The King Triumphs Over The Tempter

Well, in our previous time together in the book of Matthew, we saw in Chapter 3 as Christ comes up out of the waters of baptism, that the heavens were opened above him and that the

Father declared from heaven that this is my beloved son in whom

I am well -pleased, and the Spirit descended like a dove upon him, so that we saw the public revelation of the beloved

Son, the anointed King, and the obedient servant that Christ is.

We saw that this one who came out of Galilee, out of a place where nothing good comes, came and stepped into the waters of the baptism, openly identifying with those he came to save, standing and being in this place not because of his own need, but because of our need.

So as we move forward in this text, we see that the very one who requires complete righteousness, who actually entered in to provide that righteousness, we see a shift in the scenery of the text.

Immediately as we come up from the waters of baptism, we see Christ going into the wilderness.

We see this public affirmation of the Father followed by a private conflict with the enemy himself.

We see a clear and essential truth regarding the work of Christ in the midst of humanity.

In fact, we see that Christ did not just enter into the world for the purpose of dying on the cross.

He didn't just enter into the world to teach truth or perform miraculous works or inspire some new age cultural morality movement.

He came to utterly defeat the kingdom of darkness. He came to utterly triumph where fallen men had completely failed.

So this section of the text is deeply connected to the identity and to the work of Christ.

What we see here is Christ standing as the better Adam, as the true and faithful Adam, the true and faithful Israel, the obedient son who remains faithful even when every other son fails.

In the beginning of scripture, we see Adam in the midst of a garden, a garden that has all of the fullness, all of the abundance, everything that's necessary.

And even in the midst of all of that, we see Adam listening to the temptation of the serpent, to Adam falling to this temptation.

In the wilderness, as we move through the Old Testament, we see Israel after being led out of Egypt, out of the bondage that they were experiencing, into the promised land.

We see them continually grumbling.

We see them continually doubting His provision. We see them continually testing

His patience. And continually, we see them turning to idols.

Here we see Christ entering into the wilderness. And after 40 days and 40 nights, as He reaches a point where He is physically weakened, where He is likely emotionally drained, it is at this moment the enemy begins his assault.

And yet even in the midst of this assault, we see Christ remaining perfectly obedient.

A .W. Pink rightly observed, the temptation was no sham battle.

It was a real conflict between the

Son of God and the Prince of Darkness. Adam was attempted in a garden amidst every circumstances of ease.

Christ was tempted in a wilderness under circumstances of privation and suffering.

Adam fell. Christ conquered. This is the central contrast that we find in our passage for today.

This is a key truth. That while Adam failed,

Christ triumphs. While Adam doubted,

Christ rested completely upon the Father's Word.

And so we find a great truth contained in this passage, one that teaches us that salvation requires more than just a mere removal of guilt.

That's an important part of salvation. But there's more there.

True, full salvation requires righteousness before God.

In order for Christ to provide that righteousness, he had to live righteously.

You see, he didn't just come to die for sinners. He came to obey for sinners.

That doesn't excuse our disobedience. But what it means is that in his life, in the way that he lived, in the truth of this full life of full active obedience, that that active obedience is just as essential for our salvation as his death, as his burial, as his resurrection, and as his ascension.

So as we turn now to Matthew chapter 4, and we look at verses 1 through 11, we have to look at this as much more than practical instruction.

Oftentimes in churches where this message is used, this passage of Scripture is used as practical instruction.

How you avoid temptation. You avoid temptation by returning to the Word of God. But this is more than just practical instruction.

It's more than that. It's greater than that. It teaches us about spiritual warfare.

It teaches us about the sufficiency of Scripture. It teaches about the necessity of trusting God. But above all of this, it reveals

Christ himself. It reveals this victorious king who accomplished what none of us could have.

Who triumphed where we failed. A king doing battle with the enemy in the place of his people.

An obedient son triumphing over Satan through unwavering submission to God the

Father. A Savior who fulfills all righteousness on behalf of those who could never fulfill that righteousness in and of themselves.

So I invite you to stand with me as we read

God's Word. God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, sufficient, complete, and certain

Word. Beginning in Matthew chapter 4 verse 1 and following.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

And after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry.

And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.

But he answers and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but from every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple.

And he 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 the stone.

Jesus said to him, Again, it is written, You shall not put the

Lord your God to the test. And again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

And he said to him, All these things I will give you if you fall down and you worship me.

