Jesus' Ministry Begins With Temptation
The Life Of Christ • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
The theme for this year, here on Sunday mornings, is “The Life Of Christ.”
Last week we focused our study on how “Jesus’ Ministry Began With Baptism.”
The Elijah Promised, a.k.a., John the Baptist had been preparing the way for his cousin, Jesus the Christ.
It was this promised Elijah that would baptize Jesus because…
It would fulfill all righteousness by way of identification with our plight and need of salvation.
It would fulfill all righteousness by way of empowerment because the “heaven was torn open” and “God the Spirit” descended upon him.
It would fulfill all righteousness by way of assurance because it proved to both Jesus and man that Jesus had God’s favor.
Today, we will turn our attention to what happen following Jesus’ baptism.
Jesus’ ministry began with baptism but his “ministry inauguration” wasn’t yet complete.
He still had to be tempted like us.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
In order for Jesus to begin his ministry and continue to fulfill all righteousness he must be “tempted in every respect, as we are” and yet over come such.
This is why the Holy Spirit led Jesus away to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness for forty days.
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
Jesus could not be our High Priest who could “sympathize with our weaknesses” if he had not experienced such.
Let’s read Matthew 4:1-11.
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 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.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Let’s examine our lesson for this morning.
Fasting 40 Days & Nights
Fasting 40 Days & Nights
Jesus, Moses, & Elijah.
Jesus, Moses, & Elijah.
These three found at the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13) have more in common than just that event.
All three fasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Moses
9 When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
Elijah
8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
Jesus
2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
What is so significant about fasting 40 days and 40 nights?
After 40 days of not eating the body, due to a vitamin deficiency, begins to break down in the form of nystagmus.
Time Magazine wrote about a fasting protest in Ireland…
“At 42 days, almost exactly, a nightmarish experience occurs. They have been thoroughly warned, and the prisoners await the moment with great alarm. They are struck with something called nystagmus, a loss of muscular control due to severe vitamin deficiency.
If they look sideways, their eyes begin to gyrate wildly and uncontrollably, first horizontally and then vertically. … Nystagmus also causes spells of constant vomiting and dizziness. The whole experience is terrifying and no amount of advance description can begin to prepare the strikers for the ordeal.”
Summary
Summary
Jesus was put to the ultimate test “physically” during his bout with Satan to demonstrate that faithfulness to the Father’s will can be achieved no matter the physical situation.
Later, that demonstrated again when he as “if this cup could pass” but then immediately responded, “not my will but yours.”
So, what can we learn from “The Life of Christ” while he was tempted.
In other words what are the…
Lessons From Jesus’ Temptation
Lessons From Jesus’ Temptation
God Tempts No One.
God Tempts No One.
First, before we get into the specific lessons from Jesus’ temptations by Satan we must first point out that God actually tempts no one.
Yes, the Holy Spirit led Jesus away “to be tempted,” but no where does it say to be “tempted by God.”
In fact James tells us…
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
There is no doubt we can be led into temptation so as to “test us” and help us “grow in wisdom.”
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Though God tempts no one…
Satan Tempts Everyone.
Satan Tempts Everyone.
If Satan will go after the “only begotten Son of God” then he will certainly go after God’s beloved children.
He is indeed a lion waiting to pounce his prey, and all mankind is his prey.
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Knowing Satan is going attack is only part of what we learn from his encounter with Jesus.
We also learn…
All sin, which is a result of succumbing to temptation (James 1:14-15), falls into three categories.
The “one home Jesus loved” would describe them in 1 John 2:16.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
We find each of these categories in the temptations of Jesus.
Jesus was tempted with the lust of the flesh.
Satan knows the human “need” for food and he tried to exploit that with Jesus.
3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Jesus knew that nothing on this earth was worth going to hell over.
4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Jesus was tempted with the pride of life.
Satan knows the human weakness of pride and arrogance.
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
Jesus knew that nothing was more important than the will of God.
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
Jesus was tempted with the lust of the eyes.
Satan knows the eyes of man long for greener pastures.
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Jesus knew the “other pastures” are simply illusions that are momentary and cannot be sustained.
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Jesus defeated Satan’s temptations but that didn’t mean Satan stopped trying.
Satan knows that man can be strong one moment and weak the next.
13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Jesus knew and this is why he relied on the angels to “help strengthen him.”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Summary
Summary
Jesus entered the wilderness to be tempted, but he left being served as king.
Though we are “weak in the flesh” we are made strong in the spirit by our God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
When look back at “The Life Of Christ” in scripture and see the account of his temptation in the wilderness one can’t read such and study such without gaining great edification from such.
Jesus defeats Satan with scriptures even in his most physically weakened state.
This is what Paul understood and is talking about in Philippians 4:13.
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.