The Temptation of Christ

Matthew 4:1-11, Psalm 91:1-12

Imagine the Son of God, working alone in a carpenter's shop in Nazareth..Jesus worked in this shop until he was 30 and then there came a day when the Lord Jesus left the carpenter shop, when he told his mother it was time for him to leave. There came a day when the public ministry of Jesus Christ began. On that day Jesus set out on a path set by God, a path for his life and that path would lead him to a tortured crucifixion even though he would never commit a single sin. That path would take him on a destiny that was planned by him and for him before the world was even made. The mission upon which eternal life or everlasting torment for the human soul depends. 

Jesus would live 3 more short years and accomplish a goal that would make him the Saviour of a countless multitude who will gather around the throne of glory in heaven. But also a mission that would make him the object of scorn, derision and hatred from the world. Nothing is more important than the life and death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is his life, beginning at these 3 years and the things he did and how he suffered and died, and his present intercession that sorts out the sheep from the goats. That is what sorts out the children of God from the children of the Devil. This whole purpose of Christ from his baptism by John and when the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, when God spoke audibly from the glory and said Matthew 3:17 ..."this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased". And then Jesus was led into the Judain wilderness to be tempted of the devil, the temptation of Christ. Let us consider the passages concerning the temptation: Matthew 4:1-2 "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered."

Christ's Resurrection

The following piece on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is of notes taken from a sermon preached by Rev. Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational.  Here is the link to the sermon at Sermon Audio:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=41807143440

Luke 24:44-49 "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,  and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And ye are witnesses of these things.  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."

Christ rose from the dead and faithful Mary Magdelene saw him first, and that evening two downhearted disciples met him on the road to Emmaus..  they did not recognize him until he broke the bread.  Later on the Lord appeared to 10 apostles in the upper room, and then to Thomas and then to other people.  Make no mistake, the resurrection of Jesus Christ bodily from the tomb is central and foundational to the Christian faith.  Over the centuries Christ's resurrection has been questioned, doubted and denied.  Mocker's and sceptics views are easy to refute, they are untenable, they do not explain the facts.   No unbeliever has ever come up with a logical explanation of the facts.  The resurrection is a fact.  

That Jesus would be raised from the dead was foretold:.

1.  King David wrote Psalm 16:10  "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."  David was not talking about himself but he was prophetically talking about Jesus Christ, the holy one, whose body would see no corruption.

2.  Acts 13:33-37 "God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.  And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.  For David after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep (died) and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

3. Christ himself,  Matthew 20:19  "And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again." Mark 9:9, "And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead."  Mark 14:28 "But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee."