Sunday Sermon: The Temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11)

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament, and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. Take your

Bible and turn please to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew 4, today we'll be looking at verses 1 through 11.

Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus said to him, again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and said to him, all these

I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, be gone

Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

Then the devil left him and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father as we come to this word today, I pray that we see it is by your word that we are able to escape from the snares of the devil.

For just as Jesus used the word of God to confront Satan, so may we flee to God's word and this becomes our stronghold, our fortress, our deliverance from those ways that the devil wishes to have with us.

May we not be taken by his schemes, but may we desire above all to do the word and will of our

God. And we pray these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Thank you. You may be seated.

I don't know if you noticed this past week, but our president

Donald Trump and the speaker of the house of representatives, Nancy Pelosi, do not really get along with one another.

Nancy Pelosi has said of Donald Trump that she prays for him. Donald Trump Jr.

on Twitter this past week said, I believe that Nancy Pelosi prays for Donald Trump as readily as Satan would cite the scriptures.

Well, Satan does cite the scriptures. The difference being that the devil twists the word of God.

Now, if Donald Trump Jr. had said something to the effect of Satan twisting the scriptures, well, that would have been a little bit different, but all you have to do is go straight to Matthew four and you see that the devil was even using the word of God to try to trip up Jesus himself.

We come here to Matthew four, verse one, Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Now we know that the Lord himself tempts no one. James says as much in James chapter one,

God does not tempt anyone to do evil. This is the schemes of Satan that tempt us to do evil things, or it's the very lust of our flesh that would desire those things that would be apart from the will of God.

God does not tempt us with evil. The devil tempts us with evil. Yet we have this passage here that the spirit led

Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted while God himself does not tempt us.

He is not the tempter. Satan is the tempter, but the

Lord will put us in situations to be tested just as Jesus is being tested here.

In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 18, the Lord God says to Israel, if a man comes to you and he presents to you a sign or a wonder, and he says through this sign or wonder or prophecy that has been fulfilled before you, he says, let us go after other gods.

You will not listen to that false prophet, that false teacher, for the Lord your

God is testing you to see if the Lord your God, if you love the

Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

Why would the Lord put a false teacher in front of us? Why is Joel Osteen preaching on ABC Family?

Why can you turn on Daystar and listen to Benny Hinn? Why do these false teachers have such prominent platforms to send out their poisonous message?

It's a test. It's a test to see if you truly know the Lord God according to his word and desire to follow it and keep it.

Or are you listening to the words of these false teachers who under the influence of Satan are twisting the word of God just as Satan attempted to do with Jesus here?

These false teachers are a test, and there are many people out there who will gather for themselves false teachers.

Becky and I were talking about that on the podcast just this past Friday. Now, in Scripture, it says, having itching ears, they store up for themselves false teachers to suit their own passions.

When you listen to a false teacher, it's not necessarily that you've been led astray by that false teacher, although there's kind of a give -and -take relationship there.

The false teacher has fed you lies. You follow after the lies of that false teacher, but it's because you want the lies.

It is fulfilling the thing that you want and you desire in your flesh. So false teachers are sent to us as a judgment, as a test, and even as a judgment to those people who would desire the things in their flesh rather than desire the things of God.

You listen to sound teachers, men who are faithful to the word of God because you desire

God, because you desire His word and desire to keep it. May that be a continued test upon this church for generations to come.

It has been in the past. It will continue to be for time to come, that this church desires and values the word of God above all else so much that it would place faithful men who love

God's word and teach it in this pulpit so that the flock of God may be sanctified and built up in His word.

Jesus said in John 17, as He was praying to the Father, He said, sanctify them in your truth.

Your word is truth. How are we sanctified? How are we grown in holiness? How are we shaped to be more like Christ?

It is by the very word of God. Jesus Himself was faithful to the word of God as He demonstrates here resisting the temptations of the tempter.

As the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, this continues on with something that we talked about last week when we were looking at the baptism of Jesus in Matthew chapter 3.

When Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, it says in verse 14,

John would have prevented Him saying, I need to be baptized by you and you come to me. And Jesus answered him, let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

And as Jesus is being led into the wilderness now to be tempted by the devil, this is also being done to fulfill all righteousness.

