Matthew chapter 4. A difficult passage in the Bible to go through. It's been preached a lot of different ways. But nevertheless, the temptations that were faced by Jesus Christ are the same temptations that are faced by us today. The book of Hebrews tells us, tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. The root of these sins right here, the lust of the flesh, turn the stones to bread, the lust of the eyes, go to the mountaintop, view the kingdoms of the world, and you can have them now, and the pride of life, jump off from the top and the Lord won't let you get hurt, the angels will bear thee up. But there's a lot of things in this passage that I think will help us today if we'll just slow down a little bit and go through it a little at a time to see if we can get some understanding from the passage. The Bible says, then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was afterward unhungered. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command these stones to 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 sitteth him on the 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 shalt douse 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 showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And he 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 to Him. Father, we come before You this day literally, Father, with great spiritual trembling to attempt to exposit such a passage as this. Lord, we don't claim to understand what You and Your deity would have gone through or even You as a man to face the devil face to face and to be tempted, but yet, Lord, it's in the Bible for our learning and for our admonition. And God, we pray through the power of the Holy Spirit that You might make these things plain to us, that it might give us some help, and Lord, most of all, it might give us some balance in our Christian life. And Father, so that we'll not be unto Thee an abomination, we'd ask God now that You may fill the preacher's mouth with the Spirit of God, and fill the people that are listening, Lord, with the Holy Spirit of God, and give us ears to hear only what thus saith the Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Now, I want you to look at this passage for just a minute. And first of all, just to kind of set up a couple of things, first of all, notice where the temptation takes place. It takes place in a deserted place or in a wilderness. It's in a time of weakness, in a desperate situation. The place is desolate. According to the book of Mark, it says the place was a dangerous place because it had wild beasts in it. And these wild beasts were seeking to destroy anything that might be walking out there, including the Creator of the universe. extreme heat, extreme cold, a lack of water and a lack of food. This world you're living in is similar to that wilderness. It's become more and more hostile toward Jesus Christ and toward Christianity. You live in a day and age, ladies and gentlemen, where the character and the treatment of people that are out there, they think it now has become some sort of a sport or fun to make fun of Christians and people that call themselves Christians. When I was first growing up, ladies and gentlemen, I never one time, not one time, would I ever even think in a joking manner about making a joke about God, or making a joke about Jesus, or making a joke about the Holy Spirit, or anything like that at all. Even in jest, I wouldn't dare do that. And nowadays you find it very common. You can't flip across the radio station or look at the newspaper without people taking great liberty and great license to run across there and mock the deity of Jesus Christ and mock the miracles of Christ and mock Him on Calvary's cross, even to the point that your own government supported an art bill that allowed an individual to have a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on a cross and submerged in a vial or a little holder, a test tube of urine. Your country decided that it was okay in the name of art and free speech to allow Jesus Christ to be put up there in that sort of a position as if they can demean Him any more than they demeaned Him on Calvary's cross. You're in a hostile environment. You're in a dry place. You're in a desert place. You're in a desolate place. You're in a desperate place. And you're in a deserted place, ladies and gentlemen. All of us need some time alone with God. But the devil will even try to pervert your time alone with God. Some bellies went up one time up to a place not far from where I was last week, and they started having these long-term prayer meetings up there. And the prayer meetings were kind of long, and they would just lay there and wait, lay there and wait, lay there and wait. And it wasn't long before another spirit crept in there. It wasn't long before all of a sudden they're claiming to be slain in the Spirit, and these are independent Bible-believing Baptists. It wasn't long before they would be in their church services and all of a sudden this spirit would manifest itself and they would begin to shake, saying that they had the bees, or they would claim that a ball of fire would come down the aisle way and literally knock people out. You say, why? The devil perverted their time alone. It wasn't anchored in the Word of God. It wasn't anchored in the will of God. It was anchored in their own self-will, their own so-called self-sacrifice, and in their own Phariseeism. For you see, they believed if you weren't up there spending your entire day in prayer, something was wrong with you. Well, I guess you have to learn this. You can spend a whole day in prayer, but guess what? Come evening time, you're going to be hungry because there ain't going to be nothing put on the table. There's times to pray, and it's right to pray, but might I suggest to you that you pray while you're working, because the Bible says because of what happened in Genesis 3, you're to earn a living by the sweat of your brow. The time to pray is not while you're supposed to be working, earning money for your family, or earning money for your kids, and taking care of the provisions that need to be taken care of. But remember this, when you're in a deserted place, there is a great time to get along with God. But remember, when God was alone out in the wilderness in that deserted place, the devil himself wasn't afraid of that deserted place. You can be in a deserted place this morning and still be sitting here in the congregation. You can be around family. You can be around friends. You can be working all the time. You can be going to school. You can be married. You can have kids. You can look like you're the epitome of progress and the epitome of having all the things that you need to have as far as prosperity is concerned, and yet you can be in a desolate situation and be alone sitting right where you are this morning. That's a terrible thing to be in. You can be lonely. Your heart can be sad on the