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		$Matthew 28:1-20$

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Matthew 4:1-11

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things I will give to thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”

There is a lion out there

“Good morning. Good to see everybody. Let’s open in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 4. As mentioned in the announcements, also in your bulletins, the guys, you have a little flyer for the men’s retreat, good opportunity next week. If you haven’t been on one of our men’s retreats, pretty cool, we go to the Woodbound Inn. And the truth is, it might seem a little pricey, but the truth is, the church kicks in a little bit too to keep the price down, because the Woodbound Inn is a nice place, and the food is pretty decent. Of course, we’ve got a few guys speaking this year. And don’t let money stop you, God always seems to provide. If you’re in a real pinch let me know. But if you plan on going and you haven’t signed up you may want to do that, just so that we can make sure that we’ve got room for you when you get there. And as we mentioned before, the ladies for a couple hours on Saturday, the pastors wives that will be with us will be ministering to the ladies here on the third floor. We’re still working out all those details, but that’s something you can be praying about. I guess that’s it…that’s coming up two weekends from now.

Matthew chapter 4, great passage, maybe you’re familiar with it. I’ll start with just an illustration from the Old Testament, 1^st Kings chapter 13, maybe you’re familiar with the passage, maybe you’re not. I remember it’s one of these passages, the first time I read it, that initially, I was like ‘I don’t know, that seems a little odd to me, seems a little unfair, a little harsh actually’, the first time I read that story. There’s times, I confess to you, I when I read the Bible, there might be something I don’t understand why exactly it goes that way and this happens or that happens. And initially reading 1^st Kings 13 was a little bit like that for me. You might remember the story, it’s about this man of God, and he goes to the king, king Jeroboam. He’s the king in the northern kingdom, that is Israel. Israel’s divided, you’ve got Judah at this particular time in the south, and the northern kingdom Israel [the ten tribes of Israel in the north, the tribes of Judah, Levi and half tribe of Benjamin in the south]. And in order to protect his kingdom, he led the [10-tribed] nation of Israel, the northern kingdom into idolatry. He set up an altar with these golden calves in the area of Bethel. A wicked sin he committed, and he caused the people of Israel to sin. Well God sends this man of God to him to essentially rebuke him, but also to give a prophecy. The prophecy is a rather amazing prophecy. As this man of God comes, he declares that in the future, there will be a new king some day and his name will be Josiah, and upon this very altar that you are doing this abomination, he is going to kill and burn the bodies of the [false] prophets right there, the prophets that have been doing these sacrifices to these other gods. But Josiah came three hundred years later, so it’s a tremendous prophecy. Then you read about 300 years later, Josiah comes and does exactly that. Well this man of God, as he prophesies this, of course Josiah’s 300 years later, he says ‘To demonstrate that this is in fact what God is going to do, he says, when I’m done, this altar’s going to split and the ashes are going to fall to the ground. And so that happens. Now, king Jeroboam, when he hears this, of course he’s not too happy about this whole deal, so he stretches out his hand and says ‘Arrest this man!’ Well as he stretches out his hand, God judges him, and his hand becomes deformed and becomes withered. With that he changes his whole attitude. Now he’s saying to the man of God, ‘Hey, listen, would you pray to God for me that my arm would be healed. Well this man of God does exactly that, he prays for him, and his hand is healed, and so then in return, the king says to the man of God, he says ‘Would you come with me to my house, have a meal with me, and I’d like to reward you for what you’ve done.’ Well the man of God says to him, he says, ‘I can’t do that. God has led me to this area, and God has also told me that while I’m here, in this area of Bethel, I’m not to eat at all, I’m not to drink at all. But also when I return to my home, I’m to go a different way.’ So the man of God goes on…then this story takes on a little bit of an interesting twist that I used to struggle a little bit with. This old prophet whose in the area of Bethel hears about this man of God, hears about his prophecy and what he’s done. The old prophet saddles a donkey and he chases after this man, as he’s just headed out, and he catches up with him by a tree. And he comes to him and says, ‘Hey, I heard you’re a man of God. Listen, come home with me, break some bread with me at my house.’ Well, being consistent with what he said to Jeroboam, the man of God says ‘I can’t do that. God has led me to this place, told me when I’m in this area I’m not to eat or drink and I’m to go back a different way, so I’m sorry, I cannot do that.’ But then this older prophet says to him, 1^st Kings chapter 13, verse 18, “I too am a prophet as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” Well now, with that this man of God says ‘All right, I’ll come with you.’ And he goes to his house. And he sits down, they break bread, they have a meal together. And while they’re sitting there having this meal, the word of God comes to this old prophet, Spirit of God directs him, and he prophecies to this man of God, he says, 1^st Kings chapter 13, verse 21, “Thus says the Lord, because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but you came back, ate bread and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you ‘eat no bread and drink no water’, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.” So the Lord says through this old prophet, ‘You have sinned.’ God made it pretty clear you weren’t to go eat or drink, and here you are, having a meal with me. You’ve sinned. And because of that, you’re not going to make it to the tomb of your fathers, you’re going to die. So now this man of God gets back on the road, and don’t you know, a lion is waiting for him and pounces on him and kills him. I remember reading that for the first time, going ‘Boy that doesn’t seem very fair.’ You know, this guy’s a pretty good guy, prophecies, pretty cool, heals the king, all these cool things happen, and the old prophet comes to him, and he says ‘No I can’t do that.’ But then the guy lies to him, saying an angel came to him, and he gets deceived, and he goes off. You know, it doesn’t seem like too big a deal to me…and he’s going to get eaten by a lion as a result? Initially I struggled with that. But you know, the more I’ve read the story, the more I see it, that it’s a good thing as far as the exhortation that comes through in the warning for my life. Of course, these things are recorded for you and I to learn from [cf. 1 Corinthians 10:1-11]. And there’s no doubt, there is a very strong exhortation for any person of God, and that is, it is absolutely imperative for me as a child of God that I follow closely to the direction of God. That I listen closely, that I’m constantly being led and being yielded to the Holy Spirit. For if I get off track a little bit, if I get off course a little bit, off path, you know, I’m susceptible to this lie myself. The Bible says that there is a lie, and that as a Christian I need to be concerned about it. And there’s no doubt, if I get a little bit off course, a little bit off the path I’m supposed to be on, now I’ve made myself vulnerable to him [Satan], and he’s sitting there waiting for the good opportunity to, the right opportunity to come and pounce on me and devour me. So it’s imperative as a Christian that I stay tuned to the Holy Spirit, and that my heart is also fully yielded to whatever the Holy Spirit tells me to do, and that I’m obedient to God. Now today we come to Matthew chapter 4, and we’re going to see the same principle in the life of Jesus, that there’s this lion that comes, the devil, at the very beginning of his ministry. And we’re here reminded, that given any opportunity, this lion will come and devour, there’s no doubt about it. He will use whatever he can, any moment, doesn’t matter, he doesn’t play by the rules. He will come and seek to destroy. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/Satan/satan.htm.] There’s no “off limits” to him, given the opportunity, given a little bit of room he goes for it. Now at the same time, as we look in these verses, there’s nothing to fear as a Christian. I realize I don’t need to cower back, I don’t need to hide, I don’t need to be afraid of boldly pressing on ahead, for I realize even from this story that there is yet protection for me. There is yet also victory always within my grasp. For Jesus has come, very clearly, and he has had victory, and he also gives me victory. And so, as Paul declares to the church in Rome, in Romans chapter 8, verses 36-37, “As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter”, not very easy, but yet then he says, “yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” More than conquerors because of what Jesus has done for us. Let’s say a word of prayer. ‘Of course Father, as we come to these verses, many of us have been in church for a long time, been believers for a long time, we’ve studied through the Gospels, we’re familiar with these verses. Maybe some of us aren’t so familiar. But I thank you that wherever we’re at, boy your Word, your Spirit is ever knew, and even the same truths can sometimes just minister to our hearts and move our hearts and teach us, and remind us and move us. Of course, Lord, it’s so important that we understand where we are at, and that we understand the issues in our own hearts. So, as we come to these verses, Holy Spirit, be upon us, be upon me, lead us, speak to us, give us ears to hear, and give us hearts that just want to hear, and want to know, and want to grow and be wiser. So we thank you Lord, certainly the things that are here are so important, so imperative for us, so thank you Lord. Bless this time, in Jesus name we pray, amen.’

