The Temptation of Jesus, Part 2
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:07
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· 6 viewsAs a Christian, you must expect others to tempt you with “knowledge” and to twist Scripture in opposition to truth. Yet as we drink of the fountain of Christ, we will know how to fight.
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Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
One pastor described interacting with a man this way…
“He has listened to great preaching for decades.
He has studied the Bible devotionally.
He has even completed seminary level courses on biblical material.
Yet this man is one of the most cantankerous individuals the pastor has ever met.
Should stories like these trouble us?
Has theology misfired if it gives a person lots of biblical and theological knowledge without that person really grasping that this knowledge should dramatically affect her character and demeanor?
Is it acceptable to be mean-spirited, or at least to be ignoring issues of character formation, if you happen to be right theologically?”
As a Christian, you must expect others to tempt you with “knowledge” and to twist Scripture in opposition to truth. Yet as we drink of the fountain of Christ, we will know how to fight.
The Context of the Temptation - “In the Wilderness” (Matt 4:1-2)
Last week we saw how Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit.
The Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
We saw that God never tempts anyone, but He does us the temptation and “tests” us to purify our faith.
The three temptations of Christ represent the fundamental temptations that humanity has always faced.
Temptations of desire, turning stone to bread.
The last temptation tempted Jesus to find His satisfaction in something other than the Word of God.
It tempted Christ to find His fulfillment in physical food rather than in God’s gracious provision for Him.
As a Christian, you must expect temptation and opposition.
As a Christian, you must expect temptation and opposition.
All Christian must expect temptation, opposition, and war in this life.
But we also saw how Jesus’ victory over the devil’s temptation brings us assurance in our own temptations.
We are able to pick up the shield of faith and fight with the sword of God’s Word because of the victory of Christ.
The Challenge of the Tempter — “Did God Really Say?” (Matt 4:5-6)
But this week notice the challenged from the Tempter....
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
The devil took Jesus to the holy city which is Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem, the pinnacle of the temple would be approximately 450 feet in the air.
Basically, it would have been a height high enough to kill a person.
It would have been high enough for Jesus to test what Satan is asking him to do.
Setting on the edge of this extremely high height, is where Satan ask’s Jesus to consider his test.
Matthew 4:6 (ESV)
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down,
Why is this even considered a temptation for Jesus?
This temptation seems much more like Satan asking Jesus to lick the sidewalk rather than an actual temptation.
What would He be doing by throwing Himself off the temple wall?
We need to remember that Satan is NOT questioning Jesus’ Sonship, rather he assumes His Sonship.
He assumes that Jesus is the Son of God.
He assumes Jesus is the Son of God so then He should throw Himself down.
“Because you are God’s Son, just throw yourself off the building.”
Satan is trying to get Jesus to test God and see if He really loves Him.
“Because you are God’s Son, just throw yourself off the building, AND then you will ‘know’ He loves you.”
He would be testing to see if God really loves Him.
Which would be questioning what the Father has already said…
Matthew 3:17 (ESV)
and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Now we all know what this feels like.
When we walk through a challenging season, we can begin to question,
“Does God really love me?” or
“If God really loves me, He wouldn’t allow me to go through with this challenge.”
As a Christian, you must expect to be tempted with knowledge.
As a Christian, you must expect to be tempted with knowledge.
Remember that Jesus has been in the wilderness for 40 days and nights.
He was driven there by the Spirit, and you can think about the questions that would naturally arise within our hearts.
Questions as to the reason why God sent Him into the wilderness.
Knowledge as a temptation.
Knowledge as a temptation.
The Gospel according to Matthew B. Jesus’ Temptation, 4:1–11
Jesus had rejected the first temptation because he trusted God to supply his need; now he is tempted through that very assurance.
“Since you are God’s Son, just jump, AND then you will ‘KNOW’ He loves you.”
“Since you are God’s Son, just jump, AND then we can all see you’re God’s chosen.”
Now people don’t naturally ask these kind of questions out in the open.
People tend to ask them through their complaints.
But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
“Why does God have me in this season of life?”
“Why does God have me in this miserable job?”
The people of Israel wanted to know WHY God brought them out into the wilderness.
They wanted to know WHY.
But behind their “why” was a desire to know…
Moses named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”) because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?”
When Adam and Eve were in the garden, do you remember what kind of fruit they ate?
