There's a sign-up sheet out in
the foyer to provide meals for Chuck and Peggy, so you can sign
up for that. I'm sure that'll be a blessing
to them. I want to speak this evening on the temptation of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The temptation of Christ. been thinking about. Temptation. And. You know, the Lord taught us to pray
on a daily basis, lead us not into temptation. And that's something
that we would be wise to be asking him. Because I know how we do
before temptation. And it'd be a whole lot better
to just not be tempted. You're tempted to sin. You're tempted to do something
you know that God forbids. It's evil. And you know it. Perhaps you even pray that you
might be delivered from that temptation, and even while you're
praying, you detect the insincerity in your prayer. that you feel
as though you'll probably commit that sin anyway, and you're just
going through some kind of form, telling yourself you're doing
the right thing. Your conscience screams, no.
And you give in. How many times has that happened
in your personal history? And the question being, can I really be a son of God?
If I give in to temptation so easily and so continually, can
I really be a child of God? Well, let's go back to the first
temptation in Genesis chapter three. Now, Adam and Eve, Adam was created
in the image of God. Now, what all that means, I don't
know, but he was created in the image of God. He was the crown
of God's creation, and he was created upright. He had an innocent
nature. Now, I make a distinction. He
didn't have a holy nature. Holiness cannot sin. God cannot sin. He had an innocent nature. The
wise man said, Lo, this I know only, that God hath created man
upright, and man hath sought out many inventions. Adam, up to this point, had never
sinned. He'd never sinned. Verse 1, Now
the serpent, Was more subtle, was more deceptive than any beast
of the field which the Lord God had made. Speaking of Satan. Satan fell. Satan is a created being. He
was an angel. And he fell. You can read the
account of it in Isaiah, Chapter 14. He fell. He fell from his
lofty status. And he is now the God of this
world, the prince of the power of the air, the devil. Satan is a very real being, and
he wants to mar God's creation. He hates God and he wants to
strike out against him. So he's going to tempt Adam to
sin. And he does so at first through
Eve. Now, the serpent was more subtle, more deceptive 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? Now he begins his deception by
modifying what God says, by changing what God said. Look in verse
15 of chapter two, and the Lord God took the man and put him
into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord
God commanded the man, saying of every tree of the garden,
thou mayest freely eat. Remember what the serpent said? Did God say you can't eat of
any of these trees? He said, oh, they're all yours. They're
all before you. You can eat freely of every one of them. But of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. But Satan, Changes what God said,
yea, had God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the
garden. And a woman said unto the servant, we may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden. No, God didn't say that. But
of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said,
you shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Now, some people would think
that it's not of great significance that she added to God's word.
I've read people say that's not significant. Yes, it is. Yes,
it is. Anything you add to what God
says is wrong. This is where touch not, taste
not, handle not religion began right here. Don't touch it. If
you touch it, you'll die. Now, The fall actually began when
she added to the word. Now, the fall didn't take place
until Adam ate. God said to Adam, in the day
you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Adam's the representative
man. Eve is in Adam. When Adam ate, then Eve would
fall. The fall did not take place till
Adam ate, but the sin began right here when she added to what God
had said. Verse four. And the serpent said
unto the woman, you shall not surely die. You don't have to
take what he said literally, for God does 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. God is trying to prevent
you from being like him. That's what's going on here.
God knows that when you eat that fruit, your eyes will be opened.
And you'll know good and evil. You'll know the difference and
you'll be able to choose the good over the evil. And that's what's
going to make you like God. Right now, there's nothing to your
morality. There's nothing to your obedience.
You're just obeying your nature. And there's no moral virtue in
it because you're just, you were created this way and you're just
like a robot. But you eat this fruit. This
is going to make you like God. This is going to make you have
the power of will, the power of choice. And you'll choose
the good over the bad. God's holding out on you. Verse
six. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, now you think of how important good food
is to you. Good food is very important to
me. That's a biggie in my life. Good
food. The lust of the flesh. I dare
say everybody in here is interested in good food. One of the greatest
pleasures of life. Good food. I love to eat. Good. It looked good. And it was pleasant
to the eyes. I have no doubt that that corresponds
with the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes. The lust
of the eyes really is being concerned about what other people see rather
than what God says. It's trying to keep up with the
Joneses. It's trying to please men rather than God. It's being
concerned about what men think rather than what God thinks.
And it was a tree desired to make one wise. Now, if something's good to eat
and it's pleasant to the eyes, And it's desired to make one
wise, it'll make me like God, it'll make me better, it'll improve
me. It seemed like the thing to do would be to eat the fruit.
