Matthew 4, Temptation & Ministry

The speaker discusses the study of the Gospel of Matthew, focusing on the main theme of the king and his kingdom. Matthew is unique among the synoptic gospels, emphasizing Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. The chapter also highlights Jesus' temptation by Satan after fasting for 40 days, illustrating his divine humanity and vulnerability. The speaker emphasizes that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for this purpose. The temptation was a significant test for Jesus, facing the most powerful evil in the world. We're in the fourth chapter of Matthew, and we'll see how far we get. Jack is optimistic that we can do each chapter of the book of Matthew in one session. We've already spent 20 minutes. I don't know whether I can get through this or not, but the good news is that I'm teaching next week. So if we don't make it this week, we'll make it next week. But we're in Matthew chapter 4. And just to remind you that Matthew, when he was called to be a disciple, hosted a great feast for a lot of his former associates, including Jesus and his disciples. And he wrote his gospel to convince the nation that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. The main theme of Gospel of Matthew, as you've heard since we started this, is the king and his kingdom. And, you know, we have the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then we have John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke cover basically the same area in the same way, and John is a different genre altogether. But many of the words that are found in the Gospel of Matthew are not found in any of the other synoptic gospels, any of the other gospels. And some of them are very rarely found. So Matthew is a unique and a distinct gospel, and we'll be blessed as we study it. John Phillips, who, if you haven't met John Phillips, you ought to just look him up on the Internet. Anything he writes is great. He's a wonderful New Testament scholar and has written some wonderful materials. But he writes, there are about 30 sections in Matthew which are peculiar to his gospel, and most of these sections have some bearing on that theme. The kingdom of heaven occurs 32 times and not once in any of the other gospels. The Father in heaven is 15 times in Matthew and only twice in Mark. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken is nine times in Matthew, and none of the other gospels carry that phrase. And we also find 80 references to the Old Testament in the Gospel of Matthew. So it is a very focused book on presenting Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. There are five major divisions in Matthew, and they all end with the phrase, when Jesus had finished. You want to find through the book, when you come from Jesus had finished, that marks the end of that part of the gospel itself. And people had expected a political Messiah. They fully expected the Messiah to come and free them from the slavery that they had, the oppression they experienced from Rome. That wasn't what he came to do. And so consequently, it was not received well by people who expected a political Messiah. Excuse me, I've got to sit down. If I don't, I'll make it through fine, but I'll pay for it all the rest of the day if I don't do that. Sitting and standing, standing and walking are two things we can do, but we can't do them very long. And so I never thought I'd like to speak sitting down, but it's kind of nice. My knees tell me every day they're tired of carrying me around, so they complain if I stand too long. But the people would not accept Jesus as the Messiah because he didn't fulfill their expectations. He came in an unusual way. I mean, you would imagine that the Son of God would be born in a palace somewhere, but instead he was in a stable, obscure there in Bethlehem. He didn't come in like they expected. And what he came to do, they didn't anticipate that. They had the law. They had the sacrificial system. They knew a Messiah was coming, but their concept was not what it ought to be. And so Jesus, in fact, threatened their own leadership. He denounced their hypocrisy. And his words spoken against the Jewish leaders rose to a boiling point until it just exploded, and they just would not receive him. And they finally ended up nailing him to a cross to get rid of him. Over and over again, Jesus told the disciples that the Jewish leaders would triumph and would succeed in having him crucified. And though they heard the words, they didn't believe it. In fact, the most astonished people in the world when he rose from the grave were the disciples. I mean, they just didn't believe it was going to happen. Now, don't be too harsh on them. You can understand why. I mean, this wasn't the way it was supposed to be. This was not their expectation. Even the disciples that had followed Jesus, he told them many times he was going to die. They didn't believe him. And it was just, he did not come and meet the expectations of individuals. And so the good thing about Matthew, which I like, Matthew is just very common sense. I mean, it's just, there it is. As my brother Charlie used to say, it is what it is, and that's what Matthew says. It's very simply, very plainly. And he just does a thing that commonly was leading the people to believe that Jesus the Messiah, though he was not a political leader, not a deliverer from Rome, was the Messiah. And he writes very orderly, very common sense. You know, we live in a world where there isn't much common sense. You know, everybody talks about how complicated business was. I was president of