Seeing The Real Temptation

Introduction

Please return your Bibles this evening to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew, the fourth chapter. It is a blessing to be with you tonight. To come back together at the end of a day in which we’ve been able to worship the Lord and to study and to pray to even remember the great sacrifice of the Son of God. And at the end of this day, to be able to gather together with saints and with brethren in Christ. Thank you so much for being here. When you are facing temptation, what is really going on? I think most of us as Christians think we know what’s going on. In a very immediate real-time way right now, this is happening. I have to make a choice. But that is only part of what is going on.

What is really taking place? What truly hangs in the balance every time we are tempted to sin? What is the real cause and energy behind the temptation? Not only in the physical realm in time, but when we talk about the spiritual realm, which we as Christians believe in, what all is involved. There are two major thoughts I want to share with you tonight. There are two major things that are going on every time you are tempted, every time I’m tempted to sin. First of all, when it comes to temptation, there is always more at stake than what we think is at stake. Always. And secondly, our ability, and I really want you to chew on this a little bit. Our ability to overcome the temptation to sin is rooted in and has everything to do with our confidence in the Lord.

Those two things. There’s always more at stake than what we might think or what we do think. And number two, temptation to sin on the part of the wicked one is an attack on the intensity of your faith and confidence in God and trust in God. Now, somebody may come along and say, well, wait a minute. What about self-control? I thought that self-control, every sermon we ever hear about temptation rightly emphasizes self-control. And the Bible spends a lot of time talking about the ability to restrain ourselves and the discipline of restraining ourselves. And there’s no denial that even as we think about the fruit of the Spirit, that’s one of the qualities produced in the life of the one who is serving the Lord. Self-control. And that’s true.

But even when you talk about self-control, we have to understand that has to do with my confidence in God. That is a byproduct of my faith and confidence and trust in the Lord. The person who genuinely trusts God will develop this quality. There’s no doubt about it. I think that’s Paul’s real point in Galatians chapter 5, by the way, versus the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. So while self-control is very important, I think sometimes that’s the only aspect of dealing with temptation. And people get the idea, well, I’m just going to, by my own strength, deal with this. No, you won’t. Now, there’s going to have to be concentration and devotion and strength on your part. There’s no doubt about that.

1. The Connection Between Christ's Temptations and Ours

But it is rooted and grounded in your reliance upon God. And in this battle between good and evil, that is really what is at stake. We’re going to deal with the temptation of Christ, or at least draw from, I will say, from Matthew chapter 4, the temptation of Christ. Some principles, some truths about temptation itself. And so at the very beginning, what I would like for us to do is simply think about, I think, a vital question, and that is, what connection is there between Christ’s temptations and ours? Is there any relationship at all between Jesus’ temptation and our temptation? When you go to Matthew chapter 4 and verse 1, there is an interesting introduction to this section. You will recall that in Matthew 3, Jesus, or it’s recorded that Jesus had been baptized.

And of course, he did not have any sin to be revived. He was perfect and he was sinless. But it did point, I think, toward his purpose and his ministry. And we have this declaration by the Father that this is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased. And that’s recorded in Matthew chapter 3. And then as we come into Matthew 4, right after that, notice what the scripture says in introduction to this momentous and very significant record of Christ’s confrontation with Satan. In Matthew 4 and verse 1, the scripture says, then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Do you know that there was a divine purpose in the temptation of Christ? One writer that I read caught my attention.

He said, most people think that Jesus was cornered by Satan, but actually Satan was cornered by Jesus. And I like that. And my point is not that Jesus didn’t have a struggle here in temptation, but my point is this. And that is that this confrontation is beneficial to us. It’s profitable to us, and it was a necessary thing according to the purpose of God to show Christ’s superiority over the wicked one. Matthew, as we read, simply says, Jesus was led up of the Spirit in Matthew’s account. Lu Christ, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness. And subsequent to that, we read that he returned in the power of the Spirit. That’s in Luke chapter 4, verse 14. So you see this relationship between the Father and the Son and the Spirit.

