Hello, this is Pastor James Tippins
with Grace Truth Church. I want to thank you for taking
the opportunity to listen to this third message in the series,
The Horrors of Christmas. Here we'll be in Matthew chapter
four, looking at the temptation of Jesus and specifically seeing
that Jesus in the nativity, if you will, was born to suffer
the temptation of mankind. And though he suffered temptation,
he had no sin in him, nor could he sin, nor did he desire to
sin. And so I pray that this will
be a blessing to you. And if you have any questions
or would like to make any comments or corrections, you can do so
by emailing me directly, james at gracedruth.org or contacting
us through our website at gracedruth.org. Matthew chapter four. First 11 verses follow with me. Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And
after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
And the tempter came to him and said to him, If you are the Son
of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But
he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the
devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of
the temple and said to him, If you are the son of God, throw
yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning
you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike
your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again, it
is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said
to him, All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship
me. And then Jesus said to him, Be
gone, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your
God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and
behold, angels came and were ministering to him." Let me pray. Lord, you have placed this word
here before us today, and the gospel of Matthew is a majestic
gospel portraying Christ as the forever eternal King of Kings. Lord, this season, as the world
supposedly considers Christmas a season of the Christ, Lord,
we are so blinded by the reality of that which Christ came to
do in so many ways. And today, Father, I purpose
to fulfill your glorious purpose in seeing the King come to suffer. not just at the cross, under
your wrath, which we will see soon, but, Father, as a man living,
tempted by the enemy. Open our hearts and eyes to see
the truth of the gospel, to see Christ as He truly is, that He
may be our sufficient bread, and our sufficient glory, and
our sufficient priest. For He is surely our King, and
we all will surely bow to Him and call Him Lord. In His name
we pray. Amen. It is very easy to move into
the chapters of Luke 1 and 2 during this season, and I beg you to
read them, to be able to come and see the Nativity story, see
the Advent, the Incarnation. It's glorious. But as we see these things, we
must take very careful attention to observe that which is fuller
in the picture, not just an infant born into the world, but God
become man. In order that he would suffer. Jesus at no time, even as the
infant child born in the city of David. Was he not the king? And no time
was he not God. And no time was he not the creator
of all things, including the mother through which he came
to this world. Through the womb, which he created with his own
mouth as he spoke it into being. As the scriptures teach us that
Christ knits us into the womb of our mothers, so did he knit
himself into his own mother. Friends, this is one of those
mysteries that cannot be fathomed, that cannot be comprehended in
such a structure that we might say, aha, we see, and yet we
understand fully. We do not. We will not. We cannot
grasp these things that are unknowable. And so as I come to the close
of our next week or so in looking at what I have entitled The Horrors
of Christmas, today is that this child was born as King so that
he would suffer as King. The temptations of Jesus Christ
is taught in many ways. They're paralleled in many ways.
I've seen a lot of writing on this topic through the years
and heard many sermons in regard to the temptations of Jesus.
Most importantly, usually around the days of Easter. Friends, what we need to understand
as we come to this text and prior understanding of this text is
that chapters 1 through 3, Matthew develops the historicity and
the argument and the doctrine of Jesus as the king, as the
sovereign ruler of the cosmos, the cosmaton, that which he spoke
and all things came into existence. Therefore, that which he rolled
out by the power of his word, he owns them all. And then He
broke into that creation as one of them, not yielding at all
the divinity of His fullness as God to His humanity fully
as man. The first three chapters show
Jesus as this great King. Shows Him as one who comes to
fulfill all that Many had been looking and longing to see fulfilled
for centuries. And now here in chapter four,
we begin to see a closer picture at the humility of a king. Not just the king willing to
sacrifice himself from a foreign invasion and say, I will give
myself away to save my people because there's an enemy at hand.
Friends, we are the enemy. Please do not forget that. Without being justified by the
gracious gift of God, through Christ and in Christ and for
Christ, we are the enemy of God. And God comes down to save His
enemy. This is the Christ. We'll see several things today.
