well tonight we continue our study in the gospel of matthew the gospel of matthew which we'll be moving to the morning and tonight we come to the baptism and temptation of jesus found on page 961 in the bibles that are in front of you we'll be reading at verse 13 down through 411 let's give our attention tonight to the lord's wonderful word 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. Behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and 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 up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 there will end the reading of God's word tonight well tonight we come to something that is really absolutely crucial for understanding what Christianity is all about this is a crucial passage a central passage one that we should give great attention to because one of the great burdens that we live with in this life is the question as to whether god is pleased with us because our performance in life falls so far short of his holy standard and if you don't think this is a continued struggle i still remember reverend camminga telling me years ago which i think i've mentioned here before that he was ministering to someone on their deathbed and he went in and asked them how confident they were whether they were going to enter glory and the answer was i hope that i've done enough that is not what i want any of you to say it's not what he wanted that person to say and of course i'm sure reverend camminga preached the gospel to him right there but we have heard this all our life and we ask questions in profession of faith and we ask questions in profession of faith with a young when a young person is in front of us maybe that old sort of evangelism explosion question comes out if you were to die tonight why would you enter into heaven and most universally what we hear which is a good answer and a right answer but what we universally hear is because jesus died for me on the cross to pay for my sins amen that's an absolutely true statement but it's not the whole picture the death of christ on the cross atones for our sins it's a transaction it makes the payment for our sins removing the penalty but there's something that is not appreciated as it should be and for some reason it's still a struggle for us to comprehend in life something that we don't always talk a lot about the question is still that lingers god's righteous demands for us the perfect righteousness that he requires of us god demands from your life perfect righteousness he doesn't just take on and pay and just atone for those sins he also demands a perfect and complete righteousness from you and as i find the whole issue of the righteousness of christ what is given to us by his life is for some reason a struggle for us to comprehend tonight this section in matthew is something that helps us with this and if this is appreciated i think it's um really one of the most freeing truths that is given to us in the scriptures to provide us true comfort in this life. God demands righteousness from us. That's the issue in this text. That's the single issue that Jesus raises. And while there may be a variety of debates about exactly what that means, it's not unclear when you look at the whole picture of what Jesus is doing here, what he is fulfilling here. Think of our Heidelberg Catechism on this issue. What benefit do you receive from the holy conception of Christ? That's a great question. What benefit do you receive from the conception? And the answer is, He's our mediator. And with His innocence and perfect holiness, He covers us in the sight of God since wherein I was conceived. Since my conception, I need to be covered. Remember, we're born and conceived in sin. I need a covering that begins at conception. That's how bad the problem is. That's the issue the Heidelberg is raising. It's the whole life of Christ that covers us. It's the whole life of Christ that justifies us. And that's what I want us to think about tonight, that this is not some made-up idea. In the history of the church, there's been a lot of debate about the active obedience of Christ. And is that reckoned to us in our justification? Well, I don't know how you could miss it in Matthew. Matthew is addressing this particular issue tonight so that you would live knowing that there is a righteousness that is provided for you, that is imputed to you, that covers you from conception on. And that's the point of the passage tonight, which is meant to be a great encouragement to you. So I want to show you tonight and consider this great truth of the righteousness of Christ, how that righteousness here covers us from beginning to end. Matthew's great concern in this book is to address the religion of the Pharisees. His great concern is to address the religion of the Pharisees. It was a self-righteous religion. It was a righteousness by which, Romans 9, they tried to establish their righteousness before God because they would not submit to the righteousness that comes from God. that's a really remarkable statement in romans 9 and jesus right from the beginning of the sermon on the mount addresses this particular issue when he said this unless your righteousness which would have been a shocking statement in the first century would have been a shocking statement to the masses unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the pharisees who you think are the most holy righteous people in this life you will not enter the kingdom you will by no means enter it so so you see how righteousness at the beginning of the sermon on the mount is the issue there our text shows us this as jesus begins his earthly ministry having looked last time at john the baptist who was preaching the way of preparation a way of repentance in preparation for the coming ministry of our lord now the matthew takes and shifts the story to focus on the life of our lord the ministry of our lord and the focus now becomes on what christ came to do right from the outset before the beginning of his earthly ministry you might say which is the beginning before he travels he's doing something apart from the multitudes apart from the masses for us to study for us to consider think of what matthew has traced so far in this book remember in the birth narratives right from the beginning when he was born there was a little phrase out of egypt i've called my son what matthew wanted to show us is that jesus is reliving a path jesus is walking a pre-ordained path that the father had given to him and and what matthew is capturing is that this path is the path of israel remember jesus comes out of egypt god had given birth to israel they go into exile for 400 years into bondage god brings