Good to be with everyone this evening. Good to see you here. Today, I think we're going to turn, I don't think. I hope by now I've chosen my passage. We are going to turn to Matthew chapter 4. We're going to be reading the first 11 verses, a very important and well-known passage about Jesus's temptation in the wilderness. More properly, Jesus's temptations in the wilderness. Three temptations he faces from the evil one, and we're gonna try to see how that relates in his own life, but also how we can apply it to ours. So we're gonna read together Matthew 4, 1 through 11 before praying. This is the word of the Lord. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone. Jesus said to him, again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give to you if you fall down. and worship me. And then Jesus said to him, be gone, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your goodness and your grace. We thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ, who was tempted but succeeded in overcoming the devil. We thank you so much for what that means for us, that in him we overcome. And as we seek to live our lives in accordance with your will and the image our Lord set before us, and by the power of your spirit, I pray that you would help us to overcome temptation, that you would transform us in the image and likeness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray. Amen. Nearly a year ago now, actually a little more than a year ago, I was in this very town of Beaver Falls for my job application here in Geneva. And I remember that week was very interesting. I woke up Monday morning in Cyprus. I flew across the world, landed in Pittsburgh. It was 8 o'clock here, but my body clock said it was 5 AM or something. No, 3 AM. But anyway, the next couple of days I was preparing for the interview. Thursday and Friday were a series of interviews talking to different people. And you might imagine that was very interesting for me, talking to this committee and that committee, these students and those faculty members. It was trial after trial. And then I left. It was, at that point, Friday night, flew overnight, landed in London Saturday morning, missed my flight because of a delay, took the late flight to London, got back to Larnaca, Cyprus at 11 o'clock, preached the next day. Went home, fell asleep, woke up and asked myself what kind of dream I was having. Crazy dream, I was all over the world. But the point is, is that I had, before I can accept this job or be offered that position, I had to pass a series of trials or tests. Now, nothing like Jesus's, not comparing them, but that is something quite common. When you're applying for a job, you have to be interviewed. You have to go through a process in order for you to be commissioned to do that job and offered that. If you're going to school, you have to apply. You have to have a certain level on these standardized tests, and your grades have to be good enough. A sort of testing before a commissioning and a calling is something we understand and something that we get. This is the ultimate test, which is greater than any test that any of us can ever go through. Our Lord is tempted in the desert, and Satan gives him three of the most devastating temptations there are, and each one of them Christ conquers. And because of that conquering, we can be transformed and conquer our own temptations. So today we're going to learn about those three temptations of Christ. First of all, how he did it in his unique way, and also how being transformed into his image, we can also, in him and by his power, conquer the temptations that we face. So that's what we're going to do today. But before we get to the three temptations, I want us to think about a little bit of some preliminary context here, which is really important as we set the stage a little bit. It's well known to say that when Jesus is tempted, he responds with scripture. And this is definitely true as far as it goes. And it's very helpful for us to know and memorize the scriptures because Jesus himself, when he's tempted, he fires back with the scriptures. And that's really something we ought to do too. But it's important to realize that Jesus doesn't just pick verses or quotes at random from the Old Testament. He does so from a particular period in the history of the people of God. He does so from their wilderness wanderings, actually from when Moses is recalling those wilderness wanderings right before Moses dies and he's writing the book of Deuteronomy. That's important because it gives us a critical piece of context. Jesus here is, in a sense, reliving the life of the people of God. Matthew does this very consistently in his gospel. Both Jesus and the people of God are born in a miraculous sort of way. Jesus is much more miraculous, but the people of God with Sarah giving birth at a very old age, and of course, Mary gives birth as a virgin. They both go to Egypt and are called back. They both pass through the waters. just as the Israelites pass through the Red Sea, so also Jesus passes through the waters of baptism. And after that, both are led by the Spirit into the wilderness, the people of God with the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day. And of course, Jesus is here led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And of course, the number 40 is really important. Jesus here in verse two is in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, which reminds us of the Israelites being tempted in the wilderness for 40 years. What's the purpose? What is Matthew trying to teach us here? He's trying to show us that Jesus is the obedient Israelite. Because of course, as we read the Old Testament, we see that the people of God, they don't really pass their testing. Many of them fall. They test God. They