Matthew 4:2

Matthew Verse by Verse with Shawn McCraney

Transcripts:

Hi guys, it is March 1st, 2026. We're in Matthew chapter 4. Let's get right into it. We left off covering verse 1 of Matthew 4, which says, Then was Yeshua led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Now, it's a super interesting passage because it says that the Spirit of God led the Son into the wilderness for the specific purpose of being tempted, or better put, tried.

As Jeshuans, we teach that the purpose of life outside of God being a creator who creates as an extension of himself, gives life, is to be tried. And that why we believe that life is a proving ground, where God, having made us in his image and having given us life, allows each of us to choose who and what we love the most, care about the most, seek the most, trust the most. And for those who love him, they seek him.

And for those who love the world, they seek the world. Now, we don't think that this is a means for God to punish us for those who don't love him or choose him. We just see it as God giving us the freedom to choose how we want to live. to choose how we want to live.

And we see it more as God blessing all with life and rain and food and all the things that we have here on earth, but also as rewarding those who in the midst of trials and tests of life choose to walk in faith and to, in the face of that faith, to love. But to what end or why? I personally believe it has to do with the ongoing eternal war between light and dark. I suggest that there is a war that has been eternally going on, and it's between the presence of God and the absence of God, meaning light and dark, the things that hate the light and the things that are the light.

And that in this war, we are constantly choosing to what side we want to fortify and belong to. Do we want to side up with the things that bring destruction and pain and death? Or do we want to side up with the things that bring life eternal and joy and happiness? And so we just suggest that that's the meaning of life.

And those who in this proving ground decide that they want to join the light and pursue the light and follow the light will be equipped to join that eternal kingdom above when that occurs. And those who don't will join the kingdom of darkness. It's not a punishment. It's just the sides that we want to choose. All that's for another day, though.

We see Yeshua as a man who was washed and anointed as king and priest of a kingdom that is not of this world, you know. And once prepared for this incomprehensible mission, he's going through a massive personal proving ground here by being tried by the very power that took the title deed from Adam and Eve. They had the title deed to this world. They were the whole human race, the first couple.

And God said, have dominion, subdue, take care of the garden. But this tempter, this seducer, got them to fall. And so in the hands of the dark fell the title deed to the world. And we suggest that this world was roiling in darkness and evil and pain and suffering all the way through those first years from the fall to Christ. But when Yeshua overcame everything, light entered the world, the victory over that dark force was had.

Well, the proving ground, the trial, the test happens here, right here in the wilderness, where the second Adam enters in to the wilderness to be tempted and tried of the devil. Verse 2, and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward hungry. So after being washed and anointed by John the Baptist, our king and priest of a kingdom that's not of this world stepped forward into his public ministry.

And he had been validated before by the verbal approbation of God, who said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And what do we see Yeshua do the moment he exits that water, prays, and goes in, led of the Spirit, to be tried and tempted of darkness, he fasts. He immediately begins to neglect his flesh.

Now, we don't know if he ever fasted before. He could have, but according to the law, I'm sure he did. But the problem is, We don't know what that was about. This fasting was for him to mortify the flesh that had been catered to up to this point in his life. And it's fascinating because in the world of physical warfare, you watch a show Survivor.

And in Survivor, when the contestants aren't fed, they get weak. They can hardly walk around after so much weakness. Well, you know, in the flesh we eat to fortify our physical strength. And yet Christ, he fasts so as to not have the material physical strength, but to fortify his spiritual strength. And that is the basis behind that act. Both Matthew and Luke say he ate nothing.

And some people suggest that he did drink water, but because they say you can't go for that long without water. And we don't know if 40 days is literal or figurative. But we do let Scripture interpret Scripture. And I believe that Yeshua abstained from both. Why? Well, when we look to Moses as a type of Christ to come, in Exodus 34, 28, and Deuteronomy 9, 9, we read that on two occasions, Moses, quote, neither ate bread nor drank water.

Okay? Is that possible? Not in the realm of flesh, but in the spirit and with God, all things are possible. All things. And that's why I don't think it was beyond Christ's ability to go without water for any extended period of time. First Kings 19.

8 tells us that Elijah also fasted 40 days, and it's not a coincidence that both Moses, who fasted, and Elijah appeared to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. All of this stuff is tied in the through line of Scripture, and we're going to address the Mount of Transfiguration when we come to that in a few weeks. So first, Yeshua is led of the Holy Spirit to the wilderness to be tried, and if he was successful in passing that test, it seems that he would have exited that wilderness having faced that trial stronger in his spiritual fortitude to do what he was going to embark on doing for the next three years.

