Go with me if you would now to
Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four. Let's read
the first 11 verses together. 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 proceeded out of the mouth of God. Then the devil
taketh him up into the holy city and saideth him on a pinnacle
of the temple and sayeth 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. Just like everything else in
the scripture, just like every other portion of scripture, it
takes the spirit of God to reveal to us what has truly been said
right there. It takes God's spirit. We can
read the events that took place, and we can physically understand
what happened. We can read that and physically
understand what happened. And if the Spirit of God does
not reveal to us what has truly been said here, all we will see
is bondage and works. That's all we'll see in this
bondage and works. But if the spirit of God does
reveal this to us, then we're going to see absolute relief. I mean, absolute and total, total
relief. We're going to see the glory
of God's righteousness. We're going to see the glory
of Christ's work for us. We're going to see that he did
for us what we could not do for ourselves. That's what we're
going to say. Now, let me set up our Lord being led into the
wilderness. That's what it started by saying. Let me set up our Lord being
led into the wilderness by reminding us of the story of the children
of Israel being led into the wilderness. That is an allegory, as the scripture
puts it. That means it's an illustration
of every believer's life in this world. We know the story of how
the children of Israel were in Egypt and they were in bondage. They were under hard, hard captivity
and bondage. And that's where all believers
begin. We all begin in the bondage of
sin. All of us. The scripture says
we are conceived in sin. It says that we come forth in
sin." Speaking lies. Ephesians 2 says, we are born
into this world dead in trespasses and sins. But for the children of Israel,
deliverance came. Deliverance. God sent a messenger
and through that messenger, he brought deliverance. to His people. And that's how it is for every
child of God. Through a messenger of His Word, God brings deliverance
from sin and He leads His people out of their captivity. Even though the children of Israel
were led out of their captivity, they still had to wander in the
wilderness for 40 years before they were led into the
promised land. And that's how it is for a child of God. That's
how it is for all the children of God. Even though deliverance
has come for every child of God, deliverance has come. On the
cross of Calvary, our Lord led captivity captive. He delivered his people. He redeemed
his people. But even though deliverance has
come to a child of God, he or she still has to wander in the
wilderness of this world for a time, however much time the
Lord would have them to wander in this barren wilderness of
the world we live in before the child is allowed to enter the
promised land of Christ's kingdom. While we are here in the middle
of this wilderness, The scripture promises us that we will endure
temptation from the tempter, the adversary. As a roaring lion,
he's seeking whom he may devour. He's firing, he's shooting fiery
darts. Scripture promises us that. It's
gonna be proven to us time and time again that we cannot resist
it either. We just cannot. We cannot. People very foolishly, I would
warn anybody and everybody against making foolish statements like,
well, the devil don't have, I wouldn't do that. That's his, that's his
control over somebody making them say that. I just wouldn't
do that. We cannot resist the temptations. We just cannot. Now what our
Lord endured right here, He endured this for us. And if the Spirit of the Lord
will reveal that fact to us, we're gonna breathe a huge sigh
of relief, huge sigh. If the Spirit will reveal this,
a great burden will be lifted. We will know the truth And the
truth himself will set us free, completely set us free. Let me
show you something in 1 John 2. Turn with me over there to
1 John 2. First John 2 verse 15, let's pay close attention to
this. First John 2 verse 15, it says, 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. Now what do you think? Where do you stand in your own
mind after reading that? Does anybody feel convicted? Hold your place right here and
go to James chapter 4 where we were in the Bible study. James chapter 4, verse 4 says, ye adulterers and
adulteresses in the heart, in the heart, whether it manifests
itself outwardly or not, in the heart, against our God, against
the Spirit of our God, anything that we leave God for, go after
something else. Verse four says, you adulterers
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? The word enmity means enemy,
an enemy of. It goes on to say, whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Now, what do you think? Where
do we stand? That's shocking, isn't it? That's
shocking. Go back to 1 John 2. Verse 15 says, 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 lusts thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever." Have we done the will of God and resisted the temptation
of the lust of the flesh The lust of the eyes and the pride
of life. Have we done that? Have we done
the will of God? Clearly, that's the will of God.
