His Baptism and Temptation

We've been in the life of Christ now for this, this being our ninth week. And we are now at the point of his baptism. We've been talking about the baptism of Christ still very early, really, in the gospel records of the life of Christ. But we did a lot of introductory type of things and cultural background type of things and religious background and all of that. And then spent a good bit of time on the birth narratives of Christ and the early life of Christ. And now we are talking about his baptism and hopefully tonight also the temptation. So let's begin with the baptism of Christ. We talked last week about the time of the baptism, the place of the baptism, the action of the baptism, the accomplishments of the baptism. Talked about several things that accompany the Lord's baptism that happened at the same time. The opened heavens and the descending spirit. We talked about both of those last time. Now we begin tonight with the third thing that accompanied the baptism of Jesus. And we are in Matthew chapter three, Luke chapter three. Those two basic passages also marks gospel and John's gospel touch on the baptism. But the third event that accompanies the baptism is the voice from heaven. There is a voice from heaven that speaks and Matthew's gospel says it this way in Matthew chapter three, verse 17. And the voice from heaven said, this is my son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased. Now you'll also find that spoken of in Mark's gospel and in Luke's gospel. But there's a little bit of a difference and this I think is very instructive. Matthew says, this is my son, Mark and Luke say, you are my son as though the voice is speaking directly to Jesus. Now what do you think happened? What happened? Was it was the voice from heaven speaking to John and the crowd? This is my son or was it speaking directly to Jesus? This is the voice of the Father obviously. Was he speaking to Jesus? You are my son. I was hoping you could clear this up for me tonight. Pardon me? Yes, okay. That's a good political answer and the climate that we're in, right? Yes, is the best answer. It probably was both and it's not necessary to see that the voice spoke twice from heaven. Do you remember what happened on the epinecost? What happened on the epinecost when people were speaking in tongues? What was going on there? People heard it in their own language. So as the apostles were speaking, they were speaking in languages that they had never studied foreign languages so that people were hearing in their own language. It is possible for people to hear something in their own language or hear something, God to speak and it to be heard in for it to be heard in different ways. So it is quite possible that what happened is the voice spoke from heaven and Jesus heard you are my son. John and those around him heard this is my son. But the point I think is this, the testimony that is being spoken by this voice which is a commendation of Jesus is both for the benefit of Christ and for the benefit of those who are around. It is for both of their benefits. Jesus hears you are my son. I'm well pleased with you. The crowd and John here, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. Now what is taking place there? What is why does the Father say this? Probably several things happening here. This is a look backward. This is my son whom I love with him. I am well pleased. That statement with him I am well pleased looks backward to everything that's happened up to this point. 30 years, God is saying the Father's estimation of his son is I'm pleased with everything that's happened up to this point. Everything that Jesus has done, it's basically saying my son has lived a perfect life up to this point. So God is pleased with everything looking backward and this is a testimony of God's pleasure and commendation of his son, his approval of his son. But it also may be looking forward. This is my son whom I love with him. I am well pleased and as Jesus begins to launch out into his ministry, it is an approval ahead of time of what Jesus is undertaking with him. I'm well pleased. He is ready to undertake what he is ready to take on now in the ministry that he's going to be doing. He's committing himself to that ministry and he is ready for that. He's ready to launch out into that. There are a couple of Old Testament passages that come to mind here that are very similar. They are both Old Testament prophecies of the Lord Jesus and the Messiah and what he would be, but they both kind of refer to what's happening here at the baptism. We'll put up on the screen for you. First of all, Isaiah 42, 1, where the announcement is made in regard to the Messiah. Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. That is a prophecy of the Messiah and of the Father's God's commendation of the Messiah, which obviously is the very same thing that's happening at the baptism. Also, the fact that my spirit will come upon him is something that happens at the baptism as well, as we've seen. Second passage is Isaiah 61, 1. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me. This is a prophecy again of the Messiah. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to bind up the broken heart of proclaim freedom for the captives released from darkness for the prisoners. Jesus would actually quote this passage in his first sermon in his hometown in the synagogue in Nazareth. It does have direct reference to the beginning, the launching of Jesus' ministry, which the baptism is all about. The baptism is the introduction, as we'll see in a moment, of Jesus' initiation really into his ministry. So these two Old Testament passages that foretell the coming of the spirit, the anointing of the spirit on the Messiah to begin his ministry and the delight that God has in his servant really both come to fruition here at the baptism. There's one other thing that I want to say about the voice from heaven and just the whole, what's happening at the baptism. With the voice coming from heaven, you have the activity of all three persons in the Trinity. And so this becomes one of the best, best texts in all of the New Testament to prove the Trinity. See, there was a form of teaching in the early church called modalism. It was a heresy that was introduced early in the church, which basically said it was a denial of the Trinity. Basically said that God appears sometimes in the person of father, sometimes he appears as father, sometimes God appears as son, sometimes God appears as spirit. And that was one man's effort to describe the Trinity, but it was very dangerous because what it denied really was, in essence, the Trinity. It basically said there's one God, but he doesn't exist in three persons at the same time. Well, this passage is probably the best text to disprove that theory of modalism because all three are acting at the same time. You have Jesus, the son of God, being baptized, the Holy Spirit at the very same time, descending on him like a dove and the voice of the father from heaven. So you've got all three persons acting at the same time. That obviously denies that God may sometimes act in one way, sometimes in another way, sometimes in a third way, because all three are seeing doing something at the same time. So it's a very strong passage for the Trinity. Okay, any comments or questions about what's happening at the baptism before we talk about the meaning of the baptism of Christ? Any comments or questions? All right, let's take a look at the meaning of the baptism. Then there's several things that are important about the baptism of Christ. Really, why we're spending a good bit of time on it. First of all, it was an act of confirmation, an act of confirmation or approval of John's ministry. Jesus, in submitting to John's baptism, was basically putting his commendation or approval on the ministry of John, what John was doing. John obviously was introducing the kingdom, saying the kingdom is at hand. King is coming. One who's coming after me says in John one that I'll not even be worried that it's tied the laces of his sandals. So he's been announcing this and he's been calling for repentance to prepare people's hearts for the kingdom that's coming. And now Jesus basically is putting his approval on that ministry. There's a lot more than that that's happening, but that's part of what's happening. Secondly, it's an act of initiation because it does initiate the ministry of Christ. This is, I use the word coming out last week in the sense of kind of a stepping out onto the public stage. He has been in obscurity in Nazareth working as a carpenter, living in his home in Nazareth, kind of a backwater town, if you will, in that day. And now he steps out onto the public stage, leaving his home, his mother, his privacy, his vocation, and he is ready to enter his public ministry. From this point on, life will be very, very different for Jesus. And this is the action. This is the event which thrusts him into his ministry. So in that sense, it is an act of initiation. There's a tremendous dividing point in his life right here. Thirdly, it's an act of consecration. I hope you have your Bible open to Matthew 3 because I want to explain a phrase here. We'll talk about it for a moment. But it has to do with Jesus as an act of consecrating himself to his ministry. I think that's really what Jesus means by something he says to John. In Matthew 3, back in verse 13, Jesus comes to be baptized by John. Verse 14, John tries to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you. Do you come to me? And then notice Jesus' response in verse 15, Jesus replied, let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness than John consented. It's a fulfill all righteousness. Jesus himself says, part of the reason why we're doing this is to fulfill all righteousness. What does that mean? What is he talking about there? Let me back up a step and say, what would it mean for the average person? What would it mean for you and for me to fulfill all righteousness? What would that be a description of? Perfect life, okay? If I'm going to fulfill all righteousness, if I'm going to live by all of the righteous standards that God gives me, that means I'm going to have to be obedient to him, right? I'm going to have to live in submission to him and obviously to fulfill all righteousness means to do that perfectly. But it does mean that I am committing, if I'm going to fulfill all righteousness, it means I'm committing myself to obedience and to submission to the Lord. That I will do exactly what he says. His righteous standards, his commandments, in the word of God will be what I live by. I'm committing myself to that and to fulfill all righteousness, obviously it means to do that in a perfect way. Well, what Jesus is doing here when he says, in initiating my ministry and stepping out into my ministry, in this public action of baptism is the way I'm doing that, what I'm committing myself to as an act of consecration, I am committing myself to fulfill everything that God has for me in my ministry. I am committing myself, I'm submitting myself to him, I'm obeying him and every day, every step, every moment will be obedience to him. He is voluntarily, publicly submitting himself to the Father's will. It is very much an act of consecration of our Lord. Now remember that Jesus, we always have to keep in mind when we're studying