What's an interesting paradox is that the Spirit leading him into the wilderness, it says, led him there to be tempted. The Spirit of God led him to be tempted. Is that how we are to read it? Well, James 1.13 says, let no one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God. 1.13 says, let no one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

So the Trinitarians say that Jesus was the person God in the flesh. He was the pre-incarnate God, the son in the flesh. Well, James says that God cannot be tempted. If Jesus was the pre-incarnate Son of God, God the Son in the flesh. How is he being tempted? This proves that that is not how he was seen in his immortal state as God the Son. He was a man with God in him.

It also proves that if God doesn't tempt anybody and the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness, then it's not saying that the Holy Spirit was God either, but the Spirit of God. I'm not really sure how to reconcile what it says in Matthew about the Holy Spirit leading Yeshua to the wilderness to be tempted or tried of the devil with what James wrote, except to say that Yeshua underwent many, many things and experienced many things that other mortals who are like him do not have to experience. Consider the fact that one, he was conceived miraculously.

All right. None of us were conceived the same way. And his birth was accompanied by a star in the sky that led the Magi to where he and his mother were. He had an unusual identity from childhood by engaging with the very elders in the temple at 12 years of age and telling his parents, what are you looking for me for? I'm going about my father's business.

And then he did miracles like walking on water and turning water into wine and then healing the sick and raising the dead. And he could read thoughts. He could perceive what a person was thinking. He escaped every attempt to harm him. No one could hurt him until he was ready to let them. He lived a sinless life. He suffered for the sins of the world. He died on a cross willingly as a payment for the wages of sin.

And then he rose from the grave that holds the rest of us bound. We have yet to see any die in that sense and then rise again and never die again. Lazarus, who was raised, died again. So, and he rose from that grave and after three days, and then he ascended into the heavens with his body that rose from the grave and took his right hand next to God as a means to be a mediator for his brethren during that age.

Except for walking on water, none of us have ever done these things that Christ did. Peter walked on water. Some people might have been able to raise the dead.

But man, when you look at everything that he went through, we suggest that Yeshua experienced some tempering of his youthful flesh by virtue of who he was and what he specifically had to do, and none of us went through the same thing. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15.45, and so it is written, the first man, Adam, was made a living soul, referring to when God breathed his breath into Adam's body and he became a living soul. And the last Adam was made a quickening spirit, meaning a spirit that actually gives life.

So when the last Adam was tried and tempted of Satan, we know that he did not give in and that he got the title deed back from the one who won it from the first Adam. When Yeshua, whom Paul calls the second or last Adam, entered into his ministry, the first thing he did was overcome and succeed where Adam failed. And he did it by rejecting the very same principled things that the serpent gave to Eve. All right? We note that this tempering of Satan did not begin immediately after his washing and anointing, but instead 40 days, it says, of fasting came first and went and he found himself hungry. And I think we can look at that event in a couple ways. And I think it's necessary that we

do in both ways. And the first is from the physical perspective and then from the spiritual, from the physical, Yeshua was a man. And verse two states that once he had fasted for that time, he was hungry. And this suggests that he was in a weakened physical state. Whether the 40 days was literal again or figurative, because 40 is a symbolic term in the scripture, it's telling us that in that physical state was when the dark Ha-Satan showed up to tempt him. And it seems to me that Satan must have been blown away by the idea

that God would be in flesh and maybe even thought to himself, well, Herod tried to put all the babies to death when he was born and that didn't work. Maybe I can get him to trip because he's in flesh and right out the gate, get him to fall by testing him with the things I tempted the first couple with, right? Perhaps he thought all these human beings love, they give in to what I'm about to offer this man, and I'm going to give him both barrels to see if I can get him to trip up. I mean, it's conjecture. It doesn't say that, but it seems like Satan had a

reason for tempting Christ in the wilderness, and the reason seems to be to get him to buy into one of the temptations, which again, Eve did not. I mean, Eve bought into them. Christ did not. Kind of interesting, isn't it, that Satan, a created fallen being, fallen being, would believe that he had the capacity to cause Yeshua of Nazareth to fail.

