see the temptation.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't do this now, you think, well, that means what God said isn't true then.
SPEAKER_00: Real life examples.
SPEAKER_00: I hear people say, if God loves me, he would want me to be in a better marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And God loves me, therefore I can leave my obnoxious husband.
SPEAKER_00: Because God wants me to be happy.
SPEAKER_00: I deserve a better grade in class than I'm getting.
SPEAKER_00: I deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: And if I deserve it, then I should get a better grade in class so I can cheat.
SPEAKER_00: God loved me.
SPEAKER_00: He knows I deserve more money than this.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just going to lie on my taxes.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to say I gave this much to church instead of that much, because after all, I would want to give that much to church, and that increases my or lowers my tax liability by that much money, and there, boom.
SPEAKER_00: I'll call that a business expense.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a business expense, but God loves me and God would want me to take that deduction on my taxes.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way people operate.
SPEAKER_00: And it starts with the lie.
SPEAKER_00: If God loved me, then that should happen.
SPEAKER_00: The lie is the if-then structure.
SPEAKER_00: It's calling into question something that's true to lead you to something that is false.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where the devil goes.
SPEAKER_00: It's how he approached Israel in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is now being tested the same way.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody else has failed.
SPEAKER_00: Moses failed in the wilderness, didn't he?
SPEAKER_00: He got angry at Israel, broke the tablets.
SPEAKER_00: He gets angry with God over the manna.
SPEAKER_00: He gets angry with God about the water and hits the rock.
SPEAKER_00: If God made me in charge, I should be able to hit this rock.
SPEAKER_00: That's his logic.
SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
SPEAKER_00: God did put you in charge.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean you get to hit the rock.
SPEAKER_00: So Moses fails.
SPEAKER_00: Israel goes into the land.
SPEAKER_00: If God loves us, they should let us have this part of the land and not that part of the land.
SPEAKER_00: They fail.
SPEAKER_00: The judges fail.
SPEAKER_00: Moses' grandson fails.
SPEAKER_00: Worshiping idols in Judges 17 fails.
SPEAKER_00: So if God loves us, he would give us a king.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: God gives them a king.
SPEAKER_00: King fails.
SPEAKER_00: If God loves us, we'd have a better king.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, God gives them a better king, King David, who justifies his own adultery.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, if God loved me, I should be able to do this.
SPEAKER_00: And he does it.
SPEAKER_00: Fails.
SPEAKER_00: Every king fails.
SPEAKER_00: So God gives them a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah calls fire from heaven on the altar of Baal and it's consumed.
SPEAKER_00: And then Elijah does what?
SPEAKER_00: Quits.
SPEAKER_00: Runs out back to Egypt, gets away to Israel, is done, and says, God, I'm over this.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah fails.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, what does he do when he quits?
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember?
SPEAKER_00: He goes out into the wilderness where he fasts for 40 days.
SPEAKER_00: And then God sends him right back.
SPEAKER_00: Makes Elisha a prophet instead.
SPEAKER_00: Elisha can't change people's hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Israel fails.
SPEAKER_00: They go into exile, they come back with a brand new start, but not a brand new heart, and they fail.
SPEAKER_00: The Old Testament ends with Ezra pulling out his beard and weeping at the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Fail, fail, fail, fail, fail.
SPEAKER_00: So now here is Jesus in the exact same scenario, fasting for 40 days that Moses found himself in, that Elijah found himself in, that Ezra found himself in.
SPEAKER_00: Will Jesus also fail?
SPEAKER_00: That's the question.
SPEAKER_00: That's the nature of the temptation.
SPEAKER_00: And notice that what is being tempted here, what he's being led to, is something that he has the right to do.
SPEAKER_00: It's not wrong to eat bread, especially after you've fasted for 40 days.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus has the authority and the power to turn rocks into bread.
SPEAKER_00: How do you think the rocks got there to begin with?
SPEAKER_00: He made them, remember, he said rocks, and boom, rocks.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to turn, he's going to make bread later on in his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to turn water into wine.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to turn fish into more fish and bread into more bread.
SPEAKER_00: That's all gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: He can do that, you know.
SPEAKER_00: So why not now?
SPEAKER_00: What's the deal with this temptation?
SPEAKER_00: Because you can want a good thing, but if you pursue it in the way the devil lays out before you, it's bad.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus can have bread, and he can turn rocks into bread.
SPEAKER_00: But he can't do it because the devil tells him to.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a very simple temptation at one level.
