Matthew 4:5-7

Prayer

Since today's passage requires us to remember the context in which it is found, open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4. As you open your Bibles, reflect on Adam, the first man. His story at its core is about the idea of trust. Adam had to trust God and remain in that state by fulfilling his part of the covenant that God made with him. This covenant was based on a single prohibition—that he was not to eat from the tree from which God had forbidden him. And despite that simple condition, we all bear the consequences of his distrust in the Creator’s character and person. He, placed as the one to represent all humanity before God, failed. Now we are all in sin.

Reflect also on Israel. The nation that was enslaved for 400 years until the Lord led them out by the hand of one of His servants, Moses. They passed through the Red Sea, and a new beginning was expected for them to continue on a short journey and peacefully take possession of a land promised to them even before their enslavement. But hunger and difficulties quickly overtook them. And in response, they turned against God and against Moses, instead of toward them. Their faith and love were short-lived, and their hearts were filled with distrust toward God. This is why they rejected the promised land, seeing the strong men who lived there at that time.

By sending them back to the wilderness for 40 years, where they would all die, they proved that, like Adam, they too failed to trust their God. Despite their transgressions, God did not abandon them but gave them reasons to trust. He cared for them, even when they grumbled against Him.

Lastly, reflect on what the New Testament reveals to us. A parallel story about a new Adam, a new Israel, entering Egypt due to persecution and called out by God to be baptized, though not in the Red Sea. Although obedient, unlike the man in the garden, and living without grumbling, unlike the nation of Israel, this man directly enters the wilderness after being designated and confirmed by God as "My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Why was He led there? He was led there to suffer for 40 days. To suffer. To go through a similar hardship as the first Israel, to be hungry, but also to endure more severe trials.

He is the Anointed One. The new Adam. The last Adam. He is the hope for humanity. Our hope! If He endures through all the trials, He will overcome what Old Testament Israel and what we could never. Prepare for the second temptation in the wilderness!

Let's read, starting from the first verse, and continuing down. Matthew 4:1-7.

> 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.’”

If I were to title this sermon and summarize the passage and its meaning in a few words, here is the title I chose to use: "This is What True Trust Looks Like."

This is what true trust looks like.

And in fact, today we will see that the passage is once again extremely dense. Matthew builds upon concepts, and our task resembles eating a huge but hard apple. An apple that you don't know how to bite into without a muscle in your jaw stretching. But the Word is solid food when we study its depths! That’s why I propose we slice up our text, and then, piece by piece, chew and internalize its flavor in our hearts until we are fed.

We will hear four main parts, and please remember that they are not separate theological ideas, but one complete picture that God paints through Matthew.

Let's start with the first piece, found in verse five.

> Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple

In verse one, the Holy Spirit, who descended as a dove after Jesus' baptism, leads Him into the wilderness to endure the trial of hunger—to fast for a period of 40 days without grumbling or even succumbing to the temptation to make bread for Himself in one of the most difficult physical states! The Spirit led Him so that Christ could succeed in the hardship where the Old Testament nation of Israel failed—where, in all honesty, we have also failed many times.

In contrast to this, the devil focuses his forces on tempting Christ, even through the means of God's salvation. Even through God's power of salvation! He takes his task seriously, realizing that if this man, whom God has declared to be His Son, sins, the hope of humanity, of generations, of the world, will be lost once and for all!

Jesus is led to the holy city, placed on the temple, on its highest point.

How high?

According to Josephus, I quote: "The temple stood on a high mountain and was built on a platform. From the very top of the temple to the bottom of the valley, there was so much distance that if a person looked down, they would become dizzy. The bottom could not be seen from the great distance."

The 40 days of fasting in the wilderness are followed by a temptation involving a height of approximately 50 stories. And there, about 100 meters above the ground, the devil challenges Jesus.

"Throw yourself down! Throw yourself down, if you are the Son of God!"

[Pause]

We often read the devil's words in exactly this way. But the context does not lend itself to such a reading. In our minds, the devil in the Bible sounds so... EVIL. In fact, we often make him sound so evil in the Bible that those who are deceived by him seem terribly stupid. And we say to ourselves, "WHY? How did you fall for that? Seriously? Isn't it obvious how... evil he is? Just listen to him!" But that, dear friends, is far from the truth.

Open to 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 14. 2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us this: "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

When was the last time sin and temptation seemed so evil to you before you committed them, if they ever seemed that way at all? Do the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ever aggressively command you to throw yourself into sin like that? Or do they come presented in bright garments, studded with shiny precious stones? Don't they look good? Don't they resemble that fruit in the garden for which Adam failed? Don't they come as the voice of the serpent, asking, "Did God really say this?" They are presented to us as such. Beautiful, even good.

If the devil does this for us, how much more cunning and pleasantly dressed was he to our only hope.