We'll see Jesus on His purpose, fulfilling His purpose, as we've
seen earlier, the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3. He's just been baptized. God
has spoken audibly for the first time in 500 years. And Jesus is King still. Though He will humble Himself,
though He will become the Lamb of God, though He will willfully
become the sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God, He is still
the King. He remains the King. And He fights
against the enemy of the adversary, Satan, the devil, the liar, the
angel of light. in order to save the enemies
of his creation, humanity, those who are his, the sheep of his
pasture, the flock of his fold, the body. This text reveals Jesus as priest,
one who suffers through temptation. This text reveals Jesus as prophet,
as he speaks the word of God with bold authority. And I pray that this text will
show you something about exactly who Christ is and exactly who
Matthew has been writing about, that we might see him
in the fullness of his glory. Let's look at these temptations
line by line, and then we will close with some application. Number one, verse one, and then
Jesus was led up by the Spirit. into the wilderness to be tempted
by the devil. You might think, OK, there's
a narrative there. Jesus was baptized. Jesus said, Let it
be now be so for us, it is fitting to fulfill our righteousness.
And he consented. John the Baptist consented. And
then he was baptized and immediately came from the water and the Spirit
of God descended on him like a dove. And the voice of God
said, Behold, this is my Son, my beloved Son, with whom I am
well pleased." So now the Spirit has descended upon Jesus in a
way of witness descension. We don't read into that that's
not there. Jesus had the Spirit before then.
But now the Spirit of God is anointing Christ publicly, and
then we see the same Spirit of God leading Jesus now into wilderness. It's important, as we see the
next ten verses, to keep that in perspective. The Spirit of
God led Jesus into the wilderness. Why? To be tempted by the devil. Okay? So now we see some theological
understanding of who the devil is and who God is and how God
operates and how the devil operates. First and foremost, Satan did
not draw Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus was sent by the Spirit
of God into the wilderness. And because Jesus is the perfect
man, he willfully obeys with no hesitation. He goes into the
wilderness. So the Spirit leads him into
the wilderness. Why? So he could be tempted by the
devil. And the temptation, I don't know
if you understand this or not, but temptation is suffering,
saints. If you don't suffer under temptation,
something's wrong. If your temptation is not a burden,
something's wrong. If you say, well, I'm not tempted.
Yes, you are. And you just admitted it. So what do we see here? We see
that Satan, the adversary, which is what that word means, the
enemy of God, we understand, we see in the Old Testament,
we see in Job where Satan was the most beautiful of all of
the created angels. Keep that in mind. Angels, not
God, not like God, not like God. Matter of fact, it was his desire
to be like God in simile, in similarity. Not to be God, not
to dethrone God, but to be like God, to be just sort of, sort
of like Him. We say like so much now, it's
just sort of like, you know, we like, say like, like, you
know, like. We like, like, like, like. How would, I would love
to just create a word with just that, a sentence with just that
word and see if it could be done. Subject, verb, predicate. Anyway. We see the devil who was created
by God who was the most beautiful of all angels, fall from glory. Why? Because he wanted glory
that was not his. Pay close attention, Church.
It's so easy in the minutia of historicity and fiction and the
aggravation, I believe, of all that has come from the reality
of the trueness of God that we call paganism or we call cults
or we call false religions or we call history in the context
of, for example, Greek and Roman gods, mythology. Those things
were not first. These things came from that which
is and has always been man's simple desire to answer the question
of who God is on their own. And the devil is no different.
He comes and He says, I will ascend the throne of the Most
High. I will ascend the mountain. I will be like Elohim. I will
be exalted. He wanted glory that was not
His. We fail to remember, because sometimes in mythology we say,
well, this God, or this deity, or this person, or even in the
hierarchy of authority in this world, in the sovereignty of
kings throughout the ages, we think, well, who is that man
to say he deserves the glory? Who died and made Him king? You've ever heard that expression? And depending on who your daddy
was, is depending on whether or not you have the blood in
you to become king. Or the power to overtake the one who was rightfully
king. And yes, there is a cause to
be said when man rules over man. And another man can say, how
are you the one who says who is the ruler over me? How do
you deserve? Why should I honor you, oh man?