But Mark’s account to me is one that, and that’s the way, when you read the book of Mark, it’s the shortest of the accounts of the gospel. And Mark, you’ve got to like Mark. I mean, this guy’s rapid fire under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It’s action after action after action. You know, Matthew will have these narratives, and there’s an element of explaining what’s going on. But Mark is just boom. But when you read Mark, he can also be very forthright and very blunt. And sometimes we like blind. And so instead of just saying Jesus was led by the Spirit or guided by the Spirit, all those are good expressions by other inspired writers. Notice what he said. He says the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness.

You see that? Yes, he was led by the Spirit full of the Holy Ghost. But it says he was driven. That indicates purpose to me. In fact, this is the same word that is used of evil spirits being driven out. The Holy Spirit is driving the Son of God into the wilderness. So the term highlights the demand and the insistence of heaven. The idea is that it must be. This must be. So it wasn’t happenstance. You know, it wasn’t as if Jesus just happened to be in the wilderness and Satan shows up at the right place at the right time or wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your perspective. That’s not how this goes down. This was according to the purpose of God. Why is this critical for us as we think about this connection?

It’s beneficial to us, I think, for several reasons, but one of the first things that I’ve implied is this, and that is that it reveals and exposes strategic information about how Satan approaches us. It gives us as much, if not more, information about how Satan approached Jesus as it does how Jesus dealt with Satan. We actually have in this record, we don’t always take advantage of it, but we have in this record a behind the scenes view of how Jesus overcomes his temptations, how Satan approached Christ, and the ways in which we can lose traction in the process of temptation by not following the example of the Son of God. Douglas MacArthur, General MacArthur, said the greater the knowledge of the enemy, the greater the potential for victory.

And here we have it. Whether Satan realized what was going on or not, Jesus gives us all this. The Lord, the Holy Spirit gives us all this strategic information. It gives us insight into the process of temptation, and that’s vital. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11. Deals with the fact that this is a spiritual conflict. We have to understand when we are being tempted, it’s not just the choice that we see, but there are spiritual implications. 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 11, the apostle Paul there would tell us not to give the wicked one an advantage over us by being ignorant of his methods. Where better can you find out about his methods? It’s certainly not the only place. But here you have the Son of God fighting off Satan and overcoming him.

Do you see why it says he was driven into the wilderness? Why this was part of the plan and the purpose of God? Again, we learn that there is always more at stake than what we might think, and the devil always attacked our confidence in God. Always. James, and we don’t have time to flesh all of this out, but I’m sure you’ve noticed in your study, James, when he describes temptation in James chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, uses really the metaphor or the idea of a conception process regarding temptation and then sin being born. And really, when you think about the idea of enticement there, sometimes when we think of the word lust, we automatically think of something evil. And there is a sense in which that word can mean that.

In Ephesians 2, he talks about lust there in a very negative and evil way. But the same word is also used of Christ, when he would say, I have desired, it’s strong desire to eat his supper with you. Or Paul, when he says, I’ve desired to be with Christ, which is far better. My point to you is in James 1, it is not a sin to be tempted to sin. You follow me? It is a sin in my seeking or in my action to give in to this enticement. Satan entices me to fulfill legitimate desires, hunger, thirst, sexual desire. Those aren’t inherently sinful. But he tries to entice us to fulfill those outside, whether through how we think or how we act, outside of the parameters of God’s plan for us, and when we give into that, then we have sin.

One of the reasons that’s borne out in James chapter 1 is you’ll notice that I believe it’s in verse 15, he describes the conception, the coming together of desire and Satan’s enticement, whether it’s a thought or action. And he says, when that happens, sin is born. You can’t have sin before sin is born. His point is, this is a process. And what James is doing, he’s saying, look, this process is going on. You have to recognize what’s going on.

In addition to that, this is beneficial to us because we see the compassion of our Lord. Turn your Bibles to the book of Hebrews. We’ll come back to Matthew 4. But I want to note a couple of passages with you. Hebrews chapter 2, and talking about the priesthood of Christ, after the Hebrew writer has emphasized the deity and the greatness of the Son of God. He says in Hebrews 2, and in verse 9, he was made lower than the angels, that he might taste death for every man. But in verse 17, therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

For since he himself was tempted in that which he suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Now don’t tell me there’s not a connection here.