Then Jesus said to him, Go, Satan. For it is written, You shall worship the

Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and began to minister to him.

Our gracious Father, we give thanks to you for the perfect righteousness of our

Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the glory of your word that reveals

Christ to us. Lord, as we come to this passage in particular this morning, we confess our weaknesses before temptation.

We confess our continual need of your grace. Lord, too often we trust ourselves instead of trusting you.

Too often we pursue worldly satisfaction rather than obedience, listen to the voice of temptation rather than resting in the certainty of your word.

But Father, we give thanks that Christ did not fail where we fail.

We thank you that he stood firm against every assault of the enemy. We thank you that he remained perfectly obedient to you in all things.

And we thank you that his righteousness is counted to all who believe.

Lord, we ask now that our eyes are opened to behold the beauty of our Savior, that we are taught to trust deeply in your word, to worship more faithfully, to rest more fully in Christ and in Christ alone.

Lord, we pray that we are strengthened for the battle against sin, that we were drawn to the victorious

King who alone can save. Father, we ask all of these things in the precious name of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated.

At the beginning of our passage, verse 1 begins with the statement,

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit. Immediately.

At the very beginning of this passage, we are confronted with the reality of the sovereignty of God.

We see that there is a sovereign purpose of Almighty God in the temptation of the

Lord Jesus Christ. We see that it is not mere accident that Jesus did not just wander into the wilderness accidentally.

We see that this is not outside of the will of the

Father. What we see is that he is led by the Spirit to the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted.

This reality, this first piece of verse 1 of chapter 4, should give us an indication regarding how we think about testing and trial.

You see, often times in our society, in our world, and in our way of thought, we look at anything that happens to us that we consider bad as being outside of the will of God.

And unfortunately, it's even taught that way in many churches. God would never put you through that trial.

God would never put you through that situation. God would never give you that difficulty. God will never give you more than what you can handle.

Brothers and sisters, I don't know about you, but I can testify in my own life, God will absolutely give you more than you can handle.

But it's not more than he can handle. And it's not outside of his will. And it's not outside of his purpose.

And it's not outside of his plan. In fact, it is to pull you deeper into him.

And so we see here that God necessarily brings

Christ in. Immediately after publicly declaring, literally, if you go back up in your text, and you re -read the baptismal account of Christ, immediately after coming up out of the waters, being declared the

Son in whom he is well -pleased, he is sent into the wilderness for the purpose.

Look, verse 1, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

It doesn't say he was led up into the wilderness for a time of reflection and meditation.

And, oh, the devil tempted him while he was there. He was led there for the purpose of being tempted.

For that very reason. We hear, oftentimes, that God loves us and wants to keep us from those types of things.

But this is his beloved Son in whom he is well -pleased.

And yet, he still sends him to this place.

His love did not exempt Christ from this testing, from this leading.

It did not spare him from suffering. In fact, it actually led him, true obedience led him directly into the battle.

J .C. Ryle wrote, To be tempted of the devil is in itself no sin.

It is the yielding to the temptation and not the being tempted that constitutes sin.

We cannot prevent evil thoughts being suggested to our minds, but we may prevent their being received and entertained.

That's an important distinction. It's one that we need to understand.

Christ was truly tempted. Christ was legitimately tempted.

Yet, even in the midst of that temptation, he resists. You see, in us, temptation often finds corruption that's ready to answer.

Satan looks and he knows the places to hit you at. He knows the weak points.

He knows the places where you're not necessarily relying on God the way you should. He knows the places where you haven't fully submitted to God, and those are the places that he's going to attack.

And so he finds this inward corruption ready to respond. He presents sinful desire to hearts that are already inclined toward rebellion.

Listen to me again. He presents sinful desires to hearts that are already inclined toward rebellion.

I remember a number of years ago. I don't want to tell you how long ago. It's been a while. Longer than some of you are old.

There was a book that was written. It was a little devotional book. The title of the devotional book was,

If the devil made you do it, you blew it. Well, the problem with that line of thought process is that he didn't make you do it.

He simply presented a sinful desire to a heart that was already inclined to move in that direction anyway.

A heart already inclined toward rebellion. But in Christ, there is no inward corruption.

As these temptations are presented, there is no sinful inclination. It was external.

It was literally pressing upon his perfect holiness from the outside.

