1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:06,480 I hope that you've had a good week. 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:11,600 You can open your Bible to Matthew chapter 4, Matthew 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,960 chapter 4. We're still in the part of 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:18,960 Matthew that talks or that tells of the King's preparation. 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:22,000 Jesus is being prepared for public ministry. 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,800 And so Matthew chapter 4 is a new movement in that. 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,240 Now what we want to remember from last week is that Jesus has 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:36,120 just been baptized. The heavens opened, the Spirit 9 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,800 descended on him, and the Father spoke very clearly, saying, this 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,240 is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. 11 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:51,840 Now what follows immediately is not what we might think. 12 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,040 We might think there would be a big celebration on earth. 13 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:00,000 It's pretty miraculous moment. We may think there'd be some 14 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:05,319 sort of public celebration, but that's not what comes next. 15 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:07,320 What comes next is a time of testing. 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,360 A son will be tested. Now, Matthew wants us to see 17 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:18,200 this because before Jesus begins his public ministry, the Son of 18 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,200 God must be proven faithful. Now he's going to be proven 19 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:26,640 faithful in the same way that Adam and Israel before him 20 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:31,240 failed, right? So this passage shows us who 21 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:33,440 Jesus is. It shows us what kind of king he 22 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,400 is, and it also shows us how he stands in our place. 23 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,000 Jesus goes into this time of testing. 24 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,320 He doesn't avoid temptation. He doesn't bypass the suffering 25 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:48,640 that's coming at him. He enters the wilderness as the 26 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,000 true Son of God and faces the enemy head on. 27 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:57,600 And as we'll see, he succeeds again where Adam fell and where 28 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,480 Israel fell. He succeeds by trusting God and 29 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,440 obeying His Word. So Matthew chapter 4, verses one 30 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:07,720 through 11, if you're able to stand, would you please stand? 31 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:18,440 As we read these verses? Then Jesus was led by the Spirit 32 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,040 into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 33 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:26,040 And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. 34 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,320 And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, 35 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:33,240 command these stones to become loaves of bread. 36 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,720 But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread 37 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,600 alone by, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 38 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,520 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and sent him on the 39 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:49,080 pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of 40 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,840 God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his 41 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,120 angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you 42 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,680 up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 43 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,800 Jesus said to him Again, it is written, You shall not put the 44 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:08,520 Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a 45 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:11,080 very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the 46 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:15,320 world and their glory. And he said to him, All these I 47 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,600 will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. 48 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,640 And then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, 49 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:26,360 You shall worship the Lord your God. 50 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:30,400 In him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and 51 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,440 behold, angels came and were ministering to him. 52 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,600 This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, let's pray. 53 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:44,040 Heavenly Father, we come before your word, and we ask that you 54 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,320 would humble us. O Lord, would you make us ready 55 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,160 as sons and daughters? To receive Your Word with 56 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:55,800 humility. How would you help us to 57 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,000 understand it? God, would you plant this Word 58 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,280 deep into our hearts and let it bear fruits? 59 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,280 May our hearts be good soil today. 60 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,280 Lord, we are grateful that You have spoken to us through Your 61 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,120 Word. We're grateful for this passage 62 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,760 and all that it means about Christ and about the victory 63 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:25,120 that He has and about the victory we can know through Him. 64 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,640 And so, Lord, we ask that again, you teach us today that you help 65 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:34,360 us to know Your word well. But more than anything, Lord, 66 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,920 would you help us to not be hearers of Your word only, but 67 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:42,000 doers also. Lord, I pray for strength today 68 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:44,640 to preach. When I ask Lord that you would 69 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,080 fill me with your spirits, speak through me, it's in Christ name 70 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:50,240 I. Pray, Amen. 71 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:52,120 Amen. You may be seated. 72 00:04:57,640 --> 00:04:59,040 So I have some good news for you. 73 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,000 A lot of good news today, I think. 74 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,600 But temptation is not something that's reserved for a few 75 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:12,640 especially weak people, Amen, Nor does, nor is it something 76 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,320 that shows up only in dramatic moments of your life. 77 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,480 Temptation meets you in ordinary places. 78 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,600 It finds you when you're tired, when you're hungry, when you're 79 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:29,960 discouraged, when you're alone. It presses on us at our weakest 80 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,480 points, and it whispers that there must be an easier way. 81 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:37,520 There must be a quicker solution. 82 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:44,240 There must be a safer path than simply following God's plan. 83 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:49,400 Matthew 4 reminds us that temptation itself is not sin, 84 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:54,560 but how we respond to temptation matters. 85 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:59,360 A lot. And before we ever ask how we 86 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:04,840 are to face temptation, what we see in this passage is first who 87 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:09,520 Jesus is and what he has done. All right, that's going to be a 88 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,600 great encouragement to us as we think about our own temptations 89 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,720 today. We must first see who Christ is 90 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:20,440 and what he has done. Jesus does not meet temptation 91 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:25,520 merely as an example. He he meets temptation as the 92 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:30,680 faithful Son of God who stands in our place right and where 93 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,200 Adam fell, where Israel, Israel fell in the wilderness. 94 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:39,760 Jesus remains obedience. He he resists Satan not not by 95 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:45,120 displays of power, but by humble submission to the Word of God. 96 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,840 And that leads us to the main point of the passage today. 97 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:50,320 If you're taking notes, you can write this down. 98 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:55,440 Trust and follow the faithful son who overcame temptation 99 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,840 through obedience to God's Word. Trust and follow the faithful 100 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:04,800 Son who overcame temptation through obedience to God's Word. 101 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,320 As text calls us to look to Christ with confidence, it calls 102 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,840 us to rest in His victory. It calls us to walk in His 103 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,600 faithful obedience as those who belong to Christ. 104 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,160 And as we walk through the passage together, we're going to 105 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,040 see 4 movements. First, we'll see that the king 106 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,880 is LED into testing by God's design. 107 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,240 Second, we'll see that the king is tempted as the sun, standing 108 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,880 firm where others fell. 3rd, we'll see that the king 109 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,680 overcomes by the word of God. And then finally, we'll see that 110 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,840 the king is vindicated and served, confirming his victory 111 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,960 and faithfulness. Again, this passage matters for 112 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,920 us today because every one of us faces temptation. 113 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,160 All right, if you face temptation this week, would you 114 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,360 please raise your hand? All right, all of you with your 115 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,440 hands down were tempted to lie and you failed. 116 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:11,520 All right, OK, it's OK. You're in the right place. 117 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,600 So it matters for us because we all face temptation. 118 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,720 We need more than advice. All right? 119 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:22,320 So often you'll sit down with somebody who wants to know, how 120 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,800 can I overcome temptation? And we offer all sorts of 121 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:30,480 helpful platitudes, right practical tips, things that are 122 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,880 nice and well meaning and could be helpful. 