Shortcuts- Jesus' Temptation (Matthew 4:1-11)

Sermon

Key Passage

Matthew 4:1–11 NIV

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty 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 shall 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.

Introduction

We are still in the shadow of New Year’s Day.

I have to lead with this story. We are talking about shortcuts.

I don’t know what your social media feed looks like, but mine seems to be offering a ton of exercise programs and diet remedies for all sorts of solutions.

I saw one a few years ago that showed a guy eating pizza and donuts with shredded abs and huge muscles.

He said, “I didn’t give up pizza and I only work out for 15 minutes a day. Look at me and use my diet plan”

That sounded really good. He claimed to have the shortcut to getting fit.

But I knew better. I had been eating donuts and pizza and exercising for 15 minutes a day for a while and I didn’t look like that guy.

But we are all aware of shortcuts.

“Shortcuts promise speed, control, and relief—but they often bypass wisdom, formation, and trust. And what we skip today, we usually pay for tomorrow.”

Shortcuts in life are usually deceptions and they take us off of the path we need to be on. So when we return to the path, we are further behind where we should be.

Shortcuts are an act of faith.

You trust a new path that promises you something.

When you follow it and find that it doesn’t produce what you wanted and go back to the other path, you find that you are now further out of shape and have more belly to lose.

Spiritually as well.

I want to step back and look at the introduction of Jesus from Matthew’s Gospel account.

There are some massive elements that we need to see.

There were 400 years of silence from the end of the OT to this point.

In those 400 years, Israel had become a region that was ruled by Caesar and the Roman Empire.

They were under the brutal rule of either one of the Herods or Pontius Pilate, who was loyal to the Roman Emperor, Caesar.

Taxes were brutal and life was difficult for the Jewish people.

They wanted a savior to come and deliver them from the problems they thought were the biggest problems in the world at the time.

As I was reading and studying this week, I learned that there was even a prophecy that they were looking for. This would be the signature for knowing the Messiah had arrived.

Malachi 3:1 NIV

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

They had the idea that the Messiah would come from Heaven and put his feet on the temple grounds and rule the world through the Temple.

They had a majestic and powerful view of what the Messiah and King would look like and how He would arrive

Instead, Jesus came humble, lowly and as a child.

This was understandably confusing and to critical people, they didn’t buy it. They were so locked into their view of how it would go that they couldn’t see anything else as a possibility.

But we see God at work mightily in a number of ways.

We see the Spirit of God guiding the conception of Jesus

We see the Spirit of God at Jesus’ baptism

Now we see the guidance of the Spirit of God in this passage we see today.

Preaching Time

Matthew 4:1–2 NIV

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

A few things here:

The Wilderness

Who led Jesus into the wilderness? It was the Spirit of God

The wilderness is mentioned a number of remarkable times in the Bible.

It is where JTB grew up

It is where the Israelites wandered for 40 years

The wilderness is a barren and lonely land

Is the wilderness evil? Is it punishment? No.

But the wilderness is dry and there is very little to sustain you.

It is a lonely and isolated place

Have you ever felt that way in your life?

You have isolation, loneliness, and very little to sustain you or give you hope?

It is not wrong to be in the wilderness

It is not sinful that you are in the wilderness

God is not punishing you for being in the wilderness

God has not abandoned you because you are in the wilderness

But the wilderness is hard. It is hard emotionally. It is hard spiritually.

There are similarities that we need to observe about the wilderness.

There are numerous stories in the Bible that track the wilderness

Moses, JTB, Elijah, the Israelites and even Jesus

Time in the wilderness often comes after a victory

The wilderness is a place of testing

The wilderness is a place of growth

Wilderness after victory

Israelites- After 10 plagues and opening the Red Sea

Elijah- After God sends fire from Heaven

Jesus- After God’s affirmation at baptism

Place of testing

Israel needed to re-discover God as a nation

Elijah needed to learn to rest in God and seek His face

Jesus had to be tested by Satan

Place of Growth

Israel entered the wilderness as a people of slaves and left a powerful nation

Elijah saw God and passed God’s calling on to Elisha

Jesus entered the wilderness as an untested and quiet man and left as the Messiah, ready to establish the Kingdom of God.

The Wilderness had to come first

As we go through today’s passage, I know that either you or someone else you know are in the wilderness.

I hope you find the compassion you need in your relationship with them.

To be honest, having friends in the wilderness is not much fun.

They are dry, burned out, tested, and exhausted

But they need you. Desperately.

Fasting

Jesus was not only in the wilderness, but he was also fasting in the wilderness

That part of this story is often overlooked.

Back in August, we took a deep dive into the topic of fasting.

We talked about what it is and why we should practice it.

In a nutshell, fasting is choosing not to eat food for a period of time

It is a time that we devote to God and not to something else

It is a time of worship and prayer

And lastly, it is expected in Scripture “When you fast”

I encourage you to go to Isaiah 58 and prayerfully read that passage.

Fasting is a powerful way of denying our flesh and entrusting ourselves to God.

