1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:05,240 Would you grab a Bible and open to Matthew chapter 4? 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:09,760 Please read and I'll pray for us. 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,800 Matthew chapter 4 verses one through 11. 4 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,160 Matthew chapter 4 verses one through 11. 5 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,880 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be 6 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:35,560 tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 7 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:40,280 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to 8 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,440 him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become 9 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,280 loaves of bread. But he answered, It is written, 10 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,720 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 11 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,760 comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the 12 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,680 holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said 13 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,520 to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. 14 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,240 For it is written, He will command his angels concerning 15 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,840 you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you 16 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:15,680 strike your foot against a stone. 17 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,680 Jesus said to him Again, It is written, You shall not put the 18 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,800 Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a 19 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,680 very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the 20 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,400 world in their glory. And he said to him, All these I 21 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,400 will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. 22 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,320 Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You 23 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:44,600 shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. 24 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:49,320 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were 25 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:53,720 ministering to him. This is the word of God. 26 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:01,480 Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for giving 27 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:07,960 us Your word and our language and for giving us Your Spirit in 28 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:15,440 US and around us, that as we read you, Almighty God, the 29 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:21,200 living God, our Creator, our Redeemer, that You can teach us 30 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,280 through Your Word. That is our request this 31 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:25,120 morning, Lord. That You would take up Your 32 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:30,240 Word, that You would bring us instruction as a people, that 33 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:35,600 You would show us again the glories of our Savior Jesus 34 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,920 Christ, that we might delight ourselves in Him, that we might 35 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:43,040 know the things freely given to us through Him. 36 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:49,040 And so would you grant, Lord, that we would all hear a better 37 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,640 sermon that is preached today and that we, we would be the 38 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:54,880 better for it. And we ask it in Christ's name, 39 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:59,720 Amen. So we are in the season of Lent. 40 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,360 And traditionally when you come into the season of Lent, you, 41 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:08,400 you focus as a congregation on the life in the ministry of 42 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,640 Christ, particularly on his sufferings, on the things that 43 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:14,760 he suffered in order to secure our redemption for us. 44 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,880 And so in the liturgical calendar, this is the reading 45 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:25,840 that that the divines have assigned to the church, the 46 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,560 temptations of Christ. And So what I, what I want to do 47 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,240 is I want to look with you at the temptations of Christ, 48 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,760 looking at Christ as Christus victor. 49 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,600 This is Jesus in his victory for us. 50 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,200 A lot of times we come to the temptations of Christ and and 51 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,040 think in terms of what are what are the temptations of Christ 52 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,080 teach us about how we should weather temptation, and that's a 53 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:50,960 great thing. That's a great lens. 54 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,520 This is our example for how to navigate temptation without 55 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,080 failing. But the point here is not how 56 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,400 you can avoid falling. The point is Christ did on your 57 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:08,120 behalf, that Christ maintained perfect, sinless perfection 58 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:12,360 despite taking these temptations from our enemy, the devil. 59 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,080 And so I want to look at this text with you. 60 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,519 I'll have some applications in and around and through it as we 61 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:21,640 work our way. So you're in Matthew chapter 4. 62 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:26,080 If you look in verse one, I want to the first temptation, if you 63 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,280 were going to summarize it, if I were going to summarize it, I 64 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:33,640 would summarize it this way. The lie that we're told often is 65 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,520 that God helps those who help themselves, right? 66 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,320 Don't pray for a hole while leaning on a shovel. 67 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,000 And it's true you should not do that. 68 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,880 But the Scriptures teach that God comes to help those who wait 69 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,880 upon the Lord. The first temptation of Christ. 70 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,040 Satan tempts Christ to help himself to the things of God as 71 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:00,240 opposed to trusting His Father. So let me read the first few 72 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,560 verses and then I want to make a couple of observations here. 73 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,040 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit. 74 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,720 Emphasis on the Word. Then if you write in your Bible, 75 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,320 circle the Word then and draw an arrow just right before to the 76 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:13,960 verse that happened right before. 77 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,440 Because there's a historic context. 78 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,440 Here we are right after the baptism of Jesus. 