LifeWay for 15 years. Business is not complicated. Making decisions is not hard in business, if you have the right information. If you've got good data, decisions are easy. It's when you don't have good data that you have a hard time making decisions. And Matthew, he's businesslike. And Sidney Baxter wrote about him. What is it that any new reader wants to know? Why, of course, first what Jesus said, then what he did, then what he taught, then what were the results. In other words, we want to know what Jesus taught, what Jesus wrote, what people thought. And that's the order Matthew follows. He's just very simple, very common sense. He follows it right that way. Now, we meet immediately the temptations of Jesus Christ. This chapter begins with the inevitable battle between Jesus and Satan. It had to happen. Jesus had been tempted. We've already talked about that. He was tempted in every way like we're tempted. And he did not use the temptation. But he was dealing with demons. Sooner or later, he had to deal with Satan. And here's what we find here. Now, the interesting thing is, this came right after his baptism. John the Baptist baptized Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove, and God said, This is my son, whom I'm well pleased. Right after that experience, this is what it says. Then, after his baptism, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. Then the tempter approached him. So the temptation started after he had been without food for 40 days. Now, you know, Brother Jack and I probably see things that are humorous that other people don't see. But just listen to this a minute. He was led by the Spirit. After he had fasted 40 days, he was hungry. Y'all know the language. Jesus was a perfect God, but he's also a perfect man. That's why he could identify with us and why he could be our Savior, because he faced everything we face in our lives, and where we stumbled and fell, he didn't do it. So he's the only one who can save us. And so after 40 days without food, I just find it a confirmation of his divine humanity. He was hungry. Just find that humorous. Of course he's hungry, and he ought to be vulnerable to temptation, something to eat. I mean, he hadn't had anything to eat. Don't know whether he'd had anything to drink. It's not mentioned. I doubt that he was without some form of liquid during that 40 days. I'm not sure you could do 40 days without water. I don't know, but it'd be a hard thing. But he was hungry. Well, the first temptation was to turn stones into bread. He's hungry. He could have done that, but he didn't. Now, it's important for us to realize, and I want to emphasize, the devil didn't lead him into temptation. The Holy Spirit did. The Holy Spirit did. He was not led up by the devil. He was led by the Holy Spirit. And the Gospel of Mark simply states he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. Now we have a new ingredient. He was being tempted for 40 days. The Bible doesn't give us any reference. Mark says he was being tempted by Satan during those 40 days. He was facing constant bombardment from demons and temptation to sin for 40 days without food, things that he needed. He's hungry. He's vulnerable. Satan now approaches him. Had to happen. He faced every possible human temptation in his earthly life, and during this time in the wilderness, he likely faced many demons. Now he's face to face with Satan himself. This was the supreme temptation for Jesus. He'd been tempted before, but now it came in the most powerful way, from the most powerful evil in the world. In fact, Satan is called the prince of this world. He is a powerful individual. Now, just as a little aside, God is omnipotent. Satan's not. Satan does not have all power. God has all power. God is omniscience. Satan is not. God knows everything. Satan doesn't. Do you know he doesn't? I may be corrected here, and Brother Jack can correct me next two weeks if I'm wrong. But, now I forgot what I was going to tell you. So let's see, we're talking about temptation. Satan knows all of these things. I don't believe Satan reads your thoughts, but he watches your actions. He knows everything about you, what you do, how you react, how you respond, how you feel, what you say, all the things you do. Satan knows, but he can't read your thoughts. God can, which ought to be scary for all of us. God reads our thoughts. Satan doesn't. But Satan knows us well enough to tell you what we're thinking. And so he's dangerous. And so the Spirit drove him into the wilderness to be tempted. Mark describes that wilderness as he was among wild animals. Now, pause just a moment. This wilderness is on the west side of the Dead Sea. Now, if you've ever been to Israel, you doubtless made the trip from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea. From the Dead Sea back toward Jerusalem, there is a wilderness, mountainous desert wilderness. And it's a wild and dangerous and frightening area rising up there from the western side of the Dead Sea. It could not be a more difficult area in which to survive. And not only that, he is alone. Oh, except when the Gospels tell us about it, it prefaces him being taken into the wilderness to be tempted to say he was full of the Spirit. Now, let's just pause a minute. Jesus Christ was tempted in the desert. He conquered it because he faced that being full of the Holy Spirit. Remember, three persons, one God. You can't separate them. So he had the Holy Spirit and he was able to overcome. Now, I better tell you what I'm thinking about it. Jesus answers every one of these three temptations with a quote from Deuteronomy. Now, it's