The Temptation of Jesus, Part 4

Thank you so much, choir. Let's pray together. Lord, we are grateful that we are able to behold the beauty of the Lord in the house of God, and we ask that today, as we open the word of the Lord, we see your glory. May we marvel in your beauty and worship you with all of our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Luke chapter 4 is where we are at. Luke chapter 4, it's always been a a great desire of mine to study the Gospels. And if you've been with us at Christ Community Church over the last 12 years, you know that we began our our study in the Gospel of Mark.

And I purposed in my heart that every 10 years we would go through another Gospel. So after Mark, and 10 years later after finishing that, now we're in Luke. And dependent upon when we finish Luke, the 10 years after that, we will do the Gospel of John. And then of course, 10 years after that, we'll do the Gospel of Matthew. So if you want to know where we're going, that's where we're going, until the Lord returns. But to study the Gospels is such a marvelous thing, because you see, in the Gospels we are able to understand the identity of the Messiah.

See, once you understand his identity, you do understand his beauty and his glory. Who is this Messiah? Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? And that's why the Gospels are so profound, because they give us the life and the birth, the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. It encompasses for us the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the greatest of all studies, you can do a lot of studies in the Bible, but the most magnificent study is the study of Jesus Christ. Who is he? Because once you understand who he is, you understand what he did and why he did it.

And then you begin to understand what your response is to that. And that's why the Gospels become so profound for us. And in the Gospel of Luke, we begin to understand Jesus as the Son of God. Remember way back in chapter 1, when the angel Gabriel came to Mary, and the angel told Mary that she would conceive in her womb a child, and that child would be called the Son of God. And then we move to chapter 2, and we saw that when Christ was 12 years of age in the temple, he told his mother and father that he had to be about his father's business, claiming that he was the son of his father in heaven.

And then in chapter 3, at his baptism, we saw where there was this voice out of heaven, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So we've already seen on at least three separate occasions in the first three chapters, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

When you come to chapter 4, you have the testimony of the devil, that Jesus is the Son of God. You have the testimony from Gabriel in chapter 1. You have the testimony of Jesus himself in chapter 2. You have the testimony of his father in heaven in chapter 3. And in chapter 4, you have the testimony of the devil himself, because he says, since you are the Son of God. You see, Satan knows who Jesus is. He's got a better grasp of the identity of Christ than we do. He knows that Jesus is the Son of God.

Now that phrase, the Son of God, appears 80 times in the New Testament. That's important to know, because you must understand Jesus as the Son of God. So it appears some 80 times in the New Testament. In the Gospels alone, 151 times, Jesus refers to God as his father. Now folks, that is of utmost importance, because for Jesus to refer to his father in heaven as his own personal father, what he was saying is that he is of the same essence and same nature as his father in heaven. How do we know that?

Well, over in John chapter 5, as you recall, when Christ healed one on the Sabbath, it says in verse number 16, and for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But he answered them, my father is working until now, and I myself am working. Verse 18, for this cause therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. You see, the Jews knew that when Jesus claimed that God above was his own father, he was claiming equality with God.

If you go over to John chapter 10, it says this in verse number 30. Christ says, I and the father are one.

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from the father. For which of them are you stoning me? The Jews answered him, for good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you being a man, make yourself out to be God. You see, the Jews knew that when Jesus claimed that God above was his own father, that he was claiming equality with God. They understood that. There is nothing in Judaism, ever, where a Jew claimed to be the son of God.

There is never one recorded incident where a Jew claims that God was his own personal father, because to do so would claim that you are equal in nature and essence to God. Think about it this way. There are 39 books in the Old Testament, and there are only two incidences where God is referred to as a father. There are 15 recorded such passages in the Old Testament where God is indirectly recorded or referred to as a father. But never one time in all of the Old Testament does one Jew claim that God was his own personal father.

Not till Jesus comes on the scene. Because Jesus is God in the flesh. And that's why the Jews wanted to stone him. You see, the Jews take great pride in being monotheistic. There's only one God. And when we go to Israel every year, our guide Mark Sugarman talks about how we as Christians are like the Jews. We are, quote, monotheistic. The problem is the Jews don't believe that about us. See, to a Jew we are polytheistic. We believe there's more than one God. The Jews hold on dear to Deuteronomy 6.4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord, he is one.

They hold dearly on that. We are monotheistic. We believe in one God. And for us to come and or for Jesus to come along and say that he is the son of God and that his father in heaven is doing the same work or he's doing the same work as his father in heaven, claiming that God is his own personal father, would mean that there are two gods. See? And the Jews won't stand for that because, you see, that's polytheism and they won't go that direction. They don't understand the triune nature of God. And yet we could go to the Old Testament and go verse by verse, book by book, and prove to you the triune nature of God, that God actually is three persons in one, just by the Old Testament, without ever going to the New Testament.

Because it's very clearly taught in the Old Testament. And yet the Jews deny that. You see, it's so important for us to understand what's going on here because you need to see that to understand the temptation. Why? Because the temptation in Luke chapter 4 is not about disproving the sonship of Christ or proving the sonship of Christ because that's not the issue. Satan knows that Jesus is the son of God. That's why he says, well, since you're the son of God, do this. Or since you're the son of God, do this.

I mean, you're God in the flesh, what's the big deal? The essence of the temptation, listen carefully, in Luke chapter 4 is that Satan wants there to be a breach in the Trinity. He wants there to be rebellion within the ranks of the triune nature of God. So Satan's temptation is to get Christ to act independently from his Father in heaven. To get Christ not to depend upon his Father in heaven and to act on his own without the power of the Spirit of God operating in his life because the Son came only to do the will of the Father.

Now you think about that because every temptation that you face, every single one of them is the exact same kind of temptation. That Satan somehow wants you to get or wants you to act independently of your Father in heaven to do your own will, not the will of your Father in heaven, to operate not under the power of the Spirit, but to operate independently from the Spirit, thus creating a breach between you and your God. That's Satan's temptation in your life and mind. That's why it's imperative that you understand what is happening to the Son of God in Luke chapter 4 because he's attacking the heart and nature of the triune nature of God.

He wants to have rebellion within the ranks. He wants there to be a breach between God the Father and God the Son. You see, Satan by nature is rebellious and so he does all he possibly can to get the Son to act independently, to come out from his humiliation and his condescension to act truly as he is in his own nature as God and forget about the reason he came. That's the whole temptation. That's what's happening in Luke chapter 4. And yet Hebrews 5 says that our Lord learned obedience to the things that he suffered.

And the more he suffered temptation, the more obedient he was. And the more obedient he was, the stronger he became. And so in Luke chapter 4 you have Christ after 30 years of constant temptation, 40 days of constant temptation in the wilderness, and three huge temptations where Satan throws everything he can at him. Let me read to you those 13 verses and then hopefully we will finish them this morning.

And Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days and when they had ended he became hungry. And the devil said to him, since you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone. And he led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The devil said to him, I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me and I give it to whomever I wish.

Therefore, if you worship before me, it shall be all yours, or all be yours, excuse me. And Jesus answered and said to him, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. And he led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, said to him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, he will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you. And on their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone.

And Jesus answered and said to him, it is said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. We gave you one introduction, two questions, three temptations, and we'll give you four conclusions. The three temptations, one centers around the will of God, number two centers around the worship of God, and number three centers around the word of God.

When you talk about the will of God, you are seeing Satan's temptation to get Christ to distrust the provision of his father in heaven. When you look at the worship of God, Satan is trying to get Christ to doubt the plan of God.

And when you come to the word of God, Satan is trying to get Christ to distort the precepts of God. You with me? Three temptations, three marvelous responses by our God that help us understand how we overcome temptation each and every day. And the first temptation we discuss for you is that Satan comes along when Christ is most vulnerable in his humanity, when he is hungry and says to him, turn these stones into bread.