the life of Jesus, he's both human and divine, he has perfect humanity, he is also God. And in his humanity, he has every need of the Spirit's power and of the Father's help to live as God wants him to live. And he is dedicating himself to that, consecrating himself to that here. So that's part of what's happening. Okay, comments, questions about that. It's very important part of what Jesus said the baptism was about. There's a sense in which our baptism does that. Obviously the main thrust of our baptism is a public declaration by way of kind of a picture form that we have trusted Christ, we've entered into salvation, we've been buried with him, raised to walk a new life with him. Well Holy Spirit would come into our lives at the moment of salvation obviously. So yeah, now the Holy Spirit obviously in dwells us at the moment of salvation, baptism however is a public declaration of the fact that I'm a follower of Christ. And so there is in a sense that aspect of okay I'm going public with this, you may have made a decision to trust Christ in a small group or at home or wherever now your baptism and this is really this is emphasized much better in other countries than it is in our country. In many places in the world it is your baptism that that marks you out as a serious follower of Christ. And that is the point when you go public and you say I'm taking a public stand that in many countries the family will say okay we disown you from this point on. It's true in Muslim countries, it's true in Jewish life, that that is the point it is the baptism that is the point at which okay you're taking a public stand there's no turning back now. So there is a sense yes Tommy in which there is an act of consecration and dedication involved in the very act of baptism. Okay. Okay fourthly it is an act of anticipation, an act of anticipation. Jesus would speak of a different kind of baptism later in his ministry that he would undergo. And there's a sense in which this baptism looks forward to that anticipates that for shadows and that baptism is described in Mark 10 verse 38 and I think we have this verse for you on the screen. Yes Jesus is disciples to come to him and you know James John we want to be secretary of state, secretary of defense. One on your left one on your right. We want to be the two most important parts of your cabinet and Jesus says to them you don't know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with and the context he goes on to talk about his suffering. So he will be immersed in suffering and he's asking them do you understand what the cost is of being my disciple. It's not about positions in the kingdom it's not about who's on my right hand or left hand. Really what the question you need to be asking is are we ready to suffer. And so Jesus says can you be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with and he's looking forward to his suffering. There's a sense in which we might tie those two together and say that the baptism early is just a foreshadowing of the baptism of suffering, the immersion in suffering that he will undergo later. The cup that he will drink. Okay, fifth of it's an act of preparation. Act of preparation. We've already seen we saw last week that at the baptism the Holy Spirit descends on him and that's referred to in Acts chapter 10 verse 38 as the anointing of the spirit to enable him to have Holy Spirit power to do his works of ministry. So at the very beginning of his ministry the Holy Spirit comes upon him to giving power and there's a sense in which the baptism, the very baptism where that happens is this act of preparing him for his ministry, getting him ready for his ministry. So it's not just the dipping in water that we're talking about here but all the accompaniments of the baptism, the descending spirit, the voice from heaven, all of that is this act of preparing him to launch his ministry. And then number six it's an act of identification. Identification. There's a sense in which Jesus is coming to John to be baptized to identify with the rest of humanity who is being called upon to come and be baptized. You know the Bible says in Isaiah 53 in verse 12 that Jesus in his death would be numbered with the transgressors. There's a sense in which his death is the ultimate obviously his incarnation, his taking on a human body, his identification with humanity. His death is the ultimate identification with man because there he takes upon himself our sin. But there's also a sense in which as other people are coming to John to be baptized to show that they're prepared for the kingdom, Jesus is identifying with them to say I am I am preparing myself for my ministry. I am in this act of consecration preparing myself for what lies ahead for me and that's my ministry. So there's a sense in which he identifies with those who are coming not not in the sense that he needed repentance. Okay don't carry that too far but there is a sense of identification here. And then number seven it's an act realization. An act of realization in the sense that it fulfills two Old Testament prophecies both of which we saw before having to do with the anointing of Christ for his ministry coming of the spirit to empower him for his ministry. Just take a quick look at those verses again I think we did put him on the PowerPoint again. Here's my servant who my uphold my chosen one who might delight I'll put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations and then Jesus quoting this one later in Psalms or Isaiah 61 the spirit of the sovereign order is on me. He's anointed me to preach and to do these other works of ministries which we we saw earlier. So there's an act of realization or fulfillment of these