It's good to see everyone this
morning. It's good to see Renee and Sarah. I wish they would
tie that mark and bring him along just once in a while. We miss seeing him, we really do.
I want you to take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me
to the book of Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four. I'm sure that we all are familiar
with, which deals with the temptation of our dear Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, to set the context of this
message, of this text we're about to read, I want to read the last
two verses of chapter three, verses 16 and 17 of chapter three. Verse 16 says, and Jesus, when
he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And a voice from heaven
sang, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Then verse one of chapter four,
then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to
be tempted of the devil. Tempted, tested, tried. But I want you to look at this
little word at the first of that text when it says then. The word
then. That means at that time, at that
time, Marvin talked a little bit about that Wednesday night.
I told him after the service, I said, you're going to preach
my message because he got into that little word then. I'd already
thought about this, but then it's tied to what has just been
said about God pleasing, being pleased with Christ. At that
time, The book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote this, that every
time, for every time, there is a purpose. Every time there is
a purpose. And at this time, we must ask,
what is the purpose of the temptation of Christ? For it is tied to
the pleasing of the Father. Isaiah 42. Verse 21 says this. He, that is the Father, is well-pleased
for his, that is Christ the Son, for his righteousness' sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. God is well-pleased in Christ
because of his righteousness. Now when we read the text, for
the first 30 years of the Lord's life, we have no reference whatsoever
or no revelation in scripture of what took place in his life.
30 years, it's silent, it tells nothing. But it says he's well
pleased. Now the Lord says, and the Lord
Jesus said later, he says, He says, I do always those things
that please the Father. So what we have here is God is
about to make good on his word when he says, I am well pleased. Why? He's gonna declare the righteousness
of, excuse me, of Christ, our Lord, before the world, before
our eyes, and we have it written here in this text. We're made
aware in this text that Christ was indeed righteous and he pleased
the Father. But the Father had to record
this because like I said, up to this time, there's no evidence
in Christ's earthly life. I'm not talking about the Old
Testament now. We can read through the Psalms
and we can read a lot about Christ, but I'm talking about his earthly
being. evidence or anything said about him pleasing God. But yet
we know he did. He pleased Father. Like I said,
I do always those things that please the Father. He said that. Here in this passage, in his
temptation, is God the Father making good on his word when
he says, I am well That is the purpose of this text. And it was written for us because
immediately after his baptism, this went into place. It took
place at that time. It is the testimony of God to
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse two of
chapter four, it says, and when he had fasted, 40 days and 40
nights, he was afterward and hungered. I can only imagine, as I thought
about this, I thought, man, if I hadn't ate for 40 days, the scripture doesn't bear out
fully the hunger that was in the Lord. Well, let's remember
this. He was a man, he was a man no
different than us. And there are those that'll say,
foolishly, well, he was God-man, he was able to do that. No, no,
no, no, no. He was fully man. What was it
Scott always said? He was as much God as if he was
never man. And he was as much man as if
he was never God. He was fully man. He was hungry. He was extremely hungry. Now in verse three, it says, and when the tempter
came to him, here was our Lord in absolute human weakness. Imagine
going 40 days and 40 nights without food. You would be, and I would
be, very weak. And as I read this, I thought,
what would I do? If I had no money and no means
of eating, what kind of sin would I be tempted to do? Knowing that
we ourselves are full of sin, what would we do? Certainly we
wouldn't do what the Lord did, as we'll see here in a minute. He said, when the tempter came to him,
he'll always come to you, brothers and sisters, in your weakest
moments. He comes in our weakest moments. When we're poor, when we're down
and out, when we've reached the bottom, when we're depressed,
Satan has studied the human heart for centuries. He knows exactly
how to deal with every man because of sin. He sees the sin in men.
I was thinking this morning, he knows us better than we know
ourselves. We don't see sin for what it
is, but he does, and he knows it, and he knows our weaknesses.
And when we're weak, he's apt to come and tempt us. It says, when the tempter came
to him, the tempter, he said, if thou be the son of God, command
that these stones be made red, if thou. Here he's challenging
our Lord. You say you're, if you're really
the son of God, now he didn't know for sure, this was a man. He suspected it, I would say.
