After the Blessing Comes the Blasting

INTRO:

What we have seen in Matthew 3:16–17 “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.””

This is a moment in history that we cannot go back to the way it was before. (Let me be honest, WE DON’T WANT TO)

This is that moment in history when God splits open the Heavens and HIS Spirit falls upon HIS Son.

This is a very significant moment in time ……

This moment is what scholars would call a “Theophany” moment.

Defined as ….…

Where God suspends the law of nature to reveal himself to his creation.

Its basically “a visible manifestation of God, to mankind.

2 Examples:

Another case can be found in Exodus 3:3 “And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.””

The second example we find in scripture is found in Daniel 3:23–26 “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.”

Just as God revealed himself to moses and He SPEAKS through a burning bush ….…

Just as God appeared in a a fiery furnace and three men came out unharmed ….…

In Matthew we find God revealing himself to those who are of witness to this event and He speaks from the heavens.

BODY:

What we find next is found in Matthew 4:1–10 (Have them Stand)

Matthew 4:1–10 (ESV)

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him 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 command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall 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 glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Have them sit down

What I want to do today is focus on the first two verses, (Matthew 4:1–2 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”

We will start with looking at the word “Then.”

Matthew has a very distinctive style of writing.

Matthew is found to be the one Gospel author in scripture that uses the word “Then” the most. (90 times)

This is very significant because the Greek word for “Then” is ….

TOTE and its definition is “by way of transition from one thing mentioned to another which could not take place before it.

So its safe to say, “Then” indicates that the events described here occurred immediately after the Baptism.

Baptism …… (Then) …… Led up by the Spirit and out into the wilderness to be tempted

Why would this be significant?

This has been my experience that, You can pretty much guaranty, after you have an encounter with the Holy Spirit, (Salvation, Sanctification, Deliverance, when you have seen the hand of God at work, or a simple spiritual growth moment that brings glory to God) REST ASSURE, the blasting will follow.

I have tagged this moment as “After the Blessing comes the Blasting.”

The enemy ramps it up!

What we see here is Jesus being led out into the wilderness.

This is a moments that actually parallels another moment in the OT.

Exodus 16:1–3 “They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.””

Yahweh led Israel into the wilderness to prepare them for the promised land, but the Exodus generation refused to listen (Num 14:20–25).

This period—which, according to one scholar, is an idiom “for a significant but limited period.” This has repeated itself throughout Scripture.

Moses ascended Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights and, and just like Jesus, ate or drank nothing during this time (Exod 24:18; 34:28).

Likewise, Elijah is in the wilderness for this period but receives food from an angel before his forty-day journey to Horeb (1 Kgs 19:8).

You know what its called when you refuse to listen to God, “Disobedient”

What we see is Jesus taken out into the wilderness for 40 days (a Month and a half) but unlike ancient Israel, Jesus, as both new Israel and messianic King, is obedient.

I want to point out something to you this morning that I feel was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew reveals to us that Jesus didn’t succumb to the temptations, BUT the enemy doesn’t stop give up.

As a matter of fact Luke records this ……

Luke 4:13 foreshadows a future encounter with the devil “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

The comment seems to refer to his reappearance in the passion narrative at the seduction of Judas (Luke 22:3 “Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.”).

From a narrative point of view, the devil is decisively and handily dismissed as a less than formidable opponent in the story.

One scholar puts it this way ……

“the devil is “quite at a loss, for all his darts were spent.” The contest of the cosmos was not even close to being lost in these tests. Jesus passed his Exodus-like test with unswerving fidelity to God and a genuinely selfless, Job-like piety.”

Matthew doesn’t make reference to this like Luke but Jesus will soon encounter demons to which Matthew refers in summary form (Matthew 4:24 “So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.”).

Let me try and make my point here this morning …..…

After the Blessings (Baptism) THEN Jesus encounters the (Blasting) .

I had a friend say it likes this, “For every level there’s a new devil.”

3 specific temptation (We will cover these in more detail later)

Jesus comes out of this unscathed. WHY? HOW?

Hebrews 2:18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

I believe Jesus knew who he was (Identity) ….…

He is the Son of the Most High God

I believe Jesus knew what He had to do (Purpose) ….…

Once Jesus left John (JTB) He was heading to the Cross for the sins of all Mankind.

I believe Jesus knew he was to stay on mission (Missional)….…

This is exactly what the enemy will try to do.

We read where the enemy tried to use Peter to get Jesus off mission ……

Mark 8:33 (ESV) But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

And I believe every person here this morning or listening on line can know the same things.

As a matter of fact these very things will be essential when it comes to combatting the enemy.

So when the time comes, and it will come, when the enemy ratchets it up (Usually after the blessings) what will be vital for all believers to do is ….…

IPM

Identity

Purpose

Mission

CONCLUSION:

One more things ……

What we see when Christ finishes being tempted …..… He was hungry!

We all know that Matthew was talking about “physical hunger.”

But I would stretch it to help us see about a spiritual hunger.

This word in the Greek is the word, “Peinao” (PIN .. AWUAL)

Defined in the literal since as “Being hungry”

But metaphorically, this word was used as well for spiritual hunger,

Matthew 5:6 ““Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” ;

Luke 6:21“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied..” ;

Here is the big one ….…

John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” .

RIck Renner:

"When you don’t know what else to do and when you have no one else to turn to, that’s usually when God’s resurrection power begins to operate in you to the greatest measure!"