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The tree of the “knowledge” of good and evil.
The way we usually speak of “knowledge”, especially in the West is always positive.
We love knowledge.
We live all of our days obsessed with knowledge.
Some of you work jobs that literally have everything to do with knowledge.
When I worked at ABL we used to have a phrase,
“I’m an engineer, I know things about stuff.”
“I know stuff...”
Now there is nothing wrong with knowledge in and of itself.
But have you ever considered that the tree in the garden of Eden was the tree of “good and evil.”
We’re fine with the knowledge of evil.
But the knowledge of good?
Can that really be sinful?
The fact that human’s don’t know everything is NOT part of our sinful nature.
It’s actually a part of the way that God designed us.
Consider another way “knowledge” can be sinful...
The kind of knowledge when an event happens.
Something happens, everyone wants to be “in the know...”
There is a kind of “morbid curiosity” that “drives a thirst to know another person’s secrets”
Or even desiring to KNOW as God knows....
Deuteronomy 29:29 (ESV)
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God,
Perfect knowledge is ONLY fitting for God HIMSELF.
Human’s are meant to gather information, seek wisdom, but then entrust themselves to the Lord.
I find especially with younger people, the question “should I...” is everywhere.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
This leads to the heart of the temptation itself....
Matthew 4:5–6 (ESV)
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down...
The temptation of “pure certainty.”
The temptation of “pure certainty.”
By “pure certainty”, I don’t mean the kind of biblical assurance the Bible offers us.
But “pure certainty” says things like,
“unless I see it, I won’t believe it!”
“I need facts! Only facts that I deem appropriate will do!”
What Satan is offering Jesus is a kind of,
“If you’ll jump, then you’ll know and everyone else will as well!”
The temptation from Satan was for Jesus to have absolute certainty about God’s love in a moment He did not have that kind of access.
Application
Here’s how we will know if “knowledge” is leading us in a good path.
Knowledge of God must always lead to a greater LOVE for God.
If our knowledge about God or any subject matter that is, does not lead to greater love for God, then we need to do TWO things...
1. We need to consider if what we are learning is correct.
2. Once we have determined if we are learning correct doctrine, then we need to pray that God would stir our hearts with a greater LOVE for Him through the truth.
Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
Paul is NOT pitting knowledge and love against each other here!
Just the OPPOSITE, he is arguing that our knowledge should lead to a greater love for God and others.
Knowledge CAN be a temptation, but again we need to know that KNOWLEDGE is a gift.
Not only does Jesus try to get Him to know something which was not accessible to Him, he uses Scripture to do it.
As a Christian, you must expect others to twist God’s Word.
As a Christian, you must expect others to twist God’s Word.
Satan quotes from Psalm 91, and uses it to convince Jesus that He should do as Satan has said.
Before we examine the details of what Satan says, we should make note that just because a person quotes a Bible verse, does not mean that God says something.
There have been abortion mills quoting the words of Jesus.
Obviously, they are not doing so accurately.
But just because someone slaps a Scripture passage on it, does not mean we should ascribe to it.
“People tell me judge not lest ye be judged. I always tell them, twist not scripture lest ye be like satan.”
-Paul Washer
We need to test everything we hear, including this sermon, to examine if it is in line with the Word of God.
Satan’s plan is to distort.
Satan’s plan is to distort.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
The passage that Satan quotes from is about God’s sovereign control over the dealings with the Anointed One.
The Psalm talks about the way God deals with the person who takes his refuge and fortress in the Lord.
God is the ONE who will bring refuge, deliverance, and victory for the person who dwells with Him.
The Lord is the ONE who protects the Anointed One for His glory.
He is the ONE who guards and keeps safe His chosen.
He protects like a shield, or like a wall of a city.
God is NOT saying that this person who will be delivered earned deliverance, rather that God is faithful to the one who loves Him and knows Him.
“Look at how God is, you should prove it to yourself that God will rescue you!”
“The Father would even send His angels to rescue You!”
This is the same temptation that Jesus experienced on the cross when people yell....
Mark 15:29–30 (ESV)
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
Or take Jesus’ own words in the garden when his disciples were trying to fight with swords.
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
Satan implores Jesus to show just how much God loves Him by “forcing His hand.”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Satan’s plan is to deceive.
Satan’s plan is to deceive.
Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary Your Refuge (91:3–13)
It was characteristic of the devil to read this promise as an invitation to arrogance (Matt. 4:6).
You can start to see how Satan was using this text.
He was trying to get Jesus to test His Father to see just how much He was loved.
Satan was trying to get Jesus to demand for miraculous proof of God’s caring and protecting hand.
The same thing can be seen of Israel in the wilderness...
God just fed them miraculously, and the questions begin to form in their minds,
“Does God care for us?”
“How do we know God has not abandoned us?”
“How can we be sure we are not on our own again?”
These kinds of questions are revealed when Moses writes, Exodus 17:7
Moses named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”) because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?”
The people of Israel was tempted in the wilderness for IMMEDIATE knowledge that God had not abandoned them.
They wanted to KNOW instantly that God was still there.
This is exactly what Paul picks up later in 1 Corinthians 10...
Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,
nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
We put Christ to the test when we love idols more than Him.
1 Corinthians—The Word of the Cross Chapter 18: Escaping Idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:1–22)
idols are anything more fundamental than God for our happiness, meaning, and identity. They are inordinate desires for even good things such as material possessions, a career, family, marriage, achievement, work, independence, political cause, financial security, human approval, romance. All of these things are good in and of themselves. But what ends up happening for many people is that these created things become ultimate things.
And Satan is tempting Jesus in the same way.
He is tempting Him to KNOW that God was still with Him.
He was tempting Him to see how genuine God’s love for Him is.
He is tempting Him to probe God a little to see if He would tangibly prove His love.
“Come on! Just see if God will catch you. If He will then you know He really loves You.”
“Come on Jesus! How can you be ‘sure’ that God really loves you?”
These are the kind of temptations that the devil is throwing at Jesus.
Story of the Person Trying to “Picture of the Love of God”
It’s NOT wrong to say, “God’s love is like that...”
But it IS wrong to say, “Now I know God loves me....”
The Correction by the Champion — “It is Written!” (Matt 4:7)
Notice the passage that Jesus quotes to Satan to correct him.
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
As a Christian, you must know God’s Word enough to fight back.
As a Christian, you must know God’s Word enough to fight back.
Jesus cites Deuteronomy 6:16, where Moses remembers back to another situation for Israel that took place in the wilderness.
After Israel was fed in the wilderness with mana from above, the people began grumbling again.
They were grumbling because they wanted immediate water from the Lord.
In order to fight, we must have discernment.
In order to fight, we must have discernment.
Jesus had to first see that what was before Him was a test.
And the same is true for us…
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
It’s NOT wrong to seek with discernment, the Lord’s will.
It IS wrong to seek “discernment”, in an area already revealed to us!
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
For Jesus to respond the way He did....
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
He needed conviction of the truth of God’s Word.
In order to fight, we must have conviction.
In order to fight, we must have conviction.
The conviction was the SOLID foundation of the Word of God.
The conviction was the BOLD assurance of the TRUTH of the Scriptures.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Where does discernment come from?
Where does conviction come from?
These things can only come to us when we are walking by the Spirit.
These things can only be fruits of the Spirit in our lives.
These things can only come when we are drinking from the fountain of life.
As a Christian, you overcome by drinking of the fountain of Christ.
As a Christian, you overcome by drinking of the fountain of Christ.
Notice the provision of the Lord for the people in the wilderness....
And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
The provision of the Lord was that the rock would be struck with Moses’ staff.
When the rock was struck, the Lord would be “there on the rock.”
The Lord would be there at the rock and when the rock was struck, water would pour forth and give water to the people.
When Moses struck the rock, the people would be able to be satisified.
The rock was broken for Israel’s sustainment.
Now this temptation in particular has clear connection between Christ and His atoning work.
This rock in the wilderness which Moses hits with his staff, Paul will later pick up and tell us is Christ.
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
and all ate the same spiritual food,
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Christ was the One in the wilderness that gave water to the people.
The presence of the LORD in the wilderness was Christ watering the people.
And in the same way, we are sustained when we drink from Christ.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
“Sinners are beautified as they behold the beauty of God in Jesus Christ.”
- Dane Ortlund
As a Christian, you must expect others to tempt you with “knowledge” and to twist Scripture in opposition to truth. Yet as we drink of the fountain of Christ, we will know how to fight.