two prophecies there at the baptism. Okay comments questions. I'll read the leadership action. Yeah yeah there's something to that Steve is saying can you also say that it's showing our Lord's leadership that he's he's baptized and so we should be baptized. There is something to that we often talk about following the Lord and believers baptism and I think there is something by way of an example here although we have to keep in mind when we think of it as an example we have to keep in mind that that Jesus baptism very different from ours. Our hours has a different purpose and a different message that it's sending but the fact that Jesus did submit himself to water baptism certainly is an example for us although we do it for different reasons. Yes, Kisni? Okay good question can we talk a little bit about the difference between John's baptism and the baptism we do now. John's baptism had to do with an outward sign it was an outward sign that you were repenting of your sin and the outward sign basically is I'm cleansing myself of sin to get ready for the kingdom. Prepare my heart for the kingdom to come and the baptism was an actual outward symbol or sign that says I've repented remember Jesus John would say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and people were asking what must I do to repent and be ready for this baptism and he would tell them or remembers we saw if you're soldier if you're a you know Pharisee if you're whatever this is what you need to do to show genuine repentance and the baptism is basically a way of saying okay I'm publicly declaring with this sign of washing that I've cleansed myself of sin I've repented. Christian baptism the baptism we're baptized with basically is in the same sense a public declaration but it's a public declaration of the fact that we have trusted Christ as our Savior so it's a little different John's basically is saying okay I'm preparing myself for this coming kingdom that's being announced ours is saying I have I have trusted Christ as my Savior and so I'm showing by this symbol the fact that I have been buried with him and I've been raised to walk in a new life with him I've been united with Christ in his death bearing resurrection both of them are symbols both of them symbolize the truth but the truth they symbolize is a little different one I'm ready for the kingdom ours I've trusted Christ as my Savior so very similar but some difference as well okay I appreciate that question to kind of clarify those that's that's good any other question comment about the baptism okay you can see we're not quite done with the baptism I did want to just briefly touch on three wrong views of the baptism some incorrect views of the baptism of Christ one one incorrect view is that this is where Jesus assumed deity okay this was another false teaching in the early church it's called docetism it's not important that you know that that name but if you study church history they kind of put tags on all these early heresies that arose and this one it comes from a Greek word dacetto which means to seem or appear and this teaching was that that and this basically came out of Greek dualism Greek philosophy that everything matter you know physical was evil and so there were those who thought well the Son of God could never have had a real physical body that would have been evil and so the man Jesus was not really the son of God but at the baptism the really there was kind of a phantom you know it was not a real body but at the baptism God came upon this phantom Jesus and then left him right before he died that was a teaching of some people in the early church obviously that is an error that's not correct I mean it just messes up a whole lot of stuff about the incarnation of Christ the coming of Christ take a human body and so forth a second wrong view of the baptism of Christ at least I believe it's a wrong view and that is that when Christ was baptized he was being anointed into priesthood there are those who take this view that the anointing here was actually an anointing into priesthood Lewis Sparrow Chaffer the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary took this view but I I don't believe in most theologians do not believe that's what was happening Jesus was not being anointed into his priesthood at this point he was being anointed by the Holy Spirit with power for his ministry but remember Jesus priesthood is an entirely different priesthood from the Old Testament it's not the same kind of priesthood as the Old Testament book of Hebrews makes that clear it's not the Aaronic priesthood he doesn't follow after the the priest you know priestly tribe of Levi and Aaron he's a Melchizedecian priest remember he's a priest after the Order of Melchizedec totally different kind of priesthood which combines the office of priest and king so to see him somehow as being anointed and initiated into his priestly ministry and he fulfills a priestly ministry during his his earthly life probably is not the best way to see that I mean Jesus Jesus was the sacrifice at Calvary he was the lamb not necessarily the priest his priestly ministry is probably better seen as beginning when he is in heaven when he goes back to heaven and begins to pray for us and represent us before the Father as our high priest okay it's not a not a real big deal but probably better to see the priestly ministry of Christ starting at the ascension and then a third wrong view of the baptism and this was taught by Augustus strong in his systematic theology strong systematic theology good Baptist theologian in the early 1900s but probably not the best view of the baptism he said that it was at the baptism that Jesus actually begins to