The Testing of the King – part 1 (Matthew 4:1-11)
The Testing of the King – Part 1
Matthew 4:1-11
When we met last time together, we studied what we called
“The Coronation of the King”
It was far more than the baptism of Jesus,
It was the divine declaration that Jesus is indeed the sinless Son of God,
And therefore the only One qualified to be the Savior.
This morning we move from that declaration of Jesus’ kingship
Into another highly significant event.
We move from the Coronation of the King to the Testing of the King.
John MacArthur wrote:
“His baptism in the Jordan declared His royalty, His temptation in the wilderness demonstrated it.”
No doubt as Satan heard the Father say,
“This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased”,
He certainly had a desire to destroy this all-pleasing Savior.
If Satan could lead Christ into sin, Jesus could not save.
His death would be for His own sin, and for no one else’s
If Satan could lead Christ into sin, the trinity would be shattered.
Jesus would be sinful, and Himself removed outside the veil.
In short, if Satan could tempt Jesus to sin,
Salvation would be impossible and God’s nature would be undone.
SATAN IS OUT TO DESTROY THE KING & GOD ALLOWS THE TESTING
(1) “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
So this morning we watch as Jesus enrolls in “Wilderness University”.
Hopefully you remember what we are talking about when I say that.
Last February in our study of the Kings we ran across a story we called “Wilderness University”
• Elijah was fresh off the victory over the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
• He witnessed God answer by fire and send a mighty shower.
• Elijah then outran everyone (including God) back to Jezreel.
Only in Jezreel the revival he was expecting did not occur.
Instead of revival he received a death threat from Jezebel.
• He then ran from the northern tip of Israel to the Southern tip of Judah.
• He then ran 40 days into the wilderness, sat down and asked to die.
We talked about “Wilderness University”
It is that place of testing that we are all eventually asked to endure.
I’ve heard wilderness university also described as:
A box canyon
I’ve seen it as my dad’s loading shoot. “That horse needs his attention got”
It was my mom who named it “Wilderness University”
Because this is where she claims to have gotten her education.
And it is an education every believer must receive.
And we know why we have to go to wilderness university.
1) DISCIPLINE
Hebrews 12:7-11 “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Because we are a work in progress
And because God is in the business of sanctifying us;
At times we are sent into the wilderness to learn.
God disciplines us in the wilderness.
(Discipline can be either positive or negative)
The wilderness is a tremendous place for God to get your attention.
It is a place of extreme seclusion where the only way out is God.
And so it is in the wilderness that we often become
More attentive to God and He can more easily work on us.
2) TESTING
1 Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”
James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:12 “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
The wilderness is also a great place for God to determine
How much we have learned.
We have all found obedience to be easy when things are easy.
And so sometimes it is necessary for us to enter times of difficulty
To see if we will still be obedient.
It is a time of testing.
God is seeing what we have learned.
SO WE ENTER WILDERNESS UNIVERSITY FOR DISCIPLINE & TESTING
AND THIS IS ALSO WHY JESUS WENT.
1) DISCIPLINE
Not punishment for sinning, He was perfectly righteous, God was pleased.
Nor was it to make Him more righteous, for God had already declared Him pleasing.
Rather, this discipline was about molding Him into
All that He needed to be as a Savior and merciful high priest.
HE WENT TO THE WILDERNESS TO GAIN EXPERIENCE
Hebrews 5:7-10 “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”
Hebrews 5 is a chapter dedicated to explaining why
Jesus is an effective high priest.
There are certain qualities every priest must have.
1) You had to be appointed by God
2) You had to be merciful and sympathetic to the sins of the people
Otherwise you weren’t a good priest.
A priest was one who interceded to God on behalf of man.
No one wants a priest who says, “God they’re hurting, but I think we can both agree that they deserve it, so don’t worry about them.”
No, you want a priest that says, “God, I know it’s probably their own fault, but they are hurting, and I can’t bear to watch it, what they are going through is hard, please act according to Your great mercy and deliver them.”
If a priest isn’t merciful and sympathetic, he is a lousy priest.
That is why Jesus had to suffer temptation.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”
In other words He learned why obedience is so difficult for us.
He learned why it is hard.
And this makes Him sympathetic when we cry out to Him.
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”
Hebrews 2:18 “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”
The wilderness was not to make Jesus righteous – He already was.
The wilderness was to help Jesus in His role as priest.
