Temptation No.1 The Context of the Conflict

Praise to thee, praise to thee, Jesus our blessing Redeemer, King of all the world, his wonderful love proclaim. Highest of angels in glory, strength and honor, Give to his holy name. Jesus, without his children in his arms, He carries them all day long.

Through his streams and through the mountains of Zion, Praise him, praise him, ever in joyful song. Jesus our blessing Redeemer, King of all the world. From Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

But John tried to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? Jesus replied, Let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love.

With him I am well pleased. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered, It is written, Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.

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. Jesus answered him, It is also written, Do 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 splendor. All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me. Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Let's commence a little session of studies on the baptism and the temptation of our blessed Lord Jesus. Someone has said that this is the most sacred, referring to the temptations, this is the most sacred of all the stories in the Gospels.

Maybe that's stretching it a little, and yet William Barclay, who said it, has as his reasoning the fact that the information as to what happened in this fourth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, with its parallel accounts in Mark's Gospel and Luke's, has of course only the Lord Jesus. He is the source. None other of the disciples were present at some time in the ministry that he spent in their company.

He informed them about this rather remarkable trial that beset him at the beginning of his public ministry. Matthew Henry refers to this event as being the famous duel in which the Lord Jesus Christ fought a hand-to-hand battle with Satan himself. Now, you know that in Hebrews chapter 14, or rather Hebrews chapter 4, we are told of our Lord Jesus, that he was tempted in all points as we are.

Verse 14, Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to the faith we profess, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet without sin. Now, it's good for you and me, young and old friends, to realize this immediately at the beginning of this series of addresses, that our Savior is sympathetic to the frailty that you represent. You see, he was not himself immune from the sort of pressures that break in on your life.

He didn't have an insurance policy that allowed him to unfairly make his way down those 32, 33 years of his own experience. All that you have had in terms of pressure and the strength of temptation, he likewise has had. And he identifies himself with you in your circumstances.

That's why the writer of the Hebrews writes in such wonderful fashion. This is doubtless the reason why the Lord Jesus confessed this area of his experience, which he could have kept private between himself and God and, of course, the devil who was involved in putting the strain on the Lord Jesus. Now, our Savior has gone through one of the most remarkable experiences inasmuch as he has submitted to baptism.

And you really can't read the fourth chapter of Matthew's Gospel without linking it in with the preceding chapter. The arithmetic of the New Testament in terms of the chapters and verses are not inspired. They were placed in after the text.

In fact, sometimes I think that the lines of demarcation were done on the principle of lucky dip rather than logical sequence because it's pretty obvious for anyone with any discernment that what follows in chapter 4 must have the back cloth of chapter 3 for it to be interpreted. See, in chapter 3, you've got sunshine, haven't you? In chapter 3, here is our Lord Jesus, and he's being baptized somewhat reluctantly by John. And as a result of that obedience of the Lord Jesus, a voice from heaven known to the Lord and as his Father's voice speaks out, identifying who he is, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

This is my Son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. And it was from there that our Lord goes into the wilderness.

You've got to have that in mind or else you'll lose the significance of the opening verses of this fourth chapter. You have mountaintop experiences? Well, here our Lord Jesus was at Everest Peak. With the Father, he hears his voice.

He knows that he's beloved of God. There must have been an ecstasy that filled the heart of the Lord Jesus at that moment as after baptism, the dove descends and Jesus is ordained publicly to the ministry. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Then. When? When? Then. After the experience of elation, after the recognition of who he was, after the public declaration that he has identified himself with the ordinary needs of men and women and as a result receiving the congratulations of his Father, after knowing the fullness of the Holy Spirit, then he's taken into the wilderness.

After the ordination, the confrontation. After the blessing, the buffeting. After the waters, the wilderness.

After the dove, the devil. Then. That's the sequence.

It was for him and it will be for you because the fullness of the Spirit, however you interpret it and however much you're into the experience does not of necessity lead you into a healthy, wealthy, happy category. When Peter is filled with the Spirit, gloriously baptized, he finds himself days later in jail sweating it out. When Stephen is filled with the Spirit, he finds himself hours afterwards facing the missiles as they take up the stones and hurl them at him.

After spiritual elation, very often comes the moment of testing, of temptation. When? Then. Then Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert.