them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm they are then baptized into the sea and then the spirit leads them into the wilderness for 40 years to be tested well you see what's going on here this whole story is being repeated the whole story is being captured in the life of our lord right from the beginning of matthew's gospel with this great issue of righteousness and so like israel walking that path jesus is reliving this path and is come out of egypt and now he is baptized in the seas baptized in the waters we read in verse 13 then jesus came from galilee to john at the jordan to be baptized by him john of course is immediately troubled by this how much idea we know from the other gospels he didn't seem to have a very clear full idea of who this was but he knew he was a superior at this point and he's untroubled he's troubled by this i should be baptized by you says john but here's here is jesus right from the beginning of his ministry asking to be baptized baptism we of course know is an outward sign an outward sign of washing that points to the inward reality of the washing away of sin well this is the problem of the text isn't it why in the world would jesus need this he's not sinful he came into this world he took on a human nature he in all places was tempted like us but was without sin why would jesus need this and the answer of jesus is remarkable it's an answer to ponder he says john permitted to be so for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness i have to step into a certain position here i have to fulfill righteousness why did jesus have to do this i think the basic answer tonight as we consider this so important for us to consider is because jesus himself is identifying with us in our humanity he's incorporating us into his life right from the beginning this is how he's thinking meaning we are being identified and brought into his life so that whatever he does whatever he does in his life through his life that he lives through the death that he dies through the resurrection by which he triumphs over it all it all becomes ours he's living in perfect obedience to not just some but all of god's commandments that's what he's talking about here righteousness has to be achieved righteousness has to be achieved and to encourage us that such a baptism was validated and recognized you have here the entire trinity recognizing this as the heavens are open the spirit descends upon him like a dove and all of a sudden the father speaks this is my beloved son with whom i am well pleased there the seal was set on this there the father was saying he's fulfilling righteousness he's fulfilling what i gave him to do my son is doing what you could not now this is a beautiful moment what a comfort that he's performing righteousness on our behalf what happened to israel upon passing through the sea upon passing through the sea they get to the other side and they head in the wilderness for 40 years spirit led them into the wilderness for a period of 40 years that story is still being traced here and something that glaring sort of stands out in the law was the purpose for which israel was sent out into the wilderness why did god do that why did god do that and deuteronomy 8 captures it deuteronomy 8 verse 2 and you shall remember that the lord your god led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and to test you to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not that's the whole purpose for those 40 year wandering do you understand that the whole purpose was to test them to humble them to see would they keep the commandments of the lord that's what that was about well now you can appreciate as jesus has come out of egypt as he has come back as he's passed through the waters as he's received baptism what do we read in verse 1 of chapter 4 then jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the by the devil for what 40 days clearly drawing on the 40-year period to make the connection and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward he was hungry how many of you have fasted for righteousness sake isn't it weird it's one of those practices we're just kind of unsure about we're just not sure if we should be doing it i mean some of us should be doing it maybe to knock off a few pounds but for righteousness sake just ask the question how long have you ever gone without food i mean it's a remarkable question how many of you in your american life have gone without food for a day maybe some of you in wartime might remember that but that's a very rare thing you go to the pantry and i might hear from my kids there's nothing in the house to eat i hear that all the time there's lots to eat what it means is you don't like what's in the pantry Israel did no better they come out of Egypt they're baptized in the sea they are led out in the wilderness by the Lord to see whether they keep the commandments they get hungry and what was the first thing they said upon early hunger testing first thing early on Moses you have brought us out in this wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger you ever thought about how radical a charge that is he did all those wonderful things and you would say he did all that just to kill you this good god satan of course was behind it that's what we see here we see in the the testings in the wilderness satan was behind this through working through the circumstances whispering in the ear of israel god must hate you god must hate you why would he put you through this why would he not feed you when you had those pots of meat in egypt remember yeah we want to go back they said oh that we had died by the hand of the lord in egypt when we sat by pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full for you have brought us out in this wilderness to kill us well what did god do he rains down manna from heaven rain down bread from heaven they didn't pass the test they didn't pass the test they did not live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god where's christ he comes into the wilderness and after 40 days and 40 nights there's no complaint you hear no complaint it was the perennial sin of egypt of israel in in the wilderness complain about everything why do you think ministry was so hard by the way why do you think moses struck the rock because they complained all the time christ didn't complain he didn't grumble against his father when faced with intense hunger it's a scary question to think about what we complain about you know i'm sure some tonight might complain about the length of my sermon i complain about everything 40 days and no food how would you hold up in verse 3 we're told the tempter came to him right then and