140126 Led by the Spirit

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 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.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 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.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Luke tells us that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit when he came from his baptism and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Matthew adds that he was there “to be tempted by the devil.” I'm afraid that most Christians today, if they think of being filled with the Holy Spirit at all, think of a terribly exciting and pleasant experience. Certainly, thinking about being led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil is not usually connected with being filled with the Spirit. That is exactly what happened to Jesus. Peter tells us that our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. We must remember that he seeks to devour us whether we are spiritually strong or not. We should seek to be spiritually strong so that we can resist the devil. James, the Lord's brother, said that we should submit ourselves to God and then we can resist the devil and he will flee from us. Obviously Jesus knew how to resist the devil.

Jesus had gone into the wilderness to prepare for his ministry to begin. He spent forty days alone with the Father. In the same way, Moses had spent forty days and forty nights on the mountain with God before he received the law. Fasting for forty days, apart from a miracle of God, is physically dangerous. In all likelihood Jesus had water available to him because, again, apart from a miracle of God, a person cannot live more than a few days without water. Forty day fasts are not unknown but are certainly unusual. Fasting is a way to give one's full attention to God and the Word. I have never spent more than a couple of days in fasting. I do know that hunger can become a real problem. I also know that if you are spiritually focused hunger is not immediately a problem. In fact, in the beginning of a fast, your body feeds on itself and hunger only becomes a problem towards the end. Satan had waited for the right time for Jesus to be hungry and then he moved in to present the temptation. The first of three temptations was…

Temptation by hunger.

Fasting until hunger returned. Jesus had fasted for forty days and now his body was demanding food. Satan, knowing who Jesus was, challenged him to satisfy his hunger immediately.

Satan is patient. Let's see how Peter described our enemy. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. If you have watched Animal Planet or Discovery Channel you have seen how a lion will stalk its prey. In fact, the lion will wait until its prey is tired and alone. The lion may spend all day stalking its prey patiently waiting till the right time. Then he'll strike and almost always bring down food for supper. Well Peter describes our enemy as being patient and vicious. He had to leave Jesus in the wilderness after these temptations and began to look for other opportunities to take Jesus down. He watched as Jesus chose his disciples and he marked which one might be available to him. And at the right time he pounced on the weak disciple listen while I read Luke 22:3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. Satan entered into Judas and led him to betray Jesus. Just as he had waited for the right time to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. But Jesus knew how to resist the temptations. In this case it was a matter of…

Resistance by correct priority. Jesus knew exactly what was important with regard to food. Some time after his temptation in the wilderness Jesus led his disciples through Samaria. On the journey he became hungry and sent his disciples into a village to buy some food. After they left, a woman came to the well probably expecting no one to be there as she was not very popular in town. Or at least that's the way it is usually interpreted. After a discussion with Jesus about where and how to worship she put her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She went away to tell everyone she knew that she had met the Messiah. While she was gone Jesus' disciples returned with the food that had been sent for. Instead of taking the food Jesus said, found in, John 4:34 “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. …" Jesus knew that man did not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He used that quote in the temptation in the wilderness and I'm sure thought of it while sitting with the woman at the well. It's a very exciting thing to share your faith with another person. It can be so exciting that normal activities, like eating, take second place.

Jesus responded to his first temptation by quoting the word of God. The first temptation was a temptation by hunger, the second was…

Temptation to demonstrate God's care. As the son of God Jesus had the right to expect to be cared for. Now Satan asked for a demonstration to prove who he was. Satan said…
If you are the Son of God. Jesus, you remember, had just come from his baptism when he had heard those wonderful words found in Matthew 3:17 “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Even without those words at his baptism Jesus knew who he was. He had known since he was twelve years old and perhaps sooner than that that he was the Son of God. Many people will say that Jesus never claimed to be God just somehow a distant second to the Father. Sometime after this experience in the wilderness Jesus was confronted by some of the leaders of the Jews. Let's read about it in John 5:17-18 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. "Making himself equal with God" is the understanding the Jewish leaders had of what Jesus had just said. "Equal to" and "the same as" is the same thing. John's gospel is very clear that Jesus and the Father are equal. It begins with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

So it was fairly absurd that Satan even raised the question, "If you are the Son of God" because they both knew who he was. Satan had been defeated by Jesus quoting Scripture and so now he shows his expertise in the Bible. We need to remember that…

Satan can quote Scripture. Return to our text of the morning we find these words in Matthew 4:6. “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.’” The devil had read Psalm 91. He could use that to urge Jesus to prove that he was God's Son. Just because someone quote Scripture doesn't mean that what they say is right. What the devil said to Jesus that day was true it was just incorrectly applied. Jesus, being God, and as such the author of the Bible, knew exactly how to use it. Satan used Scripture incorrectly.…

Jesus uses Scripture correctly. Paul wrote to Timothy to tell him that there was a right way to use Scripture. Let's look at 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. This passage reminds us that there is a right way and a wrong way to use Scripture. I won't even begin to go into all the wrong ways except to say that the right way always glorifies Jesus Christ.