79 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,920 Jesus is dripping wet as he goes into the wilderness to be 80 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:27,640 tempted by the devil. Jesus was led up by the Spirit 81 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,800 into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 82 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,800 Did you know that? Did you know that sometimes you 83 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:40,000 can be led by the Spirit? Christ was led by the Spirit to 84 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,080 be tempted by the devil. Is that, is that something that 85 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,400 the Spirit would do? Yes, it's something that he did. 86 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:53,320 Verse 2, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was 87 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,320 hungry. It's a great detail that Matthew 88 00:05:55,320 --> 00:06:00,480 gives us to protect us from a very traditional heresy where 89 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,360 you fall into one of two camps. Typically heretics will fall 90 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,640 into one of two camps of making Christ really God but only sort 91 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:13,160 of man, or making Christ sort of man or really man but only sort 92 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,080 of God. The testimony of Scripture is 93 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,440 that Christ was very God who became very men. 94 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:23,920 Real God becomes real man. And so it's a warning to us as 95 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,120 we look at the temptations of Christ and say, you know, it was 96 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,200 just his deity that that allowed him to navigate temptation or, 97 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,360 or what? You know, of course, of course 98 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:35,120 he was able not to turn stones to bread. 99 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,040 He was gone. Matthew tells us that just like 100 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:42,480 when you go hungry, when you don't eat, you go hungry. 101 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,160 Matthew tells us Christ had been 40 days without eating and he 102 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,320 was hungry. He's a real man, He's hungry. 103 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,280 And verse 3, the tempter came and said to him, if you are the 104 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:58,280 Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. 105 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:01,360 But he answered, man shall not live. 106 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,400 It is written man shall not live by bread alone, but by every 107 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:06,480 word that comes from the mouth of God. 108 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,800 So the historic context here that's very important is we are 109 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:17,480 post baptism pre inheritance, which is a which is a redo of 110 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,400 the nation of Israel. I asked Trey to read from the 111 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:24,160 book of Exodus where when Israel went through their that their 112 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,200 baptism through the Red Sea, they would have been dripping 113 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:28,760 wet, but they walked through on dry ground. 114 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,400 They watch they they see floating in the sea, the 115 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:35,520 Egyptians, their enemies, their overlords, totally defeated. 116 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:40,160 And the text says right before Moses sings his song of triumph, 117 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,880 the text says that they that they saw those things and they 118 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:46,760 believed in the Lord and and they became his. 119 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,560 It's their covenant. It's their baptism. 120 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,600 And then they go after singing, blessed be the name of the Lord, 121 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,640 the, the horse and the rider, he is thrown into the sea three 122 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:00,040 days later without water. And they're they're grumbling 123 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,480 against the Lord and they're saying, is God with us or not? 124 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,760 God has forsaken us. It is, is our redemption? 125 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,640 Is it still binding? Well, Christ goes through the 126 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,120 very same thing. He goes through a baptism. 127 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:17,560 God speaks over him, you. This is my beloved Son with whom 128 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,600 I am well pleased. And he goes directly from his 129 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,400 baptism, just like Israel, into the wilderness to be tempted. 130 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:26,640 And when he's hungry, the tempter comes to him. 131 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,440 And it's very interesting. There's a lot of hay made over 132 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,280 the place that Jesus is and I think it's true that he's in a 133 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:39,880 deserted, forsaken, desolate place and that there's stones 134 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:43,360 all over that to a hungry men begin to start looking like 135 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:45,480 loaves of bread. You I don't know if you've ever 136 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,360 done an extended fast where everything turns to food. 137 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:53,200 I did an extended fast sometime last year and Gracie noticed 138 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,040 that I kept sending her reels of of cooking of people making 139 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,280 delicious food because when I was starving, I wanted to think 140 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:05,440 I wanted to think about food. So Satan comes and he says turn 141 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:10,040 these stones to bread. Now, again, it's something that 142 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,000 we need to focus very heavily upon. 143 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:18,320 If you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, this is 144 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:20,520 the temptation. If you are the Son of God, 145 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,920 command these stones to become loaves of bread. 146 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,720 But the temptation, First off, is to disbelieve the last thing 147 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:34,760 that we heard God say to Christ, This is my beloved son in whom 148 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:37,440 I'm well pleased. And Satan comes as he always 149 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,280 does, and says, did God really say? 150 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,520 Did God really say, if you are the Son of God, why don't you do 151 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:48,400 it this way? So he, The temptation is for 152 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:52,480 Christ to use his sonship, use his power, use his authority and 153 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,760 his, yeah, his ability to do anything that he wants to do as 154 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,640 Lord of heavens and earth. And instead of serving the 155 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,280 people that Christ that that the father sent him to rescue, that 156 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,040 he would use his power to help himself. 157 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:10,720 It's been called the masturbatory temptation to just 158 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,040 take care of yourself. Don't wait for the Lord to 159 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,080 provide for you, just do it yourself. 160 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,760 God helps those who help themselves. 