Have we done that? Let me answer it for all of us.
No. No, we have not. No, we have
not. What does that make us then? In our flesh, what are we by
nature? According to God, not according
to myself, but according to God, what does that make us? Enemies
of God. Enemies of God by nature. We are those who do not have
the love of the Father in us. All the tempter has to do, this
is all he has to do, and we can't resist it, but we ought to start
recognizing it, because it comes. And all the tempter has to do
is tempt us with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, and we'll fall for it every single time. every single time. That is the
adversary's temptation every single time. And there's not
a man or a woman on this earth who is able to resist it. Man at his best state is not
able to resist it. He is altogether vanity. Let me prove that to you in Genesis
three, turn with me over to Genesis chapter three. Genesis 3, the tempter came to
a perfect woman, a perfect woman who then went to a perfect man,
Adam and Eve. Neither one of them had sinned
against God up to this point. And all the tempter had to do
was tempt them with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, and they fell headfirst into
sin. Verse 1, Genesis 3 verse 1, it says, Now the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, you shall
not eat of it, neither shall you touch it lest you die. And
the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die, for
God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened and you shall be as God's knowing good and
evil. Verse six says, and when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, good for bread, the
lust of the flesh, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, the lust of the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, the pride of life. She took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he
did eat. That was, is, and always will
be the tempter's temptation. Was, is, always will be. And there's not a man or a woman
on this earth who is able to resist it. Man will prove every
time that in his flesh he is the natural enemy of God. He loves darkness rather than
light. He loves sin rather than holiness. He'll choose the wickedness of
the world over the righteousness of heaven every single time,
every single time. And if God leaves a man or a
woman right there, he or she will die in his or her sin. If
God leaves a person there, that person will die in his or her
sin. But our text tells us that Christ
our Savior did not leave his people there. He came and He
accomplished for His people what they could never accomplish for
themselves. Go with me over to Hebrews 4.
Our brother just read this for us.
Hebrews 4. Verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted, like as we are. And here's the
glorious news. yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. He did for us what we could never
do for ourselves, and that was resist the temptation of sin. Resist the temptation of sin.
And because he did that for us, we can come boldly to the throne
of his grace and we can obtain mercy. You know who needs mercy? Sinners. Sinners are the ones
who need mercy. We can come as the sinners that
we are because he did that for us. right up to His throne, and
we can obtain mercy. We can find help every time we
need mercy and help. Look right here at chapter five,
verse two. It says, he who can have compassion
on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way, It's because
He Himself also is compassed with infirmities. He put Himself
in our shoes. And in our shoes, He did for
us what only He could do. We couldn't do it ourselves.
Only He could do it. Look back at Hebrews 2, verse
14. Hebrews 2.14, 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.
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 the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted."
He's able to comfort. Because He took our frame, He
knows our frame. He knows we're dust. He knows
we cannot endure the temptation. And because He took our temptation
for us and He accomplished it, He won the victory over it. He's
able to comfort us with the comfort of that. Now, I used to believe,
I hope this will be a help, I used to believe there was a
time in my life that I believed that we were all sinners before
God. There was a time in my life that
I believed that we were all sinners before God and salvation was
totally of the Lord. I mean totally, God elected a
people, Christ died for only those people, the Spirit's gonna
call only those people. There was a time in my life that
I believed that we were all sinners before God and salvation was
totally, absolutely of the Lord. But then I would see verses of
Scripture that say, and you've seen them too, verses of Scripture
that say, If you do this, you don't belong to the Father. Or if you don't do this, you
don't belong to the Father. Examine yourselves, because if
you see yourself do this, you're not one of His. Or if you see
yourselves not doing that, you're not one of His. I'd read that, and this is what
I would think. I do that. I believe in election. I believe in limited atonement.
I believe in irresistible grace. I believe in perseverance of
the saints. I believe in total depravity, but I do that. And I don't do that. I don't
do that. And honestly, I would think,
what does that mean for me? I believe all of it. I believe
everything that's being said right here. But if I'm gonna
get honest and I need to, we're talking about God, I do that. I don't do that. What does that
mean for me? The Holy Spirit finally revealed
to me, I believe honestly spoke this to my heart and revealed
to me, it means you're a sinner. You want to know what it means?