Jesus was tempted by hunger and tempted to demonstrate that God really cared about him. Now he was presented with a…

Temptation to take a shortcut. After all it would appear that Jesus came into the world to save sinners and build a kingdom on earth. Satan presented Jesus with the challenge to prove who he is by turning stones into bread and by jumping off the temple so the angels will come and protect him. So it seemed logical to the devil that he could encourage Jesus to take a shortcut. You see it's true that…

Satan rules the world system. There are several passages of Scripture we can use to support this idea. We will use two. First, let's look at an incident only a few days before Jesus death on the cross. He testified that he had come into the world to be crucified. And he cried out asking the Father to glorify his own name. The Father spoke saying that he had glorified his name. And then, let's look at John 12:30-32 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” At that point in time Satan seems to be winning the battle. He is rapidly moving Jesus toward a trial and execution. The world was about be judged not Jesus! Even though Satan believed he was winning Jesus boldly asserts that the ruler of this world will be cast out at just the time he thinks he has the victory. Jesus knew that he had to take our sins into his own body and allow that body to be nailed to a cross. Jesus had no sin of his own so he could become sin for us and that would allow us to become the righteousness of God in him. Yes, he would be lifted up on a cross above the earth but at the very time that he was lifted up he would draw people to himself. Satan may indeed be the ruler of this world but he rules only with the permission of God the Father.

Another place in the Bible that testifies to Satan's rule over the world is…

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Paul is writing to the Ephesians about the conditions under which we were born. You see each one of us, every person on earth, was born dead in trespasses and sins. All of us followed the course of this world in obedience to "the prince of the power of the air". That "prince" still works in the sons of disobedience all over the world. All of us are born children of wrath and subject to death and hell. However, when Jesus went to the cross he provided substitutionary atonement for all who are appointed to eternal life — for all who receive him and believe on his name.

Are you still subject to Satan? Or, have you submitted your life to the Lordship of Jesus? Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Otherwise, you live under the authority of the Prince of the power of the air, the ruler of this world. He was tried and found wanting but during the temptation in the wilderness…

His authority was accepted. Let's look at what the writer of Hebrews had to say in Hebrews 2:14-15 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

Satan's authority was very real. He had come into the garden of Eden thousands of years before and confronted the rulers place there by God the Father. He stalked them and brought them down with a simple question, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And they fell into his trap. And when Adam and Eve sinned we all sinned with them. It may not seem fair but the actions of our ancestors have an effect on us whether we like it or not. Let me give you an example that may help you to understand. When I graduated from college in 1968, we moved to New York State and, therefore, Aree, our youngest son, was born in New York two years later. If we had moved somewhere else he would have been born there. He had no choice about where he would be born that decision was made by our decision to live in New York. I will give another example. Sometime in my childhood I learned that my grandfather, Aree Oscar Bray, had wanted to travel to the West when he was nineteen years old and join the national Forest Service. As I thought about that I was upset! If grandpa had gone West I would've been born in Montana or Wyoming or some such exotic place. I would've been a cowboy or a mountain man! Then the truth slowly sank in. If Aree Oscar Bray had gone West when he was nineteen years old he would have never met Ola Crockoff and subsequently married her. After their marriage they had a son named Hubert Aree Bray. That son was my father! If they had never met, never married, not only would my father not have been born but I would not of been born nor any of my offspring as we know them. Undoubtedly, Aree Oscar Bray would have married someone but it would've been an entirely different someone. What our ancestors did has profound impact on who we are today and where we are!

When Adam and Eve sinned we sinned with them because we were in them along with every other human being on earth. Adam and Eve gave up rule of the earth to Satan in the garden of Eden. Jesus did not deny the devil's statement that he had authority over the earth his response was simple…

Jesus came back to basics. Again, let's look back at our text. Matthew 4:10 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.’”

It was not a matter of who the Prince of this world was it a matter who the Lord of glory is. In our humanity we might think it would be a simple thing for Jesus to bow down to the enemy in order to gain control of the entire world and all its kingdoms. Jesus knew that was something Satan could not give him anyway. There was never any choice for Jesus that day. He was committed to serve and worship only the Lord God himself. Even in those early days Jesus was firmly fixed on the path to Calvary. In the wilderness, after forty days fasting, at his weakest physical moment, Jesus withstood three serious temptations. Praise God, he did not give in.

We should be strengthened by the knowledge that our Lord and Savior was himself tempted in every way that we are yet without sin. It is not a sin to be tempted — sin comes from giving in to the temptation. When Jesus began his ministry the Holy Spirit publicly demonstrated who Jesus was — the Son of the Living God! Then, soon after that, the Holy Spirit took him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. It is important for us to recognize that we have an enemy who seeks to destroy us and we have, within us, the Spirit who dwelt in Jesus to enable us to resist the enemy. You might ask, "Why does God allow us to be tempted?" He does so in order to make us strong. Don't despair when you find yourself harassed by temptation. Count it all joy that you have been considered worthy. Faith is trusting God to supply all our needs. Do you trust Him?

All scripture quotes from:The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.