inside. You can be feeling like you've been separated. Nobody loves you. Everybody hates you. I'm going to go eat worms. Little bitty skinny ones. Big old fat ones. I'm going to go eat worms. You get down and you get depressed and you go looking for God, and rightfully so, but don't be fooled. God may show up in those desperate places, but the devil will show up too. And you know what he wants to do? He wants to pervert that time that you have with God. He wants to mess things up for you. I want you to notice, ladies and gentlemen, you can be alone and you can be thinking in your mind, nobody understands. When does this thing take place? It's not only a wilderness and where it takes place, but I want you to notice when it takes place. Look, if you will, please, in verse number 16. The Bible says in Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased." There's been a time of great revelation and anointing, a time of recognition as Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, a time of great revival, heaven opening, God speaking. All of a sudden, you're looking, boy, at a mountaintop experience. You're looking at the coronation of Jesus Christ, the baptism of Jesus Christ, the beginning of Christ's ministry. If there was ever a mountaintop experience, it's right here. And right after that mountaintop experience, ladies and gentlemen, shows up the devil to tempt Him. takes them out into the wilderness and begins for 40 days and 40 nights to tempt them and try them. The worst time that you can get into trouble is right after you get saved, right after you get right with God. I've seen people get right with God over the years and do things that they're supposed to be doing, and they draw close to the Lord for a little while and think everything's wonderful, and boy, they're shouting and they're hollering. We used to have a joke around here. As soon as somebody stood up and said, boy, I love this place, it's the greatest place I've ever been, I'll tell you what, God's so good to us in this place, you wait about three weeks and they'd be gone. You say, why? Because the devil hears you say that. And the next thing you know, you're cattywampus, and you're out of kink, and you're mad, and you're upset, and everything ain't right the way you think it ought to be right. Of course, it hasn't changed, but all of a sudden, there's something different. You're here in another spirit, and things are twisted, and it ain't what they used to be. It used to be alright, and now it ain't okay. And the next thing you know, you're out there in the wilderness, and it's somebody else talking to you. You see, in verses 16 and 17 of the previous passages, God's talking to him. He finds himself in the wilderness, and guess what? The devil's talking to him. Just like in Genesis chapter number 3, God starts off talking with Adam, and God's having fellowship with Adam. and God's having a good time with Adam, and they're naming the animals and so on and so forth, and you don't go very many passages until all of a sudden there's somebody else there talking to them, right in the midst of the most beautiful garden that has ever been created, where there's no sin, where everything is absolutely perfect in the environment, where he is with Miss America and she is with Mr. America, and they just are dying for each other and loving each other and everything's absolutely perfect. Guess who shows up? The devil starts talking to them in the midst of their prosperity when everything is alright, seemingly. Here the Lord has been blessed. He's getting ready to start His ministry. He's going out to fast and no doubt to get closer to God. And guess who shows up? The devil shows up. You know what you have to watch out for? It's not only where it can take place. You've got to watch out how it takes place and when it takes place. It takes place when you're coming off of a mountaintop. Boy, when everything's going great and everything's wonderful, and boy, you think everything is just as good as it can possibly be, just as much as you can be tempted to do wrong when you're down and when you're low. One of the worst things that Christians do nowadays is they get down, they get low, they can't wait on the Lord. So you know what they do? They just go ahead and do. The Bible says, wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles and so on and so forth. But you know what happens? God, what do you want me to do? God, what do you want me to do? God, what do you want me to do? God, what do you want me to do? I'm going to go ahead and do it. Christians can't sit still and wait. They've got to see something happen, and if they don't see something happen, then they go ahead and move. So, not only can you be tempted by the devil when things are bad, and when you're in despair, and when you're in a desolate, lonely situation, but you can also be tempted right after you've had a mountaintop experience. I mean, right when you think you and God are so close, man, you think you're stuck together with superglue. I would dare say in the Bible, and you please correct me if I'm wrong, that anybody could be any closer to God than Jesus Christ Himself, because the Bible says He was God. And yet, even in that closeness of fellowship, he was still tempted of the devil. And if he could be tempted of the devil being that close to God, shouldn't we all pay attention? Shouldn't we all be careful? Shouldn't we realize that we better stick closer to the Lord? than glue can hold us together and be like John and lean upon the breast of Jesus and hold tight and cling tight in the midst of the storm and happily feel after. And the Bible is full of illustrations that tell us that the secret to victory over the devil is not contending with the devil, it's clinging to the Lord. One of the things we forget about is the most important thing is to stay close to Jesus. We start trying to take it in our own hands. Well, we're not God. I don't think we can do it. Notice what he says here. How's he going to get in? Well, he's going to get in from doubt. Look at verse 3. Verse 3, And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God... Sound like Genesis 3? Doubt the Word of God. Doubt Him as the Son of God. Doubt the will of God. Doubt the worship of God. Doubt the ways of God. It's critical that you understand that here in the Bible, ladies and gentlemen, if the devil can cause you to doubt, then he can disturb your peace. The devil's realm is a realm of doubt and questions. Why is this happening to me? Why did that happen to me? Why did He let this happen? What is He trying to do? Doubts. Question. The Bible says, For we know all things work together for good of them that love God, and are called according to His purpose. Right? All things, the devil says, yea, hath God said. Now, does that all things really mean your current situation? Well, you say, well, yes, it does, preacher. Yeah, but do you really believe that? You see, what the devil