He came at him from every angle possible. Yet he was unable to find any weakness to exploit.

As we look at this event, we also need to understand the difference in the purpose of God and the purpose of Satan. We're often tempted or we're often inclined to think that well,

God didn't want Satan to tempt Christ. We've already addressed that. Verse 1 addresses that.

We need to understand why God wanted this. He ordained this in order to display

Christ's obedience. In order to advance the work of redemption.

Satan's desire is pure and simple. He wants to thwart anything and everything that has to do with the plan of God.

Period. That's his goal. That's his mission. That's what he wants. He wants to hinder the mission of salvation.

He wants to overthrow the mission of salvation. His intentions are evil. Yet even that evil assault operated under the sovereign will of the

Father. Go back to the Old Testament. The story of Joseph.

What his brothers intended for evil, God meant for good. What Satan intended for evil,

God meant for good. The wilderness here, the fact that Christ enters into the wilderness, carries with it some significance as well that we cannot just walk away from.

We have to address. And the reason that we need to address this truth is because it intentionally draws our mind back to the

Old Testament where Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea into the wilderness and we know that for 40 years they disobeyed.

And then even after 40 years they disobeyed. And again and again and again they fell to this temptation.

Christ passes through the waters of baptism. Moves into the wilderness.

This symbol of the domain of the world. And he stands where they could not.

Israel ultimately failed. Christ, the true

Israel, remained perfectly faithful.

As we study down through this passage, you'll note that this actually becomes more and more clear.

Every time that Christ responds to the enemy, he responds from the book of Deuteronomy.

The book of Deuteronomy was written and continuously reflects upon Israel's wilderness failures.

It reminds us over and over that they grumbled over hunger, they tested the Lord, they turned to idols.

But Christ refuses to grumble. He refuses to test. He refuses to worship.

Any but the Father. The Word of God is declaring to us.

It's declaring to all that Christ is the true and faithful Israel. The obedient son who succeeds where the nation, the covenant nation, failed.

Now, before we go, oh well that's just a nice coinkydink.

That's a cool biblical parallel you drew there. But it really doesn't have any substance to it.

The reality is that it actually reaches directly into the heart of the gospel. You see,

Christ doesn't stand in the wilderness merely as a private individual.

He stands in the wilderness as the representative head of his people.

He stands in the wilderness as your representative, as my representative, as the one who was obedient where I could not and you could not.

John Calvin wrote, Christ sustained temptation in our name that by his victory he might obtain triumph for us.

His triumph is our triumph. It belongs to his people because he acted on our behalf.

He triumphs where we failed so that his righteousness might be credited to all who trust in him.

And so let's look at these temptations. We see the first temptation occurs after a period of time, a very specific period of time, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights.

Then he became hungry. It's easy to dismiss this and just wipe it away, but the truth of the matter is it teaches us something about Christ.

The hunger that he felt was true, it was real. This is truly a man.

In his humanity, he felt hunger. He doesn't appear, just appear to be human.

He suffered hunger, he suffered weakness, he suffers the same things that you and I suffer.

In fact, in all ways except sin, his humanity was exactly like ours.

Spurgeon wrote, Our Lord Jesus Christ was as truly man as he was truly

God. His hunger was real hunger, his weariness was real weariness, his suffering was real suffering.

And it's at that point, it's at that moment, where Satan enters into the conversation, where this point of physical weakness is, he comes to him and says,

Well, if you are the Son of God, then command these stones to become bread.

This is way more than just hunger. This is the question.

If you are the Son of God, if you go back up into chapter 3, and you look at verse 17, and in chapter 3, verse 17 of the book of Matthew, we read,

And behold, there was a voice out of the heavens saying, This is my beloved

Son. Three verses later, the tempter says to Christ, If you are the

Son. You see, Satan's not just attacking the reality that Christ is hungry, that he has reached this point where he's weak, he's attacking what

God has proclaimed. He's attacking the very Word of God.

And if that doesn't sound familiar to you, it should. Because you see, that's the whole point.

That's the whole question. Go all the way back. What was the question that started all of it? Did God really say?

He says, If you are the Son of God.

An attack aimed at trusting the Word of God and the truth of the identity of Christ.

The suggestion that he gives seems reasonable. Hey, if you have divine power, if you truly are the

Son, you have divine power, so if you are the Son and you have the divine power, why not just turn some of these rocks into bread and have something to eat?

