Living By The Word Of God

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Monday June 22, 2009

When Jesus walked the earth during his three and a half year ministry, He was living under the Old Testament law. The New Covenant had not yet come into being, since His own death and resurrection was required to set it into motion.

With that in mind, lets look at the temptation of Jesus:

Matthew 4:1-4 (NIV)
1. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4. Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

Jesus answered the temptation of satan with the Word Of God. There is, of course, significance to the scripture He quoted: Deuteronomy 8:3:

Deuteronomy 8:2,3 (NIV)
2. 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.

The parallel here is that Jesus fasted for 40 days just as the Israelites were led through the desert for 40 years. In order for Jesus to be the blameless Lamb Of God, He had to show that He already knew the lesson that God was trying to teach the Israelites in the desert: that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God!

Matthew 4:5-7 (NIV)
5. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " 7. Jesus answered him, "It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "

Once again, Jesus' answer has great significance. Whenever "putting God to the test" is mentioned in the Old Testament, it is in regard to the 40 years the Israelites were led through the desert:

Psalm 78:17,18,40,41 (NIV)
17. But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. 18. They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.
40. How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! 41. Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.

Psalm 106:14 (NIV)
In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test.

Of course the very temptation Jesus was undergoing was happening during His own 40-day fast that was a parallel to the Israelites being led through the desert!! Jesus' answer was showing that He would not make the same mistake as the Israelites had!!

Matthew 4:8-10 (NIV)
8. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 10. Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' "

This last temptation was the temptation that the Israelites gave in to over and over throughout the Old Testament: the temptation to serve other gods. Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:13:

Deteronomy 6:13-15 (NIV)
13. Fear ("yare": revere or worship) 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; 15. for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.

The reason the Israelites lost the land God had given them was that they turned to other gods, and did not live on "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God"!!

This is an example for us even in New Testament times, but we have a distinct advantage over the Israelites: None of them were ever born again!! The Israelites were bound by the Law. The New Covenant reveals a righteousness APART from the Law:

Romans 3:19-24 (NIV)
19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
21. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24. and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Under the New Covenant, we have been set free from what bound the people under the Old Covenant, so we can more easily live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!! We are able to live in the reality of the blessings promised under the Old Covenant!!

Colossians 2:13-17 (NIV)
13. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14. having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
15. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 16. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

It no longer matters what we eat or drink, what religious festivals we regard, or what our beliefs are about a Sabbath day. These were all shadows of the good things to come, that we now have!!

Because Jesus' endured the temptation that the Israelites could not, He became the perfect sacrifice Lamb, which led to the existence of the New Covenant!! When we are saved, it isn't necessary for us to wander 40 years in a desert; we are born again of the Spirit of God, and His Spirit lives IN us, to help us through everything we face in life!!

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV)
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

We are free to live by "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God". How do we do that??

John 14:26 (NIV) (Jesus speaking)
26. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 16:13,14 (NIV)
13. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

In these New Testament times, the way we live by "every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" is by following the leadings of His Holy Spirit!!

Romans 7:6 (NIV)
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your written Word, that shows us Your Living Truth. Help me to listen to Your Spirit, and to live by every word that proceeds from Your mouth. Help me to follow the leading of Your Spirit as You guide me into all Truth.
In Jesus' Name, Amen

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