If you be the son of God. He challenged him. You say you're
a righteous man, you think you're a good man? Somebody said, well,
you think you're a good man, David? You think you're okay? Immediately you're on the offensive,
and that's what he was trying to do. That was his first temptation, by questioning the Lord. If thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread. Now let me ask you a question. Was there any sin if the Lord
had made those stones bread? Did he not make, turn water into
wine? Did he not feed 5,000 with a
few fishes and a few loaves of bread? He did miracles. Was there sin in it? No, there's
no sin in it. But the sin was in the temptation. Satan was trying to get his foot
in the door with this man. By appealing to him in his weakest
moment, Why don't you do this if you're hungry? But we'll find
in scripture, and you look all through the gospels, you're not
gonna find anywhere that the Lord Jesus Christ ever performed
a miracle to gratify and satisfy his own flesh. He says the Son
of Man doesn't even have a place to lay his head. He never provided
a miracle for himself. Did he do a lot of miracles?
He sure did. He did it for the disciples, he did it for peoples
by the thousands, possibly. But he never, he never took to
self-gratification, and that's sin. We don't realize it. I don't realize it, I don't see
it for what it is. Brothers and sisters, we don't
see sin for what it is. It lies so close to us. It's so much a part of us. that
even the smallest gratification of the flesh is sin, can be sin. Scripture says we love our neighbors
as ourselves. We're willing, and let's just
be honest, we're willing to satisfy our own needs while ignoring
others. That's human nature. That's my
nature. That's that old man that dwells
within me. There's no good in it, no good
in it. And I've said this before, that
without the restraining grace of God, I, we, would be just like an
Adolf Hitler. No different. He was no different,
except that the restraining grace of God wasn't in him. God didn't
hold him back. So he says, command that these
stones be made bread. In verse four, our Lord answers
him, but I want you to notice how he answers him. 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. He makes
no mention of himself. He doesn't defend himself, he
doesn't talk about his hunger, his weakness or anything, but
what's he do? He quotes scripture. And he quotes scripture in order
to glorify the Father. He refers his answer always. In all these three cases we're
about to read, he goes back to scripture to
bring out the glory of God. That's what it's all about. That's
what he says. Man shall not live by bread alone,
Boy, aren't we prone to do that? I want you to think about this
scripture. We're thinking about the physical things of life,
bread, food, shelter. How quick we are to provide for
ourselves in this life. Oh, we're very careful. We watch
our money. We save our money. We invest
our money. Oh, we'll build ourselves a nice
house. We want to live comfortably.
We want to prepare. We want to prepare for retirement,
save our money for retirement that we might live. And yet when
it comes to the soul of man, the most precious part of us,
we give little thought to the care and the future of the soul. Oh, once in a while, our conscience,
and I'm speaking here of the natural man. I'm speaking here
of every man in general. All of us, naturally. Conscience
may convict us a little bit, but it's soon forgotten. Put it off till tomorrow. That's
really not important this day. I got more important things to
do. I need stuff. I gotta get stuff. I've gotta
have stuff. I gotta have this. I gotta have a new car. I gotta
have this. I gotta have that. And all the while, we, by nature,
Give little thought to the soul. Does that not tell us, does that
not tell us just how dead we are naturally? Does that not
tell us how dead? We're dead, naturally speaking. There's no good in us, we're
dead. Totally and spiritually dead. No concern whatsoever.
And we see that all the time. We see it in ourselves. How many
times do we think, well, I need to sit down and study the Bible,
and then we put it off, something else comes up, we gotta do it.
Or I don't pray like I should, or this, that, and the other.
It seems like it's not as important as what this physical life needs
right now. Many times, well, I've gotta
do this, I don't have time to, I don't have time to go to church
tonight. I've got to do this. I've got
that meeting. I've got to go here. I've got
to do this. I've got to do that. That's more important. But when
you think about it, when you read scripture, what's important?
It's the soul. Our soul is the important part
of our being. It's going to live forever. And
it's going to live in one or two places. And it's time for
me and all of us to get serious about about this thing. I mean, we're going to stand
before the Lord. What kind of excuses am I going
to make? What am I going to say? Am I
going to bow or am I going to start making excuses like it
talks about in Matthew? Well, Lord, we've done this in
your name. We've done that in your name. And then he says that
to those terrible, terrible words that think of that, that you're
standing And I'm standing before God, and he says, depart from
me. Brethren, the scripture says,
make your calling and election sure. We have to be absolutely
sure. I don't like to use the vernacular, but listen, we've
got one go-round in this life, that's it. That's it, one go-round. There's no, after death, there's
no chance. It's done, it's over with for
eternity. Back to our text, didn't mean
to get off on it. Verse five says, 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. Satan quoted that passage correctly. I want you to turn with me to
Psalms 91. Let's read what that says. Psalms
91, he's referring to this scripture, let's just see what it says.