interesting because that shows us that Jesus believed the Old Testament was true. He believed it was inerrant, infallible. He answered Satan with Scripture and it was all from Deuteronomy. And it would be a good thing for us to be reminded that we certainly need to continue to be filled with the Spirit, but we ought to answer Satan always with Scripture. He can't handle it. It'll drive him away. But he's in the wilderness and tempted. And there he is in a wilderness that is desolate. It is barren. There is no human consultation to support him. It was wild, dangerous, frightening. And he hadn't had anything to eat for 40 days. He was attacked by hunger and the devil. He should have been vulnerable to fall before temptation. Several things to note here that Jesus always responds to Satan with Scripture. That's why we need to read it every day. You never know when what you read in Scripture is going to apply to your life. Now, I always told you this before, but when Bailey was seven years old, he was struck by a car. I was at a ballgame playing shortstop and he went with me. In fact, Randy had a big ballgame somewhere else. So Carol Ann went with Randy and Bailey went with me. And it was fast pitch softball. The first pitch was foul. Over the screen. Across the grass. Across a road. Bailey was pretty fast. He was the first one to get to the road. He got there the same time a little MG, short, MG, English, small car hit him. Knocked him in the air and passed under him. The windshield came so close to decapitate him that there was a spot the size of my thumbnail that was perfectly gone. Like a razor, he cut it where the windshield barely scraped his head. Landed in a heap at the side of the road. I'm not very fast, but I was the first one to the ditch. And the ambulance came. The scariest part of all was the ambulance ride to the hospital. Going 80 miles an hour down Highway 71, freeway in Kansas City. A scary ride. Funny things happen. You've got to see humor in things. So we get into the emergency room and the doctor comes in. Bailey had on knee socks. Came up over his knee in shorts. And the doctor asked me, he said, what do you want me to do about that? Well, he was talking about his socks. I knew he was talking about his socks. I said, well, just cut it off. Bailey said, dad. Cut my leg off? That's a funny moment, you know. But anyway, of course, they cut the socks off. But the leg was broken. He spent several days in the hospital. And first night, Carol Ann was going to go home. Bailey was doing okay. And she told Bailey, you'll be fine. I'll see you in the morning. Bailey said, mom, when you were a little girl, if you were in the hospital, wouldn't you want your mama to stay with you? So Carol Ann slept under the bed that night on the floor in the hospital. But in the conversation that night, she said, well, Bailey, weren't you scared? He said, no, not really. She said, wow, why not? Didn't crack a smile. He just said, you remember that scripture we learned last night, Psalm 56.3, what time I'm afraid I'll trust in thee. You know, I've always believed the Bible is God's word. But I'm telling you, if the Bible can take care of a seven-year-old boy who doesn't even understand what's going on, I think I can accept it as being true. It was just one of those things. Scripture, memorizing scripture, reading scripture, it's the way that we answer to Satan any time. You are not able to deal with Satan. Hear it now. There is no sin that you're not capable of. You are capable of every known sin. Now, you're not going to commit every known sin, hopefully, prayerfully. But in you is a sin nature. And the sin nature is against God. And you will be tempted. In fact, in the temptations of Jesus, his spirit was full with the Holy Spirit, but his flesh was still hungry. And for all of us, we may want to please God, you know, but we still have a weak flesh. If you find any Christian anywhere who fell into sin or committed sin, if you ask them, they will tell you, I never thought I would do that. But I remember the day God showed me that there is no sin I'm not capable of. It broke my heart. I was saved when I was a kid. Never done things that most kids do growing up. Never smoked, never drank, never had sex. Good kid. But in a moment of time, God showed me what he saw in my heart. And when I looked at it, it was as dark as a thousand midnights. And I knew that there was no sin that I would not commit. Consequently, I'm very careful when I'm around women. Always say you don't trust women. No, no, no. I don't trust myself. It's not that I distrust anybody. I know who I am and I know what I'm capable of. And I know that the Bible says that we need to live without any question of evil in our lives. We never give Satan a place in our lives. And I know what I'm capable of. So it's not that I would be afraid of any female. I just know myself too well. Don't look so righteous. Everyone of you the same. And we're all like that. Now, the temptations of Jesus show us that we can overcome temptation. It started with him being full of the Holy Spirit. Now, God wants us to be filled with his spirit. And the scripture tells us that when we were saved, we were filled with the Holy Spirit. We were baptized in the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will be there unless we get careless and let him out. Or unless we do compromise and drive him out. So God wants to dwell in us. And we need to realize that when temptation comes, don't think, well, I can handle that. No, no, you can't. But God can. The Holy Spirit can. His word will help you. This we learned