ATTN: I don’t know if you ever thought this about yourself, but when I was younger, I thought I was pretty special. I thought that I was unique and therefore, whatever happens to everyone else won’t happen to me – such as getting seriously hurt or dying. But all the evidence point the other way. When I turned 30, it took me twice as long to recover from a hard work out as a 20 year old. When I turned 35 I no longer had the energy to stay up all night no matter how badly I needed to. When I turned 40, I pretty much lost all my hair. And when at 45, my eye sight is going far sighted that I can’t see things really close any more. So, rather than embarrassing myself by asking my girls what small letters say, I use my iphone to take a picture to zoom in! At this rate, I will probably be in a nursing home by age 80 and die soon after…  What I’m trying to say is that our life experience is not that different from each other. We are put here on earth not of our choice and we are put out of this earth not of our choice either. Someone else is in control. And as long as life is not an accident, we are here on a purpose. And one way to look at this life is that it’s a test or a training ground for the next.

I see a parallel between our lives and the lives of the Israelites in the desert for 40 years. You see, Israelites went through 40 years of wilderness experience in trying to get into the promised land, and they faced all kinds of trials and tribulations. And only those who passed the test actually got to go into the promised land. Like it, this life that we live in on earth, is our wilderness experience. We go through all kinds of trials and tribulations. but the promised land is coming for those of us who pass the test. If so, how are we doing? Are we passing the test? Will we make it out of the wilderness and into the promised land or will we fail the test and die in the desert like most of the Israelites? How do we pass this test? Three questions: 1. We do trust the provision of God? 2. Do we trust the presence of God? 3. Do we trust the pleasures of God?

Where am I getting these questions from? They are the questions the Israelites in the wilderness failed to answer and thus did not get into the promised land. But the passage we read today was about Jesus being tempted. What’s the connection between that and Israelites in the desert? They have everything to do with other. Jesus was in the desert for 40 days to be tempted by Satan. Israelites were in the desert for 40 years to be tested. The Israelites failed miserably and didn’t get to enter the promised land until that generation of sinners died. But Jesus passed with flying colors. And if you look carefully, the three temptations that Jesus faced in the desert are the three very tests that the Israelites failed. That which the Israelites failed miserably at, Jesus revisits them and passes them with flying colors. What is Jesus doing? He is doing what the Israelites failed to do. You do realize that the Isaraelites represent us as well. And herein lies the very essence of the gospel – the good news.

The Israelites, like us, failed miserably to trust God and thus forfeited their chance at entering the promised land – heaven for us. But Jesus came to take the same test and passed with a perfect score. We got 0. He got 100. And he gave us the credit! That is the gospel! The gospel message is not: Now that Jesus has shown you an example of how He did it, you go do it. No. That would be legalism and would lead us to despair. That would be like Michael Jordan taking off from the free throw line, gliding through the air, doubling pumping while flying and dunking it, and then tells us, “Now that I’ve shown you how to do it, you do it!” That would lead to hopelessness! The gospel message is: Jesus has passed the test that we failed and He gave you his grade. In other words, He didn’t teach us how to take the test. He took the test for us and given us the score. Of course he got the perfect score on it because He wrote the test. He is God!

However, Jesus being our substitute is not the entirety of the Christian life. God gives us the privilege of becoming like Him as well. And that becoming like Him will require effort on our part. But I must make absolutely sure that you understand that the effort we make to become like Christ is NOT in order to be accepted by God, but because we are already accepted by God. ILL: Our children want to be like me and my wife not so that they can become our children, but because they are already our children. They know they belong to us and we love them, and so their wanting to be like us is the evidence or the natural outcome of their being our children. So, if you and I are God’s children – that we belong to Him – we will make an effort to become like God’s Son, Jesus. If we don’t make the effort, that simply goes to show that we do not belong to Him. Because all God’s children love Jesus and will want to become like Him! And what are the ways to be like Jesus? Overcome in the areas that Jesus overcame in the desert, that the Israelites failed. They are in the area of 1) Provision, 2) Presence, and 3) Pleasure.

Will we always overcome? No. We will fall. But we will get up. God is not concerned about perfection. But progress.

1. Trusting God for provision.

The first temptation of Jesus is in the area of provision. After 40 days of fasting, Jesus was hungry. So, Satan does the most obvious thing. He tempts him with food. “Turn these stones into bread.” But listen to what Jesus says, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Those aren’t random words He made up but He is quoting Scripture – Deut 8:2-4 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

– Why is Jesus quoting this Old Testament words? Because it describes how the Israelites failed. What they should’ve done, but didn’t. How did the Israelites fail this test? This account is written in Exodus 16:3 for us. They distrusted the Lord by saying to Moses, “You have brought us out into this desert to starve us to death!” It’s sort of understandable. They were in the middle of the desert and what they brought out of Egypt has run out. They ate all their foods. So, how are they going to get food for a million-plus people in the middle of the desert? Well, what they could’ve asked is, “God brought us out by performing miracle after miracle in Egypt. Surely, He doesn’t mean for us to die in the desert because we don’t have bread to eat. He will provide somehow. We trust Him!” But instead, they questioned God’s motive in bringing them out saying: “You have brought us out in this desert to starve us to death!” What are they not trusting? They are not trusting God’s ability to provide.