Like I said, he quotes it correctly, but he misapplies that scripture,
he twists it. Psalms 91, verse number nine. He says, because thou hast made
the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, for he shall
give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. He's referring there to the protection
of Christ. And when he says, when you dash
your foot against a stone, he's simply saying there that he's
going to protect him in all his ways. No place does he say that,
well, if you throw yourself down off this pinnacle, I'll raise
you up. Satan has twisted that scripture totally, totally wrong. Matthew chapter four, let's read
verse seven. The Lord's answer was, Jesus said
unto him, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord
by God. And again, he refers back to
the Father, God the Father. They quote scripture. He's not talking here. When he says, when the Lord says
it is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord by God, he's not
talking about Satan tempting him. He's talking about himself
tempting God in doing what Satan has told him to do. I don't dare
do that's what he said. We're not to tempt God. We are
not to tempt God because it never goes well for us when we tempt
God. That's a fact. As I was reading
this, I was thinking about this religion that likes to handle snakes. You see
them on, I've seen them on television, you probably have too. They take
these snakes and they play with them and they handle them. And
they take that from Mark chapter 16 where it says, they shall
take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall
not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover. He's talking about the disciples
there. If they take up serpents, The best explanation for that
is, if you read in the Book of Acts, you recall that the Apostle
Paul, when he was being taken to Rome as a prisoner aboard
ship, they come into a very violent storm, and eventually the ship
was shipwrecked, and they landed on this strange island with a
bunch of natives. Well, the natives took them in
and befriended them, and they were building a fire, and Paul
went out and grabbed up a bunch of wood to put on the fire and
there was a snake in it and the snake bit him. And these natives
or these heathens on this island thought, well, he must be a crook. He must be evil because this
snake bit him, but he didn't die from it. He did not die from
that snake bite. And when he didn't, they thought,
well, he must be a god. But that's what it's referring
to. Not that you pick up snakes. What these men do, they tempt
God by playing with these snakes, and what's happened to some of
them, we've seen them, they've been bitten and died. You tempt God,
God's gonna come face to face with you. There was a man, and
I've related this before, but I think it's very good. There's
a man that come from England, he was an atheist, I don't need
to mention his name. He was a devout atheist, well
known. And he, in his stupidity and
foolishness, decided to write a book titled, God Is Not Great. And in doing so, he tempted and
challenged God. And it wasn't very long that
he started developing throat cancer. And after a while, he
couldn't talk. And after a while, he died. God
shut him up. His temptation, he tempted God.
He tried to go toe-to-toe with God, and he lost. And any man,
and that's what the Lord's talking about here, we don't dare tempt
God. When he says something, we believe it, but let's not
try him. We can be put to the test, but
we dare not put the Lord Jehovah to the test. Okay, back in our text on verse
eight. Again, the devil taketh him up
into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms
of the world in the glory of them. And he saith unto him,
all these things will I give you if thou will fall down and
worship me. Here Satan makes his boldest
claim. appealing to the men's natural
pride and self-glory. And we know that's true. Even
in believers, we're full of self-pride. He has done this to men for centuries. He's applied his trade to men
appealing to their pride, and we see the results of it. So let's just let's just be honest
this morning. This pride is in me and it's
in you. It's part of that old man. It's
part of that old nature and it'll always be there. I see that pride
in myself. Let somebody say something against
me. That hurts me. And that pride wells up. And
I see it in other people too, all of us. We're not exempt from
this thing called pride. If you read in the first chapter
of Romans, God, the Holy Spirit lists all the things that is
in man as far as sin goes, and that's one of them. And that
is in all of us. Some, it's more pronounced in
one thing, some in another. but the sin of pride is in all
of us. We don't like to be belittled.
That's nature. That's natural. We do not like
to be belittled. We don't like to be humbled.
We don't like to be talked about. And when we do, we're apt to
re-react. Proverbs 16, 18 says this concerning
this pride. Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall. We've been watching here on the
news lately this little so-called submarine that tried to go down
to the Titanic. And the man was warned over and
over and over that what he was building wouldn't work. But pride
wouldn't let him back down. He was proud. He was going to
do it. He knew he could do it. I don't care what these people
say, I know better. And what happens, he was destroyed.
