Day 7

Chase: Hello, and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast. We're here with Pastor Sam as we go 40 days, 44. Podcast through the gospel of Matthew. And today we're on day seven. ⁓ this is where Jesus is being tempted ⁓ by the devil and entering the wilderness. It reads in ⁓ chapter four, verse one: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So Jesus has just been baptized, yes, and he has heard from God the Father and the Spirit has descended on him like a dove. And what he heard from God is, you know, you are my dearly beloved son, and with you I am well pleased. And he hasn't done anything yet. You know, up to this point, he hasn't done any miracles, signs and wonders, healings, teachings, but God the Father is pleased with who he is. Yeah. So out of that, the next place he goes is he's led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. What this is is Two things are happening. ⁓ the first is Jesus is recreating the scene in the Garden of Eden where the temptation of Adam and Eve, where Adam and Eve failed, Jesus will succeed in resisting the devil's temptation. The other thing that he is doing is we're about to read it, he's going to fast for 40 days. Yeah. Again, this is out in the wilderness. Some translations call it the lonely place, the solitary place. But you know. It's a it's a desert. Mm-hmm. Again, bringing to mind Israel wandering the desert for forty years, waiting to enter into the promised land. So when he leaves the desert, he will have endured what no one else could endure in order to bring the kingdom with him as he enters the land. So two things are happening as he goes into this. In verse two, it reads After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Then the tempter approached him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell the stones to become bread. He answered, It is written, Man must live on bread, not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. So real quick there, when it says the tempter, we know that that is the devil. And Jesus is answering him with scripture. Yes, so the devil is more of a description than a name. Yes. His name is not. Devil, his name is Satan in the original language. So but you could translate devil to being ⁓ in Hebrew, like the hostile one is probably the best way. Like he's hostile to God's people. And so part of the way he's hostile is through tempting God's people. And so he's trying to do the same thing to Jesus, he's done to everybody. But what is he attacking? He's attacking Jesus' identity. Now, at first you don't see it with the first temptation. But if you put all three together, ⁓ Henry Nowen wrote a book called In the Name of Jesus, where he breaks down these three temptations in a beautiful way to say what the devil's actually doing is, hey, you know, you're hungry, wouldn't it be nice if you had some bread? But the deeper temptation is that he is tempting Jesus to trade his identity as the dearly beloved one from God, yeah, to equate that with what he can do. That his identity is what he can do. And what he can do in this moment is use his abilities, what his power, his miracle working to turn stones into bread. So Henry Nowen says this is the first temptation when it comes to our identity. I am what I do. That's a temptation, that's a lie. That we are more than what we can do. Because remember, Jesus is the father is proud of him before he does anything. Yeah. So that's the first one is I am what I do. In verse five it says, And the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand 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 give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus told him, It is also written, Do not test the Lord your God. So real quick, this shows too, as we're going through this, that, you know, ⁓ People say, you know, memorize scripture, and sometimes they don't give you a reason. Sure. And it's like, well, this shows you that even the evil one knows scripture. Yes. And he's throwing it at. Yes. But Jesus knows scripture. Yes. And so he throws it back. Right. And ⁓ what you can take from this is it's one thing again to quote scripture like you're saying, but a favorite phrase or word that I use when I'm teaching, ⁓ is context. Context, context, context. That That is a psalm that ⁓ the devil's quoting. I believe it's Psalm 91, is what the devil's quoting at Jesus, but he's taking it clearly out of context and saying, Well, this this is what it means. And man, bad theology is very dangerous. Very, very dangerous. Twisted scripture is very harmful. ⁓ so what Jesus is doing is saying, Hey, I you're twisting something that's not That is scripture, but not the heart of scripture. Mm-hmm. The second thing the devil is doing is he is pointing out the second lie. So the first one is I am what I do. The second one is I am what others say about me. So in our culture, we have an obsession with approval, you know, what people say about us, you know, our reputation, all of these things. And so the devil is like, okay, people have given in to this temptation. Yeah. They have given up on their character as long as people approve of them. So he takes Jesus to the high place on top of the temple, which ⁓ would have been in Jerusalem, which was already a hill. Yes. Maybe not the highest mountain in all of Israel, but one of the highest, and then the highest place up there. Say everyone would have seen him if they were looking. What's that? Who's that up there? So Jesus in that moment could have introduced himself, say, I'm God, watch, jumps off the temple and the angels catch him. Mm-hmm. And Jesus resists that temptation to say, I will choose the quiet way. I will choose to not put God to the test, and I am more than what others say about me. Because people are going to say horrible things about him and great things about him. And he's like, I am beyond your words. Yeah. That's so good. ⁓ verse eight, it says Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to him, I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me. Mm-hmm. Then Jesus told him, Go away, Satan, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve only him. And then the devil left him and angels came and began to serve him. Yep. So a few things again happening here is one that the devil takes him to again a high mountain. I don't know if it's Mount Everest or in the Andes, or I don't know. But some high mountain. And shows him the world and everything in it and says, I will give this to you. And there is some debate if he has the ability to do this because he is even Jesus calls him the prince of the air, the kingdom of this world, or the king of this world. That like because the world has fallen into sin, it's fallen under his dominion. So like, you know, does he have that ability? Kind of up for debate. But what he's saying is, I will give you power. Riches, I'll give you anything you could possibly want, which is the third lie, that you are what you have. So this goes to the prayer that we've taught at our church before. It's one that we pray over our children in the kids zone in in our home is I'm not what I do, which is that first lie. I'm not what others say about me, which is the second lie, and I'm not what I have because I am the beloved of God and nobody can take it from me. And When you strip away those three, that leads to the second part of the prayer is like, so I don't have to worry, I don't have to hurry, I can trust Jesus and share his love with the world. Because when you're not caught up in your identity being in those three lies, you are free to do what God has called you to do. So Jesus is combating that third lie, and here he says, Go away, Satan. And what happens is Satan goes away. Showing that Jesus has authority over him, he can dismiss him because Satan is still a creature. He was created by God. Yeah. And Jesus is showing his fully God in his you know and fully man. But he's like, get away. Yeah. And we will see that. We will see that going on. There are other times where he casts out demons with just a word, but apparently he can cast out the devil with just a word as well. So again, that's where it's important to have good theology because sometimes we think It's Jesus and the devil neck and neck and they're they're equally powerful. No, no, no. One is a creator, one is a creature. One lives forever, one had a beginning and will have an end. And so they are not co equal. The battle is over, the war is won. Now we're just waiting for it to wrap up and the devil's ⁓ days are numbered. Yep. Jesus will reign forevermore. Not only in this world, but in the world to come. And we now, because of Jesus' victory, have the power through his spirit to overcome these three temptations, these three lies that we're more than we do, we more than what others say of us, and we more than we have. And we see that when Jesus passes this test, if you will, that the angels then do show up and come and serve him. So again, he passes the test to Adam and Eve failed, and he passes. The test of the Israelites in the desert who grumbled and didn't trust God. He trusted God more than anything else. And that's what carried him through. And he is able to now begin his ministry on the other side of it. Amen. Well, with that, we're wrapping up today. We'll see ya back tomorrow for day eight. Thanks for tuning in. Awesome.