Lent - “It Is Written”
Mt 4:1-11
[1] Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
[2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
[3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
[4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
[5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
[6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
[7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
[8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
[9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
[10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
[11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
The account of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is one of the most crucial texts in the Bible. It tells us not only that Jesus defeated the devil in direct confrontation, but also how He did it. There are people in the world who feel that there is no devil, but that the word, devil, is merely a word or a name, a disguise if you will, for the evil in men’s hearts. This morning we learn that the devil is very real. He is the angel that despised the goodness of our Lord and was “cast down to hell” as St. Peter says, “to be reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4 The devil is real, and between now and the end of the world, it is his goal to get us to believe the great deception, namely to distrust God, to feel that God is envious and wants to keep us down, that we must take matters into our own hands and become like God. Nor dare we underestimate the devil. He is a powerful spiritual force that enters our minds with evil thoughts and desires, “for we fight not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12.
Our bad words and deeds do arise from the evil lusts in our hearts, but we must be careful that we do not blame the devil. Indeed, the devil tempts us but the blame lies squarely with ourselves, as the Scriptures say: “it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.” 2 Chronicles 25:4 On the last day God will not hold the devil accountable for our sins; but us!
Our account for this morning treats of the temptation of Jesus as He was about to enter His earthly ministry. This is not the first time Satan tempted our Lord. The devil had been tempting Him from the moment of His birth. Think of the wise men or the flight into Egypt. At the time of this text, at the beginning of His earthly ministry, the Spirit led Him into face-to-face contact. Jesus had just spent 40 troubling days and nights in the wilderness and He was exhausted and hungry. Now the devil says, I know you are hungry, “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Jesus surely could do that. We know from our Bibles two occasions in which Jesus supplied over 9,000 people with bread. Another time He gave His disciples more fish than all their nets could hold. Then why didn’t He do it here? What did He have to prove? There was not even an outside chance that He would convince the devil that He was the Son of God, and He did not need to prove it to Himself.
In His reply, Jesus said,. “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Where is this written? . One time, while the Children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness, the Lord did permit them to go hungry, but only so that they would look to Him for food. What did they do? They proudly denounced God and bitterly complained. The amazing truth is that God, in response, did not destroy them; but graciously and miraculously provided bread out of nowhere, free food from heaven, and He did it for 40 years. God provided manna so that, as Moses told them, that “he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” Deuteronomy 8:3. God wanted His people never again to distrust Him.
These words, quoted by Jesus, have a direct application to your life and mine. The Psalmist wrote, “I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalm 37:25 Not one of us has had to go begging bread; and if our Father in heaven should permit us to suffer want, He has a higher purpose in mind, namely that we commit ourselves to His gracious care. There is something more important than food for the body and that is food for the soul. Indeed, we need physical food to live, but we need every Word of God if we are to live forever.
For the second temptation, the devil took Jesus to the top of the temple in Jerusalem and said, “If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
The devil is no fool. To back up this temptation, he added, “It is written,” and then he quoted a Bible passage directly from the Psalms. “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:11, 12. These beautiful words have been a source of strength for Christians throughout the ages. They promise that those who abide under the shadow of the Almighty will be cared for down to the last detail of their lives.
When you think about the devil quoting Scripture, it is scary. If the “father of lies” quotes the Bible, whom can we believe? Note carefully, although the devil quoted Scripture, he quoted it where it did not apply. Psalm 91 does not apply to those who deliberately put themselves in danger and then expect God to care for them. It would be like quoting the passage, “And Judas went and hanged himself,” Matthew 27:5, and then saying, For it is written, “Go and do thou likewise.” Luke 10:37 For Jesus to jump off the temple roof when He had no more reason to jump than to prove to the devil that He was the Son of God, would have been a great sin. Jesus makes that clear when he replied, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God.” To expect divine care when you deliberately defy the will of your God is tempting Him, and no Bible passage can change that. When we think about the whole situation we realize how necessary it is that we become so familiar with God’s Word, that we can interpret Scripture by Scripture. Only then, will we able to see through the deceit of false teachers and prophets who quote Scripture to lead us into error.
For the last temptation, the devil took Jesus to a high mountain and enabled Him to see all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. The offer of the devil was this: “All these things I will give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” This was, perhaps, the strongest of the temptations. Consider what Jesus was about to face. He would be poked fun of, persecuted, and suffer a humiliating and painful death on the cross. In Psalm 22 the Lord predicted 700 years before Jesus’ death that “He would be poured out like water and all his bones would be out of joint. His strength would be dried up like a potsherd and His tongue would cleave to His jaws. He could count all His bones; they would look and stare at Him.” Psalm 22:16, 17 Jesus, as the Lord, knew this prophecy well. He knew what to expect, and that He did not deserve it. Can you see why it was a tremendous temptation to fall down to the devil and in one simple act be done with it all? How did Jesus answer: “Get thee hence, Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord Thy God, and Him only shalt Thou serve.” Jesus did not have to die. He did it because He loved us more than His own life. The will of His Father, who had planned our salvation, was more important than His own was. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.” John 4:34 By fulfilling his Father’s will, Jesus won eternal salvation for you and me.
Jesus had successfully defeated the devil these three times, but it was not over. He was to continue fighting the devil until His last words on the cross where He triumphantly shouted, “It is finished.” John 19:30 In a sense this is true of your life and mine. Our fight with the devil will not cease until we are taken home to heaven. We are fighting a liar and the father of sin, a spiritual force stronger than our strongest oath. Only the Word of God gives us the strength to resist and overcome him.
Three times Jesus defeated the devil with three simple words, “It is written,” this is what God says. When the devil tempts us to worry about our daily bread, may we boldly assert, “It is written.” This is what God says. “Man shall not live by bread alone.” When the devil would have us distrust our heavenly Father by despising His goodness, may we answer, “It is written.” This is what God says, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God.” When the devil would have us serve the pleasures of this life and the lusts of the flesh, may we answer: “It is written.” This is what God says, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.” Those three little words, “It is written,” are our sure and only defense against the power of the devil, and our certain hope of everlasting life.
This sermon was preached by Pastor Robert Dommer on February 10, 2008