There's not a day goes by if you are thinking about it honestly and accurately that you don't undergo temptation. John says in his letter that if we say we have no sin, we lie and the truth is not in us. And not to add to the Word of God, but indeed I think it's an accurate assessment of the Word of God that we are constantly bombarded with temptation. To say that we have no temptation is to misunderstand what temptation is. To say that we are not tempted to sin is to ignore the power of temptation. to deny it, to reject it, or to misunderstand it. Indeed, it is true, I think, as Thomas Watson has rightly noted, that the greatest temptation comes to those who belong to Christ by faith. He said, Satan doth not tempt God's children because they have sin in them, but because they have grace in them. Had they no grace, the devil would not disturb them. Though to be tempted is a trouble, yet to think why you are tempted is comfort. We are tempted. And I would dare say that the closer you are to Christ, the greater will be the intensity of the temptation. Christ, the eternal son of God, who had taken on flesh, identified with us in his baptism, shown the The commendation of God his father as he comes up having been baptized and the spirit of God descends upon him and he hears the voice from heaven say, you are my son with whom I am well pleased. Jesus, the eternal son of God who had taken on flesh identifies with us both in his baptism and in the intensity and severity of the temptation which he would endure. And so it's fitting at the beginning of his ministry to sinners that Jesus Christ, having identified with us in baptism, now enters into temptation, a temptation that would not stop here. The sinless Son of God would have to endure temptation throughout His ministry. In order to be a perfect Savior who identifies with us, He would have to be one who would resist and reject temptation at every stand. Jesus Christ, our great high priest. The book of Hebrews says, for we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with us in our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. But we have one who is not only able to sympathize with us, but who was able to resist temptation at every point. And as such was the perfect substitute for sinners, not falling into sin, but able to stand in the place of sinners and be an acceptable sacrifice to God on the cross. Now we've said that this is only the beginning of his temptation. I suspect that the most intense temptation that Christ ever endured was the temptation in the garden when he was sweating drops of blood and praying, not my will, but thy will be done. The agony of the cross, the temptation to step back, the temptation not to endure the suffering, But Jesus, our great high priest, endured such temptation on our behalf so that he could be the one who would save us to the uttermost. And so I want to focus this morning on the temptation of Christ. I want us to think about it as Mark unfolds it in these brief verses as Mark is known for his brevity. But I also want us to look back at Matthew's account briefly. And I want us to think about as Christ identifies with us here and is able perfectly to overcome the tempter's snares, how is it that we face temptation when it comes? How do we endure temptation without falling prey to sin? And the first thing that we see here is that The Lord Jesus Christ, as Mark tells us, was impelled, was driven out by the Spirit of God into the wilderness. Luke, in his account in chapter four, verse one, says that when Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, says of him that he was full of the Holy Spirit. Mark uses a much stronger word, to drive out, to cast out into the wilderness, or perhaps the proper sense is to be impelled to go into the wilderness. But what is significant and important for us to understand and to see in all of the accounts is that he had the Spirit of God upon him. He was full of the Spirit. He had the Spirit who was leading him into the wilderness. If we are going to encounter temptation without falling into sin, it is most necessary that the Spirit of God dwells within us, that the Spirit of Christ is within us. We pray, do we not? And we pray this morning, lead us not into temptation. And here Jesus was led by the Spirit into temptation. Tempted in every way as we're tempted, yet without sin. His temptation was a little different, however, than ours. We are not only tempted by external temptations, which he was, but we are tempted by the inward sin that resides within us. I want to read to you from James. You'll immediately recognize this in James 1. As James speaks to us concerning temptation. Verse 13 of James 1, it says, let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it's fully grown, brings forth death. The Lord Jesus Christ did not have that sinful desire within to give in to that temptation that was external, and yet the scripture identifies the reality that He was tempted in every way as we're tempted. The temptation appears to come to Christ at the end of his 40 days in the wilderness, a time of great fasting. And Mark describes for us the reality of where he is in this wilderness. It was a place where wild animals were. It was a place of danger, of loneliness. a place in which he was assaulted by the adversary, Satan himself. One commentator has this to say, when he saw the heavens tear apart and the Holy Spirit descend into him and heard the Father's voice pronounce, you are my son whom I love, he felt an inexorable compulsion from the Holy Spirit to plunge into the wilderness to duel Satan. Heaven had opened. Now hell opened. How important to recognize that the Spirit of God had descended upon Jesus. He did not encounter this temptation alone. He was filled with the Holy Spirit of God. and how important for us to recognize that if we are to reject and resist the temptation of the adversary who seeks the destruction of our souls, that we need the Holy Spirit of God. It's told of Martin Luther, the great German reformer, that he was asked the question how he overcame the devil and he replied, Well, when he comes knocking upon the door and says, who lives there? The dear Lord Jesus goes to the door and says, Martin Luther used to live here, but he has moved out. Now I live here. Paul tells us in Ephesians to walk not as unwise, but as wise and to be filled with the spirit The Spirit of God who enables us to live in these evil days and to make the most of every opportunity. It's that daily and necessary filling of the Spirit of God to put off the things of the world and to be filled with the fullness of the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit had driven him into the wilderness, and we see, secondly, if we are to encounter this temptation without sinning, we must understand the nature of temptation. And for that, I want you to look with me at Matthew's Gospel again, Matthew chapter 4. You know, the devil is not creative. He uses the same tactics over and over and over again. And so when we see that, when we begin to understand the nature of the temptation that he brings against us, we shouldn't be surprised, nor should we fall into that sin. The first temptation that we read of there in Matthew's gospel is the temptation as he comes to Jesus after 40 days without food. I almost think it's an understatement to say he was hungry. How long are you willing to go without food? I'm not willing to go very long. And time after time we see in the scriptures what happens, especially