January 9, 2023 with Mack Tomlinson on “The Testing & Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness” (Part 1)

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Mack Tomlinson, Providence Chapel, and the Fellowship Conference New York

I'm thrilled to have back on the program an old friend of mine, Mack Tomlinson, who is an author, a conference speaker, and pastor at Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas. And we're actually going to have a Mack Tomlinson two-day marathon.

We are going to have Mack on today and tomorrow, God willing, to discuss part one and part two of the testing and temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness. And Mack Tomlinson is not only the pastor of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, but he is also going to be a featured speaker at the upcoming 2023 Fellowship Conference New York to be held at the church where I was formerly a member before moving to Pennsylvania, Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Merrick, Long Island, New York.

This is going to be a conference sponsored by Christ Fellowship of Patchell, Long Island, who are using the facilities of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Merrick. But it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, my dear friend Mack Tomlinson.

Hey, Chris, good to be back with you as always.

And I want to take this time again to thank you from the bottom of my heart to reaching out to my oldest brother, John, who was in the hospital about a year ago, I guess it was. He was getting ready to leave this planet and enter into eternity due to critical stage emphysema and cancer and pneumonia, and you reached out to my brother and ministered to.

Him.

I know that the hospital was not that far from where you live, and I believe that God used that ministry to my brother to open up his mind, his heart, his eyes, and his ears to the Gospel, and I have nothing but confidence that he believed in and embraced and trusted in the true Christ of Scriptures and the true Gospel of the Holy Scriptures before leaving this planet.

And I believe with the uttermost confidence that he is now in the loving, eternal embrace of our Lord, God, Savior, and King for all eternity now. And I want to thank you again for reaching out to him, not only for the fact that I believe God used you to bring him to a saving understanding of Christ, but it also gave me an enormous measure, an infinitely added measure of peace and trust and confidence that my brother is indeed saved.

Thank you, Chris, very much.

And so before we go into the conference, Fellowship Conference New York, and also the theme we are addressing today, the testing and temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, tell our listeners about Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas.

I'm sorry, did you ask me to tell you about Providence Chapel in Denton?

That's exactly what I did, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, we're a Reformed Baptistic congregation in Denton, which is a university town of about 130 ,000, 30 miles north of Dallas and Fort Worth. We've been here 22 years, and our congregation loves the Word of God, loves the Gospel, loves missions, and loves people.

And I welcome anyone who lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, especially north of Dallas, the whole northern part of the Metroplex here, to check us out. ProvidenceDenton .org is our website. That's ProvidenceDenton .org, and we hope you'll visit us.

If you're looking for a church in the north Dallas, north Fort Worth area, or if you're ever visiting in the area, just find us and come and worship with us.

Praise God. Once again, that's ProvidenceDenton .org. And I hope the next time that God's good providence has me in Denton, Texas, because I've only been in Denton, Texas once, that you are actually there.

At the time, I know that you were traveling on vacation, I believe, when I was at a Bible conference at another church in Denton, and I was hoping to share a time of fellowship with you, but you were out of town.

So hopefully the next time I get down there, God willing, I will be able to share fellowship with you. And today we are going to be discussing not only a fascinating passage of the Scripture, but also a controversial one, because some of the details of this historic and biblical event have led Christians to disagree on some different areas of doctrine, one of them being the peccability of Christ versus the impeccability of Christ.

But that is not our main theme today. Our main theme today is just the story of which would happen and what we are to glean from that story. And first of all, I'd like to read, I'm going to pick Luke's version of this temptation, if you don't mind.

And I'm going to read the passage that we are discussing today, and I'll be reading it from the New American Standard Bible, and this is in chapter 4 of Luke. Now, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil.

And he ate nothing during those 40 days, and when they had ended, he was hungry. And the devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone.

And he led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want.

Therefore, if you worship before me, it shall be yours. Jesus replied to him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. And he brought him into Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He shall give his angels orders concerning you to protect you.

And on their hands they will lift you up, so that you do not strike your foot against the stone. And Jesus answered and said to him, It has been stated, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

And so when the devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time. That was Luke chapter 4, verses 1 through 13. Tell us initially why it was that this passage means so much to you, that you wanted to discuss it for two days on Iron Trip and Zion Radio.