God destroyed him. God did that. I've seen some
of the men, it says he was a man of ego. Proverbs 29, 23 says, a man's
pride shall bring him low. Satan was appealing as a man
to the man, Christ Jesus. Now, let me emphasize this. The Lord said, there is one mediator
between God and man. He said, the man. Christ Jesus. Not the God man. Let us not think for a second
that somehow, that because he was God, he had more power to
overcome these things. No. He was man. Holy man. How can a man be holy? How can
a man be God and man? I don't understand that. Scripture
doesn't explain it. That's a secret thing that belongs
to God, we believe it. But we believe that he is God,
he is the holy God, but he emptied himself, the scripture says.
Made himself of no reputation, took on human flesh, and was
made a man, just as we are. Suffered all the things we did.
Now, In his, in Satan, in his promising the Lord these things,
he says, he says, all these things will I give you if thou will
fall down and worship me. All these things, it was not
his to give. That was a lie. He lied. Scripture says the earth is the
Lord's and the fullness thereof. It didn't belong to him. But
does not Satan do that to us? If I just, all this is yours,
all you gotta do is do this. And how many times have we made
the wrong decision? We made a, let's say, made a
decision that was wrong, only to find that we got burned in
it. It was totally, totally wrong. And then in verse 10, He says,
then says Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan, for it is
written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt
thou serve. And again, the Lord's answer
was not for himself, but to the honor and glory of God the Father. James 4.7 says, submit yourselves
therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. So in closing, verse 11, it says,
then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered
unto him. Angels coming, ministering unto
a man. Remember when that happened before? Where else that occurs? It occurred
in the Garden of Eden when he was under great strain and sweat
great drops of blood. It says the angels came and strengthened
him, a man. Who's able to understand it?
I don't. But he was a man and we must be careful that we don't
take away from him his right as a man, because it was only
as a man and a full 100% man that could make intercession
for sin. It was only a man that could
be 100% righteous in order to make intercession. It had to
be a man. It was a man that broke God's
law. It had to be a man, a whole man, that restored it. And the Lord said, I restored
that which I took not away. As I said earlier, we see that
in all these responses. The Lord waiting on the father. Always answering with scripture,
we do well to learn from that. When temptation comes, what does
God say? What does the scripture say? Should I do this? Should I do
that? Do I really need this? Boy, we're so prone in this life
to cleave to the dust. If I had this, I'd be happier.
I need this or I need that. And that's, like I said, we just don't see.
the deadness, this old flesh, no spirituality
whatsoever in us. Hebrews 4.14, let me read you
this. He says, seeing then that we
have a great high priest, this high priest who is perfect, sinless,
that is passed into the heavens. He died on the cross, God raised
him. God approved of him by raising
him from the dead. He's passed into the heavens,
sits at the right hand of God. Jesus is son of God. Let us hold
fast our profession. Let's hang on to it, cleave to
it. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points, all points, think about that. There's not anything
that you've ever been through in temptation that he hasn't,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. What a blessed thought that there's
one that sits in the right hand of God and makes intercession,
who is perfect, who is perfect for me, covers my sins. Hebrews 4.16, let us therefore
come boldly into the throne of grace, not sheepishly, boldly,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. Temptation comes in all forms. We never know from where it's
coming from. And it's subtle in its nature
that we don't see it till it's upon us. But the aim, the aim
is always the same, and that is to gratify the flesh. Looking out for number one, that's
the old man in us, looking out for number one. I, the big I. And yet, what do we do when we're
tempted and we succumb to it? We're apt to say, well, Satan
caused me to do that. Blame Satan. No, no, no. Don't
blame Satan. Here's what scripture says in
James 1.14. Every man is tempted. when he
is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. There's lust in
us. Let's face it. Let's be honest.
There's lust in all of us. Enough lust right now to put
us in hell forever. It's not changed. That old man's
not changed. He's still gonna lust. There's
still war going on. You hear men talk about, we got
a battle between Satan and the world, sin and the flesh. Well, here's the battle. Here's
the real battle right here. You live with it 24 hours a day.
I don't live with the world 24 hours a day, but I do live with
myself. I see in myself no good thing,
I see myself wondering sometimes if I know anything at all. Do
I really believe? How can I believe when I am the
way I am? But God is merciful. He looks
upon us. He knows where our frame is in
the dust. He looks upon us. And by his grace, he saves people. Thank God for that. We can't always blame Temptation
from Satan. Verse John 2, 16, and I'll leave
you with this. 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 remember,
this all started in a garden even. What's changed? Eve saw
that the fruit was pleasant to the eyes, Good for food. One to make one wise, he says.
Appeal unto the flesh. Temptation appeals to the flesh,
and that's what Satan tried to do to the Lord here. And thank
God he resisted it. I pray that he would bless this
to my heart and to your heart.