disobey. Moses himself is not allowed to enter the promised land. But Jesus is different. He conquers. And this means, as the obedient Israelite, our Lord, therefore, is the one in whom all The great promises are fulfilled. The Gospel of Matthew begins with the great words, the book of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, son of David, son of Abraham. That is, he comes to fulfill the great promises that God made about the son of David and the son of Abraham. That is, a great king who would rule over all and forever in order to bless all the nations. He is the Messiah. He is the one in whom all the great promises are fulfilled. This story recalls the Israelite wanderings in the desert with one critical difference. Jesus conquers. A second piece of critical context is another biblical story which this one recalls. Satan keeps replying, if you are the son of God. And one of the names given to Adam, as we see in Luke's gospel, is the son of God. Adam too was tempted by Satan. But once again, we see the big difference. Adam fails. Adam was tempted in a garden with everything around him that he could hope for, beautiful lush fruit, Jesus was tempted in a desert after having starved for 40 days, being in the place connected with death, and yet Jesus conquers. He is not only the obedient Israelite, he is the second Adam who comes to bring salvation to the world by his conquering of the temptations of the devil. As we read through this passage, we need to have those contexts in mind, to see the scope of what Jesus is doing here. This is not just some random person being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. This is the obedient Israelite. This is the second Adam. And therefore, this is the one through whom the world will be blessed because of his conquest of the evil one. OK, let's now move on to the first temptation here, What exactly is Jesus conquering here? We see the first temptation. in verses 3 and 4. Jesus goes out to the desert, led by the Spirit. This is clearly a testing from God, but also a tempting from the perspective of Satan. That's why in Greek, actually, the word is the same, testing and temptation. And both are appropriate here, depending on whose point of view you're viewing it from. From Satan's point of view, he's tempting Jesus. From the Father's point of view, he's testing his son in the wilderness. And in verses 3 and 4 we read about the tempter, and the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Now we have to get the power of this temptation. Verse 2 tells us that after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. That is one of the biggest understatements I've ever read. Fasting 40 days and 40 nights. I can't imagine the hunger that he was going through. Have you ever been really hungry before? I know all of you have. I am no exception. I remember one time, I was in college, sleeping in late, and I had to work at a game at noon, a lacrosse game. So I was security at this lacrosse game. And I woke up too late, I'm ashamed to say. Woke up too late for the noon game, but anyway, such is life back in college. And I remember I had to rush to get to the job. I didn't have time to eat. So I went there, and I thought, OK, I'm just going to stay here, stand here for a few hours, looking big and powerful here, be security, and then I'll go home and eat. But they stationed me right by the outback tent. the Outback Steakhouse tent. And I had to check to see if these people were, it was only for the VIP. So only the VIP could go in the Outback tent. So I had to make sure and check they were good, real VIP. They're not putting any fake IDs or anything on me. And I allowed them to go in. Okay, easy job. But the problem was is that I smelled the shrimp on the barbie. That's good. And the steaks that were there. And I was so hungry. And I waited, and I waited, and I wasn't allowed in. Finally, at around, I guess it was 2.30 or so, noon game, it was over. Everyone was leaving. I saw there was extras. I didn't do anything. I didn't want to do anything. But the guy who was running it said to me the two great words, help yourself. And I helped myself, and it was great. You've been that hungry before. You've been there. That was only after how many hours? Probably 18, 19 hours of not eating? Imagine 40 days and 40 nights. Understand the power of this temptation. And it's not as if Jesus didn't have the power to do that. We know that Satan actually is telling a devious half-truth here. He says, if you are the son of God, do this, because I know you can. And by the way, Satan is right. You don't say that often in a sermon, do you? But he's twisting it. Jesus can do that. We know that because he, you know, with the miracle of the loaves of bread, he does something much more miraculous than turning stones into bread. He makes bread from nothing. He can do it. But Jesus says no, and he answers, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This helps us to understand actually the essence of this temptation and how we are tempted in such a way. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. In order to get this comparison here, we need to know about the word bread in Hebrew. The word bread, you probably already know it without realizing it. The word bread is lehem, just like Bethlehem. Bethlehem means the house of bread. But the interesting thing about that word is in its cognate languages and other Semitic languages like Arabic, there is another word. The word lehem doesn't mean bread, it means Meat, interestingly. And in the Phoenician language, again, very much a cousin of Hebrew, it doesn't mean bread, nor does it mean meat. It means fish. We're thinking, why does this one word have three different meanings? I think the root idea is quite clear. It's that which sustains the society. To this day, if you've ever been to an Arabic society, you know you eat a lot of meat. And of course, the Phoenicians, they ate a lot of fish, being right there by the sea. The idea is that which sustains or gives sustenance to the people. That's what bread is. It's not just a random article of food or something like that. It's that which gives sustenance. And Jesus's idea here is that we don't live simply on bread. Bread's good, really good, if it's fresh. But we don't just live on bread. We need to live on eternal bread, and that is the word of God. So what Jesus does is he rejects the temporal satisfaction for the eternal satisfaction of the word of God. And by word here, it's not just the words of scripture, although of course that's true. It's the creative word of God. It's the age to come. Jesus applies such words to himself in John 6. He is the bread coming from heaven. He is the one that gives us sustenance. What do we work for, brothers and sisters? Do we work for that which will fade? Do we work for the bread of this age, which will become moldy? Or even if we eat it, we'll be hungry again. Or do we work for eternal bread? Do we live for that which alone can ultimately satisfy us? And that is the creative word of God. Do we live for the age to come in which Christ feeds us? Day by day, do you walk with him? Is he your satisfaction? We know that we can conquer this temptation, the temptation of the things of this age, which in themselves are good, but become temptations when they become that for which we live. But we know we can conquer that temptation when we live for the age to come, the bread that does not fade. God's people in the wilderness ate the man and were satisfied, but they needed bread again. They needed the word of God over and over, and so do we. We need God's word, reading it, hearing it, singing it, being filled with it. And most of all, we need the word who was with God and who is God, who became flesh and gave himself for the world. We need him. He alone satisfies. Live for him and you will conquer the bread of this age, that which gives temporary satisfaction but leaves you hungry ultimately. That is the temptation we see here. And Christ conquers it. He says, man does not live by bread alone. We need more than that which temporarily satisfies. We need the word of God. We need Christ himself. Be near to him. Be satisfied with him. And you will conquer the temptations of this age. That's the first temptation. The second temptation. is found in verses five through seven. I'll read verses five and six first, then Jesus' reply. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. By the way, that's about 180 feet. It's really high for a building back then. And he said to him, if you are the son of God, again, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up. lest you strike your foot against a stone." What's the idea here? The phrase, if you are the son of God, is actually quite interesting. Here it means Messiah. And by the way, once again, Satan is telling a deceptive half-truth. He rightly understands that this psalm ultimately refers to the Messiah. Did you notice that? He gets it. He knows it's referring to Christ. He's quoting from Psalm 91 here, which is a great psalm of trust. We'll sing it at the end. And he says, according to Psalm 91, the angels will protect the Messiah. And if you are that Messiah, who you say you are, why don't you just go to the top of this temple and jump off? Because the angels will then protect you. That's what the book says. No, that's not what the book says. There's a huge difference between what is said in Psalm 91 and the way Satan twists it. In Psalm 91, as we see in our bulletin, it's a psalm of trust. It says that God will be with us in all of the twists and turns of our lives and all the difficulties in which life places us. God will protect us. He will be with us. He will command his angels concerning us, particularly first and foremost related to the Messiah, but we in him. This is what the psalm is teaching us, to trust God, because as we go through the difficulties of life, he will be with us. But you see, what Satan's doing, he's turning it around. He's basically telling Jesus to dare God. I'm going to manufacture a crisis, and God has to save me from it, in other words. There is no reason why Jesus has to jump off the pinnacle. In life, we go through trials, and they're inevitable. but we don't put ourselves in them just to dare God and say, look, you do this because you said you would twistedly. God is always in charge and God always does it on his terms. And what Satan is saying here is for Jesus to do this, not on the father's terms, but on his own, basically to have his father in his back pocket and say, I am not your servant, you are mine. You see how it's so close and yet twisted at the core. The psalm is a beautiful expression of trust that God is with us in all of the various trials through which we go in our life. Satan is turning it into a dare, into a presumption, to a manufactured crisis just to show everyone how you have God in your back pocket. Completely different meaning. Twisted at its heart. This is a terrible example of taking the scripture out of context and twisting it to mean what the devil wants it to mean. Beware of that. As a little point of application, beware of that. Always read the scripture in context. If the devil had read that psalm in context, he wouldn't have liked it too much. Let me read the psalm to you, adding verse 13. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone. That's where he stops, very conveniently. What's the next verse? You will tread on the lion and the adder. The adder is a snake. The young lion, the serpent, you will trample underfoot. This is a reference to Genesis 3.15, that great first gospel, where it says that the seed of a woman will crush the head of the serpent. Satan doesn't mention that part. He takes it out of context and he twists it. And what does Christ say? You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. You must always remember that God does not do your bidding, you do his. If Jesus follow his own father, how much more should we? We don't presume anything. We trust. There's a huge difference. When we trust, we willingly put ourselves in submission to him. When we presume, He is in submission to us, allegedly. We trust, and we do not put him to the test. You will go through trials. You do not need to manufacture them. If you're living in Christ, you will suffer, as the scripture says, whether that's the suffering of putting your own sin out, or whether that's going through difficult times in your life, or even whether that means to die for the sake of the name of Christ, the ultimate suffering. You will go through trials. You do not need to manufacture them. And as you go through those trials, you need to trust like the psalmist says, and you in him will conquer because Christ has conquered. He has stepped on the head of the serpent and you in him will as well by his power and conformed into his image. Last temptation. Perhaps the most powerful one. We read it in verses eight and nine. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give you if you fall down and worship me. Once again, the devil is telling a deceitful half-truth. There is a sense in which the nations belonged to the devil. Not in legal right, he usurped the position of Adam. He usurped the position of humanity as the crown of God's creation when humans sinned. And it says in scripture that the whole world is following after the devil or the evil one. In his grips, especially with the idea of idolatry, but he has no legal right to give away the kingdoms of the earth. But notice the deceitfulness of this. He's not simply offering Jesus the kingdom, he's offering Jesus the kingdoms at a much, supposedly, easier, with a much easier condition, and I put easier in quotes there, because it isn't in the end. The idea isn't simply that Satan would give Jesus the kingdoms, It's that he would do so at a much lower price. He's negotiating with Jesus because he knows that Jesus was already promised the kingdoms of this world. He knows Psalm 91. He likely knows Psalm 2 as well. Ask of me and I will give you the nations as an inheritance. You are my son, today I have become your father. Ask of me and I will give you the nations. Satan knew that, but he also knew that in order for Jesus to come into that inheritance, he had to die first. He had to submit himself to the cross. So what Satan is really tempting Jesus with here is a kingdom without a cross. Glory without suffering. That is the great temptation here. And you can see it. It's fairly easy. You don't have to do all that suffering. You know how hard that's going to be. All that pain, all that shame. You don't have to go through that. That's really hard. I'm offering you a much better price here. Negotiating. All I'm saying is, just bow down before me. That's it. Take two seconds. Get on your knees and bow down. But it's everything in the end. Many people before and after Jesus have taken Satan's bait here. Look at the great emperors of this world. Look what Satan gave them so easily. Think of the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar. Think of the Persians. Think of the Greeks and Alexander. Think of the Romans. They all gained enormous power, wealth, prestige, glory. But guess what? They're all gone. Only one kingdom remains. And that was the kingdom that was established by the cross. Jesus knew this. He knew that Satan was a liar and it was a bargain in quotations that would cost him his soul. And as he says, what good is it for a man to give up or to gain the whole world and give up his own soul? He understood this. So what does he say? Be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve. As followers of Christ, we are not promised an easy life, and you will be tempted to take the easy way out, to grab for the glory without the suffering. That will be a temptation that all of us face, not in the same way as Christ, Christ is unique, but we are being conformed into his image. And part of what that means is being conformed into the likeness of his suffering so that we too might participate in the resurrection of the dead. It is so easy just to go for the glory. We think it has no cost. All you have to do is just bow down. How easy is that? Don't believe it. Stay with your Lord. Because after his cross, he inherited an eternal kingdom, and worldwide kingdom, and he offers you a place in that kingdom, an inheritance in that kingdom. Inheritance which, not like the kingdoms of this world, will not spoil, will not fade, will last forever in new creation. Live for that, because your Lord has conquered. Verse 11. The devil leaves him. He is conquered, at least for the moment. He will come back again. But I want us to look at this last part here. And behold, angels came and were ministering to him. That which Psalm 91 promised. He will command his angels concerning you. Don't listen to the lies. even if we're going through a rough time, even if there's suffering on our right and on our left and inside of us, stay strong. He will command his angels concerning you. You are in Christ, and in Christ you will be conformed, and by his power you will also inherit the resurrection of the dead. Stay the course and resist the temptations of the evil one. and you will, with our Lord Jesus Christ, inherit the kingdoms. Live for the bread that satisfies. Don't dare God or presume upon him, but humbly submit to him in trust, and you will share in the kingdoms of our Lord. Let's pray.