Were any of you tempted this past week? Sure, you were! If you watched any TV or listened to the radio you were more than likely tempted to purchase something. Advertisers often make self-indulgence a part of their marketing strategies. They say we'll be happier if we drive this vehicle, use this particular toothpaste.
Nowadays, it's all about instant gratification. It has become a reality. The internet has redefined shopping. Media, like books and music, can be downloaded and enjoyed immediately. Online purchases can often deliver the next day, and in some areas, you can receive your order the same day. Instant gratification has become far more instant.
But advertisers weren't the first to use this strategy. From the beginning, Satan has used instant gratification in his bag of tricks to entice us. He used it with Adam and Eve, he tried it on Jesus, and he'll try it on us. As we look at how Satan attempted it with Jesus, we can learn to trust God and what He provides rather than fall for the temptation to rely on ourselves instead of God.
So today we are going to use both the new and the Old Testament while we talk about the temptation to rely on myself instead of God. Prayer.
Have you ever caught yourself relying on yourself more than God? We think, “God, I’ll give you a break on this one. I can handle it all by myself.” We have good intentions. Giving God a break. But we are too easily tempted to being led down the wrong path to leave God out of the picture.
If you were with us last week, you might remember that we said the source of our temptation comes from our own evil desires. And if we fall into the trap of temptation, we can easily be led into sin. Today we see that Jesus faced temptations, yet He never sinned. So, it is indeed possible to overcome temptation and not sin.
Matthew 4:1-2 – “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
Now before we get too deep into this passage, in order for us to place the temptation of Jesus found in Matthew 4 in context, we need to remember that Matthew began his gospel by presenting Jesus as the answer to the Israel's exile. The Israelites had broken their covenant with God over and over again. Because of their sin, God removed them from the promised land. After 70 years, God allowed them to return to the land, but a more complete restoration was still to come. Matthew helped us to see that Jesus brought about that restoration by listing the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Jesus. You can find that list in the first chapter of Matthew.
I think we could even say that this restoration of Israel included a new Exodus. Remember that during His infancy, Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph to Egypt before growing up in Nazareth. This fulfilled Hosea's prophecy that said when Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 11:1)
Bible scholars refer to Jesus as the new Moses, and in Matthew, we see Him experiencing His own time in the desert. There He faced temptation, but unlike the Israelites, He obeyed. It's interesting too that Jesus fasted in the wilderness 40 days and nights, even as the Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years. So, Matthew begins this portion of Jesus's life with an important note. He wanted us to know that none of what was to happen to Jesus was accidental. He was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. This was God's plan. With this plan, Satan found a way to tempt Jesus. After fasting for so long, we shouldn't be surprised that Jesus was hungry. Satan hoped to use that to his advantage.
Matthew 4:3-4 – “Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Notice that the nature of Satan's temptation of Jesus centered on one phrase, “if you are the Son of God.” God had already declared Jesus to be the beloved Son, and Satan attacked at that point, as if to say, “Prove it!” Satan was trying to get Jesus to test the Father. It is as if Satan was luring Jesus to wonder, “Will God really provide?” Satan was subtly questioning God's goodness. If he could get Jesus to question the Father's goodness, then Jesus would likely provide for Himself. Jesus had a choice—trust the Father to provide for His every need, including food, or take matters into His own hands.
If you read this entire passage, you will find that, every time, Jesus confronted temptation with God's Word. Jesus, led by the Spirit into the wilderness, had just completed a 40-day fast. He was surely hungry and weak when Satan approached Him with the instructions. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But this was no chance encounter. Satan was questioning God's goodness and provision and was tempting Jesus to do the same.
There was an important issue at stake here—to save humanity and bring restoration, Jesus had to fulfill all righteousness and live the life that we cannot. Unlike the Israelites in the wilderness, Jesus would not put God to the test. He had to face temptation as we do, yet not sin. It was God's Spirit who had led Jesus to this place, and He trusted the Father to provide all He needed. So, He cites a passage from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 8:3 – “He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Jesus's answer was “to obey God is better than food.” If you read your Bible enough, you will find that when you face most temptations, God will equip you to overcome that temptation with His Word. That's exactly what Jesus did here. Let's look a little deeper into that passage that Jesus quoted.
Deuteronomy 8:2-5 – “Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you by letting you go hungry;
********then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5 Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.”
“Remember”—that's an important word. We can be so forgetful. Like the Israelites, we need to be reminded constantly of God's guidance and provision. God reminded Israel of three things He had provided for them:
1. First of all, God provided guidance. He reminded the Israelites that He had led them on the entire journey. When God sent them wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, He never abandoned them. It's important to remember that even when we feel like we're alone, God is with us.