And in verse 14, therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, and I love the balance of this language. Jesus, the Son of God. So you see him holding up the greatness of him. He’s passed through the heavens. There’s exaltation. Here’s divinity. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. And then in verse 16, because of it says, Let us draw near. And so there’s a connection there. There’s a benefit in this record. We could notice other passages. God walked among us, God became flesh. Emmanuel, God with us, the word became flesh.

By the way, that doesn’t mean he just put on a suit of clothes and pretended to be human for a while. The idea of the incarnation is that he, without ceasing to be who he had always been, became flesh. Christ’s temptation proves something else to us and benefits us. It gives us hope. We fall short. But Jesus was sinless. But it shows us we can resist. James chapter 4 says, resist the devil, and he will do what? He will flee from it. Where do you see that most clearly exhibited and demonstrated? But in the life of Christ. It says he left him for a season. Doesn’t mean he’ll never try again. But we can overcome. Yet without sin. And while we’re here, let me say this.

The Lord’s intention was not only to free us from the burden of past sins, but to free us from the dominion of sin. Now that doesn’t mean the faithful Christian never makes a mistake, but what I’m saying to you is this idea that somehow we continue to be slaves of sin after we’ve been transformed and redeemed and converted and renewed is not the idea of Scripture that I can find in Romans chapter 6. When he talks about that old man of sin dying and the new man being raised to walk in newness of life. Certainly we fall short from time to time. Okay, so we see these benefits, but what do we really see in this temptation? Let’s think a little bit further because we’re going to we’re going to go to the temptation record in a minute and draw some of these things.

But what do we really see in Jesus’ temptation? Satan tempted Jesus to meet a legitimate God given need in the wrong way. Secondly, Satan tempted Jesus to presume on God. Thirdly, Satan tempted Jesus to take a shortcut in doing what seemed to be a good thing, and that is his purpose. If he didn’t just come out and say, look, just forget about the purpose, that’s not what he does. But what was behind all of these temptations? And you’re going to hear this over and over. So if you don’t like repetition, not a good night for you. But repetition is important on this one. Again, when we look at Jesus, you have to ask, and sometimes we don’t, we have to ask, what is behind these temptations?

2. Always More at Stake Than What You Think

When you read the words that we’re told came from Satan, just the words themselves. And you don’t think about the context and you don’t think the background, and you don’t think about the strategy behind what he was doing, you’re not going to understand what he’s really trying to do with the Lord. And if you don’t go further in your understanding of your temptations, you likewise won’t get it. Secondly, in all of these things, Satan sometimes rather subtly, and sometimes very forthright, is chipping away. Chipping away, chipping away, or at least trying to regarding Jesus’ confidence in his Father. Now there are three things. Let’s come back to us for a moment. I told you there’s always more at stake than what you might think. You might think of other things, but I’ve got three things in my mind that are always at stake when you’re tempted to sin.

Your future, the future of your family and loved ones, and your faith. Your confidence in God. Always.

Yet the truth is the choice is a lot bigger than that. It’s like the domino effect. See, Satan doesn’t have to get every choice. He’s just got to get one here and there. Because it’s like hitting that first domino. Once you hit that first domino without repentance and redemption and forgiveness, they just kind of keep falling. And eventually that grows into a pattern of behavior. And some people get so far off. So many dominoes have fallen. So many bad choices. They’ve lost confidence in the Lord. And now, really, what we would term big things start falling. I mean, the dominoes just get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. But it began with an initial decision that in the circumstance didn’t seem like it was that big of a deal.

This is the tension between. I know I’m about to date myself. I remember when preachers used to talk about teenagers, and I used to always think you are so old. But here we go. This is part of the tension on occasion between teenagers because they’re trying to gain some independence and need to gain some independence. And their mom and dad are hoping they can continue to raise them in the nursery and admonition of the Lord, and they know the time, the windows get really close here. And so they feel that pressure. And their son or daughter, they feel that pressure. And maybe there’s a decision that to this young Christian, to this young person, doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. I mean, yeah, I made a bad choice, and I wish I hadn’t made that choice, but mom and dad are just losing it over this.