the one thing that comes to mind is Jacob and Esau. He was so hungry that he was willing to give up his birthrights for a bowl of stew. 40 days is a long time. Starvation is near to set in. The need was real and the tempter was strong. And he tempted Jesus both with his trust in the provision of God and tested him with concern to his own physical need. If you are the son of God, If you are really who you say you are, then why don't you just command these stones to become loaves of bread? Why don't you just make provision for yourself? for your own need, for your own hunger, for the own desires of your physical flesh. And no doubt he was not only attacking his identity, but his faith and the ability of his Heavenly Father to provide. And notice, notice Jesus' response It is written from Deuteronomy, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And then he comes along with a second temptation. We're told he takes him to the holy city, he sets him on the pinnacle of the temple, and he says, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written he will command his angels concerning you. Again, calling into question his identity, but even more, okay, so you trust God for the provision of bread. What about throwing yourself down? Will he really save you? And notice his tactic. He takes scripture out of context and uses it for his own designs. That's no new, that's no new thing that he does. That's exactly what he had done in the garden. Did God really say And if you go back to that Genesis 3 account, you'll remember that even Eve doesn't seem to fully understand what God's Word was. Because she misses the emphasis on surely die. In the original, it's die, die. She misses the certainty of the death, and she misses the reality or adds to God's Word by saying, we can't even touch it. The adversary, the evil one, is the prime manipulator of the scriptures seeking for us not to understand what God actually says and to wrongly apply it. And so he's trying to manipulate the word to his own design and says, he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. But Jesus shows to us that scripture interprets scripture and that he's got the wrong understanding of it. Jesus said again, it's written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And then there's the third temptation. I'll call it the pride of life. And John says in 1 John 2, 16, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but from the world. This is the temptation to have all of these things, but not to work for it. It's a temptation of our time, isn't it? You can become rich overnight, they advertise. You don't need to work for it. You don't need to worry about it. You can have it. Here he says to Jesus as he takes them up to a very high mountain and shows them all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Then he answered, Be gone, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. All you have to do, you can avoid the cross. You can avoid the suffering and the shame and the mockery and the death. You can avoid it all. Just bow down to me and I'll give you the kingdoms of this world. Oh, how right Jesus is to respond again with the word. We're called to worship the Lord, our God, and him only. Martin Luther says again, all the cunning of the devil is exercised in trying to tear us away from the word. How true it is. He wants us to misunderstand and misconstrue and misuse the Word of God. He was successful in the garden, but he wasn't successful with Christ. The first Adam, our representative, fell into sin, but our second Adam, Christ, did not fall to such temptation, for he knew the Word of God. And if we are going to resist temptation, it is necessary that we know God's word. All the heresies, all the wrong beliefs, all the horrific views of God that come from one source, lack of the knowledge of the Word of God. How important to keep that in mind. How important that we understand the nature of the temptation, but also that we keep in mind the reality of the necessity to know God's Word. When temptation strikes, what is your answer? Or more importantly, how do you fight off temptation? We've already said you, you need to understand the nature of temptation. You need to have the spirit of Christ dwelling within you. But you also need to know God's word. It is written was his response. And then we have the beautiful provision of the Father for the needs of Christ, sending to him angels who were ministering to him. Matthew's gospel says they appeared after the devil had fled. We're not told what they did, but we can, I think rightly, believed that they provided sustenance for Christ who was hungry. How important to recognize when temptation arises that there is one alone who is able to supply our needs. There is one alone who is able to sustain us by his grace. The devil's promises are vain and empty, but the Father's supply are from the riches of His grace. C.S. Lewis had this to say in his preface to Paradise Lost, how important friends to recognize that the devil has nothing to offer us. Yet he makes it appear so appealing. To admire Satan is to give one's vote not only for a world of misery, but also for a world of lies and propaganda of wishful thinking, of incessant autobiography. To be tempted is not to sin, but how vital it is that we resist temptation when it comes. Because though he promises, though the adversary promises great things, he will deliver great misery. He promises riches but gives poverty, success but gives failure, deliverance but gives bondage. There's nothing that the enemy promises to us that will bring to us true and everlasting joy. But what a blessing that we have a Savior. endured such temptation and tribulation. Jesus, the one who saves, Christ the anointed one, the very Son of God who took on flesh, endured temptation and died in our place, taking upon him the wrath for our sins, taking our misery and giving to us life. Let me ask you today, do you know the Savior Jesus Christ? Then are you armed for temptation? Have you armed yourself with the word of God? Oh, the evil one will seek to tear you away from it. But are you armed with the word of God? And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the Spirit of God dwelling within you. Understand temptation and resist it with the Word of God. Let nothing stand in your way. John Owen said that temptation is like a knife that may either cut meat, or cut the throat of a man. It may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction. The book of Hebrews reminds us, chapter 2, verse 18, for because he himself has suffered when tempted. He, Christ, is able to help them who are being tempted. And Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10 that he provides for us an escape. Oh, the wonder, the majesty, the glory of Christ that he who knew no sin endured the tempter's temptation, was tempted in every way as we are, and yet did not sin. Oh, how we need to look to Christ, to his word, being filled with his spirit, that we would be able to ward off temptation, and to see the glory and joy of Christ. Let us pray. O gracious God, our Heavenly Father, help us not to be fooled. How easy it is to be fooled, O Lord, by the sinful desires of our flesh. And by the appeals of the evil one, help us, O Lord, we pray. Help us in temptation's hour to see, to understand, and to rejoice that we have a Savior who overcame temptation. And by His Spirit and Word, we are able to overcome it as well. Grant us grace, we pray, through Christ our Savior. Amen.