Well, let's turn back in our Bibles now to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4. We're looking today at the first 11 verses, the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would just remind us, first of all, that this is part of the all scripture which is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And this is my prayer this morning that as we look at this passage of scripture that it will be profitable to each and every one of us here today. It will be profitable to us as we see Our Savior being tempted of Satan, that God will bless this word to each one of us. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray, and that model prayer, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, or deliver us from the evil one.

And I would just remind us here today, according to the scripture, the truth, every unsaved person, and if you're here this morning and you are not saved, every unsaved person walks according to the prince of the power of the air. the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And that is, of course, Satan. Every unsaved person in this world, you, before you were saved, And if you're here and unsaved, walk, the scripture says, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Disobedient in the sense you have not believed on the name of the son of God.

When the Lord saves a person, and it is his work, he's the one who saves his people. That person then is delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear son. And as we are saved, being delivered from his kingdom, that's a wonderful truth, but it doesn't mean that we are now exempt from temptation to sin. We're not exempt from being tempted by Satan ourselves or one of the demons. He has many demons under his power, under his control. And just because we've been translated now out of his kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son doesn't mean that we are free or exempt from being tempted by Satan.

As we look at this passage this morning, I'm dividing the message into three parts. First of all, I want us to see it was God the Holy Spirit who led the Lord Jesus Christ to this place of temptation. And then secondly, let's look at the three temptations that were presented to him. And thirdly, I have four lessons for us. Four lessons as we think about being tempted with sin.

So first of all, the spirit. Notice the scripture says in our text, verse one, then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ come into this world? Well, we know he came to save his people, and in doing that, as the Apostle John tells us in 1 John 3, verse 18, for this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. We know the first promise of his coming as the seed of the woman, he would bruise the head of the serpent. And it is the Spirit of God now, God the Holy Spirit, who leads the God-man, Jesus Christ, into this wilderness for this battle.

And that's what it is. It's a battle between Satan and the Savior. The first thing we see, it took place in a wilderness. Notice that. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness. In the gospel according to Mark, we read this about this place. He was there in the wilderness 40 days tempted of Satan and was with the wild beast. This wilderness.

If it was like the wilderness that the children of Israel traveled through for 40 years from Egypt to Canaan, and many of the writers believe it was, listen to what we read about that wilderness in the book of Deuteronomy. That great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought where there was no water. this wilderness, the place where this temptation took place.

Satan, of course, he hoped to overcome the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is the last Adam and we know that Satan overcame the first Adam. Now both of these men, I know this is very important because God deals with all men and these two men, the first Adam and the last Adam. And Satan hoped to overcome this last Adam like he did the first Adam. But think about this, the first Adam, he was overcome in a paradise. In a paradise where God had placed him and Eve, the Garden of Eden. But here the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam, he's tempted, he's tested, Not in a paradise, but in a wilderness. Now Satan tried to overcome the Lord Jesus Christ, but of course he couldn't overcome Him.

But I would remind us of this, that this temptation, this which we read about and we're looking at this morning, this was part of the sufferings of Christ. You ever think about that? We think about how he suffered on the cross, how he suffered in the garden of Gethsemane, how his sweat became, as it were, great drops of blood in that garden, as he cast himself on the ground and prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. as he suffered when the Roman soldiers nailed those spikes, those nails through his hands and feet, and the cross was lifted up, and in agony, he spent three hours on that cross, suffering. That was all part of his suffering, but so was this. You say, how do you know that?

Because in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 18, the scripture says, he himself, That is, Christ himself hath suffered being tempted. This was part of his suffering. This was part of his work of redeeming his people. He suffered this for you and for me. We've heard this since we were, as they used to say, nigh high to the knee of a grasshopper.

We've heard this, haven't we? about the temptation of Christ. But has it become so familiar, or have we become so familiar with these things that we lose sight of the sufferings that Jesus Christ went through for you, for me, for his people? What it cost him, he who had always as the eternal son of God in heaven and glory being worshipped by the holy angels and praised, came into this world as a man and walked among sinful men and women like you and I. He suffered being tempted. But now, secondly, let's look at the three temptations. First, the temptation to doubt God's care. We see this in verses two through four. 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. to turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. The Lord Jesus, we know, turned water into wine. He could easily have turned these stones into bread. Nothing is impossible with God. But this case was different. When he turned that water into wine, this case is different. He would not exercise his divine power to satisfy his own needs. Why?