And so what did she do? She took of the fruit and did
eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. They fell before temptation. And the reason that you and I
have such a hard time with temptation is because that we have inherited
an evil nature from our first parents. They became dead in
sins and everybody born into this world is born with a wicked,
evil nature. It comes right from our first
parents after the fall. Now, somebody that has fallen
before temptation so much, how can they expect to be accepted
by God? Oh, you talk about being a believer,
you talk about being a Christian, but let's talk about the reality
of how we are. How could somebody like that
really expect to be accepted of God when they so easily, so
easily fall before temptation? As I said, we have a reason to
pray, lead us not into temptation. I don't want to be tempted. Oh,
may that may we pray that. More really, every day. Lead
us not into temptation. Well, let's go to another scene
where we'll see the only man who resisted the temptation of
the devil. Turn to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3. Verse 21. Now, when all the people were
baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and
praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended
in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice came from
heaven which said, Thou art my beloved son in thee I am well
pleased. Now, this voice came audibly
from heaven. Now, you can be sure that the devil heard it.
Don't you know that the devil was watching? Satan was watching
the Lord for 30 years. He was watching, looking for
some point of weakness, looking for some point of attack. And
he heard that voice from heaven say, Thou art my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. Satan heard that. Now let's go
to Luke chapter four. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost. Remember, the Holy Spirit came
down in bodily presence like a dove upon him. He was filled
with the Holy Spirit to the point of perfect obedience. No sinful
nature. He relied completely on God,
the Holy Spirit, the way you and I ought to. Somebody had
to believe God completely. He did. And he was filled with
God, the Holy Spirit, and he returned from Jordan and he was
led by the spirit. And notice that it was the spirit
who led him into the wilderness for this time of temptation.
He was led by the spirit into the wilderness. Being 40 days. Tempted of the devil, the devil
is called the tempter. It's called the accuser of the
brethren. And he wanted the Lord Jesus
Christ to sin. That's what he desired. Above
all things, he wanted him to sin, so he was going to tempt
him. Now, he couldn't tempt him without
the Lord's permission. Remember, the devil is God's
devil on God's chain, and he can't make a move without even
asking permission of the Lord. You remember when Those. Demons
that it was 2000 demons or they went into 2000 pigs when the
Lord came and cast them out and they said sufferers to enter
into that herd of swine. They weren't even allowed to
go from one place to another unless the Lord let him. Now,
the devil is very powerful. Devil scares me to death, but
he's no match to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's. God's devil doing
God's will, he can't do anything without permission. You know
what that scripture says? Peter, Satan has desired to have
you. That's literally he has permission
to have you so that he may sift you as wheat. But I pray for
you. Now, the devil. Is under the thumb of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love thinking about that now
at any rate. He's led to be tempted of the devil, and in those days
he did eat nothing. And when they were ended, he
afterwards and hunger. Now, I want you to think about
going 40 days without eating. Forty days without drinking. Can you
imagine how hungry you would be? I mean, psychologically,
how much you'd desire to eat. That's a long time to go without
food. Forty days without eating and drinking. And he was hungry.
Physically, he was very hungry. He had a frail body, just like
you and I do. He had a body, a human being,
and he was hungry. He was thirsty. Verse 3, And
the devil said unto him, If thou be the son of God, he's questioning
what God said. Remember when God said, this
is my beloved son. Right here, here he is. This
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And Satan says,
if you are, if you are. He was questioning his sonship. If thou be the Son of God, command
this stone that it be made bread. Here you are hungry. If you're
the Son of God and possess omnipotence, if you possess creative power,
prove it. He sent you the Son of God. You
ought to be able to do this. Prove it. Tell these stones to
be bread and they'll be bread and you'll have something to
eat and take care of all your problems. Now, if you're the
Son of God, prove it. Now, could Christ have done that?
Of course he could. Of course he could. Easily. Stones turning to bread. Glad
they'd be. Of course he could. What would have been wrong with
him doing it then? Me and you can't do it. That's why. He's got to have the same limitations
that you and I have to be our Savior. Now he made food for
other people. He brought bread into existence
that was not there for other people. He healed other people. Oh, the miraculous works of the
Lord Jesus Christ that he did for other people, but he did
nothing for himself. He had to depend on the Lord
for his next meal, just like you and I do. As a man, he had
to live in utter dependence. And look how he answered Satan.
Verse four, and Jesus answered him, saying, I love this. It's written. It's written. It's written. That's all that needs to be said.
You know, the Lord could have destroyed Satan with his own
brightness. He could have just peeled back
his humanity and let Satan see some of his deity and would destroy
him. But all he answers is an it is
written. You look at the high value the
Lord puts on the word of God. It is written. Now, regarding anything you and
I believe. Better have an is written for it. The authoritative
word of God. You say you have a hope. Can
you show me your hope in the scriptures? It is written. If it's not written, it's no
good and it's evil. It is written. As a matter of fact, he said
that every time to all three of these temptations. It is written.
He begins all three of them with it is written. It is written.