wants to do is make you question that even the things that you did that were wrong to do, and the Lord comes in and chastens you and tries to get you back on the right path, then the devil comes in there and says, Yea, hath God said? If thou be, if you are, if it's God, if, then why, if, if, if, if, if? The devil's realm is doubt. The devil's realm is not the wilderness or the deserted place. as much as it is the realm of doubt. Because the realm of doubt can fit you in the palace, on the mountaintop, or down in the desert. Because the Word of God has no power in any of those places if you begin to doubt it. And when you begin to doubt it, ladies and gentlemen, you're headed for trouble. You say, why? Because now you're dealing in His realm. And once you start to doubt it, you start listening to how other people talk to you. And then the next thing you know, it's like, well, I know what it says, but I just think. And you know what the devil will do? That's right, and here comes a guy and he'll drop something in a seat. There it is. Confirms it. Right there. There it is. Right there. See? I knew that's how that was supposed to be. You say, it was the Lord. Are you sure? You see, ladies and gentlemen, if you begin to doubt something, and then all of a sudden there's an answer that comes in, your foundation for starting is cracked. You started on the wrong end of things. God doesn't reveal Himself through doubt. Matter of fact, Paul says that we're not here to preach to you anything of doubtful disputations. Questions? That's the devil's realm. You have to be careful in that realm. Alright, well preacher, tell me what happened. Tell me what's really going on. I mean, let me ask you a question. If you're supposed to be the son of the king, Can I ask you a question? Why are you living in poverty? If you're really God manifest in the flesh, why are you out here in the wilderness? If God's really with you, why has He deserted you now? Why did He leave you out here and take away your food, take away your water, take away your following, take away the house that you lived in, take away being recognized by your family, by your friends? Where's all the apostles? Where's all the following? I mean, if God really is with you, why did God let you sit out here in an impoverished manner? I mean, you're the king! Son, you should have a high lifestyle and high living. People nowadays question God because they've been taught that prosperity means God's blessings are on you. Well, if that's the case, Jesus is in a mess. Because the first thing the devil does is he steps in and says, well, if you're the Son of God, turn the stones into bread. I mean, listen, aren't you hungry? I'm hungry. I haven't eaten in 40 days. Is it wrong to hunger? Absolutely not! But it's wrong to turn stones into bread. Notice what happens. You have to prove by sight what God accepts by faith. Show me something physical. Show me a sign. Show me a wonder. Show me a miracle. Hey Christian, show me something I can see. Speak in another tongue. Heal somebody where I can see them. Drink some poison. Let a snake coil up and bite you and not be killed. Show me something that God commands for you to accept by faith. But I want to see a sign. I want to see a wonder. I want to see a miracle. Well, hey, if you're really the Christ, turn the stones into bread. Show me something extra biblical. Something that I can see, you know what that's playing on? That's playing on the temptation of being able to provide for yourself what God's supposed to provide for you. The temptation to provide for yourself. Notice this temptation. There's an underlying motive in it. In the first temptation, it's our will over God's will. It's body, flesh, over soul, spirit. It's reputation. Over character. Privileges over responsibility. Circumstances over God's commands. Pleasure over purity. Me first before anybody else. Temporary over eternal. Sight before faith. Immediate success versus real long-term success. The battle in the first temptation here is flesh over spirit. Take care of the needs of the flesh, the flesh, the flesh, the flesh. Make provisions for yourself. Why don't you know God helps those that help themselves? It's in the Bible somewhere, ain't it? You know that's not in the Bible, don't you? You come to Calvary's cross. Did you help yourself? God helped you. See how man wants to... Well, God will help me if I just help. We'll get to that one in just a minute. In this particular passage, ladies and gentlemen, this first temptation that's right here in the passage, the first thing that's going down right here in the passage is the devil's trying to get him to do the right thing, but do it at the wrong time. You know what he's trying to get him to do? He's trying to make provisions for himself. He's trying to pervert the right thing. Eating bread. It's like this kid I saw the other day, or this kid's father, they're talking about this baseball player, I don't remember his name, but he had some kind of stuff on his hand or whatever, Tar Baby or whatever, and it makes him able to throw balls different and all. And this little kid said, man, Dad, I guess what I've learned from this thing right here is that if I'm going to sin, do it on nationwide TV and in the World Series, Because if I'd have done what that guy did in my 6th grade class, I'd have gotten a whole lot worse punishment than he did. You say, what was he doing? Cheating. You say, well, he wasn't called on it. Still wasn't right. You say, well, you don't really know what it was. Everybody knows what it was. But you know what? The attitude nowadays is, well, if you're going to do it, do it publicly and do it in front of everybody so nobody will see it and everybody's afraid to say anything about it. Make sure that, you know what, it's okay to do wrong as long as you're in it to win the game. It's alright to cheat as long as you're in it to win the game. It's alright to cheat. Amen, boys? Right? When you're in school and you're looking and somebody's paper's right there on the side of that desk and you hadn't studied and you're making bad grades. It's alright to look over there and write down those answers. Right? I mean, after all, you don't want to get a whooping when you don't pass the school class, right? And after all, your object is just to pass the class, right? And after all, it's just to get a diploma and to get a degree, right? And just get out of school. So, I mean, you know, it's okay to do wrong as long as my motive is to get out. That's what the devil is tempting the Lord with. He's tempting Him to do something that's wrong in order to get a chance to do right. It's okay for Him to eat, but it's not okay for Him to turn stones into bread in order to prove that He really is God, if thou be the Son of God. Well, it's alright for you to eat. You know what happens, ladies and gentlemen? We do a lot of things today in our churches, and I hate to say it, but we do a lot of things