161 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,040 Just take care of it. Just take care of it. 162 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,160 But Christ answers, it is written man shall not live by 163 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:29,200 bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of 164 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,880 God, which shows you it's a it's a, a quotation from Deuteronomy 165 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:35,880 chapter 8. And I want to read this to you. 166 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:39,640 It shows you that Jesus knows exactly where he is in the story 167 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,600 of redemption. Don't turn, just listen and and 168 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,800 you'll hear the quotation that Jesus uses to battle Satan. 169 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:48,480 But I want you to hear it in its context. 170 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:51,920 This is the Lord speaking to Israel at the end of their 171 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:54,400 wilderness wanderings. He says the Lord commanded that 172 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,160 I, the whole commandment that I command you today, you shall be 173 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,840 careful to do that. You may live and multiply and go 174 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,600 in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give your 175 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:07,720 Father's. And so we see this, this 176 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:09,680 interplay between the grace of God. 177 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:11,320 God is going to give you the land. 178 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:13,400 You're not going to earn it. It's going to be grace. 179 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,920 He's going to give it to you. Believe Him. 180 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,400 But this shows us the essence of faith. 181 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,520 We are not saved by works. But what does faith do? 182 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,960 Faith obeys. So keep these commandments that 183 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,520 you can live and multiply and go in and possess the land that the 184 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,240 Lord swore to give your Father's, and you shall 185 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,000 remember. That's the very thing Christ is 186 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,880 doing. You shall remember the whole way 187 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,840 that the Lord your God has LED you these 40 years in the 188 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:45,320 wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what 189 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,600 was in your heart, whether you would keep His commands or not. 190 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:55,440 And He humbled you, and He let you hunger, He let you hunger 191 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,560 for a season, and He fed you with manna, which you did not 192 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:04,920 know, nor did your Father's know that He might make you know that 193 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,320 man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every 194 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,160 word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 195 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,000 Christ knows exactly where He is. 196 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,840 I'm hungry because the Lord has let me go hungry for a season. 197 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,960 He's going to provide for me, but He wants me to know that man 198 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:26,320 does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes 199 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,640 from the mouth of the Lord. The essence of this temptation 200 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:34,440 and the answer of Christ show us something profound that Satan is 201 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:38,880 always trying to get us to look through the lens of our hard 202 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:43,760 providences at the word of God to verify or to disprove it. 203 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,120 I need to say that to you again because it's important. 204 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,720 Satan is always trying to get us to look through the lens of our 205 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,600 hard providences. Why is this happening to me? 206 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,360 Let me look through my circumstances at the word of God 207 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:02,080 to see is the word of God true? My circumstances don't vindicate 208 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,080 that. That's what Satan is always 209 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:09,440 tries to get us to do instead of what God would have us do, which 210 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,440 is to look through the lens of God's Word at our hard 211 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,880 providences that we might know our Father more intimately and 212 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,440 know our dependence upon Him. Don't look at the Word of God 213 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:25,960 through your hard providences, rather look through the Word of 214 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:29,560 God at your hard providences and know that you are loved and your 215 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:33,320 Father has not forsaken you. So do your lack of funds. 216 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:37,560 Do you look at your lack of funds and see them as proof that 217 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:40,480 God has not kept His word to hear your prayer and to provide 218 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,040 for you? Or do you look at the promise 219 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,920 that He is sworn? He's taking responsibility for 220 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,160 your provision so that any financial hardship in the long 221 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,800 run is meant to teach you to rely upon Him more. 222 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,120 It's just one of the many hardships that some of us 223 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,960 undergo. The circumstances of Christ in 224 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,120 this text do not dictate to Him what He will and will not 225 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:06,320 believe about the Father and His Word, and neither should yours 226 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,000 dictate to you what you will believe. 227 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,160 Living on the Word of God means clinging to the light of what 228 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:16,720 God has said to you when your circumstances seem to darken 229 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,720 that Word. Clinging to the light of what 230 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,800 God has spoken when you're in the dark of circumstances that 231 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:25,680 want to darken what He has said to you. 232 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,760 This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. 233 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:36,360 If you are the Son of God, it's always this way. 234 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:41,640 The second temptation of Christ is a temptation to test the 235 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,880 theory. Let's test the theory. 236 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:45,360 Do you believe in the Lord or not? 237 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:47,320 Let's test it. Let's put it to the test. 238 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:52,200 Watch this verse 5. Then the devil took Christ to 239 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:55,720 the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. 240 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,480 Let me just exhort you to take this at face value. 241 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,160 Don't try. And was this a in the next 242 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:04,800 temptation where he takes him up on a high mountain? 243 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:06,800 Is this a vision? Is this something that's going 244 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:07,600 on? Is he asleep? 