Does the Old Testament Matter?

Matthew 4:1-11

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Intro

If you’ve watched Stranger Things, you know the show doesn’t just start with monsters.

It starts with a world underneath the world— the Upside Down.

At first, the Upside Down seems optional. You could say, “Let’s just focus on the kids, the bikes, Eleven, and the Demogorgon.”

But the more the story goes on, the clearer it becomes:

You cannot understand Stranger Things without understanding the Upside Down.

Why things feel off.

Where Did Will go?

Why certain doors matter.

Why there’s danger bleeding into the normal world.

Where did Beth go?

The Upside Down explains what’s really going on.

“A lot of Christians treat the Old Testament like the Upside Down.”

It feels:

dark

strange

confusing

disconnected from real life

So we avoid it.

We stick to the New Testament because it feels clearer, safer, and more familiar.

But here’s the problem:

Without the Old Testament, the New Testament doesn’t make full sense.

Why does sin matter so much? Why is sacrifice such a big deal? Why does Jesus fulfilling prophecy matter at all? Why does the cross feel like more than just a tragic death?

Because the Old Testament is the world underneath the world.

The Old Testament isn’t outdated. It’s not irrelevant. It’s not optional.

It’s the storyline that explains the monster, the rescue, and the hero.

So today we’re asking:

“Does the Old Testament Matter?”

Matthew 4:1–11 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” He answered, “It is written: Man must 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, had him stand 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 give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.”

Context

Before we get too far into this message, alot of what I will be talking about comes from a book called “I don’t have enough Faith to be an Atheist” and the author is Dr. Frank Turek

In that book Dr. Turek is laying this foundation that atheist need more faith to believe there is no God, compared to Christians who have faith in Jesus.

Atheist- Simply the belief that there is no God.

In one of the chapters Dr. Turek asks the question, “What does Jesus teach about the Bible?”

This toes directly into what we discussed last week.

We saw that Jesus is God

He is Creator and Sustainer

He is Head of the Church

He is Savior.

Our foundation is Jesus.

He is going to always be the Foundation for what we do and how we approach Scripture and its teaching.

It is Divinely Authoritative. Matthew 4:1-11.

Exposition

Where we are in this text is right after Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist in chapter 3

We see soon after is when this interaction takes place.

Jesus has been withdrawn for 40 days and nights, and has been fasting. Without food for 40 days.

I can barely go 12 hours without food

As he has this sensation of hunger, we see the the Tempter approaches Him.

Food manipulation, V. 3-4

Twisting God’s Word

V.5-7

Worshipping idols

V.8-11

Illustration

Imagine you’re in a high-stakes fight—no referee, no backup, no margin for error. You’re exhausted, hungry, and vulnerable. Now imagine the enemy you’re facing is the best the opposition has to offer.

That’s Matthew 4.

Jesus has just fasted for 40 days. He’s physically weak. Satan comes at Him with temptation—and even uses Scripture himself.

Now here’s the key question: What weapon does Jesus choose?

He doesn’t perform a miracle. He doesn’t summon angels. He doesn’t say, “I’m God, so stop.”

Instead, every single time, Jesus responds with

“It is written…”

V. 4. Deut. 8:3.

V.7 Deut. 6:16.

V.10 Deut. 6:13.

And every quote He uses comes from Deuteronomy—an Old Testament book written over 1,400 years earlier.

Why This Matters

If anyone could have dismissed the Old Testament as outdated, unnecessary, or symbolic—it was Jesus.

But He didn’t.

When Satan challenges His identity, His provision, and His trust in the Father, Jesus treats the Old Testament as:

True (“Man shall not live by bread alone…”)

Binding (“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”)

Final (“You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve”)

Jesus doesn’t debate Satan. He doesn’t reinterpret Scripture. He submits to its authority.

The Illustration Point

If the Son of God—face-to-face with Satan—relied on the Old Testament as the final word, then the Old Testament is not optional, outdated, or secondary.

What Jesus trusted in temptation, we can trust in our lives and that it matters

Application

Fight Temptation with Scripture, not feelings

Memorize Scripture

Study it like you would a test, but more.

The 10 10 method is what i use

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

It is Imperishable. Matthew 5:17–18 ““Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.”

Imperishable- unable to decay, spoil, fade, or be destroyed.

Exposition

What is the Law

The 10 Commandments

Exodus 20:1-17.

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol or worship anything other than God.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Why did the Israelites need the Law?

Needed a foundation of how to live. Due to sin and the separation from the Fall.

Jesus in His death burial and resurrection did not kill these laws, rather he fulfilled them.

Are these still important today?

Absolutely!!

These are our guidelines.

We also see that Jesus summarizes these

Mark 12:30–31 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.””

Illustration

Cloud storage.

Everyone has it. It goes from phone to phone. Laptop to laptop for years and years and very well might last forever.

It is not stored on something fragile

Same thing with God’s Word.

Even greater than cloud Storage is the Old Testament. No one can really hack the Old Testament and delete files.

It has been and will always remain the same.

Application

Read the Old Testament to Understand who God is and what He has always been.

Holiness

Isaiah 6:3–5 “And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth. The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies.”

Justice

Job 34:10–12 “Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding. It is impossible for God to do wrong, and for the Almighty to act unjustly. For he repays a person according to his deeds, and he gives him what his conduct deserves. Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly and the Almighty does not pervert justice.”

Patience

Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.”

Faithfulness

Psalm 36:5 “Lord, your faithful love reaches to heaven, your faithfulness to the clouds.”

It is Infallible. John 10:35 “If he called those to whom the word of God came ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken—”

Infallible- incapable of being wrong, mistaken, or failing.

Exposition

Here in this passage we see Jesus is addressing the Jews and they are have the intention of stoning Him for blasphemy.

He responds to the Jews by citing and saying “The Scripture can not be broken”

When Jesus’ life was on the line he referred to and showed that Old Testaments can not be wrong, it must be true!

We also see when Jesus is praying for the discipled in John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

The Old Testament is truth! We can rely on the Old Testament!

What did it have to say?

Prophecies of Jesus, the Messiah to come.

Illustration

Show the Image- thousands

What the Messiah will be like

character

lineage

need for Him

What he will do

How he will redeem

Application

Trust the Promises of God

Psalm 91:1–2 “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say concerning the Lord, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust:”

Ezekiel 36:26–27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.”

Isaiah 53- The suffering servant. Forbidden chapter for Jews. It all points to Jesus.

It is Inerrant. Matthew 22:29–32 “Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven. Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.””

Inerrant- without error or mistake—completely accurate and true.

Exposition

We see right before this text the Sadducees are trying to trap Jesus in answering a question wrong.

His initial response that we see in V. 29 is that they do not know the Scripture

They tried to come up with a false question something that has no truth to pin Jesus.

And he replies in saying what He did.

He puts them in their place.

Jesus shows the inerrancy of the Old Testament

Illustration

Imagine you’re on a road trip using a GPS. You trust it because it has been reliable for years, guiding you down the right roads, avoiding dead ends, and bringing you safely to your destination. But now, imagine someone comes along and tells you, “That GPS is wrong. Don’t trust it!” You’d probably think, “Wait… I’ve followed it for years, and it’s always led me correctly. Why doubt it now?”

Jesus is saying something similar to the Sadducees in Matthew 22:29. They were trying to trap Him with questions, but He pointed out that they were mistaken—not because God’s Word had failed, but because they didn’t truly understand it. The Scriptures are like that GPS—they are perfectly reliable, perfectly inerrant, because they come from God Himself. Just like you wouldn’t ignore a GPS that always works, we shouldn’t question the truthfulness of the Old Testament.

The Sadducees were wrong because they doubted the power and authority of God’s Word. Jesus reminds us: the Scriptures are accurate in all they teach, and the Old Testament, in particular, is God’s inerrant guide pointing to Him.

Application

Trust God’s Word, not your assumptions

Sometimes in scripture there are things that we have to wrestle with.

Recap

Yes it matters.

Sets the stage for the Messiah

It is Divinely Authoritative

It is imperishable

Infallible

Inerrant

Gospel

Pray

Small Group Questions

Why is knowing the Old Testament crucial for us?

Why is scripture memorization important? (Use this question to discuss different ways to memorize scripture)

Since the Old Testament is fully Trustworthy, how should that influence the way we read prophecies or God’s Promises?

What is one step you need to take this week to follow Jesus closer?