He had to have believed he could have done it. Otherwise, I don't understand why he would do it. And it speaks volume about the nature of Christ before his victory on the cross. His nature was tried, tested, like all of ours, in the flesh. Of course, one of the lessons here is when we're in our weakest times, when we are tired and when we're hungry and we're meek and weak, the dark comes in to attack us then, when we're weak.

And it's when our defenses are down, when we feel bad for ourself, when we feel lonely and tired and hurt and disillusioned and disappointed and depressed and we get angry. That is when the dark side that I think is has always existed comes in to say, destroy. Destroy your enemies. Destroy yourself. Destroy your life. Give up. Surrender. Don't trust in the light. It's not there to save you.

Yeshua was wise when he prepared to go into that wilderness because he fortified his spirit by fasting and went into it ready. A paradoxical move that proves the spirit is capable of overcoming the weakness of our flesh if we are allowed and if we are so inclined. See, what was being fed when his body was being starved was his spirit.

And so while Satan was able to tempt his flesh with the things of the world, I suggest that when he said, hey do this, do that, that in his flesh he desired possibly to do them. But Christ's strength in his spirit enabled him to react obediently to the will of God alone, something the rest of us have never done. So for this reason, we as Jeshuans seek to fortify others with the Spirit within them, giving little attention to the things of the flesh, including emotional appeals.

That's why we don't have emotional music to drive that, because that's a fleshly thing. And That's why we don't have emotional music to drive that because that's a fleshly thing. And that's why we don't try to entertain you. And we try to avoid all the focus on the world. We try to focus on educating you on what will fortify your spirit so you can be stronger in your spirit and weaker in your flesh.

To fortify emotions and all that through entertainment and exciting talks only feeds your flesh. Get it? Verse 3. And the tempter came and said, first big word, if, if, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. That's what he said. We note that Satan said to Yeshua, if you are the Son of God, and he doesn't say, if you are God the Son. Okay? There's a reason that Satan, a spirit fallen, who knows all these things behind the scenes, calls him the son of Yehovah and not God the son.

We can see right there. So be careful of the tradition of the Trinity. And all throughout Scripture, Yeshua is called, even by his given name, the anointed one. That's what Yeshua means, the Anointed One. Lord, Savior, the Son of Man, the Son of God, never ever is he referred to by the man-made Trinitarian definition of God the Son.

This seemingly minor event bears significant implications relative to so many things overlooked in Scripture by the false teachings of men which blind the eyes and ears to hearing the music of truth along with the lyrics. So, to the first test, and like the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. Now, he was hungry, and he had been fasting, and Satan tested him to use his power to do the miracles by the anointing he got at his baptism that would feed himself, a miracle that would lend to what he wanted, not what his father wanted, and therefore his needs and desires first. And what were they? He was hungry.

So even before he had done his first miracle at Cana, which was turning water into wine, we have Satan say, turn these stones into bread. And it's interesting that we have bread and we have wine as the elements of communion that Christ established in his life. These things are not by coincidence. They're purposeful and meaningful.

Amazing elements of the memorial he set up among his brethren to do until he returned to them. People say, why don't you do communion in your gatherings? Because he's returned. And we don't need to do in your gatherings? Because he's returned. And we don't need to do that anymore. That was for them then.

Going back to what tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3.6 says the first thing was, when the woman saw that the tree was gone, Good for food. First temptation to Eve. When she saw that the tree was good for food. As the second Adam, Yeshua was facing the very same temptation. Turn these stones to bread.

Good for food. You're hungry. Serve yourself, Yeshua. Satan's saying. If you go to 1 John 2.16, we read him say the following, which is a summary of what tempted Eve and a summary of what Yeshua was being tempted by. As it says, for all that is in the world, this world that we live in, in the proving ground, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of this world.

That's a very succinct statement of what we face in the proving ground versus what is of the Father above.

The temptation was straight to Yeshua feeding the lust of his flesh, reflected in Eve seeing that the forbidden fruit was first good for food, with Yeshua being tempted to prove his relationship to his father by turning stones that he had, to serve his own interest by the power he had instead of just doing the will of the Father. We see a similar event occur with Esau and Jacob. Do you remember that Esau came in from hunting and was hungry, and he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of pottage, lentils. He surrendered it over a representation of the lust of the flesh being all our fleshly desires, sexual, drugs, food, emotionalism, whatever our flesh lusts to consume after the realm of living in this world.

