Our Old Testament text this morning comes from the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 8, verses 1 through 18. Then we’ll flip on over after that to our New Testament passage, which will be our sermon text in the gospel of Matthew chapter 3, verses 13, and then through chapter 4, verses 11. That’s Deuteronomy 8, then flipping over to the New Testament to Matthew 3.
And as you are turning there, just send formal greetings from your elect sister in Escondido, OPC, and a personal greetings and thank you for having myself and my wife and son here this morning. It is a privilege to worship with you. Hearing now our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy chapter eight, reading verses one through eight.
The whole commandment that I command you today, you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you, and let you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell these 40 years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and by fearing Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat, barley, of vines and fig trees, pomegranates, a land of olives and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper, and you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Flipping over now to the Gospel of Matthew, beginning in chapter three, verse 13. Hear the word of the Lord for us this Lord’s Day from Matthew three.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him. Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented.
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you. And on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. 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 I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And Jesus said to him, be gone Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. And the devil left him and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s go to our Lord in prayer. Blessed God, who caused all of Holy Scripture to be writ, for our benefit in learning, for your revelation of yourself, grant us this, our God, that we may hear, read, mark, and digest your Word in such a way that by patience and humility, with the comfort of your Holy Spirit, that we may embrace it and hold fast to the truth the truth of the gospel presented through your Lord Jesus Christ, our savior, his perfect life and death and resurrection. Grant us eyes to see, hearts to receive, and ears that may hear God. Reduce any distractions or anything that may pull our attention away with our worldly cares. And grace, when inevitably our attention wavers, minister to us in our weakness as the fragile creatures that we are. Pray this in the name of Christ.
There are few questions more unsettling in life than this. Is God pleased with me? Is God pleased with me? Not simply does God forgive me, but deeper, does my life actually meet his approval? That question has a way of surfacing in our life when the noise dies down in moments of weakness, moments of failure, moments of fragility when we feel like we’re going to unravel physically or emotionally, and moments when we fall short and we recognize how far we fall short in our obedience to God and His holy standard.
No, the question is not a theoretical one. It’s one pastors hear on bedsides at the hospital, Elders hear it in private conversation. Christians feel it quietly in their own hearts, rising to the surface in certain moments. I hope I’ve done enough. And that sentence reveals something really important.
It tells us instinctively, we understand, that forgiveness alone isn’t the entirety of it. It isn’t the whole issue. Because Scripture says, sorry, because Scripture does not merely say that God forgives sinners. It also says God requires righteousness. And that’s the question that this passage this morning forces us to face. There are many ways we could look at this passage, many ways you might have heard it preached, but today we’re going to focus on that reality. Matthew brings us here to the beginning of Christ’s public ministry.
John the Baptist has been preaching repentance. He has announced judgment, he has warned in the last chapter, or previous verse, excuse me, of wrath that is coming. He’s spoken of the one who’s coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And then without warning, in our passage this morning, Jesus steps forward, not to teach, not to heal, not to call a disciple, but to be baptized. And that alone should arrest our attention with a raised eyebrow. Baptism in its contents, it just said in the previous verses, is tied to repentance. It’s tied to confession of sin. It marks preparation for coming judgment.
And yet Jesus, the sinless, perfect, righteous one, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, enters the waters. And John immediately recognizes this problem and says, no, no, no, I need to be baptized by you. You come to me. Jesus answers with words that really set the direction and scope of His entire ministry, and certainly our passage this morning.
Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. To fulfill all righteousness. That sentence isn’t a side remark or a passing comment. It’s a declaration of purpose for Christ in His life and ministry. He comes to fulfill righteousness. passage is not only about humility, certainly it’s an act of humility for our Lord and Savior, it’s not only about identification, which he certainly does as he walks through these waters of death, it’s about obedience at its core. Perfect obedience. Obedience rendered in our place. Obedience that meets the perfect demand of God’s law.