that are wrong to do. because we think that the end justifies the means. And what we'll say is, well, a little bit won't hurt. Well, it's okay under certain circumstances. Now, not a single one of y'all would be proud of whoever that fellow is that's cheating on Nationwide TV if he was your kid. But I'm going to ask you this today. You're in the sight of God right now. You're on more than Nationwide TV. You're under worldwide, all-watchful eye of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's looking down on your life right there, and He's saying, hey, what are you cheating for? Well, Lord, see, I'm just doing that because the outcome will be okay, Lord, and nobody will know. I'll know. I'll know. Whether they call you on it or not, I'll know. I will know. Yeah, but Lord, see, once I get down there, it'll all work out. It'll all come out in the wash. Uh-uh. You say, what's the temptation? The temptation, ladies and gentlemen, is I'll provide for myself. I don't have to worry about it. God's forgot me. He's left me hungry over here. I'm just going to go ahead and do it my way. And then expect God to bless it. Well, when the Lord was faced with that temptation, we all know the story, when the Lord said, I'm not going to do the right thing at the wrong time. I'm not going to do the right thing the wrong way. I'm not going to do the right thing with the wrong motive. You know what I've learned, ladies and gentlemen? If Calvary can't motivate you, if coming to the cross at Calvary can't motivate you, if your reason for being here is not because you love Jesus Christ, you know what? We really ought to just pack up and go home. And I'm glad you're here today, and I'm glad the place is packed out and full, and I thank God for answered prayer. But folks, our motive has got to be that we're here because we love the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us at Calvary and nothing else. And if that don't motivate you, I can't motivate you. I can't be some kind of a cheerleader and hop across the fuse and get you all wired up and charged up and excited up and, oh, preacher, call them on the phone and encourage them and send them a letter and encourage them and, preacher, if we could just have a little hop-two, hop-two, one-two, one-two, Just get the blood pumping, preacher. We can just improve the music, preacher. Preacher, if we can just do this. Preacher, if we can just... Listen, if you'll fall in love with Jesus Christ and Calvary, you don't need any other motivation. You'll be here. You'll do what God wants you to do. Why? It's the right thing, the right way, and doing it the right time. But you know what? I told this poor old fellow, he came to see me up there in Tennessee and he was asking me some questions about something. He's burdened about some folks, not where I was, but the preacher that was visiting. And he's burdened about some folks that ain't doing right. And I said, brother, I've learned one thing. If you've asked me now, I'm going to tell you what I think. And I said, if God, through the Holy Spirit of God, cannot motivate them, Do not wear yourself trying to exalt yourself above Christ in thinking that you have power to do something that God can't do. If God can't do by saving them and changing their heart and He can't put something in them that Ajax won't take off, you're going to die killing yourself trying. Our churches nowadays are motivated more by reputation than by God. Turn the stones into bread now! We're hungry now! Now! Now! Now! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Quick! Quick! Quick! Now! Speed is of the essence! That ain't how God works. You know what God says? God says, I'll do it when I'm ready to do it. You know what you've got to be willing to do? You've got to be willing to starve to death for Jesus until the Lord comes by and says, I'll feed you more than just a little bit of bread. I'll give you some fresh water, but don't be drinking the muddy water and don't be eating the bread until it's time for me to put it on the table. Well, I'm starving to death. Preacher, I'm starving. I'm hungry. Just wait a little while. The Lord will bring a morsel of food. He'll bring some ravens by and drop some morsels of food by in a little time. He'll let the creek run when the time's right and give you something to drink. You know what He's doing? He's just seeing if you'll sell out for something less. He's just seeing if you'll get impatient and go ahead and act under your own power, you know, because it's up to you to provide for yourself. No, God is the one that provides for you. He takes care of you. You don't take care of yourself. You know what the Lord said? You know what the Lord's answer to this was? He demonstrated his faith in the Father when he says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You know what he's saying when he said that? God promised when I came down here where He guides, He provides, God's going to take care of me. I don't have to make stones into bread to feed myself. God's going to take care of me because God's the one that put me right here where I'm at. That's pretty heavy. God said that your needs would be met. My God shall supply all your what? Through His riches in glory. Through who? That's what He promised through Christ Jesus. So a preacher, I'm kind of dried up right now, getting kind of hungry right now. My God shall supply all your needs. Well, preacher, this is happening, that's happening, and I just can't take it. My God shall supply. You can't take it. Forty days without bread and water. Forty days with nothing to eat, exposed to the elements. Forty days out there, and now he is in a battle worse than any battle for any piece of land ever on the face of this ground. He's in a spiritual battle over who's going to rule the entire universe forever. Pressure. I'm talking real pressure. And all he has to do is just crack the door just one little place, and the devil's got him. Just like that. I mean, boy, you can't make it. You know what the Lord said? I'd rather die of starvation than to eat the devil's bread. Amen. That's what he said. He said, not be the devil's bread he'd eat yet would, because the devil's the one that gave him the command. That means he'd be in submission to the devil instead of to God. You see, the issue in the temptations is all about submission. You know what we are as Bible believers? We're generally rebels. And we don't like to take orders. You know what the devil wants to do? He'll play on that right there. The devil will step in right there and he'll say, hey, hey, what about that? Hey, what about that? Hey, what about that? The issue's authority. The issue is authority. Alright, so the first temptation there is, is go ahead and provide for yourself. You know why? God's forgot you. Can you imagine what a smack in the face of God Almighty it would have been if He'd have gone ahead and provided for Himself? Can you imagine how that would have been if He'd