SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/6/2020 12:06 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 First Temptation “Serving Self.”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 4:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, ’MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’’”
I have written about Psalm 2 and how it has to do with what was planned in eternity past as far as what Jesus the Son of God would be doing, and what His Father would give to him, and how when He came that He would be doing His Father’s will, and that is the key here as we look at what Jesus would be doing when tempted by Satan, as He would be doing the Father’s will, and means that He could not fall to the temptations that Satan was attacking Him with. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’" 8 Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:7-10). John 6:38 says “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” John 4:34 says “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.” There are others that we will not take the time to look at, but we can see the point.
Satan was trying to shatter the absolute trust and submission that Jesus had with His Father, but was not able to do so. It has always been the desire of Satan to be worshiped, and I suppose to some degree that this is happening in some small way even today, but in order for Him to have achieve this goal he would have to destroy the trinity and that is what he is trying to do as he tempts the second person of the trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We will not focus in on Jesus’ response to the temptation of Satan as we see from the first part of the verse Jesus states “It is written,” and this is what He will use to stop this and the other two temptations from Satan. All three of Jesus’ answers come right out of the book of Deuteronomy. We read from Psalm 119:11 something that perhaps David wrote “Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.” Certainly Jesus knew every Word that is in the Word of God, and therefore He can defeat Satan’s temptation by quoting the right response from God’s Word. John MacArthur writes “In quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 to Satan, Jesus declared that we are better off to obey and depend on God, waiting on His provision, than to grab satisfaction for ourselves when and as we think we need it. Moses had originally said those words to Israel as he recounted to her the great love and blessing God had bestowed on her during her own wilderness experience (Deu. 8:1-18).”
There is a difference between our needs and our wants or desires, and in God’s Word we can see that He will supply all of our needs, but we obviously will not get all of our wants. “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). Let us now look at Matthew 6:8 to show us that God knows what we need even before we ask Him. “"So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Now in verse 33 of Matthew 6 we read what we as believers should be seeking “"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” MacArthur comments “We are always better off to obey God and to trust in His gracious sustenance than to impatiently and selfishly provide for ourselves in ways that disobey, or in any way compromise, His Word. Underlying our readiness to justify much of what we do is the common but self-centered and carnal notion that, as God’s children, we deserve the earthly best and that it is inappropriate and even unspiritual to be satisfied with anything less. Grabbing or demanding what we think we deserve may be an act of rebellion against sovereign God.”
I hope that we will be able to finish this section in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I desire to remember verses that will help me as I am tempted by the devil.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust that the Lord will give me joy as I study His Word each day.
2/6/2020 1:00 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment