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This encounter is a little different.It is an encounter between Jesus and the devil; anencounter where the devil tempts, or tests Jesus; and an encounter that reveals an importanttruth about character Jesus character, and our own character in the face of temptation. Encounters with Jesus7. Meeting Temptation Dan Bidwell, Senior Pastor Matthew 4:1-11 Sunday 29 May 2022 Im not sure what you think about the sermon at church each week, and how important it is. You know, if you listed out everything that makes church church, where would the sermon sit in importance? Theres singing, praying together, taking communion, just having fellowship and catching up with people, theres the Bible reading and then theres the sermon. And so I wonder how important do you think the sermon is, in that list of excellent things we do together at church... When I first became a Christian age 16, our Senior Pastor at church was a Bible scholar, a PhD in Old Testament. He has written a bunch of commentaries, and he went from our church to become the Principal of the Bible College that I eventually went to. So I grew up as a Christian with this Bible teacher who brought the scriptures alive. He loved Jesus, and he loved Gods word. And he described the sermon as a feast, where we sit down at the table with Gods word and open up the feast that God sets out before us, where we eat and drink of the story of Gods love in the world until we are filled each week, ready to go out and share that love with others... Is that how you think of Gods word? Because today well hear Jesus teach that man doesnt live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God... So why dont we pray that God would feed us now, as we listen to the words that come from his mouth, as we open the Bible together. Our heavenly Father, thank you for your word, for speaking to us, for teaching us, rebuking us, correcting us and training us in all righteousness thorough it. We pray that you would speak to our hearts today, and equip us for every good work as your servants in this world. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen So we are in the middle of our sermon series called Encounters with Jesus. Its all about people who met Jesus and were changed by it. 1 Todays encounter is a little bit different. It is an encounter between Jesus and the devil; an encounter where the devil tempts, or tests Jesus; and an encounter that reveals an important truth about character Jesus character, and our own character in the face of temptation. So why dont we get into it. Just to situate you in the timeline of Jesus life and ministry, this story happens right at the beginning of his public ministry, technically just before it. In Matthew 3, Jesus gets baptized in the River Jordan by his cousin John the Baptist, the spirit of God descends on him like a dove and Gods voice speaks from heaven: This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17) Its this moment of confirmation for Jesus, that he is exactly who he grew up believing he was the Son of God. And we expect this to be the launch of his public career. Thats not what happens. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1) Before Jesus goes public, he will undergo 40 days of testing, 40 days of fasting, 40 days alone in the wilderness with the devil sitting on his shoulder whispering into his ear... Did you notice, though, that its not the devil who is in charge. Look at v1 again: Jesus was led into the wilderness by whom? By the Spirit. So whatever takes place in the wilderness, it is in Gods presence, with Gods permission, under the Guidance of Gods spirit. Interesting for our lives, that will be true of us whenever we face temptations of many kinds. We might think that we are in the wilderness, but we are never alone... God is always with us. Thats how Matthews gospel finishes with Jesus promising, surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age... 2 So... Jesus is led into the wilderness where for 40 days and 40 nights he will be tempted, or tested, by the devil. This is Gods purpose for the 40 days and 40 nights. Whenever we see the number 40 in the Bible, were reminded of judgment... The flood in Genesis 6, where God caused rain to fall for 40 days and 40 nights flooding the whole earth and wiping out everyone except for Noah and his family, because of the sinfulness of people on the earth. And then we think of Exodus, of Gods people wandering in the wilderness for 40 years in the time of Moses, under Gods judgment because they didnt trust that God would bring them safely into the promised land. So this 40 days and 40 nights for Jesus reminds us of those judgment stories. But here Jesus has a chance to do over the mistakes of Gods people past. That is, Jesus has a chance to face the temptations that are common to Gods people, and he has a chance to live up to the standards that God set for all of humanity. This story is Jesus getting a do-over, a chance to undo the mistakes of Gods people, a second chance for us all... So Jesus spends 40 days and 40 nights without eating. It says in v2 that after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. When I was a kid, I did the 40 hour famine. Did they have that here? I think it was for World Vision, raising money and raising awareness of the poverty and hunger that are so terrible in developing nations. Anyway, for the 40 Hour Famine you would raise sponsorship and then on a particular weekend, you didnt eat from Friday night until Sunday morning, or something like that (math!). It was a great cause, but 40 hours is a long time to go hungry. Jesus went 40 days without food. And he was hungry. In our family, when people get a little bit angry with one another, we often say I think you need to eat something. Do you know the expression hangry hungry and angry hangry... When you are hungry/hangry, we all find it harder to control our temper. And this is exactly the moment that the devil shows up to tempt Jesus. 