from watching Jesus who never knew. He didn't have any point of reference with sin. He had no sin. But this is the most tremendous concept in the Bible. He who knew no sin became sin for us. So that we who knew no righteousness could become righteous like him. It's all of God. So he's at these temptations. And we'll not take the time to spend a lot of time on it. But he answered all three of them with a quote from Deuteronomy. The first temptation was that, let's see here. In verse 2, he fasted and was hungry. Then the tempter approached him. Satan knew he was hungry. And he said, if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus said, and he quoted from Deuteronomy 8.3. It is written, man must not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand at the pinnacle of the temple. That's the highest point of the temple. You look straight down several hundred feet into the Kidron Valley there. High point in the, I always get east and west mixed up when I'm in Israel. But there's, in the pinnacle of the temple, at the edge of the temple, looking down into the valley. The devil took him up there and said, if you're the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, oops, Satan's quoting scripture now. For it is written, Satan said, he will give his angels orders concerning you. And they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. And that's a quote from Psalm 91. Satan can quote scripture too. But Jesus told him, it is written, do not test the Lord your God. Another quote out of Deuteronomy. Then Jesus said, then the devil took him to the very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world. There's splendor. And he said, I'll give all these to you if you'll fall down and worship me. Well, that Jesus came as the Messiah for us to worship. We love him and worship him. Satan said, I'll give you a shortcut. Now, you can debate all you want to about whether or not he could do that. But he is the prince of the air of this world. He's very powerful. Whether he could have delivered or not, probably not, because Satan rarely can do what he says he wants to do. He never says what, if you do something wrong, how it will impact you. He never tells you the whole truth. He always skips a little bit. And so he, as he saw the kingdoms Satan showed him, he said, he said, I'll give this to you if you'll fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said, go away, Satan, for it is written. Back to Deuteronomy again. Worship the Lord your God and serve only him. Listen to this. Cling to this. Verse 11 is absolutely incredible. Then the devil left him and angels came and began to serve him. When you're full of the spirit, you're tempted by the devil. And in the spirit, you resist the temptation. Angels come and serve you. Now, I'm not going to get into angel stories, but I think I've seen angels. Carol Ann had an experience on a freeway in San Antonio, Texas, coming onto the road with a 17, where there was no, the ramp came right into the first lane in the lane that had an 18-wheeler right on top of her. And no way she could get on that lane. And I don't advise this. She closed her eyes. And she said, God help. When she opened her eyes, the truck was ahead of her and she was in the first lane. Couldn't have happened. But it did. We thank angels for being involved. When Terry Horton and I were in Kenya, we drove from Kenya down into Tanzania. And we drove down into Serengeti. Now, that is a site that every human being ought to see. At one time in the Serengeti, which has more animals per square mile than any place in the world, we counted 11 species of animals without a binocular. Unbelievable. We came down into the bottom of the Serengeti and we were going over to Mwanza. And we came to a marshy area, really just didn't know what was in it. Would you sink in it? What would happen if you tried to go through it? We could see a little creek running ahead of it. But there were car tracks, fresh car tracks that took off from where we were and went out so far, came around and joined the road over there. We followed the tracks. And in time, we got down to the gate at Mwanza of Serengeti. When the gate person there at the gate ran out to meet us, he said, where'd you come from? He said, well, we drove from Lobo Lodge. He said, when did you leave? We said, this morning. He said, there hasn't been a car through here in nine days. We followed fresh car tracks around the marshy area. Now, you describe it however you want. We like to think God knows how to drive a car. The angels drove ahead of us. But here's the message. Every one of us at one time or another are going to be in a wilderness. Life is not smooth all the way. It may be fairly smooth, but there'll be a time when the rug will be pulled out from under you. There'll be a time when you find yourself in a wilderness and it's dangerous, it's irritating, it's uncomfortable, but you're in a wilderness. You don't have anybody to talk to. You don't know what to do. God says angels will come minister to you. He was quoting Scripture, full of the Spirit. That's how you face temptation, full of the Spirit, quoting Scripture. The victory is not yours. It's God's through the Holy Spirit. Well, I would, got 20 minutes here. Well, that's too long. We don't have 20 minutes, but we're going to have to move on. So, we need to be full of the Holy Spirit and we need to be led by the Holy Spirit. And Mark and Luke both suggest that this entire period was one of temptation leading up to the final temptation from Satan at the end. Matthew simply stated, after he'd fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. Proof