Matthew wants us to see that righteousness is not achieved at the end of Jesus’ life alone, No, it is woven through the entirety of it. Through the entirety of the Gospel of Matthew, from the beginning to the end, Jesus was focused on fulfilling all righteousness. So this morning, as we follow Jesus from the waters of baptism into the wilderness of temptation, our text teaches us something essential for our faith, for our hope, and our assurance. God doesn’t merely forgive you because Christ died. declares you righteousness, righteous because Christ obeyed.
He declares you righteous because Christ obeyed. If you are united to Him, if we understand that, it changes how we face sin. It changes how we endure those long hours of temptation and suffering. It changes how you think of the end of your days and whatever is to come. So let’s look carefully then at what Matthew shows us here.
Beginning at the moment where everything starts, Jesus stepping into the water to fulfill all righteousness in verse 13. And he tells us, Matthew tells us fairly simply, that Jesus came to Galilee, to John, for the purpose of being baptized. As we said, up to this point, baptism has had a clear meaning throughout history. It’s a baptism of repentance, of turning away from something and towards something else, tied to confession of sin. John has been calling out sinners out of the wilderness, confronting hypocrisy in the Pharisees, warning of wrath to come, speaking of fire and of separation.
And now, into that scene, into those words, Christ comes. Matthew doesn’t soften the moment. He lets that tension sit for us, the readers. As John recognizes and gives voice to our concern, I need to be baptized by you. He understands that Jesus does not belong in this line of those confessing sin and repenting. Jesus is greater. Jesus is righteous. He knows if anyone needs washing, it’s himself. It’s not the Holy Christ, the Messiah, the long-awaited Son. But notice this, Jesus doesn’t jump to correcting John’s theology or approving of it. He doesn’t say, you’re mistaken, John. He also doesn’t deny his perfection or his superiority.
He just responds, let it be so now. We’re doing this, John, to fulfill that righteousness, a precise and decisive answer. Doesn’t say this will be a good example, certainly it will. He doesn’t say this will symbolize something later, it does. But he says this is necessary to fulfill righteousness, because it must be fulfilled. And the word righteousness is doing the real work here in this passage. It’s not mere sincerity. It’s not good intentions. It’s not a vague sense of covenant loyalty. No, it is more full-bodied and robust.
In Matthew’s gospel, righteousness refers to the obedience that meets God’s standard, conformity to the will of God as revealed in the word. Jesus is saying that something required by God must now be accomplished. It must be accomplished, not by sinners repenting, but by the Son obeying. That’s where the logic of the gospel message we cling to takes shape. It’s not entering the waters because he needs the repentance, he’s entering it because righteousness must be rendered that we may repent. He is stepping into the place where sinners stand, not to confess sin, but to obey where we could not.
Matthew wants us to see from the very beginning of Christ’s ministry, he’s acting representatively. He’s not only living a private life of obedience, he’s living a public, covenantal life on behalf of others as what will be key, the new head. That’s why Jesus says for us, it’s fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
John standing for Israel, Jesus standing for his people and together in this great moment, he takes upon himself the task that Israel failed to complete and walks into it. Matthew has been preparing the attentive reader for this reality. Already we’ve seen the life of Christ mirroring the life of Israel. Earlier in chapters one and two, Jesus is called out of Egypt as the son, just as Israel did. He was retracing their path. And now he passes through the waters, just as Israel passed through the waters of death and they parted, that they could walk across on dry land. And as Christ now does this, as he walks the path once more, mirroring Israel’s path, he’s beginning with the obedience that will carry him all the way to the cross. For this baptism for Christ is ultimately not about cleansing or washing away dirt. No, it’s about commitment.
It’s a display of the son presenting himself to the father and saying, I’m going to obey, I’m going to submit, I will fulfill all that your law requires for my people. And the father opens up heaven and responds. The Spirit descends and a voice declares of the son that was called out of Egypt, now my beloved son, with whom I am well-pleased. It’s a very important declaration. It doesn’t say, I will be well-pleased, my son, after you’ve fulfilled everything in the cross. He says, no, I am well-pleased. In this moment, at the start of Jesus’ ministry, He has yet to utter a word in sermon preached He’s yet to perform a miracle. He’s yet to perform the great sacrifice on the cross, and God publicly declares his pleasure in the obedience of his Son.