245 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,760 Just take it at face value and see what this text would 246 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,560 indicate, that the devil took Christ to the holy city and set 247 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,000 him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him again, if 248 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,120 you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. 249 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,760 For it is written, he will command his angels concerning 250 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,560 you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you 251 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:29,880 strike your foot against a stone. 252 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:33,000 And Jesus said to him again, it is written, you shall not put 253 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,600 the Lord your God to the test. So the devil takes Christ and 254 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,640 sets him on the temple, take it at face value. 255 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:47,680 And he says, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. 256 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:52,240 So if we want to see the nature of this temptation, we need to 257 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:58,680 see the Incarnate Christ standing on the temple, looking 258 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:02,200 down on the people of Israel, scurrying around under foot, and 259 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,320 remember our context that Christ has been declared to be the 260 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:08,600 king. God the Father has said this is 261 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,040 my son, and he's looking down on his people, Israel walking 262 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:15,000 around underneath that have no idea who he is. 263 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:17,840 They don't know him. He's got to wait. 264 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:21,000 He's got to wait for the Father to reveal him to Israel. 265 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:26,320 And so the temptation is Israel largely doesn't know who you 266 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:27,520 are. God has said who you are. 267 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,040 So if this is true, throw yourself down. 268 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:35,720 Throw yourself down and you will force your heavenly Father's 269 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:38,800 hand to rescue you in the sight of all Israel. 270 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,880 It wouldn't that be a spectacle, Geronimo? 271 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,320 And the Father sweeps in, and now we all know this is the 272 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,000 Messiah. What you're doing is you're 273 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:53,320 forcing God's hand to identify Christ to Israel right now. 274 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,600 That's the temptation. And I want you to note the 275 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,520 strategy, knowing Christ had stood firm on the Word of God. 276 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,840 And by the way, the context, when Jesus says man shall not 277 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,240 live by bread alone, but by every word, what is the word 278 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,240 that he heard? This is my son. 279 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,599 And Satan says, if you are the Son of God, Christ is clinging 280 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:14,520 to what the Father had just said about him. 281 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,200 And Satan knowing that his second strategy is to tempt 282 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:22,599 Christ to do what ought not to be done in order to put God's 283 00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:27,280 Word to the immediate test, Throw yourself down, for it is 284 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,320 written. So Satan in this context, by the 285 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,520 way, is quoting from Psalm 91, which is a messianic Psalm about 286 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,160 the Father's protection of the Messiah. 287 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,120 So we would ask, is it an accurate quotation of Scripture? 288 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:43,160 Do these things apply to Christ? Absolutely. 289 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:44,920 It's accurate quotation of Scripture. 290 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,600 Is it applicable to Christ? Yes. 291 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,080 Is it a promise that Christ can claim and he can own right then 292 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:52,720 and there? Yes, it is. 293 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,680 It's an accurate quotation of Scripture applied to an 294 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:02,000 inappropriate applied in an inappropriate way in order to 295 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,960 justify a disobedience. So faith we were we were driving 296 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,320 through Smithville last night. Do you guys remember what that 297 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:11,640 sign said? Something about faith receives 298 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,000 doubt does without something like that. 299 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,000 It was like a pithy Christian turn of phrase that like, man, 300 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,560 if you're doubting, that's the only reason you could possibly 301 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,120 not have what God has promised to you. 302 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:28,080 And so there's this, there's this temptation to force God's 303 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,480 hand. Let's see whether or not the 304 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,080 Lord is among us. By the way, when Christ says 305 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:35,400 again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the 306 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,040 test. He's quoting from Exodus 17 307 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:41,560 verses one through 7 where they come to a place where there's 308 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:44,960 where there's they don't have any water. 309 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,600 And so they're grumbling against the Lord And they they say, I 310 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:50,840 want to read this to you because I'm going to I'm going to 311 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,640 butcher it if I try and remember, this is Exodus 17. 312 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,480 Listen to listen to what Israel says. 313 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:03,120 And this is the this is the, the the context of when Christ 314 00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:06,240 quotes so the Lord said to Moses, pass on before the people 315 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,400 taking with you some of the elders of Israel, taking your 316 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,720 hand to staff which you struck the Nile and go, Behold, I will 317 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,400 stand before you there at the rock at Horeb and you shall 318 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,880 strike the rock. Book of Corinthians says the 319 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:19,880 rock was Christ and it was following them. 320 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,840 You shall strike the rock, and the water shall come out of it, 321 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,720 and the people will drink. Moses did so in the sight of the 322 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:29,480 elders in Israel, and he called the name of that place Masah in 323 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:31,880 Meribah. Because of the quarreling of the 324 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,960 people, and because, listen to these words, they tested the 325 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:40,840 Lord by saying, Is the Lord among us or not? 326 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,400 Putting the Lord to the test is not the same thing as taking Him 327 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,680 at His word and waiting for Him, right? 