But God alone is worthy of all glory, and when we desire to
have any amount of glory, we purpose to steal from God what
is His alone. We are robbing Him of the essence
of the fullness of His majesty that is not ours to gaze upon
as Moses begged to see the glory of God. Let me see Your glory. And God said, you can't see my
glory. I will let you see the back of the rear end of the bottom
of my robe. You can't even look upon me,
you can look upon the trailings of my garments. And the beauty of that which
shrouds God is so glorious that His face shone that the people
of Israel shuddered and fell to the ground and screamed and
cried and said, Do not show us your face. We cannot bear to
see the glory of God. And they haven't even seen it.
They saw that which shrouded the shroud of God's glory reflected
off the face of humanity. And they shuddered in their boots.
And we come to Christmas and say, Oh, Jesus, we love you so
much. Oh, we just love Christmas. It's so special. He's the gift
and the giver. Oh, God bless. Where's my socks? And we belittle the essence of
the majesty of God, and only by His grace and the great love
which He has for us are we able to stand justified before Him,
because even as saints, church, we fail to stand in the awesomeness
of His glory and see Him for who He is. And that's why we're
forever looking and receiving and growing in grace. Church,
do not pursue the world. over Christ, you will find exactly
what you're looking for. And everything in the world is
rotted and dead. Go away from it. So then, this enemy of God, the
adversary, is at war. Imagine Satan. We see Satan in
a cunning way. He's very wise. He's wiser than
every man put together, all the theologians of all history, from
John to Paul to today. He is more cunning than them
all. And there is no multitude of
men that can stand to the wisdom and the cunningness of the adversary
of God and Satan. And let me tell you something,
church. He doesn't come kicking and screaming with a sword. He
comes absolutely ever so helpful. As he did in the garden and as
he did with the creator of him in the earth, he came ever so
helpful. He sees that which we need and
desperately desire, not just that which we lust after, but
that which we must have. Water, food, clothing. He tries to tempt us into believing
that we can affect something in our lives that is better than
that which God has promised. Because that which we cannot
see must not be happening. God's a liar, he says, and you
cannot believe Him. Do you see that? Do you see what's
going to happen? Nothing's different here. But
what is the true essence of Satan? Is he helpful? Is he concerned? No. He is enraged. He is embittered. He hates God, and he hates all
that God is. He hates everything that God
owns, and he hates all that God does. He wants everything that
has anything to do with God's glory to be belittled and benign. He wants it to be absolutely
abstract. He wants worshippers to worship
man and created programs rather than the power of Jesus Christ. He wants the church to be bum-fuddled
with all of the functions of businesses and ministries and
evangelistic outreaches. And so, we're going to love benevolently
all these people straight to hell. And the devil is wickedly
angry, but rejoicefully, absolutely, superbly excited to see that
it works. He hates us. He hates God. He is not some truthless, wishy-washy
old man trying to trick us. He's a powerful enemy trying
to destroy us. But he has no authority over
Jesus, and he has no authority over us, dear beloved. What he
does is only by the grace of God, and what he does is only
by the will of God, that God will cast him into hell. His
grace. That he's not there already.
There is no grace given to the devil unto salvation. But oh,
how blindly he walks in the grace of God today. That his judgment
is inevitable, but yet not yet. And oh, beloved, those who may
hear these words and not believe in Jesus Christ are just like
the devil. They stand as dear Edwards would
have preached if he were here again. Nothing but a spider with
a thread over the pit. And at any moment, be released
by the hand of God. Jesus was sent by the Spirit
of God in order to suffer temptation by the enemy of God. Notice several
things to know. Wow! Jesus was truly tempted
Jesus could not sin. See that. God cannot sin. Jesus could not sin. He does not want to sin. He is
not tempted to sin like we are. But yet, the Scripture says He
is tempted in every way. Jesus was not at a dichotomy.
His whole purpose was to live for the glory of the Father.
There was no desire to glorify Himself. Only the Father. He
was not at odds with his flesh, because his flesh, in the sense
of sinfulness, because his flesh was not sinful. If Jesus could
sin, he is not worthy to pay for ours. That's why the virgin
birth is absolutely essential. Jesus, if he had a daddy named
Larry, could not be your Savior. If you don't know that reference,
don't worry about it. Isaiah 53, 9, John 8, 46, it teaches
us that Jesus was without sin and that He could not sin. The
fullness of God in Christ, He pours God out of Himself in all
of His desires, in all of His thoughts, in all that He sees,
in all that He does, in every way that He goes, God is seen
fully in Jesus Christ. God is seen fully in Christ.