And that’s foundational, because from this point onward, everything Jesus does flows out of that righteousness. Matthew wants us to see that that righteousness is declared, and it will be proven now under great pressure. Just as Israel was tested in the wilderness, now Christ will be as well. The Father’s voice has spoken, the Spirit has descended. Now it is time for the Son to be tested.
Because true obedience is not ultimately revealed in the calm waters. It’s revealed under the fire, in the wilderness, in the moments of weakness. So we see beginning in verse one that Christ is led into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the devil.
It’s not a detour to the story. It’s the next necessary step in the path of redemption. No, the same spirit who descended upon him at the Jordan now leads him to the place of testing. The father has declared his good pleasure in his son. That declaration is followed by conflict.
And that tells us, yet again, something important about life. Obedience, as we know, doesn’t remove temptation. The approval and blessing of our God in our union with Christ doesn’t eliminate the trials and testings of this life. In fact, obedience often leads us straight into the face of these things. Matthew is drawing those lines for us here.
Israel passed through the waters of the sea and entered to the wilderness. Now Christ passed through the waters of baptism and enters the wilderness. Israel’s tested for 40 years. Christ is gonna be tested for 40 days. He was led to be tempted by the devil for that intentional, purposeful testing. It’s not a random suffering afflicted on Christ. Because the wilderness is the place of exposure. There’s no distractions in the desert. No comforts. Those safety nets, nothing to rely on. It’s where the heart is revealed when you are exposed.
And after 40 days and 40 nights, Matthew states probably one of the most obvious lines, but still important in scripture, he was hungry. Fair. Matthew slows the story though. And he tells us that that because the obedience that Christ renders is costly. Here in the story, righteousness no longer becomes just a word. It is a choice at the point of vulnerability.
Christ is fully God, fully man, truly human, and experiences the weakness of our flesh. Real hunger, real physical need and craving, the same physical need of hunger many of you might be experiencing even now. And it was after the great deliverance for the people of Israel, that food, that a grumbling belly, led them to bark discontentment from their gullets to the God that had saved them. In the same manner, this is where the tempter comes.
At the time of weakness, when his flesh is weak, he’s down and out just as we are tempted. When the pains of life feel as though they will consume you, when the test results come back and the future can be measured in mere hours, when your own minds and wills seem to turn against you and rage, You’re staggering from the feeling and daggers of a betrayal plugged by those who love you. When you look at your children or your spouses and you dismay at your inability to do anything, it is in those moments of down and out that temptation seems to lurk the strongest. It seems no one told the world, the flesh, and the devil not to kick a man when he’s down, because that’s the preferred tactic.
And that’s what the tempter does. Christ isn’t coming off two weeks of rest and sabbatical and preparation, but he’s weak. And the tempter comes and whispers, if you are the son of God, it should sound familiar, just moments ago the father said, this is my beloved son. Now Satan comes, if you really are the son of God, it’s not a debate about identity, this is an attack on Christ’s very trust. Satan doing what he’s always done, inviting doubt about what the father said, inviting doubt about the father’s goodness in his way. If you are the son of God, command these stones to be bred. In other words, why does the path of righteousness in life need to look like hunger for you? Why should submission look like deprivation? Why should the beloved son suffer at all and suffer lack?
Same logic Israel faced in the wilderness. Did God really bring us out here to die? Is the Lord among us or not, they echoed. Would it be better not if we just took matters into our own hands? Satan is offering the same shortcut to Jesus. Use your power independently, relieve your suffering, meet a very legitimate need in an illegitimate and disobedient way. Jesus responds, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God, as he quotes Deuteronomy 8.
In that passage we read this morning, Deuteronomy 8, it’s Moses explaining why Israel was being tested in the wilderness. To humble you, to test you, to know what is in your heart, whether you’re going to keep his commandment. Well, we see clearly what was in Israel’s heart.
They failed the test. They grumbled, they distrusted, they demanded relief in their own terms, as you or I would on our own, but not Christ. Christ refuses to separate physical provision from faithful obedience. He refuses to define life by comfort rather than by trust in a holy God. He lives as Israel should have, as we should.