He is well dressed. There is no doubt! From his mouth comes the gracious Word of God!

But we will see the problem after we read it properly:

> “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.’”

This is it. Now is your opportunity, Son of God! Since God's words are more valuable to you than bread in your hungriest moments, why not fulfill them? You jump from here, the angels bear you up in their hands, everyone sees it, and it's done! God's kingdom on earth, right? Without more years of trials, without Pharisees to doubt you and make you angry, even without a cross, without death.

This is how the devil speaks. This is also how he speaks in our lives. There is always an opportunity for repentance, God is good, Jesus died for your sin. And all these things are true in the context of the Bible, but the devil would never remind us of the commands for holiness and moral purity. He is always ready to emphasize that where sin increases, grace abounds. But he omits the fact that those who have died to sin cannot still live in it.

The third thing we will focus on will actually be the quote that the devil incorrectly cites! It is from Psalm 91. And I say "incorrectly cited" because in Psalm 91, the eleventh verse is a little longer, and the context is very different from that of Christ. For the reason that Satan links the promises of Psalm 91 with unjustified actions, we can, by examining it, see that angelic protection is promised in all the ways of the man who dwells in the shelter of the Most High and in the shadow of the Almighty. This is a person who trusts in the Lord and who walks in obedience, in trust! Not in temptation. It is through such obedience that he is different from everyone else and only He truly and perfectly fulfills Psalm 91! And look:

Just a verse below the devil's quote, we read this in verse 13: "You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot."

A picture of triumph is presented to us. A picture of victory over two animals that symbolize the spiritual enemy—the devil. And so, the devil's quote is actually found in a text that points to Christ and His victory over sin and the devil.

The question for the reader, and for Jesus, at this stage of Matthew's Gospel, is not whether Christ is the Son of God. He has already been declared as such in chapter three. It is not even whether God's Word is true, since we know that God does not lie and we even examined the context of the word quoted from Psalm 91, seeing that Satan does not use it correctly. What, then, is the question?

Verse seven. The verse that actually answers the real problem. Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Interesting. In His response, Christ does not reflect on Psalm 91, as we have done. Why? Again, the context dictates how we would look at this answer. Jesus could distinguish where the devil omits words and what the actual meaning of the psalm is, but His role in the wilderness is not to give a lesson on Psalm 91. It is messianic. It is connected to the Old Testament, to its fulfillment. The temptation is about trust, not about correcting theology.

And yet, Christ's theological approach simultaneously performs the complex task of providing support in a moment of temptation, as well as breaking down the deception arising from a misinterpreted and improperly applied biblical text.

"It is written."

It is written...

This is all that should support the ministry and the righteous life of every person who trusts in God. What is written, namely the Inspired, God-breathed Word of God, is sufficient to walk in the way that Psalm 91 describes. It is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Trust is required! It is so easy to forget. It is so easy to doubt and even to take a step of faith, supposedly, but for it to be just another test for God.

Think about it. Is trusting God connected with testing His faithfulness? Are you constantly seeking additional proof from God for things that are not part of the path? Are you even walking the path of obedience, or have you deviated toward testing Him? And what do you turn to to curb the desire to test God's mercy and goodness? Jesus is a vivid picture of the way we should approach it. The Word interprets itself and is sufficient to refute even the devil's tricks! With six words from Deuteronomy, Christ puts an end to this second temptation.

Going back to where we started, Christ comes as a new Israel who endures not to grumble when hungry and not to provide Himself with bread, but is content and walks the path that will lead to the salvation of God's spiritual people. He also comes as a new, last Adam, who would not allow the serpent to tempt him into doubt about God's faithfulness. Adam doubted, but Christ trusted. Such trust as God required in the Garden of Eden. Trust like that commanded to Israel in Deuteronomy. Trust that the entire Psalm 91 actually encourages us to walk in. That's right. Psalm 91 is actually a psalm of trust. Trust in Jesus, who fulfilled it all!

Let us think about our only and powerful Savior, while through Psalm 91 we remember the magnificence of God's faithfulness and the power of His Word, understood through the enlightenment of the Spirit!

What does true trust look like? True trust looks like this:

> He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.1 Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning2 you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, b3ecause he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Dear friends... This is what trust in God looks like! Trust in God looks like Christ. He is our reason to trust. Our only hope. The only one to trust! Will we experience temptation, will we go through a test of trust? Certainly! But let's not be deceived. To die once, by throwing yourself from the temple, sometimes seems easier than staying and suffering, bearing our cross. But take heart and rejoice, because Christ has all the trust in God that we do not have! And because of that, let us have trust in Him! Trust in Christ! Trust as we walk the path that God has ordained. Trust, because it is written.

This is what true trust looks like.

Let us pray.