The Tempter Came
Gospel of Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 35:46
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· 8 viewsThe Tempatations of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11.
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The Temptations
The Temptations
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
A Real Man
A Real Man
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Immediately following the baptism of Jesus, we find him being led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
It is important to remember, that Jesus wasn’t just God, but that Jesus was God manifested in the flesh.
And in the doctrine of Christ, referred to as Christology, many people error on one of two sides of the spectrum.
Some fail to realize that Jesus is fully God.
The first were the Arians, and there are a modern day rendition of that group called Unitarians. The Unitarians proclaim that Jesus is not God, but that instead, Jesus is only a man. They do deny the Trinity, and sometimes they sound Oneness in doctrine because of this, but you have to be careful, because, I think I would side with a Trinitarian before I would side with a Unitarian. Because at least the Trinitarian believes that Jesus is God. The Unitarian does not. They must have missed with Thomas called Jesus God, and Jesus didn’t correct Thomas either.
John 20:28–29 (KJV 1900)
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
The other side of the spectrum is to believe that Jesus was fully God, but He was not fully man.
The first of those believers started cropping up in the 1st century while Christianity was still in its infancy. The first that we know of were called the Gnostics. They believed that God could not have real flesh, therefore, Jesus must have been more of a hologram that looked like flesh, but was not flesh. These believers must have missed with Paul said:
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
or Col 2:8-9
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Because of these two errors, the first is denying the deity of Christ, and the second is denying the humanity of Christ, you will find the Bible makes multiple attempts to correct those errors.
This is why we see specific words used like, blood, flesh, body, hunger, thirst, weep, and even pray used to portray Jesus as a real man. A real human being with real human emotions, pain, and even sorrow.
In the first verse of our text, we see an example of what I’m talking about, and we will see that continued into verse 2 in just a second.
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The Gnostics would not have wanted God to be able to be tempted with things from our sinful world. They would teach that it wasn’t possible. But the Bible says otherwise.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus was tempted in all points, like as we are… Proving the Gnostic ideas wrong. Jesus felt our infirmities. He was not just a Spiritual hologram. Jesus was fully human, and He felt the same pain that you have felt, and the nails really did piece His hands, and He really did bleed real human blood on the cross. He felt our infirmities, and was tempted in all the same points that we have been tempted in. The only difference… He was without sin.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Again, we see the humanity of Christ here. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and afterwards Jesus felt hunger pains just like you would have, and just like I would have. Matthew, like all the NT writers, was very careful to point out that Jesus was a real human being. This doesn’t take away from His deity. The only way to correctly understand the nature of Jesus Christ is to realize that Jesus is fully God AND fully man.
If you say He is only God, and not man, then you take away the redemption on the cross. We needed real blood to be shed according to the Bible.
Acts 20:28 (KJV 1900)
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
God purchased the church with His own blood. Fully God, and yet Fully man. That is who Jesus is.
The Tempter
The Tempter
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
In verse 3, we find the tempter shows up. We know the tempter is the devil himself according to verse 1 and others we are about to read.
I want to point out that Jesus had just been baptized, and then He went on a 40 day fast, and then the devil shows up. I was talking to a lady at the church carnival Saturday who said that she just started trying to go to church when all of a sudden her car broke down, but she is going to get it fixed and keep going to church. I said, good, because you know what I have found? The devil will leave you alone, and think nothing of you so long as you are not trying to do the will of God… but the minute you take a step in the right direction, he shows up and starts tempting you. What you’ve got to learn is that temptation period is part of God’s plan. In verse one, who led Jesus to the desert? It wasn’t the devil that led him out there, it was the Holy Spirit:
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
The tempting period is part of God’s plan.
I used to warn people about it, but it seems to never help. I see people come to church for one or two services, and they pour their heart out in the altar, and they have a life-changing experience, and you think, can’t nothing stop them now… think again. That step of faith is going to attract the tempter. It is like a bear on honey. It is like a hound on a fix trail. That devil sees you take one step in the right direction, and whoop, there he is. Every time. You can take it to the bank.
And it is part of God’s plan. He wants to see if you are really hungry, or if you’ll quit when the tempter shows up. God wants the hungry. He won’t tempt you, as the Bible says that God will not tempt any man, but He does allow the tempter to come in, just like He did with Job. He wants to see if you are really hungry, or if the tempter is all it takes to get you to quit. And it says in our text that after Jesus fasted 40 days, he was hungry. I know it is talking about hunger for literal food, but it symbolizes the hunger it takes to face the tempter. You’ve got to want it. The Bible says the kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field. It isn’t for the apathetic. The Kingdom is for the hungry.