For as I stated to you this morning, and as we looked at even last week in the book of Hebrews, Jesus is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses as our great high priest.

For He Himself has been tempted just as we are tempted. But the difference between Jesus and us is

He's without sin and we are not. Jesus had no internal sin nature.

He had no inherent sin nature that He was born into. Why is that? Because He was virgin born.

He was not born of the seed of a man. So Adam is not His federal head. And He does not inherit the sins of His father.

We on the other hand are all born and descended from Adam. So we've inherited Adam's sin nature.

When we are tempted, we fall into sin. Jesus did not. Jesus resisted the temptations of the tempter.

And so He is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses, but likewise, we are able to look to Him as our example.

As He resisted temptation, so we must also flee from temptation.

And how do we do that? We defend ourselves with the word of God as Christ Himself did here.

And that has always been like mind blowing to me whenever I read this story. For Jesus Himself is

God. Everything He said was God's word. And yet He comes back to God's word when

He is combating against Satan here in the wilderness. Verse 2, after fasting 40 days and 40 nights,

He was hungry. Go figure. Now again, as Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness, there's a picture that's being painted here of Jesus being the greater prophet than Moses, the greater prophet than Elijah.

These two prophets whom Jesus would be seen standing with on the Mount of Transfiguration as we continue the study of the book of Matthew.

Moses, when he was up on Mount Sinai, he fasted for 40 days. Elijah, when he was in the wilderness fleeing from Jezebel, he fasted in the wilderness for 40 days.

And now Jesus, as a greater prophet than these, also finds Himself fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the desert.

More than this, He is also fulfilling something, a picture, a type, or a shadow that was given through the nation of Israel, and they're wandering in the desert for 40 years.

When Israel was in the desert, they failed every test of God that was put in front of them, so that God cursed them to wander in the desert for 40 years until that generation died off.

And then the next generation that came after them would be the generation that would receive the promised land.

Only two men from that previous generation would be rewarded with the promised land, and that was Joshua and Caleb.

Moses himself didn't even get to see the promised land because he also did not keep the commands of God as that holy prophet he was supposed to be for the nation of Israel.

So he was not struck with the same kind of punishment that the rest of Israel was struck with, but he was not going to be allowed to see the promised land.

So as Israel failed in their wandering in the desert, they failed every temptation that was put before them, yet Jesus is faithful to it.

And Jesus becomes, as described in Revelation 1, he becomes the faithful witness.

Israel was supposed to be the witness of God to the nations, but they weren't.

They failed. They sinned. They fell away from the Lord time and time again. But Jesus remained faithful.

This is why he bears the name Faithful Witness, because he fulfilled all that Israel failed to do.

Jesus becomes Faithful Israel. And this is the picture that Matthew has been painting all the way through these opening chapters to his gospel, that Christ is becoming the faithful Israel of God.

As we read in Matthew 2, because Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod, this was to fulfill what had been written about by the prophet, by Hosea.

In chapter 11, verse 1, out of Egypt I called my son. Now, when we went through that passage, we had considered that that's most definitely referring to Israel whenever you go to the book of Hosea and read it, but we see how

Israel was therefore a type or a shadow of one to come who is even greater and more faithful than Israel was,

Christ himself. So everyone who is in Christ is the people of God because Jesus was faithful.

We're not the people of God because we're descended from Israel. We're the people of God because we are in Christ who is

Faithful Israel. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry, and the tempter came to him and said...

And notice here that we're being introduced to Satan for the first time here in the book of Matthew, and it's pretty similar to the way that we're introduced to Satan in the whole book in general, in the

Bible itself. Genesis 3, Satan comes slithering into the garden, and what is it that he says when he speaks to Eve for the first time?

Genesis 3, 1, did God really say? And so Satan comes to Jesus the same way, twisting and misusing the word of God.

The tempter came to him and said to him, if you are the son of God, if you are, like Satan actually attempting to get him to doubt that, that he is

God's son, if you are the son of God, prove it. Prove it to me.

Prove it to all of us. Command these stones to become loaves of bread.

Now, what difference would it have made if Jesus commanded the stones to become loaves of bread or not?

I mean, he's God, he can do what he wants. But remember, once again, this was done to fulfill all righteousness.

Had Jesus turned these stones to bread, he would have done it to please himself, not to serve his Father in heaven.

And Jesus is doing all things to the will of God, not to his own will. And Jesus' response to him is from Deuteronomy 8, 3.

He answered him, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Again, that's in Deuteronomy. Turn over there with me if you would. Fifth book of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

We're going to go to Deuteronomy 8. Turn to Deuteronomy 8. Now, a reminder about the book of Deuteronomy.

That name itself, Deuteronomy, it means second law. It's the second giving of the law.

It's taking the laws as they have been laid down in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and it's repeating those laws again to Israel before they're being sent into the promised land.

That's what Moses is doing for Israel here. So we're having those laws that had previously been given, being repeated again to Israel that they may keep them.

They may be faithful to the Lord their God as he is giving the land to them that he has promised to them. And here's what

Moses says to them at the beginning of Deuteronomy 8, verse 1. The whole commandment that I command you today, you shall be careful to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land that the

Lord swore to give to your fathers. Now, before going on here, that's verse 1.

God has promised his son an inheritance also. The father has promised the son an inheritance.

And so his faithfulness to the father will be the reception of that inheritance.

It's not a physical land on earth that the father has promised the son, but there is a people that he is redeeming for his own possession.

Titus 2, 14. So we continue on here, Deuteronomy 8, 2. And you shall remember the whole way that the

Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you, that you would know what is in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

So once again, Jesus being led into the wilderness to be tempted, to be tested. Verse 3, and he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the

Lord. So what Moses is saying here is God gave you bread. He gave you manna from heaven to remind you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Now, how is that? Logically, how does that work? God gave you bread to remind you that you live on the word of God.

Because did God not promise Israel that he would protect them and take care of them and that he would always be with them?

And they wander out in the wilderness, and what do they do when they get out there? Where's the food? Where's this smorgasbord, this land flowing in milk and honey that we were promised?

Here, we're wandering around in the desert. We were better off as slaves in Egypt, for at least we had food there.

They started complaining. Where is God? And God gave them bread to show them that you live not on bread, but on the word of God, because it was

God's word from before they were released from slavery in Egypt that promised them, I will be with you.

And he gave them bread to show that his word can be trusted.

Did Israel trust his word? They didn't. Over and over again, they grumbled and complained about their situation.

Here, Jesus has the very power within himself to lift up a rock and say, become bread, and it would.

Can you imagine that power? He's God. He can cause everything to come out of nothing at all.

And even with that power, he doesn't use it to serve himself.

He is still there, serving the will of his father who is in heaven, trusting the decrees that God had set forth from before the foundation of the world, that he would send his son to die for our sins.

And in the faithfulness, in his perfect righteousness, as he laid himself down as a sacrifice on the cross for us, cleansing us from all unrighteousness, all who would believe in him.

He keeps and fulfills the will of his father who is in heaven. Jesus trusting the will of the father.

Jesus demonstrates this in his own humanity. So how much should we also trust the word of God?

Jesus trusted, we must trust. Jesus did not use his power to serve himself, but he gave himself for us.

The son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to lay down his life as a ransom for many.

So Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8 .3. Of course, that wouldn't have been the reference.

He didn't say, hey, Satan, Deuteronomy 8 .3, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

But we know that's what it was that Jesus was quoting. So now we get to the next temptation, the second temptation here, verse 5.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

By the providence of God, this is the Psalm that we were looking at in our Old Testament study on Thursday night at my house.

Just this past Thursday, we were looking at Psalm 91. And hearing exactly these words, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

This is Satan tempting Jesus, display your power, show it to us.

You can command legions of armies. The angels would certainly rescue you.

But what is Jesus' response to him? Verse 7. Again, it is written, you shall not put the

Lord your God to the test. Now that is Deuteronomy 6, verse 16.

If you still have your finger in Deuteronomy, go back over there again. Deuteronomy 6, verse 16.

And it says there, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Yeah, exactly as Jesus quoted it.

As you tested him at Massa. Okay, there's a little bit more to that verse.

What is that? What is Massa? What is testing God at Massa? Well, this was an event that took place in Exodus chapter 17.

This is after now, Israel has been rescued from slavery.

They've been rescued from the pursuit of the Egyptians. They've been delivered through the Red Sea. They've even been given manna in the wilderness by this point, by Exodus chapter 17.

But now they've eaten, and now they're complaining again, and they're going, well, where's the water?

Before they were complaining, where's the food? Now it's like, I need something to drink too. Give me something to wash down this manna.

Have you led us out here to the wilderness to just let us die of hunger? And now let us die of thirst.

Once again, Israel not trusting in the Lord God, in his word.

And what is it that the Lord gave to them at Massa, even though they grumbled, even though they put the

Lord God to the test? Moses tapped the rock with his staff, and from it came water for them to drink.

So the Lord, once again, demonstrating to them, I will be with you. I will take care of you.

I will fulfill my word to you. And the water from the rock that we have, as the

Apostle Paul talked about this with the Corinthians, the water from the rock is Jesus. And we also are...we

have our thirst satisfied when we turn to Christ and we turn to his word. We hunger for his word.

We thirst for his presence, and Jesus is with us. Again, as I quoted to you earlier this morning in John 15, abide in me, and I will abide in you.

For apart from me, you can do nothing. Jesus says, you shall not put the

Lord your God to the test. But once again, Jesus choosing to trust the will of his

Father. Verse 8, again, the devil...I'm back in Matthew 4 now again. Here's the third temptation.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory, and he said to him, all these

I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. I've seen that verse on a church sign before.

Matthew 4, 9, he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.

I passed by a church, saw that on the sign. I knew exactly who it was that said that. I was like,

I don't think the person who put that sign up read the context of that verse before they stuck that up there. I've also seen it on a calendar.

You might see it like it floats around on Pinterest and Facebook every once in a while. There's a verse calendar sitting on someone's desk and they've left it open.

It's actually the Luke version of this verse. But yeah, somebody made a little verse calendar and likewise didn't look at the context before they quoted that verse.

It's Satan saying to Jesus, all these

I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Did Satan have the authority to do such a thing?

I heard both answers. I heard yes and no. If you explained your answer, you'd probably both be correct.

Yes and no. Satan has been given authority in this world to do what it is that he does.

God has given him that authority to lead people astray, to lead those persons who are rebellious against God to destruction because that's ultimately what they deserve.

They've even taught you about that recently from 1 Peter 2. They stumble on the word as they were destined to do.

They follow the devil rather than following God. But at the same time, Satan doesn't have any real authority, so the no answer would be correct as well.

He has no authority except that which God has given to him, has permitted him to do. So Satan could have given him the kingdoms of this world for Satan is the prince of this world.

He's the prince of darkness. He's the beast that's described in the book of Revelation that the kings follow after.

So yeah, he has authority over the kings. It even says there in Revelation 13 that he has given authority to blaspheme the name of God and to wage war against the saints.

But Jesus responds to Satan in verse 10 and says, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the

Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Once again, Jesus going to God's word, and this is Deuteronomy 6 .13 that Jesus is quoting to him.

You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Philippians 2 .11

tells us that Jesus did all things to the glory of God the Father. Even Jesus worshipped

God. Can you imagine that? Jesus himself, the Son of God, worshipped God. I've already mentioned to you

John chapter 17. It's also there in that prayer, that high priestly prayer, verse 5, where Jesus says,

Glorify me with the glory that I had with you in your presence before the world began.

What was God doing before he created all things, before he created mankind? He was worshipping.

He was glorifying himself, the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit, glorifying in one another.

And my friends, that is in no way boring. It is the most glorious, wonderful existence that we could ever have.

And it is the eternity that we've been invited into if we follow Jesus.

We likewise, when we die, when we go to be with the Lord in glory, we will glorify with him just as he had glorified in himself before the ages began.

There's one other thing I want to point out to you here regarding the temptation of Christ before we leave it.

But in 1 John 2, verse 15, we read this, Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the

Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires.

But whoever does the will of God abides forever. If you love the things of this world, you will perish with this world when it is judged.

But if you love the things of God, you love his word and you keep it, the will of God abides forever.

You likewise will live forever with the Lord. We're told earlier in 1 John 2, starting in verse 1,

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the

Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says,

I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him.

Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which

Jesus walked. And how did Jesus walk here in Matthew chapter 4? Resisting the temptations of the devil.

He resisted the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.

All three of those temptations represent exactly that. If you go back and you look at the temptations that Satan had set before Jesus, they represent the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Which Jesus resisted, and in his perfection, continues for the sake of righteousness, that he might lay down his life as a perfect sacrifice for us.

Think back again to the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, who were given one commandment.

They were told, you may eat of any of the tree of the garden, but you may not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

For the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. And Adam and Eve were not wise to the schemes of Satan, and they gave in to the temptations of the tempter, and they ate, and mankind has been fallen ever since.

And what was it that Adam did in the garden? But he gave into the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.

He looked at this fruit, the desire of his eyes. He wanted to eat it, the desire of his flesh.

And he did in pride, believing that, just as Satan said, he could be like God.

And he fell in the garden. But as Adam fell to the temptation of his own flesh,

Jesus did not. And he resisted those temptations and was purified and perfect, so that all of us who trust in him will receive a righteousness that is not our own, but it is the righteousness of God, the perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus for us.

There is a common charismatic teaching out there that you can do battle with the devil.

You can tussle with him, get into fisticuffs with Satan and overpower him. And there's this t -shirt that's becoming increasingly popular, and I see it all the time.

I'll see people wearing it, and they'll post a picture of it on Facebook or something like that, or I've even seen people walking around wearing this t -shirt.

Maybe you have too. It says, Not Today, Satan. You seen this shirt? Not Today, Satan.

There was even one woman teacher who was teaching a live stream on her Instagram or something like that, and that's the shirt she was wearing as she was attempting to teach

God's word. And I just saw that. I'm like, you know, I really don't think Satan is bothered by the fact that you're wearing a t -shirt with his name on it.

In fact, he probably loves it. Our ability to do battle with Satan is not going to succeed by wearing t -shirts that say

Not Today, Satan on them. In fact, the Bible tells us exactly how we do battle with Satan.

James 4, verse 6. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

How do we do battle with Satan? The same way Jesus did, by drawing near to God through his word.

And this is something. It's a battle that we fight against the temptations of our flesh, against the schemes of Satan, against the ways of this world.

We do not fight this battle on our own. We can't fight this battle on our own. In fact, we're pretty powerless to fight this battle on our own.

If there's anything that this last year has taught me, it's that if it were not for the grace of God, any one of us would fall.

Even the strongest of us has weaknesses in his armor. And if he separates himself from his fellow soldiers and tries to go the fight on his own, the enemy will overtake him, and he will fall in battle.

It was humbling to have to learn that. It struck fear in the heart of this preacher. I am not strong enough to fight this fight on my own.

None of us are. Last month, Dave and Vicki, Sonia, Becky, and I were in Atlanta for the

G3 conference. I went down a little bit earlier because I had an expository teaching class that I was a part of.

In one of the sessions of the class, I was about to begin teaching when who should come in and sit down next to me, but Dr.

Vodie Bauckham. I'm a verse -by -verse expositional preacher today in part because I loved listening to Dr.

Bauckham when I was in my young 20s. The section of scripture that I was going to be teaching from was out of 2

Timothy chapter 4, and I happen to know that the last sermon that Dr. Bauckham preached at his church in Houston before he moved to Africa was 2

Timothy 4, 1 through 7. So needless to say, I was a little intimidated sitting there next to him.

After that session was over, Dr. Bauckham preached to the whole class of pastors, and he likewise taught from 2

Timothy. That was the book of the Bible that we were focused on as a class. He said that as pastors, we're used to taking shots from the outside.

We've come to expect that. We know ahead of time, before we become a pastor, that that's exactly the battle that we're stepping into.

There are people in this world who hate the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they will do anything and everything to destroy those who are committed to preaching it.

They're committed to destroying those who are committed to following it. As we've even seen in our political system, the political upheaval that's going on in our world and in our culture today.

So we know that we're going to be under fire from the enemy. We know that. But we don't expect those shots to come from our friends.

Dr. Bauckham said, it's as if you've come home from fighting in the battle, and you take your armor off, and you sit down among those with whom you've been fighting this battle.