2. Then God reminded them that He had provided food. After Israel set out from Egypt, God promised to provide for them bread from heaven. The daily food was called manna. For 40 years, God provided this bread each morning except on the Sabbath. And yet, Israel continually put God to the test by complaining about a lack of provision.
3. God also reminded them that He provided for their material needs. Not only did God feed them, but He also clothed them. Stop and realize for a moment that miraculously, their clothing did not wear out nor did their feet swell. They wore the same clothes and shoes for 40 years and yet they never wore out during this journey. Don't tell me that God wasn't taking care of them.
Let me bring you up to date if you don't know this story of the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites. Long before Satan tempted Jesus to question God's goodness, the Israelites questioned God's provision. Because the Israelites did not believe God would deliver them, they failed to enter the promised land. As a judgment, God calls them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that disobedient generation died out. The word Deuteronomy means the second law. In the book of Deuteronomy, God prepared a new generation to enter the land. A key part of this instruction was to remind them of what He had done for them. It's in this instruction that we find the passage that Jesus quoted in Matthew 4: 4.
So the Israelites found out that they could trust God to provide everything they needed. It is no different with us. God will provide if we will just trust in Him. I'm going to finish out with this Deuteronomy passage today but before I do I want to take a little side step and see what Paul had to say about us being content in what God has provided.
Philippians 4:12 – 13 – “I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Are you as content about your life as the Apostle Paul was when he wrote this passage? Jesus taught us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” It's a prayer of trust for our daily bread, not our weekly or monthly bread. We should be thankful since so many of us have full pantries, and we have enough food to last us for weeks, not just days. We can thank God when we have much and when we have little. God is at work, and we can trust in Him, not simply in what He gives. If He tests us in this, it is not to frustrate us but to strengthen our faith.
If you're ever tempted to doubt God's provision, what do you think you should do? We are to remember! Look back over your life and consider how God has provided for you. There may be times with little, and there may be times with plenty, but God provides what you need when you need it. When we understand that God promises to provide for the basic needs of His people, then we will be satisfied with His provision. We will, along with the Apostle Paul, know how to make do with little or with a lot. That is the secret of contentment. And we can make do in every circumstance and all things through Him who strengthens us. Now let's go back to the Deuteronomy passage.
Deuteronomy 8: 6-10 – “So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates;
********a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. 10 When you eat and are full, you will bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Earlier, God had made a covenant promise to provide for the Israelites. If they obeyed His Word and kept His covenant, they would be His people. He would be their God, and He would give them a land flowing with milk and honey. Now, 40 years later, after the doubting generation had died out, Moses was preparing this second generation to enter the land.
God was bringing the Israelites into a good land. This was a land that was both beautiful and bountiful. There they would live under God's rule and blessing. But, keeping their part of the covenant was the challenge! They couldn't do it. In fact, God told Moses that Israel would eventually break the covenant. But Moses also told the people that when they turned back to God in obedience, God would restore them. God would cause them to prosper once again, and they would love God wholeheartedly.
You're probably wondering why I'm rambling on with this Old Testament story. The reason I do that is because of this. The Israelites struggled to keep their end of the covenant with God. Their faithfulness had ups and downs. Are we any different? Each of us sin, which keeps us from fully obeying God and His instruction. Thankfully, Jesus kept the covenant for us. We fail miserably, but Jesus lived the life of perfect obedience that we could not. Jesus established a new covenant by His blood shed on the cross. This New covenant promised a new heart and forgiveness of sins for all who come to Him.
And that is good news! God gave his own Son for us. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He did not even spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all.
When we come to God by faith in Christ, we are treated as sons and daughters, heirs of all God's wealth. There is nothing He will hold back from us. We do not earn God's provision. He freely gives it to us because we are His children by faith.
God does not provide for us just because we use the right words in prayer or do the right things. Our Father graciously provides for us because of Christ and His full obedience - even to death on a cross. Jesus’ obedience secured our blessings. And all the blessings are ours by faith.
What I am trying to say in all of this is that throughout the Bible we see that God provided for His people. God always provides. Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide.
So, if the temptation ever raises its head for you to go it on your own without God, remember, if we trust in God, He will provide whatever that moment has need of. And the greatest provision that God offers us is His Son Jesus Christ.
And I don't want any of you to leave here today without receiving an invitation to know Jesus in a personal way.
If you are new to the church and don't really know what to do, in a moment we will all stand and a song will begin to play. If you feel that God is calling you to come and talk to me about knowing His Son in a personal way, then please come.
I'll be waiting for you. I will pray with you and show you how easy it is to become a child of God. Again, I say, it is the most important decision you will ever make in your life. Won't you come?