Threefold Temptation of Jesus

The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness

Chapter 4, verses 1-11, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted for forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry. Now when the tempter came to him, he said, ‘If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ But he [Jesus] answered and he said, ‘It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took him up into the holy city, set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, you shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ Again the devil took him up on an exceedingly 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 will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you Satan. For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God and him only you shall serve.’ And the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.” So here we see in these verses at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, after he is baptized, he’s immediately led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to fast and to pray and to be also tempted by the devil. That’s what it says. Now Mark notes this, and just gives a real brief thought on it, but Mark says that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, he uses the word “drove.” And that word “drove” speaks of the fierceness and seriousness, it says that Jesus was powerfully moved, moved in his heart, directed by the Spirit, very powerfully, right after he was baptized, to head into the wilderness for a very clear purpose. Now Matthew here, and also Luke, they focus on a specific encounter that Jesus has with this line with the devil during this period of time that Jesus is in the wilderness. And we learn from these two Gospels a few things about Jesus’ present condition at this point that they focus on. First, we realize, we learn that he’s filled with the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t say that here in chapter 4, but we know from chapter 3 that when Jesus was baptized it says the Spirit of God came upon him. But then Luke says, when Luke comes to this story in chapter 4 of Luke, verse 1 it says “Then Jesus being filled with the Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” So Jesus is filled with the Spirit, and thus he’s led by the Spirit. And that’s certainly how it goes. You know, when I’m filled I’m more often to be led. When I’m under the power of the Spirit, and that’s the picture, when the Spirit of God comes upon him, so he’s under that sense that now he’s led, he’s hearing the leading of the Spirit of God in his life. Now, how are you in being led and directed by the Holy Spirit? Is that something that you experience, you sense, you know many times God leads you and directs your steps? If that’s something that’s lacking in your Christian experience, and if it’s something that’s been difficult for you, it might be because you’re not filled with the Spirit. And you know Paul says to the Church, he says “be filled with the Spirit.” And there’s an experience of being filled with the Spirit. Of course, the Spirit of God is within me, but I need to be filled. And so if you’re struggling in hearing and being led, maybe it’s because you’re not filled. And so today I would encourage you, ask God right now. It’s by faith. Open your heart to him, and say “God, fill me with the Spirit.” It’s amazing when you ask in faith what he does. We know he’s filled with the Spirit, secondly we also know he’s been led into the wilderness, as it says here. Now when it says wilderness, Mark adds the words “with the wild beasts.” So with the wild beasts, he’s out in the desert alone, there’s nobody else around, just wild beasts, creepy crawlies to snakes to things that run around and eat people for meals, he’s in the wilderness with the wild beasts. He’s all alone, there’s no cell-phones, no email, no internet, he’s very alone, humanly speaking. Now I don’t know about you but I’m not really into that experience, that’s a little creepy for me to be out in the desert by myself, especially at night. I don’t mind it so much in the daytime, but at night. I know Bill and Sandy are out in San Diego right now, and Bill is in the School of Evangelism, and any day now, you know in that 10-month course, there is a time they take the students, and there’s 50 of them or so, they take ‘em out into the wilderness, into the desert, and they all do a solo for a night. They divide up, and they go off to be by themselves. Now maybe that’s one of the reasons I didn’t go into the School of Evangelism [laughter], because I’m not sure about that, you know, laying out there, I’m just afraid of the dark, by yourself. I wouldn’t want to start a fire, that might attract something, and I wouldn’t want to sit in the dark either. I guess I’d sit in my sleeping bag with my flashlight with a little hole peeking out just waiting for the dark to go by and the sunlight to come up again. 40 days, 40 nights he’s alone in the wilderness. Now we also know that he’s not eaten anything for those 40 days, and thus he’s hungry. He’s very hungry. In fact, we know this, maybe you’ve done this. If you go on an extended fast, there’s that initial time where you’re very hungry, but it’s true then, your body realizes ‘Hey, I’m not getting anymore food, I need to kind of change the plan here, stomach or whatever shuts down, and in a different way you start to digest your body fats and things. So as you fast long fasts, after awhile the hunger goes away. But then there is a point in time where your body’s done eating up all the fat and all that, that it then says ‘I need something’, and the hunger comes back. And it’s a hunger in a sense that if you don’t eat something soon you’re gonna die. You know, the muscle tissues are starting to deteriorate, there’s nothing left to consume, to burn. So it’s been a fast, 40 days, he’s a man, so now there’s this hunger that’s returned, it’s deep hunger, it’s a great hunger. He’s in a sense I guess you could say, humanly speaking, he’s in a vulnerable place. Now another thing to note, we don’t get this from here, but from the other Gospels, Mark chapter 1, verse 13 and in Luke chapter 4, verse 2 here is seems that the devil shows up at the end, and he does, but yet it seems from the others he’s been around a little bit more at other times. In those other passages you get the sense that he’s come about a little bit and harassed Jesus, and left, and harassed Jesus, and left. But now he sees an opportunity, so he comes back. Jesus is weak, he’s very vulnerable, extremely hungry, he’s all alone. And so what happens? He comes back and he comes back again to tempt. And no holds barred, he goes right for the vulnerability, attacks him right in that area of weakness when he comes. And so the passage reminds me, when it comes to the devil, when he’s allowed to, he’ll take whatever opportunity he can in my life. He’ll come and tempt in any way possible, he’ll do whatever he can to cause me to stumble. And there’s absolutely positively no “off-limits”, for such is his heart. He’ll go as far as he’s allowed to, regardless of how cruel it may seem or how deceptive or how manipulative or how unfair it might appear in the end. Given the opportunity, whatever it is, he’ll take it and do whatever he possibly can do to influence us to sin. Now there’s been a few times in my life where I have actually said, I’ve noted, ‘Man, that was amazing, wow.’ That at that moment in time, when I was feeling that way or struggling in this way, that that occurred, as if the enemy understood in my life. Now the devil can’t be all the places all the time, he’s not God, he’s limited, but he’s got a lot of guys [demons] that work for him. And how many that is I don’t know, but there seems to be a lot, according to the Scriptures. [cf. Revelation 12:3-4, one third of all the angels turned and followed Satan, becoming demons.] And I know in my life there’s been times where, very tired, very grumpy, weak in one area, weak in that area, and I’m a bit vulnerable, and then these circumstances happen, transpire right at that moment, that truly I’ve noted, ‘That was amazing that that happened right then.’ Almost didn’t seem fair. Maybe you’ve had that happen. I would say as Christians we all can probably tell our stories. I remember, now this is just one of so many times, but I remember one time we were doing the construction at the church, and we were in the time of construction where we’ve used up all our savings account, we’ve got bills stacking up, we’ve got a lot going on, and we need to keep going. So there’s this financial pressure. And I wasn’t aware of these schemes before, never heard about it, this was the first time, and now that I’ve experienced this I’ve learned that this happens frequently now. But I got this email from, at that time, first time, from this guy in Nigeria. He emails me and says ‘Hey, I’m in Nigeria, this is my name, and for various reasons I was a general in the army, I’m a Christian, I love God, I love God’s people, and I just feel led to bless the Church in America, I’ve learned about your church, and I’d like to bless you guys, I’ve got some money I’d like to give. Please contact me.’ Now, never gotten an email like that before, but I’m getting it at a moment where we got bills stacking up. That’s what was interesting to me about it. So, Don and I, he got on one phone and I got on another, and I was a little suspicious, a little cautious, so we call him up. Well this younger guy answers the phone and we ask for this other guy who emailed us, and he says ‘Hold on, I’ll get him for you.’ Puts him on the phone. Now this guy, maybe you saw the 7-Up commercial a long time ago, big guy and he had that funny laugh…this guy sounded just like that guy, he had the perfect voice too. And he starts talking to me, says, ‘Yes, this is who I am and this is my story, and you know, I just want to bless the Church, learned about your church, I’d like to bless your church, I’ve got some money and it’s a lot of money.’ In fact, it was a lot of money. But he says, ‘Here’s the deal, you need to call my bank contacts,’ whatever the guy was called, ‘in South Africa, call him, and he’ll tell you how you can get the money.’ Well Don and I are on the phone, we call this guy in South Africa, guy comes on, we say ‘We’re calling you because this guy said to call you.’ And he says, ‘Yup, yup, I know and I know about your situation, yeah I’d like to help you out here, he wants to give you money, and this is what you need to do…’ and he goes on to explain, he says it’s a ton of money, it’s in the millions of dollars, ‘and what we need to do is we need to get some bank information from you, and you also need to set up an account in Johannesburg here, and when you set up an account we can transfer the money over.’ In fact, I think he ever suggested ‘You might want to come over here, to do that.’ Well, I’m not going to do that. Certainly not going to give you bank information, and that’s a little odd that I’ve got to set up an account in Johannesburg. Well anyway Don and I get off the phone, we talk to the phone company, and don’t you know, the first guy was in Nigeria because we traced the number, the second guy was in South Africa, we traced that number, and these guys were truly trying to come up with an act, that seemed apparent. Now I’ve learned since then, in fact we’ve gotten a lot of contacts like that, and once I talked to some other pastors, it was the first time for me, but it happens a lot. And it’s this deal, this scheme [scam] going on in Africa, and I would assume, and I think I’ve heard there have been people who have been doped by it, and they’ve been successful, so they keep doing it. [i.e. with your bank information, these scam artists go about draining your bank account of all funds.] But it was the moment that it came, the time that it came, when I first ran into it, was when our bank account was really low, bills were really high, ‘Oh, email, must be the Lord. Let’s look into this.’ I got educated pretty quick that it was another tactic that really could have been a disaster, and could have been ugly. I could just imagine I got on a plane going ‘Oh yeah, let’s go to Johannesburg’, and I may not have come back, these guys don’t seem like they’re too honest. But you know, the devil does, he comes, and sometimes when there’s that vulnerability and a weakness, he’s recognized that, and he comes and he’s gotten a little opportunity, for various reasons, and he comes and he presents you with a plan and a deal. And if we’re not wise, if we’re not led in the Spirit and strong in the Word, man, we can find ourselves, as a result, in a mess. Now I think we can note, too, it’s no surprise, it’s at the beginning of the time of his ministry that this happens for Jesus. Of course, it happens throughout. There are times in various ways, you can see that the enemy is seeking to discourage or trying to tempt in various ways. You can see it as you go through the Gospels. But no doubt, there’s no surprise here at the beginning, because when you start out to follow the Lord in your life, as a Christian, but even in ministry, it seems that when you jump off that ledge of faith and now going ‘I’m going to follow you Jesus, you’ve called me, and I trust you, here I go.’ And then, ‘Wow! Man! I was so weak, and I didn’t expect to be so weak, gosh this struggle all of a sudden, and these thoughts have never been in my head before,’ and now you have these other things happening in your life, and you wouldn’t have guessed. It happens. Maybe you’re just now following the Lord, or maybe you’re going to take, you know, God’s prompting your heart to follow him. Beware, be ready, because it’s not uncommon, you start following the Lord that suddenly the devil’s going ‘Ahh, they think they’re going to do that, I’d better discourage them, at least try. Get him off track, get him to trip up.’ [They call this “spiritual warfare” I’ve experienced that ever since starting this web ministry, and at times its been real serious.] And sad to say, there are people that have been following the Lord in ministry that then are enticed, and are misled and are deceived, never would have expected that they would have done that, and then they do. My wife and I have a good friend, just a little while ago, big church they attend, pastor had to come up in front of the church, and he had to resign because of a big mess that he had done, things he had done, goes on and on and on. Well so this passage serves also as a warning to me, but also an encouragement, because it warns, it shows the tactics and strategies of the devil, but yet at the same time it also shows me the plan. The plan, I have a plan, there is a way for me to do this successfully, to win and to be victorious. Now it says that Jesus, this has stood out to me this time, Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted, so he was led to be tempted. When I read this, this time, I was immediately reminded of that prayer, a little bit later in chapter 6 that Jesus reminds us to pray, to the Father, “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” You know, God does not lead me into temptation, he does take me into trials and into testing, but when it comes to temptation, I can’t say ‘You led me into temptation, it wasn’t fair.’ I mean, James makes that pretty clear. But here Jesus, God has a purpose in this, has a plan. So he is led into this, very clearly. Now, I’m not led into temptation, but as I mentioned, sometimes trials and temptations, you see the story of Job where by God’s design, God allowed Job to be tried [by Satan], God allowed Job to be tested, and that does happen to me, and it happens for a purpose. It happens to prove me, and to test me, and to reveal in my own life where my heart is at. And as a Christian, as I grow I find that as these testings come of the Lord, I do find that I grow, and I rejoice in that, that I didn’t buckle as early, and was able to trust God through that trial and temptation.

