and let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. I'm gonna come back, Lord willing, to these verses at the end of chapter three. I've preached on the genealogy of our Lord before, but there's a difference preaching from notes and having a message. So I'm going to wait and Lord willing come back to that. We're going to pick up right here in Luke 4 beginning in verse 1. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness being 40 days tempted of the devil. Now the passage we're going to look at is often preached by the religion of this world as a how-to manual on how to overcome the devil by your will and your works. But if overcoming the devil is left to us, if it's left to our will and our power and strength, nobody would ever be saved. We're going to see that when we see what Christ did. If the Holy Spirit here be our teacher, We're gonna see something that's very comforting to our heart, very strengthening to our faith. Now, after the devil beguiled Eve and used Eve to get Adam to disobey God, the whole human race was plunged in sin, and God said right then, He told the devil, said it in front of Adam and Eve, that Christ was coming. He said, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, speaking to the devil, between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, thou shalt bruise his heel. And we have one instance here of the Lord being tempted by the devil, but the Lord, the devil had nothing in him. He came and he found nothing in our Lord. And our Lord ended up crushing the devil's head, delivering his people. If you will, turn to Hebrews 2 real quick. I just want you to see this. Hebrews 2. And look here in verse 14. We're looking at here, he said it behooved the captain of our salvation, behooved God to make the captain of our salvation perfect through suffering. And so Christ is one with his people. And he tells us here in verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. That's God's elect from Jew and Gentile. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people, for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he's able to succor them that are tempted." It was to reconcile his people to God and it was to be tempted so that he would have the experience and the understanding of what we go through and our weakness to be able to comfort and strengthen and help us when we are tempted. Now, the devil appeals to our weakest point. Whatever the weakest point is, that's what he appeals to. And our Lord told us what it is. He experienced it. And he told us plainly what our weakness is. He said, the spirit is indeed willing. That's the spirit he puts in you. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. That's all our flesh is. That's all our sin nature is, is weakness. And John gives us three particular points where our flesh is weak. He said, all that is in the world, here it is, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world. Now, the devil tried to use what to us would have been Nothing but weakness. These three things. It would have been lust in us. But when he came to our Savior, he could find nothing in him. He could not find sin in him. He could not trip him up. He could not tempt him to sin against God. And our Lord was not doing that on his own. He was representing his people. And we see here why he's the perfect Savior. The absolute perfect Savior. who makes his people perfect in his righteousness and his holiness.

Now I'm just gonna use those three lusts of the flesh as our points, but we're looking at the perfect obedience of Christ from his perfectly holy heart. Now let's begin here first of all. And we're gonna look at the perfection of Christ when the devil tempted him with what to us would have been the lust of the flesh. This would appeal to the lust of our flesh, right here. He says in verse one, and Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 40 days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing. And when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

Our Lord was tempted 40 days in the wilderness. The children of Israel wandered 40 years in the wilderness. And the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness is a picture of us as his saints going to glory, on our way to glory with the Lord. and in this wilderness of sin. That's what the wilderness is called, a wilderness of sin. And what we have here with our Savior, being 40 days tempted, is an example here of how the whole of His life on this earth, the devil tempted Him, and yet He overcame the devil. He was perfect in all that He did. And so, we're not going to see Him defeat the devil right here, He's gonna do that on the cross, but we get a foreshadow of it right here. A foreshadow of the faithfulness of our Lord.

He is the Son of God, but he took flesh and became a real man. Just like us, without sin. So when he went 40 days and had not eaten, he was hungry. He was hungry. And that's when the devil came with his temptation. He came with this temptation. He was really hungry. Now you imagine 40 days without eating. The devil will appeal to the weakest point. He'll appeal to the weakest point. And the devil said, verse three, the devil said unto him, if thou be the son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