It is not symbolic. It is telling God, “I need you more than I need my flesh to be comfortable”

Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days without food

It is possible to fast be without food for 40 days. But the realities are that you will be extraordinarily weak and possibly near death.

Jesus was literally at the place of his human life nearing shut-down and His dependence on the Father.

Temptation

The majority of our passage today deals with the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness

If it wasn’t for Satan, this would have been a difficult journey all by itself

The wilderness is hard

Fasting is hard

Both of those combined for the duration He did them is something none of us could endure.

But on top of this, Satan then came to Jesus to tempt Him.

Two words to know:

Dokimazo- Testing or refinement

The NT talks about testing that comes from God.

This is the word Dokimazo.

Dokimazo is a refinement process. It is something that will reveal the genuineness of something

Refining gold must be tested, melted and purified.

Peirazo- Accusation or to bring to rejection

When the NT talks about temptation to sin or to rejection, it uses the word, Peirazo

When Satan tests us, it is to find fault in us or bring us to rejection

In revelation 12:10, God calls Satan the “peirazo” of the saints (accuser)

Satan uses temptation to discover and exploit weaknesses in Jesus

When you are in the wilderness, are you being refined for purity? Or are you being tempted, accused and devalued.

God brings purity and value. Satan brings devaluation.

Sometimes both.

John 3:17 NIV

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Temptation

Here are a few things we need to know about Satan’s temptation before we dive back into our text for today

Temptation is enticement of a God-given desire beyond God-given bounds.

What do I mean by this?

When God created this world, He created it and it was good. It was holy and pure.

When Satan tempted, He did not tempt by means of creating more stuff.

There is not evil stuff and good stuff. There is just stuff that God created and in His context, it is good and a blessing to us and for us.

But God gives us directions for those blessings.

God gave us life. Thou shalt not murder is an instruction for the use of the blessing of life that He has given us.

Even when we look at Jesus: is eating bread wrong? No.

but outside of the boundaries God has created, it becomes a distortion and unholy use of what was intended for good.

Matthew 4:3 NIV

The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus was hungry. He hadn’t eaten in 40 days. He was weak. Bread probably sounded pretty good at this point.

Again, I want us to look between the lines here

Is eating bread wrong? Of course not. Jesus broke bread in the last supper. They weren’t all sinning because there is something sinful in bread.

Jesus had been led into the wilderness for fasting and time with the Father.

Satan is saying, “You can still seek God and connect with him, but do it with a full stomach.”

It is similar to Eve’s temptation in the Garden of Eden...

“Did God really say not to eat the fruit?”

This is about trusting God and trusting His ways.

Satan is real and he is out to cause us to compromise our growth with God.

WHENEVER YOU SEE ANY OF SATAN’S TEMPTATIONS, THEY ARE USUALLY NOT INHERENTLY WRONG. RATHER, THEY ARE ALL SHORTCUTS WHEREIN HE IS INVOVLED IN THE PROCESS.

NEVER BUY INTO THE SHORTCUT.

Matthew 4:4 NIV

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Here we have Jesus’ response.  It is an interesting response because He is quoting the OT.  Specifically, He is quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy.  We don’t spend a whole lot of time in the book of Deuteronomy.

But this book is the instructions for the people of Israel on how to live in freedom.

They had been slaves.  Then after 40 years in the wilderness, they needed to understand how to use their freedom.

The part of this passage that Jesus quotes opens up a context that is very similar to what Jesus was experiencing here.

Deuteronomy 8:1–3 NIV

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Jesus had been in the wilderness for 40 days.  What was He seeking after?  The voice and the word of God.

The Father had asked him to be hungry and to trust Him

The hunger Jesus faced was the struggle God had placed in front of Him.

Just as God had allowed the Israelites to hunger, causing them to seek Him— God was doing the same with Jesus and Jesus quoted the passage that showed this understanding. It was a shortcut.

By making this bread offered by Satan, he would be diverting from this path and making this journey about the physical, not the spiritual.

Matthew 4:5–6 NIV

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.’”

This is a sneaky one.

Rather than trying to follow the plan of Satan, Satan tries to get Jesus to speed up the plan of God.

Let’s go to a really public place, let’s do a really public miracle, then the people will recognize your calling!

This is where Satan knew the people would be looking for the Messiah.

Jesus was coming to Humanity according to the will of God, not to meet the expectations of the people.

He would not come to them on their terms. Only God’s terms.

Satan also quoted a portion of the Scriptures here

It is interesting that Satan quotes Scripture. But again it highlights the definition of Temptation that we brought:

Temptation is enticement of a God-given desire beyond God-given bounds.

I want you to see something. Satan quoted this verse, but left out a very important line:

Matthew 4:6 NIV

“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.’”

Psalm 91:9–12 NIV

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

This is an “If/Then” statement

Satan is just quoting the “then” side.

If Jesus follows Satan in this, is he holding to the Lord as His refuge? Or is he allowing Satan to be his refuge?

Jesus knew the “if”. Satan was abusing the context of God’s Word.

Would doing a public miracle be wrong? NO!

But once again, Satan was tempting Jesus with a shortcut. 

Jesus would gain the attention of the crowds.

Thousands would follow him

Thousands would see his miracles

But they would see the work of the Father according to the will of the Father. Not the will of Satan

There was no shortcut to God’s purposes

John 5:19–20 NIV

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

This would not have been the work of the Father. Rather, it would have been the work of Satan.

A small shortcut would cost Jesus His entire ministry.

Matthew 4:7 NIV

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Jesus again quotes from Deuteronomy and says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Who are we to test God?

A teacher gives their students tests, because the teacher is the master of the material and the students need to show how close to the teachers knowledge they have grown.

We are in no position to test God.

Jesus refused the temptation

Matthew 4:8–9 NIV

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.”

This is something to imagine.  Jesus gets lifted up to a place where he sees all the kingdoms of the world.

I don’t know if this was a vision or an actual event, but either way, the point is clear.

Satan offers Jesus their authority and splendor.

Satan claims that it is his to give and he can give it to anyone he wants because he is in control.

Now is it sinful to be in control of those things?  No, certainly not.  Authority is not sin.

Also, we see that in Philippians 2:10 that “Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”

Think about this.

Satan is a cruel slave master

Look at our world.  What happens when you disagree with what the world says?  You are immediately ostracized.

You can think anything you want, as long as the world agrees.  But when it doesn’t, it will beat you back in line.

Satan is offering his sinful slave rule over humanity to Jesus.  In doing so, Jesus would have to bow the knee to Satan.

This keeps Satan in power.  Satan would then have authority over the one in authority.

If Jesus does this, do you think the next statement would be, “Well, I gave you the world, you should do this.”

Jesus is not interested in being the slave ruler

Jesus plan was to defeat the slave ruler and set people free from their sin.

Matthew 4:10 NIV

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

For the third time, Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 6:13–19 NIV

Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

Jesus’ response is a context of slaves who have become free in the power of God.

God was giving them instructions on how to use their freedom and live a life that He has ordered.

Satan is offering a shortcut.

Matthew 4:11 NIV

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Conclusion

This is a great passage for all of us

We are not Jesus. 

I have not been tempted to turn the leaves in my yard into Doritos and eat them.

If I had that power, I would have certainly done it!

I have not been tempted like Jesus.

Satan tempted Jesus where he felt Jesus needed to be tempted.

But we do deal with temptation on a regular basis.

I want you to see something.

This has been preached and preached and preached that Jesus response to temptation was the Word of God.

Well, yes it was…but…

It wasn’t that Jesus was just randomly memorizing Bible verses to quote at Satan when he was tempted.

This wasn’t the battle we all make it out to be.

I believe Jesus wasn’t even thinking about Satan.  Jesus was thinking about the law of God.

He was thinking about the Israelites who were now free and needed to depend on God in their freedom.

He was thinking about us and how because of His liberating work on the cross, we too needed to depend on God in our freedom.

And now, here we are.  We are free because of the work of Jesus on the cross

And now, here is Satan, tempting us, encouraging us, calling us back into a slavery lifestyle

A lifestyle of compromise.

Where Satan asked Jesus to focus on the physical, Jesus said, “I am living for the word of the Father”.

We live for this compromise!

We make the physical spiritual!

We use only the physical to strive to understand the spiritual.

Brian asked a great question this week.  “When do you move off of your path and when do you stay on?”

Only by hearing the voice of the Father.

The voice behind the voice.

Satan asked Jesus to “Bow the knee” to him for the kingship of the nations

I wondered to myself, do we try and “bow the knee” to both Jesus and Satan?

Yes, I submit to Jesus in my life. I go to church, I pray, I do my best to life a good life.

Yes, I submit to Satan and believe his lies. I am garbage. I am worthless.

It’s like if George Washington and Abraham Lincoln walked into the room, which one would you follow?

We would be inclined to want to follow both.

We would want to submit to the leadership of both.

But at the end of the day, if they walked out separate doors, we would have to follow one or the other.

We cannot submit to both.

Jesus said this: Matthew 6:24

Matthew 6:24 NIV

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

We cannot lie about it either.

Your words, your life, your outlook reflect who you are following.

We try to make “Holy Shortcuts” in our lives

We make righteous compromise for the “EFFICIENCY OF THE KINGDOM”

God is not interested in efficiency.

Satan tempted Jesus to go for the big show.

Change the outside, but forget the inside.

We tend to lean toward the big flash and the loud noise.

God tends to speak in still small voices, time spend alone in prayer and patience (waiting upon the Lord).

Bottom line

Compromise is always a temptation

In the church, there is the compromise of trying to win people over by compromising the truth with the world

Thomas Carlyle said, “The Christian must be consumed by the conviction of the infinite beauty of holiness and the infinite damnability of sin.”

Does this sound like Jesus?

Hebrews 4:14–16 NIV

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

I want to emphasize this

Temptation is not unique to any of us.

But when we focus our whole attention to temptation, we miss the point.

God is calling us to know Him

When we see something that comes across the path that is contrary, we should say, “That isn’t what God said!”

That’s what Jesus did.

Temptation has lost its power because Jesus paid for the sin!!!