SPEAKER_00: If you're the Son of God, then do a magic trick.
SPEAKER_00: But it's very profound at another level.
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to go after something that you want, that you deserve, that you need, and that you have the right to get but in a way different than God calls you to do it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the temptation.
SPEAKER_00: That's the trap he lays.
SPEAKER_00: And we fall for it too.
SPEAKER_00: We think, I earned this, I deserve this, I want this, I deserve a better life.
SPEAKER_00: I don't deserve to be hungry.
SPEAKER_00: I don't deserve to be left out.
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I just deserve better.
SPEAKER_00: That's the devil's trap.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus responds, This is the living.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen the leading and the lying, not the living.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answers, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
SPEAKER_00: So the Gospels show you here that Jesus, with this answer, triumphs where everybody else failed.
SPEAKER_00: And particularly, we'll look at next week how he triumphs where Adam failed.
SPEAKER_00: And the week after that, we'll look at how he triumphs, demonstrating that he is truly the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: But for this week, he's triumphing where Israel failed.
SPEAKER_00: Israel caved into that temptation in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: Israel caved in and wanted food their way and was just exiled for 40 years of wilderness wandering.
SPEAKER_00: So Israel becomes an example of what not to do.
SPEAKER_00: Paul tells you this in uh his letter to the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: He says these things are written so that you would learn not to grumble like they grumbled, that you would learn not to pursue sexual immorality like they did, that you would learn not to do what Israel did.
SPEAKER_00: That's why they were written down for you.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the contrast.
SPEAKER_00: This is written down for you so that you would learn to withstand the devil like Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is applying Ephesians 6, which is not written in the world yet, but is written in the mind of Jesus, believe me.
SPEAKER_00: The temptation is here.
SPEAKER_00: He puts on the shoes of the gospel, he doesn't run against the devil, he digs it against the devil, he puts up the shield of faith, he takes out the sword of the word of God, and he strikes back.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just tell the devil no.
SPEAKER_00: He goes right after the devil by quoting the Bible to the devil.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: Quoting the scripture to the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Now I do want you to understand when this story is happening here, this doesn't just mark a new chapter in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: This marks a new testament in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: The word testament just means covenant.
SPEAKER_00: This marks a new covenant in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the next chapter of the long saga of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just the next person who is tempted and failed.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it's a whole New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: In my Bible, there's even a blank page here, an entire blank page to show you, hey, what went on this side of it is not what's coming next, my friends.
SPEAKER_00: You get new things next.
SPEAKER_00: And what's the new thing you get?
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus triumphs where nobody else has.
SPEAKER_00: Israel, every chapter of the Old Testament is Israel's failure.
SPEAKER_00: And now you get here.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus called from Egypt through the waters to the wilderness for 40 days, triumphs over the devil, and he triumphs by quoting the Bible to the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And he does not quote a random verse.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't quote Joseph running from the devil.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't quote Proverbs about the Bible being strength through your bones.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't quote Proverbs about fleeing temptation.
SPEAKER_00: There's all kinds of scripture he could have quoted.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many Bible verses about standing up against the devil, standing up against temptation and treasuring the word.
SPEAKER_00: All of Psalm 119 he could have quoted.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't go there.
SPEAKER_00: He chooses a very particular verse, and I want you to see it with your own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think you're going to be astonished at where Jesus goes.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like he's the divine author of this book.
SPEAKER_00: Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: It will end in Deuteronomy 8.
SPEAKER_00: We won't get back to Matthew today, but we got more Sundays to finish off this in Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: Sunday comes every week.
SPEAKER_00: It's so much fun.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: Israel is about to go into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: They're done with the wilderness wanderings.
SPEAKER_00: 40 years they've wandered.
SPEAKER_00: They're all dead.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody who endured the wilderness wanderings died.
SPEAKER_00: That was older than 18.
SPEAKER_00: Moses, this is his farewell speech before he dies.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, Joshua and Caleb being the exceptions.
SPEAKER_00: The whole commandment I command you today, Deuteronomy 8, verse 1, you shall be careful to do so that you live, multiply, and go in and possess the land that Yahweh swore to give to your fathers.
SPEAKER_00: Moses here is working through a roller coaster of emotions.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is sad, he doesn't get to go in, but he recognizes God as just.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, it's just, who knows what's going through his heart.
SPEAKER_00: So he's just begging these people, don't forget what God did.
SPEAKER_00: Because he'll swallow you too, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Remember verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: The whole way that Yahweh your God has led you for 40 years in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: Why did he do it?