328 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,880 Trust the Lord and wait, not trust the Lord and try and put 329 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:56,720 Him to the test. So, so they're without water and 330 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,560 they go to Moses and they say if the Lord gives us water right 331 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:04,280 now, we'll believe. So let the Lord demonstrate 332 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,880 whether or not He's with us. Putting the Lord to the test is 333 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,560 an attempt to force God into a place where He will either keep 334 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:16,120 His word to you right now, or else you will no longer believe 335 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:19,200 in His Word. OK, so think about this for a 336 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,720 moment. We could do it right here that 337 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,440 Jesus said, whatever you ask in my name, the Father will will do 338 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,160 for you. And so let's just let's let's 339 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,000 postulate a theory that why don't I just pray that someone 340 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,400 would levitate into the ceiling. And if God does it, we'll all 341 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,760 believe that he's with us. But if he doesn't, we'll all go 342 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,280 home and know that this whole thing is a sham that's putting 343 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:45,040 the Lord to the test. That, by the way, is the logic 344 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,960 of the name it and claim it crowd that the only reason you 345 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,200 would ever pray for something and not receive it is because 346 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,320 you don't have faith. Even though Christ taught us 347 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:57,080 that faith the size of a mustard seed is able to move mountains. 348 00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,600 Because it's not faith. It's not the quality of the 349 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:02,800 content of your faith that matters, it's the content of 350 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:04,400 your faith. It's the God that you're 351 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:09,320 trusting, not the size of how much you are trusting Him and so 352 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,320 the same logic that says if if you if you ask and you don't 353 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,000 receive, it's only because you doubt it denies one the model of 354 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,160 Christ's prayer who qualified in the garden. 355 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:24,960 This is what I want. But but your will not mine if it 356 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,240 be your will if it is possible, let this happen. 357 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:32,600 But I trust you, Lord, to caveat prayers like that is the essence 358 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:35,320 of faith. This is the logic of name and 359 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:37,360 then claim it. This is the logic of a lot of 360 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,960 charismatic believers. And listen to me, brothers and 361 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:41,880 sisters, it's the logic of Satan. 362 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,160 God will demonstrate himself now or we will not believe in him. 363 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,840 Jesus says no. That's putting the Lord to the 364 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,760 test. Jesus will not put his Father in 365 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:55,440 a situation where God will have to keep His word to Christ now 366 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,000 or Christ will die. I'm not going to throw myself 367 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,560 down so that God will vindicate me and demonstrate that he's 368 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,680 with me. He will not put him to the test 369 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,200 and nor should you. And let me say as a 370 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,280 parenthetical statement here, this is not some people take 371 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,040 this as a temptation to suicide. It's not a temptation to 372 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,800 suicide. It's a temptation to force God 373 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,560 to put him to the test, to force him to act on Christ's behalf. 374 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:26,080 But let me say, in case you take it that way, you need to beware 375 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:30,360 anytime you hear a thought, a voice, a desire, an entity 376 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:36,400 exhorting you to self harm, that is never from the Spirit of God, 377 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:41,440 never in life would God ever tell you to self harm. 378 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:46,480 Satan hates God and therefore he hates the image of God, which, 379 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:52,560 brothers and sisters, is you. Satan hates God, he hates God's 380 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:58,000 image, he hates you. And if he can deceive and get 381 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,600 you to hurt yourself, it's a great victory for him. 382 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,280 So don't ever deface God's image by harming yourself. 383 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,640 Last temptation is a temptation to speed up the plan. 384 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,160 Look in verse 8 again. The devil took him to a very 385 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,840 high mountain. Just take it at face value. 386 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:22,160 I don't know what mountain you can stand upon and see all the 387 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:23,640 kingdoms of the earth in their glory. 388 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:25,680 I don't know what mountain this is, and I don't think it 389 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,880 matters. Just take it, because it's the 390 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:30,240 Word of God. Again. 391 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,400 The devil took him to a very high mountain, and he showed 392 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:37,920 Christ all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 393 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:43,680 And he said to him, All these I will give you, if you will fall 394 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,800 down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Begone 395 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,160 Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, 396 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:54,560 and him only shall you serve. And then the devil left him, and 397 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,680 behold, angels came and we're ministering to him. 398 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:04,720 I will give it to you if you will worship me, meaning I will 399 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,280 take you where God has promised to take you. 400 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,600 But I will show you an easier and a quicker way. 401 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,840 There's no need to suffer. There's no need for for three 402 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,640 years of, of taking it on the chin from your enemies. 403 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,240 There's no reason for the ignominy of death. 404 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,640 A Roman cross. You just vow right now and I'll 405 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,200 give you it all. I'll give it all to you. 406 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:29,480 The the offer here is to be king without a cross. 