Well, I invite you to turn this morning to the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew chapter 4, Matthew chapter 4, and we will be considering today, as we anticipate coming to the Lord's table, the temptation of Jesus, that's found on page 961, 961. I'm going to read at, actually, chapter 3, verse 13 through 411. So let us give our attention this morning to the word of the Lord. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the son of god throw yourself down for it's written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone jesus said to him again it is written you shall not put the lord your god to the test again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory and he said to him all these i will give you if you will fall down and worship me then jesus said to him be gone satan for it's written you shall worship the lord your god and him only shall you serve then the devil left him and behold angels came and were ministering to him and the reading of god's word well as we come to the table of our lord this morning i want to think a little bit about the great struggle against temptation that we as believers indeed face in this life surely the big theme of this passage is temptation there is of course two different ways of looking at temptation there is the sort of temptations that arise from within us because we are led away by various passions and desires and we pursue those james talks about that james says listen let no one say when he's tempted he's tempted by god for god cannot be tempted and doesn't tempt anyone with evil but each one is tempted when he's led away by his own desires and enticed and then when desire is fully grown it gives birth to sin and sin fully grown brings forth death notice that path of the temptation the engaging of desire and then sin and death well we're going to look at it a little bit differently today from a different angle although this includes all of that the scriptures devote a lot of work attention to temptation that arises from outside of us that is tempting our desires to lead us into temptation and that's the kind of temptation that when from the outside of us is not sin until we entertain it and until we go after it and then we act upon it through those desires but there is something we need to think about when it comes to the temptations that are happening outside of us and to understand what is truly happening what i'm talking about is the very serious spiritual warfare that we are in in the reform world and i think we've been somewhat reactionary to all the craziness out there in the evangelical world we have not talked a lot about the demonic realm and the serious cosmic battle that is happening we don't think enough about the devil and his angels and what they're actually doing he's constantly coming at us now the apostles understood this you know paul paul would have no problem saying when he wanted to go certain places. I wanted to go here, but Satan hindered me. He's the prince of the power of the air. Jesus said something stunning at one point. Jesus called him the ruler of this world. That's stunning stuff. That he has that much power that he would be called the ruler of this world and the scriptures want us to give serious attention to the assaults of the evil one he's one of our three sworn enemies we typically talk about us but we don't talk as much we talk a lot about the world and us but we don't talk a lot about that big sworn enemy the devil himself satan right from the garden it was him instigating the whole thing that's why we're in the situation that we're in as the heidelberg says at the instigation of the devil adam and eve fell into this this sin so i want this today however to be a great encouragement for for us because i want to look at it properly when you understand that the primary battle is not against flesh and blood have you really contemplated that it's not really against flesh and blood all that is happening in the world is not really against flesh and blood but your primary assault and difficulty comes because of principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this realm do you know that's going on? the Bible has a message for us in this it's jesus's great message be of good cheer i've overcome it all that's a wonderful message for us and that's why the scriptures can say to us resist the devil and he will flee from you there is to be an act of resisting well that's why the temptation of christ is so important to study and i want to say up front that it would be easy just to make this a moral example for us there surely is a moral example here but that's not the primary teaching of matthew chapter 4 it's showcasing the defeat of satan it's showcasing his blow that knocked him down it's showcasing the binding of the strong man it's showcasing that the devil was defeated in the wilderness for us he has been overcome and the victory that we share is a victory that we have in christ and that inspires us to now resist the devil so that he will flee from us so i thought this would encourage us today as we come to the supper to celebrate christ our overcomer and then to set ourselves to the joy of this victory in our and two as those who are set free to take temptation seriously especially from the evil one well let's um let's look at the meaning of this amazing event in the life of our lord verse 1 of matthew 4 we read then jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil before we get into the detail here i want you to notice that there is something very important that you shouldn't miss here and it is the fact that the holy spirit is leading christ on a divine mission this was not just something that happened by chance the spirit has led him even mark will say ekbalo cast him out into the wilderness for this very purpose he is going out to be tempted the spirit has paved the way and made the way for him to go right out in the wilderness and face this temptation but you