Excerpts from Life-study of Matthew, Message 11 ... - Church in Manila

Excerpts from Life-study of Matthew, Message 11 THE KING’S ANOINTING (4) Bible Verses: Matthew 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, speak that these stones may become loaves of bread. 4:4 But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” 4:5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and set Him on the wing of the temple, 4:6 And said to Him, If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written, “To His angels He shall give charge concerning You, and on their hands they shall bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.” 4:7 Jesus said to him, Again, it is written, “You shall not test the Lord your God.” 4:8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 4:9 And he said to Him, All these will I give You if You will fall down and worship me. 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, Go away, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” 4:11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. [SELECTION, ANOINTING, AND TESTING] In this message we come to the testing of the newly appointed King (4:1-11). After His anointing, the Lord was tested. In God’s administration the sequence is always selection, anointing, and testing. There is an illustration of this in married life. Prior to getting married, you certainly made a selection. Among the many you could have married, you selected a certain one. After the selection came the appointment, and after the appointment came the test. Nearly every married couple has failed the marriage test. Although we were successful in the appointment, we were not successful in the test. After the heavenly King was anointed and appointed. He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested. He did not go to the wilderness on His own; He was led there by the very Holy Spirit who had descended upon Him. In God’s economy, after we have been appointed to something, we shall always be tested. If the Lord Jesus needed a test, then how about us? [THE FIRST TEST] The Lord was led to fast for forty days and forty nights. After these forty days and forty nights, He was physically hungry, and the tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, speak, that these stones may become loaves of bread” (v. 3). To this proposal the Lord replied, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (v. 4). Many Christians think that because the Lord was fasting during this time He did not eat anything. However, this word reveals that while the Lord Jesus was fasting, He was eating. Physically He was fasting, but spiritually He was eating. Here we see an important principle. In the Lord’s ministry and economy, if we do not know how to lower our physical demands and take care of the spiritual demand, we are not qualified for His ministry. In order to be qualified in the Lord’s ministry, we must be tested. We must lay down our physical requirements. A good living, good food, good clothing, and proper housing are all secondary. Eating spiritual food is primary. Forty-five years ago in China, this way was truly narrow, and we were daily on the test concerning our living. Time after time just one dollar kept some of us from having nothing to eat. Nearly every day we were tested concerning what we would eat that night. But that was the time we enjoyed feasting on the Word of

God. On the one hand, we did not have very much physical food to eat, but on the other hand, we did feast on the rich Word. The principle is the same today in the church life. Everyone who takes the way of the church will be tested in this matter of his daily living. We shall be tested to show to the whole universe that our concern is not for physical food, but for spiritual food. [THE SECOND TEST] Verse 5 says, “Then the Devil took Him into the holy city and set Him on the wing of the temple.” The Devil’s first temptation of the new King was in the matter of human living. Defeated in this, he turned his second temptation to religion, tempting the new King to demonstrate that He is the Son of God from the wing of the temple. In verse 6 the Devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written, He shall give charge to His angels concerning You, and on their hands they shall bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.” The second test is a matter of religion. The most exciting thing in religion is miracles. According to the human concept, any religion that does not have miracles is powerless; the most powerful religion is a religion of miracles. Therefore, Satan brought the new King to the wing of the temple and tempted Him to leap down from it by saying that the angels would protect Him. Do not think that you have never had the thought of doing this kind of thing. In my early days I often thought of doing things to show people that I was a supernatural person and that I had supernatural powers. Have you not had this kind of concept in your Christian life? Every Christian has been tempted in this way. The Lord Jesus said to Satan, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (v. 7). Do not tempt God. [THE THIRD TEST] Verses 8 and 9 say, “Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, All these will I give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Defeated in his temptation in the religious sphere, the Devil presented his third temptation to the new King, this time in the realm of the glory of this world. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. The temptations of the subtle one always come in this way: firstly, in human living; secondly, in religion; and thirdly, in worldly glory. In any temptation, all three of these items will be present. The third temptation is a matter of worldly glory, promotion, ambition, position, and a promising future. All this is the glory of the world. In verse 10 the Lord Jesus said, “Go, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” The Lord seemed to be saying to Satan, “Satan, as a man, I, Jesus, worship God and serve Him only. You are God’s enemy, and I will never worship you. I don’t care for the glory of the world or for the kingdoms of the world. Satan, get away from Me!” If we consider our experience, we shall see that all temptations are included in these three aspects: the temptation in the matter of our living, the temptation of religious miracles, and the temptation in the realm of worldly glory. All day long we are tempted in the aspects of our living, religion, and worldly position. But the Lord Jesus overcame every aspect of the enemy’s temptation. If we kill these three temptations, saying, “I don’t care for my living, for religious power, or for worldly position,” Satan will not be able to do anything to us.