3 BTW tempting the same word used later on when the teachers of the law come to test Jesus, when they tried to trap him with questions of the law. Here the devil is trying to tempt Jesus or trap him into sinning just like Gods people had done in the past... Now we may not like testing, but testing reveals character. When were tested, it reveals our character. It shows what we value deep down. What does this testing of Jesus reveal about his character? Look at v3 with me. The tempter comes. And he says to Jesus:If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. (Matthew 4:3) If...In Matthews gospel, Jesus is portrayed as the Son of God from chapter 1, and thats what God said about him at his baptism This is my Son, whom I love...But the Devil now asks, are you really the Son of God? He wants to instill doubt in Jesus, just like he did with Adam and Eve in the garden. Did God really say you musnt eat from that tree? If you are the Son of God, why dont you prove it? Jesus is hungry and the devil says, you can end your hunger. You can tell these stones to become bread. Then youll know that you really are the Son of God. But if you dont, whats to say you arent just imagining the whole thing... Now Jesus could have turned the stones into bread, just like God provided manna in the desert to the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert. He could have fed himself. And 10 chapters from here, Jesus will feed the 5000 in the wilderness, doing just what the devil tempts him to do here. But thats not the reason behind this period of testing in the wilderness. No. v4 tells us what Jesus focus was in the wilderness. Jesus answered [the tempter], It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4) 4 Jesus is in the wilderness learning to trust Gods word. To trust every promise that comes from the mouth of God. His stomach may be empty, but he knows that our daily bread comes from God. Sometimes when our refrigerators are full, we forget that we need God at all. We have everything we need... There is something about hunger that sharpens our focus, something about waiting that teaches us to rely on God to provide. Jesus was learning to wait on Gods provision, to trust in Gods provision, even when the wait left his stomach crying out to be filled... There are many aches in this life, many pains that cause us to cry out to God, How long? Not just hunger but sickness, loss, grief, depression, loneliness... There will be some of us here deep in that season right now. In those moments, how do we respond? How does Jesus respond? He says: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4) In the season of hunger, Jesus reaches into the storehouse of scriptures that hidden away in his heart, and he reminds himself of what God told the Israelites in the desert. God had led them for 40 years in the desert to humble them, and to teach them to trust every word that God speaks. The God who spoke creation into being, the God who promised to bring them into the promised land, the God who promises to bring us into the heavenly promised land. We can trust every word that comes from Gods mouth. And in the moment of temptation, in the moments when were tempted to doubt Gods goodness, to doubt Gods provision, Jesus teaches us to go back to Gods word. To remind ourselves of all that he has promised. God doesnt promise Christians a life of ease, a life of limitless blessing and perfect health. We all know that from our own experience, otherwise Gods a liar. No, just like Jesus, this life can often lead us into the wilderness, to periods of hunger, to periods of waiting before God unveils the glory that will be revealed in us, as Romans 8:18 says. And so how do we remind ourselves of Gods good promises? The answer is to store up Gods 5 word in our hearts, just like Jesus did. Just like the Psalmist teaches in Psalm 119, the verse we read at the beginning of church. The Psalmist says: I have hidden your word in my heartthat I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11) So the question for us is, what are you doing to hide Gods word in your heart?What are you doing day by day to meditate on Gods word, to hear Gods word, to find comfort in Gods word? There is a verse in Psalm 119:35 where the Psalmist says he finds his delight in Gods word. If I were to picture an amazing day off, I would delight in getting a nice coffee and a nice brioche and spending hours by the pool reading a great book. Well the Psalmist pictures the same, only he imagines that that book is the Bible. What delights you? Is it something that helps you draw near to God, or something that distracts you from his promises? Just two verses after the Psalmist talks about his delight in Gods word, he acknowledges that there are so many worthless things we can fix our eyes on (Psalm 