Now, faced with the same situation, physical hunger, Jesus does what the Israelites and essentially, what we failed to do – trust God for His provision. That is what is meant when He said, “Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Trust God for the most basic necessities. He will provide. He knows what we need better than we do. So, trust Him when you don’t see how He would provide!

APP: What about us? Do we complain and grumble because we didn’t get what we wanted? It may not necessarily be for food and shelter here in America. But what we think we need. I have to confess to you that this past week, as I was spending a lot of time getting ready for a new class I’m teaching at the private school  – a bible class for international students from China –  “Why do I have to teach ELL bible? It’s too much work! Why can’t I just teach math like I did last year which required no preparation on my part?” I was half-blaming God for changing my circumstances when I’m already so busy with minisry. But I realized later that I’ve been praying for a more witnessing opportunity and most of these Chinese students do not know the Lord! So, God gave me exactly what I asked for and here I am complaining about it. Distrusting God’s goodness and provision because it’s not exactly what I pictured… Don’t do that! Trust in God’s provision.

2. Trust in God’s Presence

Jesus’ second temptation was in the area of presence. Jesus was taken up to a high place and was asked to throw himself down so that the angels could catch him. But Jesus says, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” How would that be testing? It would be testing God’s presence. Jesus is saying to Satan, “The Bible says not to test God to see if He’s there or not. He is there!” How do I know that? Because again Jesus is quoting Old Testament Scripture. Deut 6:15-16 , “Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.” And what happened at Massah? Ex 17:7 “And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?””

            Again going back to the wilderness experience of Israelites, this time they were complaining about having no water. Again, a reasonable request. You are in the desert and you need water. But it’s the way they did it. Because of lack of water, this time they question whether God was with them or not – “Is the Lord among us or not?” Their logic was, if they Lord is with us, surely He won’t leave us thirsty! But we are thirsty. What’s wrong with this picture? Is God with us or not??? They were questioning God’s presence. God had made His presence known to them through the pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night and yet when they lack something, immediately they are questioning God’s presence with them. So, the Israelites failed to trust God’s promise to be with them, to be present with them.

But Jesus comes along and overcomes the same temptation by saying, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” In other words, don’t question God’s presence when He said He will be with you. You don’t have to throw yourself down and have God catch you miraculously to know that God is with you. You can believe that God is with you simply because He said it – “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deut. 31:6).

APP: As Americans, at the littlest things we question God’s presence. If we get into a little car accident, we think to ourselves, “Where was God? Why didn’t He keep me from getting into this accident?” Ellie Wiesel in his book, “Night,” recounts a dastardly act of Nazis hanging a Jewish child in public. And as the Jews watched the little lifeless body hanging on the gallows, someone behind Ellie asked, “For God’s sake, where is God?” And Ellie writes, “And from within me, I heard a voice answer: Where is He? There is where – hanging here from this gallows…”

That is the scene of God’s only son hanging on the cross, lifeless. God has forsaken His own Son so that He could be with us. His own Son was abandoned so that He could buy our ransom. If we have been bought with His Son’s blood, do you think He will let us go? Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Remember that it is often when we feel God is most distant from us, He is watching us the closest. This was true of Job, David, Ruth, Daniel, Joseph and on and on. When God promises He will never leave us nor forsake us, He is doing it on His Son’s life! He means it. Trust that He is with you, Christian!

3. Trust in God’s Pleasure

The third temptation of Jesus had to do with pleasure. Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and promised him all of it if he will fall down and worship Him. In other words, Satan dazzled the eyes of Jesus with most pleasurable things of the world, but Jesus resists that temptation by saying ”You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Again, Jesus is quoting Old Testament Scripture, Deut 6:13-15 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;”

The Israelites failed in that they worshiped a golden calf while in the desert. In other words, they were making something other than God their ultimate source of pleasure, which is worship. That which we value more than anything else, draw happiness from, give up everything else to attain, is what we worship. And Israelites failed to worship God, or failed to have God as their ultimate pleasure giver by replacing Him with an image – something shiny their eyes can see such as a golden calf!

But Jesus corrects them by resisting to replace God with the things of the world. “You can offer me the world, Satan, I’d rather have God!” was Jesus’ answer. Jesus rightly brings our attention to God as the most worthy, and pleasureable good. And for Him, all else could be sacrificed joyfully.

APP: As One, what is it that we worship? What is it that we value, draw our happiness from, take most pleasure in and sacrifice other things for it? Is it football? Is it your iPhone? Is it your children, even? Is it a boy or a girl? Or is it God?

Do we understand that it was God who gave us a physical body to play and watch football? It was God who gave us the mind to make the iPhone. Our children are given to reflect His fatherly love for us. That boy or girl is knitted together by God – every inch of him or her. Why fall in love with the gift when we can have the giver? When Jesus said unless we love Him more than we love our father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife and our children, we are not worthy of Him, what He is saying is that He is more lovely than the people we love the most. The hearers of Jesus – the middle easterners to whom their family was everything – it must’ve come as a shock to hear that Jesus must come before their family. But what Jesus is conveying is that He is more valuable than anything we know. He is the greatest treasure we can have! And this treasure is offered to us in Jesus Christ. Would you trust this God? Trust His provision, His presence and the pleasure that He gives.