123 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,760 But so much of it, if we'll examine our counsel, and I'm 124 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,280 including myself in this, if we'll examine our counsel to 125 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:44,159 others, so much of it is the foundation is your strength 126 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:47,440 right? You, you can overcome temptation 127 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,280 by your strength. And what we want to see today is 128 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,240 that we overcome temptation through the strength of Christ. 129 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:59,240 We need a faithful Savior and Matthew shows us that we have 130 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,480 one in Jesus Christ. We, we have a king who has been 131 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,480 tested. He, he's been proven, he's been 132 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:10,000 victorious and and now he calls us to trust him and follow him 133 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,800 in obedience. So point #1 the king is LED into 134 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:18,400 testing verses one and two. Then Jesus was led up by the 135 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,160 Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 136 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,920 And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. 137 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,120 So Matthew begins this with a sentence that immediately 138 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:33,480 corrects the way many of us instinctively think about 139 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:34,920 temptation. Right? 140 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:38,600 He says. Then Jesus was led by the 141 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:43,160 spirits into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 142 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,440 Now notice the first word then, right? 143 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,800 This is not a random episode that's dropped into Jesus's 144 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,960 life. It's the next step in Matthew's 145 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,200 story. Jesus has just come up out of 146 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,880 the waters of baptism. The Father has just declared, 147 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,960 this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. 148 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:06,760 And what happens next? The Spirit leads the beloved Son 149 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:09,360 into the wilderness, into conflict. 150 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,600 Now, the testing of Jesus is not an accident. 151 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,720 It's an appointment. It's a divine appointment. 152 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:22,240 Matthew is explicit. Jesus is led, and he's led by 153 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,200 the Spirit into the wilderness. Now, that means that the 154 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,720 wilderness is not outside of the Father's care, Amen. 155 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,640 And temptation is not outside of the Father's plan. 156 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:39,840 Satan is real. The devil is active, but Satan 157 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:43,960 is not sovereign. He's not offering the story. 158 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:49,080 He he is being used by God within the story. 159 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,000 Jesus is not stumbling into a trap. 160 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:56,080 He's walking into a test. And and there's a difference 161 00:10:56,080 --> 00:11:00,320 between a trap and a test. A trap is designed to destroy 162 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:05,760 you, and the test is designed to prove that things are true about 163 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,520 you, right? So Scripture uses this language 164 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:11,640 carefully. It'll tell us that the devil 165 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:16,640 tempts in order to entice us to sin and ruin. 166 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:22,520 But God test in order to prove or to refine or to display 167 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,800 faithfulness, right? So James is clear that God does 168 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,600 not tempt anyone to sin in James 113. 169 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,520 And yet Scripture also shows us again and again that God test 170 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:34,840 His people. You can think of Abraham on 171 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,960 Mount Moriah in Genesis 22. You can think of Israel in the 172 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,800 wilderness and Deuteronomy 82. And in here you see it with the 173 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:46,640 true Son himself. So, so right away, Matthew is 174 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:49,760 teaching us something that we desperately need to believe. 175 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,720 Being led by the Spirit does not mean that you will be LED away 176 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,880 from hardship. OK? 177 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,000 Sometimes being led by the Spirit means that you're being 178 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,640 LED straight into hardship, right? 179 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:11,600 Because God intends to show his faithfulness in you, right? 180 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,800 And, and more importantly, he intends to show you or to 181 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:18,680 display the faithfulness of his Son for you. 182 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,920 So, so Matthew also tells us where this happens, right? 183 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,080 Then he was led into the wilderness. 184 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,080 So in Matthew's Gospel, the wilderness is never just the 185 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:33,960 setting, right? It's a theological stage, right? 186 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,160 That this is a place of Israel's testing. 187 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:39,960 This is the place of hunger and weakness and dependence and 188 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:43,680 exposure. Israel was called God's Son in 189 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:47,600 Exodus 422 and then brought into the wilderness, where they 190 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:51,760 repeatedly doubted him. They complained and grumbled 191 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:55,280 against him, and eventually they rebelled against him. 192 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:00,840 But now we have Jesus, the true Son, the true and better Israel, 193 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:03,680 going into the wilderness as well. 194 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,640 And Matthew adds that after fasting for 40 days and 40 195 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:11,360 nights, he was hungry. And we all said, Amen all. 196 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:18,040 Right now, let's not filler language here, OK? 197 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,720 The Matthews not meaning this as some sort of filler. 198 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:25,400 This is spirit inspired reminder that Jesus is not facing 199 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:29,320 temptation with a full stomach and a clear mind, right? 200 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:31,960 He's facing it at the point of physical weakness. 201 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,680 The 40 days here echoes Israel's 40 years. 202 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:42,360 They also echo Moses 40 days on Sinai and Elijah's wilderness 203 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:47,400 journey journey in First Kings. So Matthew is stacking the deck, 204 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,000 so to speak. He's not trying to make Jesus 205 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,280 look superhuman, but to show that this is a covenant history 206 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:59,680 coming to a head, right? The long story of human failure 207 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:04,600 is about to meet the faithful obedience of the true Son, Jesus 208 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,960 Christ. And so we don't want to look 209 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:12,080 over the last phrase. He was hungry, right? 210 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,920 This is really important to our understanding of who Christ is. 211 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,320 The Son of God in the incarnation took on real 212 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:24,640 humanity, right? He became a man. 213 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,120 He's fully man, fully God. This is not play acting. 214 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:31,600 This is not Jesus pretending to be weak. 215 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,000 He's hungry. He's he's truly man. 216 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:38,080 He's truly hungry. He's exposed to the pressure of 217 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,400 temptation. Hebrews tells us plainly we do 218 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:46,000 not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us in 219 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,760 our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted 220 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:53,480 and tried as we are, yet without sin. 221 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:57,560 That's Hebrews 415. So that means when you're hungry 222 00:14:57,560 --> 00:14:59,840 and when you're tired, when you're worn down, when you're 223 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:04,200 emotionally spent, when you're more vulnerable than you'd like 224 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:08,560 to admit, Jesus is not standing far. 225 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:10,880 Off from that, brothers and sisters. 226 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:17,440 He's he's not distant, He knows precisely what you're going 227 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:19,840 through. He has stood there in your 228 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,680 place. So Jesus goes into the 229 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,520 wilderness as our representative king, all right? 230 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,120 He's not merely showing us how to fight temptation. 231 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,040 He is first doing what we could never do. 232 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,040 He's withstanding it. Now. 233 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,440 Adam was tested in the garden, surrounded by the Lord's 234 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:49,440 provision, and he fell. Israel was tested in the 235 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:56,200 wilderness under daily miracles and they fell. 236 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,880 Jesus is tested in the wilderness after 40 days of 237 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:06,600 fasting and he stands right. This is why the gospel does not 238 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:13,800 begin with try harder. No, the gospel always begins 239 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:18,760 with look to Christ, look to the Savior. 240 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,920 The first comfort in this passage is not a technique. 241 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,000 Brothers and sisters, it's a savior. 242 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:28,000 We have Jesus Christ, the great high Priest, our Lord, our 243 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:32,440 Savior, our King. Now the Puritans used to used to 244 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,080 say this. The same sun that hardens the 245 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:39,120 clay melts the ice. In other words, the same 246 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:43,760 pressure that exposes unbelief can also reveal faith. 247 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,720 The wilderness reveals what is really. 248 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:57,160 In you. Reveals what's really in US and 249 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,360 in Jesus the wilderness reveals that Israel. 250 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:00,880 What? Reveals what? 251 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:05,640 Israel was always meant to be a son who trusts the Father, a son 252 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,400 who loves God's word, a son who obeys from the heart. 