Let us turn in our Bibles today
to Mark chapter two, or Mark chapter one, I'm sorry. Mark
chapter one, verses 12 and 13. Mark chapter one, verses 12 and
13. And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness
40 days tempted of Satan at once with the wild beast and the angels
ministered unto him. In Hebrews, the letter of Hebrews
chapter two and verse 18, we read, for in that he himself
hath suffered being tempted. The Lord Jesus Christ hath suffered
being tempted. The life of our Savior while
in this world was a life of suffering. It wasn't just when he was upon
the cross. We know that he suffered then
greatly, but all his life in this world was a life of suffering. His name is a man of sorrows,
one acquainted with grief. We saw last time at his baptism
that God the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove. And now, you notice Mark tells
us, immediately, and immediately, the Spirit driveth him into the
wilderness to be tempted of Satan. We also saw that the Father spoke
from heaven. As our Lord was baptized, coming
up out of the water, the Father said, thou art my beloved son. And Satan's first testing or
temptation was, if thou be the Son of God. Now I want us to
look back to Matthew's gospel in chapter four of Matthew because
Mark only tells us that he was tempted for 40 days, but Matthew
goes into greater detail about the temptation. So let's turn
back to Matthew chapter four. Verse one, then was Jesus led
up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. When
he had fasted forty days and forty 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. Mark, when he tells us that he
was immediately driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, shows
us the inward impulse of God the Holy Spirit. While Matthew,
his emphasis is on the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ went willingly
to be tempted of Satan. And I think sometimes we miss
this great truth. And that is, we emphasize the
love of the Father. And rightly so, for God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son. But we should not
miss the fact that God the Son, out of his great love, that he
willingly came into this world to be tempted, to suffer being
tempted as a man. Amazing love, how can it be? We should never ever get over
the fact of God's grace and God's love and God's mercy as amazing,
amazing. that He would look in our direction
is amazing. We who have sinned against Him,
who are rebellious, Scripture says we're like a wild ass is
cold when we come into this world. And yet God has mercy, grace,
and love toward us. That's amazing, isn't it? It
is. I know it is. And sometimes our
hearts grow cold and we lose that amazingness of his love
and mercy and grace. And that's sad when we do. We
should get down, ask God to quicken us as David prayed. When you read through Psalm 119,
that longest Psalm, about the word of God. You see how many
times David prayed and said, Lord, quicken me according to
thy word, quicken me. God's children, God's people,
we need quickening and God will do that for us. Amazing love. Now I have two parts to the message
this morning. First, I want us to look at the
three temptations, each one. The first one to turn stones
into bread to satisfy his hunger. The devil, we see he comes after
the Lord Jesus Christ had fasted for 40 days and nights and was
hungry, saying, if thou be the Son of God, command that these
stones be made bread. Now, you notice that word afterward. Notice that here in our text. And when he had fasted 40 days
and 40 nights, he was afterward and hunkered." That means to
me that for those 40 days, the Lord Jesus Christ fasting was
not hungry like he was at the end of these 40 days. But you
see, Satan purposely, the devil purposely, he doesn't mention
those 40 days leading up to this temptation. where he had not
been hungry, but it's afterward. And that's the way Satan tempts
us. That's the way Satan tempts man. In tempting our parents, Adam
and Eve, He didn't mention the fact when he came unto them in
the garden there, he didn't mention the fact that God had prepared
all those trees, however many there may have been, I don't
know, but hundreds probably of trees, fruit trees, nut trees,
trees that were giving fruit that were delicious and were
pleasant to the eye and would help Adam and Eve live and maintain
life. He overlooks all of that. And he points out that one tree,
that one tree that God had forbidden them to eat from. And that's
a common method that the devil uses. Remember, Paul says we,
we're not ignorant of Satan's devices. Satan has many devices
by which he tempts us. He tempts God's people. We should
not be ignorant of these devices. Satan would tempt you and desire
that, how could God be good? He would have you overlook all
of God's goodness. Have me overlook all of God's
goodness to us and point out maybe one area in which we would
find fault or want to complain. but we overlook the multitude
of blessings and the goodness of God that is manifested to
us all the days of our lives. And he'll point out that one
area maybe, that one thing, and have you overlook all of the
many goodnesses that he has provided, that God has provided for you.
