Let us turn this morning to Matthew
chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4, and I'll read
the first 11 verses in this chapter. 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 proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil
taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle
of the temple, and saith unto him, if thou be the son of God,
cast thyself down. For it is written, he shall give
his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone. 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. Last
Sunday morning we looked at the passage of scripture here in
Matthew which reveals the baptism of our Savior and we especially
thought about the first time that we see the word righteousness
in the New Testament. Now in the verses which I've
just read and we're looking at today we have the first mention
of the devil in the New Testament. This title, devil, it comes from
the Greek word diabolos, and it is one of the names of Satan. But the first meaning of the
name devil is accuser, accuser, which is only part of his malice,
that is, his work of accusing. He accuses God to men, he accuses
men to God, And he even accuses men to themselves. In fact, in
Revelation 12 and verse 10, we read, for the accuser of our
brethren is cast down. He accused God, or he accused,
yes, he accused God to our mother Eve in telling her that God was
withholding something good from her. He accused Job to God as
though God was serving him only for mercenary reasons, for what
he could get from God. But I want us to consider these
verses today, and hopefully, this is my prayer, this is my
purpose, that we, by the grace of God, will come away from these
verses praising praising our great God and Savior in his victory
over Satan, over the devil. I have two parts to the message.
First, we are told that Jesus is led to the place of this temptation. Notice that in verse one. Then
was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. In Psalm 37, we are told, the
steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and he delighteth
in his way. Think about that, the steps of
a good man are ordered of the Lord. Here is the God-man. Here is the good man. Blessed is this man. And yet we see that his steps
too were ordered of the Lord, the spirit. In fact, in Mark's
gospel, I believe it says the spirit driveth him into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil. This is that good man of whom
just before this, at his baptism, God the Father had spoken from
heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The first thing I want us to
think about as we look at these verses, let's remember that the
Lord Jesus Christ was a representative man. We all know that. He was a representative man,
just as our father Adam was a representative man. In 1 Corinthians 15, the
Apostle Paul calls the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the last
Adam, which indicates, of course, there was a first Adam. And he
distinguishes the Lord Jesus Christ, the last man, the last
Adam from the first man, the first Adam. Both men were representatives. Both men were representative
men, and both were tempted by this same devil. There's only
one devil. Now, he has many demons under
his leadership, no doubt, but there's only one devil. And he's
not omnipotent, and he's not omnipresent. And he is, after
everything is said and done, God's devil. God created this
angel, an angel of light, who sinned and became the devil. But both men, both representative
men, both the first Adam and the last Adam, were tempted by
this same devil. And I believe from that we should
observe the contrast between the temptation of the first Adam
and the temptation of this last Adam. The first Adam, where was
he tempted? Well, he was tempted in a beautiful
garden. He was tempted in a beautiful
garden. Everything there to please man,
everything there for the pleasure of man in the garden of Eden.
That's where he was tempted. But where was this second Adam
tempted? Notice the scripture again here,
verse one. Then was Jesus led up. Up. We know that John baptized in
Jordan in the wilderness. but the wilderness where John
baptized was somewhat inhabited. There were people there, but
now the Spirit of God leads the Lord Jesus Christ up into the
mountain, into a wilderness that was uninhabited by man, but Mark
tells us it was habited by wild beasts. What a contrast, right? What a contrast from the place
where the first Adam was tempted by Satan and where the last Adam
was tempted by Satan. A second thing that comes to
mind is the first Adam was tempted when he was not hungry. He was
not hungry. He had every tree in that garden
except one from which he could eat. And don't you just know
the fruit of the trees of that garden were delicious? They were
good to eat. He had it all at his disposal. He wasn't hungry. But here, the
last Adam, he is tempted after he has fasted for 40 days and
40 nights. Now Matthew includes the nights,
40 days and 40 nights. Why would he do that? Because
the Jews at this particular time, they fasted and they would call
