Matthew in chapter 4. Last week we spoke on the subject of resisting temptation and we looked at Eve in the garden and this week we want to speak again on the subject of resisting temptation and we want to look at the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he was tempted here in the wilderness. So we find Eve, of course, she failed, but Jesus Christ did not. There's a lot for us to draw from this. I pray it will be a help to us, a blessing and instructive to us as well in resisting temptation in our own life. Matthew 4, and let's read verse 1 through 11. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, and he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written, Again thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. He saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then Jesus saith unto him, get thee hence satan for it is written thou shalt worship the lord thy god and him alone shalt thou serve then the devil leaveth him and behold angels came and ministered unto him let's pray Father in heaven, we ask so much for your help this morning. I thank you for the word of the Lord that we have already read. And just in reading it, it ministers to our soul and feeds us and strengthens us. And just reading it, we are encouraged by the Lord Jesus Christ and his resisting the temptation on our behalf. And we're so thankful that he did so. And Father, I pray that you'd help us as we look at this and consider it well this morning. Lord, it would strengthen our faith and help us to understand a little bit more the methods of Satan and the way in which so often he seeks to tempt us to sin. And help us to be strong this morning as a result of the word of God. And may we leave here this morning with our faith in the Lord. And may we be strengthened by the word. And I pray that you'd help us to resist the temptation that comes at us. Lord, we love you. Thank you for loving us first. And thank you for your precious word that teaches us. the truth. In Jesus' name we pray, and amen. Now in our first lesson, as we already mentioned, we looked at Eve and how Satan had come to her to tempt her. And we noted that he planted the seeds in her mind before she was even looking at the tree at that moment. He planted the seeds of doubt, distrust, and disappointment in her mind. And then when she looked at the tree, she had desire. She failed and Adam failed. Now this week we look at a victorious Savior over the temptation of sin. We learned by Eve's failure and we also learn by the Savior's success. And that's the way it is in life, isn't it? With people in our life that we've known. We have seen many in our life, no doubt, if we have been saved for any amount of time. We have seen those who have fallen into temptation and away from the Lord. And we take note of that. and it teaches us. We hate it for them that they fail, but the Lord would no doubt have us to learn from those occasions. And then we see those that maybe have had success over temptation, and we learn from them as well. Those who've been faithful to the Lord. Now we can no doubt identify with Eve and our failures, and we can also identify at times with the Savior in our success in overcoming the allurement of sin. Hebrews 4.11 says, For we have not an high priest, which cannot be touched with the filling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. See, temptation itself is not sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, we are told here, was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Because something comes at us and approaches us and seeks to allure us, that's not the sin itself. When Christ is being tempted, We may tend to downplay His temptations, however, because He is the Son of God. However, He is also the Son of Man. 100% God and 100% man. And when we face temptations, we can go to our high priest knowing that He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And as we seek His example and victory in this account, there is much for us to learn. For we as servants of the Lord are not greater than our Master. If Satan sought to tempt Christ, then we can be sure that he will seek to tempt us as well. Now first of all, in Matthew 4 there in verse 1, Matthew says Jesus was let up of the Spirit, and Luke also says that Jesus was full of the Spirit. and then led of the Spirit. Now Jesus must face temptation in order to be that perfect High Priest as we read about there in Hebrews 4. Now the Spirit of God does not lead us into temptation. In other words, the Spirit is leading us to sin. But we can be led of the Spirit and still have to face temptation. And which is very important for us to understand, we can be led of the Spirit, we can be following Christ and His Word and His Spirit, we can be full of the Spirit and still have to face temptation. Jesus Christ had to face temptation, being led of the Spirit, being full of the Spirit. However, when we are led of God's Spirit and full of God's Spirit, In no way, shape, or form does that mean that temptation will just somehow leave us alone. I remember speaking to one man who said that he was never ever tempted anymore, all upon the guise that he was so full of the Spirit that temptation never approached him or he was never tempted to any kind of evil. In my mind, he didn't have the Spirit of God at all. By the way, he taught. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was faced with temptation. So we are no better than He. I like what F.B. Meyer said. He said, The presence of temptation in your life is not a proof of deterioration, but the contrary. For the more you know of God on the one hand, the more you will know of Satan's temptation on the other. And that is true. It seems like that the more we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord's Word and are intimate with the Savior, it seems as though sin around us seems to be more prevalent. It's like our eyes have become even more so open to the sin around us that seeks to allure us. It seems that no matter what Paul did, that when he was even at his very best, that evil was always present with him. as it is with us. But let us learn something from this. Holiness and sanctification is not the absence of being tempted ever again. In other words, don't think of sanctification holiness as a state in which you reach to where finally, I am no longer tempted. The Lord Jesus Christ had to face temptation. And no matter how holy we grow, no matter how much we become more like Jesus Christ, we will always have to face temptation while in this life. And those who teach that they are so holy that they are never tempted have made themselves even better than the Son of God. Now in verse 2, there's at least two things I draw from this before we get into these temptations. When he says, when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward in hungers. Two thoughts I want to draw from that word One, Jesus knew, of course, He was about to be tempted, and so we see Him fasting. We see Him fasting. Now, this is not for the purpose of creating something so Satan could tempt Him later to be hungry. This is, no doubt, if you would, preparation for the temptation. It was for His spiritual care, if you would, as the Son of Man, in preparation for the temptation of Satan. When we are struggling with temptation in a certain area, or we know that something is coming up ahead of us that may seek to tempt us, let us seek to be full of the Spirit, led of the Spirit, and let us fast and pray. Now, the Scriptures teach us several things about the subject of fasting. One of those things is that fasting helps us to draw near to Christ. There's something about fasting and self-denial that God uses to enable us to draw near to Him. He taught that one time whenever He was asked why His disciples did not pray and He basically said, I'm here with them. They have no purpose to fast, or why they didn't fast. They have no purpose in fasting. But when I'm gone, then my disciples will fast. Teaching us that fasting, the Lord uses it as a means to help us to draw near. Maybe you've been struggling with a certain temptation in your life. Maybe you've been giving in to it and you've had no real success in resisting it. Well, let me ask you a question. Have we taken that sin serious enough? Have we taken that temptation serious enough that we've actually fasted before God over it. In other words, we wanted to quit that sin so bad, we wanted to stand strong against that temptation and resist it so much and not sin against our God that we set our faces, our minds, and our hearts to seek God and His Word through fasting and prayer because we did not want to yield to that temptation. See, how serious have we taken the things that maybe we have yielded ourselves unto? Have we dealt in such a serious manner against that sin? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself fasted as He was going to face the tempter. If He fasted, before he faced the tempter. I think that we not should think ourselves any stronger than he, and we too should fast. So whatever it may be this morning that maybe it tempts you much, I'm not saying that temptation will never approach you again, but in order to overcome it, in order to succeed against it, we must learn to truly fast and pray. when sin has gotten a hold of us and that nothing seems to set us free and we tend to not be able to overcome it. Let us ask ourselves, have we become real serious about that? And are we fasting and praying earnestly about it? Now the second thing I see in this is that it wasn't until Jesus was hungry that a tempter came. And when he was afterward and hungered, the tempter came." Well, that's when he arrived. Just like with Eve, he had his eye on Eve, and Satan is, of course, a subtle individual, and he seeks for an opportune time, just as we mentioned last week. He wants to approach when he thinks we are weak. He also observes us and wants to make the temptation fit to what he thinks our weakness is. He observes, he watches, and when he thinks he perceives a weakness, that's where he attacks. Listen, that's the way warfare is. You don't attack another nation where you think that they are strong. stronger than you, you attack them where you see their weakness. Okay, here's a weak spot. Boxers, when they train, they train for each individual they go up against and they try to observe and to look at that person that they are going to box and if they see a weakness in how that they handle themselves in the arena, they will seek to use that against them. Satan does that as well. He watches us and he thinks where we might be weak and that's where he would seek to attack. And so I think in resisting temptation, we must be aware of our weaknesses. We must be aware of our weaknesses and that's maybe where we are the weakest sometimes is by being aware of our weaknesses and seeking to put up our guard where we know we are weak. When we walk with Christ and are seeking to be filled with the Spirit, be sure that a tempter will come. Listen, he does not like it whenever we are walking with the Lord and we're walking in the Spirit and we're in the Word of God. You know, it's after the baptism of Christ that we have this temptation. After the voice coming down from heaven declaring that He is the Son of God, the tempter came. At the beginning of Christ's ministry, the tempter came. The tempter does not like it when we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we are following Christ, the tempter will come. So let us be full of the Spirit. Let us walk in the Word. And let us be aware of our weaknesses. And let us be ready for that temptation. I want to turn over and we're going to look at one verse here. And then we'll turn back to Matthew 4. So keep your place in Matthew 4. We're getting ready to look at the three temptations that Satan brought to Christ. 1 John chapter 2. I want to go over and read a verse for you there. 1 John chapter 2. And verse 16. 