bear the guilt of man and throughout his whole ministry he bears the guilt of man and then fulfills it completely at the cross and obviously it's better to see Jesus bearing our guilt at the cross and not during his earthly ministry Isaiah 53 6 we all like sheep of gone astray each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of assaults very clear in that passage in that context that our iniquity our guilt was laid on him at the time of the cross Jesus life and ministry had a lot of important purposes but it was at the cross and his death where Jesus was actually bearing our guilt probably better to see it that way okay that finishes up what I want to say about the baptism of Christ any questions and things you'd like to explore a little further about Jesus baptism yeah i agree I agree. Isaiah 53 does seem the point toward the cross. Now, there is a quote in Matthew 8 of a passage about Jesus bearing our infirmities and referring to his healings. And that's a whole different story. A whole different situation. It's not talking about what happened to cross, but we'll deal with that later when we get to the ministry. A little further along. Yes, Kisney? When you talk about the couple of years came on, he was able to introduce the trilogy in three of the miracles and so forth. Did you see that because he was still fully God and fully manned before this time? Was that a suppression of his deity? I don't know what to say, but of his power and his ability to do that? Yeah, if I can make sure everybody heard the question that since the Holy Spirit comes on Jesus at this time, does that mean that he has suppressed that his deity earlier in his life? I know he was fully God. He didn't exhibit his deity and doing miracles and so forth. And yes, I believe that is what's happened earlier in his life and even on through his ministry. I think we've mentioned this phrase before, but it's one that bears repeating that Jesus in his earthly life voluntarily laid aside the independent use of his divine attributes. That will happen right on up through his ministry, all the way up to his death, where he never expresses his divine attributes except in obedience to the world of the Father, when the world of the Father calls for that. In other ways, Jesus is perfectly human and voluntarily limits the independent use of his divine attributes. So he gets tired, although he's God, God has all power, right? He gets tired, he gets hungry. There are certain things he doesn't know. He himself says, I don't know the time of my second coming. So he voluntarily limits the independent use of his divine attributes. And certainly that is more apparent in his life, early life, before his ministry, where he's been working as a carpenter in Nazareth. Has done new miracles that are at least recorded in the scriptures. Now, there's something else that ties into this that I'd like to touch on for a moment. And that is the anointing of the spirit or the filling of the spirit. Here's something that I think many people miss and just quite often miss in discussions on the filling of the spirit. In the Bible, there are actually two kinds of filling of the spirit, two different kinds. There is what theologians call the normal, progressive filling of the spirit, which is what Paul's talking about in Ephesians 5, 18. Be filled with the spirit, don't be drunk, but be filled with the spirit. That is a continual control of the Holy Spirit of my life, should be, and control over my character. That is a normal, progressive control of the spirit. But there is also a filling of the spirit, which is a supernatural filling of the spirit for works of service. And that's when the Holy Spirit comes on someone to give them power to do a particular ministry, and then that power may be withdrawn. You see that, particularly in the Old Testament, but you also sit in the book of Acts, and I think that's what's happening at the baptism. It's not like Jesus has not been spirit-filled up to this point. He has been. He has walked perfectly under the control of the spirit. And in that sense, he's been spirit-filled every minute of every day up to this point. But at this point, the Holy Spirit comes on him in fresh power to do something he's not been required to do before. And that supernatural power of the spirit is a different kind of filling. It's the kind of filling that happened on the death of Pentecost with the apostles. It says they were filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave the mutterance. Well, that was a supernatural ability to do something beyond themselves. I think the Holy Spirit still does that today. I think the Holy Spirit gives people power to do ministries, ability to do ministries to do something for the Lord. I mean, even preaching or teaching the Word is something that you can't do with spiritual effect on your own. And so every time before I get up to preach or teach the Word, part of my prayer for that particular time is that the Lord will give me that fresh enabling of the spirit in that sense of a power to do something that's supernatural. That's totally different from progressive control, fruit of the spirit kind of filling. It's an empowerment for service. And I think that's what's happening to the baptism. The spirit comes on to him to empower him to serve. I think in Acts 2, what Tommy's asking is did the filling of the Spirit take place with him empowering each of the apostles or was it the fact that the people who heard it were empowered by the Spirit here? I think Acts 2 makes it quite clear that the apostles were filled with the Spirit, the ones who were speaking were filled with the Spirit. And they were enabled to do something they could not