Later in this Gospel, Jesus says…
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
He is saying, don’t spend all your time on folks that will eat anything you give them. You put anything on the ground in my kitchen, and my dog will just about it all of it. The same goes for pigs, and even more so. You can dump any scraps over into a pigpen, and they will eat it up. They don’t care if it is a filet mignon, or a rotten potatoes. They will eat it up. So, Jesus says, don’t waste your time on them. Find you some hungry folks that know what they are hungry for. Those are the ones we will spend our time and energy on. God is looking for the hungry.
When the first temptations come, are you hungry enough to keep going after the Kingdom?
You say, well, the temptation is too great. That’s not possible according to the Bible.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV 1900)
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
The First Temptation
The First Temptation
So, here comes the tempter, the devil… and let’s read his first temptation again.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Jesus was continually correcting the error’s of God’s other children. Adam was God’s first son, and Isreal was another. We can see striking resemblances and remarkable parallels between God’s sons.
When Isreal was in the wilderness, and led by the Spirit for 40 years, they complained about being hungry instead of trusting in God to be their Provider.
Here, Jesus is also in the wilderness, being led by the Spirit. Instead of 40 years, it was 40 days. It says He was also hungry. However, when tempted to complain about that hunger, Jesus corrected the past son’s mistake.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Now, Jesus is quoting a portion of Deut 8 in verse 4 of our text, which we will read in a second, but the context of that quotation is that God is our provider, and we need to trust His word.
2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
Instead of trusting God’s word, his children always complained. Jesus corrected that error by quoting the word of God, and putting trust back in God’s word.
The Second Temptation
The Second Temptation
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Here, we find a second temptation come from the devil. In the first temptation, Jesus responded with the Word of God. That is always the proper response to temptation from the Devil. The Psalmist said it this way:
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee.
Eve’s first reply to the devil in her temptation was to quote the word of God also. However, the Devil responded to her by quoting the word back to her with some slight twisting. The devil does the same thing to Jesus here.
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
When satan says, for it is written, he shall…
He is quoting from:
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
This was a very calculated response by Satan. If Jesus refuses, He will be accused of doubting the Word of God. However, Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, and as such, He has all wisdom. The Pharisee and scribes try this little tricks as well, and they will never work against Jesus. He knows His own word better than anyone, so, Jesus responds again by quoting from the Law of Moses.
16 Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Massah was the place where God’s children attempted to use guilt to force God’s hand.
It is the place where God provide water to them when Moses struck the rock. Moses called that place Massah, which means testing or tempting men or God.
Here in verse 7, Jesus corrects yet another of the first son’s errors. Instead of tempting God, Jesus quoted the Word of God again.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
From this temptation, we also learn that you cannot use God’s word against Him.
This is why we don’t handle snakes, drink poison, or walk on top of scorpions. Just because Jesus said we could do it, doesn’t mean we go looking for it. Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake in the Bible, and it didn’t kill him. He just shook it off into the fire, and then used that to witness to the inhabitants of that island. He didn’t go about looking for more snakes to tempt God.
If Thou be the Son of God
If Thou be the Son of God
In the first two temptations, satan says “If thou be the Son of God”.
This sounds very much like the same thing they yelled later in this same Gospel.
40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
This shows me that the devil was a part of the crowd that day. Jesus called them son’s of the devil in John chapter 8 when He said that the devil was their father, the father of lies.
Back to our text, we see the devil use that same phase twice.
Once in verse 3
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
and again in verse 6.
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
The Final Temptation
The Final Temptation
When we read the 3rd temptation, though, that question isn’t posed again. If thou be…
To me it is as if the devil has realized that this is the Son of God by this point. Because those first two temptations usually get people to fall, but Jesus wan’t just a student of the Word of God. Jesus was the Word made flesh. Jesus didn’t fall for the tricks of the devil. He didn’t even trip up a little bit. So, this last temptation doesn’t start with “If thou be”.
I think the devil knows who He is now. And that is why the last temptation is an offer to trade kingdoms.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
This lets us know something about the devil. That, he did have some dominion on Earth.
This was dominion that Adam lost in the Garden. Adam was given dominion over the inhabitants of the earth by God, but that was lost when He sinned. The devil is offering to give Jesus back what the first son of God lost. What does the devil want in return? The same thing he tried to get in Heaven. Worship. He wants to be elevated above God, and worshipped instead of God. This is the sin of pride, and it is the root of all sins in my opinion. Pride always comes before the fall. But Jesus wasn’t fooled. Unlike Adam, Jesus was not about to trade away an eternal Kingdom for a temporary kingdom made out of dirt.
Jesus finishes this trial by quoting again from the Law of Moses.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Verse 11 shows us what happens when you resit the devil:
11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
When temptations come, you need to remember these 3 things:
1. There is always a way of escape.
2. The Word of God is our best defense.
3. Resist the Devil and he WILL flee.