fasting if they just didn't eat in the daytime. They just wouldn't
eat anything in the daytime when the sun was shining and they
were fasting. But then when the sun went down,
they would eat. That's not hardly a fast, is
it? But the Lord Jesus Christ, he was tested of Satan after
40 days and 40 nights of fasting. But now, the greatest contrast,
those are two contrasts that come to my mind as I looked at
this passage of scripture. The place where they were tested,
Adam, the first Adam in a beautiful garden, this last Adam in a wilderness,
the first Adam where he was filled and had everything at his fingertips
to eat, and the last Adam in a wilderness fasting for 40 days
and 40 nights. But you know, the greatest, the
greatest contrast of all in these two temptations is that the first
Adam failed. The first Adam failed. Yes. In Adam, the apostle Paul
says, all That is all that Adam represented, which is all of
us here today, and every person who's ever come into this world. We were all represented by the
first man, and the first man failed in his temptation. In
Adam, all died. But the second Adam was victorious,
vanquishing the attempt of Satan, the devil, to allure him into
sin. In Christ, the apostle said,
shall all be made alive. In Adam, all die. In Christ,
all those that he represented, in Christ, shall all be made
alive. The greatest passage of scripture,
I believe, concerning this representative truth is found, of course, in
Romans chapter 5 and verse 12, where we are told how sin came,
how death came into this world. For by one man, sin entered into
the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men for all have sinned. But also, in that passage, it's
a beautiful passage, isn't it? If you want assurance of your
salvation, if you want confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, you
go to Romans chapter 5 beginning with verse 12 to the end of that
chapter and read it and read it and read it and read it until
you are convinced by God the Holy Spirit that the first Adam
is the one who brought sin into this world, but the last Adam,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the one who has established righteousness
for all of his people, each and every one. All died in Adam,
all are made alive in Christ. That verse there in chapter five
of Romans says, for as by one man's sin, many were made sinners. So, even so, by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. How's anyone made righteous? By our doing? Oh, no. Even so, by one man, by his obedience,
by his doing, shall many be made righteous. You say, how many?
As many as call upon him, as many as come unto him. Now, before
I go to my second point, here's a side note, and it's very important. This is something that all of
the commentators will tell you, and everyone who's had any experience
in the Christian life will recognize this is true. After, as a child
of God, after you've had some spiritual high, after you've
been in close fellowship with the Lord and just experienced
His love and rejoiced in the Lord and you were just walking
on cloud nine, you were on the mountaintop praising God, don't
be surprised if you're not very soon in the valley. Just like the Lord here. Here,
God the Father testified, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. What's the next thing that we
read? He's being tested. He's being tempted by the devil. The second part of the message,
let's look at the temptations. And before we look at these temptations,
let us know, let us remember that these temptations were all
part of his humiliation. You see at the end of the verses
that we are looking at, he dismissed Satan. Satan didn't have any
choice. He could have done that at the
very beginning. This is all part of the Lord
Jesus Christ, His humiliation. And when we think about His humiliation,
every one of us here this morning who trust in Him as our Lord
and Savior, let's make this personal. Let's make this personal. Let's
bring this home. This is what He did for me. Here we have the Holy Son of
God, and we cannot even begin to imagine or comprehend how
holy He is, and yet He allows Himself to be in the presence
of evil personified, the devil. This is all part of what He did
to save you and me. This is all part of his life
that we are given to understand to help us to live our lives
in this world. This is all part of his humiliation. That passage in Philippians chapter
two, very familiar. It was actually read earlier
in the Bible study class. Who, that is the eternal son
of God, who being in the form of God, Thought it not robbery
to be equal with God? He was one with the Father and
with God the Holy Spirit. Thought it not robbery to be
equal with God? But he made himself of no reputation, a nobody from nowhere, as the
world would say. Thumbs down on this one. He made
himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found
in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The lowest part of his humiliation
was his death on the cross. He humbled himself, yes, in just
being, just giving up his life of dying. But he didn't just
die in his sleep. He didn't just die of old age.