of his humanity. When the disciples left for a trip across the Sea of Galilee, he was so tired as a man. Remember, Jesus was divine. He was God, but he was also God's perfect man. So, as God's man, as God's perfect man, he was tired and he slept through a storm. And when they woke him up as God, he stilled the storm. As a man, he was tired. As God, he told the waves to sit down, but hey, they did. He was tired. Sign of his humanity. And when he came to the grave of his dear friend, Lazarus, the scripture said, shortest verse in the Bible, first one ever memorized, Jesus wept. He wept. And shortly, the man Jesus wept, and shortly, the God Jesus raised him from the dead. So, that's beyond our imagination. God is God, and Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. It's hard for us to imagine that. It's hard for us, and we talked earlier about some of the temptations Jesus might have faced. Did he face the same temptations we did? Bible says he did. Like I told you, I always wondered if he had pimples. Most of us thought pimples sometimes in our lives. I just wondered if Jesus had pimples. I don't know. Being a perfect man, maybe not. But anyway, the temptations reveal, the temptations of Jesus reveal that it's not a sin to be tempted. Billy Graham used to say, it's not the first look. That's a sin. It's the second look. It's not a sin to be tempted. Sin is when the temptation results in a disobedience to God's instructions. And this is what James says, James 1, verses 13-15. No one undergoing a trial should say, I'm being tempted by God, since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn't tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, he gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. God cannot be tempted with evil. But Jesus, as God's perfect man, could be tempted. And when I get into the philosophers and theologians that ask, well, could Jesus have sinned or, you know, could he really have sinned? Scripture said he could have sinned, and he chose not to. We must not rob ourselves of the lessons we learn from his victory over temptation, because he did it through the word of God and through the Holy Spirit. And we have access to the same thing. We sin when we don't pay attention. Did you ever say something and thought, who said that? You know, I look back over my life, and I'm such a free spirit sometimes that no matter what I might have said, I have to be real careful. When I was president of the convention, one thing I learned quick, anything you say, you're going to read about it somewhere. And you just have to be careful. Well, it's not a sin to be tempted. The devil is powerful and strong, but he is not omnipotent. And Revelation 20 tells us that when the kingdom comes and end times set in and Jesus establishes his millennial kingdom, the devil will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. He will never attack us again. And while he's the prince of this world, when he gets into hell, he will not be a prince of anything. He will suffer God's judgment of eternal punishment, characterized by weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, and eternal torment. Well, got to move on quickly. Verse 12, when Jesus now, he's in his Galilean ministry. The Galilean ministry probably lasted 12 to 18 months. I don't know that we have any time factors that can narrow it down too much, but a year to a year and a half of Jesus' three-year ministry. And his ministry was all in Galilee. And so he now focused his ministry on Galilee, and Nazareth was not a good place for him to have a headquarters in Galilee. But Capernaum, by the way, when I was president of the convention, one year I led a group of Jewish rabbis and Southern Baptist pastors. Most names you would know, the prominent pastors in the convention, to Israel. And we got to know these Jewish rabbis, but it was interesting. They called Capernaum Brother Jack Capernaum. I've always called it Capernaum. I don't know which is right, but it was just interesting. Those Jewish rabbis called it Capernaum. But Capernaum was on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus probably turned his carpenter shop over to his brothers and blessed his mother and said goodbye to his family and friends in the synagogue. And the 12th verse of this chapter just simply says, when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. Now, that's going to be the same until you get down to the 19th chapter and verse 1, and it'll say he departed from Galilee. So from 412 to 9-1, you have all about the Galilean ministry of Jesus. Most of Matthew is about his Galilean ministry. His early Judean ministry is well reported by the Gospel of John. But now Jesus focuses on Galilee, his attention and ministries in that area. Behind him are many things of his ministry. And he's now in Galilee. Now, on the way to Galilee, he met a woman at the well in Sychar. Now, let me paint just a little picture for you. If you go from Jerusalem to Cana in Galilee, Sychar is about 40 miles east of Cana, which is not over an hour drive, 45-minute drive. When we went to Israel the first time in 1969, we came on a Sunday morning out of the city of Jerusalem, and we drove down to Sychar, one of our first stopping spots, to see the well, Jacob's well there. And you can still look right down and see the water in the bottom of it. It's many feet down, still there, still has water in it. And so we had just left Jacob's well, and we drove the 40 miles to Cana. And we came to the First Baptist Church in Cana. And when we entered, the service had already begun. And