That is what is being referred to there. But instead of doing what Eve and Esau did, Yeshua said, verse 4, it is written. So he's citing the scripture. Man shall not live by bread alone. Now listen to this line. not live by bread alone. Now listen to this line. But ostensibly man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Yehovah. Okay, we read that. We usually don't think about it. We say amen, amen, good job Jesus. That's what you say to Satan. Now, here's the thing.

In response to these three temptations, Yeshua will cite the Old Testament that was written out and available to the nation 400 years before Yeshua was even born. Okay? Every time Satan gives him a challenge, he cites the Old Testament. It is written, okay? But when you really think about it, listen to what he says.

He says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Now, that might sound right to you. First of all, there are 613 commandments in the Tanakh or Old Testament. There are 1050 commandments in the apostolic record. You put them together, we have 1663 commandments in the book called the Bible. Yeshua just said that we are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And I want to know, is it possible for us to then live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God if there are 1,663 commandments? Is it possible for us to even live by 10 of them? You know, like the other things Christ did, we're not even close to being able to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We can't come close to it.

But remember, every word that proceeds from the mouth of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. He obeyed every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And in this way, it's entirely possible for us through faith on him to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and that is by faith on him who came on our behalf and did what we cannot do.

So he not only was every word that proceeds from the mouth of God made for flesh. He kept every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And God says, you don't have to follow this 1,663 commandments. It's impossible. You put your faith on my son who did keep every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. If we could learn this, we can learn the difference between using the Bible and yelling at people to read it and believe it and to tell them, you got to read this because you're not doing that.

You got to read that because you're doing that. And instead we say, look to him and live. There are two passages of scripture that many Christians today use to support their idea that the Bible contains every word of God and believers must follow them all. And they cite the verses, chapter and verse, to prove this point.

The first is found in 2 Timothy 3.16 where Paul says, ready? 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 complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Now that's the first scripture that Christians will use.

This is not saying that every single passage or every single word in the Bible is given by inspiration of God, because the Greek has it saying any passage of scripture that is inspired, any passage of scripture that came from God. And what does it do? It's profitable for doctrine. Thank you. We appreciate that. It's for reproof.

Good. We read it and we see where we need to change. For correction, same thing. For instruction in righteousness, how to live so that God sees us as righteous, that the purpose of this, the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. It tells us the type of works God likes us to do. No problem with any of that. That's the value of the Bible.

We read and we learn the will of God and what it looks like principally for our lives as disciples today. Fine, good, no problem. But the passage is just saying that the value of inspired scripture is to learn in order to grow and nothing more. It's nothing more. It's not a list of 1,663 commandments for us to follow.

The second passage used by most Christians is to suggest that the Bible is the Word of God. They will say the Bible is the Word of God, and the one they use most is Hebrews 4.12. This is what it says, For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and of marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

And the leap they make there is to think that the writer of Hebrews is speaking about scriptures written, calling the scriptures the word of God. And that's the main one that they'll use to say that. But I want to show you the scripture in context so that you can be free from that tradition.

Are you ready? The writer first in Hebrews is speaking about those people to enter into the rest that God provided the world, and that was to believe on his son. Okay, that's the context. We know that Yeshua said when he walked the earth, come unto me all you who labor and I will give you rest. Okay, so right off the bat, that is the rest the writer is speaking of here in Hebrews. Him, Christ.

But then he says at verse 11, let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. The same example of unbelief that the writer's talking about is when the nation of Israel was in the wilderness, and they stopped believing, and they fell and tripped over themselves.

So he says, labor to enter into the rest of Christ unless we fall after the same example of unbelief that the nation of Israel did in the wilderness. And then he adds the famous line at verse 12, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any to it. Sword piercing even to the dividing the center of soul and spirit into the joints and marrow and is the center of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

That's the Bible. Pastors say that's the Bible. the word of God from the pulpit, holding it up. No, it's not. It's not. That's why the writer adds at verse 13, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. He's not talking about an inanimate book in verse 12. He's talking about a living being.

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Proving there that the writer was calling the Word of God,. Him. He. Not a book. The Word of God made flesh, the rest to which we enter.

And this view is further fortified when the writer adds at verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest. The great high priest is not the Bible. We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Yeshua, the son of God, let us hold fast to our profession so that we don't trip in the wilderness like our forefathers did. That's the context of that passage that is so abused by Christians today to try to say that the word of God is the Bible.