Hebrews 7:25 “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
This was a huge thing that Jesus endured for us.
And the other reason for His temptation:
2) TESTING
Was it a test for God’s benefit?
No, again, God already had declared Him righteous.
This was a test to prove to us and I suppose also to Satan
That Jesus truly was righteous.
But mostly it was to prove Christ’s righteousness to the Jews.
You may remember when we studied the 2nd chapter of Matthew.
We saw all those fulfilled prophecies.
Matthew 2:15 “He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”
Matthew 2:17-18 “Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.”
Matthew 2:23 “and [Jesus] came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
And you remember that it became obvious that Matthew was pointing out That Jesus had walked through the Jews very historical timeline.
Just as they were called out of Egypt, so was He.
Just as they walked through the Exile, so did He.
Just as they were now Excluded, so was He.
And Matthew chapter 4 also falls into that category.
For there was another major event in Israel’s history.
Sure there was the Exodus.
Sure there was the Exile.
But there was another huge event they had to endure.
The Wilderness Wonderings
For 40 years God had Israel in the wilderness.
And for 40 years they routinely got it wrong and succumbed to temptation.
Well, now God is going to put Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days
And you will see that where Israel routinely failed, Jesus passed.
His temptation was not only about molding Him into a priest,
But was also about putting His perfect righteousness on display.
He was One who always did it correctly.
And this you will certainly see as we study His temptation.
Now, that being said, lets dive into this text.
And I don’t mind telling you from the beginning that there are few texts
That make it easier to chase rabbits than this one.
We could do an entire study on the strategies of Satan.
• Attacks during a weakness (Jesus was hungry)
• Attacks after a victory (Jesus was just baptized)
• Attacks before a ministry (Jesus was about to begin)
We could do an entire study on the nature of temptation.
• Physical temptation (involving bread)
• Emotional temptation (involving security and protection)
• Spiritual temptation (involving worship)
We could do an entire study on overcoming temptation.
• Every time Jesus responded with Scripture.
• Jesus resisted the devil and he “left Him”
And indeed some of those concepts may indeed come out,
But mainly we are going to try and stay true to Matthew’s purpose
Matthew wants us to see the tremendous obedience of Jesus.
Matthew wants us to see a true demonstration of righteousness
And in order to show that, Matthew includes Jesus temptation.
For it is in this temptation that true nature of Jesus come shining through.
You really see the true colors of a man when you press Him a little.
And so as Satan squeezes Jesus, we see what He was all about.
There are three attributes of Jesus I want you to see here. (only one this morning)
#1 HIS FOCUS
Matthew 4:1-4
I want you to see what He was focused on.
So let’s set the stage.
(1-2) “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.”
The word “Then” indicates that this temptation
Occurred directly after His baptism.
In fact Mark’s gospel says:
Mark 1:12 “Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.”
So Jesus is still wet from the water and He takes off into the wilderness.
And while He is there, He is fasting.
Scripture says that He “fasted for forty days and forty nights”.
And again we take the opportunity to explain true fasting.
There are many today who see fasting
As some sort of manipulation tool.
That if I go without food for a certain amount of time or if I deprive myself in some way,
Then God will see I’m really serious and He’ll give me what I am asking for.
Trust me when I tell you God is not motivated by such nonsense.
Colossians 2:20-23 “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) — in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Someone told the Colossians that the key to really pleasing God
Was to deprive yourself of food and to treat your body severely.
Paul says that certainly “looks” good, but it is no value.
Someone told the Galatians that circumcision is the key to pleasing God
Galatians 3:1-3 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Again, Paul says it is foolish.
HE WASN’T TRYING TO GET GOD’S ATTENTION BY STARVING HIMSELF
On the contrary, Jesus was going without food
Because God had His attention.
This commonly occurs in wilderness university.
A person becomes so overwhelmed with the spiritual realities of their life
That to stop and eat just doesn’t make sense.
They are consumed with seeking God, not food.
In fact, many who have truly fasted in this way will tell you that
During that time they really even didn’t feel hungry.
That is why Scripture says, “AFTER He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He THEN BECAME hungry.”
It doesn’t say, “When He could fight off His hunger no longer…”
He wasn’t hungry for food, He was hungry for God.
But, after that 40 day period, Jesus realized His hunger.
No doubt He was mentally and physically famished.
And Satan saw an opportunity to attack.
(3) “And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
Now before we get any further into the actual temptation,
Let me help you see the scene a little better.