I mean, I don’t get it. Because mom and dad are not just seeing that choice. They’re looking at all the dominoes that are going to fall or can fall. And they’re seeing this. It’s almost as if you’re standing in the middle of some railroad tracks, which I understand are not far from the church building here, by the way. And, you know, your parents and people that love you see this train coming, and you’re acting like you don’t even know where you’re standing. And so they’re overreacting to you. They just need to calm down. It was one bad choice. It wasn’t a big deal, but they see the consequences. And Lord willing, someday you’ll be in their place and you’ll have your kids and you’ll be in their mind overreacting.

Oh, for parents that would overreact nowadays. But do you see how you can have a trigger of a series of events? See, when Satan comes to Jesus, he knows if he can get Christ to fail, it’s going to affect the future. It’s not just now, it’s the future. Secondly, it’s going to affect the future of someone you love. How many people struggle in their spiritual life because they had a parent who was self-indulgent and self-absorbed and didn’t care about their family or the Lord or anything else, and there were consequences for that child. Maybe it was an abusive home or a dysfunctional home or something like that. How many parents have been hurt by children who never considered the impact and the influence their choices were going to have?

But it’s going to affect your faith too. Every time you sin, Satan is chipping away your confidence in God. And you must say, no, not me. I’m okay. No. Sin damages your relationship with God, your accountability with the Lord, your fellowship with the Savior. Those of you who have in the past maybe left the Lord and come back, or maybe you haven’t completely come back, or those that were trying to serve that have left the Lord. I’m going to try to give this in short form.

In all probability. For some profound philosophical question. Oh, you say that now. And you in your mind are, we’re going to come back to this, tinkering around, we might say, with big philosophical questions and theological questions and all of that. Do I really believe in God? Am I going to be an atheist? Am I going to be an agnostic? Am I going to be something else? Can I be a part of a religious practice that puts no measures of accountability upon me whatsoever? Yeah, that sounds really good. And then they say, well, you know what happened to me? I just thought myself, I did too much thinking. And in your mind now it sounds so good to say, I have intellectualized myself out of being a member of the Lord’s church.

Okay. But that’s not why you left.

That’s not why you broke ties.

The reason you left, the reason you broke ties because you rebelled.

We can behave ourselves out of belief in God. And then after that happens, we come up with some thought, some philosophy, some doctrine. That makes me feel better. Do you see what Satan has done. Satan has shattered your faith. And so now the idea of not believing in God is I don’t really want God. Now, what we have to learn to do is this. I must say, Satan. You don’t get my future, you don’t get my family, and you don’t get my faith. Is there a place for questions? We talked about that this morning, yes. Those three things, those are for me and the Lord. Those are for me in Christ. Now, that’s just the background. With that considerate consideration, let’s go to Matthew chapter 4.

3. The Real Force of the First Temptation

Thinking about all of that, I want us now to come into Matthew, the fourth chapter. In Matthew chapter 4, let’s think about the force, the real force of this first temptation. If I asked you, what was the first temptation? What would you say?

I see a yard. Which one was it? I knew that one. In Matthew’s account. It has to do, of course, with turning stones to bread. And we learn to fill in that blank. Well, he tempted him to turn stones to bread. And that would be true on a surface level, and that’s certainly what the record indicates. But there’s temptation behind that. It’s not just about the bread and the stones and the powers and all that. Is it? Yes, Jesus had been fasting. He had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. There are two other fasts of this length recorded in Scripture. One by Moses, the other by Elijah. And I don’t think the Bible here explicitly says why he was fasting, but I would think often fasting and prayer are associated with each other in Scripture.

And I think he was preparing for this confrontation as well as his ministry. And so I don’t think he just happened to be fasting. He’s focused on service to his Father. What would that imply about Jesus? Well, it would imply that he’s depending and trusting, depending upon and trusting in his Father. Matthew chapter 4. After verse 1, the scripture says, 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. What is Satan really trying to do? Now, this is a legitimate need to be hungry normally.