I mean, after all, you are the son of God. You are the creator of the world. You are the originator of eternity. You can do anything you want. Therefore, you no longer have to submit to your father in heaven. After all, if he truly loved you, he would provide for you. He would give you what you need when you needed it. And you're very hungry. You have nothing. Therefore, God doesn't love you. Therefore, act independently on your own without submitting to the will of the father. And Christ, of course, responds and says, you know what?

Bread doesn't keep me alive. Obedience to my father in heaven is what keeps me alive. We talked to you about why that statement is so important. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The issue in life is not about what you eat. The issue in life is whether or not you're going to be obedient to the God who feeds you in the proper time, because he is the one who provides for you. That was temptation number one.

Temptation number two centered around the worship of God and trying to get Christ to doubt the plan of God.

And it all centers around the fact that Satan was going to give to Christ the kingdoms of the world. He says, all this has been given to me. Well, who gave it to Satan? God gave it to Satan, right? We know 1 John 5, 19 that he is the ruler of this world. I mean, all things are lying in the lap of the wicked one. We know that Ephesians 2 says that he's the God of the sage. We know that three times in the gospel of John that he's the ruler of this world. So we understand that Satan sees himself as the overarching power in the world.

And he can give this world to whomever he chooses. And he says, hey, listen, Christ, I'm going to give this to you. What you need to do is just fall down, worship me. I mean, why go to the cross when I'll give you the crown right now? Why go through all the humiliation when I'll give you the exaltation right now? Why go through all the suffering when I will give you the glory right now? Bypass the cross. Bypass the humiliation. Bypass the suffering. Bypass the pain. You don't need to have, you don't deserve that because you're the son of God.

Now you hear that all the time, right? How many times do people say you don't deserve something? You don't deserve to be treated that way. You deserve a better life than that. You deserve a better relationship than that. You deserve a better marriage than that. You deserve better kids than that. You deserve a better income than that. You deserve a better house than that. You don't deserve that. Look at you.

You're a child of the living God. You deserve more than that. Really? Really? See, that's Satan's lie. In the world, we, you know, we feed off of society. Society has got us to buy into the trap that, you're right, we don't deserve that. We're Americans and because we're Americans, you know what? We deserve the best. Really? Who says? TV says. TV preachers say. But what does God's word say about what we deserve? And here is Satan coming to Christ. You're the son of God. Listen, Daniel 7, verse number 13, the son of man appears in all of his glory and what happens?

He, he, he takes all the domains of the world and takes them as his own. There's a promise in Psalm chapter 2, right? Thou art my son. Today I have begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give you the kingdoms of the world, the nations of the world as your inheritance. And so Satan comes and says, you know what? It's all yours anyway. It's going to be yours. Why go through all the pain of obeying your father when I can give it to you right now with no pain? No problem. Because this is mine to give. You see, Satan is trying to get Christ to forego the plan and purposes of his father in heaven.

And you know what? God has a plan and purpose for your life. And if Satan can get you sidetracked or distracted from that plan to get you to go his way, he's happy. And you know, Christ is, is so good at, at responding. He says, he quotes that in Deuteronomy 6, verse number 13, It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. I'm not going to bow down and worship you. I'm going to worship the true God of the world. You see, Satan's temptation is to get you into idol worship.

You see, the, the, the passage that Christ quotes is in, is, is of utmost importance. In fact, turn back with me if you will to Deuteronomy chapter 6, because this is where he quotes from. Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses is speaking to the children of Israel about their, um, marching into the land of Canaan, that great promised land, and what's going to, what it's going to be like. And in verse 10, listen to this. Moses says, Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns with which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied.

Then watch yourselves, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. And then here's the verse Christ quotes. You shall fear only the Lord your God, and you shall worship him and swear allegiance by his name. You should not follow other gods, any of the gods, the peoples who surround you. For the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you and will wipe you off the face of the earth.