You know what the word devil means? It means accuser or slanderer. And the way the devil works is
he comes to us and he accuses God to us. You are a child of
God. And God, you say, is good. And
yet he is allowing you to suffer, whatever it may be. Maybe it's
sickness. Maybe it's sorrow. Maybe it's
loneliness. Whatever. He accuses God to you. Now, if you really were a son
of God, a child of God, you wouldn't experience this sadness, this
sorrow, this need. You see, he accuses God to you,
and then we know he's an accuser, a slanderer. He accuses us to
God. When we sin, when we fall, when
we slip up, then He's always there, the accuser, accusing
us to God. But thank God, the scripture
says, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. And just as soon as Satan accuses
us to God, our advocate is there at the Father's right hand, making
intercession for us, He doesn't deny the fact that we have sinned,
that we have slipped up or made a mistake in some area. The Lord
doesn't deny that, no, but He just shows the Father His wounds. I died for Him. I died for Her. I shed my blood for Her. My blood
is the propitiation for their sins. But that's the way Satan
works. He's a slanderer. And as I said,
he accuses God to us to try to get us to not believe in God. And then he accuses God's children
to God. Now what was the test or the
temptation here for the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, it was to
distrust God. Unbelieve. If we look at these
three temptations and you see the first one is unbelief. And Paul or the writer of Hebrews
said, laying aside every weight and the sin which does so easily
beset us. What is that sin? It's the sin
of unbelief. And that's the way he comes,
first of all, to the Lord Jesus Christ, to distrust his father's
goodness, to distrust his father's providence in providing for him. The father had just spoke from
heaven saying, this is my beloved son. Now, will he not supply
his needs? Will he not furnish everything
that he has need of? You know, we quote that scripture
in Romans chapter 8, 28 quite a bit. And what a comforting
word that is. For we know that all things work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose. Now that's true of every child
of God. And think about this, that's
true of the Son of God. Didn't he love God? Oh yes, with
all his heart. And wasn't he called according
to God's purpose? Absolutely. He did not take this
office upon himself, but he was called to this office, to be
the mediator between God and men. So all things would work
together for his good, just like for your good. But Satan would
come now to tempt him to unbelieve and not to trust God that he
would supply all of his needs. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
in just a short time from when this took place, he would command
those servants, fill those water jugs up, those water pots up
with water. And they filled them up to the
brim, the scripture says, and they poured out of those jugs
that they'd filled with water and the best wine came out. He
had that power. He had that power, that omnipotent
power. He would take a few loaves of
bread and some fish and feed thousands of people. And we know
that he had the power to take those stones that were there
in that wilderness area when Satan came and command them to
be made bread to satisfy his hunger. But the Lord Jesus Christ
never used his omnipotence, omnipotent power as God to satisfy his own
needs, to take care of himself. The Lord Jesus Christ answers
Satan with the Word of God. Isn't this beautiful? Isn't this
beautiful to see the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the living
Word? In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us. Here is the living God. And yet he quotes the written
word. It is written. And I want you
to turn back to this place in Deuteronomy that our Savior quotes. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verses
2 and 3. Because this is so interesting
here. Our Lord had fasted for 40 days. But the children of Israel, now
listen, The children of Israel had been in the wilderness for
40 years. Not 40 days, but 40 years. And God fed them every day. He fed them every day. Verse 2 of chapter 8. And thou
shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these
40 years in the wilderness. to humble thee, and to prove
thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest
keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee
know, that he might make thee know, know, know, Have you learned this lesson
yet? That he might make us know that man does not live by bread
alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of
God. You and I, we could have this
whole auditorium filled, stocked with food. canned vegetables,
canned meat, everything that the grocery store has. We could
have it filled with food and starve to death if God does not
cause that food to nourish our bodies. We don't have that power. We live, we move, we have our
being in Him. Man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God. God
gives you life. He's given you life today. He
may take it by this evening. That's His prerogative. There's no discharge in that
war. We know that from the word of God, and we know that from
experience. Man shall not live by bread alone,
by God's word, by God's power, by God's will. Boast not thyself
of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
I remember Evangelist Ralph Barnard
used to, Say most people in the United States of America, they
die without any warning. Most people. He would say, you
don't have time to pack your suitcase or get your toothbrush. God takes you out into eternity. Man shall not live by bread alone. Aren't you thankful today for
the gospel? that the Lord Jesus Christ was
manifested, that we might have life. Not just physical life,
but eternal life. Through his sacrifice and through
his righteousness, to know God, to be a son or daughter of God,
to be an heir of God. Oh, how he's blessed us. Notice back now, if you will,
