What is the driest place on earth? 
 
Three interconnected narratives in Matthew 3 and 4 — the ministry of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus, and the temptation of Jesus — all took place in the desert!
 
The desert is unforgiving and harsh, but God often shows up in the desert! As Rodney Reeves puts it:
The desert is a strange place for anyone to expect to meet God. After all, since God is life, and death reigns in the wilderness, one should look for God in a place called ‘paradise.’ But … Israel found God in the desert when Moses led his people to the edge of the promised land. The prophets knew that the wilderness was the very place where God always seemed to get the attention of his people.
 
We sometimes experience “desert” seasons in our lives. But the deepest and most beautiful discipleship journeys can take place in the desert. Two simple keys that will help us thrive in the desert:

A. RETURN TO JESUS AND OBEY HIM (3:1-12)

1. John the Baptist’s single call-to-action in the desert: “repent”! Repent in Hebrew is shuv – to return or turn around.

2. The context of Isaiah 40: God was about to do a new work of restoration, and the people had to get ready!

3. We get ready for God’s work in our lives today through repentance — returning to God. 

 4. True repentance involves confession (3:6) that leads to obedient action (3:7).

B. RELY ON JESUS WHO OBEYED (3:13 – 4:11)

1. Jesus went through baptism not to repent, but to represent God and us. As Jeanine Brown puts it:
Jesus as God’s … representative      inaugurates the kingdom, with his baptism   providing that inaugurating moment. And Jesus acts as Israel’s representative, proving to be God’s true son, as Israel had so often failed to be in the Old Testament story.

2. The very same Spirit of God that descended upon Jesus at His baptism led Him into the desert — to be tempted by the devil. 40 days of fasting mirror Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness.



3. Déjà vu, but with a huge difference: the wayward son Israel disobeyed, but the true Son of God Jesus obeyed and overcame three temptations.



4. Each of the temptations is undergirded by an untruth:
a. Temptation #1: I must depend on my way, not God’s
b. Temptation #2: God must follow my way, or He is not God.
c. Temptation #3: There is a better way than God’s way

5. This is the Jesus that we can rely on: victorious in the desert, victorious on the cross!

Conclusion
Singing God’s song in the desert

Next Week’s Topic: Matthew 4:17–25
Next Week’s Speakers: Speaker(s): Ps Timothy Yeo (BPJ), Rev Tony Yeo (WDL) & Rev Matthew Lo (East)