253 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,480 And that matters for you today. That matters for me today, 254 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,560 right? Because many of us are tempted 255 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:20,760 to read our hardship as proof that God is distant. 256 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:27,760 God is not distant in our hardships as some of you are in 257 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:33,920 a wilderness season right now. It's a physical wilderness. 258 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:39,520 It's financial, it's relational, it's spiritual, right? 259 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:44,480 You're praying, you're trying to obey, and yet the pressure will 260 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:49,400 not lift. And the devil loves to whisper 261 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,640 to you in those moments, if God loved you, you wouldn't be here. 262 00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:00,160 But Matthew 4 comes to us as a comfort. 263 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:05,120 It contradicts that lie. The beloved Son himself is LED 264 00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:08,520 into the wilderness. The Spirit says in effect, this 265 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:10,120 is the. Path so. 266 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:16,040 I don't want you to assume that difficulty means that you've 267 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,280 been abandoned by God, no. Not at all. 268 00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:24,000 I don't want you to to to think that difficulty means that the 269 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:29,720 Lord is not concerned about you. Because sometimes difficulty is 270 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,440 the very place that God intends to strengthen your faith. 271 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,720 It's the very place where God intends to fix your eyes more 272 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:42,600 firmly on Christ. And I can say it even more 273 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:46,560 personally, your wilderness is not wasted when God. 274 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:54,280 Is in it, And for the Christian, those of you who love and trust 275 00:18:54,400 --> 00:19:02,600 the Lord, God is with you in your wilderness, not only by His 276 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:08,880 Providence, but by His promises. And beyond that, your wilderness 277 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:13,200 is never faced alone. You have a king who walked into 278 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,160 the wilderness ahead of you and he did so to show you that he is 279 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:22,880 faithful to to begin the saving work that will secure your life. 280 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,760 Maybe you think of it this way. We started baseball practices 281 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:35,080 this week at CCS for the junior high boys and it was cold in the 282 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,640 evenings. But a good coach does not only 283 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,120 train his team when conditions are perfect. 284 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,440 Nice weather, full energy, everything's easy. 285 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:50,320 No, a good coach trains his team under stress, when your lungs 286 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,080 burn, as you're running, when your legs ache. 287 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,040 Because that is when you find out what the team really 288 00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,600 believes, what they will really do. 289 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:02,960 Right in the Wilderness reveals that. 290 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,720 And what does it reveal here? It reveals that Jesus is not 291 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:10,440 only called the Son by the Father in chapter 3, He is 292 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:14,840 proven faithful as the Son in chapter 4, Right? 293 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:22,040 So as we come under the first points, here's some application 294 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:26,040 for you. Do not interpret temptation as 295 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:29,640 proof that God has deserted you. You. 296 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,800 You must interpret temptation as a call to cling to Christ and to 297 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:40,360 depend on His word always. Here's a warning. 298 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:45,440 Don't romanticize your strength. Be honest. 299 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,280 Be be honest. Romans 12 Be honest in your 300 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:55,800 evaluation of yourself. Matthew reminds us that 301 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:00,640 temptation often comes hardest when you are hungry, when you're 302 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,480 weak. So. 303 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,960 So learn to take basic spiritual wisdom seriously. 304 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,800 Guard your soul when you're tired. 305 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:15,120 Guard your soul when you're stressed. 306 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:19,120 Guard your soul when you're isolated, but those are the 307 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:21,960 common wilderness moments in your life. 308 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,360 And in those moments, don't begin with yourself thinking, 309 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:29,240 oh, I am strong. No, begin with the Savior and 310 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:33,840 think to yourself, He is strong. He's the faithful son. 311 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,600 He's the tested King. Trust Him. 312 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,120 All right, so Matthew has shown us the setting and the purpose. 313 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:44,920 The king is LED into testing. But next the camera zooms in, 314 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,280 the enemy steps forward, and the devil does not merely tempt 315 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,600 Jesus to do bad things. No, he tempts him to abandon the 316 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:57,600 path of sonship itself. That's point #2 the king is 317 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:02,200 tempted as the sun. Verse 3. 318 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,000 And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, 319 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,200 command these stones to become loaves of bread. 320 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:10,960 But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread 321 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,880 alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. 322 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,480 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and sent him on the 323 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,920 pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, again, If you are the 324 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,360 Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, He will 325 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:26,640 command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they 326 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,120 will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the 327 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:31,560 stone. Jesus said to him Again It is 328 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,920 written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test again. 329 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,040 The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all 330 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:38,880 the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 331 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,600 And he said to him, All these I will give you, if you will fall 332 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:48,920 down and worship me. So .1 shows us where the battle 333 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:53,640 takes place and who leads Jesus into it, .2 shows us how Satan 334 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,880 fights. Matthew says, and the tempter 335 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,280 came. John 8. 336 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,400 Jesus declares that Satan is a liar and a deceiver from the 337 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,560 beginning, that this title matters. 338 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,120 He he's not called the curious one. 339 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:17,480 He's not called the negotiator or some other name. 340 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,080 The tempter, the he's the one who entices. 341 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,040 He's the one who bends things. He twists things. 342 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:29,080 He lures us. Matthew wants us to see that 343 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,080 Satan is not mainly interested in making Jesus mess up. 344 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,240 No, he's interested in undermining Jesus's sonship all 345 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,400 together. You can hear it in the repeated 346 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,520 opening line of the 1st 2 temptations. 347 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:50,160 If you are the Son of God, that if is not innocent, brothers and 348 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,080 sisters. The Father has just said in 349 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,400 Chapter 3 this is. My beloved son. 350 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,560 And Satan comes immediately after to say, Are you sure? 351 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,080 Prove it, Use your power, take control. 352 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,240 In other words, Satan's strategy is not merely to tempt Jesus 353 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:14,120 with bread or heights or a Kingdom. 354 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,280 His strategy is to tempt Jesus to act like a son without 355 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,080 trusting the Father. Right. 356 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,040 Satan begins where Jesus's weakest physically hunger, 357 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,160 command these stones to become loaves of bread. 358 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,640 Now there's a reason this is First, it looks harmless. 359 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:35,960 It even sounds reasonable. You're hungry. 360 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:44,200 You have the power, fix it. But the poison of the temptation 361 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:49,280 is in the implication, Satan is essentially saying. 362 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:51,520 Why are you waiting on the father? 363 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,400 Why are you living like a dependent son? 364 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,000 Take these matters into your own hands. 365 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,760 Now we know that it would not have been sinful for Jesus to 366 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,960 eat bread, right? He will eat. 367 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:10,080 He will multiply bread. The issue here is the timing and 368 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:14,320 the trust, right? The temptation is to use divine 369 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:18,200 power to step outside the Father's will and to refuse the 370 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:25,080 posture of a dependent. Son, it's to become autonomous 371 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:29,440 from the father. Jesus's reply, of course, will 372 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:31,640 come in .3. I'll get there. 373 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,800 But even here, we should note, like the theological shape of 374 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,120 what's happening, Satan is tempting Jesus to reverse the 375 00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:43,480 logic of the incarnation. The sun has taken on true 376 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,800 humanity. He has embraced weakness, 377 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,240 limitation, dependence. Right. 