But listen to me. What he’s trying to do is to get the servant, Messiah, to step out of his role as servant. If you read the book of Isaiah, you’ll recall that the idea of servant is used sometimes about Israel, who wasn’t always a good servant, and then and other has application to other folks, but primarily when you get in those messianic sections, servants talking about who? Who’s the prophesying about? The servant Messiah, Jesus. For instance, Isaiah 53 is prophesying about Christ. He’s to be a servant. And so he comes to Jesus, and here Christ would have been so hungry, but he’s really trying to get him to get out of his role as a servant. So what was the real question for Christ? Will God really take care of me?

Have you ever had that thought in your mind? You have, haven’t you? Have you ever had that question? I don’t know if God’s really going to take care of me. You see the implied challenge to Jesus’ confidence in his Father. See, Satan always is coming after your confidence. And listen to me. Do you think Satan really questioned whether or not Jesus was the Son of God? I don’t. The devils knew who he was. Do you remember when some folks tried to exert power that they didn’t have a right to? And the demons said, Jesus, we know, and Paul, you know, we know, but you we don’t know. We don’t recognize this from you. James says that the demons believe and tremble. That’s more than some people I know.

But they don’t submit to him. They don’t submit to his sovereign authority. They don’t obey him. And so Satan knows who he is. Jesus, I don’t think Jesus is questioning who he is. He knows he’s the son of God. So it’s, you might want to read, it’s a rhetorical challenge. It’s more like, since you’re the son of God. In other words, Jesus, what good is it for you to have divine power? Think about it. Here, you’re going to feed the hungry. You’re going to feed the multitudes. You’re the son of God. You’ve got all this divine power, and you’ve gone without eating for 40 days, and you can’t even feed yourself. Do you see Satan’s wrapping on this package? I mean, what kind of father would not want you to be able to use power to eat yourself?

This sounds so reasonable. Satan always seems reasonable. I mean, what good is supernatural divine power if you cannot use it to feed yourself. There’s intensity of desire, there’s no doubt about that. He was very hungry. Satan always attacks when we’re hungry. And it wouldn’t have been that hard. I mean, you’re talking about the Son of God here. How hard is it to turn stones to bread? I mean, it’s an easy solution here.

So this wasn’t just about being hungry and about food. The underlying temptation was significant. I’ve heard people who have committed heinous sins, go into defense mode and say, I deserve better than this. Am I the only one that’s ever heard anybody say? I deserve better than this marriage. I deserve better than this relationship. I deserve better than what this local church offers me. I deserve better. I deserve better. I deserve so much better. You know you don’t have a penitent person when you’re hearing that stuff come out of it. You know, we usually say, Well, I’m really sorry I did this, but I deserve so much better. Just forget the part, I’m really sorry that I did this.

Jesus replied, look there in Matthew 4. All of these come from Deuteronomy, interestingly, the book about the law of God. Jesus’ replied to this temptation.

In Matthew 4, which was really, are you going to trust God? I mean, this is the God your servant? This is your Father. Don’t you deserve better than this, Jesus? Was I’m going to trust God at His promises. But notice in all of these, he says, it is written. He uses that three times. He perfectly wields the sword of the Spirit. But he quotes from Deuteronomy 8 3. I want you to turn your Bibles back to Deuteronomy. You know, when you’re studying the New Testament and you have a citation of Old Testament Scripture, you need to go back and look at that Old Testament scripture. Because Christ, you have the quotation here, the citation, but Christ knows the whole context of this. And the context is important.

And so here he is, he’s saying, Don’t you deserve better? I know you’re hungry. Why don’t you take care of yourself? Deuteronomy chapter 8 is a context surrounding this verse that speaks to God’s desire that Israel not be self-reliant but dependent on the Lord. Read with me. Verse 1 mentions obeying all the commandments of God. Verse 2, you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 days, that he might listen, humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments. You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 days, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart.

Whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In verse 5, thus you were to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. God does care for you. God does love you. There is a reason for you receiving the manna. And there’s a reason for your experiences. You can’t trust in yourself. You must trust in God. Satan, it worked with Israel. They would panic in unbelief in these situations.

