Sermon - Matthew 4:1-4 - Jesus responds to the first temptation - Littleby Baptist Church - February 3, 2019

As we continue our Life and Ministry of Jesus series we are picking up right where we left off last week. Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4.

All of us struggle with this nasty thing called temptation. Some we can resist, some we cannot, and others we do not even realize we are being tempted until it is too late.

Some of the sneakiest temptations do not feel like temptations at all. Our strong American work ethic can be twisted by the devil to lure us into sin. I know it can be for me. At work I can get so focused on doing my job with the knowledge and skills I have acquired that I can forget to depend on God. Not to boast but I did not get the job I have today without having some skills, so it is easy to slip into the trap of trying to do it without Jesus.

The devil wants me to slip up like this. He wants me to feel like I do not need Jesus to be successful. He wants me to take charge and do it all on my own. It is a way for him to get me to think that I do not need God.

SCARY!

Temptations are things everyone of us are going to face, day in and day out. No matter if we have been a Christian for 5 mins, 5 years, or 5 decades we are going to be tempted.

The devil wants us to stumble, he wants us to feel unworthy, he wants us to think we can do it all on our own. He tempts us with things to draw us away from Jesus. It can be something so simple that we don’t realize it until we have made a mistake. Get wrapped up into a TV show, video game, or a novel that we forget to read our Bibles. The devil will also use those life long struggles that we may battle such as alcoholism, drug addiction, and porn.

One thing is for certain, the devil is going to do what he can to tempt you and do everything he can to drive a wedge between us and our Savior. The devil is so good at tempting humans, he thought he would be successful at tempting Jesus.

Matthew 4:1-2

“4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”

After His baptism Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness… if you look at Mark chapter 1 it states that the ‘Spirit drove Him’. Jesus was led by the Spirit so that so that He could be tested. It was necessary for Him to be tested, resist the temptation, and then to be our sacrifice.

One thing to keep in mind, Jesus being driven into the wilderness to be tested is not the same as an alcoholic going to the bar to witness to his friends or someone sitting at home alone browsing the internet looking at things they shouldn’t. Jesus was fully man AND fully God. He had to be tempted as part of the plan of salvation, but His divine nature prevented Him from sinning. He had to endure the trial, but the outcome was a given.

Verse two is probably one of the biggest understatements found in the Bible. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and was hungry. Most of us are hungry after a couple of hours, but He went 40 days and night. Only after Jesus was hungry, the devil came to test Him.

Matthew 4:3

“³ Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

At fist glance this may seem like an innocent suggestion. Jesus is the Son of God and has the power to do exactly what Satan is suggesting. We know that scripture tells us that Jesus turns water into wine and feeds thousands from just a few loaves of bread and a handful of fish. Turning rocks into bread would be simple and well within His power.

The devil was tempting Jesus to do something that seemed completely innocent. It was not some obvious temptation like asking Jesus to deny the Father, he did not ask Jesus to kill someone, and he did not ask Him to commit some immoral act. The devil simply suggested that Jesus should provide Himself a meal.

On the surface, it seems perfectly reasonable, but we need to take a deeper look.

We know that Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness. He was not led there on accident, the journey had a purpose. If this was all a test for Jesus and if God wanted Him to do something specific or to even eat something, He would have provided it. The devil was trying to get Jesus to take matters in His own hands and to take care of His own wants with His own power. The temptation was not about food at all, it was about trying to get Jesus to not depend on the Father to provide.

Matthew 4:4

“⁴ He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

In response to the devil, Jesus quoted scripture.

Deuteronomy 8:1-3

“8 “Carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to your fathers. ² Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Israel wandered around the wilderness for 40 years to be humbled and to learn how to depend on God. Jesus knew that He was to depend on God and not take matters into his own hands.

We to are tested regularly to take matters into our own hands. We have the ability to be successful, provide for our families, and tackle that problem right in front of us. Many of the things we do in our lives we can do without God guiding, but we need to remember to depend on Him. If you have a big decision to make, pray and let God lead. As you are starting your day, ask God guide your steps, help you be the person He wants you to be, and allow you to be successful. We may be able to do a lot of it all on our own, but we need to learn to depend on God.

1 Corinthians 10:13

“¹³ No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.”

It is a fact that the devil is going to do his best at tempting you. Jesus resisted the devil’s first attempt at tempting Him and in turn has modeled for us what we need to do.

In this case the devil was trying to get Jesus to take matters into His own hands and to not depend on God.

Galatians 1:10

“¹⁰ For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

If we are trying to please people or are fully focused on our own needs, we are not focused on serving God. If we are truly serving our Lord, we are focused on what He has called us to do and how we are to be serving others.

Romans 2:6-8

“⁶ He will repay each one according to his works: ⁷ eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; ⁸ but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.”

Eternal life or wrath and anger…

Amos 5:14

“Pursue good and not evil so that you may live.”

Our focus needs to be on good things in service to our Lord. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, letting the Holy Spirit guide us, so that we are doing the Father’s business. Pursue the Good Things in this life… the things that bring honor and glory to God.

In His answer to the devil, Jesus quoted scripture.

Psalm 119:11

“I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.”

When we are tempted, we too should rely on Scripture. We can read it, memorize it, quote it, and study it. The point here is that we need to treasure God’s Words and use it to help us in our time of need. If we are treasuring Scripture, we are reading our Bibles. It does not mean we spend a specific amount of time each day or that we read the whole thing in 1 year. If you are treasuring Scripture you are spending time reading it and taking it to heart. You are letting the Holy Spirit teach you what it means. Spend time in God’s Word and it will become easier to resist the tricks of the devil.

We are going to be tempted and we are going to fall short. The devil will throw things our way and we will stumble and fall. It might have been this morning, last night, Friday at work, or might have been on our way home from church last week.

Just because we stumble, and fall does not mean we are lost. We may have lost a battle with the devil, but we have not lost the war.

1 Corinthians 15:57

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

We may have stumbled last night or last week, but we have been given victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. You may be sitting here fighting one form of temptation or another, but we are victorious through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. If Jesus is your Savior there is absolutely nothing the devil can do.

Through your faith in Jesus your temptations and your sin DO NOT define you. You are a child of God. You have been forgiven. You have been cleansed by Jesus’ blood. You are a New creation.

The alter is open this morning for any who would like prayer. If you want to make a commitment to Jesus. If you need prayer for something you are battling, please come forward as we sing our closing song.

God Bless,

Robert