Sunday Sermons
Jesus Tempted
Jesus Tempted
Matthew 4:1-11
4:1 When the text says that Jesus was led up by the Spirit, it does not mean that Jesus lost all control of His own will, rather since the Spirit and Jesus are both Divine, they are working together. The Spirit is impelling (Mark 1:12) Him, for it is the will of the Father that Jesus meet the devil at this particular time. It is also the will of Jesus, since Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30) to face the devil. “The passive verb in no way expresses a human shrinking from the ordeal that lay ahead of Jesus. The popular translation of Mark 1:12 seems to suggest that Jesus was somehow ‘thrown out’ into the desert against His own will. Yet, there is evidence that ekballo (impelled) can also be used without the connotation of force (Matthew 9:38; Luke 10:2; John 10:4; James 2:25; Acts 16:37). Thus, rather than being reluctant to face the coming trials, Jesus willingly followed the Spirit’s direction” (Fowler p. 128). “This temptation was in the sense of testing. The Spirit led the Lord Jesus into the wilderness to seek out this encounter with Satan. The purpose was not to see if the Savior had flaws, but rather to demonstrate once for all His perfections” (Luck p. 45). 4:1 “Into the wilderness”: “Isolation from the world is no insulation against temptations. Beware of the temptation to desire escape from the desires of the world since you will be taking them along into your isolated retreat”(Fowler p. 128). Note the contrast between the first Adam and the second Adam (Jesus) (1 Corinthians 15:45). Adam lived in an earthly paradise with full provision given for his every need, yet he yielded to one temptation. “Adam had everything in his surroundings, it would seem, conducive to victory. He was dwelling in a lovely garden with every need abundantly supplied; yet he disobeyed God and yielded to Satan. Jesus was tempted in a howling wilderness. He was surrounded not by tame creatures, but by wild beasts. He was not well fed, but weak and hungry after forty days of fasting. Yet He triumphed utterly over the devil” (Luck p. 42). Various theories exist as to why Jesus met the devil at this time. 1. He must personally conquer Satan and demonstrate to all men that their trust in Jesus is well founded and meaningful. 2. He must show His tempted followers how to overcome trials, and the power of using Scripture to counter the attacks of the devil. 3. He demonstrated that He can certainly sympathize with our trials (Hebrews 4:14ff). He knows what it feels like to be physically suffering, racked with the pains of hunger, and being offered to take the easy way out. 4. He demonstrated that God does always provide the way of escape, even in the most severe trials (1 Corinthians 10:13). He clearly proved that God can be trusted.
4:1 “By the devil”: “The devil had laughed in God’s face as, by one seduction or another, he had broken every man of God that had arisen since Adam (Romans 3:23). Before him now stood God’s best. ‘So this is God’s Messiah? I broke the first Adam and his race; I’ll break the Second at once!’” (Fowler p. 129). “Satan alone caused this temptation. None of it arose from the thoughts and desires in Jesus’ heart concerning either His Sonship or His Messiahship. Deductions from temptations arising in our sinful thoughts and desires are inadequate for giving us the inwardness of the temptation endured by the sinless Son of God”(Lenski p. 141). It would appear that the devil knew some of the implications of Jesus’ entrance into the world. If he could get Jesus to commit just one sin, then the entire human race would be condemned to hell forever. 4:2 “He became hungry”: “He was so deeply engrossed in thought, prayer, and planning of His short whirlwind ministry that lay ahead that He did not once notice the effects of His fasting” (Fowler p. 130). He must reject the idea that the body of Jesus had far greater endurance powers than our own; for Scripture clearly notes that His body was just like ours (Hebrews 2:14,17). Others say that maybe He was miraculously sustained during this time, but such special provisions and protections would seem to create for Him the compromise that Satan desired. 4:3 “And the tempter came and said to Him”: Satan is a cunning opponent; he only arrives after such hunger has set in. He perceives when we might be in a weakened condition. The word tempted (4:1) is in the present participle, which some say suggests that Jesus was tempted during the entire forty days and that these three temptations are the last three. “It could also indicate that, though He was being tempted over the entire period, the intensity of the allurements has just been stepped up. The devil came in person” (Fowler p. 131).
The First Temptation
4:3 “If You are the Son of God”: The devil does not give God any credit, he questions the most fundamental of truths. If the devil has the nerve to tempt the Son of God, then he is not going to leave us alone (1 Peter 5:8). 4:3 “Command that these stones become bread”: “If you are God’s Son indeed, then why has God left you to starve in this wilderness, do you not have a right to live? Prove to me that you are God’s Son, turn these stones into bread and satisfy your hunger”. 4:4 When Jesus said it is written, He used the perfect tense, which means, “It has been written, and stands written”. What God said long ago is still in force and is still valid. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3. Jesus answered the devil with the same power that is available to every believer, the Word of God (Romans 1:16; Hebrews 5:14). Every temptation that man faces in the first century or twenty-first century can be answered with a specific verse from the Bible (Ephesians 6:17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Will Jesus trust the Father to provide for His needs? Jesus would not end this fast by a miracle, and He would not take matters into His own hands, like the Israelites did in the wilderness (Numbers 11:4; Exodus 16:3). He would not grumble, complain, or panic as if God wasn’t taking good care of Him. He would wait for the Father to tell Him when to end the fast. The fulfillment of God’s will was more important to Him than intense hunger. Neither did Jesus argue situation ethics, such as, the idea that staying alive or being comfortable takes precedence over obedience to a command of God. His dire circumstances did not change anything. “He dwelt with temptation exactly as it came to Him in that circumstance. It is yet another temptation to think when tempted that, were the circumstances different, the response would have been better. But the very purpose of God for letting men be tempted or tried is to produce men who will do God’s will under whatever circumstance (Revelation 2:10)” (Fowler p. 135). 4:4 “Man shall not live by bread alone”: Because the real foundation of man’s being is not the flesh, but is spirit (Genesis 1:26). Therefore, putting the needs of the soul ahead of the needs of the body makes perfect sense. The main purpose in life is not physical comfort or having our physical needs met, but obeying the will of God. Jesus here practiced what is preached in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25,33). 4:4 “But on every word”: God expects us to live according to Scripture. Living according to every word, and making sure that your decisions and life is in harmony with Scripture is not legalism. Remember, this quotation is from Deuteronomy 8:3, in which God reminded Israel that He had fully supplied the needs of an entire nation in a desert!