You're hungry, man. You've been without food for 40 days and 40 nights.

Listen. Some of us can't go 40 minutes. Christ has gone 40 days and 40 nights.

He's hungry. Some of us are sitting here right now going, man, is this dude going to shut up?

It's about lunchtime. And so the attack is at a place that, while it doesn't seem to be a sinful thing, it's attacking at a place where there's a weak point.

It's attacking at a place where food in and of itself is not a bad thing.

It's at a place where we all need sustenance to survive. God made us that way, and so if God made us that way, then why not just use your divine power, turn the rocks into some bread, have some bread, satisfy this momentary need, and no longer be hungry.

The temptation here lies in this idea that the Son should act independently from the will of the

Father. What is the will of the Father in this situation?

I'm so glad you asked. Matthew 4, verse 1, the Spirit led him up into the wilderness to be tested by the devil.

What is the will of the Father? To be tested by the devil, to be tempted by the devil, to go through this because you and I could not.

It was not to have food at that moment. He wanted

Christ to grasp relief apart from the dependence of God.

Often in our lives, this is exactly how temptation comes.

Non -sinful things, things that are lawful, legitimate desires are presented to us, and we are encouraged to pursue those legitimate desires, those lawful needs through illegitimate needs, or through illegitimate ways, or unlawful ways, to circumvent, to go around, to obtain them the way we think that they should be obtained, to act to satisfy outside of what

God has commanded. This deals with our trust.

This deals with the very basics of what it means to be a Christian.

Because apart from faith, we're not saved.

If you don't have faith, you aren't saved. Now, I'm not getting into a debate here about the level of your faith, or the fact that you are always faithful.

What I'm telling you is this. At the most basics, Christianity is about faith in Christ, that He is who

He says He is, that He is what the Word of God says He is, that this Word is true, God's Word is true,

God is true. And when we begin to circumvent that, we begin to chip it away at that trust.

And the pattern continues to pursue.

In our lives, it shows up as us pursuing things apart from God. Types of security, pleasure, provision.

We seek good things through forbidden means. Because what ultimately happens is we don't believe that obedience is sufficient or necessary.

There are oftentimes many teachings that are telling us that obedience is not necessary.

But God's Word teaches us the exact opposite. It's not obedience unto salvation, it's obedience as a result of salvation.

It's a very important distinction. Christ immediately responds.

And He responds from Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3. Moses reminds the people of Israel that God humbled them in the wilderness, and that He fed them manna so that they might learn dependence upon them.

Hopefully you recall that whole conversation, right? We went through that not long ago as we worked through the book of Exodus.

And how God made this provision for His people. He cared for His people. Unfortunately, Israel failed to learn the lesson.

Israel grumbled. Remember, they got tired of manna, they wanted meat.

They grumbled. They complained. They doubted His care.

Christ did not. John MacArthur points to the fact that Jesus refused to satisfy even a legitimate need by illegitimate means.

The issue here was not hunger, but obedience.

The issue was not that Christ wasn't really hungry. The issue was that would

He be obedient to the Word? Christ refuses to separate provision from obedience.

He will not use His power independently of the Father. He will not distrust

God's timing or His care, and He rests completely in the sufficiency of the

Father's Word. Paul Washer said in one of his sermons, the

Christian life is not merely about avoiding obvious evil. It is about trusting

God enough to obey Him even when disobedience appears easier and more reasonable.

Trusting Him even when disobedience appears easier and more reasonable.

Temptation here exposes false priorities of the world. You see, fallen man, we live as though bread alone is life.

You can go into any elementary classroom and you can talk to the kids about the necessities of life.

Ask them what the things are that we need to survive. The answers that you're going to get is food, shelter, clothing.

In that order. We have trained everyone to think that food is the absolute necessity of life.

And don't get me wrong, it is essential for biological living. God created the world that way. But this is beyond life on this earth.

This is an eternal question. This is moving from physical satisfaction or material provision, comfort, earthly security, to ultimate security.

To real life. Life depending upon the Word of God. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

That is how you truly live. That is how you are eternally sustained. It doesn't take away from the fact that you need sustenance.

It doesn't take away from the fact that after we get finished here this morning you need to go and you need to nourish your body and you need to do so in the right manner.

It doesn't remove all of those things. There is nowhere in Scripture does it say that this is unimportant stuff.