Therefore, Christ is perfect even in temptation. Though it
is a battle, He is still sinless. Nevertheless, Jesus was surely
tempted. Jesus was tempted by Satan to do something sinful
in order to receive what was due Him and good for Him. Jesus
had no inner desire to sin. James 1.14, I believe, tells
us that God does not tempt us, but the enemy tempts us and our
flesh tempts us. And the only reason that we're
tempted to sin is because we desire to do those things already. Jesus is not like this. He's tempted with no real out. No way of giving in to temptation
is the temptation or the sin. Really, what is the struggle?
Friends, I would suggest to you that unless you could just think
about this differently and share with me later, I believe that
all of us, it is easier to just give in to sin. It's easier than
battling against it. It's easier than saying, I'm
not going to look at that. I'm not going to eat this. I'm
not going to drink that. I'm not going to think that.
I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to treat these people
this way. I'm not going to walk there. I'm not going to go there.
I don't really want that. It's easier to say, God is doing
it. Jesus could not do that which
he was tempted to do. And I don't care how far I kick
that can, I'm never going to be able to explain to you how
it was for Jesus to be tempted because it's not explained to
me. We're just to accept it as the scripture calls for it and
not paint Jesus with a humanistic, sinful flesh. God became man, but he did not
stop becoming God, nor did his divine nature water down the
fullness of his humanity. You want to believe that? There's
several passages of scripture. One that comes to mind is Luke
12, 50, where Jesus says, I have a baptism to be baptized with.
What's he talking about? The crucifixion, the judgment
of God. I have that which I'm going to
be baptized. How great is my distress until
it is accomplished. So Jesus was distressed, but
not sinful. He had fear or anguish and thirst
and hunger. His humanity felt things. He
had compassion. He had gratitude. He had desire
for the Father's glory. He had a desire for sinners to
come to faith. He was tired. He was hungry.
He felt pain. So after 40 days and 40 nights,
Jesus was tired and Jesus was hungry and his flesh needed food. What was he thinking? We don't
know. But I'll tell you one thing he
was thinking, I have to eat. I am hungry. Maybe it would be
wrong to say I have to eat. I need to eat. I am hungry. Where do we know this? Look at
verse 2. And after forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. In John 4, he was tired. On the
cross, he was thirsty. In the garden of Gethsemane,
he was in anguish. And so Jesus was weak in his
flesh. We understand all too well in the last few weeks how
that feels. We got two sleep cycles last night, or at least
I did. I got an hour and a half on this side, an hour and a half
on this side. It was good. I feel better today than I have
in a while, but I'm weak. You don't think right. You don't
make good choices when it comes to which way to turn in traffic. You walk out of the house without
your shoes on. You're delirious. When you're weak. And Satan came
to Jesus, now after this time, when Jesus was weak and hungry.
Why? Because he needed something. Jesus was tempted in his weakness. In verse 3, And the tempter came
to him and said, If you are the Son of God, command these rocks to become
bread, or become loaves. Notice something there. The scripture
does not say, as it would if it were us, that our covetousness
or our lust or our selfishness or our doubt or our fear would
drive us to find a way to make bread. It doesn't say Jesus was desperately
looking. What does it say in the Garden
of Eden? Eve had already noticed that the tree in the center of
the garden was good. It was good looking and it was
good for food. She noticed it already. Satan
went to her and talked to her about what she already desired. Jesus was not desiring to find
a way to feed himself. He was fully satisfied as the
Son of God with whom God is well pleased. And this is to tell
us that God is pleased with the desires of His Son. Jesus was
waiting until the time when the Father would provide bread for
him, but his flesh needed food, and so the devil tempts him in
this way. And he says, if you are the Son of God, command these
stones to become bread and feast upon them. Satisfy your need,
Jesus. You are starving to death. You won't make it out of the
woods if you don't eat. You've got the power. I hear
what a C.C. Music Factory. Bad metaphor. Not even a metaphor,
bad, period. Don't put crappy music in your
head, people. It will come up at the wrong time. What you want to see here is
the tempter came to Jesus. He came from without. The temptation
was not within. It's so different than us. The
devil came to Jesus and tapped on his shoulder. And I want you
to see this imagery here. Jesus was physical man. Satan
was not. I don't know how that works.