can't miss the real story that's happening here which often gets missed in this discussion the book of matthew is the most jewish of all the gospels and what is unique about it in the life of christ is that he is walking a pre-appointed path for us at his birth Matthew says out of Egypt I've called my son so he has to go down to Egypt in flight for his life and then he comes out of there and goes to the Jordan River coming back to Israel to be baptized and immediately upon his baptism the Holy Spirit leads them into the wilderness. Do you know the story? Of course you know the story. Matthew's tracing Israel's story. God gives birth to Israel as his son. They go into exile for 400 years in bondage. God brings them out with a mighty arm. They are baptized in the sea and then they go into the wilderness. So the whole story, to be tested for how many years you know this this whole story is is recaptured in micro form in the life of christ and the whole story is is telling us compare the stories and think about the true son of israel something that glaringly stands out in the law was the purpose for which god sent israel into the wilderness it was deuteronomy 8 and you shall remember that the lord your god led you all these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not well you know that answer they did why did israel fail so miserably well you we often talk about sin you know we talk about the things that happened in the heart of israel and the things that happened but what we don't give a lot of thought to is how the new testament's now explaining for us why some of their failures happened that it wasn't just flesh in blood it wasn't just the Amalekites it wasn't just the Amorites but a whole different prince of sorts was assaulting them Jesus is reliving this story why is he reliving the story at his baptism to fulfill all righteousness I'm going to end on that note so he's come up out of the Jordan he's come to the Jordan to be baptized we read Christ was led into the wilderness by the spirit to be tempted by the devil. Matthew wants us to see the parallel of Israel being led up out of the land of Egypt and now into the wilderness to be tested and tempted. Look at verse 2. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry. I tried fasting a while back. I thought, you know, there's got to be something to this. So I went on Amazon and I bought the books. I started reading. This was some ancient thing that everyone did. And I told Darcy, I'm going to start fasting more. She rolled her eyes. It was entirely selfish. It had nothing to do with being a deeper spiritual man. It had everything to do because I felt sluggish. And I'm eating all this bad food. Not hers, of course. And I would have the dream of getting really in shape. I lasted three days. Most of you are constantly talking about the food you're eating. Some good food we eat. How many of you have fasted for righteousness sake? No, seriously. How many of you have done that? For how long? Just last month, 39-year-old pastor, Tried to go 40 days without food and water, fasting like Jesus, and he died. It's a true story. Israel did no better. They come up out of Egypt. They're all baptized in the sea. Immediately the Spirit leads them into the wilderness, and what happens? They get hungry. And what was their great charge? for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill us with hunger. You know, that is a startling charge to make against the Lord. You stand back and you look at these Israelites and you say, how could you just say that to a God who's done all this for you? Who says that? I'll tell you. Somebody who's getting strong instigation from the devil. God must hate you, Israel. Why would he put you through this? You need to eat. Yeah, you're right. Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by pots of meat. And when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger. I think a lot of bad things naturally come out of our hearts, but I also think there's a lot of instigation that makes that kind of stuff come out of the heart. What did God do for them? Well, he fed them. Couldn't handle it. So he dumped down manna from heaven, gave it to their heart's desire. He fed them with quail, dropped on their doorstep. Didn't pass the test, by the way, of Deuteronomy 8. The test was, would they learn to live by every word that proceeds from my mouth? What would it take just to throw them, huh? The devil says. Christ comes out in the wilderness. He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights. There was no complaint. Clearly a food fast because he was hungry. Period. Matthew wants us to see Christ didn't say a word of complaint. He did not grumble once. He didn't complain against his circumstance. And this is intense hunger. This is not, I just didn't get my burger today. This is 40 days. The word is used in a bad sense to mean that the tempter came to him, that he came to entice him with all that he had to send to tempt him. Now, certainly God may test. That's a fundamentally different thing than what Satan's doing. Satan is tempting with evil. Satan comes to tempt him to sin. Notice. Notice this carefully. If you are the Son of God. Three times. If you really are the Son of God. That's a really remarkable moment. You know, you just stop for a minute and think about that. What did the Father just say at the baptism? this is my son in whom I'm well pleased what are Satan's first words if you are that son what does that tell you Satan's not omnipresent Satan roams about in one place he can only be in one place on this earth he has demons stationed everywhere you know that Daniel tells us that that he has demons stationed specific kinds of demons over the nations. America has its own demons stationed. Satan's the center of things, if you will, in that demonic realm. He's the best student of Scripture. We don't think about him. He studies the Scriptures. He has one aim in studying the Scriptures. It