Matthew 4:4 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. I. There is THAT CONDITION OF BEING IN WHICH MAN LIVES BY BREAD. 1. It represents man as utterly subservient to material necessities. The springs of man's noblest life are planted in necessity. How beautiful is this requisition for labour! A consequence of this law of effort is mutual service. An awful thing when man is reduced to a mere machine for getting bread. The wickedness of systems which tend to intensify such a condition. Such a man lives for something outside himself — for some interest which bread represents. Living by bread alone he estimates everything by the bread standard. II. Let me URGE UPON YOU THE HIGHER LIFE. "Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." "I have bread to eat that ye know not off" 1. Every good man does not live by bread alone, but by that God from whom it comes. 2. He realizes that he is not a mere instrument, but an end in himself. 3. He has a different standard of valuation from that of the mere bread standard. He thinks of utilities in a larger and nobler sense than other men. He values the true in the light of its truth, and not of its profit. 4. How we live upon traditions, upon the mere say-so of other people, the current of popular conviction, instead of coming and taking the word out of the mouth of God! III. The point of the most fearful temptation is WHEN MEN ARE TEMPTED TO SACRIFICE THE INTERESTS OF THE HIGHER LIFE TO THE CLAIMS OF THE LOWER. You may lose fortune but gain goodness; you are made one with Christ. (E. H. Chaplin.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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