Because his father, his holy father had engaged to supply him with bread and he would trust him to do so. In his time, that is in God's time, in God the Father's time, he would supply his food Think about the Lord Jesus Christ later teaching and preaching, be not anxious about food and clothing and things of that nature. Shall not your Heavenly Father, He feeds the birds. You're of much more value than a sparrow that falls to the ground. Yes, He will provide for you. And that's the temptation here. to the Lord Jesus Christ to exercise His power that you don't have, I don't have. If we are hungry, we cannot turn stones into bread.

He could. Remember, He is a man who is a representative man, and He is trusting His Father as He admonishes us to do likewise. We sing a hymn sometimes day by day. And we sang it last Wednesday night in the service. And I was impressed again with this line of that hymn. It's on the second verse.

But it says, the protection of his child and treasure. And that's what you are if you're saved here this morning. You are his child and you are his treasure. The protection of his child and treasure is a charge that on himself he laid. As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure, this pledge to me he made.

And the same thing here of the Lord Jesus Christ. God had promised to provide for him and the temptation is to doubt God. I think most of us can identify with that, can't we? to doubt, to doubt God and yet the Apostle Paul, he said to him who spared not his own son but freely delivered him up for us all, shall he not freely give us all things, all things that are necessary, all things that we need as we go through this world, our material needs as well as our spiritual needs especially. God's promise to me. And hasn't he proved that he would do that? He's given his son. What more could he give than to give his lovely son? The Lord Jesus, of course, answered this temptation by quoting from the book of Deuteronomy.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Now, we know man needs food to live. We know that. But it is God who gives life. We know, we understand that, don't we? We need food. But you could have a whole house full of food, and if God doesn't give you life, you're not going to live. In Him, Paul told those heathen philosophers in Athens, in him we live, we move, we have our being. Yes. Man shall not live by bread alone. Bread's important. Bread's necessary. But how much more important is the word of God? God purposes you to live, you're going to live.

That doesn't mean that a person's just going to act in a way that he doesn't provide for his needs, I understand that. But our times are in his hands. Isn't it comforting this morning and every day to think about that? Our times are in his hands. He has determined the time that we will live in this world And we're not going to pass over that.

And as a child of God, why should we want to? Why should we want to? I know we love our family. We love our church family. We love other people. And yes, we would be sad to leave. But oh, think of where we're going. And think of our extended family that's already there in the presence of God. No, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This word, this written word, this is the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. We need this.

The second temptation is to presume upon God. Verses five through seven. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city. and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 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. This temptation, in one sense of the word, is just the opposite of the first temptation. The first temptation was not to trust God, and now this temptation is to presume upon God.

But I want you to look at how Satan, yes, he used scripture, but notice how he used this scripture. Look in your Bible. I'm going to read you the text. Psalm 91 and verses 11 and 12. I'm going to read you the text as it is written, and you look how Satan quoted this verse of scripture. In verse six and seven here, or verse six, it's all in verse six, but listen as I read it to you out of the psalm. Look at it there in verse six. for he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Do you see that in verse 6? It's not there. It's not there. He quotes scripture but he leaves a very important part out of this scripture.

No, the word of God is 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. Here's the question. Was this way, was this way that Satan suggested, being on the pinnacle of the temple, casting himself down Was this his way, the way in which God had promised to keep him, to keep his people?

The Lord Jesus Christ once again answered with scripture and he quotes scripture correctly. I feel convicted sometimes when I'm preaching because I'll I'll try to quote a scripture and I get it close, but not always word for word. And I should write it down, have it in my notes so I don't misquote the scripture or leave something out. The Lord Jesus, he quoted the scripture very correctly when he answered Satan this temptation, you shall not tempt, The Lord your God, he quoted that word for word as is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16. Satan misquotes scripture. He may insinuate into your mind sometimes a scripture and he may leave out a part of it and you don't immediately recognize that. No, he's adept at misquoting scripture. The third temptation is to deny God. Notice that in verse 8.

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 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. Each of these temptations, these three temptations, each temptation was a temptation to sin.

The first one was to doubt God. The second one was to presume upon God. But this one is to deny God because God has commanded that he and he alone be the object of our worship. And this last temptation has to have been, has to be the greatest of these three temptations. It has to be.