Why is Jesus led into the wilderness to be tested and tempted by Satan?---three reasons

But why exactly is the Son of God led into this trial? Of course, he’s not led so that the Father could see his heart, necessarily. He’s not led so that Jesus would know his own heart. You know that happens to me when I’m led into tribulation and trial. 1) But in this particular case, the reason why he’s led, the first reason is to show others. Again, Matthew is taking different stories, experiences of Jesus to show his audience that this is indeed the Messiah. And here is another proof, another point where I can say ‘Wow, this man was the Christ, look how he stood in this particular situation, such a vulnerability, such a weakness, and such great temptation. Yet he was able to stand, completely victorious.’ And indeed he’s the victor and the conqueror, he’s the Christ, he is the Son of God. Well that’s the first reason. 2) The second reason is Jesus is being prepared here to be that Priest, our High Priest, for his priestly ministry. It’s through these trials, these experiences, he came to endure these things so that he can be my sympathetic high priest, as we noted before. So he knows what human weakness is like, he knows what temptation is like. This is a temptation. So, I now have a high priest that I can identify with, and he can identify with me. 3) And thirdly, he does this to demonstrate to me how I can have victory, and how I can withstand temptation through him. Furthermore, he also reveals the tactics of the devil, and how I can overcome those tactics. You know, you and I are not just sitting ducks. Sometimes we start to think that, that we are, when the devil gets his scheming going, when he gets his planning going, and when he’s on the move, that ‘Oh, when he does that one, I just fall over, I can’t help that, I can’t withstand that. What can I do against that? Every time, this is clear, I’m too weak.’ But this is to demonstrate that that’s not the case at all, that might be the way I think, but yet there is always, for each and every one of us in this room, there is a planned victory, there is a guaranteed path that you and I can go where we’ll stand victoriously every time. I’ve used this illustration years ago in a similar text. In the early part of the last century and artist who was a great chess player painted a picture of a chess game. The players were a young man who manipulated the white pieces, and the devil, Satan, who manipulated the black pieces. The issue of the game was this, should the young man win, he was to be forever free from the power of evil. Should the devil win, the young man was to be a slave forever. Chess game, artist depicting this. Well the artist evidently believed in the supreme power of evil, for his picture presented the devil as victor. In the conception of the artist, the devil had just moved his queen and announced a checkmate in four moves. The young man’s hands hovered over his rook, his face pale with amazement, there was no hope, the devil wins, he was to be his slave forever. That’s the way he depicted it in this painting. Now for years this picture hung in a great art gallery. Chess players from all over the world viewed the picture too. They all consented to the thoughts of the artist, looking at the picture, ‘Yup, the devil wins.’ After several years a chess doubter arose. He studied the picture and became convinced that there was but one chess player upon the earth that could give them an assurance that the artist of this picture was wrong. The chess player was the aged Paul Morphy, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, a supreme master of chess in his day, and an undefeated champion. It was arranged for Morphy to be brought to Cincinnati to view the picture. He stood gazing at the picture for five minutes, and ten minutes, and twenty minutes and thirty minutes. He was all concentration, lifting and lowering his hands in imagination as if he was eliminating certain moves. Suddenly his hand paused, his eyes burned with a vision of an un-thought-of combination. Then he shouted “Young man, make that move, that’s the move.” To the amazement of all the old master, the supreme chess personality had discovered a combination that the creating artist had not yet considered, hence the young man defeated the devil. It’s like that. You know as man, checkmate, checkmate, you got me, you got me…but yet Jesus knows the deal, and he knows the way to victory, guaranteed, every time. And here we see he defeats the devil, and of course ultimately he goes to the cross and fully defeats the devil. And so as a man, or as a woman, a Christian, there is a way, and it’s through him. You may feel that’s there’s struggles…[tape changeover, some text lost]…that character was made, it was neither male or female, many of you saw the movie, there in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus is at a very difficult point, here comes the devil, and it has the deep voice in the movie, very powerful the way it was depicted there [in Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of Christ]. There’s Jesus there, and Satan begins to talk to him, and begins to bring doubt and begins to discourage, seeking to make him question. So just imagine, Satan discouraging. Jesus has been in the wilderness a very long time [40 days], and he is very hungry. I mean, 40 days of fasting, you look a little different after 40 days. [I know that for sure, a good believer friend of mine went on a water fast, only drank water, no food whatsoever for almost 40 days, I think he made it to 38 days when I talked him out of it, because he was beginning to look like someone who had come out of Auschwitz, the infamous German concentration camp.] There is power in prayer and fasting, so there is a spiritual beauty that’s going on there. When you fast, I find, you know that’s another way I can prepare for spiritual battles is through fasting. So in one way he’s very strong, yet his body is crying out for food, he’s [physically] very weak.