He died the most ignominious death that man has ever known. To be crucified outside the gates
extended between heaven and earth as though no one would have this
one. Not God in heaven, nor men on
earth, naked, hanging there on that tree. No doubt, that's the
lowest the lowest part of his humiliation, even death on the
cross. But this too, when you think
about it, this too, my friends, allowing himself, subjecting
himself to be tempted by this evil, this evil one. I just think of purity. The Lord
Jesus Christ is a pure, holy, harmless son of God in the presence
of How can we even say it? What word? I don't have one. In the presence of evil, wickedness,
ungodliness, hatred, every evil imaginable, the Lord allowed
himself to be tested, tempted by this one. You say, why would
he do that? Well, the scripture tells us
he suffered being tempted. He suffered being tempted to
be able to succor them that are tempted. He humiliated himself
in this way so that he could help you. So that when you are
tempted, and I doubt very seriously that any of us have ever been
tempted by the devil. The devil is such a powerful
being, and whatever you do, don't make jokes about the devil. He's
not a joking matter, my friends. He's not. I doubt if any of us, maybe some,
I don't know, have ever been tested by the devil, by his demons,
yes. No doubt. But you know, we've
got enough trouble without the devil. We've got a world that
we live in which is anti-God, and we have the old man that's
still alive within us. But he allowed himself to be
tempted so that when you or I, when we are tempted to any sin,
that he look to him. He's a reservoir, a reservoir,
just like Lake Conroe is a reservoir and gives water to how many thousands,
yay, millions of people. And there's still water there.
There's still plenty. You're not going to drink it
dry. So Christ is full of grace and mercy. And he's full of grace
and mercy for his people. Look unto him. He was tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin. We have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities. Oh no. Now, let's look at the
temptations. Two of the temptations contain
these words, if thou be the Son of God. Verse three, and again
in verse six. The tempter, the devil, comes
to him, and you know when it says the tempter came to him,
notice that in verse three, and when the tempter came to him,
that doesn't mean that the devil Now for the first time after
40 days and 40 nights began to tempt the Lord because Mark tells
us he was there in the wilderness 40 days tempted of Satan. What this verse means is that
now after 40 days and 40 nights the devil appeared to the Lord
in some form. Maybe that of a man, I don't
know, just like he appeared to our parents in the Garden of
Eden as a serpent. So he appeared to the Lord Jesus
now and speaks to him in an audible, articulate voice. And the first
thing he would have him do is to doubt or to question him being
the Son of God. And I point this out because
don't be surprised if he doesn't tempt you in the same way. Don't
be surprised if the demons do not tempt you in the same way. Trying, attempting to cause you
to doubt or question if you really are one of God's children. He will tempt you who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior to doubt that
you really are a child of God. He'll tempt you to doubt His
promise to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to them which believe on His
name. He'll tempt you to doubt that you truly are one of His
children. He'll tempt you to doubt the
power in the blood of Jesus Christ. He'll bring things to your remembrance,
sins which you committed in your unregenerate days. He's got somehow
that ability, those fiery darts of Satan, things come into your
mind that you wish that you had never done, you wish you could
forget. God's forgotten them, but you
haven't. If you bring those things into your mind, it'll cause you
to question the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Well, I'm here to tell you on
the authority of the word of God, the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth from all sin, all sin, past, present, and yes, even
future. There's power, power. wonder-working power in the blood
of Christ. Now let's go through these temptations. First of all, the tempter came
to him and suggested that he should command stones to be made
bread. You must see that the devil's
design in each of these temptations was to allure, to entice Christ
to do something in obedience to him. That's what he's after. If he can just get him to do
something, the Lord to do something that he suggests to him to do. The Lord Jesus had already lived
40 days and 40 nights without food or water. You say, how can
a man do that? You have to have water to live.
God can do that, my friend. And Moses did the same. The Lord
sustained him. And in this particular case, if it was God's will and God's
purpose, he could live 40 more days and nights without food
and water. And not only that, but our Lord,
in response, quotes, of course, the scripture. 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. Sometimes you read
of some foreign dignitary. I think of people come here from
the Middle East sometimes to the medical center, and they've
got so much money. They got their own plane, billions
of dollars. and yet they cannot make themselves
stay alive. They've got plenty of food, plenty
of bread, but without God's blessing, he's the one that gives us life.
