Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Good evening and welcome back!
I hope that everyone has had a blessed day and was able to stay warm today.
Tonight we are going to continue our Journey Through Matthew, looking at chapter 4 and the Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness.
And when I was thinking about this sermon this afternoon, I started to think about the cold snap that we have experienced and all of the homeless people out there.
It is very hard on the homeless year around but when the weather turns cold we can go in, turn the heat on, and bundle up, but for many of them they are on the streets.
There are warming centers around and we are blessed to have a shelter in our community but for most homeless they are stuck out in the cold.
Which in itself should not be with all the empty buildings and houses around.
But as bad as it is here in our nation, in other places of the world being out in the elements is all that people know.
There are no charity or government run shelters and the people are left to either live off what they can find or die.
And all of this got me thinking about the harshness of the elements when Jesus spent his time in the wilderness.
And Jesus wasn’t out there for a day or two, the Bible tells us that . . .
So, Jesus was there for at least 40 days.
We think about just being out in the elements for 40 days and it is astounding but Jesus also fasted, no food, no water for 40 days.
It would have been the harshest of the harshest.
We typically consider this wilderness the desert region, which would mean that during the day it would be hot and dry and at night freezing cold.
Also, when we are thinking about the desert, there is not much in the way of shelter either.
So, Jesus would have been completely alone and completely exposed and completely hungry.
But, why in the world was he out there to begin with?
What was the point?
Verse one answers that question, as it tells us . . .
Notice the first word in verse one, then.
This is our indication that what happens in chapter four is immediately following something.
And that something is what we talked about this morning, Jesus’ baptism.
It was after Jesus’ baptism, his preparation if you will, that he goes into the wilderness to be tempted.
And Jesus did not just go to be going.
Rather he was led by the Spirit into the desert.
So basically the Holy Spirit told him to go.
And not only did the Spirit tell Jesus to go, bu the also told Jesus why, to be tempted by the devil.
And when we start to look at that and examine that just a bit we can glean some very good advice from that one verse of Scripture.
#1-Before we can endure any amount of temptation we had better be spiritually prepared.
Because if not, Satan will chew us up and spit us out.
The fact is, we WILL be tempted by Satan, will we be ready?
Think about what James says . . .
James 1:13
Notice it says when tempted, not if tempted.
It’s coming and we had better be ready for it.
And we cannot blame God for our temptations either.
Temptation comes when Satan dangles our own evil desires in front of us and when we grab the carrot, we are dragged away and enticed.
So Jesus first got ready for what was to come.
And if Jesus got ready, don’t you think it would be a good idea if we got ready as well?
#2-We had better be led by the Spirit.
In other words, we had better be living a Spirit filled life.
We had better do as Paul says and . . .
Galatians 5:16
So, Jesus had prepared himself and by fasting had continued this preparation, and again our Bible tells us that . . .
When Jesus was hungry and at his absolute weakest, Satan showed up.
The First Temptation
And this is how Satan works.
He is not going to show up when you are at your strongest.
He is going to show up when you are at your weakest point and he is going to attack you in the exact area where you are struggling the most.
Which is exactly what he does here with Jesus . . .
Matthew 4:
So, the first thing he does is challenge Jesus’ divinity.
If you are the Son of God. . .
Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God but his goal was to make Jesus question this, to make Jesus doubt himself.
Which is exactly the same thing Satan does to us.
He tries to get into our head and convince of things that are not true.
He tries to tell us that all of the movement of God in our lives that we have experience was not real.
That we are just imagining things.
That we really didn’t get saved.
That all this God and church stuff is not real.
That science is the only thing we can put our faith in.
All of the lies that the world tries to tell us.
That’s all he’s trying to do here with Jesus, so IF you are the Son of God, then prove it.
“Show me a sign” type of mentality.
“Prove to us you are who you say you are.”
Honestly though, does Jesus have to prove anything to anybody?
Does God have to prove Himself?
No, but Satan here is trying to trap Jesus into this game of prove this or prove that.
He tells Jesus, tell these stones to become bread.
Or “use God’s power to serve your own self.”
It would be sort of like these people who use God’s name to build their own empire.
The “sow your seed” bunch that are just out to get rich and glorify themselves.
But Jesus wasn’t buying what he was selling . . .
It is very, very important that we realize exactly what Jesus is doing here.
#1-He is discerning what God’s will is.
#2-He is fighting Satan with the Word of God.
Remember that . . .
Hebrews 4:12-
The Word of God is our ultimate weapon of Spiritual Warfare, and according to Paul our only offensive weapon . . .
If we want to every be successful in fighting against temptation, we had better develop a discerning spirit in tune with God and we had better know God’s Word because that is our weapon.
Coming to church and hearing a sermon once, twice, three times a week is not going to cut it.
We have got to study and understand God’s Word for ourselves.
We have got to put in the leg work and time in learning God’s Word.
The more of it we know the stronger we can be.
And Jesus completely rejects Satan’s temptation using . . .
Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Which is also another important point.
Food, clothing, shelter are physical comforts, but they will only last for so long.
All of the stuff we surround ourselves with is only temporary.
And Jesus’ words . . .
God and God’s Word is enduring and forever, everything else is temporary and will pass away.
And we have to decide whether we want to put our faith in things that are eternal or things that are temporary.
And the sad fact is that many today will put their faith in the temporary comforts and sacrifice their eternal soul in the process.
We have to decide which we will do.
The Second Temptation
And we also have to continuously be on guard.
Peter warns us to . . .
1 Peter 5:
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