the second temptation, to cast himself down from the temple. We do not wonder so much at the
Lord Jesus Christ being driven by the spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted as we do this, that he allowed himself to be
carried by the devil and placed on the pinnacle or the roof of
the temple. Here is the pure, holy Lord Jesus
Christ allowing himself to be transported by the vile, wicked,
evil devil to the highest place of the temple. And here we see
the subtlety of Satan. Now he comes with a Bible. Now
he comes with a Bible in his hand, quoting the word of God. If thou be the son of God, cast
thyself down. For it is written concerning
thee, he shall give thine angels charge over thee. That's found
in Psalm 91, isn't it? Wonderful, beautiful Psalm that
we read, especially at the beginning of this pandemic. And I heard
a number of of preachers on the radio who read this psalm and
preached from this psalm, Psalm 91. And it does apply to all
of God's children, but it especially applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know he would say, the devil
would say to the Lord, you know that God has given his angels
charge concerning you. Do this. Cast yourself down. God's not going to allow you
to hurt yourself. To be hurt, cast yourself down,
and then everyone will recognize, yes, sure enough, He is the Son
of God. Now don't miss these two things
in this temptation. First of all, this is another
modus operandi of Satan. This is the way he operates.
He always lifts up. Now he lifts the Lord Jesus Christ
up to the pinnacle of the temple. He always lifts up first and
then casts down. That's always his way. He always
puts the sweet first and then comes the bitter. You remember
our Lord And Luke chapter 16 speaks about what Abraham said
to that rich man. Now he had his good things, the
sweet things in this world. In other words, he was lifted
up. Where was Lazarus? He was at
the gate begging. But now things have changed. Now Lazarus is lifted up in the
bosom of Abraham. In heaven itself. And where's
the rich man? In hell. That's always the way
Satan works. He always lifts up first and
then casts down. He always shows a person the
pleasures of sin. That the enjoyment that the flesh
will receive by whatever sin it may be. The pleasure it will
bring to me But he never shows that in the end it will bite
like a serpent. That's his way to work. So he
carries the Lord Jesus Christ up on the temple. Don't miss
that. The Lord said, for whosoever
exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Peter said, God resisteth the
proud. Give a grace to the humble. Humble yourself. Satan works
just the opposite way. Lift up yourself. Brag about
yourself. Talk about how great you are
and how you can take care of yourself and you don't need anyone
to help you. Just exalt yourself. No, humble
yourself. Humble yourself under the mighty
hand of God. because God resists the proud,
gives grace to the humble. The second thing, don't miss
this, the devil could only do what the Lord allowed him to
do. Now God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
allowed him to carry him up to the pinnacle of that temple.
He allowed him to do that, but the devil did not have power
to cast him down. He only had power to do what
the Lord allowed him to do. And after everything is said
and done, remember the devil is still God's creature. He's
still God's devil. One of the lessons we learn from
the book of Job, isn't it? That God allowed Satan to take
all of his goods, take his health, But he would not allow Satan
to take his life. He could only do what God allowed
him to do. Now, what was the temptation
here to the Lord Jesus? It was to presume, presumption,
to presume on his father's care. And again, we see that the Lord
answers him with scriptures showing that the scriptures do not contradict
themselves. Yes. And I believe this may also
be used for those who would say, well, if you just have faith,
you don't need to ever see a medical doctor. If you're sick and you
have some disease, some sickness, well, just believe God. Just
trust God. Is that to presume on the Lord?
When God has given medical help, then it would be presumptuous
on our part not to take advantage of what the Lord has provided
for us. And God has provided the medicine
that works, hasn't he? God has given to man the intelligence
and the ability to seek the cures and the treatments that they
have, and we enjoy this. And it would be presumptuous,
it'd be like the Lord, the devil, cast yourself down. Yes, God's
promised to take care of you, you know that, cast yourself
down. And the same is true, God's promised
to meet our needs and don't take advantage of what God has provided. The third test is to worship
the devil. Now, let me say this, and I'm
on good ground, I'm with good company when I say this. How
the devil was able to do this, I can't explain. How he was able
to somehow in a vision or some way to show him all the kingdoms
of this world at one time. No one that I've ever heard can
explain how he was able to do this, but he was. I know that
because God's word tells me he did, and I believe it. But do
you not see the audacity of Satan in this temptation? Notice what
he says in verse eight. Again, the devil taketh him up
into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them and saith unto him, all
these things will I give thee. Now, picture this in your mind. Don't miss this. Here you have
one of God's creatures, a fallen creature, yes. but still one
of God's creatures speaking to the Creator and telling Him that
He has all of these things and He will give them to Him. What audacity do we see in Satan
here? He didn't have anything, my friends,
that had not been given Him, just like All of God's. The only
thing Satan has and the only thing that you and I have that
we can really ever call our own is our sin. That's ours. That's ours. But everything else, we've been
given. What brashness do we see here?