have gone ahead and said to Himself, He'd have said, you know what? I'm going to go ahead and provide for myself. You say, well, preacher, what would be wrong with that? You know what He would be saying? God's a liar. God can't provide for me. God can't take care of me. You say, well, Preacher, I don't believe God's a liar. If He'd have turned the stones into bread, Jesus would have been saying, My Father's a liar. Now, I know you'd never call God a liar, at least not intentionally. But how often does that temptation come, ladies and gentlemen, to go ahead and operate and do and act before God tells you to do anything? He says He'll provide, He'll provide. Secondly, look if you will, please. Look down in verse number 6. Verse 5, the devil taking him up to a holy city and set it upon the pinnacle of the temple. Takes him up to a high place. Here's the temptation of protecting yourself. Unnecessary to prove your faith. Do something unusual to popularize your faith. And he saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down. And then he's going to quote Scripture at him. You know what he's going to do? He's going to tell him to do something crazy to prove he's spiritual. Hey man, if you can trust God to feed you when you're hungry and to take care of your physical needs, I mean, if you believe He'll do that, hey, let me ask you something. How about, can He protect you? Put yourself in harm's way. Jump out in front of a bus and see if He'll protect you from that. I mean, after all, you're supposed to walk by faith and not by sight. Quoting Scripture at you. The Bible says you walk by faith, so guess what? Just step out there and trust God. So now we're up on the high place, the pinnacle of the temple. We're up here, up there looking down on all this religious stuff, and it reminds me of the individuals who will do anything to popularize what they're doing. I mean, I'm talking something crazy and stupid. Jump out with a parachute on that says, Jesus saves, and land in the parking lot to try to get everybody to come in the church. Swallow goldfish. Put a blindfold on a karate guy and let him chop a watermelon off of the remembrance table or something, or off of the belly of a guy laying up there. Have an elephant come in and have a big circus. You know, in order to get people to come in, make it popular, I mean, it's got to be popular. If we don't have all these people around, it must not be popular. Let me remind you, this is just the devil and Jesus that are having a battle. That's all that is in attendance at this particular thing. But you know what the devil will do? The devil will say, well, hey, if he can take care of your food, let's find out if he can supply your protection. Just go ahead and jump. I've seen Christians do that. I don't know why it is that Christians seem to operate in the extreme. Christians always have a tendency to either be on one side legalistic or be on the other side liberal. The Lord's found in the middle. He's found in a balance of things. You get somebody who is way well intelligent and way studied, or the individual thinks it's more spiritual than ever to crack the book and just to sit around and be dumb all of his life. But you know what the devil knows? The devil knows our heart and he knows our desire to be exalted and put up on the pinnacle of the temple. And then he says, you know what? If you really are spiritual, I'll tell you what, do something stupid to prove it. Go to a place on a street corner where you know that they told you not to go, and stand up and say everything except what God told you to say, and find yourself arrested for Jesus. No, arrested for stupidity. Why? The temptations that Christ undertook are the same today as they were in those days. Jump off the pinnacle of the temple. Do something spiritual to prove how spiritual you are. Go ahead and leave your job and pack up everything and then wind up on the welfare rolls because God never told you to leave your job. Go ahead and not trust the doctor to try to give you some medicine to take care of you and wind up with everybody visiting you at the funeral home. Extremes. There's not one way to everything, but you better avoid extremes. Do something spiritual. Just trust God. Well, let's be careful that we're not jumping off the pinnacle of the temple when we do it. You say, why? Can you protect yourself? We have to do something unwise to prioritize our faith. We deal with God's love for sinners, so then we compromise on sin and condone sin. They're opposites. We get so much into despair and discouragement, then we take pleasure in our pride because we don't get discouraged and we get depressed. Extremes. We go from being saved to an individual that's too bad to be saved. We start perverting the Word. Well, preacher, you know, he saved me and I was bad, but I ain't bad at some of these people. You know that fellow that just murdered all them people down there and all that? Well, you know, preacher, I don't believe somebody like that can get saved. Really? Really? Where'd you get that? It's strange. Kind of promoting yourself a little, aren't you? You've become the poster child for God's grace and now you're determining who it is that can and can't get in? You know what we need to get a good grasp of, ladies and gentlemen? We need to get our heads out of the dispensations and the doctrines just long enough to realize that but by the grace of God, there you go and there I go, and but by the blood of Jesus Christ, none of us would be saved, and none of us are any better than anybody else. I don't care how much you know in your head, it's whether you've got Jesus in your heart and whether or not He's ruling in your heart. I just don't think. There's the problem. Quit thinking and let Jesus do the thinking. Well, but preacher, don't you know? Yeah, I do know. And I realize that when we get uppity in our mind and we get this idea of ourself, that we raise ourself in the pinnacle of the temple, and from that position, all we do is look down on everybody else. I don't want to be in that position. You say, why? How did he get up there? The devil took him up there. He didn't go up there himself, sit up there, Look down on everybody. Uh-uh. You know who likes the high places in the church house? The devil. The devil. You say, why? He's looking for the worship. And if the devil can't get you to do something extreme and do something stupid, to have it by faith, I mean, by sight, you know, do something where everybody can see you and make yourself a spectacle, then you know what the devil will do? He'll fly you up there to the Pinnacle Temple and then you'll be the judge over who is and who ain't, who's doing and who ain't doing. That's the devil's position up there. You know what the Lord said? I don't want no part of it, boy. The devil misquotes Scripture to tell him. He said, now listen, the Bible says over there in the book of Psalms, angels have charge over thee and they'll take you up and you won't bruise your heel. The Lord said, hold it, buddy. He said, hold it right there. He just misquoted the passage. Just changed a word or two. Just left a little bit out. It sounds the same, but it ain't the same. I told you, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." What's the matter, Satan? You leaving something out there? A little self-serving? Quoting Scripture though, religious being. Preacher, it must be right, it's in the church. Preacher, it must be right, everybody is around. Preacher, I'm so separated, I've become isolated. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord. If your separation leads you to isolation, you're an unbiblical Christian. Sitting on a mountaintop won't do nothing but make you crazy. Jesus Christ came down off the mountaintop when He was transfigured and He came right down and started ministering to people who were possessed of devils. I wish we could get Christians to quit worrying about catching cooties. Really. You know what we're worried about? If you're worried about your cotton-picking reputation to be seen with somebody who ain't dressed right, who ain't looking right, and ain't spitting white, you're afraid somebody will walk in and catch you. I used the illustration when I was up in Tennessee, and I won't tell you who it was. But I have somebody I know pretty well, and he was sitting there trying to talk to an individual, and they went out to lunch, and the fellow ordered a beer. And this fellow's paying the tab. And he's talking to him about the Lord. He says, do you mind if I pray? You know, go ahead and pray. He prays. Now I'm thinking to myself, I'm thinking to myself, you know what most Christians will do? You know what they do? They knock that beer off the table and say, I'm a Christian, you ain't supposed to be drinking around me. That's what you do. I didn't say it was alright to drink. Now listen to the end of the story here. You say, what's he doing? The guy's lost. He don't know no better. Thank God the guy's mature enough to not let worry about, you know, if I walk in, preacher, I just want you to know that that wasn't my beer. Well, I wouldn't have thought it was his beer. But you know what you'd have done? I saw Brother so-and-so, and he was with somebody, and there was beer on that table. Now, I'm not saying that he was a drinker. You know you would have. You know you would have. And if you wouldn't have said it out loud, come on, be honest with God today. You know that if you wouldn't have said it out loud, you'd have said it in your heart. Then you get on a letter-writing campaign like they did in the book of Nehemiah and say, well, I just don't think. What's the matter? I hit a little nerve there? I guess you don't write letters anymore. It's probably e-mails now, isn't it? One lady walked in, she was a secretary, and they said, can you type? And she said, I used to couldn't type at all, but boy, since e-mail came along, I can type a hundred words a minute. He said, what do you mean? She said, well, I never had no need to type before, but I can't talk on the telephone and have the Internet running at the same time, so I learned to talk through my fingers. You'll get that in a second. You know what happens, ladies and gentlemen? Extremes come in. You become so isolated. You become so uppity. You become so sanctified and sanctimonious and so pure and so perfect and so clean and so white that, my God, somebody would think you were a surgeon. And the last time I checked, all surgeons want to do is cut something open. That's what the Bible's supposed to do. Not the person holding the Bible. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It ain't supposed to be a Christian's tongue. Jesus Christ did not alienate Himself from sinners. You know why? He wasn't worried at all. He knew what the Father thought about Him and He knew what His motives were. And He wasn't hanging out with those publicans and sinners because He was wanting to sin with them. But you know what irritated the stew out of them Pharisees? My God, he eats with publicans and sinners! Oh my God! We can't have nothing to do with him!" Jesus says, follow me, I don't want to be around your crowd anyway. You know what happened? That old girl he met out there on that road, buddy, possessed of seven devils, an old prostitute that everybody mocked and laughed and made fun of and nobody wanted to be seen with and nobody wanted to touch. And nobody, if anybody, I mean, when he's in there, the woman comes in and she breaks open the bottle and she begins to pour it and weep and she begins to cry and her tears hit the feet and her hair begins to wipe the feet of Jesus the Pharisee. He says, my God, if he was really a prophet, he'd know who this was that touched him. The Lord says, I know exactly who it is that touches me, buddy. You say, why? Because him that loveth much, been forgiven much, loveth much. And your problem is you don't think you've been forgiven much. You say, how do you know? You're afraid to touch sinners. You're so insecure in your own relationship with Jesus Christ, you can't reach out to others for fear of being defiled. The devil's got you firmly in his grasp. I guess you think when you get to heaven, it'll just be us four and no more. You know what the Lord's going to do? He's going to try every man's motive to see of what sort it is. You know what He's going to do? He's going to find out if the love of Christ dwells in you. You know if the love of Christ dwells in you? You're not afraid to reach out there and help somebody. They're still going to hell. Boy, got quiet there. I guess that'd be a good place to have the mercy seat and come to the altar. You say, why? The devil sort of got you on the second temptation, doesn't he, Christian? Uppity, snotty, snooty, antiseptic, isolated. I'm alone. I'm by myself. I don't want anybody around me. I don't want anybody at my house. I don't want to be seen with them. I don't want to talk to them. I don't want to touch them. I don't want to... What's the matter, man? You insecure? You insecure? I've told you the illustration before, but it bears repeating. I'm glad I learned a few things from my dad. But my dad used to go down there. Back then they called it the Roman Spa. and then they had another place called Iron Man's Gym up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. That's where Mr. America from 1965 trained. His name was Jerry Daniel. He used to come to my house and eat peanut butter and raw meat and stuff, and had Big Jerry and Little Jerry, and they'd take a phone book like that and grab it and just tear it, man. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, man. Big guys, man. I mean, just huge. Frogs, their legs were so big, you know, they're walking like this. Not because they want to, they're just big guys. And Dad spent some time with them. And people, what are you doing over there working out? You know, you just love your flesh, you think you're trying to pump up and be something here or not, and all this kind of stuff. He just kept working out, kept working out, going there, sitting in the steam room in sweat. And he'd go by and he'd talk to them boys, he'd talk to them boys, he'd talk to them boys. One day he was getting ready to leave, walked out into the parking lot. And Big Jerry said, hey, Ben, could I talk to you for just a second? Didn't know him as preacher and all that. Hey, Ben, could I talk to you a second? He said, sure, Jerry, what's up? And that old boy's heart broke and he said, Ben, I've got trouble, man. I'm having difficulties. Dad took him in the privacy of the car and sat there with him and went over with him the plan of salvation. And that big old boy bowed his head in that car and he said, I want Jesus. trusted him as his personal savior. I'll never forget, 1965, I wasn't big as a minute, man. I was about nine years old, maybe ten at the time, and he had just won Mr. America. And he called the house and he said, hey, preacher, he said, you know, there's going to be a bunch of people at the airport, he said, but I sure would appreciate it if you'd be there. He said, it'd mean a lot to me. Man, he got off with a trophy big as he was, man. I was a little kid, man. I saw sparkling, man. I was like, wow, that's really... He got off at the airport. You know what? His friends from the gym were there. To my knowledge, exception of me and my dad, I don't remember folks from the church being there. I guess they'd figure we shouldn't be seen with somebody like that. He walked off of that airplane, that big old trophy, and he grabbed his wife, Miss Martha, and he gave her a hug, and they made a beeline. And they walked through that big crowd of photographers and all these other people. Chattanooga, Tennessee. He's this. He's that. He's on there. And I'm just looking, man. Dad's just standing right here. We're in the back of the crowd. He comes through that whole cotton-picking crowd, and he walks out there, and he grabs my dad by the hand and pulls him over there and bows his arms. He says, hey, preacher, I sure am glad to see you. I never forgot that. You say, why? Because a guy gave him something more than winning a contest could give him. Because everybody else was saying, anything to do with people like that. He cared enough to go down there and get to know him and spend some time with him and be concerned about him. And because of that, his wife got saved and little Jerry got saved and some other people over there in that place in the hole in the wall where sweat and men and all that horrible stuff was, there were some people that came to know Jesus because of that. You say, why? Not too good. You say, why? He was secure in his faith. No one worried about it corrupting him. but he was willing to do more than talk about it. I am so tired of Puritan Christianity I could puke. I'm sick of it. Of people with small minds trying to legislate what Christianity is. Christianity is salvation in Jesus Christ first and a relationship with Him second. What else after that? Nothing! It's a desire to see other people come to know Him the way you do. And I hate to say this, and I don't mean to be hurtful, but I don't know if it would be good for some people to know the Christ that some of you claim to know. Because since salvation, you sort of perverted it a little bit. You sort of made Him into something He's not. You've made my Jesus who would eat with publicans and sinners into a fair seat. He made him into a law keeper instead of a lover of the lost. And it ought not so be. Presume on him. Not have faith in Him. Last of all, Jesus tells him in verse 7, it is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. Another high place. Shows him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. He says, all these things I'll give you, you'll just bow down and worship me. The temptation of power. The philosophy of it is, it's alright to do wrong to get a chance to do right. Once you get in office, you can fix it. Like a politician. The price? You only have to bow down one time. I'll guarantee you, a drunk who recognizes his condition curses the day that the devil told him, just one drink won't hurt you. The dope addict curses the day that he listened to the devil tell him, just one pop won't hurt you. The little girl curses the day that the boy said just once, the devil's lie is just one time and it will be all over. The temptation of power. The temptation of power over others. It's painless. You can get the crown. without the cross. That's what he's tempting them to do. He's saying, you see all these kingdoms? 2 Corinthians 4-4, they're His kingdoms. Adam gave them up when he fell. Right? The devil has them, right? Alright, now watch. He said, I'll tell you what. You're going to get these kingdoms anyway. But I've got a shortcut. I've got a fast track to the top. I can tell you how to get them without having to go through the shame, the embarrassment, and the pain of that cross. The Lord doesn't entertain it, but what He's trying to say to him there is He said, well, I could have the crown without the cross. You know what the Lord's response to him is? He doesn't even entertain it. Get out of my face, boy. You know why he did that? He did that for you. You know what he's seeing right then? He said, I can have the crown. I can have it. I can wipe you out if I want to. But I'm going to do what's right to do. See out there a couple thousand years, about 2,000 years from now, see them people out there sitting on Hartley Road? See them out there? See those fellows right there? See them? Look at them. I see them. Do you see them? You see them out there? He said, I ain't going to take the crown now because if I take the crown now without the cross, those people will die and they'll be in your kingdom. Now, he don't say it out loud, but he's looking. Looking down through eternity through a telescope of love, boy. And tears weave a clear picture. I think he kind of grins and he goes, I know what you're up to, boy. Ain't no crown worth having if it don't come as a result of a cross. I don't believe I want what you're offering, boy. It's too cheap. It don't cost nothing. No. If there ain't no sweat and blood and tears in it, it can't be worth nothing. It must be like a piece of tin. I'll not take it. Get out of here. You say, why? Because He loved you. Not just a matter of God whipping the devil here. That's not it. It's a matter of Jesus Christ showing you that you're faced with the same temptations. And you know what? If you love Him when He tempts you to say, you can have it now. Preachers, let me warn you. Let me caution you. The world, your family, your friends are going to try to say, you're ready now. Go! Hurry! Go! Get it! Go! Quit! Ain't no crown without a cross. Everybody's looking for the good church and the right church. You need a church in the wilderness. You say, why? It teaches you some things about