The word of God is the son who followed that the Word of God is the Bible. The Word of God is the Son who followed all the words of God that proceeded from the mouth of God. And all we do is look to Him, faith and faith alone, and then love. How? As He told us to love. That was not to love neighbor as self. That's Old Testament. Love your neighbor as yourself.

That's not what Christ said. He said a new commandment I give you. If that doesn't clearly say he was God with us who could give us a commandment, I don't know what does. He says a new commandment I give you that you love even as I have loved you. Very different than loving as neighbor as self. It's to love as Christ loved.

And then all you got to do is read through how he loved. And then we're supposed to embody that. That's why he could say things like, it has been said of old, hate your enemies. You know, but I say, love your enemies. You see, do good to those who despitefully use you. Very different from the masculine Old Testament patriarchal law abiding rules that people holding the Bible want us to do.

rules that people holding the Bible want us to do. Paul says that that love that Christ talked about, listen to this definition of it. It bears all things. Bears all things. It believes all things. Do you believe all things? I do. I don't think there's anything impossible for God. Oh, well, I do. I don't think there's anything impossible for God. Oh, well, do you think that Mussolini could be in heaven? Yeah. I believe all things. With God, all things are. Our human logic, no.

I don't believe much about that. But when it comes to the love of God, I believe all things. Hope all things. People say, do you think that someone who dies without Jesus can go into heaven? I hope. I hope so. And finally, endures all things. That's his definition of the love Christ commanded his believers, his followers to have, and that we are supposed to have as carriers of his spirit.

All things. Second temptation Satan gives him. Verse 5. It says, then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on a high wing of the temple. Now, that's a figure of speech, I believe, because I don't think for a second that Satan could take Yeshua physically, you know, off the earth and take him and transport him physically up to the pinnacle of the temple. No. So what we're talking about is him taking him in vision.

And we have a biblical basis for that because in Ezekiel 40 verse 2, we read, in the visions of God brought he me to the land of Israel and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was the frame of the city on the south. So we have a, this is how you understand the Bible in context. You use paired passages to explain what they mean.

And because we have a passage in Ezekiel 40 verse 2 that shows in vision, he was also taken to a high mountain, that when it says, the writer says, that Satan took him to a high pinnacle, it means in vision. And that's how you rightly discern what the text is saying. So Yeshua in vision is on this high pinnacle of the temple.

And what does Satan say to him? He's up on the high part of the temple, and Satan says, if. There's that if word again, the if word. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, he will give his angels charge of you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone. Satan cites Scripture now.

Christ said it is written on the first one, and now he's citing scripture. It's written, cast, throw yourself down. What he was doing was he was pushing for Christ, I think, to perform, put on a show by the anointed power that he had as the Messiah, proving by leaping off this point of the temple that he was God, that God would do what he said. Prove it, Satan says.

Go up, do a backflip off the pinnacle and flip all the way down. The angels will catch you. That's what the scripture says Satan says to him. You know, prove yourself that you're God. And it leans into the second temptation that moved Eve to rebel against God, as it says in Genesis, that the forbidden fruit was pleasant to her eyes. That's what it says. It was good for food, first one, and it was pleasant to her eyes.

Satan was telling Yeshua, give us a show. Give us something pleasant to our eyes from your power as the Son of God. Jump off and let the angels catch you. Prove you're the Son of God by doing this. Same temptation. Eve saw the fruit was pleasant to the eyes. It enticed her. the eyes. It enticed her. Satan is saying, give us a show, Yeshua. Prove that you're the son of God.

And what did Yeshua say? And what did John say? He said, all that is in the world, remember the lust of the flesh, that's the bread, that's the forbidden fruit, the lust of the eyes, the things that we want to entice us by our own senses. Give us a show. Come on, we're down here. We want to believe you're the son of God.

Jump off that pinnacle. Do a backflip. Twist in the air and let the angels catch you. It'll be pleasant to our eyes, is what John says is in the world. Perform, Yeshua. You'll put on display a display that's pleasing. and God will grant you everything for doing this miracle, on your own accord, of course. Citing scripture again, Yeshua says, Again, it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

I'm not going to jump off something and tempt him. That is a commandment. I'm not going to jump something and tempt him that is a commandment I'm not gonna jump off to give a show prove that I'm the son of God through something like that that you're telling me to do I'm not gonna tempt him in other words Joshua says no signs for you that are pleasant to the eyes that tempt God. Sorry. Final temptation, verse 8.

