Matthew 4:1-4 | The Words of Life

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks North Dakota.

One of, if not the most terrifying text messages I can receive is one at four o'clock on a Saturday that says Pastor Jason has a fever.

You guys are scared.

One of the most comforting text messages I can receive is related to it.

And it's the next sentence that says, Jeremy's up for backup.

By God's grace, Pastor Jason pulled through his cold.

Well, his fever.

His voice is still a little funny.

So he's asked me, and he's not even down front, so you guys are all like, wait, where is he?

But he's asked me to read our text this morning.

So if you would please open with me to the book of Matthew, chapter four.

And we will begin in verse one.

And if you would please, would you pray with me before we do that?

Lord, as we come now to your word, we remember and we confess that in our sinful hearts, in our hardened, our hardened hearts, Lord, we are resistant to your truth.

And so we pray that as we open your word, and we see your son, that Father, he would be glorified in us, and that by your spirit power, you would soften our hearts, open our minds and our eyes and our ears to see him for who he really is, that he would be glorified in our midst today.

It's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

So again, Matthew chapter 4, beginning in verse 1.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And 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.

And then the devil left him.

And behold, angels came and were ministering to you.

The word of the Lord.

Thank you, Webb.

I no longer have a fever, but I don't know if I'll have a voice after the end of today either.

So if you can, pray for my voice that it at least holds out for the next 40 minutes or so.

Thank you, Webb.

We'll have him back up here in a moment to read another passage for us.

When we open the pages of our Bibles, it ought to be our first and primary goal to understand what God has written.

We're not able to properly apply Scripture if we haven't first properly understood it.

To understand it, then, we have to recognize that the Bible has a single author, God, who used human writers to record his message.

That means then that Matthew had a purpose in writing his account of Jesus' life.

He wanted to show that Jesus, the Son of God, is the promised king that the world needs.

And God, as the sole author, superintended that, meaning he ruled over it so that Matthew's purpose was the same as God's purpose.

In the same way, each individual section of this book fits into that overall picture.

They wanted to communicate something specific, and it's our duty to study in order to learn that truth and apply it.

Now, why would I say that?

Well, after a quick reading of this section of Matthew's gospel, our initial reaction might be to think that this is about Jesus' temptation.

We might conclude then that the proper application of this passage pertains to our temptations.

Perhaps we are to see Jesus setting the pattern that we are to follow in our lives as we face temptations of many kinds.

But is that a correct understanding?

Is that an appropriate view?

Is that what Matthew intended it for us to take from this account?

When we read the Bible, we often do so hurriedly.

Maybe you have five or ten minutes in the morning, maybe it's just a couple of minutes at night before you fall asleep.

And we want those little bites, don't we?

Those little bites to take away so that we can get on with the rest of our day in the morning or maybe get on with our sleep at night.

It's helpful, though, to slow down.

To slow down and to digest what's going on.

Because many parts of God's revelation do not lend themselves to one, two, or three points to rapidly apply to our lives.

So it is with this passage.

Here we have a narrative explanation of a particular time in the Lord Jesus' life.

And it's described not in quick points to fill out in a sermon outline, but in movements.

First, Jesus moves to the wilderness, to the desert.

Then he moves from there to the city of Jerusalem.

And then in the city of Jerusalem, he moves to the pinnacle of the temple.

Those three locations describe the two major aspects of the Lord's temptation.

So verses 1 through 4 are the first aspect.

Verses 5 through 11 are the second.

This morning I want us to focus on the first of Jesus' movements.

That is, the movement into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

These temptations follow Matthew's pattern of pointing back to the Old Testament.

We've seen that again and again and again already in the first three chapters of Matthew, right?

Six times Matthew has written something to the effect of this is to fulfill what was spoken.

Or the prophet said this, so Jesus is fulfilling it.

Should be no surprise then that Jesus would respond to the tempter's deception three times with the phrase, it is written.