is to destroy you. But he studies the Scriptures, he studies that word, and he studies our weakest moments. you know he's doing that? Or are we just so modern we don't even think this stuff exists anymore? He knew where Christ was to be born. All indication here is that he was there at the baptism and heard this. This is my son, really. That got his attention. If he could take down Christ, it's over for us, by the way. It's over. Because righteousness has to be fulfilled. So he begins, if you're the son, the divine son, as is claimed by God the Father, if you are that, the reality is you're hungry. If you're the son, command these stones to become bread. If you are divine, that means, now that would mean you have the power and the authority to command the stones to become bread. That's a temptation to ponder. Why in the world should you be hungry? That doesn't make any sense. Is that your father's way of treating you? If you're divine, see here, you can change this. He's actively working to make a divide between the father and the son through the exercising of his own will apart from the will of his Father. See, that's the crucial aspect to this. And you can understand why Jesus would give a whole petition to you which you've got to constantly pray is not, right, your will be done, not mine, on earth as it is in heaven. Satan's whole effort is to make you autonomous and discontent with the will of God for you in whatever shape it takes. My guess here is that there are people here right now who are unhappy with their circumstances. You could change them if you could. You would. We love to change things. Here it's different. If this is the divine Son of all people, then He has the power in Himself to not go through this. Is this the way your Father's treating you? You can take matters into your own hands. You have that power. Why would you go through this? He's provoking him. This was the temptation in the garden, wasn't it? This is garden scene deja vu. You can act independently from the will of God. Eve, God has put you in this oppressive structure of being a woman. You can be liberated from that. he's given this oppressive design of marriage. Is this really good for you? See, this temptation reverberates and sort of moves all the way throughout history, doesn't it? And all of our problems today. I mean, think about it. Has God put you in a man's body? Has God made you a female? has God assigned you to be married to the opposite sex has God called you to be a male has God called you to marriage has God called you to heterosexuality has God called you to be single whatever your station you're not happy you're hungry you're hungry why would you do that why would you listen why would you go through this he's working in that little dissatisfaction in you you know sometimes you walk through Costco and you don't realize you're hungry until the meat's sitting there right and then you just keep going back to that thing you should have taken one here's the shocker we're not divine and we still think we have the power to change ourselves I mean that's a real shock in this whole thing we're not divine and we think we have the power to change does a leopard change its spots but he is but then the temptation was to exercise his will contrary to the father's will jesus responds is it not written it has been written man shall not live on bread alone but on every word proceeding from the mouth of god i submit to that word that word is my food in no way will i depart from the divine will because of the testings of this life even though you're tempting me to sin had adam done that well we wouldn't be here right now in this mess second temptation resembles the first in verse five and the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the son of god throw yourself down for it's written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone that's psalm 91 and if you understand psalm 91 that's a psalm of trust you you know you understand what he's saying here don't you you you you get the clear message in this show your glory now make yourself great we're all about that in america stand at the most revered spot in the kingdom of this world stand on the pinnacle of the temple and here's all you have to do make a big display let all the people gather around stand up there you know this is the worst idea of somebody who wants to go try this because they're gonna fall off the freeway and die stand up there thrust yourself down and it's going to be awesome for all the angels will have to because of who you are come down and display and show the power and reveal you reveal yourself now if you're the son of God prove it you know this is this is the king this is the one through whom the worlds are made you know he has every right to show his glory whenever he wants you see the temptation test God Massa was the very place that Israel tempted the Lord in the wilderness over a lack of water they tempted the lord saying is the lord among us or not jesus answers by saying massa so he draws the connection to that question see the dissatisfaction there what we're facing in the wilderness what we're in is hardship that we're enduring the denial to which we're called doesn't indicate that the lord seems to be with us we need to prove this you know we got to take matters into our own hands we've got to we've got to make ourselves great we got to we got to showcase ourselves you know how satisfied really are we with the way god's ordered our lives he's made us very ordinary he didn't call the great things of the world you don't see a lot of hollywood stars sitting in here oh they sold out and they got whatever they want how much stress and worry do we carry around because there's not a lot of glory to this right now i gotta love my wife love my husband love my children times i feel like i'm in this very non-glorious very ordinary life that's not freedom and that's not glory i'm unhappy with it and i get bitter and i get angry and