378 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:50,400 Satan says, stop living that way. 379 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:56,360 Assert yourself, prove yourself. Now, brothers and sisters, I 380 00:25:56,360 --> 00:25:59,160 want you to know that that's still one of Satan's favorite 381 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,040 plays. It was the play in the garden. 382 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:06,320 It's the play with you and I when you're under pressure, if 383 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,640 it's financial pressure, relational pressure, some sort 384 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,480 of fear about the future, the devil rarely begins by telling 385 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:16,520 you to apostatize. All right? 386 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:22,880 He, he begins by saying just handle it, take control, do 387 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,440 whatever it takes. You can repent later. 388 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:34,000 It's provision without trust. Now this mirrors Israel again. 389 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,600 I'm trying to make that known, but this mirrors Israel in the 390 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,720 wilderness. Israel grumbled. 391 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,640 Israel demanded things from. God. 392 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,840 Israel accused God of bringing them out into the wilderness to 393 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:53,320 die. They even said they would rather 394 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:59,720 go back into slavery than to be a free people under God's rule. 395 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,280 They did not receive their daily bread as dependent children. 396 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,160 They demanded it as entitled rebels. 397 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,560 But Jesus will not do that. He will not grasp. 398 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:18,520 He will trust. And so next the devil changes 399 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,800 his tactics. Matthew says that he takes Jesus 400 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,880 to the holy city, sets him on the pinnacle of the temple. 401 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:30,240 This is no longer the temptation of private appetite. 402 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,360 This is the temptation of public spectacle, of religious 403 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:37,480 presumption. Again, if you are the Son of 404 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:43,280 God, throw yourself down. And now Satan quotes Scripture, 405 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,680 Psalm 91 to be exact. He will command his angels 406 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:51,280 concerning you. Now this is important. 407 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:57,720 Satan can cite Bible verses. He can put scripture on his 408 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,440 lips. But Satan is always using 409 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,520 scripture like a weapon of distortion. 410 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:09,040 He rips it from its context to justify your disobedience. 411 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,320 So what's the temptation here? It's not simply do something 412 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:18,400 dangerous. It's this use God's promises as 413 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:25,040 permission to be reckless. Turn faith into presumption. 414 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,200 Put God in a corner. Force his hand. 415 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,520 This is exactly what Israel did at Masah. 416 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,480 They tested God, they demanded proof. 417 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,640 They acted as though God must perform on demand. 418 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:43,880 You can see that in Exodus 17, Deuteronomy 616, and here Jesus 419 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:50,240 refuses to do that. The lesson for us is painfully 420 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:55,840 clear and it serves as a warning to all of us. 421 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:02,280 You can be very Bible Y. Let's make up a word this 422 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,600 morning. You can be very Bible, you can 423 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:11,280 have a lot of knowledge and still be spiritually foolish 424 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:16,480 right you. You can grab promises and ignore 425 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,320 commands. You can say God will protect me 426 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,320 while you walk straight into sin or walk straight into 427 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,800 consequences that you were warned about. 428 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,800 My brothers and sisters who love you and love the Lord, you can 429 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:31,400 do all of that and you can call it. 430 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:37,000 Faith. This is why the scriptures warn 431 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,920 us not to be hearers only, but to be doers. 432 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:45,000 Also in James 122. That's why Jesus will later say, 433 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,000 not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the 434 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,120 Kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father. 435 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:59,400 You see, the devil loves loves a form of godliness. 436 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,920 That has no obedience to the Lord. 437 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,760 So let me say this plainly. Real faith does not demand that 438 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:17,400 God prove himself. Real faith obeys because God has 439 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:21,800 already spoken. Satan says jump and God will 440 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,360 catch you. Faith says I will not test my 441 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,120 Father, I will. Obey him. 442 00:30:32,350 --> 00:30:34,990 Then the devil takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows him 443 00:30:34,990 --> 00:30:37,190 all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 444 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,680 He offers them with a single condition. 445 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,600 All these I will give to you if you will. 446 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:49,800 Fall down and worship me now, the third. 447 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,120 Temptation is the clearest and most wicked. 448 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,520 Of all of them. It's the temptation to idolatry, 449 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,720 but but again, you can see the deeper strategy. 450 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,200 Satan is offering Jesus a shortcut to Sonship. 451 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,880 At the end of Matthew, we're going to see that all authority 452 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,800 in heaven and earth has been given to me. 453 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,640 Go and make disciples of all nations. 454 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,120 Baptize them, teach them to obey all that I have commanded you, 455 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,600 and I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. 456 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,400 See, Jesus Christ is Lord of the nations. 457 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:35,960 He's the king of all kings in Psalm 2 are commanded to bow to 458 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:41,520 him. To kiss the sun, to stop 459 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,480 plotting in vain against him. He sits in the heavens and he 460 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:55,240 laughs at their plots. And yet here Satan thinks he'll 461 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,640 fall to the temptation of a shortcut to kingship. 462 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:03,840 You came for a Kingdom, didn't you? 463 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:06,480 You. You came to rule, didn't you? 464 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,320 Well, here it is. Here it is without suffering. 465 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,920 Here it is without rejection. Here it is without Gethsemane, 466 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:17,560 without Golgotha. Just one compromise. 467 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,760 Just one bow. And it's all yours. 468 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:27,160 This is where the Gospel Matthew is so important. 469 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:32,280 Jesus is the King, yes, but he is the King who will see his 470 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,320 crown by way of the cross. The devil offers the crown 471 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,360 without the cross, but Jesus will take the cross and receive 472 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:44,960 the crown from his Father. This is the temptation 473 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:50,600 underneath so many temptation Not not always do evil for 474 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,120 evil's sake. A lot of. 475 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,560 Times it's Get good things in sinful ways. 476 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,200 Slander your way to the top of the corporate ladder. 477 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:12,480 Make yourself look better through backbiting, through 478 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:19,520 gossip, exercise dominion in evil ways. 479 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,080 Take the fruit that looks delightful to your eyes, 480 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:29,040 whatever it may be, and eat it and enjoy it. 481 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:39,240 Satan wants us to think that we can get the Kingdom through 482 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:43,040 compromise. He he wants us to think that we 483 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,040 can get influence through dishonesty or that we can get 484 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:48,320 comfort through disobeying. God. 485 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:50,600 Or that we can get relief through sin. 486 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,600 What a lie. But the devil is happy to give 487 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,680 you the world. He's happy to give you the. 488 00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:02,800 World, if you will. Just kneel to him, brothers and 489 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:04,000 sisters. You don't want the world. 490 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,080 It'll leave you wanting. It'll leave you lost. 491 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,000 It'll leave you weary and dry, broken. 492 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,040 And the worst part of it is you won't realize it. 493 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,679 You'll be so deceived in your sinfulness that you'll think I 494 00:34:25,679 --> 00:34:33,080 truly have it all. And at that point there may be, 495 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,000 well, there is very little hope for repentance. 496 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,960 You can get to a place where you begin to exchange Creator 497 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,320 worship for creation worship in such a way that the Lord finally 498 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,000 just removes the restraints from you. 499 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:57,560 It's Romans 1, and not only will you go on sinning, but you'll 500 00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:59,800 give approval to those who go on sinning. 501 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,760 You'll encourage the minute. You'll clap for the mall, the 502 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:10,440 way to hell. If you're unsure if that's true, 503 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,720 just take a few moments to look at the world around you. 504 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:25,280 It's a dark place. And here the typology with 505 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:30,600 Israel comes into sharp focus. Israel repeatedly fell into 506 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,960 idolatry. Most famously, they did so with 507 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:38,040 the golden calf. They exchanged the glory of God 508 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:44,160 for a substitute. And here Jesus refuses to do 509 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:45,720 that. He will worship God alone. 