do on their own. It was a supernatural work. I think the people here know that they did not do the Word. Well, I think they were, I think personally the miracle took place in the tongues of the apostles and their understanding not in the ears of the hearers. I think they actually spoke in other languages because it is clear that the miracle took place in the speaking, not the hearing. It does say each man heard in his own language, but that's because the Word was being spoken in their language. So I think the miracle was the actual speaking in foreign languages these men had never studied. Now there are those who take the view that they were just speaking aramaic or Hebrew or whatever and that the miracle was in the hearing of the hearers. But I think it's pretty clear in Acts 2 that they spoke with other tongues, it says. They spoke in other languages. Okay? Any other questions about the baptism of Christ? Okay, just so that we may not have to sing the song again next week. Let's go ahead and talk a little bit about the temptation. The temptation of Christ is found in Matthew 4. I think I have the scriptures there for you on your outline. Matthew 4 verses 1 through 11, Mark 1, 12 and 13 and Luke 4, 1 to 13. So obviously the longer accounts are in Matthew and Luke. Now let me just say something about the differences in the accounts first. This will just kind of introduce the temptation of Christ. Temptation of Christ is the next event after the baptism. One interesting difference is that Matthew and Luke reverse the order of the second and third temptations. Now we'll get into the actual passages later, but remember there were three temptations and we'll talk more about later what all happened. Him being driven out into the wilderness and the fasting and all that. We'll talk about that when we actually get into the passage just to kind of introduce though. Remember there were three temptations, Satan tempted him to turn the stones into bread and then in Matthew's gospel the second one is he takes him up to a pinnacle the temple and and tempts him to throw himself off and the angels will bury him up and everybody will go, go, ooh, ah, and that kind of thing. And the third one in Matthew's gospel is he takes him to a high mountain shows him all the kingdoms of the world says if you bow down and worship me, I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world. In Luke's, the kingdom of the world temptation is the second one and the pinnacle the temple is third. Most commentators believe that Matthew has the actual chronological order and that Luke and remember we talked about this when we introduced the life of Christ talking about the differences in the gospel accounts. Luke has a little bit more of a chronological or a graduate rather geographical purpose in his gospel and so he probably arranges them geographically to have Jesus the last one being their in Jerusalem. Exactly why they're different we don't know for sure and it's not really important all three of them were there but remember sometimes in the gospels the order of events is not the same in each of the gospels doesn't mean that one of them got it wrong but remember in the telling of a story a New Testament times we dealt with this earlier. Sometimes there was a theological purpose and so things would be the information would be shared but it would be arranged in a way to make a point and so that's probably why they're different. One other difference or two other differences in the accounts one is that Mark alone mentions that Jesus was with the wild beasts in Mark 113. It's just an interesting difference with the other gospels. He was in the desert 40 days being tempted by Satan he was with the wild animals. Matthew and Luke don't mention that interesting that Mark would. In fact it was with the wild animals indicates his lordship over the creation his ability to control wild animals and by the way there were lots of wild animals in that day in the wilderness even the lions in the wilderness. So it indicates their submission to his authority but Mark is the only one that mentions it. Another difference is that Matthew and Mark mentioned that angels attended him. If you're there in Mark 113 the last thing that said angels attended him. Luke doesn't say anything about that but Matthew does that angels were there ministering to him. At the temptation interesting sideline we'd like to know more about what that was about. The implication is that at the end of the temptation when Jesus is very weary because he's fasted 40 days and 40 nights and he has just faced the onslaught of Satan that angels probably ministered him to strengthen him maybe even providing food after those 40 days and 40 nights of fasting. Okay those are the differences in the accounts. We'll come back next week to talk about the purpose of the temptation then we'll talk about the essence of the temptation and this is one of the greatest theological debates in all of the Bible and that is could Jesus have sinned. We'll talk about that before we actually get into the description of the temptations. All right let's pray. Father thank you for again the opportunity to just look at the life of our Lord as it's described in your word. We thank you for what you've given us in your word and the opportunity pulling back the curtain so that we could see our Lord in action on this earth and to see how he lived as a man and how he lived as God on this earth. We are grateful for the opportunity to study that. Pray that you would bless our time and help us to take home not not just information but encouragement and strength, hope, desire to be more like your son as we live our own lives. We pray in Jesus' name amen.