1. First temptation: The lust of the flesh, putting the physical above the spiritual

Verses 1-4, “And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” And here comes the devil. Maybe Jesus has been sitting on a rock on the side of the hill, there’s rocks in the desert everywhere he comes, stands next to him, sits next to him and begins to talk to him, “If you’re the Son of God, come on, come on Jesus, you’re hungry man, aren’t you? Gone a long time without food. Look at those rocks, come on, if you are the Son of God, turn some of them into bread. Let’s go, Jesus, let’s see you do it.” Now, strong temptation for a man, difficult moment. [Satan could have also made the smell of fresh baking break wafting to Jesus, it wasn’t beyond his powers. Have you ever smelled fresh baking bread? It’s an awesome, mouth-watering smell. You’ve been without food for 40 days, Satan comes along, and the mouth-watering smell of fresh baking bread accompanies him, as he says this to Jesus, Yeshua. Just imagine.] But Jesus stands, and he responds, withstands this temptation. Now, there’s no doubt, as the Son of God, he could indeed turn those rocks to bread. It’s clear in the Scriptures. In fact, we go just a little bit into the story of Jesus’ life, he takes water, he turns it to wine [and the good stuff, not the cheap stuff]. There’s another time, a little guy’s got just a few loaves of bread, and he miraculously multiplies it and feeds thousands. He could do this, he could turn the stones to bread. I would think that the devil knows that too. I mean Jesus has existed for all eternity, the devil’s been around for quite a while too. [log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/john/john1-1-5.html if you don’t know who Jesus really is.] So I would think he understands that. So I don’t believe the temptation is so much ‘Prove that you are the Son of God’, I don’t think that’s it, it’s more subtle than that. It’s more subtle than that. I believe the temptation is more so, ‘Hey, I know you’re here as a man, you’ve humbled yourself in this incarnation thing here as a man to defeat me. But you’re very hungry right now, and why don’t you just for a moment temporarily suspend this deal and as the Son of God turn those stones right there into bread, give into that physical need at this moment. Give into it, you’re hungry, come on, just right now, say the word and make it bread.’ Now the temptation is to put the physical above the spiritual, which Jesus never did. It was to act independently of the Father. The Father through the Holy Spirit has led him into the wilderness to fast and to pray. And he’s perfectly following the Holy Spirit, following the Father. So it’s a temptation to act independently, for a moment, because of the physical need, and to provide for your own needs outside of God the Father. But if you remember, Jesus said in the Gospel of John, it’s recorded, he says “I can of myself do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.” In chapter 6, verse 38 of John he says “For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” So he is attempting to get him to do his own will for a moment, not the will of the Father. Much more subtle, deceptive. I mean, it’s like ‘Wait a minute’, kind of coming at a vulnerable moment here too, and kind of playing the mind game on him on top of that. You know, it’s crucial for you and I to understand that Jesus here is standing as a man, he is God, but he’s here as a man. And it’s as a man that he needs to resist this temptation, perfectly.

The importance of the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, and knowing it: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”