Your fellow soldiers, your friends, with whom you're supposed to feel safe, and you can make yourself vulnerable, because no one expects to be attacked by their friends.

And you feel something, and you look down, there's an arrow in your chest, and you look up to see your friend holding the bow, and the hatred for you in his face.

And Dr. Bauckham said, those are the moments that make you feel like you want to quit.

I've had a few of those as a pastor, and I remember hearing a Q &A session with John MacArthur.

Pastor John was asked, what's one thing that took you by surprise when you became a pastor that seminary couldn't prepare you for?

And without hesitating, MacArthur said, I had no idea how much I was going to be attacked by my friends.

I knew I was going to get it from those outside the church. You have to expect that, but I had no idea how much of it was going to come from inside the church.

There are a number of men in my life who have made me who

I am today, and none of those men have had more of an influence on me than my father.

I'm a pastor today because of my dad. But then there are those men who had an influence on my preaching, and a couple of them

I've mentioned, Votie Bauckham, John MacArthur, but also Albert Moeller, R .C.

Sproul, Paul Washer, Adrian Rogers, Woodrow Kroll, Erwin Lutzer, just to name a few.

I'm a pastor today because of these men, but I stayed a pastor because of David Blesner.

I don't know what it was that Dave and Vicki saw in me when I first came here, but they committed themselves to making sure that I and my family were provided for and taken care of.

When I had to make tough decisions as a young pastor, and many of those decisions often weren't popular decisions,

Dave was there to support me and encourage me. When there were those who became hostile to the things that I was preaching,

I'm standing here at the pulpit, I'm just reading to you what God's Word says, and there were people that hated it.

And attacked it. And Dave was there to remind me to hold fast to the

Word of God. I'm here to please God and not man. Shortly after Pastor Nate left and I had taken over the preaching duties, there was a conflict that came up between two women.

One of the women was a ministry leader here, and she was planning on announcing something to the church, but it was a sensitive matter, and she was going to make the congregation aware of it quietly.

But another one of the women, someone who incidentally had a reputation for being a gossip, took it upon herself to make the announcement first, and she posted it on Facebook.

I had to physically go down to her place of business and ask her nicely to understand the sensitivity of the situation and ask her to take the

Facebook post down. She became quite irritated with me and thought the other woman was making too big a deal out of this.

I was just trying to keep the peace and reconcile two Christian sisters. It was no little amount of church drama.

We were going through the book of Philippians at the time, and that very next Sunday, I was supposed to be preaching on Philippians 4, 2 through 3.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, that passage goes like this. I entreat Euodia and I entreat

Sintesh to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

Needless to say, I almost canceled the whole sermon. It had already been enough drama, and here these women were going to think that I was talking about them, and it was just going to start the whole thing over again.

Vicki was working in the secretary's office at that time, and I told her I was thinking about preaching on something else, and she sternly told me, no, you preach the sermon that you know you're supposed to preach.

Dave, likewise, got ahold of me later. He was chairman of deacons at that time. We didn't have an eldership yet, and he said that Vicki told him a little bit about what was going on, and he said to me,

I just want to encourage you, pastor, to stay committed to the word. Don't let it distract you from the mission.

You think that you need to change the sermon because this happened, but couldn't it be that the

Holy Spirit has led us into this because we all need to learn this?

Stay strong. Take us to the word, and we're right behind you.

There were other occasions in which something similar happened. After church one Sunday, someone was very irritated by what

I had preached, and he thought that I had taken a personal matter that we had discussed, and I had put it in the sermon, and he came up to me afterwards, and he expressed his offense, and he said, were you preaching that to me?

And Dave, who was right there, spoke up and said, no, he was preaching that to me. I've got to go home and do some serious prayer and meditation, and it sounds to me like you do too.

There have also been times that I've needed correction. I always knew that if it came from Dave, it was done in love.

Proverbs 27 .6 says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Psalm 141 .5 says, let a righteous man strike me, it is a kindness. Let him rebuke me, it is oil for my head, let my head not refuse it.

Dave has looked after me like a good brother. In all my years of ministry,

I've not known a friend as faithful as he has been. I'm the kind of person who can very easily withdraw.

I can go lone rider and try to do the journey by myself, or I can be all woe is me and mourn by myself.

In those instances, I probably took advantage of Dave, just believing that he was always gonna be there for me no matter what, and I didn't have to go to him or say anything, he was just gonna be there.

But in a recent circumstance, he had to remind me, you know that I'm here for you, and you can call on me anytime.

You shouldn't have to carry this alone. In fact, scripture warns us not to go alone.

Proverbs 18, one says, whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. He breaks out against all sound judgment.

Ecclesiastes 4, 12 says, though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken. Our eldership cord of three strands is a little bit weaker now that we're saying goodbye to our brother.

As of today, February 9th, Dave will no longer be an elder. I know that many of you in here will miss him, but none of you more than me.

As I've said to you, I've never done this before without Dave. I don't delight to walk into this next chapter of my ministry without him.

I don't look forward to standing up here to preach and not seeing Dave and Vicki sitting right there as I've seen them every

Sunday I've been in this church. But I want Dave to leave here knowing that I stand up here a stronger man because of him.

And I know that where the Lord is leading him next, there are other men who will be strengthened by his influence.

He's never wanted the spotlight, ever. He's never asked for recognition. In fact,

I know that if it wasn't for me making such a big deal out of this, he would be completely content with just sneaking out of here quietly.

No fanfare, no grand farewell, but we are Baptists and Baptists gotta eat.

So doggone it, we're gonna potluck. I want you to learn what

I have learned from this man, that we cannot do this Christian walk on our own.

You cannot resist temptation on your own. You cannot stand strong on your own.

We were not meant to do this on our own. Jesus himself said, I will not leave you as orphans.

I will come to you. And his last words, when we get to the end of this book, our study of Matthew, he says,

I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. We need each other.

Temptation will come for you. It will come for you today. We have the example of our

Lord Christ to follow. And we have the example of good and strong, faithful men and women of the word.

Furthermore, I want you to follow this man's example and finish strong. Follow the steadfast

Christian examples of persons like Dave and Vicki, Archie Carpenter, Jim Cadle, Dorothy Olson, Julie Duran, Janet Dozier, just to name a few.

These steadfast persons who've committed years of service to the work of faith being done here in this church.

And even when things have happened here that they haven't agreed with, they don't turn around and walk away.

They continue to press on and remain strong and finish strong. It breaks my heart the number of persons

I've had to watch walk away from this work and they feel like they have to attack their brothers and sisters in Christ on their way out the door.

I don't know why we do that to one another. I have no idea what that's supposed to accomplish, except that it's seeking your own desire and breaking out against all sound judgment as said in Proverbs 18 one.

I've grieved to see many Christians go that way. And so have Dave and Vicki. They've been here longer than I have.

Dave has been here for 22 years and he sat under three different pastors. He's seen a lot of transition and people get frustrated whenever there's transition in a church.

But Dave and Vicki have been committed to a work higher than themselves. They've been committed to the word and work of Christ.

When you're committed to that, my brothers and sisters, your own respective prejudices won't be so easily offended.

When you're committed to Christ and His word, when you're committed to His bride, the church, when you put the needs of others ahead of your own, you won't be so easily ensnared and taken by the schemes of our enemy, the devil.

You are for the honor of Christ and He will uphold you with a mighty hand.

Remember that the name Satan itself means the accuser.

May we not become accusers of the brethren, but encouragers of the brethren as our brother and sister have demonstrated for us.

Brother Dave, if I have any parting words for you, it would be only these. Finish strong in the faith as you finish strong in this church.

I know that on the day of glory, we're gonna find that you have many more children than you thought you had.

Children in the faith who have listened to your words and have followed your example. Thank you for your hard and selfless work.

And thank you for your example. Dave has been teaching from 1

Peter and I'll be taking over for him in his Sunday school class. So it's only appropriate that I conclude with a passage from 1

Peter 5, 6 through 11. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time, he may exalt you.

Casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober minded, be watchful.

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

To him be the dominion forever and ever. And all

God's people said, amen. Thank you for listening to our weekly sermon presented by First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City, Kansas.

For more information about our church, visit fsbcjc .org.

On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again this week, growing together in Christ when we understand the text.