God says, listen, through Moses, you need to understand something. You're about to embark on a great land and you're going to receive a whole bunch of things that you know what? You didn't do anything to receive. I'm just going to give them to you. You can live in houses you didn't build. Think about it. It's like saying you're going to live in a house you didn't pay for, right? That'd be kind of nice, right? Free house. You can drive cars you didn't buy. You're going to receive water from wells you didn't have to dig.

The vineyards, the olive plants, never planted, never cultivated. They're just there. They're yours. And when you get there, beware lest you forget something. What's that? You forget me. You see, materialism has a built-in curse, doesn't it? It tends to make us very forgetful of how we received what it is we received and who gave it to us. What's the Bible say? The Bible says, what did you have that you did not receive from the Lord?

You have nothing because of what you did. Everything you have is because of what God has chosen to give you. We need to remember that. And that's Moses's exhortation to the people of God. Listen, be careful because when you get in there, you're going to tend to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt and brought you into this land. You should worship only him, fear him only, worship him, swear allegiance to him and serve him only. And Christ quotes that verse and says, listen, here's the deal.

You're only to worship the one true God of the universe and only serve him. Because worship and service go together. If you worship God, you adore him. If you adore him, you serve him. And Christ makes that well known to Satan there as he would overlook the kingdoms of the world. You know, Satan wants you to get to doubt the plan of God. God has a plan for your life. And Satan seeks to give you instant gratification. Don't wait for the right one. Marry anyone. It's okay. After all, they'll meet your needs.

They'll take care of you. Don't wait for the right job. Just take any job because it gives you an income. You see, we buy into that and we got to be very, very careful about acting independently of our God. You see, you know you're worshiping God when you understand your God. Remember the story in Exodus 34 when Moses said to the Lord, God, show me your glory. I want to see you. Who are you? Show me. Give me your name. And the Lord says, you know what I'm going to do, Moses? I'm going to put you between in the cleft of the rock and I'll pass by you.

I'll let you see my glory. And the Bible says in Exodus 34 that God proclaimed his name to Moses. I am the God who is long-suffering, gentleness, gentle, abounding in goodness and loving kindness and forgiveness. Remember that? And what happened to Moses when he saw that? The Bible says that he fell down and he worshiped his God.

Let me tell you something. When you understand God, you worship him properly. That's why my ministry at Christ Community Church is to somehow get you to see God. That's really all I care about. Because once you see God for who he truly is, then you can worship God. My job as a preacher is to present Christ to you that you might see him in all of his glory. You know, my job is not to help you get a better marriage. If you want, if you're looking for a better marriage and you're coming here, that's not my job to help you get a better marriage or to get a better job or to have a better relationship with somebody else.

My job is to help you see God because once you see God, you know how to have a better marriage. Bad marriages happen because people don't know God. Bad relationships exist because people don't know God and want to worship him and honor him. If I can get you to see God as Moses saw God, your response is to fall down and to worship him, to give him all the glory, and to be all you can be for him, to serve him and serve him only. And that's where we need to be, right? That's why I love that story in the Gospel of John.

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. We wish to see Jesus. That's all we need. Thomas said, show us the Father and that will be enough. It's enough for me. Just show me the Father. Show me God and that's enough. I don't need anything else. That's the way we need to be, right? Show me the Father. Lord, show me who you are and that will be enough because then I'll know how I'm supposed to worship you, serve you, honor you, live for you, and then everything around me will change. Why? Because my perspective would have changed.

My perspective changes when I see and understand my God. Now, temptation number three. This is where we left off last week. See, it's a 33 minute introduction. Temptation number three and that centers around the Word of God.

And when Satan tempts you in this area, he wants you to distort the precepts of God. Listen to this. Luke chapter four verse number nine. And he led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here for it is written he will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone. Satan says to him, look, I'm going to tell you what.

I know you're the Son of God. You know you're the Son of God. We don't even have to debate that fact. And because you are, listen, Satan says, I know now you're not going to do what God has not said. So how about you do what God has already said? So he takes him to this pinnacle. If you go to Israel today, you can see the spot. You can go there. In fact, we go and we sit on the temple steps and we look at this pinnacle in Israel on the Temple Mount because it's still there today.