The Second Temptation
4:5 The Holy City is Jerusalem and the Pinnacle of the Temple, was the very tip or edge of the Temple. In Jerusalem the most imposing height offering the longest fall would be the SE corner of the temple court. At this point the tip of the Temple was 300-450 feet from the valley floor of the Kidron valley. It seems clear that this wasn’t simply a vision, but that Jesus and the devil actually stood on the literal temple in Jerusalem. 4:6 The devil responds to Jesus’ “it is written”, by giving his own “it is written”. Notice the devil knows Scripture. The devil here quotes from Psalms 91:11-12. Jesus has just demonstrated a trust in God, Satan now seeks to take advantage of the extremes to which man is often tempted. “All right, if you are going to trust God so much, show your faith by something more spectacular, more decisive, than mere patient hunger. Put God’s promise of protection to the test, throw yourself down to the solid rock below, prove your faith in God”. The devil, like many of his servants, tries to use Scripture against God’s people. Any time people try to undermine the reliability of Scripture they need to be confronted with the fact that they are doing the devil’s work.
4:7 “On the other hand, it is written”: Jesus is not saying that one Scripture contradicts another, rather, other Scriptures help us keep various Scriptures in context. The Bible has a natural built in system of checks and balances. If you try to twist or pervert the meaning of one Scripture it will be exposed by another. 4:7 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”: To hazard one’s life merely to prove trust in God or answer someone’s argument (when moral principles and truth are not on the line), is actually to question God’s faithfulness. “If in serving God faithfully danger develops, then we are indeed to depend on Him to deliver us. But never are we to bring ourselves rashly into a position of danger simply to ‘show off’, to demonstrate what a great faith we have” (Luck p. 45). “Again Jesus shows that He will not run before God, but chooses rather to be led by Him. He clearly will not, of His own choice, create unnecessary dangers, but will avoid them unless they fall in the path of obedience. Though Satan had made it appear otherwise, it took more trust in God not to leap than to do so. Jesus answers simply, ‘testing is not trusting’” (Fowler p. 137).
The Third Temptation
4:8 The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and revealed to Him all the kingdoms of the world and then showed Jesus their glory, that is, their resources, wealth, magnificence, the greatness of their cities, fertile lands, thronging populations, and so on. Luke says that this was done in a moment of time (Luke 4:5). 4:9 “All these things will I give You”: One the one hand, the devil is not the absolute ruler of this world, God is (Daniel 5:21). Yet on the other hand, because of sin and human rebellion, in a sense that devil has tremendous influence in every world empire (1 John 5:19). “In these words Satan appears in his true colors as the arch-deceiver and the aspirant after the power and glory which belong only to God. It is, indeed, true that by God’s permission the kingdoms of the world (in so far as sin rules in the hearts and lives of the leaders and also of the individual members of the nations) have been delivered to him. Thus Jesus himself spoke of him as the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). But He did not mean it in an absolute sense as the arch-deceiver himself pretended. Only to the extent that mankind surrender themselves to sin does God permit him (the devil) to rule over the world”. In the last temptation, Jesus demonstrated that He wasn’t a fanatic, operating on pure emotion. Hence the devil says, “Seeing you are filled with such good sense, why not simply take the shortest, most direct route to establishing the kingdom of God?” In order to be the King of kings, Jesus doesn’t have to die and suffer an agonizing death; He can have complete control of this world very easily and painlessly. “Humanly speaking, Jesus needed everything that the devil was offering. He had no reputation, no formal religious education or degrees from accredited universities, no powerful friends who could exert their influence in His favor in a world where men advance their causes by treading upon each other” (Fowler p. 140). Barclay notes, “That is the temptation to compromise. The devil said, ‘I have got people in my grip’. Don’t set your standards so high. Strike a bargain with me. Just compromise a little with evil and men will follow you’… the tendency of the world is to see things in terms of an indeterminate gray; but the duty of the Christian is to see things in terms of black and white (good and evil)…The Christian must be consumed by the conviction of the infinite beauty of holiness and the infinite damnability of sin” (pp. 39-40). Even after this series of temptations, the devil tried to get Jesus to accept the offer of a physical empire (Matthew 16:22; John 6:14-15; 7:3-4; 12:32-34; 18:36). 4:9 “if You fall down and worship me”: Satan never gives anything away, there is always a catch. “He knows that worship basically involves the acknowledgment of him as true lord and rightful disposer or kingdoms. If he can entice Jesus into admitting His dependence upon him rather than God, then he will have tricked Jesus into transgressing the most basic commandment known (Deut. 5:7-9; 6:4,13)” (Fowler p. 140).
“Jesus could still rule the world by using Satan’s methods: war, political intrigues, brute force. Satan presents this attractive offer as a real, immediate victory for Jesus, when in reality it would have been His real surrender…It is that old perennial lie: ‘You may be your own king, and do as you please, as long as you are my servant!’” (Fowler p. 141).
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