Look back, see what's there.

Jesus continued that pattern because it is in Jesus that God fulfills all of his promises.

Jesus himself would say a little bit later in Matthew chapter 5, verse 17, I haven't come to do away with all of that.

Matthew 5:17

I've come to fulfill the law and the prophets.

So Jesus' temptations then fit into Matthew's pattern by closely identifying the Lord Jesus with those Old Testament scriptures.

More specifically, Jesus' temptations fulfill something begun in ancient times.

So I think it would be best for us to begin there, in those ancient times, with the passage that's included in this text from Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

All of the quotations here from Scripture from Jesus are from the book of Deuteronomy.

This first one is from Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

Whenever we think of Deuteronomy, we need to remember that it is a retelling of events.

It's a retelling of events.

Israel spent four decades wandering in the desert.

But now, in Deuteronomy, they're on the verge of crossing over the Jordan River to take possession of all that God had promised them.

Deuteronomy then serves as Moses' reminder of several important truths.

I know that you can grasp this sort of situation.

Whether you're younger or older.

For example, imagine a teenager going through all that's necessary to earn their driver's license.

They've gone through maybe driver's ed, maybe they've spent time driving with mom and dad in the car, make sure everything's going right, that they learn how to drive, they learn how to park.

But then, the very first time they take the family car out by themselves without mom and dad, what happens?

Mom and dad give them some helpful reminders, right?

Or maybe when you send your child off to college for the first time.

You want them to remember some important truths.

Or maybe when they get married, when you got married, your parents helped you understand and remember some important concepts and truths.

That's kind of like what Moses is doing for Israel.

Saying, before you do this, I've got some important things to say to you.

So, Web, would you come on up and read Deuteronomy chapter eight for me, please?

Note twice in this passage, Moses says, Remember this.

And take care lest you forget.

Remember, take care lest you forget.

Remember, remember God's leading.

Remember God's humbling you through hunger.

Remember God teaching you that you must live on every word that comes from the mouth of God, not just bread.

And that's all part of God raising his children, it says in verse 5.

In verse 11, take care that you don't forget to live on the word of God.

Because in verse 20, a failure to remember to live on the word is a failure of obedience.

But Israel's pattern had not been encouraging up to this point.

Because if you just look down at chapter 9, in verses 7 and 8, it says, Remember and do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness.

From the day that you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh.

Even at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath.

Behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God by making a golden calf.

Verse 23 of the same chapter.

Then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God and did not believe him or obey his voice.

You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.

That's not a good track record.

So Moses was giving them some reminders as they were about to take possession of God's promise.

And in chapter 10, verses 12 and 13, we see some positive news.

Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, to keep his commandments and statutes of Yahweh, which I am commanding you today, for your good.

For your good.

Living on every word that comes from the mouth of God is for your good.

Chapter 28 of this same book of Deuteronomy contains a list of curses, if they would disobey.

It's quite shocking if you want to take the time to read through that.

And we see those curses then played out in the rest of the Old Testament.

But Moses gives a glimmer of hope at the end of chapter 30 of Deuteronomy.

He says, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.

Therefore choose life that you and your offspring may live.

What does it mean to choose life?

Well, he describes that in verse 20.

Love Yahweh your God, obey his voice, and hold fast to him, for he is your life.

That hope didn't last very long.

Didn't last long at all.

After the death of Joshua, we see a repeated failure to live by the word of God.

That's Joshua chapter 1.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

I'm sorry, Judges chapter 1.

Judges 1 · chapter mention

Then God said in Judges chapter 2 in verse 2, You have not obeyed my voice.

Judges 2 · chapter mention

Then in Judges 2.11, the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh and served the Baals.

Verse 13, they abandoned Yahweh and served the Baals and the Ashtareth.

Their history is clear.

God led Israel into the desert to test them.

Would they trust Him by relying entirely on Him through the reception, understanding, and obedience of His Word?