Now, The passage in Isaiah chapter 14 that we believe refers to
the devil tells us that this has always been his goal from
the very beginning when he fell. No doubt, this was his goal in
the beginning. I will be like the most high. I will be as God. I will be worshiped
as God. And you remember what God said,
yet thou shalt be brought down to hell. Our Lord said, get thee
hence, Satan. He sent away, he is sent away
with another scripture. Thou shalt worship the Lord and
him only shalt thou serve. Now what was the temptation here,
the test here? It was to bypass the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ, in the
book of Revelation, we learn that He's been given all the
kingdoms of this world. He's had all authority, all powers
given unto me, both in heaven and in earth. And the temptation
or the test was, I'll give you this and you don't need to go
to the cross. No. I shall worship the Lord
God only. And it was necessary that He
go to the cross and pay the debt of His people. And all the kingdoms
of this world, as God, they've always been His. You understand
that. As the eternal Son of God, one
with the Father and with God the Holy Spirit, everything has
always been His. But as the God-man, the servant
of the Lord, They were given unto him because of his obedience,
even unto death. Now the second part of the message,
and I'll give you this hurriedly, here's some lessons from this
temptation for you and I. Five lessons. Number one, it
reminds us that this came immediately after he had been filled with
God the Holy Spirit. One of the writers, I believe
it was Robert Hawker, said there seems to be an emphasis on this
word then. Notice that in Matthew 4 verse
1. Then, immediately after he was
filled with God the Holy Spirit to do the work that he came to
do, it was then. And the point is the devil, God
has his elect all over this world. Those that he's chosen in eternity
before the world began, We don't know who they are. God does,
the devil doesn't. He doesn't. The only time he
realizes who is really God's elect is when that person is
born of the spirit of God and the spirit comes to dwell in
them. And that's when, when a person
is saved, that's when these attacks from Satan really begin. when
a person is born of the Spirit of God. The second lesson, it
reminds us of our Lord's true humanity. He not only had a physical
body, but he had a human soul, a human soul. And we say that
he was tested as we are, yet without sin. And number three,
it reminds us that our great high priest, our great high priest
is one who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
because he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without
sin. You know, the first high priest
was Aaron, then his son, and then his son, and they came on
down. And I'm sure in that long list
of priests, there were some who were hard men. They probably
couldn't be touched with anybody's problems. Oh, that's not our
high priest. That's not our high priest, my
friends. He can be touched with a feeling
of whatever infirmity. that we experience in this life. He may empathize with us, sympathize
with us, because he too has been tempted in all points, yet without
sin. Number four, it reminds us that
the great conflict between the seed of the woman and the head
of the serpent, that the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested to
destroy the works of the devil, and we see in this struggle that
it began at the beginning of his ministry, but how much more
at the end, when the Lord Jesus Christ, upon the cross, now listen,
Paul tells us, he spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of
them openly triumphing over them. The principalities and powers,
this is one principality here, the devil. And the last thing,
and I want you to turn with me to First Corinthians in closing. It reminds us that there's no
temptation but that which is common to man.
Whatever temptation, whatever trial, whatever test the Lord
has for you and for me, it's one that's common to man.
We're not the first ones and we won't be the last ones if
the Lord doesn't come soon. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13,
there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to
man. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able,
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that
you may be able to bear it. You see those three words, God
is faithful. God is faithful. He's not going to allow any of
his children to be tested or tempted to the point that they're
somehow destroyed by Satan. God is faithful. Even when we
are unfaithful, He is faithful. What a lesson for all of us as
we look at this. What lessons, I should say, for
all of us from this passage of scripture. We're going to sing a hymn before
we are dismissed. And we're going to sing a hymn
some of us have sung many times, some maybe not so many, but number
56. I am his and he is mine. I am his and he is mine, number
56.