But what it says is that earthly needs cannot become ruling masters.

In other words, your hunger can't rule you. Your monetary security on earth cannot be your master.

In fact, the Word of God very plainly teaches you, you cannot serve two masters. It's not possible.

And as you give in to temptation, that's exactly what happens. True obedience to God must remain greater than earthly comfort.

And Christ's answer reveals the perfect trust of the Son. He does not need to go outside of the

Father's will to provide something to meet a temporary need. He does not need to go outside to prove the

Father's care by escaping hunger. He rests in the certainty of the Father's Word even in the midst of weakness, even in the midst of deprivation.

And so, the enemy tries again. As we move to the next passage, beginning in verse 5, it says,

Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. Now you remember, we had moved away from the center of religiosity.

If you recall, one of the things that we pointed out as we talked about John's preaching in the beginning of chapter 3 and the fact that he was baptizing at the

Jordan was that all of this was happening away from the center of religiosity in Jerusalem.

It was happening away from the center of power that was the religious stronghold at that time.

Now the enemy takes Christ back into the midst of that, puts him up on the temple.

And then, through an opposite or through a different method, he now seeks to tempt

Christ in a different manner. He says, Well, if physical needs aren't what you need, then let's talk about spiritual.

Let's talk about spiritual presumption. And notice again the attack.

The attack is not just attack on everything or that specific need.

The attack is, again, on the Word of God. If you are the Son of God, if you are what

God has proclaimed you to be, then you need to do these things. Again, it's focused on Christ's identity and trusting the

Father's Word. But then he adds a twist. And this is a twist that you need to take very good note of.

Because the twist is that he uses the Word of God to tempt the

Son of God. In fact, he cites here

Psalm 91. And he declares that God will command his angels concerning the righteous one and bear him up lest he strike his foot against the stone.

And you can all turn to Psalm 91. You can read these exact words. Notice a couple of things.

The portion of this passage, the reality that this is here, first of all, needs to remind us that Scripture can be twisted and misused.

Scripture can be twisted and misused. Satan uses the

Word of God. But he does so deceitfully. What he does is, in this particular place, he removes the promise from the intended purpose.

I'll give you a good example of a way he has done that very well in our world today.

Anything that you ask in my name, you will have it. The Word of God says that.

But what we have turned that into is name it and claim it. If you want it, just pray for it.

You've got enough faith, you'll get it. If you don't get it, it's because your faith wasn't strong enough. That's a lie of the devil.

Acceptance of that lie is sin. Because there, just like here in our passage, he is using it deceitfully.

He is removing that promise from its purpose, from what it actually is about, and shifting it and turning it into this reckless presumption.

J .C. Ryle, in 1865, wrote, It is no proof that a doctrine is sound, because it is supported by text of Scripture.

I want to repeat that for you, because I think this is one of those quotes that just literally falls on deaf ears a lot of the time.

It is no proof that a doctrine is sound, because it is supported by text of Scripture.

The devil can quote Scripture for his own purpose. Paul teaches us in the

New Testament to do what? Test. Brothers and sisters,

I invite you, I encourage you, and I would even say that you are commanded in Scripture to test everything that you hear.

And I don't care who says it. Even if it's me. And here's one thing

I'd go further and say, If you test something I say, and you find out that I was wrong, or it didn't line up with what

Scripture, I want a phone call. Because the purpose of us being here is to sharpen each other, and not let things like that lie.

This is a warning that is desperately needed.

False teaching arrives clothed in Biblical language. False teaching arrives clothed in Biblical language.

Wolves in sheep's clothing. Dressed in camouflage to fool.

To mislead, to misdirect, to twist, to distort.

It is easy to distort context. It is easy to ignore the whole counsel. It is easy to twist truth towards sinful ends.

Listen, just because they have a Bible verse, doesn't mean that they are actively or guaranteed that they are faithfully interpreting any of it.

Just because they have a store full of Biblical things, doesn't mean that they're Biblical. Just because they have a bumper sticker with an

Ithacus and a verse behind it, doesn't mean that they're a believer. Just because they have a life verse, doesn't mean that they really have life at all.

We must be wary. At the end of the day,

Satan's temptation here is basically throw yourself down publicly and force the

Father to respond. Proving. In our day, it's if we would maybe ask the question this way,

God, if you really exist, give me a sign. God, if you're really there, show me.