We're not supposed to know how that works. But either way, Satan
came to Jesus and tempted him and whispered in his ears and
he tempted Jesus and he said, you can do it. You can make it. Satan is the tempter. And what
does it say in Revelation 12, 10? Then after he tempts us and
then we sin, then what does he do? They're sinners. They don't
trust you. They don't believe you. And I heard a loud voice in heaven
saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of
our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of
our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and
night before God. And so the devil tempts us, and
then before God he accuses us. Jesus was tempted as Adam was
tempted. Jesus was tempted as Adam was
tempted with food. Adam and Eve were in the garden.
They had all that they needed. Jesus was in the wilderness with
nothing. Adam was not hungry. Jesus was
starving. And yet, Satan tempts them both
with food. Eve, seeing that the fruit was
good to the eyes and good for food, took it and ate it and
gave some to her husband who was with her, ate it. She didn't call him, he was there
watching the whole thing. Jesus is the last Adam. He was
tempted just as the first Adam. But the difference is that he
did not sin. Jesus was tempted as Adam was tempted with his
faith. Adam knew the Word of God. God
breathed life into Adam. God made Adam out of the dirt,
and breathed life in his nostrils, and in Prima's sleep, and took
woman, out of man, woman was made, and breathed life into
her, and took her to Him, and gave the first bride to the husband,
to picture the gospel, as God the Father always and only gives
those who are Christ to Him. Another sermon. And Adam knew
that God had promised everything. And Adam had everything, but
that one thing. And so he goes to Eve and he
says, Did God say? Did you hear God say that? Did
you hear? Or is your husband the one who
said it? See, God wants to keep something
from you. He told a half-truth. If you
eat that, that God is keeping from you, that you deserve, that
is good for you, you'll be like God. He wasn't lying in the statement. He was lying in the omission. See, he eved out of the goodness
of God. entrusted in that which was in
her face. Adam doubted the goodness of God and trusted that which
was in his face. And devil tries to tempt Jesus
the same way. You're hungry. There's a rock.
You can do this. Do it. Feed yourself. You're
Jesus of the Christ. And had Jesus made that bread
and fed himself, he would have done so at the devil's wiles,
proving that he did not trust the Father, satisfying his own
fleshly need and receiving his own glory. Some comparisons. Adam had never
gone without food. Jesus had been fasting. And even if Adam had been hungry,
he could have eaten every tree in the garden, but that Jesus
had no tree to eat from. There was no promise in the wilderness
for food. Adam, when he was tempted, had
everything he could ever dream of. He was in paradise with God. Jesus was in a barren land. But what does Jesus do? Verse
4. He answered, It is written, Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. See, Jesus is the king here.
He wins. The adversary tempts him so that
he might accuse him, so that he would be unfit to be the lamb.
And Jesus wins. All three of these references
come from the book of the law, the second reading of the law,
Deuteronomy, second reading of the law. That's what that word
means. Jesus says it is written. He
says that the word of God is the pouch of God's grace. It
is through which God gives His grace, and that His Word alone
is life, His Word alone is hope, and His Word alone is food. Men don't need bread to live. In John 6, give us this bread always. I
am the bread that comes from heaven to give life to all men.
What must we do to be doing the will of God? This is the will
of God, that you believe in the Son whom He has sent. What sign
do you bring? Oh, Jesus! You fed us yesterday,
feed us again today. And He goes, eat of my flesh
and drink of my blood and you shall live. And all they were
thinking is, we're hungry. And they were being tempted crazily.
And all of them left in John 6. Not one stayed. And the disciples stayed because
there was nowhere else to go. The Father is the giver of true
bread from heaven. Moses didn't give the bread.
God the Father gave the bread. And I'm the real bread. Your
fathers ate the manna and they died. I'm the bread that if they
eat of me, they will never die. No matter how nutritiously you
feed yourself, you will die. It's going to happen. You cannot
be satisfied on the bread you ate this morning. You are probably
hungry now. Jesus is saying man doesn't need
physical bread, but true bread. God spoke, Jesus says, the word
of God spoke, and all that is needed comes from his mouth.
