LIVING BY EVERY WORD FROM GOD

April 10, 2011
MF Blume

Matthew 3:16-4:4 Complete Apostles' Bible (16) And having been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him. (17) And behold, a voice came out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I have found delight." (4:1) Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil. (2) And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. (3) And approaching Him, the tempter said, "If You are the Son of God, speak so that these stones may become bread." (4) But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.' "

Many believer shave missed the real point of this passage due to religion.

Satan’s last resort is to distance us in our minds as far from being like Jesus in the flesh as He can, so we do not grasp the KINGDOM authority we have that Jesus displayed as our example and deal with the enemy.

Jesus told satan, “MAN shall not live by bread alone.”

Satan attacked and asked if he was “SON OF GOD.”
Jesus answered saying he was a MAN!
Not just GOD.
Jesus’ favourite title was SON OF MAN - 85 verses in NT.
45 for SON OF GOD.
All was lost by a MAN, Adam, and had to be returned by A MAN.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 Complete Apostles' Bible (21) For since by a man death came, also by a Man comes the resurrection of the dead. (22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive.

So Jesus AS A MAN enacted all the necessary means to bring man back, and showed us victory while He did so.

The devil’s greatest nightmare is for us to realize we have the potential to live like Jesus Christ, and LIVE IT FORTH, since Jesus did what He did as a human being like us who learned to depend on the SPIRIT.
BY MAN would come all the victory.
Jesus had to accomplish all this as man SINCE IT HAD TO COME BACK BY MAN.
He had to do overcome the enemy the way we can.

AS A MAN, Jesus was SKILFUL in the WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Hebrews 5:13 KJV For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

That is why he used the WORD to defeat the devil.

Everything Jesus quoted were words to ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS JUST as He was!

This story shows us the best picture of a Christian maturing in order to breach the barrier into KINGDOM power, represented by Canaan.
Jesus enacted that same journey out.
He would BEGIN his ministry after his wilderness temptations.
He came to Jordan where he was baptized then went into the 40 days as Israel went 40 years.
And Jesus used the same words Moses spoke to Israel.

Matthew 4:3-4 Complete Apostles' Bible (3) And approaching Him, the tempter said, "If You are the Son of God, speak so that these stones may become bread." (4) But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.' "

Before we quote the words Jesus quoted, notice what the chapter from which it is quoted shows for the setting of these words:

Deuteronomy 8:1 Complete Apostles' Bible (1) You shall observe to do all the commands which I charge you today, that you may live and be multiplied, and enter in and inherit the land, which the Lord your God swore to your fathers.

Sounds like ADAM’S PURPOSE:

Gen 1:28 – be fruitful, multiply and replenish earth, have dominion.

Here is the verse Jesus quoted from.

TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHY JESUS USED THIS.

Deuteronomy 8:3 Complete Apostles' Bible (3) And He afflicted you and straitened you with hunger, and fed you with manna, which your fathers knew not; that He might teach you that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live.

Notice that God intended Israel to learn TO LIVE BY WORD OF GOD.

He made them hunger and suffer without food and then said he’d give them manna.
But giving this manna was not all there was to it.
INSTRUCTIONS on WHEN to get the manner and NOW MUCH TO TAKE, and WHAT TO DO WITH IT went along with that manna.

Exodus 16:19-28 KJV And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. (20) Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. (21) And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. (22) And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. (23) And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. (24) And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. (25) And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. (26) Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. (27) And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. (28) And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

This proved reliance on WORD OF GOD would keep them and not just food in and of itself.

AND YET SOME DID NOT LISTEN!

TYPICAL!
By making Israel get food ONLY by complying with INSTRUCTIONS every day, God was showing Israel FOOD IS NOT ENOUGH.

Jesus used that statement to respond to the devil.

He was letting the devil know HE WOULD NOT ASSUME TO PROVIDE FOR HIMSELF, because He would rest in God to provide food for Him.
God would give instructions, just as He did with Israel, and Jesus would be led by no one aside from God, least of all THE DEVIL.
THIS FIRST TEMPTATION ALSO SHOWS…
Jesus just heard from God.
THOU ART MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELLPLEASED.
Two things are noted here.
1 – He just HEARD the Father say He was His beloved Son!
Jesus LIVED BY EVERY WORD OF GOD… NOT SOME – He would not prove Sonship and live as Son through proving it all the time, BUT RATHER LIVE BY THE WORD THE FATHER GAVE TO HIM!
Some can only gain confidence in something God said to them in the Word by PROVING IT OUT.
That is weak faith.
Jesus LIVED by what the Word said, period.
2 – He was wellpleasing before He did anything.
The enemy also attacks us makes us think that unless we are doing something He is not pleased with us.
Jesus heard He was a wellpleasing Son before He performed one miracle or preached one sermon.

He heard that word 40 DAYS BEFOREHAND!

Since hearing that Word He fasted 40 days and NO WORD FROM THE FATHER.
Then He was hungry and the devil tempted Him.
The flesh was suffering.
Talk about a dry spell.
40 days without hearing another word.
On top of that the devil tempts Him and takes advantage of His hunger.
BUT JESUS SHOWS HOW HE HELD ONTO THAT WORD!

Living by faith and living by the Word is acting as though what the Word says is actually true, despite any absence of proof in the physical.

And to do THAT in the midst of a dry spell and the devil's temptations is TRUE LIFE BY THE WORD.

When God does something with us miraculously, HOLD ONTO IT.

Plane experience with a passenger holding my book.
The Supernatural must be held onto!
God speaks a word and we only LIVE BY SOME OF IT!
LIVE BY ALL OF IT!

Psalms 77:1-20 KJV I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. (2) In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. (3) I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. (4) Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. (5) I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. (6) I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. (7) Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? (8) Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? (9) Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

(10) And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High. (11) I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. (12) I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. (13) Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? (14) Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people. (15) Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. (16) The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. (17) The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad. (18) The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook. (19) Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. (20) Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

I have gone through things people said they could not go through, but the Lord taught me Psalm 77.

When God does a miracle, make a conscious effort to remind yourself of it, so that when the hard times come, you can depend on it and look back to it.

It will carry you through!
Prayed for mobile home to sell in two weeks.
My first pastorate saw me receive a miracle of $13,000.
Plane my book.
I learned how to persist in prayer to see that miracle happen in my first pastorate which helped me the rest of my entire ministry to learn to get hold of God instead of running.

When doubts come if you are in the will of God or not, you need a miracle that God gave to you to keep you strong.

Forget miracles and you will not have the provision of faith God gave to you.

Satan wants us to act independently of God, since he knows we will accomplish nothing of any threat to him in that case.

React in our own strength in our own wisdom to deal with life.
He urges you to not stand on the word you heard from God and the last experience you had.
He knows God created us to house His Spirit and BE EMPOWERED BY THAT SPIRIT, and in this way we will RULE THE WORLD.
Get us to think on our own and not LEAN ON GOD.

That is why the serpent tempted the woman to consider being her own god, herself.

He tried the same thing with Jesus by getting Jesus to do things without reliance on the Father.
To LIVE and BE SON OF GOD by proving it.
But Jesus took the truth God was showing Israel when checking Israel out to see if they would obey His word or not, by connecting ability to obtain food to strict obedience to instructions that determined how and when Israel would be fed.