407 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,960 That's the offer. So maybe it's helpful to ponder, 408 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,320 can Satan promise this at this point in historic redempt, in 409 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,920 the history of redemption? I think so. 410 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,520 I think at this point it is his to give and I think he has. 411 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:50,000 This is the magic sauce of why so many people that don't make 412 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:55,240 any sense in our world still tend to rise to power 413 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,280 inexplicably and accomplish great things. 414 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,000 Let me ask you something. Do you know who the most evil 415 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,000 person in the history of mankind is most evil? 416 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:12,680 We might say Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini, like we might 417 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:16,440 say any of those those guys. But if you take their death toll 418 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:20,160 and add them all up together, there's one person whose life 419 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,920 took more human lives than them combined. 420 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,160 All of them. Do you know her name? 421 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:32,840 Her name was Margaret Sanger. She was the feminist eugenicist 422 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:37,040 founder of Planned Parenthood, which is responsible worldwide 423 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,680 for more than a billion human murders. 424 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,760 And this woman, by the way, you should homework assignment go 425 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,280 look up Margaret Sanger. Look up quotes that she wrote, 426 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,400 but really importantly, look up pictures of Margaret Sanger. 427 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:55,720 This woman was pug ugly. No joke, man. 428 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:00,240 She was ugly like, like my, my dad would say she's so ugly, 429 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:06,080 she's ugly, she's bad. And yet this woman, when she 430 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:10,400 left her husband, seduced wealthy man after wealthy man 431 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:15,680 after wealthy man who gave her their fortunes to use in her 432 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,480 eugenicist program, eugenics program. 433 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,000 That's she was able to do all of these things. 434 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,520 And we say like, how in the world can that Lady get that 435 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,360 kind of devotion from those guys that they would give their 436 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:32,400 fortune to her to use at will? This is the reason. 437 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,960 Sell your soul and I'll give you what you want. 438 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,960 I leave it to your judgement. But since Margaret Singer's 439 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,800 life, Molech has been our country's deity of choice, 440 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,240 sacrificing the unborn so that we could have a little more 441 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,240 financial security. And this is the essence of the 442 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:54,160 temptation to attain what God has promised in a way that he is 443 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:56,640 not allowed. Attain the promise in a way 444 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,760 that's not permitted. This is the temptation in the 445 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:01,840 garden. Just take and and and then 446 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,640 you'll be like God. The the whole the whole reason 447 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,560 we were made in the image and likeness of God. 448 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,560 Conformity into the image of God is our intended purpose. 449 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,000 We grasped at it early in a way that was not allowed Jesus. 450 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,960 One of my favorite quotes about the temptations of Christ. 451 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:24,160 Brace yourselves. Jesus will not receive as a gift 452 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,760 what he is about to win in open warfare. 453 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,200 Satan says, hey, just worship me and I'll give it to you. 454 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,760 And Jesus says no thanks because I'm about to bind you and take 455 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:36,720 everything you have. I'm about to whip you right now. 456 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,000 Jesus came to crush the devil, not to receive anything as a 457 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,760 gift from his hand. OK, So what? 458 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:47,760 How do these things apply to us? Well, first of all, that we 459 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,200 should understand that Jesus is that great. 460 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,840 Jesus is that great. Think about this. 461 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,880 Christ is the new, the second, the better. 462 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,280 Adam. Adam was a perfect man with a 463 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:05,480 full belly who had a million yeses and one no perfect man 464 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,880 never sinned. He's he's sufficient to have 465 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,440 stood yet free to fall. He's never sinned. 466 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:13,400 He's got a full belly. He's got a naked wife. 467 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:18,520 It's like it's the greatest, you know, context of any man ever. 468 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,880 A million yeses. You may freely eat of all the 469 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,480 trees in the garden, just not this one, because if you eat it, 470 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:31,360 you're going to die. A million yeses, one no perfect 471 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:38,760 man full belly and he yes, the no Christ, on the other hand, 472 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:43,200 was a perfect man dying of hunger. 473 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:49,480 Hadn't eaten for 40 days. Christ as a perfect man in a 474 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:57,200 fallen world has a million no's and one terribly difficult Yes, 475 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,840 there are. How many ways could you sin 476 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,720 sitting and listening to a sermon at church? 477 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,680 Infinite ways. There's a million ways for us as 478 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,080 fallen individuals in a fallen world to just come up short. 479 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:19,040 Christ, a perfect man, dying of hunger, a million ways to fail, 480 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:23,760 one thin perfect line of obedience that he must walk in 481 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:30,720 thought, word and deed every moment of his life in real 482 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,800 humanity. And he did it. 483 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,000 Adam sinned. Christ did not. 484 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:42,760 Christ is that great. Just marvel at your Savior, 485 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:44,760 brothers and sisters. He did what no man could 486 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,960 possibly do. And let me warn you about 487 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,000 something here. Do not make the mistake of 488 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,520 thinking that Christ maintains sinless perfection because His 489 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,680 divinity kept him anchored to obedience. 