Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
If we haven’t met before...
Something about Psalm 100?
When I say the word, “Test” what feelings do you have?
Good ones?
Bad ones?
How many of you have a recurring nightmare of forgetting to study for a test when in fact you haven’t been in school in a decade?
Test anxiety is a real thing.
I’ve said the word three times and some of you are like, ‘Is it hot in here?’
And yet, tests are important.
Did you or did you not pass a driver’s test to get behind the wheel?
Would you want to ride with someone who just managed to not have to take that test?
We have a lot of nurses in our congregation.
The NCLEX is a mountain of a test.
Morgan took it and called me afterwards in tears because the nature of the test is you can either pass it really fast or flunk it.
Of course, she passed it.
But, should we say, “Well, I don’t want nurses to be stressed.
So let’s just have them study and then get a job and just start enjoying employment.”
Would you want your life in the hands of a nurse who wasn’t tested?
If you had a family business, and you wanted to hand it off to your firstborn child.
Would you not first give them a job sweeping the floor to test them and make sure they were able to have a good work ethic?
Tests are a good and normal part of being human.
And yet, they really are intimidating.
Why?
Because we can fail!
Tests are a key theme in Scripture.
The Bible begins with a test.
God makes humans on page 1 to rule with him and gives them a test.
He gives them all they can eat and also says, “Hey that tree over there, if you eat from it, it won’t go well for you.
Trust me.”
And so the first test comes down to this question for God’s children…do you trust me?
And what happens?
They fail the test.
They do not trust God and they listen to the snake.
And so from that failure, sin - not trusting God - ravages the universe.
This is different than the test our culture sees in life…will you or will you not trust yourself?
Do you trust yourself to follow your heart, pursue your deepest desires, and be true to yourself?
The Bible says no, the true test is whether or not we are true to God who knows what is best.
But God, being patient, promises to one day send another son of God who will not listen to the snake but trust him and restore his sin-ravaged world.
And as we arrive in the book of Matthew, Matthew says, Jesus is the one!
He’s the King.
The promised son of God.
And if that is so, he must pass the test.
And today we’re in Matthew 4:1-11, an amazing passage.
It’s the testing of the King.
As we walk through Matt.
4:1-11 we’ll go through three rounds of a battle between Jesus and the devil.
And it all comes down to this question to Jesus…do you trust God?
Prayer
We are preaching through the gospel of Matthew in 2023, and we are seeing how it’s all about how Jesus is the King, the most important person in the world.
“When we see Jesus as he is, we must turn away or else shamelessly adore him.”
- Dallas Willard, Divine Conspiracy, 19
As we read Matthew, we are faced with those choices.
Either, turn away, just do something else with your life, or follow him with the deepest part of your heart and soul
And so the way Matthew argues this is through three parts to his book.
Show image and explain...
Matthew 4:1 (NASB95)
1 Then...
Pause right there...
What just happened?
In Matthew 3, Jesus was baptized.
He’s beginning his mission to save sinners and as he comes out of the water he has this amazing experience.
It can only go up from here, right?
What happens next?...
Have you ever had an amazing spiritual experience…
whether it was at a camp, a conference, maybe a weekend with your spouse, a worship service, you were like, “Man, God is here!”
And had it followed by a major life circumstance.
Jesus understands.
The Bible points to this as a reality of being human.
We go from mountain top experiences to testing in the wilderness.
The word tempted is the same word for tested.
Why does Jesus need to be tested?
Has he done something wrong?
Has God left him?
Is God unsure about his character?
I think Jesus is tempted for us.
Jesus gets it.
Jesus wants to help.
Who does the testing?
God does not tempt Jesus.
The devil...
In the same way Job was tempted which was allowed by God, Jesus is tested by the devil.
Who is the devil?
image of red horns
Quite simply, he’s the spiritual being who hates God (Matt.
13:39)
We’ll learn about him in this passage...
Tempts God’s children to sin
Questions Jesus’ identity
Comes at moment of weakness
Offers comfort and ease of pain
Has some power over Jesus’ body
Knows his Bible really well
He’s known by three different names, the tempter, the devil, Satan - the slanderer or accuser, and later in Matthew as the evil one.
We learn later in Matthew that
His destiny is the fiery furnace and eternal fire (Matt.
13:39-43; 25:41) and will be tormented by God (Matt 8:29).
We already met one enemy of God, King Herod, in Matthew 2, but this enemy is the real bad guy.
Intermittent fasting is all the rage these days.
Jesus is not intermittent fasting to lose a few pounds.
In fact he probably 20-40 pounds in the process.
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