There is no need that I have to make those stones bread, for
if I do not eat today, I do not care to eat, for I am satisfied
in the words of my Father." That's what Jesus is saying. I will
starve before I sin. This is faith. This is ultimate faith and that
the Father's provision alone. This is my son. Temptation number one. Temptation
number two. And this is a little different
than the other gospel. Luke's gospel is out of order. It doesn't
matter. The point is that they're there. Then the devil took him to the
holy city. And I've got a reason to believe why Matthew did it
this way, but it's relative to the sermon. So then the devil
took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the
temple. The holy city is Jerusalem. Solomon's temple. And said to
him again, if you are the son of God. See, God has just proclaimed
and the devil heard it. This is my son. If you are the
son of God, turn these stones to those and eat. If you are
the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written. If you
are the Son of God, you may be satisfied with His Word, but
prove that you are the Son. If you throw yourself down, then
you will actually now be proving that God is with you, because
the angels will keep you from striking your feet and your head
upon the stones. You will not die if you fall.
You will not even be scuffed. Do it. Jump. Throw yourself down. And so Satan
now is tempting Jesus to prove his sonship, to prove his divinity,
to prove that he is the one of the same essence of the Father,
to prove that he is the one begotten of the Father, to prove that
he is the one who's come. And ultimately, it's the same
thing The devil wants to tempt Jesus to prove that he has faith
that the Father will save him. You can eat, but you can prove it. You can
prove that God is with you. Look how glorious God would be
to be proven to be your Father. Do this for God. He says, prove your faith. And
Jesus sees this as testing God's faithfulness. And this goes beyond just acting
apart from the Father's will, but testing the faithfulness
of God rather than trusting in the faithfulness of God. And Jesus says. Do not put The Lord, your God,
to the test. Verse 8. The devil took him to
a very high mountain, third temptation, and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world and their glory. Now, read this scripture with
your lights on, folks. How did he do that? We don't
know. So, now we've seen twice that the devil took him. Now,
the devil is with you. The devil reveals something to
the devil, showing himself. The devil is tempting him. Whatever
the devil does, Jesus suffers it. That it happens. It's not apart from the will
of the Father, nor is it apart from the will of Jesus. As you'll
see. Don't let anybody preach to you
that the devil had ability to make Jesus go somewhere and to
take him places. Please just read the text for
what it says and understand the essence of what is being taught.
Jesus is shown the kingdoms of the world. How? Where is that
mountain? I don't know. You see what I mean? Just bow down and give me worship. I'll give you all of this. Now,
I want to show the ignorance of the devil. The devil doesn't
know to whom he's speaking. But at the same time, the devil
didn't know to whom he was speaking when he got thrown out of heaven
either. I'm going to become like you. I'm going to sit next to
you. We're going to look good together. Either way, he's an
idiot. He's a fool's fool. But don't
play him down as an ignorant fool. Satan tempts Jesus and he is
saying, I have authority over the realm
of this earth, because we see that Paul says that Jesus, I
mean, that Satan is the power of the prince of the air, Ephesians
2. And we see Peter say the same
thing in the second epistle. We understand the apostles understood
the authority and the role that was given the devil, that he
was thrown down with the multitudes of heavenly hosts to what? Have
dominion over the world. Now, what does that mean? Well,
that means that God gave him a place, God gave him dominion,
but it was God's boundaries. So Satan's authority and realm
is God's given authority and realm for a season. I believe
that at the cross, Satan is now bound. He is tied up. His authority is moot. His realm
is destroyed. It is dissected. It is pocketed. Why? Because the people of God
are alive and well. You and I are worshiping through
the Word of God right this very moment. The devil can't stop it. He cannot
stop it. He cannot stop true worship.
He cannot stop true preaching. He cannot stop true evangelism.