there right then and there on the completion think about this he knew when to come and right when to come at 40 days he comes the word here is used in a bad sense the tempter comes and entices him to sin tempts him to sin god tests but notice here the devil tempts to sin notice if you're the son of god if you are the son of god if you are the son of god that's three times said in this section it's a remarkable statement because the father had just said upon his baptism and fulfilling all righteousness this is my beloved son satan must have heard it this is my son in whom i'm well pleased what are satan's first words if you are if you're really him i've often thought to myself did he really think he could take down jesus did he really think and the answer i think is he thinks he's so arrogant he thinks he can and not only that that he has the power to give him all the glory of the world it's how full of pride this angel is satan is not omnipresent he runs around roaring like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour he knew right to go after he had some indication of who had come he's the best student of scripture by the way satan studied the scriptures he studies the word and the remarkable thing is he knew at the weakest moment of our lord which is translates right to us at our weakest moments he does this he tempts and he tempts us entices us to sin when we're at our weakest and when we are so vulnerable to fall how many times have you failed at your weakest moments i think we all know even if we're just not feeling well how we behave think about it at the weakest moments is when he hits it was like the man dying of cancer years ago one of the strongest believers i knew first early in the ministry and he said to me as he's dying of cancer i had no idea how the devil kicks when you're down all the doubts all the struggles that i'm going through right now you're hungry you're hungry if you're the son of god if you have that power and you are who the father claims then do this command these stones to become bread if you're the divine son if you have authority and you have power command this jesus let's see it let's see it it's provoking him why in the world should you be hungry that makes no sense why would the why would the would God put you through that kind of testing? What kind of God is this? Change it. Change it. All you got to do, prove yourself. You hear the heart of the temptation? My guess is there are quite a few people here right now unhappy with circumstances. This is kind of the sermon this morning. It's breaking our strength. Unhappy with circumstances and you're never quite settled or content in life until you think you can get beyond this. Is that not real? Is that not just what we do? The difference is, in our pride, we have no power even to change it. There are things that come on us. You know you can't change the circumstance. You would if you could. You would if you could. Of all people, you have the power, Jesus. you are who you say you are this is the way your father's treating you do it take matters into your own hands now you have the power why go through this you can act independently from the will of your father you can break free from these chains you can change your circumstance you can have your best life go for it whatever station it is exercise your will apart from the will of the Father. You're hungry. He is working on every little dissatisfaction in your life. And He works on it into your moments of your greatest weakness. Well, here He is. he's truly human and truly divine the temptation was to exercise that will to break his father's will there is a reason jesus tells us to pray not not my will but your will be done you have to pray that every day in your life for a reason jesus responds it has been written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God Jesus would constantly say my food is to do the will of him who sent me that's my food that's John 4 I completely submit to that will that's what fuels me that's what drives me that's what gives me ultimate satisfaction in his life to live by that word every word that proceeds from his mouth in every circumstance in which i am tempted and tested jesus is saying that is my pursuit right then and there he overcomes everything israel failed in the first testing in the wilderness second temptation resembles the first verse five we read 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 cast yourself down and then he quotes psalm 91 which we sang he shall give his angels charge over you and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone you understand this show your glory now make yourself great listen if you are who you say you are show it prove it stand in the most revered spot in the kingdom on the pinnacle think about this the pinnacle of the temple where everyone would have been rustling about bustling about go stand up on the pinnacle up there i'll go with you let everyone see this just throw yourself down you know what the scriptures say don't you jesus the angels have to come help you that would be an awesome display of who you are don't the scripture say that they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone would they not do that for you if you're so great prove yourself you realize this was a whole temptation to abandon the cross for you what was it about Jesus that was so different here we really see it he had all power he had all glory he had the glory that he had with his father before the world began and coming to this earth he takes on the form of a servant and he humbles himself who does this who what king would do this he humbles himself by taking on our human nature and he humbles himself to the point of death the death of the cross he veiled that glory in his humanity so that no one could see it for a time the only time we see it in the gospels was just for a moment when in the transfiguration to encourage his weak disciples he's up on the mountain and he's transfigured in other words he let them see the father and the spirit all of a sudden his appearance changes and he's bright like the sun and his glory is displayed just for a moment revealing himself but he didn't do this in his earthly ministry the whole time he had no form or comeliness that we should desire him you never looked at Jesus and thought, wow. And you see what we're all vying for in life. You see what we're all trying to do in life. We're all trying to get on top. We're all trying to put ourselves on top. We all want people to see us. We want people to see our success. We want people to see how great we are. People to think highly of us. We live with this. We're constantly doing this. Jesus says, I'm