He fed them for 40 years in the desert with manna, the bread from heaven, to help them see that He would also feed them by His Word.

But in the end, everyone only did what was right in their own eyes.

Israel, often called God's son in the Old Testament, failed to live on every word that came from God's mouth.

They desired instead what they saw with their eyes, what they lusted for with their hearts, and what they pridefully longed for instead of feeding on the word of God.

Adam, also called the son of God, failed in that as well.

Adam, the son of God, failed.

Israel, the son of God, failed.

And then one day, at the River Jordan, a voice from heaven declared, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.

Would this son of God live by every word that came from the mouth of God?

When Matthew recorded the baptism of Jesus at the end of chapter 3, he used some words that speak of personal decision.

That is, Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

He came for a reason, with intent.

But now in chapter 4, verse 1, we are told that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Mark uses an even stronger word saying that the Lord was driven out into the wilderness.

He uses the same word that was used of Jesus fashioning a whip in the temple to drive out the money changers.

The Spirit of God drove out the Son of God into the wilderness, into the desert to be tempted.

God the Son was driven out into the desert to walk the same path that Israel walked.

The Son of God was driven out into the wilderness to face the tests of Adam and Eve and every other son or daughter of God.

Let that rest in your spirit for a moment.

God is sovereign over all testing and temptation.

He doesn't tempt, James tells us.

He doesn't tempt us.

But we are reminded that God is sovereign over everything, even testings that lead to temptation.

Reformer John Calvin wrote, let us learn then that temptations which befall us are not accidental or regulated by the will of Satan without God's permission.

But that the Spirit of God presides over our contests as an exercise of our faith.

Why would that be true?

This will aid us in cherishing the assured hope that God, who is the supreme judge, will not be unmindful of us, but will fortify us, will build us up against those distresses because he knows that we can't meet them by ourselves.

In identifying with Israel as the Son of God, Jesus needed to endure the temptations that Israel faced.

He needed to face the temptation to disobey God.

The temptation to not live by every word, but instead choose to rebel and make stones into bread to satisfy his own hunger.

As Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, the Son of God was in the wilderness without food for 40 days and forty nights.

He was hungry.

That is one of the greatest understatements in all of Scripture.

Of course he was hungry.

I would be dead.

Here is God the Son.

The fullness of God in human form.

Here he is in his humanity seeking to obey the Father through fasting.

He is weak and needing sustenance.

If this were you or me, this would be the worst time to be tempted.

Like Adam and Eve in Israel, we would cave into temptation quicker than lightning strikes.

We may be children of God.

We may be sons of God by adoption to the praise of his glorious grace and have the Father's grace lavished on us, yet we still fail time and time and time again when faced with temptation, don't we?

Satan preys on our weaknesses.

Jesus' weakness in this moment in his humanity was extreme hunger.

Why not eat?

There's nothing sinful in eating.

Satan knows that Jesus is the Son of God, so he's quite aware of the Lord's power.

Just a few chapters after this, he'll provide food for 5,000 people.

Speak a word and change a few stones into some nourishing bread.

What could be wrong with that?

This is the same temptation as the one faced in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve, and that Israel faced in the desert.

It's Satan saying to Jesus, God hasn't properly cared for you.

So you need to take matters into your own hand.

Why would God want you hungry?

Why would God limit you?

He wouldn't do that.

Surely he wouldn't do that.

Eat the fruit.

Demand some meat and some bread.

Turn stones into bread.

When you begin to doubt God's presence and his care for you, you begin to be tempted to provide for yourself instead of trust what God's doing.

You see, sons and daughters of the living God have been tempted in this way down through the ages.

Like Adam and Eve, we question the goodness of God.

In our weakness, we are tempted to wonder, is God really being faithful and good to me?

Like Israel, we demand that God meet our needs our way.

He wouldn't really keep anything good from us, would he?

Like Israel, we question the faithful, loving kindness of our God.

