Today, in Matthew 4:1, we read, "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." This means that Jesus did not go there against His will. Rather, He was led by the Spirit to undergo this trial. We might think that Jesus was tempted at His weakest moment because He had fasted for 40 days and had not eaten anything, but that is absolutely not the case.
As we saw in last week's message, Mark 1:1 states, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," indicating that Jesus is the gospel. And His baptism marks the beginning of the gospel. The start of His public ministry began with His baptism, and immediately after that, the grace He experienced was truly remarkable. This is mentioned in Mark 1:9, where it says, "At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'" We see Him being baptized amidst such an incredible blessing from God. Right?
Why did Jesus receive such a grand welcome? What is the reason He experienced such a remarkable event while being tempted? Of course, one might think He was weak because He had been hungry for 40 days, but some people intentionally fast to elevate their spirituality. So, similarly, Jesus was not in a state of weakness when He was tempted; rather, He was in a state of strength. Why was this temptation necessary? Why did Jesus need this trial?
To understand this, we need to use some theological terminology. First, there is the first Adam. Who is the first Adam? The Adam that God made from dust. This person mentioned in Genesis is called the first Adam. The problem is that this first Adam fell into the temptation given by the devil. Right? Because he is the first Adam, representing humanity, his failure led all of humanity into original sin. As a result, everyone was destined to die and go to hell; the first Adam is the one who caused this.
However, the one who came to turn all of this around is the second Adam, Jesus. Therefore, He had to reverse the situation. The first Adam failed the test. Because he fell into temptation, original sin entered, and all humanity was doomed to die. Now, the second Adam, Jesus, came to reverse that by undergoing the same temptation and turning it into victory, leading all humanity toward salvation. This is the scene of Jesus undergoing temptation.
Romans 5:12 expresses this: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned." This is the chaos created by the first Adam. Now, what must the second Adam do? He must resolve this so that all humanity can find the path to salvation. Therefore, by experiencing the same trials that the first Adam faced, He must turn that temptation into victory.
Romans 5:19 states, "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." This is why our Lord came. Therefore, this scene of Him undergoing temptation is extremely important. If the second Adam were to fall here, humanity would have no hope. There would be no hope. The second Adam, Jesus, must come, face the same temptations, and win for His purpose to be fulfilled.
So, He was tempted regarding food. Right? He was tempted regarding food. Yes, because sin entered humanity through eating what was forbidden, Jesus also faced the same temptation regarding food. Thus, in Matthew 4:3, it says, "The tempter came to Him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.'" The devil tests Jesus, saying, "You are hungry. You need to eat. Make some bread. You have the power." But if Jesus were to follow Satan's words, it would mean He was yielding to the devil. Right? But Jesus, knowing all of this, answered in 4:4, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" He overcomes the devil's temptation with the Word. He wins with the Word. Thus, today's passage informs us that our Lord has triumphed. He has triumphed. The gospel of the Adam, Jesus, shows us that He has won.
But the question is, why are we still losing? The second Adam, Jesus, has shown us a model of victory, yet why are we still losing? I want to discuss that. Why are we still losing? The first reason we lose is that we do not live according to all the words given by God and instead compromise with the world. We need to take a closer look at today's message. In 4:3, the tempter is Satan, right? He comes to Jesus and says, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Our Lord has the power to turn stones into bread. But in this situation, if He were to turn stones into bread, who is obeying whom? It would mean Jesus is obeying Satan. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.
Jesus responded with the Word, and there is a very important meaning here. Look. Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'" This is the correct answer, and He adds, "but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." This is the answer. But we need to meditate deeply on this. How do we win? We live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. The key word here is "every." We must live by every word. This means that everything we need to live is found in God's Word. Every word. Therefore, when we make decisions or choices, we must go to the Word given by God to find the answer. Why? Because all answers are within it. Everything is there.
So, if we do not live according to God's Word and do not seek answers within all of His words, but instead try to find answers elsewhere, we are trying to find something according to our own will. Then that becomes a compromise. It seems like a compromise. Yes. Therefore, we must firmly believe that all answers are found within God's Word. When making any decision, we must approach God's Word, ask questions, and live according to the answers we receive there so that we do not compromise with the world. Thus, we must understand that the answer is only in the Word.