This is what it means. God said, if you do this, you're a sinner
against him. And here's what it means. You're a sinner. That's
what it means. It means you're a sinner against
God. I do that and I don't do this. What does that mean? Honestly,
what does that mean? It means you are a sinner against God
with no hope outside of the work and gift of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what it means. I'd read these things and fear
would come over me thinking, based on what I just read, I
don't stack up to this. I don't, I don't see that level
of perfection in myself. And the spirit finally, I'm going
to say, whispered to my soul, spoke to my soul. Well, are you
looking to yourself? Or are you looking to Christ? No, you don't stack up to these
things. But does Christ? Oh yeah, absolutely,
Christ does, sure. That level of perfection, yes,
He did that and He didn't do that. Yeah, Christ does. Well, He's your substitute. Why do you think He died on the
cross? Honestly, why do you think He
died on the cross? It's because you didn't stack
up to these things. As your substitute, God dealt
with Him based on how you stacked up to these things. That's why He was judged. That's
why He was sentenced. That's why He was punished to
death. What does that mean for me? Look at the cross. That's
what it means for you. And why will you receive acceptance
and favor from the Father? It's because of your substitute. It's because your substitute
stacked up to these things. God dealt with you through your
substitute. He dealt with you based on how
your substitute stacked up to these things. Christ did not come to be our
example. He came to be our substitute.
That's where religion misses it. That's where false religion
goes wrong. Christ did not come to show us
how. He did not come to be our example. He came to be our substitute. That's the word that the Spirit
takes and pierces the heart of a sinner with. That's what opens
the eyes. That's the... That's when light
comes and life comes. It says Christ did not come to
be your example. He came to be your substitute. This is what the Spirit says.
Stop looking to yourself and start looking to Christ. You want to see how to fulfill
what God demands? Look to Christ. Stop looking
to yourself and start looking to Christ. That's the revelation
that brings utter relief before God. I mean, absolute, total
relief before God. This right here is our hope of
eternal glory. Look at chapter four, Hebrews
four, one more time, verse 14. It says, seeing then that we
have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. He
passed into the heavens, bringing his own blood, his own payment
of blood for our sin. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God, Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. He paid for our sin with his
own blood, and he earned our own righteousness with his own
body. through the deeds of His own
flesh. That's the only reason we have any hope at all. It's
because of our substitute. Verse 16 says, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. After enduring our temptation,
that's what our Lord endured. After He endured our temptation,
He found help in His time of need. Now we'll close by going
back to Matthew 4, which is our text. Go with me one more time
to Matthew 4. Verse 1 says, Then was Jesus
led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil. in the same way that His people
are led into the wilderness of this world, He was led into the
wilderness of this world, verse 2. And when He had fasted 40
days and 40 nights, He was afterward and hungered. As an illustration
of us, the children of Israel were out in the wilderness for
40 years. Symbolically, he was in the wilderness for 40 days.
Verse 3, And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou
be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread, the
lust of the flesh. Verse 4, 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. No sin. Verse 5, Then the devil taketh
him up into the holy city and setteth him on a pinnacle of
the temple. He took him up to the city where all the people
were, the big city. Everybody could see, all eyes
would have been on him. Verse five, the devil taketh
him up into the holy city and saideth him on a pinnacle of
the temple and sayeth 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 his own. He said,
let's see it. The lust of the eyes. Verse seven. Jesus said unto him, it is written
again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, no sin. Verse eight,
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,
the pride of life. Verse 10, then said Jesus unto
him, get thee hence Satan for it is written, thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. No sin. Verse 11, then the devil leaveth
him and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. God the
Father sent ministers to him to supply everything he needed. Our Lord sought first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and everything that He needed
was added unto Him, and He did that for His people. Because
He did that, that's going to be the case of all of His people. Our Lord said, I'm going to just
leave you with this verse. Our Lord said in John 16, verse
33, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might
have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. I've overcome it. Let's not look
to ourselves anymore. Let's look to Christ. Trust Christ. All right, let's all stand together.