510 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:52,320 He will not bow to Satan. So what do these 3 temptations 511 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,000 have in common? Well, they're not random. 512 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,760 I want you to know that they're a coordinated assault on what it 513 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,280 means for Jesus to be the faithful Son. 514 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:05,040 Take the bread. Stop depending on the Father. 515 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,440 Rise to the temple. Throw yourself from here. 516 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:13,320 Force the Father to serve you. Look at these kingdoms, they can 517 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,200 be yours. Replace the Father with me. 518 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:22,440 In every case, Satan is pushing Jesus away from humble trust and 519 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,960 obedience worship. And in every case, the 520 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,520 underlying question is, will Jesus live as the Son who loves 521 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,920 the Father, or will he sees his own path? 522 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:38,400 And this matters for us to see this because it shows us. 523 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:42,160 It shows us something critical about our own temptations. 524 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:47,800 Temptation is often an attack on your identity and your trust. 525 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:53,680 The devil loves to speak the language of if to you, if you 526 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,920 were really God's child, you wouldn't be struggling like 527 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,640 this. If God really loved you, he 528 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,360 wouldn't withhold this from you. If you were truly forgiven, you 529 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:04,840 wouldn't still feel this guilt and shame. 530 00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:07,320 Now. Those are lies meant to bend 531 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,600 your heart away from trust and obedience. 532 00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:19,240 It's a Puritan writer, pastor, theologian by the name of John 533 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:21,640 Owen. He famously said be killing sin 534 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,760 or sin will be killing you. That's often what we remember 535 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,000 because very few of us want to read the Puritans. 536 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:30,000 But you should. And you should read his book on 537 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,320 killing sin. That's called the mortification 538 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:35,160 of Sin. It's excellent and it's true. 539 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:37,160 You should be killing sin or sin will be killing you. 540 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:40,200 But here's the deeper comfort. And Owen points this out. 541 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,080 The reason we can fight sin at all is because Christ has 542 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:45,480 already stood faithful in our place. 543 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:52,760 He points to Romans 813, which says that you are to overcome 544 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,160 the flesh through the Spirit. You're to mortify, mortify the 545 00:37:56,160 --> 00:38:01,000 deeds of the flesh by walking according to the Spirit of God. 546 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:05,480 So we're not trying to become sons by our obedience. 547 00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:09,120 We obey because in Christ we have been made sons. 548 00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:15,080 So what should God's people take away? 549 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,800 Here. One, you can expect temptation 550 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:25,600 to come at your weak points. Hunger, fatigue, stress, 551 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:30,920 loneliness, you name it. Those are wilderness conditions, 552 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,240 and you should not be naive when you're in those places. 553 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:40,160 You should prepare #2 you should watch for the shortcut 554 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,240 temptations. The devil rarely says. 555 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:48,720 Choose Misery instead. He comes to you as an Angel of 556 00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:52,920 light, and he says choose the easy way. 557 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:59,160 But the easy way is often the disobedient way. #3 don't 558 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:01,600 confuse Bible words with Bible faith. 559 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:06,200 Satan quoted Psalm 91 and that should sober us. 560 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,880 Knowing verses is not the same thing as trusting God. 561 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,240 All of you probably can think of someone in your life, if you've 562 00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:19,160 known through the years you know now, who knows a lot about the 563 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:23,320 Bible but lives like a son or daughter of hell. 564 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:27,920 It's not the same thing as trusting the Lord. 565 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:33,120 Real faith submits to the whole counsel of God, the promises and 566 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:38,160 the commands all together. And #4 remember what is really 567 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:40,560 at stake. Remember what Satan is really 568 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:45,520 after worship. He's after worship. 569 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:52,320 All sin bends toward idolatry. Every temptation is asking in 570 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:56,160 one form or another, Will you worship and trust God, or will 571 00:39:56,160 --> 00:40:03,520 you turn to something? Else for life and Matthew wants 572 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:07,120 you to see Jesus remained faithful as the Son. 573 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:11,240 Now how did he do it? Well, it's point #3 the King 574 00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:18,120 overcomes by the word of God. You go verse 4 But he answered, 575 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,280 it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by 576 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:22,800 every word that comes from the mouth of God. 577 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:25,920 Verse 7 Jesus said to him again, it is written, You shall not put 578 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:32,240 the Lord your God to the test. And verse 10 Then Jesus said to 579 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:33,440 him, Be gone. Satan fruit is written. 580 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,200 You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you 581 00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:40,200 serve. So if you've been paying 582 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,840 attention to the way Matthew tells the story, you might 583 00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,520 expect Jesus to answer Satan with a show of sheer power. 584 00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:49,480 This is going to be his coming out party, right? 585 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,760 He's the Son of God after all. He could have ended this 586 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:58,920 encounter in a moment. But that is not what we see. 587 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,560 What we see is something far more instructive for us. 588 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:04,640 And honestly, it's far more humbling. 589 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:10,040 Three times Jesus answers with the same phrase it is written. 590 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:14,960 And Matthew wants you to feel the weight of that. 591 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:20,640 That the faithful son does not defeat the tempter by theatrics. 592 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,720 He defeats him by submitting to the word of his father. 593 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:31,600 And every scripture Jesus quotes comes from the same place. 594 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:38,840 Deuteronomy. A Deuteronomy is the book that 595 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:41,760 was given to Israel for life in the wilderness. 596 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:48,480 That's not incidental. It's Matthew's theology on full 597 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,320 display. Israel was God's Son, called out 598 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:53,640 of Egypt, brought into the wilderness, and there they 599 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:58,320 failed again and again and again and again and again and again. 600 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,800 Deuteronomy is Moses preaching to that wilderness generation, 601 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,320 teaching them how to live as the covenant people of God, 602 00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,680 reminding them of all that God has done for them already, and 603 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:14,640 pointing them to continue to trust him. 604 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:18,160 And now we have Jesus, the true Son, standing in the wilderness, 605 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:20,160 and he does what Israel did not do. 606 00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:25,640 He believes the Word, He obeys the Word, He clings to the Word. 607 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,680 Jesus answers the first temptation from Deuteronomy 8 608 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:35,200 verse three. Man shall not live by bread 609 00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:39,680 alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God that 610 00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:43,040 comes from Moses. He's explaining why God humbled 611 00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:46,240 Israel with hunger and then fed them with manna. 612 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:50,640 Moses says he did this that he might make you know. 613 00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:56,520 In other words, God allowed the hunger to teach them dependents. 614 00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:01,760 Israel learned that life is not ultimately sustained by food, 615 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,200 it's sustained by the faithful promise of God. 616 00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:08,960 Jesus takes that truth on his lips. 617 00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:12,680 And he lives it. He is. 618 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:18,160 Hungry, really hungry. But he refuses to treat hunger 619 00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:20,720 as permission to disobey the Father. 620 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,880 He refuses to turn stones to bread because he will not step 621 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,160 outside the Father's will for his life. 622 00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:31,440 He would rather be hungry with the Father than full without 623 00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:35,240 him. And we must understand that 624 00:43:35,240 --> 00:43:39,040 obedience matters more. Obedience matters more than 625 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:43,720 immediate relief. Bread is a good gift, but it is 626 00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:49,680 not the greatest gift. And I love bread. 627 00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,600 Nutrition makes really great sourdough bread, right? 