the soloist was singing. And we were greeted with this word from the song, Fill My Cup, like the woman at the well. I was seeking for things that could not satisfy. Then I heard my Savior speaking, draw from my well, which never will run dry. Fill my cup, Lord. I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup, fill it up, and make me whole. That's what we heard walking in. I mean, hair would stand up on the back of our neck because we had just left Jacob's well. Now, here we are hearing the song written here about less than 50 years ago. And wonderful song, wonderful lyrics to that song. The second stanza says, There are millions in this world who are seeking for pleasure. Pleasure is earthly, goods afford. But none can match the wondrous treasure that I find in Jesus Christ, my Lord. Then the chorus. So, my brother, the things that this world gives you leaves hunger that won't pass away. My blessed Lord will come and save you if you kneel to him and pray. Fill my cup, Lord. Fill it up. And I cried. But it was one of those serendipities. You know what a serendipity is? Serendipity is something wonderful that happens that you didn't expect. We walked in to hear the voice of the soloist singing, Fill My Cup. It was an amazing moment for us. Well, by now, Jesus is famous across Galilee. The home folks in Nazareth must have heard about his exploits and his miracles. And they had to be surprised when Jesus announced that he was moving his home base from Nazareth to Capernaum. They may even have resented that. That move was probably because Capernaum was just a better place to reach Nazareth than Nazareth was. Capernaum, located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, is 23 miles from Nazareth. It's 10 miles from Tiberias. By the way, Tiberias is never mentioned in the Scripture. But in Jesus' time, it was the home of fresh hot springs. And it was well known in the Roman Empire for its hot springs. And people came from around to spend time bathing in those hot springs. It was well known. The hot baths attracted many people. Now, by the way, the Sea of Galilee is not very big. It really is like a lake. Its deepest spot is only 150 feet. It's 13 miles long, 6 miles wide. And that's all it is. Just 150 foot body of water, fresh water. And here's what John Phillips says, though, about the Sea of Galilee. He said, On the western shore, the mountains were fertile and covered with orchards, farms, and villages in Jesus' day. Across the lake rose the forbidding ramparts of the desert, which are part of a range that keeps pace with the Jordan all the south to the Dead Sea and on to the Gulf of Aqaba. To the north were the mountains of Lebanon, dominated by majestic Hermon, the summit of which is never free from snow. The Sea of Galilee, some 680 feet below sea level, lies in a tropical climate. In Jesus' day, nine cities bordered the lake, and busy life went on all around it. Township after township about the feet of the green western hills, and along the shores there were docks and harbors, farmers elbowed fishermen, dock walkers jostled coopers, shipwrights. Fishing and fish curing were big business, employing thousands of families and making Gentiles famous in the Roman world long before the Gospels were written. There were dye works at Magdala and pottery kilns and shipyards at Capernaum. Presiding over the whole scene was the regal city of Tiberias, with its magnificent Herodian palace where Greek sculptures shone in the sun and reminded the Jews that the land of theirs was in the hand of Gentiles. So that was the Sea of Galilee ever. Now, Phillips continues to remind us that the roads of Galilee featured long caravans of people crossing the Jordan in the south, and Roman soldiers and their armies adorned in their purple and gold were frequently seen. Phoenician merchants brought the treasures from far away to the bazaars and the markets of Galilee. Chariots of the wealthy, soldiers, gladiators, hands of entertainers were among many coming to present their talents to the area of Tiberias, Caesarea, and Decapolis. It was an incredible area, and Josephus says in Galilee there were three million people at that time. So when the Bible, when Jesus, the Scripture speaks of great throngs following Jesus, who knows how big they were. There could have been thousands of people. Three million people lived in that area. Verse 15 of this chapter 4 calls this area the Galilee of the Galilee. Peter and Andrews lived there, not far from James and John, and that was also where Matthew was considered a traitor to Rome, having served the public and tax collector for the Gentile authorities. And we'll stop there, and we're almost through, and we'll finish this last part next Sunday. Just remember, the northern kingdom is where Galilee is. The southern kingdom is where Judea is, where Jerusalem is. The southern kingdom survived to 587 B.C. The northern kingdom was destroyed in 722 B.C. One of the reasons why they were destroyed first was they were the center of idolatry and apostasy, and they were the first to drift into that. We'll get there. He's going to call the disciples and then have a summary of his ministry in Galilee when we get there next week. Okay, sorry we're running a little late, but we'll pick up next week. Father, thank you for your love for us. Thank you that we can face being tempted because the Holy Spirit is in us, and there's no temptation taking us, but that is that he gives us power to resist and to refuse. Thank you for that, Father. Thank you for this day. Bless this week to your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.