Ready? Again, the devil took him up to a very high mountain. Again, don't believe for a second that the devil took him up anywhere it was envisioned, but he showed him on that very high mountain all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. That's what he showed him.

And it had to occur in vision or the spirit realm rather than real-time actuality. And while he was up there, he showed him the splendor of all the kingdoms of the world. Now, I don't know if that is all that ever existed or those that exist just up till then and the glory of them, right? Back to Genesis, we know that the third reason Eve ate the forbidden fruit was she could see that it would make her wise. Okay.

Satan is showing Yeshua all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And the bottom line thing that drove Eve was pride. She could have pride. She could have wisdom of the world if she ate of that fruit. And Satan was telling Yeshua, jump, look at all these kingdoms, not jump, look at all this power and glory. I'll give it to you.

You can be wise in your own flesh. You can be proud. You can be the ruler over everything. Jesus equates this desire with pride when he's, I mean, excuse me, John equates all this with pride when he, I mean, excuse me, John equates all this with pride when he said again, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, that's the bread, the lust of the eyes, that's jump off the temple and do a backflip, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of this world. What would appeal to Yeshua more in his flesh than all the kingdoms of the

world and the glory of them coming to him directly from Satan, who had the title deed to it all? As a man, he was tempted with everything a man could be tempted with that entices us to be famous and rich and powerful in this life. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said, I'll give them to you.

He was offering it. And what was the price? If, he says to Yeshua, you will fall down and worship me. That's all you got to do. That's it. Fall down and worship me. You do that, you get all the kingdoms of the world and all the glory. I mean, that is a turned up temptation to be tried with as a human in this world, isn't it? We hear of people who have sold their soul to the devil.

human in this world, isn't it? We hear of people who have sold their soul to the devil. It's similar to that. They showed them all the kingdoms that they could possibly have and the glory of them, if you will bow down and worship me. Now, I don't believe the accused angel, Ha-Satan, is in operation anymore, but I do believe that the darkness of this world is still being offered, and that the kingdoms of this world can still be procured by worshiping idols.

And I think it happens when we look through all the things that are going on in the back scenes in our world today. So Satan was attempting Yeshua to take all that he could give him. All he had to do was worship him. To most human beings, quite frankly, it would be a hard deal to pass up. You know, you're shown all the kingdoms and the glory.

Many believe that they're wise in making the decision to embrace what the dark offers them. The kingdoms of this world, the glory, the money, the fame, the power, the luxury, the sex, drugs, rock and roll, all of our big people on social media, they represent all of that. They have everything you can imagine.

And we're sitting in our little houses and we're thinking, my gosh, I have to slave every day just to get by. I'm in debt, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so the offer is huge in this world. This ostensibly is what the serpent offered Eve when she ate of the fruit. It'll make you wise. You can be proud. You can have access to knowledge.

Eric, You can be proud. You can have access to knowledge, Eric. Eric. Access to knowledge without God's involvement in your life. That is what people are choosing to do. I want to have access to knowledge that will make me powerful and wealthy and rich here in this world. I don't even want to think about God. I want to have it myself through my own acquisitions. And you can get it, as evidenced here by what Satan offered Christ.

A knowledge the easy way. Knowledge and power that leads to death, though, because you choose to not receive and believe in God's solution to living, and it's not all the kingdoms of the world. Eve took the deal. Her husband took the deal. Christ was being offered the same deal, in fact, a much more impressive way, and all the kingdoms of the world would be his.

All he had to do is break the 10-word Ketubah commandment that God gave Moses to give to the nation of Israel. I am the Lord thy God. Have no other gods before me. That was the main commandment, and that's what Satan is trying to get Yeshua to embrace.

And it's what Satan or the serpent got Eve to do, to say, I'm not going to put God's recommendations first. I'm going to take this being's representations first. I'm going to act on my own. It's the difference in night and day in living in this world and not. How does Yeshua respond? He responds with words Eve should have said, at least in some form or another, but didn't.

Yeshua said to him, depart Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only, Him only, shalt thou serve. Wow. Do you serve other things in your life in order to be right with God? That commandment right there, Yeshua said to the Satan, satanic power, Him only. do you serve? As evidenced by him not doing a backflip, not serving himself to turn stones into bread, he is facing the test that we all have in different ways.