ministry. You don't start life at the pinnacle of the temple. You know what the Lord did? He didn't start His life on the pinnacle of the religious realm or the pinnacle of the earthly realm. He made Himself a little lower than the angels and made Himself of no reputation. You know what He did? He set an example for us. Not one time did he say, hey, buddy, do you know who I am? I remember seeing you in Zechariah, buddy. You saw what my father did. Do you know who my father is? He didn't say that at all. You say, why? No reputation. You know what's at the root of all three of those temptations? Find out whether or not he's dead to himself. Reputation's at the root of all three of those temptations. If he had thought himself something when he was nothing, the devil would have got him. Every one of those things appeals to a man's pride. And because the Lord said, it ain't about me, it's about him, and I'm doing it for them. You know what he did? He withstood the temptations of the devil. Well, I like the next passage down there just before he goes out. He's down there and guess what happens? The angels come and minister to him. I'm almost done. Just bear with me for a second. He fasted 40 days and 40 nights. You can do without dinner for 40 minutes. Amen? Some of us could do without dinner a little longer than that. Amen? Look at that passage. See what it says? Verse 17. The devil leaveth him. Behold, look. The angels came and ministered. What did they minister to him? Well, he was hungry. He was thirsty. I bet he was tired. He needed some rest. I bet he needed some comfort. I bet he needed some company. He'd been alone. He'd been all by himself. The angels, plural, I don't think it's one or two. I think a whole horde of angels descend just like in Luke chapter 2. The Lord said, man, I haven't heard that symphony of singing in a long time. I think they start singing the Hallelujah Chorus. It might have been in Hebrew, I don't know, but they were singing it. I think about that time coming out of the presence of God Almighty out of the kitchens. Bread, meat, water. I think they're cooling Him off in the heat of the day, providing shade for Him. crowding around Him and giving Him comfort and giving Him company. The Bible says He was ministered to. Can you imagine ministering to the Creator of the universe? It says angels, and I don't want to overexposit the passage, but there's some cherubims and cerebums that usually minister to Him also. They probably showed up. You know what they did? As a human being, they came down there and here they are supernaturally. You know what they're doing? They're meeting his physical needs. You know what temptations can do, ladies and gentlemen? It can make you think you don't need to have your needs met and that you don't need to be ministered to. Well, I hate to tell you, we all need to be ministered to sometimes. We all have periods of loneliness, and times of starvation, and times of thirst, and times when we feel deserted and under pressure. You know what? The angels didn't come down there and hold a cheerleading service. They didn't come down there to rebuke Him for being out in the wilderness. They just came to meet His needs. Does that say anything to you? If He's our example, shouldn't we follow the example that was given to Him by the angels? Because later on, the Lord Himself saw the needs of the people. And because of His compassion, He wept over them. He saw people that needed to be healed and He healed them. Hungry and He fed them. Thirsty and He gave them a drink. How did He know? Because He had been in that condition. And because he had been ministered to by the angels from heaven, he knew how it felt when he was the one that got ministered to and wasn't doing the ministering. He said, I'll tell you what, man, I know when I was in the dry place and in the desert and the wilderness tempted of the devil, And I know when I went through that difficult time out there, and even though God won a great victory, I know how it made me feel to be ministered to and taken care of and watched for and cared for. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to pen in 1 Corinthians that I'll put you through some things so that you might minister to other people. And you know what he did from that point on? He went out to minister to others. Have you been ministered to? It's wasted if you don't then take it and minister to others. And it isn't Christ. Preacher, what are we to do? Well, you overcome the temptations. But now as you're overcoming, the message of the thing is that all things work together for good to them that love God. He's ministered to and now he sets about to minister. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions here. Ms. Pat, I want you to come play very softly on the piano. Please don't be in a hurry and rush. Zip up Bibles and close pocketbooks. I want to ask you a couple of questions. Maybe you've been tempted to provide for yourself. Protect yourself. Have power for yourself. Maybe in so doing that, maybe you've made Christ to be something that He wasn't. You know why Jesus Christ went through all of those things? When He said, tempted at all points, yet as we are, the temptation is not just to do things that are abhorrently wrong. The temptation is to listen to the devil when we ought to be listening to God. I'll ask you this question and we'll give a brief invitation. Christian, are you in the wilderness today? Do you feel like you're being tempted? You say, well, preacher, it's been pretty rough. I think that's ok. Come to the one that's been tempted. He can tell you how to get it fixed. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Maybe, maybe you've turned the Lord into some sort of an uppity, pharisaical type of an individual that people can't approach and can't come to. People wouldn't care for. People are afraid of because of condemnation. Maybe you've raised Christ to the point in your physical life where they think that they're so dirty they can't come to God. Listen, if you're here today and you're lost, that's not the Jesus we're presenting. Even though He's God manifest in the flesh and never sinned, not once, He'll take you in whatever condition you're in and save you that quick if you'll ask Him. That quick. You have not done anything so bad, Christ can't save you from hell today. Christian, maybe you're on the fast track. Maybe things aren't moving quick enough for you. Maybe you're in a hurry, man. You can't wait to get it. You can't wait to get there. You're just running along, boy. I mean, you've got it on the floor, boy. I mean, she's pressed to the wood, man. You are running as hard as you can run, boy, wide open, just running over everything and everybody along the way. Maybe you should consider just slowing down a little bit before you hit the wall. I'll give you some time to think, some time to pray. She's going to play one more stanza. If nobody comes, we'll close the invitation.