Why would he keep food from me?

Why would he keep sexual fulfillment from me or financial comfort or companionship or whatever?

Why would God not meet my desires?

He said, Yet they sinned still more against God, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

They tested God in their hearts by demanding the food they craved.

They spoke against God, saying, Is he really able to feed us in the desert?

Is that really possible?

So what does God do?

He gives them water out of a rock.

You question my ability to give something to you in the desert?

Let me show you.

Let me show you how powerful I am.

My brothers and sisters in the Lord, what hope is there for us?

Our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a lion, seeking someone to devour.

We are pounced upon regularly.

Sometimes it seems like Satan doesn't even let us up.

There is hope in the beloved Son, the only one who pleases the Father and resists sin.

There is hope in Jesus.

It is the beloved Son who has been tempted in every respect as we, yet without sin.

Therefore, he is now able to sympathize with us in our weakness.

So we must run to him in the weakness of our temptation directly to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need.

Because he himself has suffered when being tempted.

He is able to help those who are being tempted.

In Deuteronomy 8, verse 2, we heard Webb read, You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:2

Israel in their hunger in the desert did not live on every word that came from the mouth of God.

They only desired the bread for their stomachs, not the food for their souls.

And now, now the only begotten of the Father has been led into the desert.

Would he, in his desperate hour of need, give in to temptation, or would he remain committed to every word of God, relying on the Father in obedience?

Well, John gives us a hint in John 4.

John 4 is that account of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob.

Jesus sent the disciples off to find some food because they were hungry.

When the disciples came back, they found Jesus sitting at the well conversing with the Samaritan woman.

After asking some questions, Jesus said to them, My food, my bread is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his word.

Jesus knew that life is not merely about physical cravings and physical needs, but about submission to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

The temptations listed here in chapter 4 are secondary.

Now we must not neglect them, nor ignore how Jesus uses Scripture, the Word of God, to respond to the tempters' lies.

But the primary intent here is that we see Jesus.

We must see Jesus, the beloved Son, the beloved son who pleases the Father, who has resisted temptation, where all others, where you and I have failed, his food was the word of God.

He is the true Son of God who feeds on the Word of God.

He has set the example for us of trusting and obeying the word, even when our flesh cries out for fulfillment and satisfaction in other ways.

And he, Jesus, the incarnate word, has established once and for all the priority of the written word.

Not just a portion of Scripture, but all of it, as necessary and vital for life.

If you can't live without physical food, then you most certainly cannot survive without spiritual food.

And now, because the Lord has suffered through temptation, he can sympathize with us and give us aid.

These are secondary truths and secondary applications that are true, that are proper.

But we must first see Jesus, the beloved Son of God who fulfilled God's expectations because no one else could.

Jesus relied on and obeyed the words of life when his physical nature demanded otherwise.

He triumphed over sin and temptation when we could not.

He successfully deflected the fiery darts of the enemy.

He gave unquestioning obedience to the Father's plan because you could not.

The beloved Son of God endured this trial because you and I failed.

The Son of God lived on every word from the Father so that his obedience could become our obedience.

Did you catch that?

For those who belong to Jesus, his obedience becomes theirs.

So that when the Father looks on you, a son or daughter of the living God, he sees Jesus' faithfulness in you instead of your failure.

Hallelujah! What a savior.

Thought I'd get an amen out of that one.

It's true, though, isn't it?

Hallelujah.

What a savior.

The tempters work among all people, but especially the sons and daughters of God, is to labor, to press hard on us so that those moments of weakness become moments in which we trust more in ourselves than in God.

That's what he wants.

His desire is to move us to give greater credence to our own feelings, our own inner being, our own arguments, our own desires, our own abilities than to the word of the living God.

He would convince you, Satan would, the tempter, that the way of life is through yourself, not through the word of God.

Do not cast aside the armor of the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit.

Dive more deeply into it, know it more fully.