Well, I guess in a very practical sense, this fall, I think it was back in September. No, it wasn't. It was October, but that's immaterial really. I spoke on this theme, this passage, which, by the way, is also found in Matthew 4 and Mark 1.

So this account of Christ's temptation is in all three of the synoptic gospels. But I spoke five messages on this subject this fall in a conference this year. And as I studied it, it just came alive to me again.

And the reality of Christ having to go through this as a man, and really the implications of it, what it means, what it doesn't mean, but especially what it means for believers as a part not only of our redemption, but that Christ as a man is our example in the Christian life in dealing with temptation and overcoming temptation.

So it's just a wonderful, somewhat neglected truth that I think many Christians do not either understand enough or don't appreciate enough.

Yes, and one of the things that gives rise to a bit of confusion, I believe, over the very nature of Christ Jesus, the perfect, sinless, completely righteous, blameless, perfectly obedient God-man, the nature of his temptation, people very often import into that story and that concept a common, at least modern, it may have always been used this way as well, the word temptation or the concept of temptation in at least some way.

But particularly in our modern thinking, when we hear of somebody being tempted, that normally involves, like for instance, if a woman walks by a man wearing a bikini and he's tempted, he's usually involved in personal sin because he is considering doing something sexually.

He's lusting. He may be fantasizing. There are all things going on that are imported into that word temptation where the person is considering very seriously and desiring very deeply and passionately to give in to this temptation and to sin in the way that he or she is being tempted.

But this is not at all the case with Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man, was it?

Yeah, you're correct. Our temptation as sinful people is not all the same as Christ was tempted because we know that he was a perfect man, but he was truly man, and so Scripture clearly says he was tempted at all points like we are, yet without sin.

The difference between Christ's temptation as a man and ours is, I mean, even James says, each one of us is tempted when he's carried away and enticed by his own lust. That's James 1 .14. Well, so our temptations often come from within, out of a heart of lust, an evil heart of unbelief.

But Christ's temptations never came from within because there was nothing in him that was impure, but he yet was truly tempted by Satan the enemy with legitimate temptation that came to him from the outside because he was truly human and his temptations were legitimate.

And we have that promise given to us, a precious promise in Hebrews 4, verse 15, where we have this promise, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

That last part is the key difference between how Christ was tempted and how we are tempted since we are fallen creatures. Since we do, even after our regeneration, even though we're new creatures, we are still dealing with remaining sin while on this earth.

And we can never say that our temptations are not tainted with sin, but Jesus Christ was never tainted with sin during his temptations.

Right. And I think because of that, believers know that Jesus Christ was truly God and truly man in every way. And therefore, there's this confusion because the Bible says God cannot tempt men, neither can he be tempted.

Therefore, they think, so Jesus could not have been tempted with evil, but he was tempted in his humanity as being one of us. And because of that, he was truly human. And therefore, part of the glory of his becoming our redeemer and his incarnation, when he took on a human nature and a human body in order to redeem us, he not only was able to be tempted humanly, he had to be tempted because he was becoming one of us to be qualified to be our high priest and our redeemer.

And that's a great mystery that believers need to study more.

Yeah. And it also qualified him to be a substitute for us.

Right. But of course, some of these things we're getting way ahead of ourselves and probably we'll get on some of this stuff tomorrow. And I would encourage all of you who are listening, if you're able to tune in tomorrow, both programs will cover truth that is important to hear both programs and to think about more.

Well, it's interesting right off the bat, in the very first verse of chapter 4 of Luke, in his account of what occurred in the wilderness when Jesus was tempted by Satan, it says, Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil.

That seems to be almost a contradiction in terms there, an oxymoronic event where you have the Holy Spirit leading Christ in the wilderness and yet he's constantly being tempted for 40 days. Can you explain that?

Yes, it does almost sound like a contradiction, but it's not because each of the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the synoptic gospels, all say that he was led there by the Holy Spirit to be tempted.

That was immediately after his baptism at the Jordan, and in his baptism he was obeying the Father's direction to be baptized by John, and in that Jesus was submitting to a sinner's baptism, not because he was a sinner, but he was identifying with sinful people by being baptized.

And so right out of his baptism in water, and the Holy Spirit had come upon him, giving him great assurance, the next step before any public ministry, the Father had ordained for Christ, the Son, to go into the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted.

In fact, Mark 1 .12 uses a stronger word. It says the Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness. There was this divine compulsion, this great urgency that Christ felt a strong leading that he was to go into the wilderness.