628 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:57,960 It's a little too sweet for some of you, I've heard, but it's 629 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:00,640 perfect for me. All right, we'll call you out. 630 00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:06,600 The greatest gift is God Himself, His Word, His 631 00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:11,640 fellowship, His approval. And that is deeply practical 632 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:17,320 because temptation almost always comes clothed in urgency. 633 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:20,840 You, you need this now. You can't wait. 634 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:24,320 You can't endure. You deserve relief. 635 00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:30,360 That's not even a whisper anymore. 636 00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:35,760 I want you to know that if you're struggling in your 637 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:39,440 marriage, all right. Listen to me. 638 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:44,280 Say a woman is struggling in her marriage. 639 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:52,240 And she goes to get counseling from a secular counselor who is 640 00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:58,680 also a woman, often times a man. They will say to her, you 641 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:03,320 deserve relief. You should do whatever will make 642 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:10,200 you the most happy. I've seen this about a dozen 643 00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:11,880 times in the life of this church. 644 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:16,640 Praise God. Not every woman heeded that 645 00:45:16,640 --> 00:45:20,960 counsel, but it's the testimony of so many. 646 00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:23,160 So it's not even a whisper anymore. 647 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:26,400 The world is just flat out telling you you deserve relief. 648 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:32,720 But Jesus answers. My father's word. 649 00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:34,840 Is more necessary than my comfort. 650 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:41,320 Next, we see that Satan quoted Scripture in the second 651 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:44,600 temptation. Jesus answers that from 652 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,000 Deuteronomy 616. You shall not put the Lord your 653 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:51,480 God to the test. Now that's crucial, right? 654 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:55,840 Jesus teaches us that Scripture interprets Scripture. 655 00:45:57,680 --> 00:45:59,200 How do we understand the word of God? 656 00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:03,920 We must know the Word of God. Let's read the Word of God. 657 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:07,320 Scripture interprets Scripture always. 658 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:14,360 A promise cannot be ripped out of the text and used as a 659 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:19,920 license for presumption. Psalm 91 is real. 660 00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:26,360 It's a wonderful Psalm, and God truly does protect His people. 661 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:31,560 But it is never meant to justify reckless disobedience or to 662 00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:35,400 demand that God should prove Himself on your terms. 663 00:46:37,240 --> 00:46:41,600 Jesus refuses to do that. He will not make the Father a 664 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:44,680 servant to his agenda. He will not stage a religious 665 00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:48,680 stunt and call it faith. Why? 666 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:51,360 Why won't Jesus do? That. 667 00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:55,880 What's he showing us here? He's showing us a true son, 668 00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:59,760 sonship. Trust God without manipulating 669 00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:04,040 God. True faith does not use the 670 00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:08,480 Bible to put God in a corner. True faith submits to God 671 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:15,960 because He has already spoken. How often do people try to 672 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:23,000 spiritualize their foolishness? God will protect me. 673 00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:29,400 While walking into sin. God will provide for me while 674 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:31,440 refusing to do honest. Work. 675 00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:36,040 God will forgive me while planning out their disobedience. 676 00:47:37,720 --> 00:47:41,080 That's not faith, that's testing God. 677 00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:47,480 Jesus teaches us to fear God rightly, to trust His promises 678 00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:53,320 while obeying His commands. The third temptation, again, as 679 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:54,680 I said earlier, it's the clearest. 680 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:56,840 Worship me and the Kingdom is yours. 681 00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:00,600 Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 613. 682 00:48:00,720 --> 00:48:03,080 You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you 683 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:08,000 serve. And now everything is out in the 684 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:13,720 open. You see, the issue for Satan was 685 00:48:13,720 --> 00:48:17,400 never really about hunger. It was never really about 686 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:21,920 heights or influence. The issue is worship. 687 00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:26,600 Who will be trusted? Who will be obeyed? 688 00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:30,960 Who will be served? Jesus will not bow. 689 00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:33,440 He will not compromise. He will not seize the Kingdom 690 00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:36,680 through idolatry. He's going to receive the 691 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:39,400 Kingdom by obedience. He's going to receive the 692 00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:42,240 Kingdom through suffering, through the cross, through the 693 00:48:42,240 --> 00:48:46,360 Father's appointed path. And notice the authority in 694 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:50,160 Jesus's words here be gone, Satan. 695 00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:55,800 This is not bravado, brothers and sisters. 696 00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:02,000 This is kingly authority, a grounded in Scripture. 697 00:49:03,720 --> 00:49:08,120 Jesus is not negotiating with Satan, he is commanding him. 698 00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:12,280 And the Word of God draws a hard line here. 699 00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:14,920 God alone is worthy of worship. So. 700 00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:21,680 What does Matthew want you to see from these temptations? 701 00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:25,760 He wants you to see that Jesus fights as a man. 702 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:31,440 He doesn't discard his humanity, rather he trusts his Father. 703 00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:36,560 He wants you to see that Jesus fights with the Scriptures, not 704 00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:41,840 with novel strategies, but with what God has spoken. 705 00:49:43,000 --> 00:49:46,600 He wants you to see that Jesus fights as the true Son and true 706 00:49:46,720 --> 00:49:51,080 Israel and true Adam. He's reciting Deuteronomy in the 707 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:53,880 wilderness and obeying where Israel and Adam have failed. 708 00:49:56,960 --> 00:50:00,960 This is why this passage is not simply a How to resist 709 00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:07,600 temptation sermon. It's first a. 710 00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:11,160 Behold your faithful Savior, Sermon. 711 00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:21,320 The obedience here is not only exemplary, it is representative. 712 00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:28,120 It's representative. Christ is obeying God for his 713 00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:32,560 people. Where Adam fell, Jesus stands. 714 00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:35,040 Where Israel rebelled, Jesus submits. 715 00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:38,160 And This is why the New Testament so often ties our 716 00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:41,880 ability to fight sin to our union with. 717 00:50:41,880 --> 00:50:45,560 Christ. The apostle Paul says no 718 00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:48,680 temptation has overtaken you. That is not common to man. 719 00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:52,680 God is faithful. He will also provide the way of 720 00:50:52,680 --> 00:50:55,000 escape. First Corinthians 10/13. 721 00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:59,400 Now that isn't a promise that temptation disappears, brothers 722 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:02,440 and sisters. It's a promise that God remains 723 00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:04,920 faithful and gives you grace to endure. 724 00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:10,080 If you think back across your temptations and your sins, you 725 00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:17,080 fell into this last week. You know that there was a way of 726 00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:21,400 escape had you trusted and obeyed the Lord, right? 727 00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:26,080 God is always faithful. He's always providing the way 728 00:51:26,080 --> 00:51:27,120 of. Escape to us. 729 00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:30,320 He's always giving grace. To endure. 730 00:51:32,160 --> 00:51:37,320 But sometimes we desire with the flesh desires more than we 731 00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:44,200 desire with the spirit desires. Hebrews is helpful. 732 00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:46,480 Hebrews says that we can draw near for help because our high 733 00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:49,800 priest has been tempted in every way as us, yet he did not sin. 734 00:51:51,960 --> 00:51:55,000 Hebrews tells us to come boldly before the throne of grace, to 735 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:57,440 find mercy and grace in our time of need. 736 00:52:03,530 --> 00:52:06,450 Here's what we ought to take from this one. 737 00:52:06,450 --> 00:52:08,810 We should use Scripture the way Jesus uses it. 738 00:52:10,090 --> 00:52:13,200 Like bread? It's food for your soul. 739 00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:17,240 Don't use scripture as a slogan. Or I can do all things through. 740 00:52:17,240 --> 00:52:22,640 Christ just strengthens me. Don't use scripture like a quick 741 00:52:22,880 --> 00:52:26,160 charm, like a lucky rabbit's foot. 742 00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:30,600 Use scripture as daily nourishment. 743 00:52:31,640 --> 00:52:35,080 So many of us try to fight temptation with yesterday's 744 00:52:35,080 --> 00:52:38,600 leftovers, but Jesus shows us the pattern. 745 00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:41,320 The Word must be present in our lives. 746 00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:45,720 It must be known in our lives. It must be ready in our lives. 747 00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:49,880 The psalmist in Psalm 119 writes. 748 00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:53,120 I have hidden the word of the Lord in my heart that I might 749 00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:54,760 not sin against. Him. 750 00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:01,000 Secondly, we should learn to identify the lie underneath the 751 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:03,960 temptation. It's never as simple as it 752 00:53:03,960 --> 00:53:07,400 looks. Temptation always carries a 753 00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:11,960 message with it. Satan wants you to think God 754 00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:15,680 can't be trusted. He wants you to believe that 755 00:53:15,680 --> 00:53:19,920 God's word isn't enough. He wants you to to walk as if 756 00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:24,320 God's way is too hard, God's timing is too slow. 757 00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:28,360 Jesus answers those lies with truth. 758 00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:33,840 The third thing we should see here is don't aim merely at 759 00:53:33,840 --> 00:53:36,880 behavior change. Aim at worship. 760 00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:40,800 I confess this earlier. So often when we're trying to 761 00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:43,880 overcome the temptations of our lives, we're merely trying to 762 00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:49,360 modify our behavior, trying to walk as a moralistic people. 