The Gospel of the Kingdom - Matthew - Round Three - Knock Out!

 

Text: Matthew 4:8-11 – “ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him,  “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”

The account in Matthew covers the three main areas that we face in our temptations – physical, mental, and spiritual. These will correlate to the Temptation in the Garden to Adam and Eve. John tells us about this in 1 John 2:16 – “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” These three things are the three temptations of Christ. Adam and Eve faced them in the garden and failed. We are going to see that He faced them and won.

As we study the three temptations, we are viewing them as three rounds in this battle. We looked at Round One, and Round Two yesterday, and today we move into Round Three. So, we start with the Temptation.

Some have tried to argue that this was not really a true test. They don’t accept the fact that Satan could offer Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.

However, in the Garden, Adam was tasked with taking care of all things.  When they sinned, they gave the rights over to Satan. They allowed Satan to take the Title-Deed to Earth from them. Jesus, Peter, and Paul all refer to Satan as being the Price of the power of the air, the Prince of this world, etc.

So, Satan could offer them to Jesus. However, Jesus would gain them anyway – at the Cross. Again, Satan’s emphasis is to detour Him away from the Cross, get to the solution without following God’s way.

Satan uses this logic for many today.

• ·      Why accept Christ, you can work your way to God.
• ·      Why trust Christ, you can get there through this church.
• ·      Why accept Christ, you can get to God by baptism, etc.

Don’t you know that you can't worship man’s way and you can still come to God? Worship in the Greek is the idea of fawning over or bowing to someone or something. The word means to worship or serve someone. We can’t worship the world and God. 

So, once again we come to the triumph. He once again triumphs by using the Scriptures. Again He refers to the book of Deuteronomy. Of all the books in the Old Testament – I believe He wants us to understand how important all of the Bible is to study and learn.

Deuteronomy 6: 13 – “You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.”

Our focus is to be on God and Him alone.

So, in Round Three, He triumphed over spiritual temptations. In fact, you might say that He knocked out Satan at this point. 

So, after defeating the Devil in every realm – physical, mental, and spiritual – Satan leaves and we see following the temptations, angels come and care for Jesus. In his Gospel, Luke adds that Satan left until an opportune time. Consider the Garden of Gethsemane.

Satan will not give up – we need to understand that also. We need to be on guard and prepared for the challenges he sends our ways.

We have an “Impeccable” Savior.

He did what man failed at in the Garden.

He is the One who can provide our Salvation without any hesitation or doubt.