It is written. Aren't you thankful for the written
word of God? And that's the way our Lord dealt
with Satan. It is written, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word of God. You see, I'm trusting him for my bread,
but my life is found in his word. Our Lord said, the words that
I speak to you, their spirit, and their life, and we live off
of his word. Now, how many times, if you're
a son, how many times have you thought, how can I be a child
of God when I gave in to temptation so easily, so continually, so
many times? Same thing. How can I be honest?
How can I be honest and say, God's done something for you
when it seems like I'm such a mess? How can I do that? Well, do you
have any of this written? For instance, it is written,
whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you believe he's God's Christ, God's anointed?
Do you believe he's God's prophet? He's the word of God. Do you
believe he's God's priest? If he represents you, you must
be saved. Do you believe he's God's king ruling and reigning? Do you believe he's the Christ?
Yes, I do. When I'm a son of God, I've been
born of God. It is written. Verse five. And the devil taking him up into
a high mountain. Showed unto him all the kingdoms
of the world. In a moment of time. You know,
there's big kingdoms, there's little kingdoms. Everybody's
got their little kingdom, don't they? I mean, everybody's got
some kind of kingdom they're trying to operate in. They're
great governments, they're mighty countries, and there's a little
pity. All these kingdoms, even whatever kind of kingdom. Everybody's
got their little kingdom, protecting their turf and so on. You've
seen all that. Everybody's got a kingdom. He showed them all
the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Verse six,
And the devil said unto him, All this power That's what men
wanted, power. The lust of the eyes, power. All this power will I give thee,
and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me. You know,
Satan's the god of this world, and it is delivered unto him. And he's the one who's running
the show. So this world is the devil's
world. And you know that by living in
it. You look at the evil that goes on. This world is the devil's
world. He's the god of this world. But
remember, he is under God's thumb. Let me show you a couple of scriptures
in the Old Testament. This is so comforting. Turn to
1 Samuel 24. We ought to be afraid of the
devil and we ought to ask the Lord to deliver us from the evil
one. But we ought to have complete confidence that he's under the
thumb of the Lord God. First Samuel 24. I'm sorry, second Samuel 24. And again, the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel. And he moved David against them
to say, go number Israel and Judah. The Lord was mad at Israel,
so he moved David to number them. He did it. Now turn to First
Chronicles, Chapter 21. Look at the other account. First
Chronicles 21. Same story. First one, and Satan stood up
against Israel and provoke David to number Israel. You see, Satan
is the one who tempted him to do this, but who is in control
of that? The Lord was in control of Satan
and he caused Satan to Move David to number Israel and what was
wrong with that numbering. It wasn't so much taking a census,
but the scripture says anytime you take a census without taking
the atonement money, there's going to be a plague among the
people. And what he had done, the great sin that he committed
was just numbering him apart from the atonement, apart from
the atonement money. And 70,000 people were killed.
But you see, the Lord is in control of all of this. OK, let's go
back to Luke chapter three. I'm Luke chapter 4, I'm sorry. Verse 6, And the devil said unto
him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them,
for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give
it. Well, that's something to think about, isn't it? It's so.
It's so. I mean, people in control. Satan
puts them there. Now, the Lord overrules everything.
I realize that. But Satan puts them there. He
says, Whosoever I will, I give it. Verse 7. If thou therefore wilt
worship me. I'm not asking much. Literally,
all you have to do is fall down before me. You fall down before
me and you worship me. Just this one time. It'll all
be yours. All the glory of the kingdoms,
all the power, it'll all be yours if you just fall down at my feet. Worship. You know, the Lord couldn't
do that, could he? You worship only God. And even now, you worship one
in whose hands you are. You can't control him. You can't
manipulate him. If you can control him, if you can manipulate him,
if you can get him to act according to your whims and your fancies,
that's not worship. You only worship an absolute
sovereign. And that is what Satan was asking
the Lord to do. Fall down and worship me. And what did our Lord say? And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan,
for it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God and him only shalt thou serve. Verse nine. And he brought him
to Jerusalem. And set him on the pinnacle of
the temple way up high, and now Satan begins to use the scriptures.
And he said to him, if thou be the son of God, there's the question
again, if you're the son, I know we heard that voice from heaven,
but we need some proof. If thou be the Son of God, now
he quotes the scriptures. He thinks he's got a scriptural
reason to get him to do what he wants him to do. If thou be
the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for it is written,
he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in
their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash
thy foot against the stone. Now, if you really are the Son
of God, all you've got to do is jump and the angels will catch
you. It said that. That's what the scripture says.