That’s the only way you and I have hope, that as a man he does it, a man [or woman] like you and I, a man yielded to the power of the Holy Spirit, a man yielded and filled with the Holy Spirit, and a man with a good handle on the Word of God, able to resist this temptation. That’s the key for you and I to have hope. So the tempter is there, seeking him to do otherwise. But Jesus responds to this seduction of the enemy with the Word of God, he says “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God.” You know, he comes back and says, ‘I’m not going to live for the physical, that’s not the priority, the priority is the spiritual, and that’s where I’m at.’ Now when he quotes the Scripture, as we note at different times, he’s coming back to the deceiver with truth. And that’s how I combat the devil, with truth. Because the devil’s a liar and he deceives. [cf. Revelation 12:9, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Satan has the whole world deceived, except those whose names are written in the book of life (cf. Rev. 13:8). Everyone who is not a genuine believer in Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, is deceived by Satan. Some are deceived into believing Satan doesn’t even exist. But all this world, it’s societies, it’s governments are deceived, and under Satan’s ownership.] But it’s not just coming back with the thought in my head, but it’s coming back with the will in my heart saying ‘This is the truth, and this is what I will do. What you’re saying is not the truth, and I’m not going to do that. This is the truth, and I do the truth. I stick to it.’ As David declared in Psalm 119, verse 11, “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” It’s the Word in my heart. ‘But I’m not going to sin against you.’ [That’s why it is so imperative, important for believers to study God’s Word, the Bible every day for a minimum of from between one half an hour to an hour a day. No kidding. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/ephesians/swordofspirit.htm.] ‘I will do it, it’s not just that I will quote it.’ What’s also interesting, as he quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 8, in fact, each of his quotations, there’s three times he quotes the Scripture, in each instance, it’s within just a couple chapters, Deuteronomy chapter 6 to Deuteronomy chapter 8, a little section of the Bible. Now he could have quoted from all sorts of places, but that’s where he quoted from. And some conjecture, was he reading those passages just a little earlier? I mean he’s out there with the Father, praying, fasting, I’d assume, meditating on the Word of God. Maybe that’s what he read that very morning, and I say that, because that happens to me. I know in my life, and I hope it’s true in your life, it’s not just coming to church and hearing a sermon, it’s not just listening to the Bible, I’ve learned I need the daily manna, God’s Word for today. And in some instances God gives me a word for the day, as I read in the Scripture, I get what I need for the battle that very day. And it’s because I have that verse in my head at that moment, it’s because I was wrestling with that passage when I went out the door, that later when I’m confronted with a situation, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m already prepared for this. I already know this is a good set-up job. I already know I’m not to enter into this agreement.’ And there’s no other way I would have known, and on the outside it seemed just fine. But it’s because I was in the Scripture, chewing on the Bible, meditating on it. Then I went out the door and I was ready for that battle. So, it’s very possible Jesus has been meditating on Deuteronomy 6, 7, and 8, looking at the Law. I think it’s real possible, because that very passage, chapter 8 is really interesting, in those verses, verses 1 to 3 of Deuteronomy 8, Moses is speaking to the Israelites, and he’s reminding the Israelites, ‘God took you into the wilderness for 40 years’, for 40 years, the number 40, ‘He led you into the wilderness’, and he says to the people of Israel ‘to test you, to reveal your hearts, to see if you would keep the command of God.’ And as he goes on to say, Moses, ‘the testing included that God made you hungry, that God made you hungry so that you would learn that your need is ultimately provided by God, so God brought the manna. But to test you, even make you hungry.’ As men and women, as God’s people, you’re to learn that the physical doesn’t come first, but the spiritual---seek first his kingdom, and then God will provide for you (Matthew 6:31-33). That’s exactly what Moses is saying in those verses. So now Jesus, 40 days, 40, hungry, that testing, enduring that. As Moses goes on to say, and Jesus quotes Moses “man shall not live by bread alone”, that’s what Moses says to the people of Israel, ‘You went through this, that you would learn, that your priority should be God and his Word and his presence, and that God would take care of the rest.’ So the focus, the heart, the focus is spiritual first, not physical. The idea is, it’s better to go hungry than be satisfied outside the will of God. Now when I look at this I think of the debt situation in our country, in America. We hear of, and maybe some people here personally, the debt is so great, especially the credit card debt. I forget what they say the average is, like $10,000 the average American is in debt. And of course it includes a lot of Christians. And then what you have in a lot of instances, is Americans that have really pushed the limit on the plastic, so then they do the bankruptcy thing. They’re in bondage, made a mess. They think it’s the only way out. I think of that because that certainly isn’t a place for the Christian, to have the plastic charged right up. [This sermon was given in the year 2004, before the economic collapse of 2009.] Because that’s actually contrary to what the Word of God says. Now, maybe there are situations where we can come up with exceptions. But I know this, since I’ve lived in New England, my wife and I have had tiny little budgets at times. You know, God has expanded our budget in more recent years. And I’ve learned, that when that plastic was around, man, it got used. It’s kind of funny how that works. You know, it’s just there, gotta use it, so you do. What I’ve learned though, when I made God the priority and I trusted him for his provision, what we did, I remember a few years back, we cut up the plastic and said ‘we don’t want the plastic’, you know, we’re in these jams all the time (now we got this interest and this bondage). And so, what I learned, is when God said I seek him first, he’ll provide all my needs. Does he mean it? I think he does. Right? “So all right, Lord, my wife and I are going to tithe, small budget, but we’re going to tithe, and we’re also not going to use the plastic.” And what I found is, what used to happen is, there would be this 11^th hour where ‘this is the time, if it doesn’t come by then, got to use the plastic.’ But some times, that 11^th hour that I had set was just a little bit before God’s deadline. And what I found when I got rid of the plastic, and said ‘God, you need to pay these bills, man, we’re seeking to be faithful’, and he paid the bill every time. To this day I don’t have any debt. So I know it works. I don’t have any debt. You know, you can have a mortgage and maybe an automobile loan, I don’t see that as debt, because there’s business and you can do business. But then there’s debt, there’s this debt. And credit cards are brutal and they’re ruthless, and bondage. Deuteronomy, God is teaching the people of Israel, ‘You seek me first, I’ll provide your needs.’ And he did supernaturally [for 40 years living off manna in the wilderness]. And I found that in my own life, that as I made God the focus and said ‘You are number 1, check out my checkbook, check out our balance, check out everything, you’re #1 in our lives. No plastic, we’re not going to live outside your provision.’ And God provides, he provides, he provides. And I believe it, and nobody can convince me otherwise, because it’s absolutely true. It’s just God’s Word. And he’s true to his Word. So, Jesus is tempted in a way, and maybe you’ve found that temptation in your own life, where you’ve gotten the physical before the spiritual. And you do, man, the devil works that way, he’ll set you up. You know, you’re just now going, and suddenly there comes that credit card, I mean, look at the temptation, coming in the mail all the time, don’t they. ‘Just guess what, raised your limit to $250,000,’ and you make $100 a week, ‘but we’ll give you $250,000,’ it just keeps coming, right? And now my kids are getting them, Jimmy, Sarah, he, she got a credit card, literally they’re two years old, and they just got the gold platinum, you know, it’s amazing. I mean, it’s clearly, it’s not like God is blessing you with these credit cards, it’s coming from another place. Because they know they can really take good advantage of you and take a lot of money off you (through exorbitant interest rates that used to be the rates loan sharks used). So, “man shall not live by bread alone”, the priority is God and his kingdom, seek first his kingdom, you’ll never regret it [cf. Matthew 6:31-33]. And if you don’t tithe, I’d encourage you to, I don’t know who tithes in this church and who doesn’t, but I’d encourage you to do it. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/gifts.htm.] God is faithful to provide. And he says you’re robbing him when you don’t [tithe]. And if you rob him, you find even though he wants to bless your life, you’re not experiencing it, you’re saying ‘I don’t trust you, I reason one way, I’m an accountant.’ God says ‘I’m God, I’m your Creator, seek first the kingdom of God. [cf. Malachi 3:8-12]