In other words, Satan is urging Christ to manipulate the promises of God into a spectacle for self -exaltation.

He tempts Christ to demand visible proof of this divine favor.

Throw yourself down. Show us that you are who you're supposed to be.

But you see, true faith never demands that God prove himself according to our terms.

True faith never says, God, if you truly exist, then you will do X, Y, Z on my list.

True faith trusts God while we walk in obedient submission. True faith says that,

God, you said it, I believe it, and I'm going to move forward. Even when it doesn't seem like it's real or true or that you're there,

I'm going to keep plowing and pushing and going because this is what you've promised.

How easy it is to throw in the towel, to give up when challenges come up.

You see, presumption, presuming upon God's favor, declaring this demand or demanding this response from God creates reckless situation.

It demands divine intervention. It opens up an opportunity, and Jesus answered again from Deuteronomy.

Again, back to this fallenness of Israel. He says, you shall not put the

Lord your God to test. This is Israel's sin at Massa where the people demanded proof that God was truly among them.

And if you'll recall, once they reached Massa, all before that, they had been continuously receiving all of these divine things that were going on around them, and yet they get here and say,

God, if you really are among us, show us. Demonstrate it.

Prove it. Christ refuses to fall prey to the same sin of Israel.

He refuses to demand signs from the Father. He refuses to manipulate divine promises for personal display.

R .C. Sproul writing says, to test God is to demand that he prove his trustworthiness according to conditions that we ourselves establish.

In other words, we want God to prove that he is trustworthy, that we can trust him by doing what we want him to do.

How very much alive and true that temptation is here today.

We constantly want visible proof. Let me tell you how much we constantly desire this.

We constantly desire this visible proof, these emotional experiences, these dramatic signs, these outward spectacles, so much so that we have made them a part of many churches.

The entirety of the church, and that's an air quote, by the way, because I would not define these as churches in many cases, but the entirety of them is built on the premise that God is not present unless he demonstrates himself so.

And here's what happened. Votibachum made this statement in one of his sermons, that we now have a generation addicted to signs and spectacles, and that they will eventually become vulnerable to deception because it has learned to crave experiences more than truth.

Because in the moment when God doesn't show up like we think he should or isn't visible like we think he ought to be, our faith is destroyed.

And I'm just going to tell you, if your faith is destroyed because God didn't show up when you thought he should have showed up, it shows that you had no faith at all because he was always there.

He didn't need to show up and show out. He didn't need to have a fallen -out session.

He didn't need to have a tongues revelation. He didn't need to have a running -across -the -pew,

Holy Spirit -filled thing happening because what that does is says to us, well, that's norm.

Now we've got to have it. And if it's not there, then it's not Christianity. It's not true faith. It's not real.

And these churches will literally tell you that. Oh, well, you know what? If you don't have, you know, amen, if you can't talk in tongues, you aren't saved.

You don't have enough faith. Your faith is not real. But this temptation also demonstrates something significant to us about the ministry of Christ himself.

It shows us that Christ refused to build his kingdom through sensationalism.

Man, we build earthly kingdoms through sensationalism all the time now, don't we? Light shows, fog machines, preachers flying in on wires.

Man, riding roller coasters on the stage. All to attract.

All to pull in and build an earthly kingdom. Christ doesn't gain followers by manipulating crowds.

Christ's kingdom was and is and will forever be established through truth, through obedience, through suffering, through redemption.

The one who could have commanded angels refuses to misuse this promise for self -glory.

Instead, he waits upon the will of the Father. And then finally, we come to the third temptation.

We tried hunger. We tried this temptation of physical weakness.

We tried this temptation of spiritual presumption. And now, it says in verse 8,

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

And he offered them to Christ. And he offered them on one condition.

The condition that he but fall down and worship Satan. Now, for a lot of years,

I understood this temptation only in part. I understood that he was asking

Christ to worship Satan. I understood that he was offering him all the kingdoms of the world.

But I literally missed how horrific this truly is.

Because what he demands from Christ, what he demands that he give is something that belongs to God and God alone.

Worship this creature.