But with Christ it did not work. The language, it is written actually originally means it stands written. This passage was over 1,500 years old. I hear people today talk about how antiquated the Bible is in old fashioned, it doesn’t do any good. Can’t any principles for current modern day living anymore. Christ thought you could.

4. Satan Tempted Jesus to Presume on God

Doesn’t Satan do the same thing with us today? Tries to get us to operate out of fear and panic and not trust God. Matthew 4, verses 5 through 7. Let’s go back there. You’ve got to give Satan his due here. He could have just said, Well, that didn’t work. He’s not like Israel. Why try? But that’s not him. He regroups, you might say, and says, you know, I’m going to adjust myself. Satan is a great observer. I don’t believe Satan is divine. I know he’s not. But I think he is a very prudent observer of how we respond. And he gets information from how we respond. In Matthew 4, after Jesus has replied the way he has, that I’m going to trust God in his promises.

And Christ quotes Scripture, verse 5. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the Son of God, there goes that challenge language again. Throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you. And on their hands they will bear you up. So that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Do you see what he’s doing? Now listen. This is the stuff that works with people that are professing to be spiritual. Professing to be faithful, you know. Got the quotation of Scripture, and Satan says, Oh, he wants to quote Scripture. I can quote Scripture. You want to play the quoting game? Okay. So look at what he does.

He tries to take Christ’s strength. What was his strength? His reliance on God. He tries to take his strength, his reliance on God, and use that reliance on God as a temptation, but he’s got to slide something else in. And the something else is pride. So he takes something that would be a good thing, reliance on God and reliance on the scripture, a quotation of scripture, and he says, look, okay, show us all how much you really want to rely on your Father. Show us, Jesus. And so here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to demonstrate this. Since you’re the Son of God and you really believe in your Father and you trust your Father, show us how much. In fact, the scripture says that he’ll give his angels charge concerning you.

He’ll command it. Can you imagine? Jesus, right before he hits the bottom, all these angels come sweeping down. Can you imagine how sensational? I mean, that’s got to be in the newspaper. That’s all over there.

He tries to use our strength against us. Can you imagine trying to trip up the Son of God with his word? You got to quite earn to try that one. But he tried. What was he doing, though? Was it really about the jump? He was trying to get Jesus, listen, to presume on God.

Now we do this one all of the time. We’ll come back to that. What passage is being discussed here? The devil quotes from Psalms 91. Turn back to Psalms 91. Psalms 91. This is what Satan is actually quoting from to Christ. But you know, we need to go look at the context. Now, I will say this to you that Satan does not, and I want you to hear me clearly, he does not inaccurately recite that passage. But he does inaccurately apply the passage. You got me? So the words coming out, they’re all in the right order. But the context is completely distorted and ignored. Those who deal somewhat with logic will call this the error of the fallacy of the general rule. And here’s how it works.

You take a general rule, we’re going to read it in just a moment, Psalms 91. You take that general rule out of his context and you apply it to a specific situation that the general rule really doesn’t apply to. And so in doing that, you’re perverting. People do that. And so here he is in Psalms 91. The 91st Psalm is about God’s care for the faithful. Look at verse 1. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Is that what Satan wants Jesus to do? Is dwell in the shadow of the Almighty? I don’t think so. He’s trying to get him over on his side. He says, as we go further, I will say to the Lord, verse 2, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

He’s trying to give Jesus not to trust in God. And yet he’s saying, well, after all, Jesus, he promises you this. And when you finally get down, you could read all of Psalms 91. It’s a general rule, a general promise. But as you think about Psalms 91, he’s trying to get Christ to test or taunt God. Now I want you to go back to Matthew chapter 4.

Jesus replied to this temptation to try to get him to presume on God’s will. Was no, I’m not going to presume on God’s will. I’m going to stand on what he has said. On what he’s actually said. I’m not going to try to anticipate, well, if I do this, then God will do that. I’m not presuming on God. I’m going to stand on his word. And in doing that, he quotes from Deuteronomy 6.16, which says, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Massa. Now, what’s interesting about Satan is had he read past Psalms 91 and gone to Psalms 95, Psalms 95 is a psalm that condemns God’s people for testing or taunting him, which is the thing he’s actually trying to get Jesus to do.