Now our fall came by the Lord using Eve and her disobedience to attack Adam's weakness. And that's why Adam disobeyed. He was the head. We fell when he disobeyed. But just like the devil did that then, the devil comes here now to our Savior when he's been 40 days without food. And he says, if thou be the Son of God, command that this stone be made bread. Now, brethren, we would have failed right here. Don't you, wouldn't you have failed right here? If you'd been 40 days and you hadn't eaten, and you could make a stone bread and eat, One, that would have appealed to our pride to question who we are. If you're really a child of God, if you really believe God, make this stone bread. But two, if we hadn't eaten in 40 days, and you had the ability to eat, somebody might say, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't have done that. Well now remember, our Lord taught us that if we just lust in our heart, if we just think about it, we've sinned. That's how perfect our Savior is. He didn't even think about having bread and making that stone bread. No sinful thought crossed His mind. Had to be holy in the heart to fulfill the righteousness of the law. He obeyed in perfect righteousness. What does he do? Verse four. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. I want to show you something now. He says, It is written. This is from Deuteronomy 8, and I want you to look there with me. Deuteronomy 8. This is especially good for every believer, but it's good for Young folks, too, because these are the things, the principles we're seeing here, this is what the Lord's gonna use to tempt you in this life. Now look here what our Lord did. He's the head of God's people. He was doing this for God and for His people. That's what He came to do. And He's doing what the children of Israel would not do and could not do. What we could not do and what we would not do. Look here, Deuteronomy 8.1, all the commandments which I command thee this day shall you observe to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers. See, the Lord Jesus is the only one that did all the commandments of God. We couldn't, we didn't, we haven't, no man ever has. He came and He did, look, and thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no. Now our Savior learned obedience by the things which He suffered, but He didn't have to be humbled. He humbled Himself. and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. See, he's perfectly faithful to God, and he was proven to be holy in heart, he was proven to be righteous in his obedience to the Father, because he kept all God's commandments. When he was hungry and hadn't eaten in 40 days, tempted of the devil to make bread for himself, Look at the next word, verse three. And I humbled thee, the Lord said, he humbled thee, suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. The Lord Jesus was living by faith. He was looking to his father in perfect faith, trusting the word of his father, the promise of his father. That's walking by faith, not by sight. He's looking to his father, and so he was not gonna work that miracle for himself. He never worked a miracle for himself. He's dependent on the father. He's trusting the covenant word of God, the promise God the father made to him. You see how we sin and don't even know we've sinned? Do you see in that how that we're not walking by faith so often in the things we do in this life and don't even realize it? A man trying to save himself by his will, trying to provide for himself by the work of his hand to save himself before God, it's the same sin as if our Lord would have taken that stone and made it bread. The same sin. The Lord teaches us by this obedience. We see His perfect obedience, and by that we see our disobedience. By looking at His obedience, we see how we've not done the things God commanded, by looking at how He did. He alone is our perfection with God. He's the bread of life. We're to live upon Him. We're to have all our life and all our sustaining and our being held up and carried and provided for is to Him. Look to Him. And how many times do we end up looking to something in this world, something of our hands, something to get us out of the predicament and out of the trial or whatever? rather than trusting him. Now go with me back to our text. Let's see this next thing. Here's the perfection of our Savior when the devil tempts him with what would have been the lust of eyes. This would have been tempting our eye, looking with our eye and lusting because of what we see. That's what this would have done to us. But look at what it was to him. Verse five, and the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed unto him, See, this is the eye showing him all the kingdoms of the world. Now get that, all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. He just saw them all at once. And the devil said to him, all this power will I give thee? And the glory of these kingdoms, all the honors recognition and praise that you just saw. For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it's written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. You see, the Lord wants to be God. This is his sin. He wants to be God. He says, I have the power to give this to whom I will. That's God's power, not his. But just think for a minute. Have you ever passed, like just going down the road, you pass by a beautiful home, and you look at it and you think, man, I'd like to have that. That is a beautiful home. Or what about, a really nice new car comes down the street, and you just have the thought that, I'd like to get one of those, I want one of those. That's covetousness. That's covetousness, just that thought. The devil showed the Lord Jesus all the kingdoms that's ever been in this world at one time. You want to talk about power? He said, I'll give you the power of all these. And he said, I'll give you the glory of them, the riches and the honor and all that comes with that. How would you have fared? How would I have fared if the devil showed untold wealth and riches and honors and the lust of our sinful flesh? is to have power. That's what our flesh lusts for, power. Our flesh lusts to have glory, riches, honors, the things of this world. The only thing the devil said that he must do is this, if thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. Isn't that what the Lord tells us? concerning himself, worship me, believe me, trust me, and everything is yours. But the devil is saying, you sell your soul to me. He's saying, you give up God, you turn your back on God for the world. You bypass the cross. Don't go to that cross and suffer. Don't go to that cross and lay down your life and be spit upon and cursed by men and go through the agony of that. Don't you go there and be separated from holy God and bear the judgment and wrath of your people. You don't have to suffer all that. I'll give you a name. I'll give you honor. I'll give you glory. I'll give you power. Just worship me, that's what the devil told him. Do you see the love of our Redeemer here, brethren? You see how he loved God and loved his people? Our Redeemer chose to bow and obey God his Father. The joy that was set before him was his people. having his people, having those God chosen and gave to him to save, that was the joy he was looking for. And he was willing to suffer being made sin for us, bearing that thing he hated. He was willing to go to that cross and suffer the curse and condemnation that we deserved that God poured out on him. He knew what it was gonna be. He was willing to go into that tunnel. God's glory and honoring God and the salvation of all God's people, that was what he wanted. That's what he did what he did. Why he did what he did was for God's glory and the salvation of His people. That's why He did it. His great love for His people and His great love for His Father, He wouldn't bypass the cross. He wouldn't just take the world and bypass God and His people.

And Jesus answered and said to him, get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. The Lord teaches us that God alone is to be worshiped. He's the only one to be worshiped. Let nothing come between us and the worship of God. Let nothing come between you and the gospel of Christ. Let nothing come between us and unity with our brethren.

More people depart from the gospel because they're given riches in this world than anything else. You give a man a promotion in a career that he's longed for and looked at and worshiped and wanted to have, you give him You give him a promotion and riches, but he's gotta move away from where the gospel is. And if the Lord don't keep us, brethren, but you know, because the Lord did not bow to Satan, because he went to that cross and he suffered and he justified his people and he declared God just and he saved us because he did that, you know what God gave him? more than the devil ever could have. God gave him a name above every name. God gave him all the power. not only in this world, but in the world to come. Look at Ephesians 1 in verse 21. God's so satisfied with him, he made him the king of kings and lord of lords. He's so satisfied with his people in Christ because Christ justified us. God made him the king of kings and lord of lords. The devil said, I'll give you all power. God gave him more power than any has ever known. He said, I'll give you glory. God gave him all the glory. Look here, Ephesians 121, God raised him far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every nameless name, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all and all.

" Look over to Philippians 2. Look, he humbled himself. Verse 7, made himself with no reputation. took this form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, was obedient to death, the death of the cross. Who'd he bow and worship? He bowed and worshiped the Father. He did that for us, brethren. He did that to be perfectly faithful so that when God looks to him, he sees us in Christ as perfectly faithful. perfectly righteous, perfectly obedient. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And you know who that includes? It includes the devil. The devil's gonna he's gonna have to confess he is king of kings and lord of lords. Everything the devil promised him, God gave him more. And that's a good lesson to learn. Everything this world promises you and everything you think riches and honors and wealth and all the applause of this world, all those things that you think are gonna be satisfying to you, they're not. but God will give his people more than this world could ever give us. We'll have Christ. We'll seek the one who did this for us. We'll be with the one who did this for his people and know him and be able to worship him in perfection.

Now let's go here and see this last thing. We see our Savior's perfect obedience when the devil tempted him with what would have been to us and appeal to the pride of life. This would have appealed to our pride right here. Verse nine, Luke 4, 9. and he brought him to Jerusalem, and he set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and he said unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

See, that's the word that the Lord was trusting in, was the word the father, covenant promise the father gave to him. But that would have appealed to the pride of life in us, if thou be the Son of God, if you be a child of God, prove it to me. Prove it to me. We would have said, I'll prove it to you. The only thing Pharisees loved more than seeing a sign is showing one to other people that they're holy and righteous and by their word. The Lord gives you a heart to where you know You're not trying to please men anymore.

The devil used scripture, but he didn't quote it correctly. The scripture is Psalm 91, 11, and it says, he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. He left that part out, in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. But it shows us that the devil works in religion He knows scripture. The devil knows that grace and works don't mix. He knows that a man will never be saved by works, and so he's trying to get people to try to do it. That's what he wants you to do. He wants you to tempt God. He wants you to presume upon God. He wants you to bow and worship him. He's a real foe. The devil's a real adversary.

The Lord again declared God's word, he quoted Deuteronomy 6.16, and Jesus answering said unto him, here in verse 12, he said, it is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. See, he's showing us right here that true faithfulness, the faithfulness God gives, is humble, it's not proud. It doesn't have to prove anything to anybody. It's humble, not proud. It's pride that has something to prove. Pride wants to prove to others and show others and hear man's approval and man's applause. That's pride. Humility believes God, rests in Christ, rests upon his promises, believes his word, trusts his word, and doesn't presume upon God's power and God's grace.

That we saw in Isaiah 43, the Lord said, when you walk You'll go through the fire, you'll pass through the fire. And the Lord said, but you won't get burned? He said, I'm gonna bring you out. That don't make you wanna go build a fire and jump in it. None of these things that were promised by God makes us want to sin against God. It doesn't make us wanna presume against God. You know where the believer spends most our time? Where do you spend most your time? Praying, Lord, make me know that I'm yours. We're not presuming on Him. We want to know where He is.

God promised His people that He'll keep us in all our ways. He promised that to Christ. He did it. He promised it to you. He'll do it. But we're not going to presume upon that. We're going to trust Him. We're going to trust Him.

And it says, verse 13, And when the devil had ended all the temptation, He departed from him for a season. But the Lord permitted him to have his hour. And the Lord went and laid down his life on the cross, and by putting all the sin away of his people, that's how he crushed the devil's head. Nobody can charge God's people because Christ is our righteousness, our perfection. And he did everything from a holy heart.

And Romans 16, 20 says, and the God of peace shall bring Satan under your feet shortly. I want to end by going back to 1 John 2. And I just want to read what John said here. And everybody sitting here, I know that some are older, some are younger, This is true of every one of us, brethren. You're not going to find true riches and true salvation in anything in this world. You're not going to find it. Not in your flesh. You're going to find true salvation in the Lord only. in the Lord only.

Listen to what 1 John 2.15 says right here. Listen to this now. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, And the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

What's the will of God? Believe on his son. Christ came and did the will of God. He accomplished the will of God and justified all His people. He fulfilled the law for His people. And now God says to you and me, believe on my Son. Trust my Son. Hear my Son. Follow my Son. Commit it all to Him to save. You do as much as the Lord will enable you, and as much as his grace will enable you to do it, God commands us, and you try to do for one another what my son has done for you. That's what he commands us. And all our righteousness, and all our holiness, and all our acceptance with God is Christ.

See, he didn't come into a perfect world like Adam. He came into a world sinful, where the devil was on a rampage, and all these commandments, and yet, he perfectly obeyed God. None like him. Everybody's gonna bow to him, either today in grace, by his grace, or in the last day, but we're gonna bow to him. I pray the Lord make us bow now, and you that have, I pray we're not tempted by the devil to go away.

Peter experienced it. He said, be vigilant, be sober. The devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The good news for us, brethren, is we know that the devil can't do anything but by God's permission. And if he does tempt us, it's only to show us that the Lord is our only salvation. That's what Peter learned. And Peter learned to just trust the Lord to do the saving. I pray the Lord teaches that. Let's go to him, brethren.

Our Father, our dear Savior, we thank you for being so perfect and righteous and holy and saving your people. Lord, the flesh is weak. We're so thankful that you overcame the devil, that you overcame him on the cross, that you came overcame him in getting us the gospel and giving us a new heart. We pray you keep us. Keep us looking to you and trusting you. Don't let us trade Christ for the world. Don't let us leave you. Don't let us walk away for anything this world has to offer.

Lord, keep us. We need you to preserve us. We thank you that by your sovereign hand and your perfect righteousness, because your law's been honored, that you've promised you'll never let us perish.

Lord, we beg of you, be with our brethren everywhere. If any are being tempted by this world and led away, Lord, turn them, hedge them, and bring them back under your gospel, bring them to Christ, bring them to unite with your people. That's what all your people want. We wanna see your people saved. We wanna see our brethren that are slipping away. We wanna see them brought to the feet of your son.

Lord, we ask you to do that. Do that for all your people and keep us right there, Lord, right at his feet. Thank you for this salvation. Thank you for your son. Thank you for this gospel and these brethren. In Christ's name we pray, amen.