Because make no mistake, that's what

Satan is. He is a creature. This creature demands worship from the

Creator. This creature demands worship from the

Creator. But alongside that, what he also demands or what he also promises or leaves subtly in this temptation is this promise that all of the nations would be

Christ's. Well, if you turn to Psalm 2, and you just read

Psalm 2, you'll find out real quick that all the nations have already been promised. That Psalm 2 declares the

Messiah will inherit the ends of the earth. It's not a matter of will

Christ reign. It's a matter of when Christ reigns and how

Christ will reign. It was necessary to go through the life, the death, the resurrection, all of these things to arrive at that point.

The Father's path, the Father's path to inheriting all of these things lie in a place that led through suffering, through rejection, through humiliation, ultimately through the cross itself.

You see, what Satan was offering Christ was the crown without the cross.

A .W. Pink noted that this temptation was to secure the crown without enduring the cross to obtain the inheritance without fulfilling the appointed path of obedience and suffering.

Doesn't that fulfill the heart of every sinful desire? What do we want in life?

We want to obtain glory without the obedience. We want to get there without holiness.

We want to have the reward. We just don't want to submit. We want our kingdom, but we do not want to take up our cross and follow

Christ. This is what Satan is tempting him with.

He's still tempting it to you and I today. He's still tempting the world with this same thing.

If you will but follow me, I will give you everything that your heart desires. Excuse me.

We phrase that a little differently in the world today. We say, hey, what does your heart tell you?

Trust that. Scripture says the heart is deceitful above all else.

So maybe not trust that. Calvin would make the statement many times that the heart was an idle factory.

So maybe not trust the idle factory. Christ though again will not bow.

He answers with authority. Go Satan.

Just leave. You're done. This is finished. I'm not giving in.

You understand I'm here not for the battle. I'm here for the war and I'm taking it all.

But he again turns back to Deuteronomy. Where he says, you shall worship the

Lord your God and serve Him only. Again, Israel we see throughout the Old Testament, but we see over and over and over and over that they repeatedly return to idols.

They repeatedly return and worship things other than the Creator. They repeatedly seek anyone and anything but God.

And where they fail, Christ succeeds.

Christ triumphs. Christ remains perfectly devoted to the

Father alone. At the heart of every temptation, at the heart of every temptation that you will encounter lies the issue of worship.

Last week you had a whole message about worship. At the heart of every temptation you will face is that issue.

Who will you worship? Who will you submit to? Who will you bow to?

It's not a question of will you worship. You will worship. Everyone will worship.

The question is who will you worship? You see sin is not just an outward behavior.

It manifests itself in an outward behavior, but it flows from a heart. That heart that you remember when we talked about being filled with deceitfulness that was an idol factory.

So again, maybe not trust a deceitful idol factory for your decisions. I watched a

TV show the other day. Literally this lady put her hands in the life of a Magic 8 ball. Every major decision she made.

She shook the Magic 8 ball. She looked at what it said. She did what it suggested. I know that sounds crazy to us, but what do you think you're doing when you trust your heart?

Because literally your heart is going to move in the whims of whatever is going on around you. You're going to go in the direction of your strongest desire, and that changes moment by moment.

R .C. Sproul wrote, The essence of sin is idolatry. Every act of disobedience arises because something has displaced

God from the throne of our heart. Christ's obedience stands in an absolute contrast to fallen humanity.

His worship is pure. His devotion is pure. It's undivided. His love for the

Father is perfect, and therefore Satan cannot move him.

This reality of this steadfastness of Christ points us directly at the cross.

Because it is because of that obedience, because of that steadfastness, because of that desire to perfectly obey the will of the

Father, that he willingly goes to the cross. He refuses to shortcut because he came to accomplish redemption according to the

Father's will. Christ will receive the nations, but not at the hand of Satan.

Not as a result of compromise. He receives them through obedience, through suffering, through death, through resurrection, and ultimately exaltation.

And as evidence of this, in this passage we have the last verse.

And what's interesting about the last verse is, something happens, but not because Christ asked for it.

Verse 10, or verse 11, excuse me. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and began to minister to him.

The devil leaves. Christ says, Satan, go! And he goes.

He has no choice. He has been defeated.

He leaves. And then as he leaves, the

Son, who is victorious, receives angels, who will strengthen and minister to him.

But you notice that he doesn't call them. Now if you'll recall, if you go back up, remember he said, jump off this pinnacle, and the angels will catch you.

Basically he's saying, you'll call them to yourself by doing this, because they're not going to let you fall and bust your head, and this spectacle will prove to everyone.