490 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,320 That's true. His divinity kept him anchored 491 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:06,040 to obedience. But that's not the way in which 492 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,080 he maintained sinless perfection, and that's not how 493 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:11,120 the Scriptures talk. So let me give you a metaphor. 494 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,440 Imagine that someone in our church wanted to break the world 495 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,600 record for bench press. The world record right now for 496 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,720 bench press. Think about this now, all of you 497 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,120 guys, what do you bench? What did you bench? 498 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:24,760 What's the most you've ever benched? 499 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:25,920 I would love to hear that number. 500 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,760 By the way, I'm pretty sure it's Clayton has the world record in 501 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,800 our church. I don't know the world record, 502 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:36,400 standing world record right now. So says the Googles is 1400 and 503 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:42,160 1 lbs by a guy named Jimmy Cold 1400 and 1 lbs which no three of 504 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,560 us could squat, right? I mean, that's just a ridiculous 505 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:46,560 amount of weight. But think about it's the bench 506 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:48,240 press, right? It's over your chest. 507 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,280 So if your shoulders break or your arms collapse, you're going 508 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:55,440 to die. And so someone in our church 509 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,120 wants to break this record. So he works and he lifts and he 510 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,520 strives and he takes steroids, probably. 511 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,000 He does all of these things to get within striking distance. 512 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,760 But while he's training, postulate this, while he's 513 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:10,680 training, he has a bad day where his PEC cramps and the weight 514 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,560 almost falls and kills him, right? 515 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,760 And so now all of his friends say, listen, we want you to try 516 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,120 for this record, but we're not going to let you do it on your 517 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:20,720 own. So what we're going to do is the 518 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,480 day you go for the record, we're going to have two guys on either 519 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,120 side ready to catch the way. We're going to have a guy over 520 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,560 you, and we're going to have a guy straddling you so that if 521 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,320 you fail, we'll catch you. It won't kill you. 522 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:33,520 It won't crush you, right? Are you following this? 523 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:39,000 And so day of he comes, he lays down on the bench and this man 524 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:46,680 under his own strength, he lifts 1500 lbs off of the rack, lowers 525 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,040 it down, touches its chest and presses it to the full and re 526 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:51,560 racks it. He did it. 527 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:55,800 He just broke the record. Do we have a right to come in 528 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:59,160 and say the only way that you broke it is because you had all 529 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,880 these spotters? Or would he say that the 530 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,520 spotters had nothing to do with the fact that I actually lived 531 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:06,760 it? Yes, I had spotters. 532 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,480 Yes, I was not going to die. They would have caught it had it 533 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,440 collapsed, but that had nothing to do with it. 534 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,440 The same way Christ, who is divine, cannot sin. 535 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,480 His divinity, His divine nature, anchors Him to to the perfection 536 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,240 of obedience. But He would tell us that had 537 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:25,360 nothing to do with how I did not sin. 538 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:30,480 His sinless perfection was maintained in real humanity by 539 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:35,360 depending on the Holy Spirit who He pours out upon you and upon 540 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:38,600 me. Jesus maintained sinless 541 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:44,240 perfection in real humanity. So if we told Christ, well, the 542 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:48,320 only way that you were able to withstand all of this temptation 543 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,240 is because you were gone, he would say, oh, I am gone. 544 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:55,800 That had nothing to do with it. Jesus wins this fight with with 545 00:32:55,800 --> 00:33:01,840 Satan fair and square as a real man and glory to his name. 546 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:04,840 Just think about that. That's marvelous. 547 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:09,360 Secondly, Jesus is that powerful. 548 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,480 I love this. Right at the beginning of the 549 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:16,200 text, the Spirit has come and is remaining upon Christ, has 550 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,760 anointed him for the Kingdom, and it leads him out to be 551 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:20,960 tempted in the wilderness. And we say, what, what's what's 552 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:22,840 going on there? Like why would the Spirit do 553 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:24,960 that? And then at the end of the text, 554 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,600 there's this really weird exchange in verse 10 where where 555 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:33,040 Jesus says begun Satan. And then in verse 11, the devil 556 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:37,680 left him, which shows us that at any moment Jesus can say take a 557 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:42,800 hike and he has to take a hike. As Woodhouse would say, cheese 558 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,720 it, Satan and Satan cheesed it like you can't be here anymore, 559 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,040 OK, I can't be here anymore. This is our sovereign Christ 560 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:52,440 begone Satan and the devil left him. 561 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:56,440 He's powerful enough to banish him at any and all times. 562 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:02,360 And yet Christ in infinite wisdom let's him take his best 563 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,000 shot. Why would he do that? 564 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,480 Why does he do that? Well, because if you really want 565 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,639 to break a person in hand to hand combat, you let them throw 566 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:14,800 their best punch. You take it on the chin and then 567 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:16,840 you whisper in their ear. If I wanted to kiss, I would 568 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:21,040 have called your mother. Like Christ allows Satan to do 569 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,920 his worst, right? And then he takes the worst that 570 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,080 Satan can do, and he founds your salvation and mine upon it. 571 00:34:29,199 --> 00:34:32,679 What's the worst thing that Satan could possibly do when God 572 00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:39,040 becomes a man, when life himself comes into human existence? 