SPEAKER_00: Why did God lead them for 40 years?
SPEAKER_00: Notice what it says.
SPEAKER_00: To test you, to humble you, and to test you, to know what was in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: This is the testing verse.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it crazy that Jesus went here when the devil tested him?
SPEAKER_00: He went to where Moses went when Moses looked at being tested by God.
SPEAKER_00: He humbled you, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: And he let you hunger.
SPEAKER_00: And he fed you with manna.
SPEAKER_00: Which you didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: Your fathers didn't know what manna was.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody had ever seen manna before.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have a fat clue what manna is.
SPEAKER_00: But he gave it to you, so he could make you know that man does not live by bread alone.
SPEAKER_00: But he lives by every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Manna is only good for 24 hours, and then it spoils five days a week.
SPEAKER_00: One day a week it's good for 48 hours.
SPEAKER_00: So God expires it after 24 hours, not because he doesn't know how to make a better donut.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's like you need to buy donuts and they're rotten tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: God knows how to make a better donut because on Fridays they do last for 48 hours.
SPEAKER_00: On Fridays, they're like Krispy Kreme.
SPEAKER_00: Sunday through Thursday, like Dunkin' Donuts.
SPEAKER_00: See, you got the analogy here?
SPEAKER_00: So that's the way it's spelled out.
SPEAKER_00: Why does God do that?
SPEAKER_00: God does that so that they would learn what's more important than food is every word that comes from Yahweh's mouth.
SPEAKER_00: That's the moral.
SPEAKER_00: And Israel doesn't learn it.
SPEAKER_00: They do not learn it.
SPEAKER_00: Your clothing won't wear out.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to talk about clothing in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: That comes next.
SPEAKER_00: Know in your heart as a man disciplines his son.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh disciplines you.
SPEAKER_00: God's doing this for your good.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to go in, verse 7, to a great land.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10, you're going to eat and be filled, and you'll bless Yahweh your God for the good land he's given you.
SPEAKER_00: But again, verse 11, don't forget what Yahweh told you.
SPEAKER_00: Please don't.
SPEAKER_00: You picture Moses begging, just repeating this, begging them.
SPEAKER_00: Please don't forget.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're going to build, verse 12, you're going to build great houses.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, you're going to have all kinds of cattle, all kinds of gold.
SPEAKER_00: Queen of Sheba's going to see it.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14, your heart's going to be lifted up.
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget, please don't forget Yahweh, verse 14 says.
SPEAKER_00: He led you out of the wilderness, verse 15 says.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: The key verse.
SPEAKER_00: Beware, lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.
SPEAKER_00: Who's that written to?
SPEAKER_00: Who's the audience of that verse?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the context here, you're gonna be hungry, and you're gonna be tested.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the word of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: And don't think that the own power of your own hands can get you out of this.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this reads like a warning to the Savior himself, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knew this verse.
SPEAKER_00: This is Moses appealing to the Israelites, but God supernaturally intends it thousands of years later to land on the ears of Jesus, who claims it.
SPEAKER_00: And the devil tempts him and says, You can make yourself food.
SPEAKER_00: You can feed your hunger.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus quotes this passage to him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna rely on the strength of my hands, devil.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna heed this warning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna listen to the word of God and stand against temptation.
SPEAKER_00: With that, the devil doesn't flee.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen Jesus stand in against the lust of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: What is he gonna do when he is tempted with the pride of life?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we're thankful that you have shown us that our Savior has stood where we would have fallen.
SPEAKER_00: And so for that reason, he can stand on the cross for our sin and not for his own.
SPEAKER_00: Without his obedience here in the wilderness, we would die condemned to death in our own sin.
SPEAKER_00: But because he withstood temptation, he can die for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's at stake here, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And we know this.
SPEAKER_00: So we're thankful for the example of Christ who stood against the design of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray for this congregation.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that this week they would stand against the temptations of the devil, that when tempted to feed the flesh and food and gluttony and sex and money and the things of this world, they would withstand.
SPEAKER_00: They would remember that we live off every word from your mouth.
SPEAKER_00: That we wouldn't excuse our own immorality by saying we deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: We've worked hard enough for this money, we deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what your word warns us against.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for the example of Christ who did stand against it.
SPEAKER_00: And he stands against it in Israel's place.
SPEAKER_00: So that we now, through faith as children of Abraham, have somebody who stood against the devil in our place.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful that we are rescued from the accuser through the merciful intercession of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in his name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to TMS.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.