If you want a psalm that applies to what he’s trying to do with Jesus in the second temptation in the book of Matthew in chapter 4, then you could read Psalms 95. And God says, the reason you didn’t enter into my rest is because you were testing me. You were provoking me. You were taunting me. But he goes to a psalm that doesn’t apply. People do this all the time. They go to Scripture to get from Scripture something you can’t get from Scripture. Although Israel had witnessed one mighty act after another mighty act, they had been unbelieving and would continue to say, Is the Lord among us or not? And then test him and taunt him. Psalms 91 is dealing with the faithful being cared for by their God.

Do you know? I’ve heard Christians. We have code words. I don’t know if you didn’t know that. We presume a lot on God. We try to negotiate with God. You’ve never done that, have you? You’ve never said, no, God. If you will give me this, then I will give you that. You’ve never done that. Have you ever heard somebody do this?

We’re a little bit more spiritual than that. So maybe that one doesn’t work for you. Let’s try this one. Well, I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. This is a really bad idea. And we haven’t thought about this, and there’s not a lot of scriptural principle behind it. And I don’t know of any biblical authority behind it, but we’re just going to step out on faith and trust that God will be there for us. So let me get this straight. This is a bad idea. It’s an unbiblical idea. It’s an unauthorized idea. But you’re presuming you can manipulate, negotiate with, and bargain with the God of heaven. Yep, that’s what you were presuming. See, that’s satanic. And if you if you do very much studies with pagan gods, paganism, idolatry, you know, the real bad stuff.

Bell and all this stuff. That’s how they work. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s idolatry. It’s not conditions of faith and trust in God. That is a pagan deity that has more human characteristics than it does divine. That’s paganism. That’s not Christianity. That’s not the God of the Bible. It’s just not. He is to be glorified and honored. And his children do not come to him with doubting, but they come to him with surrender. And they have the words of Jesus on their lips where they say, Not my will, but thy will be done. If this is your will, we pray that, and it’s the right thing to pray. If this is your will, but if it’s not your will, you defeat us. You defeat me in this.

5. The Father's Will Without Sacrifice

Satan tried this with the Lord and it didn’t work. He refused to test or manipulate or pursue on God. And then our final occurrence of temptation here, Matthew 4. Satan kind of comes in a full frontal assault now. Notice what the temptation is.

He really says, I put on the slide, I’ll give you what you want without sacrifice. But really, it’s more sophisticated than that. It’s more like, I will give you the Father’s will without you having to sacrifice the way the Father wants you to sacrifice. I knew y’all had a train. I’m telling you, I haven’t met.

And now, you know, it’s just not working out. You have this full frontal assault. Here he comes. And it maybe more involved than we think. Look there in verse 8. 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 things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. You know, in a figurative sense, there’s Messianic prophecy like Psalms 2 that talks about Christ ruling over the earth, or the Messiah ruling over the earth and that kind of thing, but it wasn’t to be a physical. But it seems to me that when we see kingdom, what do you think he was really saying? I mean, was he saying you’re going to have a big bank account and a great car to drive?

I mean, I know I’m kind of contextualizing here just a little bit. But it’s is he saying I’m going to give you all this gold and silver and all this money? And that was supposed Jesus was doing. Okay, then I’ll say yes. No, I don’t, I think it’s more involved than that. What’s in kingdoms? People. No people, no kingdom. No citizens, no kingdom. Authorities over the kingdom. I think what Satan is really saying is Jesus. And I don’t know that Satan fully understood this, not reasons for not knowing that he fully understood this, and we might talk about that sometime. But regardless, I think he was pretty certain that whatever it was, it was not going to be fun. And it seems to me that what he’s saying is, if you come to me, if you serve me, if you fall down and worship me, then you will have to sacrifice the way you otherwise would have to sacrifice.