Those who voluntarily throw away the armor of Scripture, who voluntarily throw it away and do not laboriously exercise themselves in the school of God deserve to be strangled at every instant by Satan into whose hands they give themselves up unarmed.

How often do we give ourselves up unarmed?

No other reason can be given why the fury of Satan meets with so little resistance and why so many are everywhere carried away by him, but that God punishes their carelessness and their contempt of his word.

To be a son or daughter of God is to be the tempter's target.

The first son of God, Adam, was the tempter's target.

Israel, the son of God, was the tempter's target.

Christ, the son of God, was the tempter's target.

And you is the adopted son or daughter of God, the tempter's target.

So we'll see more next time.

You will fail in the temptation unless you keep your eyes on the incarnate word, the person of Christ, and fill yourself with the written word of the living God.

Don't fear.

Don't fear, but trust.

Resist the devil and look to Christ, who, by his power within you, because he's put his spirit in you, will enable you, the child of God, to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

The risen Christ warned the church at Smyrna in Revelation chapter 2, verse 10.

Revelation 2:10

Do not fear what you are about to suffer.

Stop right there.

Excuse me?

Suffer, don't fear.

Those don't go together.

But it's a command of Christ.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer.

Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested.

For ten days you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Be faithful.

Live on the word of life.

Our Lord has already conquered, and his obedience has been applied to your account, if indeed you have trusted in him alone, and one day you will see him, the conqueror.

It's true.

In Revelation chapter 12, verse 9, the downfall of our enemy was imaged for us.

Revelation 12:9

It says, and the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who's called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

He was thrown down, and his angels were thrown down.

It's an image of the victory of Christ.

In the end, the word of God will triumph over all.

In Revelation chapter 19, we see the image of Christ returning as victor, king of kings and lord of lords.

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

It says to us there in chapter 19, verse 13, that he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the word of God.

Commit yourself to know, to feed on and to live on that word of God.

Pastor John Willison pictured Jesus as the true ark that saves us from the flood of sin.

This is a long quotation, but I want to share it with you because it's so so rich.

Pastor John Willison wrote in the early 1800s, just goes to show, by the way, how nothing changes.

I am resolved upon it, whatever it cost me, that the solicitations of the flesh, the temptations of Satan, the scoffs, reproaches, or persecutions of the word world shall not stop me from flying to the ark.

I would break through all these to be found in it.

Lord, increase and strengthen my faith for that end and help my unbelief.

Oh how suitable is the ark Christ to my destitute and miserable condition.

In myself I want all things, but I see supply for all my wants in the ark.

I am poor, but I see gold in the ark to make me rich.

I am wounded by sin, but I see balm in the ark to heal my wounds.

I am blind, but there is eye salve in the ark to make me see.

I am perishing with hunger, but see bread in the ark to satisfy me.

I am naked, but in the ark there is white raiment to clothe me.

I am polluted, but in the ark there is a fountain to wash me.

I am exposed to the more terrible floods than Noah was, but I see the ark Christ can save me from them all.

Noah's Ark saved him from only a flood of water.

But the Ark Christ saves me from a flood of curses of the law and the wrath of God, which will sweep away all the unbelieving world.

Oh, how excellent is this ark! For it can save me from being overwhelmed or carried away with any flood, and particularly it can save me from being carried away with a flood of Satan's temptations which sweeps away man, or with a flood of indwelling corruption, with a flood of error, with a flood of profanity, or with a flood of neutrality and indifference about spiritual concerns, by which floods multitudes are destroyed.

Let me then by faith fly to this blessed ark, where all believers are preserved from these destroying floods.

Behold, I run, I fly.

May Jesus draw me and help me in.

Lord Jesus, we fly to you.

The incarnate word.

And to the scriptures, your written word given to us to survive the onslaught of the tempter.

You are our only arc of salvation.

You are the only way for us to survive.

So we fly to you.com.