But then the second temptation escalates the pressure, turns the heat up even more in some ways, as the devil takes him to the holy city, sets him on the pinnacle of the temple, and he moves it from hunger to spectacle. Throw yourself down if you are the Son of God. Now Satan’s turn to twist scripture and respond slyly. He twists Psalm 91. He twists God’s promise into a license for presumption.
Prove yourself. Force God’s hand. Demand visible confirmation. He’s telling Christ to do, it’s not a display of trust. He’s testing God so that Christ responds again from Deuteronomy. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Israel did that too. At Massah, they demanded signs. They questioned God’s presence. Is he among us? Show us. Jesus refuses that path. He will not manipulate the Father. He will not turn faith into performance or obedience into a spectacle. And in his refusal, the heat gets turned up more in the final temptation. As he takes him to a very high mountain, shows him every kingdom of the world in all their glory. This is the clearest shortcut of all.
All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. First was the relief of food, a hungry man. Then the relief of being recognized, being saved, of being vindicated. But now Satan is offering the crown without the cross, rule without suffering, glory without obedience, offering the great inheritance without submission. This is the temptation that Adam felt. It’s the temptation Israel felt. It’s the temptation every human heart feels. And Jesus’ response in the face of what will expose what is there is immediate and it’s final. Be gone, Satan. You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only will you serve.
Again, Deuteronomy, Israel’s failure of becoming Jesus’ great victory, where Israel worshiped a golden calf, syncretized and added into their religion pagan practices of the Baals. Christ Jesus remains faithful. Instead of compromising allegiance, Christ holds faith. The devil, so that Matthew, excuse me, tells us the devil left him and angels came and ministered to him. Christ passed this great test.
What had been exposed at his heart was righteousness, faithfulness, and the submission of a beloved son. Matthew could have ended the story there, but he doesn’t in many ways, because this victory was never meant to remain for Christ alone. It was accomplished for someone else. It was accomplished representatively. He fulfilled righteousness where those before him failed. He obeyed where humanity fell. He resisted temptation as the representative held out for us.
And that matters incredibly so. More often than we, so much more than we often realize. Because Christ’s obedience is not a mere example. It’s not just an inspiration to inspire you. It’s substitutionary. It’s representative. Christ did not only die for you, absolutely he did, that you might live according to Thessalonians. He also lived for you, obeying for you, resisting sin for you, fulfilling all of the law. And Matthew shows us that before Jesus preaches that first sermon, performs that first miracle, this is the case. He seeks to fulfill all righteousness.
Why? And I think it’s so that we clearly understand this. Our hope is not that we will do better when we are tempted. Our hope is that Christ already has. That brings us to really the weight of the gospel itself, because the righteousness God requires is the righteousness that Christ provides. That’s where Matthew is leading us. Matthew doesn’t tell the story so we admire the great willpower of Jesus. Absolutely we do. It gives us a great example of how to resist and flee temptation using scripture But he tells us that we will rest in the obedience of Christ. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth that this passage naturally exposes. We are not Jesus in the wilderness. We’re Israel. We’re those who grumble when they’re hungry. The ones who doubt God’s goodness when circumstances press us on all sides. The one who contests God, who demands signs and seek shortcuts. The one who bow far too easily to lesser glories. And the law exposes that in us.
God doesn’t really demand that our sins be forgiven. He does demand righteousness, perfect, personal, and perpetual righteousness, a demand that has never gone away. In many ways, I think this is why Christians will quietly lose assurance. We hear often and frequently, and we’ll say to ourselves, Christ died for my sins, but we still feel the weight of what we have failed to be. We still ask that question. God please with me, am I righteous enough? Have I obeyed enough? Have I trusted enough? And Matthew answers that question before we ever reach the pinnacle of the cross.
Jesus went into the wilderness as the Son, representing his own people. Every temptation he faced was a temptation we have already failed. Every command he obeyed was one we have already broken. Every refusal to grasp glory was a choice we have already reversed.