And in Matthew chapter 16. And we all get on to Peter, but I have to be honest, I probably would have said the same kind of thing as far as I don’t want the Lord to die. I mean, if you’re walking and talking with the Son of God on the earth, do you really want him to go anywhere? And so you remember right after the good confession? And Peter, can you imagine this? He kind of takes Jesus aside and says, I mean, he says, Be it far from thee, Lord. This shall not be end of thee. And he had just told him he was going to die and be crucified and all that. And Jesus, yeah, man, he’s kind of hard on poor old Peter. Jesus says, Get thee behind me, Satan.

Adversary. Because Satan has a way of using people who are really close to us to give us the compromise truth. Very similar language to what he’s going to say to Satan. I don’t think he thought Peter was Satan. I think he knew Peter very well. But what he’s saying is, Peter, don’t get between me and the cross. And eventually you’re going to have your cross to bear. And he gets into that in Matthew 16. That if you’re going to follow me, you’re going to have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. So you need to stop trying to tell me how to do this, and you need to start being a disciple and learn.

But do you see the temptation here? Jesus replies by quoting Deuteronomy 3.13, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. What was Satan doing? He would say, let’s wink a little bit of the evil and follow the people and compromise, and I’ll give you what you want. Easily winning the world without God’s sacrifice. The Lamb would have become the beast.

6. Overcome Temptation by Emphatically Saying No

The Lamb of God wouldn’t have been the Lamb of God. There would have been no redemption and no salvation. And yet the dominoes would have started falling, and it would have been catastrophic. But the Lord saw through all that. And I love the ending here. Look at the victory of Christ. Brethren, this is how you deal with the wicked one. You don’t play around with them. You don’t play with temptation. You overcome it. In verse 10, then Jesus said to him, Go, Satan. I think the old King James says, get thee hints. Am I right about that? Get thee hints. We would say, get out of here. Go on. You’ve been revealed. You’ve been exposed. All your strategic information is out on the table. I know what you’re all about.

I’ve relied on God. And so he says, go. But then he goes further here in Matthew chapter 4. He says, Go, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone. Serve Him only. And the devil leaves him, and the angels come, and they began to minister to him. How can we overcome temptation that way? Here it is. And we’ll finish. We overcome temptation by emphatically saying no to Satan. What should we learn from all of this? We should learn that we need to watch for temptation at the high points of our life, that we need to be careful in times of vulnerability and weakness, that we need to be cautious of our strengths and be alert and know the word of God.

Conclusion

And we will survive. And we will overcome, and we will be victorious. Before we leave here, do you remember Agag and King Saul?

And you remember the prophet of God comes. And Saul comes running out, acting like he had obeyed the will of God, knowing he hadn’t. And the prophet of God said, You should have hearkened and you should have obeyed. And he pulls his sword from his sheath. And the Bible says he hacked the heck to pieces. Remember that? Some of us are like King Saul rather than Satan in dealing with temptation. What we do is we want to take some of it and leave the other stuff we really don’t want alone. And then we walk around saying, we’ve obeyed God, kind of like King Saul. And then we wonder why we continue to have problems. Because we’re not doing what Jesus did. Jesus said emphatically that God reigns supreme in my heart.

I will rely on Scripture. I will trust in His promises. I will sacrifice for His people and for His cause. Can you say to Satan what Jesus said to Satan? That’s what you must say to Satan. Don’t be like King Saul. Be like the prophet of God. And hack sin to pieces. Mortify it. Cut it off. Be aggressive with it. Don’t play around with it. Don’t pretend to be dealing with it, or it will come back and it will affect you. Be emphatic. And say to Satan, go away. God reigns supreme in my heart. You’ve listened very well. Learn not just about Jesus. Learn about Satan and how he approaches you, and you can overcome him. Rely on God, rely on the scripture, rely on the grace of our Lord.

He will restore you, he will redeem you. He will save you. If you’re not a Christian, though, you are in Satan’s kingdom. But you don’t need to remain in Satan’s kingdom, and there’s no need for you to remain in Satan’s kingdom. You can come today, surrendering to Christ in faith and confession and baptism, turning away from sin. Come now. Do not let Satan overcome you. This is a decision. God has granted you the opportunity to make. Make the right one. Come now together with Samuel.