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Tempted

Matthew 4:1 “Then was aJesus led up of bthe Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” [1]

I.   Food

          A. Hunger

          B. Hankering

II. Family

          A. Household

          B. Home

III. Fame

          A. Honor

          B. Happiness

Introduction:  Last week we considered the beginning of a new year and what it means.  Should we attempt to make promises to ourselves that we can’t keep or should we look closer to the One who cannot break promises?

Jesus was a brand new baptized brother as He came out of the Jordan River the day that John the Baptist baptized Him.  Something then happened to Jesus that happens to each of us that make a promise when we are brand new Christians.  If it happened to Jesus Christ why would anyone believe that it would not happen to all of us who are called by His name, Christian?

Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.  This was right after God the Father spoke the truth that Jesus was His beloved Son.  It was right after the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove.  All three persons of the Godhead were present.

Immediately Jesus was led away where He later met temptation in the wilderness at the hands of the devil.  Today we will again look at how Jesus was tempted.  Perhaps we can understand that we are tempted with the same things that Jesus was tempted with.  We will see what Jesus did to ward off temptation.  Finally we will see what happened after the test was over.

Last week’s focal text was an encouragement to the church in Colossae and to us today.  Paul encouraged those then and us today that we should not rest in what we have been given but that we must always seek God’s will and use the resources that God has given us for His glory.

We are ambassadors who live in a place that is not our home.  We Christians are temporarily in a foreign place to represent the Prince that we serve.  Though we are in this world we are citizens of His eternal kingdom and we must not lose sight of that.

This is a hard task.  Jesus was equipped for the job and as Christians we have what He left us with to complete our task He has given us.  The other day Jerry took his son-in-law Steven took the grandchildren over to the observation porch at the airport.  The planes were doing their practice maneuvers of touching the runway and taking off again without coming to a full stop.  We call that touch and goes.  That is how we practice landing which is a good thing to be good at if you fly.  You see, it is not really so much about flying that makes a person a pilot.  Anyone can hang onto the controls and fly.  The plane will fly unless the engine quits.  What a person learns and gets confident at is landing.  We do it over and over because with each not so good landing we learn something until we get better.

Repetitive testing is what God gives us be faithful.  You will be tempted.  You will touch sin and go away from sin.  Everybody does it.  Even Jesus!  How did Jesus pass the test?  The same way we will discuss today.  We can and must come down sometime but for those who complete the journey with Jesus, we will share in His victory up there.

Scripture:  The scripture today is Matthew 4:1-11.  Please stand if you can for the reading of God’s Word.

Prayer:  Please be seated.

Message:  Jesus was led away from those He came to minister to and those who had ministered to Him.  John was a distant cousin.  Before they were born John leapt in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary walked in pregnant with Jesus.  They were connected before they were born.  God the Father spoke those words, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Those there who were baptized with Jesus were probably watching as Jesus left all of them there.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray to be led away from temptation.  Every time we pray the model prayer we know that.  “Give us this day our daily bread … lead us not into temptation.”  Those are words from that prayer yet Jesus did not receive His daily bread.  He went hungry for forty days.  He was not led by the Holy Spirit away from temptation but into a place where He would be tempted.  Temptation is something you avoid when you know you don’t have the faith to avoid the temptation.  Jesus had what He needed to avoid sin.

The KJV calls the devil the tempter here.  Jesus was fully God and yet He was fully man.  He was hungry.  After forty days I imagine that Jesus was also weak from hunger.  That is when the devil strikes.  He strikes when we are weak!  He struck Jesus’ weaknesses.

First thing he tempted Jesus with was food.  “Make these rocks into bread.”  He knew that Jesus could have taken a short cut like He did when Jesus turned the water into wine for someone else’s benefit.  There is a huge difference between a hankering for wine and a hunger for food. 

This time the miracle would have been for Jesus’ benefit to alleviate His hunger.  This time it was not Jesus’ mother asking, this time it was the devil tempting.  “If thou be the Son of God.”  The devil knew that Jesus was exactly that.  The devil knew that he was not.  Jesus answered with The Word of God.  He spoke from Deuteronomy  8:3.  “And he humbled thee, and esuffered thee to hunger, and ffed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that gman doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.[2]  When Moses was explaining manna to the refugees in their wilderness how could he have possibly known that Jesus would use the same words in His wilderness to stand again the devil?