i want to throw myself down from that will to force him to something better than this. Show myself. What does everyone want in the world right now? They want identity. They want meaning. They want greatness. They want fame. They want a name. And they're constantly challenging God's will to throw them down from that will so that they think they will have happiness. Test God. Test him. And Jesus says, you shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him at Massa. Is the Lord with us because of my circumstance? Third temptation. Matthew records the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment. Who does this guy think he is, right? Well, he thinks he owns them. And all their glory. These things I'll give you if you fall down and you'll worship me. There's the heart of it all. The word means to prostrate oneself in worship. You know, worship really means bow down. It's what the word means. This is Satan's greatest attack throughout history. Greatest temptation, greatest assault. What is it? Your worship. Look at all the glory of the kingdoms of the earth. Look at these kingdoms. Look at America and its greatness. Look at Rome and its greatness. I'll give it all to you now. You know, it's so arrogant. The cattle on a thousand hills is his, you know. I'll give that if you will abandon your God and worship me. here's the real problem of people in our day apostatizing from the church and Christ to go after all the world offers that's Satan Satan got in their ear what you're witnessing right now is a society turned upside down let's be really clear about what it is there's another religion that has dominated our land this is not just neutral stuff this is not neutral stuff this is a religion this is a nebuchadnezzar in moment of bowing to an image this is a sexual revolution this is a moral revolution that they are overturning everything of god's creation designs to the lie of satan and they're worshiping him through these ideologies that's what's happening all around you can you see that there are nothing more than idols in our culture that are backed by demons that's what this is saying to us and satan's saying why in the world would you go through a cross why in the world would you go through hardship why in the world would you do self-denial why in the world would you go to the lord's ways that are hard when you don't have to bear a cross i'll give all this happiness to you right now you're hungry put it together you're hungry you have nothing to show for it and your way is hard you've got no kingdom here what kind of bargain is that for you followers of God. Sell your soul to me. And I say, see why you need a Savior? See why you need a Savior today. Christ responds to the lie against this inducement of false worship by taking his foot sort of prematurely it'll happen at the cross and then finally putting it right on the devil's head and says away from you for it has been written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve that's taken from Deuteronomy 10 you shall fear the Lord your God you shall serve him and you shall and to him you shall hold fast and take oaths in his name he is your praise he is your God who has done for you these great this is all a lie of satan these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen your fathers went down to egypt with 70 persons and now the lord your god has made you as the stars of the heavens in the multitude see can you see that can you see the goodness of the lord don't listen to this therefore you shall love the lord your god and keep his charge his statutes his judgments and his commands. Upon Christ's rebuke, the devil fled till an opportune time, which would be the Garden of Gethsemane. And even then, he'll still get crushed. Why does all this matter for you today? Because you are beset with temptations by the evil one all the time and you're not even aware of it. And you give in. And I give in. We're no better than Israel. It's not like you read Israel. Those people were stubborn and stiff-necked. You know, I'm an American. I'm not. What's the good news, beloved? He is the Son of God. He just proved it. And we have overcome by the blood of the Lamb. And today he gives you what? In the middle of the wilderness. A table. To feed your weary souls with his body and his blood. Gives you fellowship with God. Koinonia. Your answer in life to all your struggles with sin, all of your failures, which are many, is first to see your Savior has won for you all righteousness. Did you hear me? I have fulfilled for you all righteousness. That's what justification's all about. And I impute that to you. I stepped into your place and I lived this life for you so that you might have a right standing, so that you are viewed in me as overcomers by the blood of the Lamb. And now that you would receive on high power to resist the devil who by Christ's power will flee from you. You don't have to give into this stuff anymore because he's won. So resist him. But freedom is achieved for us by Christ himself in the wilderness. so beloved let us turn from our sins and these foolish temptations which we constantly give into and look to him who sets us free as our heidelberg says in the righteousness that he has won for us and that's really good news let's pray heavenly father thank you for encouraging us today in such good news with such good news of the defeat of satan in the wilderness and let us if we know people and think of those who have been bought into these lies would you set them free and would they come to their savior who would go to the length of fulfilling all righteousness cheerfully for us and during the cross so that we having been set free would be brought out of the kingdom of darkness into the marvelous kingdom of light under a king who is gracious to us and in whom all authority and power on heaven in heaven and on earth is given And to you we give our sincere thanks, O Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.