To fall down and worship Satan must be, must be the greatest, greater than turning stones into bread and greater than to throw himself into danger. But now keep this in mind as you look at this third temptation. When Satan offered to give him all the kingdoms of the world, Satan, excuse me, Satan shows his true character. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ said this about Satan. He's a liar. He's a liar and the father of it. And what he said here is a lie. It's a lie. He doesn't have the power. give unto anyone what he claims he could give to the Lord Jesus Christ if he would fall down and worship him.

And the next, or in chapter 6 of Matthew, in the model prayer there, the Lord Jesus settled this issue when he said, for thine, speaking of the Father, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Satan here said he had the power, that all these things were his to give. We know that is not so. Our Lord met that temptation also with another scripture, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. Satan, he offered Adam, the first Adam, our father Adam, he offered to give him something, to give Eve and Adam something when he tempted them. Ye shall be as gods. Now, in this last temptation, he offers to give something to the last Adam.

Ye shall have all these kingdoms of the world. You know, the scripture is very clear that it's not Satan, although many of Satan's followers do have many things of the world, riches and things like that, but it's not Satan's power to give that. God is the one that makes rich and makes poor. This is God's kingdom. We're His creatures.

And I know people, most people, myself included, we all think that to be rich would be a great blessing. Well, there's two things about that if you think like that today, two things about that. Number one, you are rich and I'm talking about in the things of this world. If you compared your situation with I'd say 90% of the world's population, you're rich. You're rich. You have more, I have more than most of this world has or ever hopes to have.

I was speaking with a medical doctor recently, and I said, have you ever noticed how many of these storage unit places are all over Houston? I mean, they seem to not be able to build too many. Why is that? People have a house, they have a garage, and it's full. The house is full, the garage is full, so they have to rent a storage area. Why?

Because we have so much, that's why. I would that we could learn to be like the apostle Paul said, to have food and raiment, therewith be content. Contentment with godliness is great gain. And there's many people who have a lot of this world who have no contentment. They have no contentment. And there are those who have very little and yet by the grace of God and God's blessing, God's fellowship are very content, happy, happy, have everything they need.

Well, I said there's two things about that. Number one, we are rich and number two, That might be the worst thing that could ever happen to you if God made you rich. God made me rich. Oh yeah, one man told me if I win that lottery, you're not going to have to borrow any money to finish that church building.

Yeah, well he didn't win the lottery. No. It might be the worst thing. I've heard, I've not watched any of these programs, but I've heard programs where they've had people on who've won great sums of money in lotteries and have lost it all in no time.

Kinfolk come out of the woodwork, don't they? Sure. And you want to help people. You just want to help people. Everybody's got a need. That's God's business, to make poor, to make rich, and to make us happy. Blessed. That word blessed, you know, it means happy, doesn't it? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. And if God has made me poor in spirit today, And if He's made you poor in spirit, making us know that we need Christ, we need a Savior, we need His blood to cleanse us, we need His righteousness to justify us, we're happy. Blessed, blessed are the poor. Blessed are they that mourn. You know, mourning not over the loss so much of things of this world, but just mourning for who I am, what I am, my sin nature. I make a goal to do right and then I do wrong, like the Apostle Paul described himself in Romans chapter 7.

Happy, you look at the Beatitudes, those that the Lord Jesus Christ pronounces happy. And I don't find in any one of those eight Beatitudes where it says happy are those who are rich in the things of this world. Nor does it say happy are those that are poor in the things of this world. No, that happiness comes from God.

Well, I have four lessons I want to give to us this morning that I believe we should take away as we have read and made a few comments on the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ. My first, and all of these things, remember our Lord said we are to watch and pray. And these are things that we should watch for. Be on guard. The first is this. Watch after a special blessing, after a special blessing.

Maybe, maybe you've had a special season of prayer when you were alone with the Lord and God was just so real to you and blessed you so much in talking with your Heavenly Father. Maybe it was in a service reading the word of God or hearing the gospel preached and hearing about Christ and your heart was moved and just especially warmed through the reading and preaching of the word of God. Be careful because many times this is when, as in the case of our Lord, when Satan especially makes a move.