Read the verses and footnotes online: http://online.recoveryversion.bible/ Read the complete message online: http://www.ministrybooks.org/life-studies.cfm

Excerpts from Life-study of Matthew, Message 12 THE BEGINNING OF THE KING’S MINISTRY Bible Verses: Matthew

4:12 Now when He heard that John was delivered up, He withdrew into Galilee. 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is beside the sea in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, 4:14 In order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 4:15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 4:16 The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and to those sitting in the region and shadow of death, to them light has risen.” 4:19 And He said to them, Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men. 4:20 And immediately leaving the nets, they followed Him. 4:23 And Jesus went about in all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. 4:25 And great crowds followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. [THE BEGINNING OF THE MINISTRY] We come now to a very important section of the Gospel of Matthew, the section of the King’s ministry (4:12—11:30). In this message we shall consider the beginning of the ministry (4:12-25). After the Lord was anointed, He was tested to prove that He was qualified, and then He began to minister. Due to the people’s rejection of John, the Lord Jesus withdrew into Galilee to begin His ministry, far away from the holy temple and holy city. According to the human concept, Jesus should have begun to minister from the holy temple in the holy city, Jerusalem. But the report came to Him that His forerunner, John the Baptist, had been imprisoned. This was an indication to this new King that Jerusalem had become a place of rejection; therefore, He should not begin His kingly ministry there. In His economy God intended to have a thorough change, a change from the old economy to the new. The old economy had resulted in an outward religion, an outward temple, an outward city, and an outward system of worship. Everything in the old economy was systematized in an outward way. In God’s new economy, He gave all that up and had a new beginning. The environment under God’s sovereignty matched this change in God’s economy. Because Jerusalem had rejected the recommender of the new King, the Lord Jesus knew that He should not begin His ministry there. There was no welcome for Him in Jerusalem. Although the new King was the Son of God, and although He had been anointed with the Spirit of God, we are not told here that He prayed concerning where He should go to minister. We are not told that He had the deep sense that He was being led to the north, away from Jerusalem. Rather, the Lord considered the environment and received from it the clear indication where He should go. Do not think that we can be so spiritual that we need no indications from our environment. Even the King of the heavenly kingdom, the Son of God anointed with the Holy Spirit, moved according to the environmental indicators. The Lord’s concept was neither natural nor religious, Furthermore, it was not according to past history. According to history, as the anointed King, He should have gone to the capital, Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the proper place for the King.

[SHINING AS A GREAT LIGHT] [J]esus did not move purely according to the spiritual leading, nor did He move according to past history or the natural concept. Rather, He moved according to the environment which corresponded to God’s economy. By so doing, He spontaneously fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1 and 2. Although the Lord moved apparently according to the environment instead of following the Spirit, His move was a fulfillment of the prophecy in the Scriptures. He went to Galilee, to the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, to shine as a great light upon those sitting in darkness and in the region and shadow of death (Matt. 4:15-16). The new King’s ministry for the kingdom of the heavens began not with earthly power, but with heavenly light, which was the King Himself as the light of life, shining in the shadow of death. When the Lord began His ministry as light, He made no display of power and authority. He walked upon the seashore as a common person. But as He came to those four disciples by the Sea of Galilee, He shined upon them like a great light, shining in the darkness and in the region of the shadow of death. At that juncture, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were enlightened and attracted. We have pointed out that John the Baptist was a great magnet. But the Lord Jesus is the greatest magnet of all. As He shined upon those four disciples, they were attracted and captured. They immediately forsook their jobs and followed this little Nazarene. In Matthew 4 there is no record, as in Luke 5, of any miracle being done by the Lord when Peter was called. However, in Matthew 4, there was the great light that attracted the first four disciples. This attraction came not from what the Lord Jesus did; it came from what He was. He was a great light, a great magnet, with the power to attract people and to capture them. In this way He attracted and captured the first four disciples. No one who follows the Lord because of what He does can be trustworthy or faithful. The trustworthy ones are those who are caught by what the Lord is. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were attracted and captured at the seashore, not by seeing what the Lord did, but by realizing what the Lord was. Because they had been attracted and captured, they became faithful followers of the Lord Jesus unto the end. [TRAVELING, TEACHING, PREACHING, AND HEALING] Verse 23 says, “And Jesus went around the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.” The Lord Jesus spread His ministry by doing four things: traveling, teaching, preaching, and healing. In the work of the gospel today, we also must travel, teach, preach, and heal. Through shining as a great light, the Lord captured four young fishermen to be His disciples. These four disciples traveled with the King throughout Galilee as He taught, preached, and healed. The result was that “great crowds followed Him” (v. 25) for the kingdom of the heavens. This was the beginning of the founding of the kingdom of the heavens. It was absolutely different from the way of the world. The Lord did not start a political movement or form a political party. He did not carry on any kind of movement. In evangelism we must not follow the way of politics or the way of religion. We must follow the way of the Lord Jesus to shine upon others and to attract them by what we are. Then we must travel, teach, preach, and heal. This will attract a crowd. Read the verses and footnotes online: http://online.recoveryversion.bible/ Read the complete message online: http://www.ministrybooks.org/life-studies.cfm