My friends, herein lies the primary summary of life in the proving ground for every human being. Believe me or not, for every human being. Believe me or not, I am just trying to suggest this is the purpose of life and the meaning of it. To feed yourself, to make a show for yourself, to bow down and worship other things or in addition to worshiping the only true and living God and ignoring the fact you're exchanging your birthright as God's creation for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Look around, especially today. I mean, assess the fruit from the way people choose to live, the fruit of them feeding themselves, of making a show of their God-given power to live a different life and to get pride from pursuing other gods. We've recently seen living proof through these gross things called the Epstein Papers and how he and all the others in that higher echelon of living have accepted forbidden fruit and idols to benefit in this world thereby.

It's the same stuff. It's right here. We've literally witnessed the verifiable results of those who have pursued all that is in the world. The lust of their flesh, the lust of their eyes, and the pride of life. flesh, the lust of their eyes, and the pride of life. We see it in every echelon of our society, from our government, to our leaders, to corporations, to entertainment.

Everything is all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's what caused Eve to fall, and it's what Yeshua's facing here in the wilderness as a temptation from Satan. But Epstein is a gross, rotten example at the worst level of darkness, but you can look around at anything on earth, religion included. Religion, especially because we're talking about God, that says, serve us.

Christ says, and only serve him. Religion says, serve us. See the difference why we're against it? If these things are the fruit of a system, no matter how good the system appears, how tantalizing, how pleasing, how effective and rewarding it appears, if you care about God at all, run. Run.

Put your hand to the plow, to him and him alone, and no other thing. If you don't care, I learned this from Vernon McGee. If you don't care about the afterlife, serving, following God, spirit and truth, live it up now. Party like it's no tomorrow. If you don't care about God, live it up. Go the Epstein route. Go the Kardashian route or whatever route is out there that is of this world.

Do it. Because nothing's waiting for you afterward in terms of a reward. Why? Because we sow to the spirit here, we reap of the spirit there. If we sow to the flesh here, we will reap to the flesh there. And what's fleshly there? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. It's all spirit. So in the proving ground of your life, build treasures in heaven, spiritual treasures.

Sow to the spirit, not to the flesh and the things of this world. Get your rewards here and now if you don't care about God in whatever way they're coming, because that's what you got. All right? As radical as that sounds. Verse 11, then the devil left him and behold, the angels came and ministered unto him.

This ministering angels bit sent to Christ after this taxing series of temptations is actually a thing. The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1, 13, 14, speaking of angels, But to which of the angels said God at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? And then the writer adds, listen to this line.

thine enemies thy footstool. And then the writer adds, listen to this line, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation? You know what that says? It says that angels and the economy of God come down and they assist those who are heirs of salvation. That they are invisibly with us, working with us, helping us, encouraging us, protecting us, whatever they do.

And so why not? Are they still part of this economy? I think so. I really do think so. But, you know, don't pray to them. Don't seek them. Don't talk about your angel that protects you. You have God that protects you. The angel is in his army and doing what he says for you. So don't mix it up and start to serve angels because then you're serving something other than God.

And then what about the devil leaving him? James 4, 7 says, Submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee you. Resist, and he will flee you. I maintain removing the word devil from there, because I think those have been all overcome. I still think dark devils exist, but they're in a different form today.

But these dark influential spirits, I believe the principle remains the same. If you resist them, they will leave. The same principle. If you don't resist them, they'll stay. And they'll do exactly what you are, what they, they will try to get you to do things that are going to be harmful to your spiritual development, maturity, and life.

But we have the free will choice to say, I'm not going to listen to you. And that causes them to turn and leave. I think that says a lot about the free will economy in which we live. When did the devil return to plague and test Christ in his life? Because here it says the devil left him. We don't find Satan involved in Yeshua's life with miracles or anything like that.

All we find is the leaders being filled with rage to want to kill him. The devils may have been working through the leaders, but he didn't seem to have any dealing with the devil again until he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. And when he went there, he was facing going to the cross. And it's like Satan was allowed to come back in this final vestige to get him to trip and fall and surrender up.

And it worked on him so much that Yeshua even said, Father, you know, is there any other way? Can we do that? Not my will, but thine be done. But I'm hoping there might be some other way in his flesh. He asked his father that because of the pressure Satan was putting on him of the suffering he was about to go through. Of course, the father's answer was there's no other way. he was about to go through? Of course, the Father's answer was, there's no other way.