For some reason people tend to read this as though Satan walked up and said, “Hi Jesus” and Jesus said, “Hi Satan”, and then Satan issued a double-dog-dare and Jesus said, “No”.
And it’s all painted real spiritual looking.
But before you perceive this incident in that way,
Let me point something out to you that you may not have noticed before.
Jesus doesn’t identify the tempter as Satan until verse 10
After he asks for worship.
That indicates that Satan was far more stealthy than to just
Walk right up and introduce himself to Jesus and dare Him.
For all we know this was just a thought Satan put into the mind of Jesus.
Don’t forget that while Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man,
And temptation approached Him just like it approaches us.
EVER HAD SATAN PUT A THOUGHT IN YOUR MIND?
If you say “No”, it’s just because you didn’t recognize it was from Satan.
And indeed sometimes it is hard to recognize.
And here, as Jesus was literally starved and with nothing to eat,
It is apparent that somehow the temptation came to Him
That He ought to use His power and turn the stones into bread and eat.
Furthermore the temptation sought to appeal to His sense of self.
“If You are the Son of God…”
Satan was seeking to appeal to any selfishness in Christ.
There is no way that I should have to suffer like this.
I deserve better.
WE’VE ALL BE TEMPTED BY OUR SELFISHNESS
This is what Satan hit Jesus with.
He attacked God’s provision.
“Certainly the Savior of the world needs His strength. You need food, no one in their right mind would go a second longer. But You are in the wilderness, and there is nothing to eat. Not to worry, You have the power to turn stones into bread. That’s what you ought to do.”
What a simple, yet sinister type of temptation.
It appealed to sense of self.
It was rooted in a genuine need.
But it came in such a way as to undermine the provision of God.
And if Jesus had given in to that thought,
We could not have blamed Him,
But indeed salvation would have been impossible.
For it would have indicated one incident in the life of Jesus
When He put His own will ahead of God’s.
We call that idolatry (worship of self)
And it would have rendered Jesus unfit as an offering for sin.
This was a serious moment.
• A hungry Jesus
• A conniving enemy
• And Jesus actually tempted to turn stones into bread.
And then something stops Him.
WHAT?
Into His mind comes another thought.
This time not a thought from the enemy, but a thought from God.
(4) “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”
Please get the picture.
JESUS ISN’T PREACHING TO THE DEVIL HERE.
JESUS IS PREACHING TO HIMSELF.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”
In Paul’s famous statement about warfare,
He reminds the Corinthians that he takes
“every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
Paul forces every thought into conformity with God’s Word.
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The idea is that when confronted with a thought,
Either from your brain or someone else’s
That you first see if it squares with Scripture.
That is precisely what Jesus did.
He took the thought that He could turn stones into bread,
But when He laid that thought up against the Word,
It was clearly seen as false.
I want you to see the Scripture that Jesus quoted.
(for there is a lesson there for us)
“MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.”
TURN TO: DEUTERONOMY 8:1-6
(by the way every Scripture Jesus quotes is found in Deuteronomy; two in chapter 6, and this one in chapter 8)
Now, when we read that passage some obvious things come to light.
1) God sent them into the wilderness to TEST them (vs. 2)
2) God PURPOSELY let them get hungry (vs. 3)
3) God fed them with manna THEY DID NOT KNOW (vs. 3)
4) God did this so they would learn that He has those things under control and ALL THEY NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IS THE SPIRITUAL. (vs. 3)
And according to verses 4-6
God did the same thing in regard to their clothing.
He supernaturally provided their food and clothing
So that they would see that God has that under control
And that they would be free to worry about eternal things.
NOW YOU KNOW WHERE JESUS GOT IT.
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Was Jesus hungry? – Yes.
Could He step out of God’s will and get food? – Yes.
But before He did He consulted the Word of God,
And remembered that God promised to take care of those things,
All we have to worry about is the spiritual things.
And so that is what Jesus decided to do.
There we see His tremendous focus.
He was focused on the eternal.
He was focused on the spiritual.
He was focused on the Father.
He was focused on perfect obedience.
John 4:31-34 “Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”
John 8:29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
And it is important for you to see that now.
Because in two chapters when Jesus asks you to do the same
You will know that He is a man who practices what He preaches.
And now, because He overcame that temptation,
Not only is He a perfect example to follow, but He is also the great High Priest who can help you win the battle as well.
Hebrews 4:14-16 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
RUN TO JESUS