He cannot stop it. He can kill me, but he cannot
kill the Messiah whose message I preach. And if he kills me, it is because
my Father in heaven sent him to do it. This temptation tempts Jesus
by tempting him to receive glory and dominion apart from the glory
that comes through his suffering. Jesus came to suffer for the
glory of the Father, not to be the ruler of the world in the
sense of the dominion of this sinful world. He is already the
king over the world and over the devil who offers it to him. And Jesus doesn't even debate
this with the devil. He doesn't even talk about this
with Satan. He doesn't even try to come back. The Word of God says that Jesus
receives glory as the suffering lamb, that He would be destroyed
and crushed, and that out of suffering comes glory. As Paul says and prays to the
Colossians church, I pray that I may fill up what is lacking
in the suffering of Christ through my suffering, in my flesh, for
your sake. Those who receive the glory of
the world, even though they stand in pulpits, are not giving glory
to God. I must decrease, as the Baptist
said, so that he may increase. Look, John, they're going. Our
people are going to Jesus. It is the bridegroom who gets
the bride. And oh, how the devil danced
a victory dance when Herod took the head of the Baptist by making a promise that he shouldn't
have made. Oh, how foolish that victory
dance, because that is exactly the providence of God, that the
Baptist go to glory because he was only there to say, behold,
the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And then
here's the Lamb. And now the voice that cries
in the wilderness has done its due. Jesus' temptation was the pride
of life, worldly glory versus heavenly glory through the cross.
You don't have to go to the cross, Jesus. You can just get it now.
You can be glorified now. Isn't that the worry? I say that
very lightly, but isn't that the anxiety of Jesus? Oh, God. Oh, Father, restore to me the
glory I had before. What was the flesh of Jesus really
suffering? What if I'm not raised from the
dead? What if I'm not glorified to
your right hand? What if I'm not? Oh, but I am.
Take this cup from me, Father. If there is yet another way,
take this cup. But I willfully drink every drop if it is not possible. It's the same words that Satan
spoke through Peter when Jesus was saying that the Son of Man
must suffer. And Jesus hears Peter as he opens
his fat mouth and says, You don't have to die, dude. We've got
your back. And oh, the suffering saint of
Thomas, the wonderfully doubting, unbelieving, unregenerate disciple
who says, Let's just go so we might die with Him. So he got
one ready to die. And one thing that he doesn't
have to die, and Jesus turns to Peter and says, get behind
me, Satan. He'd already heard that argument
before. I will die. It's that which I
came to do, that the Father might be glorified and that in His
glory I will be glorified. And I have come to seek and save
the lost, and I cannot set them before my Father as a bride gloriously
beautiful and sanctified if I do not suffer their sins. I am the
King that was born into this world that I created so that
I might suffer their sins as sinless, so that I might become
sin, so that they may be my righteousness. How does Jesus deal with the
devil here? Be gone, Satan! For it is written, You shall
worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and
behold, look and see. You see what he's been saying
there? Now look and see! Angels came and were ministering
to him. Oh, church, please learn to read
your Bible. Learn to read through prayer.
Pray that God would show you that which is there, that is
plain on the page. If you read your Bible and the
Word isn't there, you're not seeing it. You don't have to
go to school to learn this. You've just got to read! Behold! Why do we put the word, behold?
Look and see! It's not a narrative. This isn't
posterity. This isn't historical security. Look. Behold, Satan. Behold, he left. Behold, angels
came. Behold, he received ministry. What did he receive? Peace. Food. Comfort. Everything that was
his already, that the Father had promised him, that he held
so securely in faith that the Father would give him, everything
that the devil just said he would not get, he received. And not in his own power, but
in the power of God the Father. At the time of God's choosing,
in the providence and precious affection of God. Jesus didn't argue or debate
or move along the road here with Satan. He absolutely abhorred
this offer. How dare you speak to me that
way? Get out of my presence. And Satan
had no choice. He didn't go, well, I reckon
I'll get out of here. You don't want to be friendly.
I believe he vanished supernaturally from the very presence of Christ.
Because Christ created him and Christ commanded him apart. Commanded
him away. He was gone. Jesus had power over Satan. And Satan had to obey Christ. Where do we see this? There.
We see it other places. We see it in Peter's conversation.
We see it when the demonics are speaking. Shut up! Don't you
say what you're about to say. Do not proclaim the gospel of
the mouths of devils. Be gone! And now I cast you into
the swine and the swine over the cliff. Jesus does the will of the Father,
but Satan fights against the will of the Father. Jesus successfully
obeys the will of the Father. Satan fail and fails and fails
trying to fight against the will of the Father. Satan has lost. Jesus has won. He got everything
that he was being tempted to do for himself in the hand of
God. And friends, we who are in Christ,
we live that way. We who are in Satan live apart
from Christ. We do not wait on the Father.