And so he went forward and do it. I don't think it's just a coincidence that when Christ was on the cross, that his own brethren used the same language Satan used on him in the wilderness. In Matthew 27, 40, he was in extreme pain on the cross. And what do they say to him? 740, he was in extreme pain on the cross.

And what do they say to him? If thou be the son of God, same words from the mouth of his own brethren, crucifying him through the Romans. They say the same thing that Satan said. If thou be the son of God, come down from that cross, serve yourself, God, come down from that cross. Serve yourself. Feed yourself. That's the message of what's going on in the wilderness.

Luke 23, 37 puts it this way, saying, if thou be the king of the Jews, save yourself. Of course, the irony in that is if he did save himself, he could never be the king of the Jews. He had to sacrifice himself to be that. If, if, if, all appealing to the things that cause us humans to fear, to want to surrender, to want to prove ourselves, to try to be something in our own flesh and not humbly just accept what God has called us to be. If, if.

In a deeper teaching, we might be able to see who that devil was in that day, and what it was represented as in that day, and I believe it was his own people, under the law, that he was being tried and tempted by in vision. I think that was the embodiment of the Satan in that day. I think that was the embodiment of the Satan in that day.

And Revelation describes, as Yeshua described, the synagogue of Satan as his own people. So I think there's a scriptural basis for that as well. Last week we mentioned that once John had baptized Yeshua and he immediately began to decrease, and Matthew takes us directly to where John lands here in this chapter at verse 12 and says now when yeshua had heard that john had been arrested he withdrew to galilee he was in nazareth and now he withdrew to galilee and And we'll get caught up on John's arrest in chapter 14, so we're not going to talk about it here.

But Matthew continues telling us what Yeshua did next in verse 13. It says, so he went to Galilee and leaving Nazareth, he went and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, and in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. and in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. All right, according to Luke 4, 14 through 30, it appears that Yeshua left Nazareth because his own brethren were refusing him there.

So it says he heard John was arrested. His own brethren weren't receiving him, so he left there and he went to Galilee, into those specific lands. And the lands mentioned are named after two tribes from the children of Israel, which were located in that part of Canaan at the time of Christ, and which were parts of Galilee.

Matthew uses these Old Testament passages to help prove to the Jewish reader who Yeshua was. In fact, the promised Messiah as it is described, and he continues at verse 14 saying that what the prophet Isaiah said would be fulfilled. That's why I'm including this, Matthew's saying.

Saying the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali toward the sea across Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, and the people who sat in darkness saw a great light. That was Christ. They were sitting in obscurity, and they saw him. And for those who sat in the region in shadow of death, light is dawned. That means that when he came to them, the light from heaven shined, and they were able to start to see truth.

This is this site, excuse me, this citations loosely referencing Isaiah 9, one through 12. But Matthew uses it to his own means to teach them that that is what Yeshua was doing by going to those parts of the world. Verse 17, the land. And from that time, Yeshua began to preach. What did he say? Same thing John preached, same exact Greek words John said in Matthew chapter 3. Ready? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

It's a statement that truly summarizes the force behind the message of the good news shared by Yeshua and his apostles to the people of that day, because access to the kingdom of heaven was only by faith in Yeshua, the son of the living God, prophesied to them then. The challenge, therefore, was given for them to receive their promised Messiah before it was too late.

For the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Repent now, you guys, 2,000 years ago. The kingdom, the administration of God is coming. It's at hand. And if you don't believe on me, your promised Messiah, you will be destroyed. That is the central thematic timestamp statement of the apostolic record.

In everything we read, that is what is going on. Let's read the rest of the chapter, which we'll cover next week in our Matthew study and wrap it up here. And as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And from there he went on and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a boat with Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

And immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. And he went all about Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every malady and disease among the people. And his fame spread throughout all Syria. And they brought to him all sick that were afflicted with various diseases and pains and demons and those which were psychotic and those that had palsy.

And he healed them. And great masses of people followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond Jordan. When it mentions the Sea of Galilee, that sea is also called in Scripture the Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Gesenareth, and the Sea of Chinareth, making the identification of the sea complex because it has three separate names. According to John 1.

35, Andrew and Simon were already his disciples, but they are now being called by Yeshua to leave their business of old and to follow him in ministry full-time. And when we get to next week, we will embark on this this new beginning of Christ, starting his ministry out with repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.