573 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:40,639 What's the worst that could be imagined? 574 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:47,920 That Satan would kill God And God in his infinite wisdom takes 575 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,960 the death of Christ and he makes it the foundation of our 576 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,880 salvation. And the death of Christ is the 577 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,560 one who destroyed is the is the very thing that destroyed the 578 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:01,880 devil. So the devil takes all the leash 579 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:07,120 that Christ gives him and he uses it to hang himself and by 580 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:09,720 hanging himself save the world. It's just marvelous. 581 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,040 It's marvelous. The power of Christ Jesus was 582 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:18,400 victorious as man for men and we are to imitate. 583 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,560 Are we to imitate Christ here? So ask that question, is this, 584 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:23,120 is this something we're to imitate? 585 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,920 And the answer is yes, fight the devil's lies by faith in the 586 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:28,440 word of God, just like Christ did. 587 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,240 Anytime somebody says, well, I know what the word of God says, 588 00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:35,560 but just know you're talking to some manifestation of Satan, 589 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,520 right? I look, I know what the Bible 590 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:43,280 teaches about sexual ethics, but I'm sorry, that won't fly, 591 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:45,880 right? I know what the Word of God 592 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:50,960 teaches about about biblical hierarchy and about men leading 593 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,040 in a church. I know when Paul says, you know, 594 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,680 I don't allow a woman to preach or exercise authority over a 595 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:57,560 man. I know that the Bible says that. 596 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,680 But what it actually means is no, no, no, stop. 597 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:07,480 That's Satan's lie all the time. Did God really say if you are 598 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,200 the Son of God? So should we fight the devil's 599 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,480 lies in the same way, imitating Christ? 600 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:14,920 Yes, of course we should, but that's not the point of the 601 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,960 text. Imitation of Christ is not the 602 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,920 point. The point is that just as we all 603 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,440 suffered the consequences of our Father Adam's disobedience 604 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:29,800 because all of us were in Adam, so we will all enjoy the result 605 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:33,560 of Christ's obedience because we are all in Christ. 606 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,880 That's the point, that Christ did not turn stones into bread 607 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:41,280 to serve himself. Rather, Christ gave Himself as 608 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,280 bread for all who are in Him. He did not worship the devil to 609 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,440 obtain the kingdoms of the world in all their glory. 610 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:51,560 Instead He destroyed the devil by dying and rising so that the 611 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,560 government would rest upon his shoulders, and the increase of 612 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:56,480 his Kingdom and of peace there would be no end. 613 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,280 Christ didn't receive a thing from Satan. 614 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:04,120 He bound him, and he took everything from him in open 615 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,840 warfare. So that as it was written, ask 616 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,560 of me, saith the Lord, and I will make the nation's your 617 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:13,960 heritage, the ends of the earth, your possession. 618 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:19,120 Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, and Christ in Christ. 619 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:23,200 Unthinkably we have been seated with Him upon His throne. 620 00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:28,880 He did not eat so that He could feed us forever on Himself. 621 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:31,920 This bread is His body which is broken for you. 622 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:35,960 This cup is His blood poured out for the forgiveness of sin. 623 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:39,960 He won the victory and now He invites you to come and to taste 624 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,640 it with Him. So come, beloved church, and 625 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:46,400 welcome to Jesus Christ, who is your life. 626 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:52,640 Let me pray for us. Lord Jesus, we thank you for 627 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:57,560 being the victor. We thank you for sharing flesh 628 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:02,120 and blood like the children of man, so that by death you would 629 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:06,320 destroy the one who had the power of death, that is the 630 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,560 devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were 631 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:13,560 subject to lifelong slavery. You did both of those things in 632 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,960 your death, in your resurrection and and in your ascension. 633 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:23,680 And so we thank you that we wage war against a defeated foe in 634 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,920 the name of the victorious Lord of glory. 635 00:38:28,240 --> 00:38:33,600 Father, we ask as we, as we respond, Lord, to your summons 636 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:39,920 to the table of Christ, where we will take with undeserving hands 637 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,440 the bread of life, where we will take with undeserving hands the 638 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,720 cup of salvation that is the body and blood of Christ. 639 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,720 God, that we would not look to our own merits, but to the 640 00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:53,160 merits of the one who won the victory. 641 00:38:55,200 --> 00:39:00,880 Christ is the victor, that so may we come in his name. 642 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:03,160 And we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would come, that you would 643 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:06,880 minister to US men, women, and children, baptized into the 644 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:10,520 triune name of God. That you would take what is 645 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:14,680 Christ and you would disclose it to us, apply it to us, renew it 646 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:19,320 to us. God, we thank you by your mercy 647 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:23,520 and by your grace. Sinners like us are supposed to 648 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:26,280 come to the table where we will find welcome. 649 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:30,760 Would you draw near to us? We ask it in the name of Christ, 650 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:31,440 Amen.