It's a 450 foot drop there in that southeastern corner of the Temple Mount, 450 foot straight down from that pinnacle to the Kidron Valley down below. And this is where Satan takes him. And when you sit there and you're looking at the southern aspect of the gates of the Temple, up to the Temple Mount, and you're standing on the exact stairs that Jesus one day walked on, it's quite a scene. And then to look over to your right and see that pinnacle right there and to know that one day Satan and Christ stood on that pinnacle.

Tradition tells us that James, the brother of Jesus, was thrown from that place to his death. And Satan takes Christ there and says, you know what? You're the Son of God. And I know you are so committed to obeying exactly what the Word of God says that Psalm 91, now Satan knows the Bible better than we know the Bible.

Did you know that? You know, I don't want to, you know, ruin your perception of Satan, but he really does know the Bible pretty well. And he says, you know, Psalm 91 11 and Psalm 91 12 says this. So here is Satan quoting God's Word because he wants to distort those precepts. He wants you to presume upon God. He says, this is what the Bible says, Son of God.

He will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. If you throw yourself off this pinnacle, guess what's going to happen? Since you're the Son of God, the angels will come down, they'll sweep you up, and they'll gently place you there in the bottom of the Kidron Valley, and you'll be okay. And guess what? Everybody will know that you're the Messiah. This is a great thing for you to do. Just throw yourself off the building.

It's going to be okay. Listen, Christ in his humanity would die, right? I mean, he came to earth to die. That's why the cross killed him. Because in his humanity, he would die. He would give his life away. So he would actually die if he threw himself off the top of that building. And you see, Satan wants him to presume upon the promises of God. You ever been there? Sure you have. We tend to presume upon the promises of God all the time. Satan comes and says, you know what? You know what the Bible says, Philippians 4.19, my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.

Satan, God's going to supply all your needs. Guess what? You know what? You don't have to get a job. Why get a job? Sleep in. You could use a little beauty sleep every once in a while. Sleep in. Your God will supply all your needs. All you got to do is just relax. Let God take care of it. Don't do anything. Just don't get a job. Be irresponsible. It's okay. And so we sit back and say, yeah, why should I get a job? The Bible says that God's going to supply all my needs.

I'll just maintain my part time job because I know that money will come in and I know what God will give me food and God will take care of all the house bills that I have. God will take care. I don't have to worry about anything. God will take care of all that. And we begin to presume upon the precepts of God. Or how about this? When I was a college pastor at the King's College in New York, I had a secretary. She was a twin. Her sister was killed in a car accident. And it was a tragedy. It really was.

We had three students who left the school on that day, traveled two to three hours to the morgue for the purpose of raising her sister from the dead. So I got word wind of this and and I'm waiting for them to return that evening. And of course I'm staying at the campus because I can't wait to talk to these three young men about their journey to raise this young lady from the dead. Word had spread throughout the whole campus that these three young men had gone to raise her sister from the dead. So they come riding up.

They're all kind of despondent looking and dejected. And I said, hey guys, how you doing? Uh, we're not doing good. I said, where you been? Of course I knew where they'd been. Well, we went to see this young lady's sister. I said, really? She's, she's dead. Yeah, we knew. We know that. So, so why'd you go see her? Well, we really believed John 11 where Christ is the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies. I said, really? So you actually thought that you could go and raise her from the dead?

They said, yeah. I said, are you guys stupid or what? Let me ask you a question. How many people did Jesus raise from the dead? Three. Three. That's it why he was here. I said, let me ask you a question.

How come you couldn't raise her from the dead? Know what their answer was? She came to us in a vision and said she liked where she was and didn't want to come back. I said, come on, fellas. Of course she doesn't want to come back. She loves the Lord. She's in glory. Why would she ever want to come back here? But you didn't see any vision or have any dream about this. That was their excuse for their inability to raise her from the dead. She didn't want to come back. See, that's why she remained dead.