However, there are many times when the world tells us, "Hey, there are no answers." When I first came to America, I did not have a driver's license. I arrived at 17, and since I had to get my license at 18, I was eligible to get a driver's license as soon as I arrived in America. But the problem was that I couldn't speak English, and I had to take the test in English. I had no money for driving school, and I didn't know what the test questions were asking, so I had no answers. I had no answers. I had no money, and I had no answers.
But the problem was that as soon as I arrived in America, I got a job at a sewing factory. Why did I work at a sewing factory? Because it was the only place where the bus went. I had no car, so the only place I could take the bus to was the sewing factory in downtown Baltimore. But the problem was that they worked me for 72 hours, 12 hours a day, and paid me $150. But as a person without a green card, I had to pay $30 for a taxi. I don't even know where that $30 went. So, I had to live on $120, pay rent, and I couldn't even dream of driving. The only way to earn more money was to drive, but I had no way to do that.
Then someone saw how frustrated I was and gave me the answers to the test. They only gave me the answers to pass the driving test. They didn't tell me what questions would come up. Yes. There are five types of questions, and if the third picture is a stop sign, I should write that down, and if a picture comes up with 20 answers, I should write down the 20 numbers in order. Yes. There are five types of pictures. They showed me these five types and said, "Just trust me and write." They said I wouldn't get 100%. Why? Because if I got 400 points, they would know the questions were leaked, so I would probably get around 80-something points, but anyway, that would be passing. Yes. So, I wrote down the stop sign and the 20 numbers. I wrote it all down. When I sat down, they handed me the test paper. Back then, it wasn't computerized, so they handed me the paper, and I thought, "Oh, the third one is this one. Then I should write this." I wrote all the numbers, and I actually got an 88. I passed. Yes. I was really grateful to that person. Yes. I became an accomplice, but I committed a sin. Yes. But at that time, I thought, "I have no other way. I have no money for driving school, and if I can't drive, I can't earn more money. This is the only way I have," and I compromised with the world. In other words, I sinned. At that time, I wasn't even living a proper Christian life.
But the problem is that because I passed without studying, I didn't know the laws. Yes. I didn't know what a four-way stop was. I got pulled over by the police. But the biggest mistake I made was when a school bus was in front of me. When a school bus stops, it puts out a stop sign, and you absolutely cannot go until the bus moves. I didn't know that. I thought I could just wait and look around like a four-way stop. But strangely, every time I went, the school bus driver would honk at me. I didn't know why. But I got caught by the police. They asked why I was going. When I explained, I got in more trouble. "How did you pass?" Yes. Yes. Then they said that I was fined for not stopping for the school bus. I didn't know this. It was dangerous. It was dangerous. Yes. Compromising makes you a danger to the world.
But the bigger problem is that I thought I was clever and kept that problem to myself, then shared it with others in similar situations. "Hey, you can do it like this." I shared it with about ten people, and some of them failed. Strangely. I wondered why they failed, and it turned out they memorized the answers instead of writing them down. Wow, I don't know how they memorized those hundred questions and chose the right ones, so they failed. Even in that situation, there were people who were conscientious. Yes. But the problem is that the people I shared it with ended up in danger because of me. Yes. There are many people in our church who are insurance agents, but this is an old story. I have learned a lot since then, so this is an old story. Yes. But that's how we compromise with the world. In front of God's Word, there is an answer to every problem, but we choose to compromise, living in disobedience.
Some people with a bit of faith might argue, "Well, Jesus fed 5,000 people; why is that not a problem?" The reason is that He did not comply with Satan's request. He fulfilled God's will. Therefore, it is fine because it is in accordance with God's Word. We must be able to distinguish these things. The problem is that we must not compromise. Compromise is sin. Yes. We must always resolve everything with every word that comes from God.
However, even though we know this, we still fall. Why do we fall? It is because we ignore the issue of priorities. Priorities. Therefore, in Matthew 6:31, it says, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows