Matthew chapter four. We're going
to read from verse one. We were thinking midweek about
what it meant to be led by the Spirit. And we made mention of
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was led by the Spirit
after he had been baptised of John the Baptist in the River
Jordan. And it's that little account
that we have in Matthew chapter four that I would like to read
this morning. So Matthew chapter four and verse
one. Then was Jesus led up of the
spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And
when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and
hungered. 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. Then the devil
taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle
of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God,
cast thyself down. For it is written, He shall give
his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone. Jesus said unto him, it is written
again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil
taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him
all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and saith
unto him, all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall
down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get
thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth
him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. This account that we have in
Matthew chapter 4 has a parallel briefly in Mark chapter 1 verse
12 and 13 and Luke chapter 4 verse 1 to 13. But we're going to concentrate
on Matthew's account of this episode in the life of the Lord
Jesus this morning. The Lord Jesus Christ spent 30
years in relative obscurity. From the time of his birth and
then up until the temple episode where he, at 12 years of age,
was taken to the temple by his parents, We really know very
little about him. And then from the age of 12 until
he was 30, we know nothing. The scripture is silent concerning
those years of the Lord's life. and his ministry was instituted
at the age of 30. It lasted three years. He was
crucified when he was 33 years old. His ministry was instituted
at his baptism by John in the River Jordan and by the testimony
of the father. who spoke words out of heaven
when the Lord came back up out of that water having been baptised
by John and declared, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. And the Holy Spirit descended
upon the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of a dove and rested
upon him. This was the triune God attesting
that the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ had
occurred. Father, Son and Holy Spirit together
making that witness. It spoke of the Father's love
towards him. It spoke of the Spirit's empowering
upon him. And it called upon men to hear
his words, to give ear to the message that he brought, all
that his father had given him to say, all that the father had
granted to him to teach to men and women. And I feel that that
is a very significant point. That moment where these three,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Godhead,
came together and attested the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for many years, Satan had
undoubtedly been aware of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have seen in past studies how throughout the history of
the Jews, because Satan was aware of the prophetic testimony that
the Messiah would come and he would come from the Jews, that
Satan had sought opportunity and occasion to destroy the Jews,
to blot them off the face of the earth entirely. whether that
was by the Egyptians or the Philistines or the Babylonians or the Assyrians
or, in the case of Esther and Mordecai, the Medes and the Persians. These peoples had been raised
up around that little nation of Israel and invariably came
down with brutality and hardship upon the people of God with,
it would appear, a desire to exterminate them off the face
of the earth. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
born, we discover that Satan took opportunity to do exactly
the same thing again. And that's where we hear about
the slaughter of the infants and how that Herod, when he heard
that a king had been born at the testimony of the wise men
from the east, took a sword and took his soldiers and tried to
slay all of the infants, hoping to be rid of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The death of the Lord Jesus Christ was just Satan always taking
his opportunity to try and be rid of Christ. Now to what extent Satan had
been aware of the Lord Jesus Christ's presence upon earth
is hard to say. It's a subject of interesting
conversation. But let us always remember that
Satan is like a chained dog. Satan can only do what God permits
him to do. He is not autonomous. He does
not have control over his own destiny. He is God's devil. And yet the Lord gave him certain
latitude that he might act and he might fulfil a purpose and
serve the purposes of God. And certain it is that Satan
had been prevented repeatedly from assaulting the Lord Jesus
Christ or from bringing to an end that line of the Lord Jesus
Christ by divine decree, by protecting angels. But now, at the baptism
of the Lord, at the testimony of the Father and the Holy Spirit,
The time of engagement had come and the Lord Jesus Christ entered
upon his ministry and entered the full sphere of that battleground
with Satan. This was the appointed time. All God does is purposeful. And all God does is designed
for His glory and for the blessing of His people. And I want you
to remember that. Supposing you forget most of
what else I have to say this morning. I want you to remember
that point. All that God does is purposeful
and designed for His own glory and for the blessing of his people. It's a principle not to be forgotten. Because the outworking of events,
the outworking of circumstances, the outworking of history is
flowing to this end of the glory of God. And men may imagine autonomy
to the degree that they like with their fanciful imagination.
But God is in control and he is bringing this world to its
specified and determined conclusion. Revelation chapter 5 verse 12
and 13 says this, it is speaking about those in heaven who at
the end of time will worship the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is what they will say. Listen
to these words. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour
and glory and blessing. That's the end of everything
that happens. That the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lamb that was slain, shall receive power, riches, wisdom, strength,
honour, glory and blessing. That's the end, that's the purpose,
that's what it's all about, that the Lord Jesus Christ will receive
these accolades from the people of his redemption. And every
creature, John goes on to say, every creature which is in heaven,
the angels, on the earth, men, the whole of the natural creation,
and under the earth even the very demons and Satan himself,
and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I
saying, blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that
sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. So when we come to the incidents
and the episodes of our lives and the difficulties and the
challenges and the trials and the hardships and the sorrows
and the sadnesses and the losses, let us recognize and remember
that this end of the glory of God is being accomplished every
day, in every way, and it will be attested by every creature
that ever was created at the hand of Almighty God. And similarly,
when we come to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, when we come
to the incidents and the episodes of Christ's life, the history
of redemption, if you like, and particularly these three years
of the Lord's ministry, as with our own personal experience,
we have to recognize that God's purpose is being accomplished. Now, maybe you find yourself
saying, Why Lord? Why? Why has it got to be like
this? Why is it to be this way? Why is it that it's got to happen
in this particular way? Couldn't it have been done a
different way? And I know we ask those questions. We wouldn't be men and women
if we didn't. That's part of our humanity,
part of our weakness of this flesh, always to have these doubts,
always to have these questions, these uncertainties, even as
the Lord's people. And we find ourselves saying,
why? But the answer is always the
same. For the blessing, honour, glory, and power of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's it. You'll never get an
answer better than that. You'll never get an answer that
will satisfy you more than that. And if you will not say that
now, You will see it in a day to come because every creature
under heaven will attest that all of these things were done
for the blessing, honour, glory and power of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb that sits upon the throne. From Satan to Gabriel To all
the men and all the animals in between, every created being,
the very earth itself will attest to the blessing, honour, glory
and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. So why did the Lord Jesus Christ
have to be tempted? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ
have, why was this necessary? Why was it necessary that the
Lord Jesus Christ should endure this trial, this physical, emotional,
psychological, and spiritual trial that he underwent? It was like a vice clamping around
the Lord Jesus Christ. crushing him over this period
when he endured this time of temptation by Satan. Why was
Satan allowed such liberty with the Lord, with the Son of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ? Why was he enabled to impose
such duress, such hardship upon the Saviour? for the blessing, honour, glory
and power of him that sits upon the throne. That's the answer,
even to the questions of the Lord's own experience. We're told in the opening verse
of this passage that it was the Spirit that led the Lord Jesus
Christ into the wilderness. In Mark's account, it says that
the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. There was a compelling
force, there was a power here, a compunction that the Lord Jesus
Christ had to experience these things. Do we desire to be led by the
Holy Spirit? I trust that the Lord's people
do. I trust that the Lord's people do desire the Lord, God, the
Holy Spirit to lead us day by day. But we can't say that we
desire the Holy Spirit only to lead us into the good stuff. Because the Holy Spirit leads
into hardship also. Just into the pleasant experiences
of life, please, Lord. not into the wilderness. Don't
lead me there. The Lord Jesus Christ was asked
by his disciples on another occasion, teach us how to pray. And when
he taught them to pray, he taught them to pray, lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. I don't think I had realised
just how personal that prayer was from the lips of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
had been led into temptation and the Lord Jesus Christ had
been led to that place where he also had to be delivered from
evil. In the parallel passages in the
Gospels, we learn that the Lord fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. and that he was tempted for 40
days and 40 nights. Mark here seems to imply that
the temptation took place at the end of those 40 days and
40 nights, but the other gospel writers, Mark and Luke, tell
us no, that was a continual experience. So we may well imagine that while
the three temptations are specified here, and they are specified
in the other accounts also, nevertheless there had been a continual process
of temptation throughout these 40 days and 40 nights. We're told that the Lord lived
in the midst of wild beasts during this process. There were no people
around. He was in a wilderness place.
He was alone. He did not eat food or drink
for 40 days and 40 nights. And at the end of that process,
that weakening process, that nerve-stretching exercise, Satan
appears to him and it would appear he appeared to him in a physical
form. That here we have Satan and the
Lord Jesus Christ literally conversing together. These three particular temptations
that are set before us, they were real temptations and I don't
doubt for a moment that what is said in them transpired as
far as Christ being taken to the pinnacle of the temple and
then again to an exceedingly high mountain and caused to see
a variety of things and challenged with the temptations that he
was given were very real. They are also symbolical. because
they gather up a lot of different strands and themes with respect
to man's relationship with God. These temptations were laid upon
the Lord. And I'm just going to mention
them a little bit in a moment or two, but before I do that,
I want to touch upon something else and draw your attention
to it. And it's this. that this battle that the Lord
Jesus Christ had with Satan, it was a personal battle. It was a genuine battle and it
was a protracted battle. I think we gleaned that from
Psalm 22 that we read at the beginning of this service. There
the Lord was speaking about the dogs that were assailing him,
about the bulls of Bashan that gaped upon him, how it was like
lions eating him. And there's something perhaps
meaningful there with respect to the fact that he was in this
wilderness with wild animals. These were the things that were
coming against and upon the Lord during this process of the 40
days and 40 nights. The Lord really felt this. He was hungry. It had an effect
on his physical frame and body. There was nothing imaginary about
the 40 days. And you may say, 40 days and
40 nights, is that possible? Well, it is. And the Lord Jesus
Christ was not the first. Moses fasted for 40 days and
40 nights in the mountain when he received the law. Elijah fasted
for 40 days and 40 nights when he was bringing the prophetic
message of God. So the law and the prophets attested
and, as it were, previewed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the instigation of the gospel ministry that the acts of the
apostles would later on declare, and Jesus Christ himself endured
that process, that period of 40 days and 40 nights. 40 in scripture often speaks
about trial, and this was the Lord's experience also. And we need to remember that
the same word the same living word who created the devil, could
have destroyed him with just that word of his mouth. He created
him, he could have destroyed him just the same, but he did
not. He engaged with him. Why? For his glory, for the manifestation
of his power, for the praise of his name, The Lord Jesus Christ
entered into this temptation, entered into this trial, entered
into this hardship, and he endured the effects of it in his own
body and upon his own soul. This battle must be fought and
it must be settled in the realm of human history. There had been,
we're told in the Old Testament, a battle in heaven. There had
been a rebellion in heaven and Satan and his angels had been
cast out by Michael and the armies that remained true to God. These
things are attested in scripture, but this battle between Christ
And Satan must take place on earth and it must take place
in time. Hebrews 2, verse 14 and 1 John
3, verse 10 tell us that the Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy
the devil and the works of the devil. And now at the commencement
of his ministry, his three years ministry at the age of 30, having
been attested by the father and imbibed with power from the Holy
Ghost, he begins this work of destroying the devil and the
works of the devil. And also just to mention this,
that the battle lasted a long time. because it lasted throughout
the Lord's ministry. It didn't just happen over the
space of a few moments or a few hours or a few days at the end
of this period of 40 days. It continued until it was decisive. This was a battle to the death.
This was a fight to the death. And it concluded at the cross. And the sentence upon Satan will
be executed on the day of judgment when he will be cast into the
pit of hell. Revelation 20 verse 10 tells
us the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire
and that forever and ever. Now I want to just touch upon
these three trials that the Lord Jesus Christ embarked upon or
were brought to him. And I'm not going to go too deeply
into them at all. These three temptations are recorded
but it would appear that there were many more if indeed we take
Luke and Mark's references to Christ being tempted throughout
the 40 days at face value. The three that we have set before
us here in Matthew and Luke are that Christ in his hunger command
that the stones be turned to bread. So that was a request
of Satan, tempted him for his physical appetite, that in order
to slake or ease the hunger that his body was feeling, he turns
the stones into bread. The second one was to cast himself
down from the temple pinnacle and that angels would come and
stop him from being killed on the ground underneath. The angels
would come and uphold him. If he was the son of God and
if prophecy was true, then the angels would come and they wouldn't
even let his foot hit the ground. And then he was taken up into
a mountain and he was shown the world empires, the world kingdoms. And Satan said, all of these
things will I give thee if you will bow down to me. But just
to say that these three touch upon the three principal areas
of human sin, lust, and ambition. what John, in 1 John, calls all
that is in the world. All the motivation that is in
the heart of man in the world. I think it's very interesting
that John lists what I'm going to mention in the way that he
does. In 1 John 2, verse 16, he says, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Those are the
three things that John specifies. And I'm pretty sure that we can
attach each of those three things to these three temptations that
the Lord underwent. The lust of the flesh was the
eating when he was hungry. The lust of the eyes was all
of the kingdoms that were set before him, and the pride of
life was that sense in which they Lord Jesus Christ would be able
to say that he was indeed the Son of God and prove it to be
so by the angels coming to prevent him from hurting himself. And
the comprehensive repudiation of all of these three demonstrated
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ did not sin, would not
sin, even in the weakness of the physical condition that he
was in at this time. He wouldn't accept the devil's
offer. I want briefly to consider some
of the lessons that the Holy Spirit teaches us from this passage. Matthew, Mark and Luke could
not have known What transpired in these 40 days and 40 nights,
except the Lord Jesus Christ had informed them of it. There was nobody with the Lord
during this time. Nobody knew what the devil said
to him. Nobody knew what the Lord's answers
were, except that the Lord Jesus Christ has spoken these things
subsequently that they might be recorded and that they might
be conveyed to us in later years within the testimony of Scripture. So it's purposeful again that
these things have been given to us. What can we learn from
them? They are recorded for our good,
they are recorded for our help. Here's the first thing that I
want to say on this matter. This speaks to us, the temptation
of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us of the Lord's union with
us in our humanity. It reminds us again that our
Savior came to where we were. He came and put himself under
the same constraints that we are under. He came to where we
are in our sinful, weak state. He was without sin, but he fought
our battles for us. He beat our enemy. on our behalf. He delivered his people and he
set us free because he loved us and he came for us and he
satisfied every need that we could not satisfy for ourselves. Satan was too strong for us but
one was called to stand in the gap. One was called to represent
his people. One was called to stand out there
and go before the giant And the Lord Jesus Christ was
that one, the son of David, who stood for his people, who stood
with integrity, who stood with honesty, and who fought our battle
for us. So here's the first lesson. It
speaks to us of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ in our
humanity. Second one is this. Are we not
comforted and encouraged in our own trials in this life to see
the Lord Jesus Christ experiencing the very same things that we
have to go through? Is there not some comfort in
knowing that the hardness of the life that we often are called
to bear was something that the Lord understands, that he has
empathy with us, that he has been here before us, that he
has walked this way. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
suffering more than any man ever suffered. At all aspects of his
life, whether we're thinking physically, whether we're thinking
emotionally, whether we're thinking psychologically, or whether we're
thinking spiritually, the Lord Jesus Christ had poured upon
him such extremes of suffering that it is beyond the knowledge
of any individual person. What the Lord endured in Gethsemane,
what the Lord endured on the cross, is more than words can
say. And rightly, and I think wisely,
there is, as it were, a veil, as far as scripture is concerned,
drawn across these things in the New Testament. But just every
now and again in the Old Testament prophetic testimonies concerning
Christ, for example in Psalm 22, we read something about the
degree to which the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on our behalf. So when we suffer in this world,
when we're persecuted, when we enter into periods of trial and
tribulation, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ who's suffering
for us. proved him to be a worthy friend
and saviour. Thirdly, let us be wise to see
how the devil tempted the Lord Jesus. Let's look at the methodology
and the way in which Satan tempted our saviour. It was interesting
timing. the commencement of the Lord's
ministry, he had just been blessed. He had just been blessed by this
testimony from heaven that he was the beloved son of God and
God's pleasure and love rested upon him. The Holy Spirit descended
in power upon him. There was a public attestation
of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there was a backlash.
Then, as it were, Satan came with all his force against the
person of Christ. Robert Hawker says with respect
to this, he says of believers, no sooner is a work of grace
wrought in their hearts, but all hell is up in arms. Think about that. Which of us
doesn't seek a blessing from the Lord? Which amongst us would
say that we don't ask that the Lord might bless our testimony,
our relationships, our witness, our ministry? We look for the
Lord's goodness in our hands and we should, we rightly should.
But we must also be aware that the timing of these things might
just be that for every blessing that we have, there will be a
backlash. Satan doesn't rest easy. He takes
occasion. of the Lord's blessing to come
against the people of God. And what was his strategy? He
came when the Lord was weakest, at the end of that 40 days and
40 nights, when the Lord was weakest, when he was most tried. Are there things that we do that
give Satan an opening in our lives? Are there places that
we go that give Satan an opening to attack us? Are there things
that we look at? Are there things that we consume
that give Satan the opportunity to attack us and come into our
lives? When we're weakest, that's when
the trial comes. And yes, believers are free in
this world, but as Paul says to the Galatians, brethren, ye
have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Here's another thing
that we might notice from the way in which Satan attacked our
Lord. Notice how the Lord rebuffed him. Notice how the Lord rejected
his overtures, rejected the temptations. He quoted scripture every time
he quoted scripture. And he quoted from Deuteronomy.
Now that's not the most obvious place to find temptation countering
arguments, but that's where the Lord, the Lord knew his Bible. We're not going to fight Satan
with a rifle or a shotgun or a baseball bat. That's not how
it works. You won't be able to contend
against temptation by the force of your muscles. It's by faith. It's by trusting the Lord. It's
by knowing the scripture. That's how we're able to resist
the devil. To be able to understand what
it is that's happening to us. It's a scripture that is our
sword. It is the sword of the scripture. Not the power and
the wisdom of the flesh. And let me say this too, it's
not simply quoting the words. Satan himself quoted the Bible. He said if you throw yourself
off the angels will come and they won't let your foot be dashed
against the ground. He was quoting the Psalms. Satan
can quote the Bible. Anybody and his donkey can quote
the Bible. But it's understanding what it
means. It's knowing where the authority
lies. It's knowing that in declaring
these things to be true, that is where we are bending the knee. That is where we are looking
for our help. That is where we are trusting.
It is saying, I am subject to the will of God. And thereby,
Satan is resisted. And finally, We note that Satan
left the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord rebuked him and
told him to get behind him, Satan left the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10, then saith Jesus unto
him, get thee hence, Satan, for it is written thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil
leaveth him. Luke says that he left him for
a season. And that tells us that it is
possible to resist the devil, but he will come back again.
He will have another go at you. He won't leave you, that's not
his style, that's not his pattern. And that is the reason why we
need the grace of God daily in our lives. James chapter four,
verse seven says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the
devil and he will flee from you, but he will return when you're
not looking. The believer's own battle with
his flesh continues, but it's only to the extent that
it is for our good in the purpose of our God. There's something
lovely about the coming of the angels to minister to the Lord
right at the very end of this passage, verse 11. I'm pretty sure that these angels
that came and ministered to the Lord were like the two men that
spoke to the disciples, the apostles, when the Lord Jesus Christ went
up into heaven at his ascension. I'm pretty sure that these were
physical manifestations of the angels. And they came and we're
told elsewhere that they made food for him. They made food
for him just as the angel had done for Elijah all those years
ago. The angels made food for the
Lord and they ministered to him at the conclusion of this episode.
That teaches us that it is only the Lord Jesus Christ that contends
for his people. The angels never did. They were
onlookers. They were spectators in this
matter until the Lord had resisted and rebuffed Satan and he had
gone. The angels don't represent us. It is the Saviour who represents
us. The angels look on in wonder
and adoration as the Son of God accomplishes the plan of redemption
for His church and people. And perhaps we might have our
minds drawn to the fact that these same angels came and sustained
the Lord in Gethsemane also when he was under the weight of trial
from Satan and the entrance into his soul of the sword of God's
wrath against the sin of his people. Victory is the Lord's. but the ministering spirit's
delight to serve his cause. This is our Lord. This is our
blessed friend. This is our representative. May
we be blessed to consider his great works on our behalf. and
delight to call him our Lord and Saviour, who has done all
things well in his ministry and in his purposes of redemption
on our behalf. Amen.