You see, these kind of things happen all the time. You got a TV preacher by the name of Benny Hinn. Of course most of you know who he is. His whole famous thing is that when someone dies just drape them over the television. Have you heard the story? Don't you guys watch TV? I mean, come on. Just drape them over the TV while he is on there doing the crusade and he will raise them from the dead. Can you believe that? And people give money to this guy all the time. You know, it's ridiculous. And people actually do that.

They take the dead, these corpses of their husbands, their wives, their children and throw them over the television thinking that Benny Hinn is going to raise them from the dead. All right, how about this? Psalm 103 says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits, who pardons all your iniquities, listen to this, and who heals all your diseases. So people presume that God will heal all my diseases. That's what the text says, right?

He's going to heal all my diseases. By His stripes you are healed, Isaiah 53. And so these TV preachers say, look, you should be healed. And so you come to me and I'll heal you. Now if you're not healed, guess what? It's because you don't have enough faith. It's your fault, not my fault, TV preacher says, it's your fault. It's your fault because you don't have enough faith to be healed. When we go through the book of Luke, you're going to see a lot of people who had no faith, who didn't even know who Jesus was, who didn't even care who Jesus was, and they were healed.

Because faith is never a prerequisite for physical healing. See, when you read Psalm 103, verse 3, it's really about healing all your soul's diseases. You got to compare it with Psalm 107 to help you understand what He does to the soul of a man. And one day you will be completely free from all those diseases because you will have a glorified body and you will be free from all of that. But, but in the meantime, sometimes, listen, God wants you sick. You ever think about that? Oh, why would God who loves me want me sick?

Think of Paul, the Apostle Paul. Think of the Apostle Paul. He left Trophimus and Miletus sick. Paul had the gift of healing. Left, yet he left one of his good soldiers sick. Didn't heal them. You see, it's not always God's will for you to be healed. Some people have cancer and they have it for a long period of time. Some people die because of it. Some people have all kinds of diseases. And yet we want to presume upon God that somehow I deserve more than this. I'm better than this. I don't, and Satan wants us to buy into that lie and distort the precepts of God and just kind of take them all out of context to try to somehow pacify a guilty conscience, a sinful conscience, and figure out what's going on in my life.

And Satan does all he can to get you to never look to God ever again in your life. If God really loves you, he'll provide for you. Come on, you don't deserve that. You deserve better than that. If God truly loved you, let me tell you something about his plan.

You wouldn't have to go through suffering, through misery, through depression, through rejection, through dejection, any of those things, because God is a God of love. Follow me, Satan says. Worship me. We say, well we're not Satan worshipers. Listen, if you're an idolater, that is, if you have something else that's stolen your affection, that is, if there is something that you rely on more than God, that becomes your God. That's called idolatry. That's called Satan worship. We don't have to look at ourselves that way, but you know, let's call it like it is, folks, right?

It's, it's turning away from God. You can only serve one master. Can't serve two masters, only one. One is true and one is good and one is evil and one is wrong, right? So you got to serve the true God. That's why the Lord says, you should worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Only the God of Israel, the true God of the universe, you are to serve and to worship with your whole heart. No one else. Because when you do, then you don't become an idolater. You see, there are things that steal our affection, right?

That steal our adoration. What consumes your thinking? On a daily basis, what consumes your thinking the most? That becomes the avenue by which you tend to focus off God and onto that one object or that one relationship or that one individual. And I think that so many times, we have forgotten that whatever our heart clings to and whatever our life relies on is our God. Could be materialism, money, power, popularity. I want to be better. I want to be recognized. Those things become what I rely on and cling to so much that I pursue them and they become the object of my affection and they rob me of my devotion to God.

And therefore, I become an idolater. Ephesians 5 says these words, no covetous man who is an idolater shall inherit the kingdom of God. When you covet something, that is you want something so bad, you will do whatever you can to obtain it. And it just soaks up all your attention. I love what Martin Luther said. He said, anything that you love, anything that you serve, anything that you value more than God is your God. Isn't that true? Sure it is. And so easily we are taken away from our sole object of affection.