Then it says the devil took Jesus.  Isn’t that amazing truth in itself right there at the beginning of verse five?  If the devil can get ahold of Jesus what makes you think that he can’t get ahold of you sometimes when God allows him to?  Jesus was taken to Jerusalem and was on the top of the temple.  That was the place where people went to find God.  That was the place Jesus felt at home.  The devil used that place!  What does that say to you?  The place where Jesus knew His family would go to is the place where the devil took Jesus.  So there is where Jesus was reminded of His earthly family.  The devil often tempts at home in your most familiar setting.

Then the devil tempted Jesus to call on the angels.  The devil knew that Jesus could do that.  Before Jesus came to this planet He was with His heavenly family.  The angels knew Jesus well.  They spent heaven together.  That is family.  They are a part of Jesus’ household even now.  The temple is Jesus’ house and the angels are part of Jesus’ heavenly family.

This time the devil actually took scripture out of context again.  Psalm 91:11, “tFor he shall give uhis angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands,  Lest thou xdash thy foot against a stone.” [3]  That’s another lesson.  Don’t take a verse here, a verse there, out of context.  That is what the devil did with Jesus but it didn’t work.

Jesus answered, “Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.”  Jesus cited Deuteronomy again.  This time from Deuteronomy 6:16, “xYe shall not tempt the Lord your God, yas ye tempted him in Massah.[4]  This refers to the time that the refugees with Moses had no water and were arguing that they were better off in bondage than to be free to worship God.  Sound familiar?

So there the devil tempted Jesus while He was weak; first with food and then with what Jesus was most familiar with.  Now the devil was ready to strike Jesus with popularity.  Fame is a fleeting thing and yet it is often the thing that we are most tempted with.  Once a person finds himself/herself to have power of persuasion over others it is like an addiction.  They will do whatever it takes to keep that place of prominence.

Jesus already had everything that the devil was using to tempt Him with.  If you are a Christian; you have it all too.  There is nothing better than to be a friend of God.  There is nothing better than for God to hear you when you pray.  There is nothing better than to live a life that brings honor to God.  Jesus was hungry but Jesus was happy.  Jesus wasn’t tempted because Jesus knew God.  Jesus is God.  This time Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:13, “Thou shalt pfear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and qshalt swear by his name.” [5]

Prayer:  Let us pray.

Invitation:  After all that happened to Jesus in the wilderness, when it was over it was over for that time.  Did the devil leave?  Yes!  When God’s time came for Jesus’ trial to be behind Him, the devil left.  Jesus had no need to pass a trial, yet God even allowed trials for Jesus and there would be more trials later.

But who comes when the devil leaves?  You see that is the great secret here.  You are not alone ever.  Jesus was led into the wilderness by The Holy Spirit.  God knew that Jesus was ready to pass the test so The Spirit was with Jesus to lead Him there.

The devil used Jesus’ familiarity with angels to test Jesus.  After the test was over, the angels arrived to comfort Jesus as they arrive just when He needed them.  They arrive today just when we need them.  God provides at just the right time.  He knows when we are ready for the test.  He knows whether we will pass the test.  He sends the right one when our temptation is over.

The devil tempted Jesus to take short cuts to benefit Jesus.  Jesus was certainly capable to do all that the devil suggested but Jesus would not bend to the devil.  If you are a Christian you have within you what you need to stand against the devil but you must bow down to God.  Pass the test that God has allowed and when the time comes you will find victory in Jesus.

a To ver. 11, Mark 1:12, 13. Luke 4:1–13.
b See 1 Kin. 18:12. & Ezek. 3:12.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Mt 4:1). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
e Ex. 16:2, 3.
f Ex. 16:12, 14, 15, 35.
g Cited Matt. 4:4. Luke 4:4.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Dt 8:3). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
t Cited Matt. 4:6. Luke 4:10, 11.
u Ps. 34:7. See Matt. 18:10.
x Prov. 3:23. Comp. Ps. 37:24.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ps 91:11–12). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
x Cited Matt. 4:7. Luke 4:12.
y Ex. 17:2, 7. Comp. 1 Cor. 10:9.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Dt 6:16). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
p See ver. 2. Cited Matt. 4:10. Luke 4:8.
q Ps. 63:11. Isai. 45:23. & 65:16. Jer. 12:16. So Zeph. 1:5?
[5] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Dt 6:13). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.