He's been there, you see, in the greenness of the vegetation that surrounds the Jordan. In that low-lying tract of country. But just half a mile or so away is that high rising plateau that stretches for some 15 by 35 miles and ultimately it runs out in terms of an overhanging precipice from which you can see the Dead Sea.

It's a God-forsaken spot. Sometimes the heat is such that it makes the ground glow and the temperature becomes like an oven. And it's there that the Lord Jesus goes after the elation in Jordan.

And will you notice this? He doesn't go there necessarily by personal choice. Nor does he go there because of the trickery of the devil. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

The motivating factor is not the ingenuity of the devil but the sovereignty of God. Verse 13, Jesus of the previous chapter, Jesus came to be baptized by John. Verse 1, chapter 4, Jesus was led to be tempted by the devil.

But the motivating power is none other than the Spirit who filled him with the authority, with the dynamic to be able to live out the ministry of some 36 months which was opening in front of him. The Spirit led him. The word is very strong, particularly in Mark's gospel.

It speaks of the Spirit driving him, exactly the same verb as is used to describe Jesus, driving the money changers out of the temple. The Spirit propelled him along. Not into an easy situation, for the Spirit does not, I repeat, always do that.

The Spirit takes him into the wilderness. The waste howling wilderness is how the Old Testament describes it in the authorized version's poetic language. For what reason? To test his understanding of what it means to be the Son of God.

To differentiate between the ministry of the Son of Man and the Son of God, as I'll try and show you. All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall know persecution, says the New Testament writer. That doesn't mean that you will necessarily be in the amphitheater of Rome as were the early Christians, fighting ferocious beasts and knowing full well that you would lose.

There are a myriad of ways in which pressure can come into your life. And you cannot always say that the pressures come into your life simply as a result of the ingenuity of the devil. There are times when God will allow you to be tempted, to be tested in order to check out the strength of your commitment.

Because very often, as at the natural level, when you repeatedly flex your muscles as a result of the test, you'll be stronger. You'll be able to understand the reason why it is that God has called you into His service. So our Lord is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness where one might expect the devil to be.

Now when you read Mark's gospel, and I haven't time to extend on this, you'll discover that often reference is made to the wilderness. And you find Jesus on many occasions being there. I would argue that Jesus is a wilderness man far more than He is a town man.

Now you say, what's the significance of this? Well you see, when I read these accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke's gospels of the temptations of Jesus, I find myself inexorably thrown back to Genesis 1 through to 3, where the whole of the early part of the Bible has a scene set in a garden. The garden is not a wilderness, not yet, but it will be. Because there in that garden there is another testing.

There is another temptation. The characters are different in one sense. There's the first Adam, and here in the gospels there is the last Adam.

For Jesus stands in contradistinction in contrast to the first Adam. But the common denominator is the devil who slides alongside and tempts both individuals. Eden will become a wilderness as a result of Adam's transgression.

Jesus is tempted in a wilderness which one day, as a result of His fidelity, shall become as a garden. In other words, what you find here, if you like, is a re-enactment of Eden. And Jesus will set to rights where Adam desperately failed.

So He sets off into the wilderness fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. It's an outstanding, unique event. Our Lord didn't engage in this before.

At least there is no information to indicate He did. And if He did, then I think that the evidence would have been granted because it would have been important. And He never did the like again.

It was, if you like, a one-off. And yet it was reflective of something that you discover, you remember, in the Old Testament on two previous occasions. The remarkable fast of Moses for the same period.

And in the same area, centuries later, Elijah would engage in a fast. And here is one greater than Elijah, greater than Moses, who goes without sustenance for nigh on six weeks. In the spirit he's mastered, the hungers of his ordinary nature, divinely sustained.

And then, at the end of the period, the divine sustenance, however it was granted, is withdrawn. And you see Jesus, the Son of Man, and He's hungry. He's not just peckish.

He's famished. Hungry. With a hunger the like of which He's never experienced before.

He's weak. With a weakness like which He has never known before. And at that point, verse three, the tempter slides alongside and he puts up certain things for the Savior to consider.

The devil is nothing if not a master tactician. He knows the moments of weakness in your life. He knows when you have taken so much that you feel you can't take any more, and then he comes with an additional pressure.

He knows you. Not, thank God, as much as God knows you, but He has intelligence about you. Your psychology, your strengths, and your weaknesses.

And all the knowledge that He has, He brings into play as He determines the temptations that He will dangle in front of you. And He'll get you at your weakest point. If, if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.

I'm not too happy with the translation. I think, personally, I would opt for the word since, rather than if. Since you are the Son of God.

You see, who Jesus is, is not in balance. The devil has got absolutely no doubts as to the divinity of Jesus. After all, what followed would be stupid, and the devil is not stupid, if the Lord Jesus wasn't divine.

Which one of you turns stones into bread? Which one of you jumps off a high pinnacle and expects angels to save you? This presupposes the miraculous, you see. It's all built into the supposition that the devil has that Jesus is divine. And that supposition has been attested publicly by what the Hebrews call the bath coal, the voice of God.

This is my beloved Son. Alright, we're not arguing that, Jesus. But since you are that, shouldn't this follow? May I be so bold as to suggest that with some of you, your understanding of temptation is inexact.

You see, you feel that the way that the devil will tempt you is in the area of your weaknesses. Now, of course, he does that. But don't you understand that your strengths are equally opportune for the devil to come alongside and exploit? You see, it's the strength of Jesus that is the pivot of the temptation, isn't it? Since you are the Son of God, these stones, why not turn them into bread? This is your exalted state.

Then take that exaltation and use it in your own interests. I hear him so many times, don't you? Since you are the pastor of a fairly well-established church, do you not think that in keeping with your position, this, that, and the other ought to apply? Since you are a 65-year-old person and you have experienced this and that and the other of God's grace, do you not feel that your reputation is such that people ought to respect you and behave in this fashion and that fashion towards you? Since you have a gift of music that has other people almost at your feet adoring the talent that is yours, do you not feel that your kudos, that your standing is that much greater than anybody else's? You see, the computations are legion, aren't they? Since you are the top of your profession, a man or woman who walks head and shoulders tall above others in society, should you not use this success that is yours to your own advantage and forget the fact that 30 years ago you were a struggling student? You were dependent upon the grace of God for every exam that you passed. You pledged your service for Him in the years to come.

You would never deflect the honor that He would allow to come your way so that it rested at your feet. But here you are. Since you are like that, why not grab the lot for yourself and take the glory to be yours? You see, when you begin to open up these temptations, you see the principle behind the devil in his evil strategy as he directs it towards Jesus.

And although I will always credit the devil with supreme intelligence next to that of God and respect him as an intelligent being, this I can deduce about his strategy is that it's always the same. There's a sameness about it. That's why the Apostle Paul says, we're not ignorant of his devices.

He'll attack your weaknesses and that you're aware of, but did you know he'll attack your strengths if you are the Son of God? Look, here are stones. And indeed there were many stones in this desert that looked like bread. They had the shape.

The winds had come into this desert. The extremes of climate had ensured that there were these smooth stones around. And after all, what Jesus is tempted to do is well within his ability to perform.

You see, the Baptist had said, if you read Luke's account, just a few verses before the account of the temptation, the heavenly Father can take up stones and make children of Abraham from these stones. Not just bread, but children. This is what God can do.

And you're God. 4,000 men and women. They need to be fed.

Later on, 5,000 men and women. They need to be fed. And Jesus has the ability.

Handful of loaves and fishes. Miracle of divine multiplication. They're satisfied.

And baskets full are left over. You see, the temptation was well within Jesus' ability to submit to. Then why doesn't he? Because, you see, he will never, as the Son of God, minister to himself as the Son of Man.

He will never use his deity in the interest of his humanity. The miracles that Jesus performed were always in the interest of others, not in the interest of himself. He's always a servant.

Hendrickson, a great American theologian, says this of Jesus. He was the only man in the world who had a right to assert his rights. But in the interests of others, he waived them.

That's beautiful. In the interests of others, he waived them. He has the right.

He has the ability. But he won't. And for another reason.

You see, what is at stake here, and those of you who have been plugging into this ministry down the months will appreciate this point more than others who are casually in their attendance. At stake here is the doctrine of the fatherhood of God. Not so? If God is your father, what's he doing leaving you like this? You're hungry.

Not peckish. Famished. If he's your father, then why does he leave it, the experience, like this? Now, there is no appeal.

Do you notice from the tempter, there is no appeal for Jesus to ask the father, but rather to get himself out of the situation, to use his own abilities. This is Eden reenacted. Only the person who is being tested is not Adam.

It's the last Adam. It's Jesus. And he's aware that in the balance is his relationship with the father.

The father hasn't fed him. Not physically. Up to this point.

And yet he's about his father's business. Indeed, later on he will say, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me. Now, if that is so, will not he who sent you, Jesus Christ, ultimately get you out of this dilemma? You're hungry and there's no food.

Unless you exploit your own powers to satisfy your needs, you're in difficulty. But you see, the son of God has such a relationship with the father that he will in no way use his own abilities wrongly. He will wait until the father determines to satisfy his hunger.

As father satisfied the hunger of Elijah earlier on, centuries before, and angels came and ministered to him, bringing him bread cooked in the ovens of heaven itself. And you will discover of our Lord Jesus that later on in the account, you'll read that angels came and ministered to him. He deflects the temptation of the devil.

You see, in balance is all that Jesus was coming on earth to achieve. Being submissive to the will of the father and the son of man, representing us, offering his life as an atonement for our sins, and the son of God preserving his purity, and the currency of the value of his blood, so that as a result of that death, you and I might have our sins forgiven. In the balance is the redemption of the world.

In the balance is the fatherhood of God. In the balance is the credibility of Jesus. And the Lord sees through it all.

And so, he dismisses the devil. How does he do it? Isn't it interesting that in the first encounter he has recorded in Scripture with the evil one, Jesus quotes Scripture. That's the way to put the devil to flight.

Verse 4, Jesus answered, It is written. Just one word in the Greek language. Man does not live by bread alone.

Man does not live by his own ingenuity. Man is not the master of his fate, the captain of his soul. Man lives in utter dependence upon God.

Every word that comes from the mouth of God, and the Son of Man will attest to that. And the devil moves on to the next temptation. My friend, when Jesus quotes Scripture, he quotes it as authoritative, powerful.

There is one area where Scripture is under debate as to whether it's true or not. There are two categories where there is no debate. The two categories are these.

In heaven, there is no debate on the authority of Scripture. In hell, there is no discussion. It is recognized to be the Word of God.

The only place where the debate continues is on the earth, where mortal men try and pass judgment on the Bible. But when the Son of Man comes, and He's tempted at the very worst time in His life, He sees through the temptation, and He deflects it by responding to the written Word of God, which He has memorized, and He quotes, and the devil leaves off because he's got nothing to be able to take on Christ again at this level. Jesus picks up the one combative weapon in our spiritual armor, the Word of God, and He puts the devil to flight.

No, this is not the only option. My ingenuity and your suggestion. Father still remains Father, and despite my hunger, though He starve me, yet will I serve Him.

You remember Job? Jesus, Job. Jesus recognizes the insidious nature of the temptation that wafts its way into His experience, and He puts the devil to flight by His reassertion that Father still remains Father, and willy-nilly, sooner or later, irrevocably, Father will prove Himself to be just that and make provision for His Son despite the extremes of circumstance through which He passes, and that God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our God and Father. Let's sing a hymn, shall we? 412.

We'll just sing a couple of verses of this hymn and then prepare to come around the table of the Lord. I hope you're going to be with us this evening. Dr. Wurmbrand is a very remarkable man.

If you miss listening to him, then I think it will be to your regret. If you don't normally come, then come. Break your habit of not being with us on a Sunday, if you can make it, of course.

I don't want to pressurize all the friends who find it very, very difficult. But if you can, be present with us. Dr. Wurmbrand is an older friend in many, many ways.

Also, will you note what I said about Wednesday, Wednesday night? I'll be talking about my trip to the States, but we will be having a time of prayer at 6.30 through 7.30. I'll be glad if some of my older friends would come along then, and I'll give you an opportunity to get away fairly early in the evening after my address, when we'll go on to another session of prayer for folks who would like to take in that latter time. 412 from verse 2, Though we pass through tribulation, all will be well. Let's stand and sing.

Though we pass through tribulation, all will be well. As in such a poor salvation, all will be well. Happy still in God confiding, fruitful living Christ the hiding, only through the Spirit's guiding, will we accept the Christ tomorrow, or sorrow, all will be well.

Father, you know how prophetic that last verse is of many of our friends here. It sums up our reactions to life's circumstances and the challenge of your Word. We expect a bright tomorrow.

All will be well. Faith can sing through days of sorrow, all, all is well. Father, make the next bit true.

On our Father's love relying, Jesus, every need supplying, all in living, all in dying, all must be well. God of grace, grant the fullness of that experience to all the beloved friends here in your name and because of your honor. Amen.