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The First Sunday in Lent
The Clash of Good and Evil
February 21, 2010

TEXT:  (Matthew 4:1-11 NKJ)  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written,`Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:`He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,`In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again,`You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'" 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written,`You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
 
To properly understand this temptation of our Lord—we must understand the timing and circumstances of the situation—God decided that this confrontation between Christ—our Savior—and Satan—the devil—should happen immediately following the baptism of His Son and our Lord—Jesus Christ—the verses describing that baptism immediately precede our text
 
(Matthew 3:13-17 NKJ)  Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
 
When Jesus comes out of the River Jordan—the Holy Spirit descended upon Him—and it remained upon Him—within Him—until His ministry on this earth ended—the Holy Spirit—led Jesus into the wilderness to clash with Satan—Satan knew who Jesus was—that He was miraculously conceived and born of the virgin Mary—Satan tried to kill Baby Jesus through King Herod soon after the visit of the wise men
 
(Matthew 2:7-8 NKJ)  Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."
 
(Matthew 2:16-18 NKJ) Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more."
 
There are several things we should gain from these verses—Satan possesses the hearts of some of the kings and leaders in this world—Satan tried everything that he could to kill Jesus from the time God sent His Son to redeem us from the Law—and, once again, we see that sometimes bad things happen in this world as part of God’s plan—and the death of the babies of Jerusalem would certainly appear to be a bad thing!
 
Satan had undoubtedly watched the baptism in the River Jordan—the descending of the Spirit—and the voice of God speaking from the cloud—Satan had defeated Adam and Eve—and now he would attack and destroy this Son of God who was sent to “crush his head”
 
Now much has been made of the forty days and forty nights of fasting—so let’s examine that a bit—there is no doubt that it was 40 days without any food for Jesus—as we learn from Luke’s account
 
(Luke 4:1-2 NKJ) Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
 
There are those who teach that Jesus spent the forty days in communion with the Father—a time of joy and rest before the temptation—but when we look at Mark’s account—we know that is not the case
 
(Mark 1:12-13 NKJ)  Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. 13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
 
Mark sums up the temptation in one sentence—and used different words to explain things—the other two accounts say Jesus was led into the wilderness—Mark says He was driven into the wilderness where wild beasts were known to reside—Mark makes it clear that the temptation by Satan lasted the entire forty days—and all three accounts include the final detail that Jesus was comforted and served by the angels after the temptation was ended
 
We are not given details about all of the temptations Jesus faced—but we have three in our text that reveal much about the ordeal—we know that Jesus entered that wilderness in the form of man—and that He had within Him the Holy Spirit sent to Him by God the Father—the words of Scripture are silent about the first part of the temptation of Jesus—but here we see the devil himself come face to face with Jesus—in the classic style of the devil—he first attempts to cast doubt—just as he did when speaking with Eve in Genesis
 
(Genesis 3:1 NKJ)  Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said,`You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
 
 “Are you sure you know what God really said?”—as if to say to Eve “perhaps you are denying yourself when God didn’t really expect you to”—Satan uses doubt and parts of the Word of God often while trying to steal our souls—here Satan injects doubt as to whether Jesus Is the Son of God—"If You are the Son of God…”—it’s as if Satan is demanding that Jesus provide proof that He is the Son of God
 
Satan was surely there when God opened the heavens and spoke the words—“this is my Son, with whom I a well pleased”—Satan modifies the words of God to cunningly inject doubt into the conversation—"If You are the Son of God…”—Dr. Lenski (a New Testament Bible Commentator) says this would be more accurately translated Íf you are a Son of God”—Showing Satan’s sensitivity to the fact that Jesus is certainly human—as demonstrated by His hunger
 
Would it have been wrong for Jesus to miraculously produce bread—and partake of it?—He would later produce bread to feed 5,000 men—and again 4,000 men—Jesus certainly could have produced bread from the stones—but He would have been doing it in response to Satan’s taunting—and it would have appeared that Jesus was being obedient to Satan—one last point of interest—Satan tempted Eve with food—and now attempts to duplicate that successful temptation with a very hungry Jesus and the loaves bread—but Jesus answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "
 
Jesus could have answered in any number of ways—but He chose to answer with Scripture—quoting from Moses’ Book of Deuteronomy—where Moses discusses with God’s people the miracle bread of life that God sent every day while they lived in the wilderness
 
(Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJ)  "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
 
It is interesting that Jesus chose this passage to quote—as we reflect upon God’s Word—we remember that God referred to Israel to be His firstborn son—and Israel disappointed God over and over—Israel cried out when hungry—Israel cried out when thirsty—Israel succumbed to temptation many times—and Israel’s Tabernacle was considered a shadow of Christ in the Old Testament
 
(Exodus 4:22 NKJ)  "Then you shall say to Pharaoh,`Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My firstborn.
 
Now Jesus—hungry beyond hunger—tempted by the devil himself—quotes Scripture from the Old Testament to knock down Satan—Jesus’ temptation serves to strengthen us as we read the New Testament
 
(Hebrews 2:18 NKJ)  For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
 
(Hebrews 4:15 NKJ)  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
 
Satan takes Jesus to the top of the Temple and tells Him to jump—and again the devil uses Scripture out of context to temp Jesus
 
(Psalm 91:11-12 NKJ)  For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
 
One point of interest here is that the construction of the temple was such that at one point it was adjacent to a great drop—and it was a distance of about 600 feet from the pinnacle to the earth—Satan telling Jesus to jump is a gross misapplication—and Jesus responds accordingly—Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' "
 
Again—a response with the Old Testament—a true example from our Lord of letting Scripture interpret Scripture
 
Next Satan took Jesus to the top of a mountain and offered to give Him charge over all of the kingdoms He could see—if only Jesus would bow down and worship the devil—Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world—as if Satan was the owner—or had the power to present them to Jesus—Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "
 
Satan had tried everything he knew to tempt the man Jesus—and he failed—now in this final act Jesus orders him to be gone—Jesus had this power as a man—a man who possessed the Holy Spirit—just the same as we do today—Jesus had the Word—Jesus is the Word, and the Holy Spirit—we have the Word—and the Holy Spirit
 
Jesus again used the Old Testament to knock back Satan—and Luke states this a little differently than our text
 
(Luke 4:13 NKJ)  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
 
The devil tempted Jesus throughout His ministry—in the persons of Pharisees—scribes—and finally Judas Iscariot—who betrayed Jesus to be killed—in accordance with God’s plan—we all face temptation everyday—we all are human—and all believers possess the Holy Spirit—use this lesson of Jesus’ temptation to teach you how to defend yourself against the devil—use God’s Word—and beat him back—that’s what Paul instructs us to do—help others who are tempted—and know that our temptations will be within our capabilities to withstand
 
(Galatians 6:1 NKJ)  Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
 
(1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJ)  No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
 
(James 4:7 NKJ)  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
 
(Romans 16:20 NKJ)  And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!