763 00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:56,920 But the final temptation here clarifies what's really going 764 00:53:56,920 --> 00:53:59,160 on. At the bottom of every sin is a 765 00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:03,960 worship problem. We either worship God or we 766 00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:08,760 serve something else. Fighting temptation is not 767 00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:13,680 merely saying no to sin, it's saying yes to worshipping the 768 00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:18,320 Lord alone. So you might think about a 769 00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:22,560 compass. If you're in the woods, you're 770 00:54:22,560 --> 00:54:26,320 tired, you're turned around, your instincts can betray you. 771 00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:30,400 Every tree starts to look like the tree you walked in by. 772 00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:34,480 Everything looks the same. So you start following your gut. 773 00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:37,320 And following your gut can lead you in circles. 774 00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:44,640 But a compass doesn't really care how you feel, right? 775 00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:48,840 It tells you what is true. And scripture is like that. 776 00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:53,280 When appetite, when fear, when pride, when desire start 777 00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:57,080 spinning you around, the word of God reorients you. 778 00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:00,320 This is north. This is the way to go. 779 00:55:00,440 --> 00:55:06,760 Walk this direction. Psalm 1611 You have made known 780 00:55:06,760 --> 00:55:08,200 to me the. Paths of life. 781 00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:14,320 And at your right hand are pleasures forever more so if 782 00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:16,280 you're sitting here thinking I don't feel strong. 783 00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:21,920 Like that, Kyle? I want you to remember, brother, 784 00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:24,880 sister, that. The point is not that you are 785 00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:28,680 strong. The point is that Christ is 786 00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:32,640 faithful and you are called to trust and follow Him. 787 00:55:33,560 --> 00:55:36,120 That that means you don't face temptation as someone trying to 788 00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:40,120 earn sonship. You face temptation as a son who 789 00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:44,080 belongs to the faithful, son fighting from acceptance, not 790 00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:52,400 for acceptance, and the Matthew closes this whole exchange with 791 00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:55,960 a simple statement that prepares us for the next point. 792 00:55:56,520 --> 00:55:58,720 Then the devil left. Him. 793 00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:03,760 Satan departs. The conflict ends, not because 794 00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:06,760 Jesus escaped, but because Jesus obeyed. 795 00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:13,440 Point #4 The king is vindicated and served. 796 00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:18,560 Verse 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and 797 00:56:18,560 --> 00:56:25,280 were ministering to him. Matthew ends the temptation 798 00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:29,160 narrative with a sentence that is short and simple and loaded 799 00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:31,600 with meaning. There. 800 00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:33,640 There are two movements here, and Matthew wants you to see 801 00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:37,960 both. One the enemy is dismissed. 2 802 00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:47,200 The son is attended 1st The devil left him then. 803 00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:49,120 The devil left him that word then. 804 00:56:50,840 --> 00:56:52,480 As we said. Earlier it matters again. 805 00:56:53,360 --> 00:56:57,520 It signals consequence. The devil departs not suddenly 806 00:56:57,520 --> 00:57:01,000 because you're tired of tempting, but because he had 807 00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:05,040 been defeated. The faithful son had stood firm 808 00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:11,160 and Satan had no claim on him. This is one of those places 809 00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:14,080 where the Bible teaches us quietly but clearly, that Satan 810 00:57:14,080 --> 00:57:17,720 is not some equal and opposite force to God. 811 00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:25,720 He's a creature, he is an enemy, he is dangerous, but he is not 812 00:57:25,720 --> 00:57:29,360 sovereign. When the king says begone, he 813 00:57:29,360 --> 00:57:33,160 goes. The book of James tells us to 814 00:57:33,160 --> 00:57:35,600 resist the devil and he will flee from you. 815 00:57:38,520 --> 00:57:40,880 And so there's a lesson here for God's people that is both 816 00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:44,520 sobering and comforting. It's sobering because temptation 817 00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:48,600 is real and the devil is real. We we don't play with sin. 818 00:57:48,600 --> 00:57:53,040 We don't flirt with the tempter. But it's comforting because the 819 00:57:53,040 --> 00:57:56,080 devil is not invincible. He is not ultimate, He is not 820 00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:59,000 God. He is already a defeated foe. 821 00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:02,680 And so Matthew will show us again and again that Jesus, that 822 00:58:02,760 --> 00:58:07,080 Jesus has authority over demons, over sickness, over storms, over 823 00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:10,120 sin itself. And here at the outset of his 824 00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:13,480 ministry, he proves his authority over the devil. 825 00:58:17,600 --> 00:58:19,960 And we should be careful. The devil left him does not mean 826 00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:25,280 that Satan will not return. Luke tells us as he recounts the 827 00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:28,440 story that he left him until an opportune time. 828 00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:34,240 Matthew's Gospel will bring the conflict to head to the head 829 00:58:34,240 --> 00:58:37,320 again. We'll see it in Gethsemane. 830 00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:40,440 We'll see it at the cross. We'll see it in the accusations 831 00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:43,760 and the mockery. But but what's see, what's being 832 00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:45,760 established here is foundational. 833 00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:49,320 Jesus is the faithful Son who will not be turned aside. 834 00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:56,320 He's drawn the line. Satan cannot derail him. 835 00:58:56,920 --> 00:59:00,000 This is why the rest of the New Testament speaks so plainly 836 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:04,040 about Jesus's victory in very, very strong terms. 837 00:59:04,720 --> 00:59:07,480 The apostle John writes this. The reason the Son of God 838 00:59:07,480 --> 00:59:10,160 appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 839 00:59:11,040 --> 00:59:17,440 In first John 38, Paul says that at the cross God disarmed the 840 00:59:17,440 --> 00:59:20,520 rulers and authorities. He put them to open shame by 841 00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:26,040 triumphing over them in Christ. In Colossians 215, though the 842 00:59:26,040 --> 00:59:30,760 wilderness, victory is not the whole war, but it is an early 843 00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:34,280 decisive declaration that the sun will win. 844 00:59:36,760 --> 00:59:41,840 Then Matthew says, and behold, behold, Now that little word is 845 00:59:41,840 --> 00:59:46,120 Matthew's way of saying, Look closely at this, stare at it, 846 00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:49,760 fix your eyes on this, don't Passover it. 847 00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:53,920 Behold, what are we to behold? Angels came and we're 848 00:59:53,920 --> 01:00:00,360 ministering to him. Now this is more than a detail 849 01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:05,120 about comfort after fasting, although I think it includes 850 01:00:05,120 --> 01:00:08,680 that, but it's also a divine testimony. 851 01:00:09,600 --> 01:00:13,080 The Father who led the Son into the wilderness now sends help to 852 01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:16,320 the Son in the wilderness. Angels come and they minister to 853 01:00:16,320 --> 01:00:18,440 Him. Heaven attends his needs. 854 01:00:18,520 --> 01:00:21,760 The faithful Son is not forgotten, He is honored. 855 01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:26,640 There's an echo here of Old Testament patterns. 856 01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:31,440 The prophet Elijah, he fled into the wilderness, discouraged and 857 01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:36,400 depleted. An Angel was sent to strengthen 858 01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:42,200 him with food in First Kings 19. Here Jesus, the greater Elijah, 859 01:00:42,960 --> 01:00:44,800 he receives angelic ministry as well. 860 01:00:44,800 --> 01:00:47,840 But unlike Elijah, Jesus was not fleeing in fear. 861 01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:51,840 He is standing in obedience. The angels come as a kind of 862 01:00:51,840 --> 01:00:55,240 confirmation that the Son has trusted his Father and the 863 01:00:55,240 --> 01:01:02,240 Father is pleased by him. And this is where the story 864 01:01:02,240 --> 01:01:04,640 quietly exposes 1 of Satan's lies. 865 01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:08,560 From the second temptation, Satan said if you'll throw 866 01:01:08,560 --> 01:01:10,520 yourself down, God will send angels. 867 01:01:12,720 --> 01:01:14,720 Jesus refused to test. God. 868 01:01:16,040 --> 01:01:19,880 And then, in God's own timing, not manipulated, not demanded, 869 01:01:20,440 --> 01:01:25,040 the angels come anyway. That's often the way of the 870 01:01:25,040 --> 01:01:28,360 Lord. The Lord will not submit to your 871 01:01:28,360 --> 01:01:33,520 dare, but he never fails to keep his promises. 872 01:01:35,160 --> 01:01:37,840 The faithful obedience of the Son is met with the sustaining 873 01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:40,960 care of the Father. Jesus's hunger is real, His 874 01:01:40,960 --> 01:01:44,640 weakness is real, and God's ministry to Him is real. 875 01:01:46,040 --> 01:01:49,520 And that matters because it reminds us that obedience is not 876 01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:53,600 a bare knuckle fight, for God stands back with crossed arms, 877 01:01:53,680 --> 01:01:58,120 hoping that you'll do well. The Father is not indifferent to 878 01:01:58,120 --> 01:02:02,000 the weakness of his people, and he is not indifferent to the 879 01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:07,920 obedience of his Son. He will attend you. 880 01:02:09,080 --> 01:02:13,440 He will minister to you. You'll find that His grace is 881 01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:20,120 sufficient in every weakness so. What does that mean for US? 882 01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:22,200 Well, one it reinforces our confidence in. 883 01:02:22,200 --> 01:02:25,400 Christ. Our King is not only willing to 884 01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:30,040 fight, he's able to win. When you feel outmatched by 885 01:02:30,040 --> 01:02:32,800 temptation, when you need to, remember that your salvation 886 01:02:32,800 --> 01:02:36,880 does not rest on the strength of your grip on God, but rather it 887 01:02:36,880 --> 01:02:40,400 rests on the strength of Christ, obedience for you and God's grip 888 01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:45,080 on. You, Christ, stood where you 889 01:02:45,080 --> 01:02:50,600 have fallen already many times. He resisted where you have 890 01:02:50,600 --> 01:02:54,640 caved, and He did it as your representative. 891 01:02:59,480 --> 01:03:01,880 Secondly, it teaches us something about endurance. 892 01:03:03,520 --> 01:03:07,880 Often comfort comes after obedience, not before it. 893 01:03:11,680 --> 01:03:17,360 If we're honest, many of us want the angels first, right? 894 01:03:17,360 --> 01:03:21,160 We we want comfort first. We want the relief first. 895 01:03:21,160 --> 01:03:26,640 We want the open door first. But Matthew shows us the order, 896 01:03:27,040 --> 01:03:30,640 resistance, obedience, endurance. 897 01:03:31,200 --> 01:03:33,480 And then God's provision in his time. 898 01:03:36,400 --> 01:03:42,200 And so third, it gives you very practical hope as someone who 899 01:03:42,200 --> 01:03:47,680 may be in a wilderness season currently, some of you are 900 01:03:47,680 --> 01:03:49,800 obeying God right now and you feel like you're running on 901 01:03:49,800 --> 01:03:53,680 fumes. You're trying to walk in 902 01:03:53,680 --> 01:03:56,720 integrity, you're trying to resist sin, you're trying to 903 01:03:56,720 --> 01:03:58,480 lead your home. You're trying to stay faithful 904 01:03:58,480 --> 01:04:01,680 in your marriage or your work or your thought life or your 905 01:04:01,680 --> 01:04:04,800 speech. And it feels costly. 