119:37). And so I think the Psalm is all about asking God to help us find our delight in the right things, in the things of God. In Gods word. So what are you doing to find your delight in Gods word, to store it up in your heart? If you want some suggestions, come and ask me what I do, ask the person you came to church with today what theyre doing. Maybe you could start with Psalm 119. But you need to start somewhere. And one day in the Bible turns into two days, and two days turns into a week, and weeks into months, months into years... and all that time you are teaching yourself that life is found in every word that comes from the mouth of God. And youre not just teaching yourself. Its God teaching you, as his Holy Spirit works through the words on the page to speak to your heart. Like it says in Hebrews 4: 6 the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) So thats the first big idea. Storing up Gods word for the time of testing... The second and third ideas will be much shorter, youll be pleased to know ;-) So the first temptation began: If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. The second temptation begins the same way. V5: The devil took Jesus to the holy city (Jerusalem), has him stand on the highest point of the temple and says: If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands,so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. (Matthew 4:6) Jesus said that he lives on every word that comes out of Gods mouth, so the devil quotes the scriptures at Jesus. (Kind of scary, to think that the devil knows Gods word, and knows how to twist it. Thats partly why we need to know it so well, and to hid it in our heart, so that we know what is true, and what is a lie!) The devil says to Jesus, if you trust Gods word, then jump off the temple because Gods word says that angels will rescue you. If you are the Son of God... The first temptation was about provision. This temptation is about protection. And the devil dares Jesus to take a leap of faith... Prove to himself that God will rescue him, prove that you are the son of God. Call in all the privileges of your position. You can do whatever you want. You dont need to set a foot down for the rest of your life, you never need to get tired, or fight any battles. The angels will do it all for you... That wasnt the path that Jesus walked, was it. He didnt live the pampered life of a king. In fact he wasnt spared any of the humanity that we all share hunger, tiredness, and the temptation to take the easy way out. Jesus never took the easy way out. He did what needed to be done to undo the curse of sin, to undo our failures. 7 He never took the easy way out. Not here in the desert. And not on the cross, not even when one of the thieves crucified beside Jesus said the same thing the devil said: If you are the Son of God, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you really are the Son of God... You see, Jesus understood that being the Christ meant following the path of the suffering servant, before being revealed as the glorious king over all. He would be pierced for our transgressions, and led like a lamb to the slaughter, as the prophecy in Isaiah predicted (Isa 53). And only after that would he would be given all authority and glory and sovereign power and everlasting dominion, as Daniel prophesied. On that day people of every nation would bow down and worship Jesus as king over all (Dan 7:14), exalted to the highest place, with every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth bowing down and acknowledging Jesus as Lord (Phil 2:10) Suffering and then glory. Thats why the third temptation is so underwhelming to Jesus. The devil offers him all the kingdoms of the world, if only Jesus would bow down and worship the devil. At that point, Jesus says (v10), Away from me, Satan... I know who I worship, God alone, and I serve him only. None of us are the Messiah, but we can all be tempted by power. Or tempted to demand Gods protection. Ive known people who walked away from God because they thought he should have cured their cancer, or kept their life from difficulty. Ive known plenty of people who have walked away from God because of the lure of power, the lure of the world and all its splendour. Money, sex, power, prestige, privilege. They wanted it all now. And some preachers will offer that now, theyll promise victory and success and freedom from the struggles of this life... If you hear that, ask yourself if thats the path Jesus promises in this passage, or anywhere else in the New Testament. Yes he offers us life to the full, but he also taught us that servant is not greater than his master. 8 If they persecuted Jesus, they will persecute you also. God doesnt promise us a life free of suffering. But he does promise to provide, according to his plan. He will protect, according to his plan. And he will bring us into the kingdom that is greater than any this world has ever known, and there we will know life to the full, life without the suffering of this lifetime, life without the pain or death or tears of this lifetime... Thats what God promises. Its all in his word. Do you trust it? Do you trust him? Lets pray... 9 Watch at: https://youtu.be/4i3XW3zt8mg File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2022/06/04/22/33/07/10aaf928-ccf5-49ec-a181-628719ce31b7/06.05.22%20%20Sunday%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf