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."

What is the Bible? God's Inspired Word

2 Timothy 3:13-17  "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

The doctrine of scripture, or what is the bible, is what we are studying.  A true understanding of what scripture is will direct you on the true course of your Christian life.  It will put scripture in authority over you and guide you, but if you are unsure or wrong on the doctrine of scripture, if you are wrong on what is the bible, you will not remain on the true course in the Christian life.  You will find that the scripture will not guide you in vast areas of your life because if you don't have a true understanding of what scripture is.  You will end up supplanting scripture with your own ideas, your own tastes, likes and dislikes.  All heresy and apostasy comes from a wrong view of what scripture is, what the bible is.  People want to ignore the bits of the bible that they don't like on the basis of their own reason, their own mind.  They come to judge and sift the bible and say that bits are cultural and don't apply.  Error in the doctrine of scripture is the cause of all of this.  

What is the bible?  Scripture or the bible is God's inspired word.  It is God's inerrant word, that means it contains no errors.  It is God's infallible word, that means that whatever scripture speaks on, it is right or correct on that subject.  Scripture is the word of God.  But do we really see the implications of this?  we must really believe that, we need to get that, scripture is the word of God.  If we don't get that and understand what it means, we will end up adding our own ideas.  It is not the word of the apostle Paul, the prophets Isaiah or Jeremiah, not the word of the apostle John, it's the word of God.  The bible does not contain God's word like the liberals say, that is nonsense.  The bible does not contain God's word, the bible IS the word of God, therefore it is not wrong on miracles, or sodomites, or judgment, or anything it speaks on because it is God's word.  That is why there is no true Christian who can say, "O but that's just Paul, that's just his opinion", no true Christian will ever say that.  It's not Paul's opinion at all, its the word of God, not Paul.   People who do this show that they do not believe that the whole bible is the word of God.   Evangelicals  need to stop playing word games and say that they believe the bible is the word of God "but"..  you either believe that the bible is the word of God or you do not. The bible is the word of God and that is what Christians believe.