But yet, what we see is this place. As Satan departs, the angels come in.

They minister. They're obedient. Christ refused to command stones into bread for sustenance, yet we see the

Father sustaining him. He refused to throw himself from the temple to force that angelic intervention, yet they came at the proper time.

He refused the kingdoms offered by Satan, but yet all authority in heaven and on earth would be given to him.

The Father's timing is, was, and always shall be perfect.

Satan, on the other hand, continually urges immediate gratification through unlawful shortcuts.

God calls on his people to trust through obedience. Just be obedient.

Just trust in him. Spurgeon observed, Our Lord conquered by the sword of the

Spirit, which is the Word of God, three times, three times he said, it is written, this proved sufficient.

This proved sufficient. This, in the hands of the obedient servant, was sufficient to thwart

Satan. This, in your hands, this is your sword.

This is your shield. This is everything that you need. This is why we encourage you to spend time in the

Word. This is why, as part of this body, we expect you to study.

I was having a conversation earlier and we were talking about, you know, that in some church, it's not like they tell you don't do it, but it's not encouraged.

We encourage you to do it. We want you to open it. We want you to read it. We want you to study it. We want you to question.

We want you to ask. We want you to understand the

Word, but at the same time, understand that this passage points beyond instruction.

It points towards redemption. It points to a place where this is not just the method that Christ used, but the fact that He stands obedient as the representative head of His people to supply a righteousness that we cannot.

Hebrews tells us that Christ was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.

Therefore, He is both the righteous King and the compassionate High Priest.

He understands temptation fully, not because He yielded to that temptation, but because He endured its full assault without surrendering.

Spurgeon again said, because He Himself hath suffered being tempted,

He is able to succor them that are being tempted. That's a word we don't use very often anymore.

Succor, right? We hear succor and you think S -U -C -K -E -R, right? Like one's born every day?

But this is about sustaining. This is S -U -C -C -O -U -R. This is about providing for.

This is about caring for. This is about giving what is needed.

The comfort that is needed for struggling believers. You don't become before a distant

Savior that's untouched by suffering. He understands. He knows.

He has endured the wilderness. He's endured that place.

He's endured that darkness. He's experienced that test.

He's gone through that trial. He has faced that enemy and He has triumphantly overcome.

And because it's His victory, and because your righteousness is

His righteousness, you have overcome. This is the revelation of a victorious king standing in the wilderness.

An obedient son that triumphed where Israel failed, where Adam failed. But this is not just an inspirational hope you feel better conversation.

This is a redemptive one. This is to understand that Christ obeyed on our behalf.

That He fulfilled righteousness for us who could never, never, never fulfill it for themselves.

The one who would ultimately bear the curse of sin that Calvary first proved

Himself. To be the spotless and obedient Lamb. What does that mean for today?

What it means is that sinners must look away from themselves and look to Christ alone.

Because our hope is not in our ability to fight off temptation.

Our hope rests in the one who has resisted perfectly.

Our righteousness is not grounded, thank God, in our obedience.

It is grounded in His obedience. That doesn't excuse our disobedience.

That doesn't excuse us falling into temptation. We are to stand and work to be obedient.

We are to resist temptation. But what that means is when we fail, not if, when we fail,

He is already perfectly obeyed. He is already perfectly resisted. He is already obtained that righteousness which is necessary for us to stand before the

Father. And because of that, because of that we can fully trust

Him. We can worship Him gladly. We can follow Him faithfully. That you and I can resist

Satan by depending upon the Word of God. And that we can have confidence in the finished work so that when we fail to resist, we're still held in the hands of the

Master. Trust Him fully.

Worship Him gladly. Follow Him faithfully. For the

King has triumphed over the tempter. And because He has triumphed, you and I triumph in Him.

Let us pray. Gracious Father, we thank

You for the perfect obedience of Christ. We thank You that even where Adam failed, where Israel failed,

Christ stood firm. Where we fail, Christ stands firm.

Father, teach us to rest upon Him alone. Strengthen us through Your Word against temptation and the trusting of ourselves.

Father, that we would become people who live by Your Word. Who would refuse this presumption.

People who would reject worldly glory. Who would seek to worship You and You alone.

Father, when we are weak, remind us that we have a Savior who was tempted, yet without sin.

A Savior who right now, at this very moment, intercedes on behalf of His people.

we ask all of these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.