It's not the bread sustains our life, yes, but without his blessing,
you could have all the bread in the world and die. We know
that. The third, or the second, the
tempter was allowed to take the Lord Jesus Christ. And here you
see his humiliation, that the Lord allowed himself to be carried
by Satan to Jerusalem, to the pinnacle of the temple. Very
high, very high. And his thought was, cast yourself
down. And he's given his angels charge
over thee. He quotes, or he misquotes scripture,
doesn't he? He tells the Lord here in verse
5, Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth
him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be
the Son of God, cast thyself down. For it is written, He shall
give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone. He just happened to leave out
part of that verse, didn't he? A verse is found in Psalm 91,
and the verse reads, for he will give his angels charge over thee. Now listen, to keep thee in all
thy ways. This way that Satan suggests
was not one of God's ways, not to tempt the Lord to cast himself
down from the temple. No, the way is the right way. And this, of course, was the
devil's way. And this just makes me want to
remind all of us, the devil, he suggests self-murder, suicide
to the Lord. Cast yourself down. The devil
cannot take a person's life. He cannot do that without God's
permission. But he does tempt man to take
their own lives. I've read many testimonies of
some of God's children who, when they were under conviction, were
tempted by Satan to take their own life. You've all heard the
story or read the story of William Cowper, the man who wrote that
Him, there is a fountain filled with blood. In one of his times
of melancholy or deep depression, he hired that taxi to take him,
I think, to the ocean. He was going to cast himself
into the sea and drown. And it was such a foggy, foggy
night that the taxi driver left his house and went on their way.
And before long, he was right back at William Kalpert's house
and let him out. And that wasn't the only time
that he thought about ending his life. Who would put that
into a person's mind? Satan? The devil? He would. The scripture never contradicts
itself. You see, that's what we have
here. The devil, he misquotes scripture,
but then our Lord quotes scripture. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. What Satan suggested by his text
would be to tempt God. Scripture never contradicts itself. Sometimes you will meet with
somebody, maybe they'll say, well, the Bible's full of contradictions. Whenever they say that, just
remember, would you show me one? Would you show me one? For the
most part, they've never read the Bible. People who make such
statements as that. They've never read the Bible.
There's no contradiction in the word of God. Now, there may be
contradiction in our understanding sometimes, but there's no contradiction
in the word of God. And the last temptation here.
The tempter now, he shows himself to be the great liar that he
is. Verses eight through 11. Again,
the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. Someone
said, well, how did he do that? It's not necessary for us to
understand how this took place, but I will say this, it took
place in a moment of time. When the devil, it says here,
showed him, all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them. It took place in the same way that Paul tells us that when
the Lord comes again and he'll bring the saints with him, their
bodies shall be raised and those who are alive and remain shall
be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Just that
quickly. That's how he showed the Lord
Jesus Christ these kingdoms. But as I said, he shows himself
to be the great liar that he is. The Lord Jesus and John said,
there's no truth in him. There's no truth in him. For
he is a liar and the father of it. His great lie here was, I will
give thee all these things. They weren't his to give. He couldn't raise a finger against
Job without God's permission. And now he acts as though all
of these things are his to give to whoever he so desires. What a great liar he is, my friends. He lied to Adam and Eve in the
garden. Thou shall not surely die. He
lied to the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness here, and he
continues to lie to men and women. And I'll close with this. One
of the lies that he has been so successful with, to drown
men tomorrow. Tomorrow. Don't be concerned about your soul
today. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. But you see, tomorrow
never comes. It's a lie. It's one of Satan's
lies. No, the scripture says today
is the day of salvation. Don't listen to Satan's lies
if you may be here this morning and he's whispering in your ear
or in your heart that even now, tomorrow, one of these days,
I'm gonna get serious about this. No, today, today. And the last
thing we see here is the Lord Jesus Christ sent him packing.
Get the hint, Satan. That was it. Get the hints, Satan. He didn't have any way not to obey the Lord,
because he is the Lord, right? He is the Lord, he's the King
of kings, Lord of lords. And when he commanded Satan,
get the hints, And immediately, the devil leaveth
him. I pray the Lord would bless this
message to all of us. You know, some of us, we've heard
and someone like myself would preach from passages of scripture,
and I'm just so concerned that this doesn't become old hat to
us. Oh, I've heard that before. I've
heard a pastor preach on that before. Oh, but we need to hear it today.
We need to hear it today. We need to hear it tomorrow.
We need to continue to hear of our blessed Savior and what He's
done for us. We're going to sing this hymn.