The Discipline of Fasting (Part 3) (Special Fasting Edition #4)

Our Scripture reading for today is Matthew 4:1-4 which reads: "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry's Commentary:

We notice from this passage the temptations themselves. That which Satan aimed at, in all his temptations, was, to bring him to sin against God, and so to render him for ever incapable of being a Sacrifice for the sins of others. Now, whatever the colours were, that which he aimed at was, to bring him, To despair of his Father’s goodness. To presume upon his Father’s power. To alienate his Father’s honour, by giving it to Satan. In the two former, that which he tempted him to, seemed innocent, and therein appeared the subtlety of the tempter; in the last, that which he tempted him with, seemed desirable. The two former are artful temptations, which there was need of great wisdom to discern; the last was a strong temptation, which there was need of great resolution to resist; yet he was baffled in them all. He tempted him to despair of his Father’s goodness, and to distrust his Father’s care concerning him.

We will continue discussing this verse in our next broadcast.

Our fasting quote of encouragement today is from John Piper. He said: "Christian fasting, at its root, is the hunger of a homesickness for God."