And he did that for you, for his people, for all who repent and believe. That’s why his baptism matters. That’s why the voice of the Father matters. That’s why the Spirit leads him into this testing. The Father declares him righteous before he preaches, before he heals and suffers. And that pleasure is grounded not only in who Jesus is as the eternal son of God, but also in accomplishing his mission and what he has come to do. He fulfills all righteousness.
Beloved, that means that when Christ Jesus resists Satan, you are being credited with obedience. When Christ resists the shortcut, you are being counted as faithful. When Jesus worships God alone, you are being regarded as loyal. That’s not only your future hope, it is your present standing as one justified and united to Christ Jesus by faith. The gospel is not that Jesus gives you a second chance to get righteousness right now. The gospel is Jesus Christ is your righteousness.
That’s why Satan’s defeat here matters so much where it says the devil left him. Not because temptation is gone forever, We know that is not the case. But His decisive power has been shown to have no hold over the righteous. Christ already won where it mattered the most. So that means when you face temptation now, you are not fighting for victory, you truly are fighting from victory.
Christ’s righteousness is what is imputed to you. When you fall, the answer’s not despair, it’s repentance, grounded in assurance. When you struggle, The answer is not fear of judgment and condemnation, no, it is confidence in Christ-finished obedience. That’s why the New Testament can say without hesitation, there is no condemnation now for those who are in Christ Jesus. Not because you’re perfect, not because you will resist every temptation, but because He did. Not because you lived perfectly, but because He lived for you. The theology of the act of obedience of Christ is not something dusty to be put on the shelf, cataloged and forgotten. No, this is the difference between fear and peace at the end of life. We reconcile, we think back. So when you stand there, you don’t think, I hope I did enough. Your heart can echo with truth.
Christ did. When the law asks for righteousness, You don’t point inward, you point to Jesus. Here in the wilderness, when your consciousness, when your conscience, excuse me, accuses you, you don’t argue with yourself, you appeal to the obedience of Christ on your behalf. And when judgment, and that fear of judgment, excuse me, whispers to you, remember this truth. The one who overcame, who faced Satan and who overcame is the same one who went to the cross willingly, the same one who rose victoriously and is seated right now on high, exalted. He was not spared, temptation not spared, suffering not spared, the cross, so that you would be spared condemnation, so that you would be spared curse and wrath. Matthew is teaching us from the very beginning of Christ’s ministry that salvation rests not in your grip upon him, but upon Christ’s grip on you. He obeyed, he overcame, he fulfilled all righteousness, and that righteousness is yours by faith. It’s not just doctrine, it is freedom and joy and hope and confidence, whatever this pilgrim life may have in store for us. This is the ground of our joy and our delight in our Savior, and this is the comfort of the gospel of peace. Let’s go to our Lord. God, that question does plague us. As humanity, as those made to obey, to worship and serve you, have we done enough?
God, this morning and this coming week, comfort our hearts, the angst, of our minds, our doubts, our anxieties with this passage, with your gospel truth that you sent your son to die for our sins, to live and accomplish righteousness on our behalf so that united to him, we are not only forgiven, but righteous. God, that when you look at us, You see the righteousness in the white garments of your Son Christ, not because of any merit in us, but because of your good pleasure and your love for your people, that you would save your bride when she was dead, dirty, broken.
Father, apply your gospel truth to our hearts. Conform us more into the image of your Son and our Savior Christ. And as that truth is grown, Father, water it with gratitude and joy, that it may fruit into the fruit of the Spirit, that we may have hope and love, joy and peace. All these good things that we have in our union with you, Lord, we rejoice at this good news. For all those here, Father, struggling in any way amidst temptation or suffering or doubting faith, Assure them of the objective reality of the salvation accomplished by your Son that is freely held out, that you are a God who ministers to us in our death, in our weakness, in our life, in our struggles. God, comfort your people, provide for them, strengthen them, and encourage and edify them this morning.
We praise you for your holy word. We praise you that you sent your Son to fulfill all righteousness. And we rejoice as your people that it is all of grace, all of Christ, and all to your glory. I pray all this in the name of Christ, our only Savior and hope. Amen.