We got to be careful, right? And so Satan comes along and says, you know what? Just do what God's word says. You're a good Christian. You love the Lord. Just do what God says.

And yet he distorts it just a little bit to get you to think that's what it means. And all of a sudden your heart turns away from God. That's why it's so important that you know what God's word says, right? So important. That's how deception creeps into the church and false teachers creep into the church. Let's know what Christ says.

He quotes again from Deuteronomy chapter six. And Jesus answered and said to him, it is said you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Don't put him to the test. Don't presume upon the precepts of God. Trust him. Believe him. Obey him. But don't say God is my protector. I can just walk down the freeway and not fear death. Or I can take a gun and shoot somebody and they won't die because God's angels will protect them. No, no, that's not the way it is. Let's know what the text says. When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

He departed. He fled. He went away. When you resist him, James four says, he will flee. Right? And you resist him steadfastly in the faith according to first Peter chapter five.

That is resist him steadfastly in the revealed written word of God. But notice the text says that he went away until an opportune time.

There are many, many temptations that Christ would face with and without his disciples. Even his disciples were used of Satan to try to deter him from the cross. Remember Matthew 16, when Christ heard that great confession for Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Oh, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed unto you. My father who is in heaven. Remember that? And Christ goes and talks about his death, burial and resurrection. Peter rebukes the Lord. And Christ says to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan, for you don't have in mind the things of God.

Folks, let me tell you something about that verse. That is such a great revealer about how good people who are Christian people in their own mind have good intentions, but they are used of Satan to draw you away from the plan and purposes of God for your life. Happens all the time. Peter didn't go around saying, okay, Satan, what can I do to get Christ away from this? He wasn't thinking that. He wasn't wanting to be used of Satan. He just had a, he didn't have in mind the things of God. When you don't have in mind the things of God for the people of God, you're used to oppose God.

Please remember that. And that's how Peter was used. He was used by Satan to try to get Christ away from his ultimate objective, the cross. So he could bear your sin and my sin, right? So we can be set free from the bondage of Satan and sin. That's why, that's why it's so important. And so Christ would feel this temptation all the time. John 13, Satan filled Judas's heart, right? Satan filled the heart of Judas and Christ turns to him and says, what's over thou doest, do us quickly. And that temptation would go all throughout the trials of Christ, the persecution of Christ from that evening in which he was betrayed until he hung on the cross and died.

It was a life filled with temptation because Satan did not want Christ to fulfill the plan of God. You know, God has a plan for you and God has a plan for me. And Satan will do all he can to make sure you don't fulfill that plan. And that's why we got to be wise, right? Remember 2 Corinthians 2, verse 11, Paul said, we are not ignorant of his devices. What are those devices? How do we become knowledgeable about them so we don't fall prey to temptation? Four conclusions next week. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the great and wonderful word of God.

You are absolutely beyond amazement. Your beauty, your glory is so incredible. And Father, forgive us for not knowing you as we should. Forgive us, Lord, for not following you as we should. And I pray every man and woman in this room today would realize, Lord, that you are our all in all. You are the most precious thing there is. And we should worship you and adore you and serve you with all of our hearts. And I pray for the wandering soul this morning that's kind of out there in la la land, not knowing exactly which way to go.

They're being pulled in every direction away from you. And I pray, God, that your spirit would grab ahold of their lives and cause them to follow and serve you. I pray for the soul that has no idea who you are today, that today would be the day of their salvation. Lord, we have so many people in our congregation who are married to unbelievers, and our hearts go out to them. And our prayer, Lord, is that they would not succumb to temptation, but would remain strong, that they might be able to show to their spouse the strength of Almighty God, and that you'd save their spouse's soul.

And Father, before we leave today, if there be one person among us that does not know you, may today be the day of their salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.