Matthew 4:1-11  Tempted and Triumphant

 

Temptation is something we all deal with – Part of the Spiritual battle – part of life.

A) Lust / food / greed/ dishonesty – we all have areas

   Satan – looks for a weakness

 

B) Tonight we are going to look at one of the most radical,  one of the most monumental and mysterious spiritual battles of all time.

1) the personal confrontation between Jesus Christ and Satan.

 

                    RD V.1-11 

 

Several things to note about this encounter:

1st Notice When Jesus was tempted

 

A) It was after His Baptism.

 

B) Mark’s gospel tells us that immediately after the Baptism Jesus was driven by the spirit into the wilderness. .

 

C) The Baptism of Jesus was a high moment  in the  life of Jesus up to that point .      

1) It was the Beg. Of  His Ministry

 

D) And there He was annointed by the Spirit - and declared by the Father

1)You are My son … well pleased

Now this is good for us to note that the high times in our lives are often followed by hard times / triumphant times - troubling times

A) Retreat MT top experience – Jesus dealt with that too.

 

2nd Where this temptation took Place - In the wilderness

A) Now the Judean wilderness  extends west from the Dead Sea almost to Jerusalem, and is some thirty-five miles long and fifteen miles wide..

 

B) it is a very barren desolate area, & temperatures  often times get up to  120, 125 degrees,

 

C) Nowhere in Palestine could Jesus have been more isolated or in less comfort - than there .

 

D) Now I find this incredibly comforting that our Lord Jesus knows what it is like to be in the wilderness. /

1)  Desert times / Wilderness times / Barren times / Dry times! / Heat is turned up.

 

So that is the when and the where – What we really want to focus on tonight is Why

A) Why was Jesus tempted? – 3 reasons

 

#1 To reveal to us who He was !

A) In 1 Cor. 15 :45 Paul declares that Jesus is the last Adam.

B) 1st Adam was the perfect man- created by God in the garden of Eden / The first Adam also faced the temptation of Satan.- but the 1st Adam failed

1)  Consider the Contrast between Adam & Jesus: the last Adam

 

C) The first Adam was in a beautiful garden: Jesus - The last Adam was in a barren forsaken desert

 

D) The first Adam ate freely of all things except one

       ( the forbidden fruit )

1)  Jesus the last Adam - ate nothing for 40 days

 

E) The first Adam blew it in the test - he gave into the temptation - plunging all of humanity into a lost & hopeless situation.

1)  Jesus the last Adam - came through & was triumphant over every temptation.

 

F) And In doing so He revealed to us who He is - The one who conquered sin!

 

Jesus was fully man and Yet Fully God.

A) As man – Glory was concealed in His Humanity

Layed aside his right to be treated as God

 

B) As a man He made Himself subject – submitted to the Father in all things

1) In His flesh He felt everything that we feel - hunger - pain - weariness - grief

C) And in His flesh He felt the full weight of this temptation – in fact I believe He encountered it in an even greater way than what we do. More intense

1)  Consider this analogy - 10 foot sail boat - sledge hammer

 

F) Same Hammer to a battle ship - pound on it – Body builder hit even harder the attack on the Battleship is even harder - more severe / more intense

1) It is able to stand because of being stronger stuff.

 

 

Jesus on the outside was flesh - 100%  flesh & blood - On the outside He was made of the same stuff as we are

A) But what was on the inside was much greater - He was God.

 

B) One of the guys in our fellowship who is a carpenter - been working on repairing a Cruise ship

1) Quest. Would you sail on the thing - How is it put together

 

C) Well through the temptation it is as if the H.S. is saying - here is a ship you can board w/ absolute confidence.

 

D) Others will fail you: Parents / Pastors /friends

1) Not Jesus: Totally Sea worthy

 

So first of all the H.S. led Him into the wilderness to be tempted so that He could reveal to us who He was - conquering one .

A) To show Him off so to speak

 

B)- Jeep commercial - / guys on a huge cliff - Mountainous terrain - shooting commercial - Toyota

 

C) How get our jeep up here - no way it will make it - Helicopter -

1)  Guys all go get in a jeep by jeep to leave - ( The point is obvious - it can make it )

 

D) That is part of the point here - H.S. is illustrating to us that Jesus - He makes it . He is the only one -

 

#2 The H.S. led Jesus into the wilderness was not only to reveal to us Who He was - but also so He could relate to us as we are.

 

Hebrews 2:17  Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

18  For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

 

Hebrews 4: 15  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

He is a perfect High Priest who prays for us & is able to relate to us in the trials & temptations that we go thru.

Joseph Turner was an  English painter, who invited Charles Kingsley to his studio to see a picture of a storm at sea.

 

It was an incredible painting & , Kingsley was amazed at how realistic it looked . responded -It's so realistic!  How did you do it?

 

   The artist replied, "I went to the coast of Holland & talked  a fisherman into taking me out to sea in the next storm. Entering his boat as a storm was brewing, I asked him to bind me to the mast.  Then he steered his boat into the teeth of the storm.

   "The storm raged with such fury that at times I longed to be in the bottom of the boat where the waves would blow over me.  I could not, however.  I was bound to the mast.  Not only did I see the storm in its raging fury, I felt it!