going to do a rough paraphrase, he quotes Deuteronomy 6.16, don't push God. Don't push your God to the wall as you did at Massa, the testing place. Massa was the place where Israel, in return, tempted God. Remember what they tempted? Remember what they said? Is the Lord among us or not? Is the Lord among us? You hear the temptation. The circumstance says, the Lord is not among you. Act independently. Break free from this. It was a temptation to abandon mission and free oneself from God's ordering of life. You're always tempted with this. You have all sorts of dissatisfactions with God's way for you, and I do too. We're always questioning him. And in that question is this little test for him. You wouldn't put me through this if you were with me. You wouldn't put me through this if you were with me. And so we do what is right in our own eyes to show ourselves, to strengthen ourselves. How satisfied are you with God's ways of ordering your life? How much stress and worry do you carry around because of this question? Because in the ordering of your lives and the ways and the circumstances that he has you in, you're not satisfied. And if you could, you'd break free from it all. Test God. become dissatisfied, become bitter, free yourself, free yourself from these chains. Jesus recognizes this for what it is. Don't push God. Third temptation. Then the devil took him to an exceedingly, notice this, high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. And he said to him, see this? All this I'll give you. I'll give it to you right now. You don't have to go to the cross. It's all yours. If you will just fall down and worship me. That's what he wants. That's what he wants. The word means to prostrate oneself in worship, to bow down and to worship. It's interesting that the third temptation comes down to your worship. the greatest attack in Satan throughout history has been what you worship in life, what you bow down to, what is your idolatry. Break away from it, from him. Break away from him. Enjoy what you could right now and all the pleasure of it. Go for it. Take it. You can have it all now. I'll give it to you now, he says. You don't have to spend your life worshiping him. What a bore! The worship of God offers you nothing. How many tonight would rather put their hearts to be entertained by commercials? Commercials. And the worship of the Lord. Put it all together. You're hungry. You have nothing to show for it. You have no kingdom here. What kind of bargain is this? You have to follow the way of a cross? Sell your soul to me. And I stop tonight and ask this question. Do you see why you need a Savior? Do you see? Christ responds to this lie and this inducement of false worship by saying, Away with you. You're done. For it has been written. He's always going to the scriptures. He's living by every word. You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. That's taken from Deuteronomy 10, 20, which was a reminder to Israel and all their failure. Think of the golden calf of exactly what happened. What did he say to them? You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall worship him, and him only shall you hold a fast and take oaths in his name. He is your praise. He is your God who has done for you great and awesome things that 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 heaven in multitude. Wake up and see what he's done for you. Deuteronomy 11. Therefore you shall love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments always. Upon this last defeat of Satan in the wilderness, we read the devil left him, we know for an opportune time, which would probably be the garden of Gethsemane. And the angels came to minister to him and the message here tonight beloved is right then and there christ stood in your faith and your place and he defeated satan for you he won he won why does this matter why does this matter do you see why it would matter because you are beset with temptations all the time. I am. And we're no better than Israel. We complain. We're miserable about our circumstances. We put God to the test. And you still sin. I still sin. And what good news I have for you tonight. He's the son of God. He just proved it. From the beginning, from his conception on, he came to stand in your place. Your answer to life. He removed the penalty at the cross. Your answer to life in your struggle against sin and all your failures is to look here and to see what he's doing he's stepping into your place to set you free to win the victory to overcome temptation and sin that you would receive power on high from him not only that you're forgiven for all your sins but that you have the power of christ in your life there's a reason james says now resist the devil and he'll flee from you because his power is on you. What freedom is achieved for us by Christ himself in the wilderness? He sets us free. In the righteousness, Heidelberg Catechism, he won for us. You hear that? He won righteousness for you. He won it. He achieved it. It's a reward he's given to you. And that's why Machen would say on his deathbed. Many of you will get to your deathbed soon enough. I am so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. There is no hope without it. See, I want you to have this confidence. I don't want you to get to your deathbeds and say, well, I hope I did enough to please God. I got a message for you. You didn't. you didn't, but he did. See the message? You hear the message? When you sin this week, when you struggle this week, when you give in to sin this week, turn back to him, repent, and look and consider what he's done for you and live in the joy of that. Not only did he die for you, but he lived for you. He achieved righteousness for you and he wants you to live in the joy of that comfort. I don't know if there's a better message I could give and I was able to give it on Super Bowl Sunday. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for what you've done in giving your son to fulfill all righteousness. Thank you for encouraging us in this way where Israel failed, showing us us to stop the mouth of the whole world. Christ stepped in our place to fulfill righteousness. May we not be like Israel who tried to establish their own righteousness before God and would not submit to the righteousness that comes from God. Thank you that apart from the law, a righteousness is now revealed and that the just shall live by faith. Give us faith and thank you, O Lord, for so great a salvation and for the act of obedience of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so that we might have confidence that God himself is for us and not against us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.