And we don't know all that he knew, but he knew that the Father was leading him there for a divine purpose. And so the Father was leading him there to be tested, not to be tempted with evil, because only Satan tempts people with sin.

God doesn't tempt, but he does allow testing. And this really is a great mystery. I'll share on this a little while until you need a break, Chris, until you interrupt me.

Sure, go ahead.

But the reality is Christ as a man, Hebrews addresses this, Christ had to be tested, he had to suffer temptation and testing humanly to pass the test of obedience. He had to go through human experience and he had to obey the law of God every day of his life.

He had to have divine times of testing for his obedience to be worked out and experienced. And so Christ as a man, to qualify as our Redeemer and our High Priest, he had to face the reality of passing the test of obedience.

He must be proven as a man. Even Luke says that Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man. That's speaking about his humanity. As God, he can't grow, but as man, as a true man, his humanity had to grow.

And so the Bible says that Christ learned obedience through the things that he suffered. So in one sense, his entire early life was a life of suffering, but his true suffering started officially in a big way in the desert wilderness experience for 40 days as a 30-year-old young man.

And could you tell us if there is, or what, I should say, significance you believe there is in the fact that this was a 40-day temptation? That number sticks out very glaringly even in the old covenant scriptures, the Hebrew scriptures, in regard to the Jews wandering in the wilderness.

If you could pick up on any significance between that number.

Well, you know, you're right. That number is found in the Old Testament. The number 40, Israel was in the wilderness 40 years. Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days, two different times. Even Elijah, it mentions him running in the strength of one meal for 40 days.

So the number 40 is significant, I think, in symbolism of significant times of testing or proving or deep experience in the Old Testament. And it certainly doesn't seem any different with Christ. It was a divinely ordained period of almost, of course, almost six weeks, 40 days.

And it was just the purpose of God for Christ the Son to experience a full 40 days of significant temptation, not just by demonic powers, but by Satan himself for 40 days.

And I have heard at least one preacher, a solid preacher, Reformed Baptists, teach that he believes that there is significance in the fact just as Christ is our second Adam, you have occurrences in the Old Testament where the Israelites, the people of God, failed during a certain season or test by God, and whereas in the New Covenant there is a mirror occurrence or an occurrence that bears a lot of similarity in which Christ appears to be going through a very clearly similar season of testing and he is passing with flying colors.

Do you see that same kind of imagery there?

Yes, I think that's right. And this, in a way, brings up the parallels that are significant both with Jesus and Adam and Eve and Jesus and the nation of Israel. It's really significant in some ways. And just briefly, think about the parallels between Adam and Christ.

The first time Satan tempted man was in the garden with Adam and Eve in a perfect paradise. And Adam and Eve quickly fell that test in the garden. And Jesus, Adam and Eve were in paradise, Satan comes, Jesus is in the wilderness, and Satan comes.

So Satan tempted the first man, Adam, and Adam fell, and here in the middle of history, Satan comes to tempt the last man, the last Adam, Christ, not in a paradise, but in a wilderness that's dark, wild animals, dangerous animals are around, Jesus is alone, Satan comes again.

And so there is clearly a parallel between Adam and Christ, but also Israel and Christ. For instance, Israel is called God's son in Exodus 4. Christ is the perfect son, the son of God. Israel was led in the wilderness in Deuteronomy 6, Deuteronomy 8.

The Lord Jesus was led to the wilderness to be tempted. Israel was tested in the wilderness. Christ was tested in the wilderness. Israel for 40 years, and they failed. Christ for 40 days, and he passed the test.

And Chris, it's interesting that in all three of the temptations that are recorded in the Gospels, the book that Jesus quoted every time, quoted back to Satan, was from the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 8, Deuteronomy 6.

And so this is the book that God gave Israel to, in the wilderness, the book of Deuteronomy, and that's the book that Jesus quotes Satan in his wilderness temptation. Because Christ said, the first temptation, Christ answers Satan, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

And there's something significant about Christ saying to Satan, man shall not live by bread alone. He's not only directly quoting Deuteronomy, but in a sense Christ is saying to Satan, I'm facing you here as the last man, as the last Adam, as a true man, and not just as God.

So this was very significant.

We do have time for one question before we go to our first station break. We have Ramon in Metro Manila in the Philippines who has a question. And let me get to that. And I was just looking at it a second ago.