 

It blew into me, as it were, until I became a part of it.  After this terrible ordeal, I returned to my studio and painted the picture."

 

That is what Jesus did for us - He willingly - came in a human body & allowed Himself to go thru the storm - that He might perfectly relate to us!

 

A) Notice He was tempted in 3 ways – just like us.

 

B) V.3 Turn the stones to Bread – Temptation to doubt God’s provision.

1) Jesus had been fasting 40 days – Physically Hungry

  Limestone rocks – loaves of Bread

C)Temptation to doubt God’s provision.

 

D) God is not going to take care of you- Eve – He is holding out on you

1) We face that temptation as well – Temptation to take matters into our own hands

 

D) Physically Vulnerable: Tired and Hungry

1) Great time of temptation: Tired – physically wore out – vulnerable – Satan attacks

 

E) Do something to take care of your need.

 

2nd temptation Satan tries to get Jesus to doubt His Father’s protection V.5,6

A) Throw yourself off the pinnacle!

 

B) Having failed to induce Jesus to use His divine powers to serve His own self-interests

1) Satan proceeded to tempt the Son to put His heavenly Father’s love and power to a test.

 

Satan was Still hoping to undermine Jesus’ relationship  to God in His divine Sonship,

A) the devil again introduced his temptation with the words if You are the Son of God. 

 

“Prove to yourself and to the world that you are the Son of God,”,  and throw Yourself down.

 

A) Now what is interesting about this temptation is that Satan quotes Scripture as well Quoting Psalm 91:11-12, he said, for it is written, “He will give His angels charge concerning You”; and “On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.” 

 

B) Satan was saying.  “You claim to be God’s Son and You claim to trust His Word,”

1)  “If so, why don’t you demonstrate your sonship and prove the truth of God’s Word by putting Him to a test-a scriptural test?

 

C) If you won’t use your own divine power to help yourself, let your Father use His divine power to help you.

1)  If you won’t act independently of the Father, let the Father act. Give your Father a chance to fulfill the Scripture I just quoted to you.”

 

D) Reminded here that Satan knows the Word - but he always twists the word/ he will- always omit a phrase or two in the process.

1)  Psa 91:11 actually reads 11  For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

 

E) Literally - In all God’s ways. Jesus knew this and answered accordingly

'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

F) Jesus was saying the Father will protect me but I am not going to do something foolish in order to satisfy you or anyone else.

1)  I am not going to tempt the Lord

 

3rd temptation was a temptation to doubt God’s promise

 

Satan comes to Jesus & says Bow to me and I will give you the kingdoms

A) Notice Jesus didn’t refute this- Why ?   they were Satan’s to give . they belonged to Him /  Man forfeited - god of this world

 

B) If you are here today & you don’t know Jesus -you are a part of Satan’s kingdom ( perhaps indirectly - but none the less true.)

 

C) Satan is the god of this world & his goal is to Kill Rob & Destroy - Satan intends to bring destruction

 

 

But  Jesus came to redeem  the World to pay the price for it / Satan was offering Him the easy way out

A) You want the World - I will give it to you and you won’t even have to die - No cross - just Bow.

 

B) Jesus had a divine right to all kingdoms, and it was to that Divine  right that Satan appealed in this last temptation.

B) Satan was suggesting  to Jesus.“Why should you have to wait for what is already rightfully yours?” “You deserve to have it now.

 

C) Why do you submit as a Servant when you could reign as a King? I am only offering you what the Father has already promised.”

1)  You don’t need to go to the cross & suffer & be humiliated - you can have it now !

 

D) Satan tempts you to do the same - take the easy way out, bad marriage – leave, get out - give up -

1)  Bad job tough on you - quit / things are not going the way you hoped - He says split !

 

E) Trial or temptation that you are struggling w/ just give in

      1) Do the easy thing -

 

So He was tempted so He could relate to us as we are tempted like us to:

Doubt God’s Provision / Protection/ Promise

 

#3 He was tempted  to reveal to us how we can be victorious in the face of temptation.

A) Hebrews 5:8 “He learned obedience through the things that He suffered.”

 

B) He learned obedience  by things he suffered / How?

1) In same way we do - through experiences of life!

C) As God He didn’t need to learn anything / but As a man he was subject to the Father's will

 

C) It is important to understand this phrase He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

1) He did not need to learn how to obey - but rather He learned what was involved in obedience!

 

Obedience is all about surrender to the Father’s Will God’s time/ God’s way/ God’s word

A) That is why in each situation Jesus responded -It is written

 

Jesus said 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"

A) More important than physical food - is the spiritual food of God’s word

 

B) Jesus also said seek first the Kingdom of God & His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you .

 

C) In other words Jesus is saying make it your number one priority to be seeking after the things which are going to matter in eternity

1)  make sure you are ready for heaven . store up treasures in Heaven -

 

 

 

 

2nd Time Throw yourself off the temple

It is written again, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."

 

Saying: I don’t need to tempt God the Father in order to Know that He loves – me – Believe and embrace His word – BELOVED SON !

 

 

 

3rd Time Bow – give you what you came for!

A) Jesus – No short cuts

 

B) Worship God alone – His glory over my comfort

 

C) John 12 – Father be glorified

 

D) Not My will but Yours be done.

 

Given us His same word – Make us Victorious