Our Lord had just been baptized. You read about this in the chapter before this. He had just had the Spirit of God descend upon him and remained upon him coming in the form of a dove. He had just heard his father speak from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And immediately He's driven or taken, led into the wilderness by the spirit to be tempted.

And I would just caution all of us, be on guard when you have especially experienced some spiritual blessing, be on guard because many times after something like that, God is preparing us of course. for that temptation, for that trial. Second, watch against doubting your relationship with God. Notice in two of these temptations, Satan said to the Lord Jesus Christ, if, if thou be the Son of God. Now I suppose it's possible. I don't think it's true, but I believe it's possible At the first temptation, at least, Satan wasn't sure that he was the son of God. Remember this about Satan.

He's not omniscient. He doesn't know everything. And he's not omnipresent. He's not in every place at the same time. He's not God. No. If thou be the son of God, possibly he didn't know when he said that the first time, but my point is this is one of his devices that he uses upon God's children to cause you and to get you to question your relationship with the father.

Now, the word of God tells us to examine ourselves and make sure that we are in the faith. That's true. But there's a difference between the doubting, the continual questioning. This is something that we should settle in our own heart and with God's grace and God's help. Yes, his word is.

Whosoever shall believe in the Son hath everlasting life. I believe. I'm a believer. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you believe that? That's what John tells us, to be born of God is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And that doesn't mean with just some intellectual understanding or assent, but it means with the heart to believe, to commit yourself unto Him. Yes, but Satan, I believe, many times tempts God's children and causes them to question their relationship with God.

Thought I'd illustrate this. We had a tree planted at our house this past week. It looks like a twig. It was supposed to be nine feet tall, but it's about this big around. Been in the ground now since Thursday, Friday. Now, if I go out there this week and dig it up and put it somewhere else, And the week after that, I go out there and dig it from that spot and put it somewhere. What are we doing when we're questioning and doubting? No, we need to be stable. Yes, God is to be trusted. His word is sure. He's taken an oath. He's sworn. Whosoever believeth in the son of God hath everlasting life. I believe that. Third, there's another lesson.

Watch against neglecting the word of God. I could spend the whole message on this. I really believe it's that important. Watch against neglecting the word of God. Every time the Lord was tempted, he responded with The Word of God. And it was interesting as I look back at these texts again and preparing the message for this morning when I went to Deuteronomy chapter 6 where it is told we are to worship the Lord our God. These words and these words speaking about the Word of God. This is God's command.

These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, first of all. Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee, the psalmist said. We need to hide God's word in our heart, but it doesn't stop there. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and that's so important. Parents here today, you know this, but let me remind you again. It is so important that you teach your children from the cradle the Word of God. Teach them, bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when you're at home. Speak of the Word of God, talk of the Word of God, and when thou riseth up. There was a preacher here in Texas years ago by the name of Lester Roloff. Many of you are familiar with him. Many of you heard his preaching, I'm sure, on the radio or somewhere, but his radio program was named The Family Altar, The Family Altar.

And I would say this. Satan will fight you more about a time, I'm talking to fathers and mothers here this morning, Satan will fight you more to hinder you and keep you from taking time in your home day by day with your children It doesn't have to be a long theological exegesis, I'm not saying that, but talking to them about the Word of God, speaking to them, not only for their spiritual good, but that will prepare them for this world like nothing else, like nothing else. I was reading about Adoniram Judson's wife this past week, and reading about her and I read something about him.

His mother taught him to read at three years of age. His father was a pastor. His father went off on a preaching mission. When he came home, he was so impressed because his son at three years of age could read a chapter of the Bible. Parents taught their children and what did they use to teach them? The Word of God, the Bible.

Oh, that's so, so important. Well, let me finish with this. Watch against the kingdoms of this world. You know, every time we have a freeze here in Houston, gets down in the 20s, the weather forecasters, they always remind us of the three Ps. Protect your pipes, your plants, and your pets. Remember this about the kingdoms of this world, the three P's.

First of all, pleasure. Pleasure, and I'd put in there entertainment. Entertainment. And the second P is profit. That is that covetousness after money. And the third is, of course, praise, the praise of men. The Bible tells us in John chapter 12 of some who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, some of the priests. But you know, they would not confess Him. Why? For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Yes, watch out for the three Ps. Pleasure, profit, praise. Well, I pray the Lord would bless this message to us here this morning.