2. Second temptation, the spiritual temptation: being presumptuous, and going outside of God’s stated will

Verses 5-7, “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Well the devil then takes him up to the pinnacle of the Temple, takes him to Jerusalem on the pinnacle of the Temple. And get this, I was thinking this when I was reading this at this time, I mean, the devil takes him up to a pinnacle, when you think of a pinnacle you think of the spire on top of the steeple. Right? And in my mind I was visualizing Jesus standing up on top of a spire. And like, it’s really strange that the devil can take him up there. I mean, this is Jesus and this is the devil. It shows me that the devil does have power. He’s brought Jesus up there and set him there. It also shows me there’s something about the heart of Jesus, because Jesus at any moment can go, ‘Blam, you’re gone’. But yet he has a purpose, and in humility he’s completely subjected himself to certain forces and powers, to become like us, so that he can deliver us from these. Now the word pinnacle literally means “wing”, and therefore in history there are some who say that this might be what was called “Herod’s Royal Portico”, which overhung the Kidron Valley. And if you were there at this little portico, it would be 450 feet to the bottom, overlooking the valley. A long way, I mean, a dizzy height. This last week, you know, we just put carpet in our church in the sanctuary here, and don’t you know, it’s just funny the way these things work out, we’ve had little roof leaks before, just little tiny ones. Just get it in and it’s just a few days and we have this massive roof leak. You know, we come in and there’s a ten foot stain on the rug. We just put the carpet in here. What’s up with that? So this last week a couple of us, Steve, Mike and I are up on the roof trying to figure out what the leak is. We can’t even find how it’s getting in at this point. But you know, it’s three stories up, and where it was leaking was near the edge of the roof. And so, there are some of us, I’m part of that some of us, that you know, I’m not too scared of heights, but it does kind of trip out my mind. And I got down, I didn’t just walk over and look over the edge, I got down on my knees, I lay down and I was pulling up to the edge, it was just something trippie about being up that high, kind of messes with the head, you know. And if that’s where he’s at, if that’s where Satan has brought him, he’s hundreds of feet in the air, and he’s a man, and maybe it happens to all of us to a degree. So it’s interesting he’s at that height, and then the devil says to him, “Jump!” is basically what he says. That’s the last thing I’d want to hear when that’s going on, ‘Jump!’ He’s messing with him. Now, the temptations are in a little bit of reverse order in Luke, instead of going to the Temple in the next point, Luke has him going to the mountain and then to the Temple. It seems though because of the words Matthew uses that it’s actually this is the order in which it goes, because of certain words like “then” in verse 5, like “then the devil took him”, he’s going in a certain sequence, and Luke just says “and”, he doesn’t use those words that would force it to be in that order. In fact, we will see in the next temptation, when he takes him up to the mountain, Jesus responds and says “Scat! Away with you!” and he leaves. That would seem to force it to be in that order. And, he says to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written ‘He shall give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” ‘Listen, you just quoted to me the Word of God, you just told me ‘That I believe in the Word and I stand in the Word’. Here’s the Scripture, show me you believe it. That’s what he does, it’s deceptive again. ‘You just quoted one, said you stand on it, here’s one, stand on it and jump.’ ‘It says, the Messiah, the Christ, that the angels will bear you up, and if you’re falling you won’t even harm yourself, you’ll just come down just like a parachute, they’ll just catch you. So here you are.’ He totally sets him up, very deceptive. ‘Jump!’ Now, what he does though, is he leaves out a key phrase, and the phrase that he leaves out, is the phrase “In all thy ways” Psalm 91, verses 11 and 12, “He will keep you in all thy ways” meaning “all thy”, meaning the ways of God. Meaning he promises to protect, to give security as you are in his ways. If you get off the path, it may not apply. But he leaves that phrase out, drops it. So he’s deceptive. I tell you, that happens over and over to people, happens all the time. People are getting going, I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it in this church, they just get going with the Lord, and somebody comes along and just twists the Scripture, and now they’re off, now they’re someplace doing some weird thing, believing some weird things, and just twisting and turning, and taking passages so they can say “I know this is right, I know I can do this”. And you’re like, “You can’t do that, because you’re violating so many other Scriptures. You’re forgetting this part.” The devil does that so much. Well he’s seeking, the temptation here in this twisting of the Scripture, is a sin of presumption, that just, go for it and watch the miracle come. It’s a sin of presumption. And God is faithful to his promises, but we should not be testing the Lord presumptuously. And you can do that too. You can start to think, ‘Well, sure, he’ll take care of that. Sure, he’ll work this one out, because it says this.’ But you know, you’re being presumptuous. It’s one thing to claim his promises and trust in his Word, it’s a whole another thing to go out and be presumptuous. I think of the story of the man of God (1^st Kings 13), you know the devil got him to think wrongly, got him to think backwardly, and in the end it was very costly to him. I think also of my time with Caterpillar in San Diego when I worked there. I have a kidney condition, I’ve had it since the late 80’s. And as a result I take medication. And it’s a significant little deal. So one day I was in a church service in San Diego, and Pastor Mike was inviting people up for prayer that needed healing. So I went up that time. One of the pastors anointed me with oil and they prayed for me. Well I had just such an experience, and I was claiming my promises “God, you’ve healed me.” Now I take medicine. I decided ‘God, you’ve healed me, I don’t need the medicine.’ So I stopped taking the medicine. Couple months went by. I had to go to the doctors appointment, I went to the doctors appointment, and I get the numbers, and I know the numbers, and the doctor goes ‘Whoa, they’ve suddenly gone way over there.’ And I learned. Of course, God hadn’t healed me, and I was a bit presumptuous. And I’m glad it wasn’t too costly, because I got back on the medicine and things got a little bit better. That happens, there’s [false] doctrine out there that gets people way out there, and they just hurt themselves, presumptuous. Yes, God can heal, God can do all sorts of things. But God has his will. And what is his will? That’s the key. That’s what’s important. So, it’s a temptation, presumptuous, ‘Jump!’, and your head’s spinning, ‘Go for it!’ Well Jesus says “You shall not tempt the LORD your God.” Not going to do it. So he has a good handle on the Word of God.