We do not trust the Father. We do not believe the Word. We
do not believe prayer. We do not believe evangelism.
We do not believe obedience brings joy. We do not believe that suffering
brings glory. And we work our whole lives by
proclaiming there's peace. by professing that there is Christ,
by saying that we love Him and saying that we are His, and walk
separate from the will of God, looking to find a satisfaction
apart from the one whom God has sent to fulfill all His promises,
to give us all certainty, to make salvation absolutely certain,
and to give us full satisfaction and glory, whose name is Jesus,
who was born into this world a virgin. So what? Who cares? What's that got to do with me?
Good history lesson. I pray that that's not what you heard. I'll give you four so what's
to leave with. So what? So what this Adam disobeyed,
Jesus obeyed. Adam disobeyed, therefore his
guilt is imputed to us. Sinful nature is imputed to us.
His death is imputed to us. The judgment of God is imputed
to us. The inability to overcome sin is imputed to us. The depravity
is imputed to us. Blindness is imputed to us. All
these things are given to us, for we are descendants of him.
The last Adam, that's Paul's theology, Romans. Jesus, the
last Adam, obeyed. Thus, in Christ, he became the
perfect priest. So in Christ, his righteousness
is imputed to us, his obedience is given to us, his holiness
is given to us, his resurrection is given to us. Do you see the
difference? That's so what? So what? Number two, Jesus resisted
Satan with the power of the Word of God alone. Nothing else. No mojo. No who-do. No special
order. No stupid prayers. No ridiculous
incense. No incantations. We are not witches. We are not Roman Catholics. We
are not powerful supernatural beings. We are not mediums. We
are the body of Jesus Christ who has already kicked Satan
out. But yet we are still tempted.
And yes, we will still sin. We should not, but if we sin,
we still have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous. Who is our propitiation? 1 John
3. So what number three? Jesus got
everything that Satan said he wouldn't. unless he did it for
himself. Here's so what? Remember that
you have all blessings in Christ already. And you do not have
to worry about your bread for today. And you don't have to
worry about your bills tomorrow. And you don't have to worry about
your salvation because it is worked out in God through Christ. But oh, woe to you who do not
believe. You better worry. You better
tremble. And you better repent and you
better come to know that Christ is your only hope. And nothing
you say, do, affect, desire at all. You can't walk and dance
a sweet little sensation before God and call it accepting Jesus
and expect that to affect His favor. He gives you favor when
you are sinful and dead as His enemy. And therefore you are
born again by hearing and receiving the gospel. And so what, number four, Jesus
was aware of Satan's lies, and even though he was tempted by
his needs, Jesus knew they were lies, because Jesus knew the
truth. Because he is the truth. When you doubt the sufficiency
of God's grace, You are listening to the lies of Satan. Don't play church games. Don't
play fake games. Don't play a prosperity gospel. Well, I don't believe that. I'm
not talking about health and wealth. I'm talking about proper
churchmanship and prestige and fitting imagery of what the world
thinks you ought to be as a Christian. You spit that stuff on the ground
and step on it. Walk away from it. Get behind
it. I'll leave you with this church.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast to our
confession. For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who, listen,
in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then, with confidence,
draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. So what, number five and
final, and then we pray. You and I, can draw strength
in our temptations. Jesus was born to suffer, which
included the suffering of temptation, and we now have a partner in
suffering in Christ. Then also, he did not sin, we
sinned, and then he took our sin and suffered for our sin
so that we would not suffer in sin. Do you see the great exchange? We have a Savior that knows the
struggle. And so we have a Savior who gives us hope and strength
and grace upon grace upon grace. Friends, this is Christmas. This is Jesus coming to the earth. This is eternal life. As Christ
says, I am the resurrection and the life. God, how glorious the
gospel is, how glorious you are. Place this truly in our hearts
and minds today, in good soil, that it may grow and produce
great fruit. Change us. Make us your perfect,
molded example. Let us walk humbly before you,
suffering as Jesus suffered, knowing that he sinned not. And we shall receive not your
wrath, but we have received mercy in our time of need. We thank
you. In Christ's name we pray.