906 01:04:06,400 --> 01:04:10,240 This verse reminds you, it should remind you that God sees 907 01:04:10,240 --> 01:04:14,000 you. God knows you, He will sustain 908 01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:16,560 you. It's not always going to be in 909 01:04:16,560 --> 01:04:20,800 the way that you demand or expect, but it'll always be in 910 01:04:20,800 --> 01:04:26,160 the way that He has promised, the apostle Peter writes in 911 01:04:26,160 --> 01:04:28,520 First Peter 5-10. After you have suffered a little 912 01:04:28,520 --> 01:04:32,680 while, the God of all grace will himself restore, confirm, 913 01:04:32,800 --> 01:04:37,200 strengthen, and establish you. That doesn't mean that every 914 01:04:37,200 --> 01:04:41,760 trial ends quickly, but it does mean that the Lord does not 915 01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:43,520 abandon his people in the wilderness. 916 01:04:45,520 --> 01:04:46,960 Right. And because you belong to 917 01:04:46,960 --> 01:04:50,680 Christ, you can be sure that the Father who ministered to his Son 918 01:04:50,720 --> 01:04:55,400 will minister to you as well. And it's often through ordinary 919 01:04:55,400 --> 01:05:00,840 means. Scripture reading daily, prayer 920 01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:03,400 daily. The fellowship of the Saints, 921 01:05:03,880 --> 01:05:05,720 the quiet strengthening of grace. 922 01:05:08,160 --> 01:05:14,360 Think about a refining furnace, about a metal worker refining 923 01:05:14,520 --> 01:05:18,080 metal. He doesn't pull the metal out 924 01:05:18,080 --> 01:05:20,080 halfway through and declare it finished. 925 01:05:21,120 --> 01:05:24,720 No, the heat does its work, and then when the time is right, the 926 01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:28,040 refiner removes it and cools it and strengthens it. 927 01:05:28,040 --> 01:05:33,280 But the point isn't that the furnace is pleasant. 928 01:05:35,280 --> 01:05:37,480 The point is that the refiner is wise. 929 01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:40,560 He does not leave his work undone. 930 01:05:40,560 --> 01:05:44,480 And in the same way, the wilderness is not comfortable, 931 01:05:46,200 --> 01:05:51,040 but it is also not meaningless, and it is not unattended. 932 01:05:54,720 --> 01:05:56,840 So Matthew's taken us into the wilderness. 933 01:05:56,840 --> 01:05:58,880 He's allowed us to watch the battle unfold. 934 01:05:59,600 --> 01:06:02,840 We we've seen the King LED into testing, not by accident, but by 935 01:06:02,840 --> 01:06:05,400 God's design. We've seen him tempted as the 936 01:06:05,400 --> 01:06:08,600 Son assaulted at every point of his identity and mission. 937 01:06:08,920 --> 01:06:11,920 We've seen him overcome by the Word of God, trusting his Father 938 01:06:11,920 --> 01:06:14,080 and obeying where Adam and Israel had failed. 939 01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:18,160 And we have seen him vindicated and served, with Satan dismissed 940 01:06:18,160 --> 01:06:20,520 and Heaven's approval made clear. 941 01:06:21,480 --> 01:06:24,000 And all of this brings us back to the main points. 942 01:06:24,440 --> 01:06:28,680 Trust and follow the faithful Son who overcame temptation 943 01:06:28,880 --> 01:06:30,400 through obedience to God's. Word. 944 01:06:33,240 --> 01:06:36,200 The text does not leave us first with a list of techniques. 945 01:06:37,480 --> 01:06:42,920 It leaves us with a Savior before Jesus ever calls us to 946 01:06:42,920 --> 01:06:46,080 follow. Him, he shows us that he is 947 01:06:46,080 --> 01:06:50,240 worthy to be followed. You see, he's not merely a king 948 01:06:50,240 --> 01:06:55,120 who commands obedience. He is the King who has himself 949 01:06:55,120 --> 01:07:00,800 obeyed. And so for the believer, this 950 01:07:00,800 --> 01:07:03,000 passage is meant to steady your soul. 951 01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:09,960 When you feel the pool of temptation against you, when 952 01:07:09,960 --> 01:07:14,360 obedience feels costly, when the bloatedness seems long in, the 953 01:07:14,360 --> 01:07:19,840 relief slow to come, you must see here that you are not left 954 01:07:19,840 --> 01:07:23,240 to fight alone. Your hope does not rest in the 955 01:07:23,240 --> 01:07:28,080 strength of your resistance. Rather, it rests in the 956 01:07:28,080 --> 01:07:32,880 faithfulness of your Savior. Christ has already stood where 957 01:07:32,880 --> 01:07:36,040 you stand. He's already resisted the enemy 958 01:07:36,240 --> 01:07:37,040 on your. Behalf. 959 01:07:38,600 --> 01:07:42,720 And now as a believer, you were united to him by faith, and you 960 01:07:42,720 --> 01:07:46,000 were called by God to walk in obedience, not to earn God's 961 01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:49,120 favor, but because you already have God's favor in. 962 01:07:49,120 --> 01:07:56,200 Christ. So the text then implores us. 963 01:07:56,440 --> 01:08:04,280 Take up the word of God. Treasure God's Word, feed on it. 964 01:08:04,840 --> 01:08:08,880 Don't use it as a charm, but. See it as daily bread for your 965 01:08:08,880 --> 01:08:10,680 life. Trust that the Father who 966 01:08:10,680 --> 01:08:14,520 sustained His Son will sustain you as well. 967 01:08:18,960 --> 01:08:21,880 I think this passage also speaks plainly to those who are not in 968 01:08:21,880 --> 01:08:25,800 Christ. If you're an unbeliever, this 969 01:08:25,800 --> 01:08:30,319 passage is speaking to you, and it wants you to see that 970 01:08:30,319 --> 01:08:35,920 temptation is not neutral. Ephesians 2 says that before 971 01:08:35,920 --> 01:08:39,520 Christ you are a son or daughter of disobedience. 972 01:08:42,319 --> 01:08:46,800 It exposes the heart, and apart from Christ, every person 973 01:08:46,920 --> 01:08:53,600 eventually bows. It bows to sin, they bow to self 974 01:08:53,600 --> 01:08:55,399 they bow to. Something other than God. 975 01:08:57,000 --> 01:08:59,920 And the good news for you today is that the faithful son who 976 01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:03,720 defeated Satan in the wilderness goes on to defeat sin and death 977 01:09:03,720 --> 01:09:07,560 at the cross. At the cross, he bears the guilt 978 01:09:07,560 --> 01:09:10,640 of sinners. He rises in victory on the third 979 01:09:10,640 --> 01:09:12,439 day. And now he calls people 980 01:09:12,439 --> 01:09:16,880 everywhere to repent of their sins and to believe in him, to 981 01:09:16,880 --> 01:09:19,080 trust him for the forgiveness of their sins. 982 01:09:21,880 --> 01:09:25,279 And so, if you're weary, unbeliever, if you are weary 983 01:09:25,439 --> 01:09:31,120 from losing battle after battle after battle, if you're tired of 984 01:09:31,240 --> 01:09:35,720 hollowed out promises from Satan and broken shortcuts that lead 985 01:09:35,720 --> 01:09:39,920 to nothing, hear this clearly. There is a better king, and his 986 01:09:39,920 --> 01:09:44,720 way leads to life. And so the call of this passage 987 01:09:44,720 --> 01:09:46,600 is simple. And it's weighty. 988 01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:52,200 You should trust him. You should follow him. 989 01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:56,000 You should trust the Son who obeyed where you felled. 990 01:09:56,000 --> 01:09:59,560 You should follow the King who chose the cross rather than 991 01:09:59,560 --> 01:10:06,920 compromise and as you. Do rest in this promise that the 992 01:10:06,920 --> 01:10:11,800 One who has tasted, the One who was tested and victorious, is 993 01:10:11,800 --> 01:10:18,600 the same One who now reigns, and He intends to keep all those who 994 01:10:18,600 --> 01:10:23,600 belong to Him to the very end. Would you bow your head with me 995 01:10:23,600 --> 01:10:29,680 this morning, Father? We thank you for Your word 996 01:10:29,680 --> 01:10:36,840 today. We thank you, Lord, for what we 997 01:10:36,840 --> 01:10:40,520 see of Christ first and foremost, that He is the true 998 01:10:40,520 --> 01:10:46,240 Son who trusted You and followed You by obeying Your word only, 999 01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:48,720 by worshipping You alone, Father. 1000 01:10:50,680 --> 01:10:53,120 And that's instructive for us as believers. 1001 01:10:54,320 --> 01:10:58,920 We too are tempted and tried in every way, but we are not 1002 01:10:58,920 --> 01:11:03,480 without sin. We still give way to the flesh. 1003 01:11:04,080 --> 01:11:08,160 We still present the members of our bodies, our minds and our 1004 01:11:08,160 --> 01:11:11,440 hearts and our hands and our mouths and our feet. 1005 01:11:11,640 --> 01:11:17,120 We, we present those things from matters of unrighteousness. 1006 01:11:19,720 --> 01:11:26,960 We sin against you often. And Father, it's often because 1007 01:11:26,960 --> 01:11:30,520 we fail to trust you and to follow You in times of 1008 01:11:30,520 --> 01:11:35,680 temptation. And so, Father, I asked that you 1009 01:11:35,680 --> 01:11:41,440 would forgive us of our sins, that you would help us to be a 1010 01:11:41,440 --> 01:11:46,480 repentant people, that we would turn from sin and turn to 1011 01:11:46,480 --> 01:11:49,360 Christ, that we would follow Him daily. 1012 01:11:49,880 --> 01:11:52,920 We would deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. 1013 01:11:56,760 --> 01:12:05,600 Would you help us to do that? By your Spirit, Father, I pray 1014 01:12:05,600 --> 01:12:09,000 for anyone here who is an unbeliever. 1015 01:12:10,000 --> 01:12:11,640 They have not committed themselves to you. 1016 01:12:11,640 --> 01:12:14,640 They have not turned from their sin and made Christ the Lord of 1017 01:12:14,640 --> 01:12:17,080 their life. They're not trusting him or 1018 01:12:17,080 --> 01:12:20,160 obeying him. They're doing their own thing, 1019 01:12:23,240 --> 01:12:25,200 God. Would you save them today from 1020 01:12:25,200 --> 01:12:27,920 their sins? Would you draw them to yourself, 1021 01:12:27,920 --> 01:12:30,080 let nothing hinder them from coming? 1022 01:12:32,120 --> 01:12:36,160 Would you grant them repentance? Would you give them faith in 1023 01:12:36,160 --> 01:12:39,840 Christ? Would you help them also to deny 1024 01:12:39,840 --> 01:12:43,080 themselves, to take up their cross and to follow Jesus? 1025 01:12:47,320 --> 01:12:51,400 Lord, we are helpless to do that apart from a work of Your 1026 01:12:51,400 --> 01:12:55,440 Spirit. And so we beg you for salvation 1027 01:12:55,440 --> 01:12:58,280 today. Grant us your spirit. 1028 01:12:59,880 --> 01:13:02,120 Would you regenerate us by the power of the Spirit? 1029 01:13:02,120 --> 01:13:05,920 Would you wash us with the renewal of the Holy Spirit? 1030 01:13:07,360 --> 01:13:10,640 Would you give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts that adore? 1031 01:13:11,720 --> 01:13:15,920 Would you give us new desires? Would you write Your word on 1032 01:13:15,920 --> 01:13:18,320 their hearts that they may follow you and obey you? 1033 01:13:24,440 --> 01:13:26,800 Me give you a moment now in your seat to pray. 1034 01:13:30,520 --> 01:13:33,120 Maybe you need to confess your sins from this week. 1035 01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:37,640 Maybe you see today where you have failed to trust and to 1036 01:13:37,640 --> 01:13:42,080 follow Christ and you see where you have failed to obey God 1037 01:13:42,400 --> 01:13:46,080 through the word of God. Instead, you've sought your own 1038 01:13:46,080 --> 01:13:51,560 way. Believer, would you commit 1039 01:13:51,560 --> 01:13:55,440 yourself to Christ today? Would you repent of your sin? 1040 01:13:56,440 --> 01:14:02,240 Would you trust the Lord? Unbeliever, would you commit 1041 01:14:02,240 --> 01:14:04,760 yourself to Christ today? Would you repent of your sins? 1042 01:14:05,040 --> 01:14:07,800 Would you trust Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and 1043 01:14:07,800 --> 01:14:10,680 commit your life to follow Him holy? 1044 01:15:15,560 --> 01:15:18,000 And the Father, we are grateful that you reconcile us to 1045 01:15:18,000 --> 01:15:24,520 yourself through Christ Jesus, that you made Him who knew 1046 01:15:24,520 --> 01:15:30,080 nothing of sin, knew no sin Himself to become sin for us on 1047 01:15:30,080 --> 01:15:33,720 the cross, to take it on Himself, to bear the weight of 1048 01:15:33,720 --> 01:15:38,200 your wrath in our place. So that we who knew nothing of 1049 01:15:38,200 --> 01:15:42,520 righteousness, who knew nothing but sin, might become sons and 1050 01:15:42,520 --> 01:15:46,960 daughters of the Most High. God, we thank you that you've 1051 01:15:46,960 --> 01:15:51,280 reconciled us to yourself. You've, you've given us peace. 1052 01:15:52,360 --> 01:15:54,880 You've allowed us not to cower and fear, but to cry. 1053 01:15:55,080 --> 01:16:00,600 Ah, of a Father, as you've made us sons and daughters, You've 1054 01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:05,960 adopted us as your own, You've made us coheirs with Christ. 1055 01:16:07,120 --> 01:16:09,720 We'll dwell eternally with you and heaven, where there will be 1056 01:16:09,720 --> 01:16:13,800 no more sin, no more pain, no more tears, no more heartache, 1057 01:16:14,200 --> 01:16:20,440 no more death. And we long for that day. 1058 01:16:21,480 --> 01:16:24,400 But Lord, until that day, would you keep us near your heart? 1059 01:16:25,880 --> 01:16:29,600 Would you help us to go where you go, to say only what you 1060 01:16:29,600 --> 01:16:32,280 would say, to do only what you would have us do? 1061 01:16:35,960 --> 01:16:37,360 It's in the name of Christ I pray. 1062 01:16:37,880 --> 01:16:38,280 Amen.