Oh, here it is. What kind of fast was Christ on? Was it a water fast?

The Gospels... Thank you for the question, by the way. The Gospels do not say that He did not drink water. We don't know. It only says that He did not eat and He was hungry. But Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not record anything about water, that He fasted from water.

It says afterward He was hungry and then He ate food. It doesn't say that He fasted from water and He was thirsty.

Yeah, and the devil's temptation didn't even involve water. It involved turning stone into bread.

Right, yeah, exactly.

Well, thank you, Ramon. And keep listening to Iron Trip and Zion Radio and spreading the word about the program in the Philippines and beyond. We're going to go to our first station break. And if anybody else has a question for Mac Tomlinson on the temptation and testing of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

C-H-R-I-S-A-R-N-Z-E-N at gmail .com. As always, give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the USA. Only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

Don't go away. We'll be right back with Mac Tomlinson after these messages.

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We're now back with our guest today, Mack Tomlinson, pastor of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas. This is Part 1 of a two-part discussion we are having today and tomorrow on the testing and temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness.

Our email address, if you have any questions, is ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. ChrisArnzen at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence. And Mack, if you could pick up where we left off on other significant things you want us to know about this very important historic and biblical occurrence in the Scripture.

Yeah, thanks, Chris. You know, I think I also alluded to this a little bit, but God's ways are not our ways, the Bible says. Most people would think, just on a surface level, well, surely after Jesus' baptism, when He receives a great anointing of the Holy Spirit and He receives His assurance from His Father in Heaven, surely isn't that the right time to go right into public ministry?

But it wasn't. What was needed before any public ministry at all, before any miracle, any sermon, Christ must go through this wilderness experience to bring a level of human experience in relation to temptation and testing that He had never had before.

And so as you read those gospel accounts at the end of the temptation, then He comes forth in the power of the Holy Spirit to begin His public ministry. So times of testing and suffering are just essential, not only in the life of Jesus, but in the life of every Christian.

And I'll talk more about that tomorrow. But so I think, you know, it's just good for us to think now about some of the aspects, the major aspects of this temptation experience. And the first just has to do really with the timing of the testing.

And I've been alluding to that. The timing of this is significant because it was right after a glorious time of Jesus' public ministry beginning. He comes forth to the Jordan River. So He's leaving home, the carpenter shop as a 30-year-old, entering into His Father's public calling for Him.

He's baptized by John. He's anointed with the Holy Spirit. He receives great assurance. So Jesus goes to this wilderness temptation right out of a time of victory, a time of messianic fulfillment, a time of encouragement and empowering.

And it was then, after a time of great encouragement, that the devil comes to Him to tempt Him for 40 days. And there's a real spiritual lesson there for any Christian. And this is it, that great times of blessing or encouragement or personal revival or seasons of God doing wonderful things in the Christian's life, those good times do not insulate us from times of testing or spiritual warfare.

Wonderful times of spiritual experience, times of refreshing, are no guarantee that we will not soon experience dark times that are hard. Hard times can follow wonderful times. And remember, it was after the positive and encouraging things recorded about Job, that he was the most righteous man in the earth, he had great wealth, God had greatly blessed him, he had 10 children, a wonderful family, and he was the greatest man in the earth.

After Job 1 tells us that, it's then that Satan is allowed by God to test and try Job. So if we have good seasons and then hard times come, it shouldn't make us doubt that God's with us. It shouldn't make us doubt Him.

It shouldn't make us begin to wonder, is God with me? And if He is, why are these hard things happening? Is God punishing me? Surely He's punishing me for my sin somehow, or I wouldn't be going through this.

And the truth is, the godliest Christians, the obedient Christian, can go through severe times, and God is allowing it for their good. And this is important to remember.

Could it be rightly said that if a Christian is not being tempted going through a season of trial that involves temptation of the devil, that he is probably not worth that much in the kingdom of God if indeed he is not experiencing this because the devil already knows.

This person is acting upon his own depraved nature enough to sin on his own accord without any of my tempting being necessary. Could that rightly be said?

Well, I think that certainly has truth in it. No question about that. You know, it would do every Christian a lot of good to study in the New Testament closely all the passages about temptation and testing and trials and hardships.

I mean, think of what James 1, 2 -4 says. James says to these believers, to the twelve tribes, he says, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.