3. Third temptation: Who do you worship? “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve”

Verses 8-11, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” Verse 8, “Again now the devil takes him up to this exceedingly high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” Luke says that “he showed him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time”, and there’s some that believe that maybe there was even some visual stuff going on, that it wasn’t just physical, it wasn’t just that he went up to one peak, but maybe there was some mind stuff going on where he was seeing all the things in a sense of time, all that the---the devil’s going, ‘let me blow your mind and show you what I can do and what I’ve got here.’ “Well the devil says to him, ‘All these things I will give to you if you fall down and worship me’” (verse 9). ‘Just bend the knee, and do it quick. I’ll take a little one.’ Greek for the word when it says “If you’ll fall down and worship me”, actually the force of that is ‘to be quick, just bend the knee.’ ‘Bend the knee, quick, nobody will see it, come on, bend the knee. If you do that, I’ll give you all this, look at this, man. You’ve got another plan, you’re going in another direction, you don’t have to go that way. Here is an easier way, here’s a short-cut, you just bend the knee man, and look what I’ll give you.’ You know, the devil is always, you know, that is a way that he is so successful, he so often does that. You know he basically comes to a man or a woman and says ‘What’s the price?’ ‘Awh, I can tell, that’s the price-tag. Right? Here you go. You follow me, you do this, you head this direction, you let me influence you this way, here’s the price-tag. You’ve got it, I pay it.’ There’s a movie we have in our library, and I’m not sure that I’d recommend it to all, in certain instances I’d recommend it. In some instances it’s kind of intense, and I wouldn’t. But we have a movie in our library downstairs and it’s called “They Sold Their Souls For Rock’n Roll.” Very intense. And the movie’s premise is that in secular Rock’n Roll there is this spirit that’s at work, very clearly. The messages that come through in the lifestyles. But it’s not just that, they seek to depict that very clearly some of these people are at the place that they are, because there was one point in their history where they said, ‘Yup, devil, you got me, do with me what you want.’ And it’s at that very point, I mean, they show stories that are very interesting. One particular guy who was an early guy in Rock’n Roll, wasn’t very good, was a nobody. And he had a particular experience, where he said he made a deal with the devil, ‘You get me going, man, you got my heart.’ And man, this guy went from nobody to very popular, very tremendous and prominent. But even his songs, there were messages in his songs about bargaining with the devil, and what the devil said. And in the end they even show you in the video his last moments as he’s in the hospital room, or some kind of rubber-padded wall room, as he went crazy, just before he died. He was down on his knees barking. Which is interesting, because one of his songs depicted that as he was selling his soul to the devil. And later he dies barking. But it just shows you in the movie these people, you know, ‘Hey, you got my body, and I’ll sell my character, my integrity, that’s the price if you’ll give me riches, if you’ll give me power, if you’ll give me popularity, man you can take it all. And so on and on it goes. Now that happens in the Hollywood realm and the Rock’n Roll realm and all that. It happens on smaller scales, you know, the devil comes and says ‘I’ll give you that promotion. We’ll work this out, man, but you just, little bit of a fast deal here, you just have to agree to this, just have to cover this one.’ And so the price-tag, and people are moving along, and the devil is the prince of the world, and so he can move and shake things around. So I guess the question to you, what’s your price? Is there a price? Can he come to you and say, ‘Yah, I’ll offer you this, I’ll offer you this’. I tell you what, when he knows there’s a price, he’s often able to come and give and pay the price, and lead people into compromise. And I tell you in the end it’s just bondage. Just a quick knee, a little bend, take the easier road, take the short-cut. Of course the road that Jesus is on, the baptism depicted he’s headed to the cross to die for the sin of the world. And in that, he’s the redeemer, he’s going to redeem all of the creation back to God. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm to read about what Satan’s evil world is like today, and what it’s going to be replaced by when Jesus returns, redeeming this world and the people living in it who are now under Satan’s hidden dominion. It’s a fascinating Biblical journey through all the Old and New Testament prophecies about this redemption which is yet to come. In the end, Satan and his demonic host lose, they don’t win out over God or mankind. Our eternal rewards begin at Jesus’ return as well, some of which are depicted in this study. So don’t fall for any cheap tinsel type offers from the dark side, they don’t compare to the rewards and eternal life Jesus has waiting for those of us he’s redeemed and placed his Holy Spirit in.] And now the devil is saying here, ‘You can get it a quicker way.’ Of course he’s not going to get it in the end. The devil does have authority, but he’s going to be in bondage himself to the devil if he does this. And we know too, Jesus knows the Scripture, the prophets of old have said that God is going to give the Son, Psalm chapter 2, verse 8, the Father saying to the Son, “Ask of me and I will give you’re the nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession.” He understands that in the end he will inherit the whole world, and that this is just a lie, just a temporary deal [cf. Zechariah 14:9]. If he heads for the course leading to the cross, what’s that’s going to mean in the end, and in the end he’s going to have the glory. [and we will end up sharing in that glory if we don’t toss it away for a cheap substitute.] He needs the thorns, the crown of thorns before he gets the crown of glory, he understands that.

Jesus orders Satan to get out, and then the angels come and minister to him

Verses 10-11, “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” Well, verse 10 as we come to the end of our time, he’s says “Away with you Satan.” Satan leaves, shows you Jesus’ authority there, he’s gotta go, “For it is written, you shall worship the LORD your God, and him only shall you serve.” I tell you what, there are so many people, even Christians, where that needs to be posted on our hearts. “him only”, #1, not 2, not up there with a bunch of other things, “him only shall you serve”, him only shall you be a slave to, and nothing else. “Then the devil left him, and behold angels came, and ministered to him.” Very beautiful, goes through it, is completely victorious and successful, gives us the example that now too through the Word of God and the Spirit, we can stand. But then at the end the angels come, and I’m sure they were pretty jazzed, to come and minister to Jesus, Yeshua, and bless him. Let’s close in prayer… [transcript of a connective expository sermon given on Matthew 4:1-11 given somewhere in New England.]