So prove to us you're the Son of God. Jump! We'll see if you
really are the Son of God. Now, prove it to us. If God says something, does it
need to be proved? He speaks with absolute authority. Verse 12. And Jesus answering said unto
him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt. Thou shalt not test the
Lord thy God. What he says is his powerful
word. Christ is the Son of God. And when the devil had ended
all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. Now, The
Lord Jesus said in John chapter. Fourteen. The prince of the world
cometh. And had nothing in me. He couldn't
find a place to grab it, he couldn't find a place to take hold of
me, looked everywhere he could, but he could not tempt the Lord
and cause him to see he couldn't get him to see him. He had nothing
in me. I've heard people say, well,
he couldn't see it. How was it a temptation? I don't
know, but it was. But he couldn't see him. He's
God. God can't see him. The prince
of this world has come, he's looked me over, he's done everything
he could and he found nothing in me. The Lord Jesus is the
only one to stand before temptation. Now, when we're talking about
righteousness, all we're talking about is the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. He is the very righteousness of God, and he defeated the devil
completely. Now, remember how I began this
message. Now turn to Hebrews chapter four. What about those
people who have to deal with temptation? Verse 13. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened into the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Now, what
that tells me right off the bat is be honest before God. He sees
exactly what you are all the way through. There's no point
in trying to pretend to be what you're not. Be honest before
God. Because He sees you as you are. He sees me as I am. No need to
put on airs for Him. No need to act pious for Him.
No. He sees things as they are. Now,
let's go on reading. Regarding this one, all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Seeing then, we have a great High Priest. What's a priest for? Look in
chapter five. Verse one, for every high priest
taken from among men is ordained for men and things pertaining
to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins
who can have compassion on the ignorant. That's the kind of
priest I need. And on them that are out of the way, they've strayed
off, they've gone in a wrong direction, they've given in.
I need a priest that can have compassion on somebody like me. Ignorant and out of the way. For that he also is compassed
with infirmity. This human priest, he could understand
somebody being like that because that's what he is. These Old
Testament priests, they were sinful. You didn't come up to
them and confess your personal sins. You asked them to offer
the sacrifice for you to picture the Lord Jesus Christ. But these
fellows were just as sinful as anybody else. You know, the very
idea of a human priest is so obnoxious. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
great high priest. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens. He's not in some
dark confessional booth. He's in 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. While he never sinned. He experienced
the feeling of failure before temptation. He experienced all
the guilt, all the shame, all the humiliation of sin. Now,
do I understand that? Of course, I don't. But you think
of the worst, most humiliated, embarrassed, forsaken you've
ever felt because you've given in to temptation, all the horror
you felt. He felt that much more acutely
than you ever have. You see, we're heartened and
sin doesn't bother us the way it troubled him because of his
holy character and all the horror, everything that's associated
with sin. He was made to feel. And that's
why he's touched by the feeling of our infirmities. When you
feel so forsaken and so out of the way and so isolated and alone,
he understands. He's felt it, too, and he is
touched. He is moved to sympathy by the
feeling of our infirmities and our weaknesses and our sinfulness. Yet. Without sin. Yet. Without sin. You know, this this stuff is
mysterious, isn't it? That's all you can call it. It's
it's it can't be understood, only believed. No way anybody
can grasp this. We're trying to just believe
he's touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Verse 16. Let us, therefore, come boldly. You see that word? Boldly. With confidence. And He's right
now. Well, what about when you sin?
Come boldly. What about when you give in to
temptation? Come boldly. Now, that's all presumptuously,
but you come boldly to the throne of grace. Now, John said, these things
have I written to you that you say not. Don't say it. When you do. We have an advocate
with the father. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
we had that advocate before the sin. During the sin and after
the sin. And we're called upon to come
boldly. Everybody, every believer. Really, really come boldly with
cheerful confidence, knowing you'll be accepted. Let us, therefore,
come boldly under the throne of grace. Well, who's called
upon to come boldly to the throne of grace? Everybody who needs
a throne of grace. The reason we can come boldly is it's a
throne of grace. Grace. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace, and here's what we need, that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And that's why I can come boldly.
I'm coming for mercy. That's what I need. You know,
you need mercy when you're seeing is all your fault. One hundred percent your fault.
You're not a victim. It's all your fault. There's
a willful wickedness to it. Now, somebody like that, what
they need is mercy. We come for mercy and we come
to find grace to help in time of need. One last scripture there
in Hebrews, look in Hebrews chapter seven. Verse 25, Hebrews chapter 7,
verse 25. Wherefore. He. Is able. Also. To save them. To the uttermost. That come unto
God by him. Seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. I'm coming to God right now by
Him. No other way. Only by Him. And I'm conscious of that. I'm
not bringing an offering of any kind. I'm not bringing anything
to make up for my sin. I don't have anything to make
up for my sin. I'm coming by him. I'm consciously coming only
by him. I don't want to come any other
way. Now, what is the promise? Everybody who comes like that,
he is able to save to the uttermost. Seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for this. Let's pray together.