1 John 2, 16 says, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. Who is the God of this world, of this world, this world system? It's Satan, isn't it? Listen, we have here three areas here that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." I think we can see each of those three things in this temptation of Christ. So let's turn back to Matthew, if you would, Matthew 4, take a look at this first temptation. In verse 3 and 4 of Matthew 4, it says, And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Here we have an appeal to the lust of the flesh. Satan knew who Jesus was. I don't think Satan is trying to figure out if this is the Son of God or not. I believe he knows he's the Son of God. The voice from heaven had just spoken out loud that this is the Son of God. He knew that, but he's seeking to, there's no doubt, seeking to attack the Son of God, thinking he would be vulnerable in the flesh. In this temptation, Satan is seeking to appeal to the desires of the flesh of man. Jesus was hungry. So in order to get Jesus to do what he wanted, he sought to use that against him. Now Jesus, this is a very important thing in regards to temptation to remember. Jesus had a very legitimate need, right? He was hungry. But Satan is seeking to get him to use an illegitimate means to meet that need, something that he was not wanting to do, turn these stones to bread. Many times we are tempted in this same manner. We have very legitimate needs. The needs themselves are not the temptation. but the means to meet those needs sometimes are. Does that make sense? In other words, we have some very legitimate needs in our life. The temptation is not, oh, I have a need. The temptation is how we seek to fulfill that need. There are legitimate needs, but the temptation is to fulfill that legitimate need with ungodly means. We may be hungry. A person may be hungry, so they might be tempted to what? To steal. That's a legitimate need, but an illegitimate means. We have sexual needs, so we are tempted to fornication when sexual needs are meant to be met in marriage. We have financial needs, so maybe we are tempted to take a job that we know would be ungodly. We have emotional needs, so we turn to drunkenness or drugs to meet those needs. See, oftentimes what we attempt to do is to seek to justify our sin, our yielding to temptation, because we were seeking to meet a real legitimate need. And so, well, surely God wouldn't mind if I had this. This is obviously a need. I have this desire. There's nothing wrong with that desire. So God would have me to have that, but yet we're seeking a means to fulfill that need in a way which God would not approve. You see that? So we've got to be aware of those things. Oftentimes as we seek to do that and to justify what we did in order to get something, Because there was a legitimate need, we do that and we make excuses and we say, well, I really needed whatever it was, so I did this. And so we justify the giving in to the temptation because there was a legitimate need. There are desires of the flesh, even needs of the flesh, but let us not be led of them to meet them by means that would dishonor Christ. Now Jesus answers, of course, as He does each time with the Word of God. There is something more important than meeting physical needs. There is the meeting of our spiritual needs. Let us not deny our spiritual needs in order to meet our physical needs. The Word of God is more valuable than food. It will feed our soul and fill us with strength and faith. Now the second temptation, verses 5 through 7, The devil taketh him up unto the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down. For it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee in their hands. They shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone." Now I believe this to be, if you would, the form of the pride of life. The first one over in 1 John 2 was the lust of the flesh. This is the pride of life. Imagine this. Jesus being set up on the pinnacle of the temple, and if you would, jumping off and floating down before the eyes of all the people. Wow, right? The pride. Satan knows pride is the reason he fell. Is He not seeking to cause Jesus to be lifted with pride, the pride of life, to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and float down before all of the people in such a fabulous way? What fame and what pride would be afforded to Christ? Remember how many times Jesus did great things for people and He would tell them, Hey, don't tell anyone who I am. He did that several times. You see, it wasn't meant to be revealed at this time, and Satan is tempting, if you're the Son of God, declare who you are by jumping off a pinnacle of the temple. See, Satan is tempting Christ to reveal who he was through fame and pride by avoiding the cross. Jesus was declared the Son of God at the resurrection. The Father declared Him to be so when He rose Him from the grave. So Satan is seeking to give Christ, if you would, that allegiance, that fame, that pride, if you would, through the pinnacle of the temple jumping rather than through the cross. Would He not gain fame on earth while here on earth if He did such? He came for the purpose of the cross and seeking to tempt him in such a manner, Satan is seeking to hinder the cross by offering fame here and now on earth without that cross. Listen, Satan does that a lot for us. Remember Satan whenever, if you would, whenever Peter came to Jesus and sought to rebuke Jesus when Jesus was telling him about the cross. And Peter says, Oh, not so, Lord. And what does Jesus say to Peter? He says, Get thee behind me, Satan. You're trying to hinder the cross. So that's the work of Satan here is trying to hinder the cross. The glory of Christ must come through the cross. The glory of Jesus Christ, of His declaration to be the Son of God would be when He rose from the grave and not when He floated down in the sky because He jumped from the pinnacle of the temple. Many temptations come at us from Satan in such a manner, offering us an easier way than the cross. Offering us an easier way than the cross. Satan does not want us to take up the cross and follow Christ. Many temptations are hard to resist because they seek to make things much easier for us. Well, I can do this. I mean, it'll make it easier. Well, listen, easier does not mean that it's God's will. Many things must be found, many things must be learned through the way of taking up our cross through self-denial and following Jesus. We cannot think because it's easier that it must be of God. The Father's way for Jesus was the cross. And sometimes we're tempted to say yes to something because we know that to say no will only make it harder for us. Well, if I just say yes, it'll be so much easier right now. But let me tell you what, it might make it a whole lot harder in the future as well. It might be hard to say no, but saying yes sometimes in the present to make something easier only means later that it's harder. I think about this a lot of times in raising our children. Listen, sometimes your children are not being very good, and for the present moment, it just seems a whole lot easier just to say yes, doesn't it? Yes, just go ahead. You're driving me crazy. Just do it. Yes, go ahead. You can act that way. Yes, go ahead. Be rebellious, because right now, I don't feel like fighting with you. Right now, I don't feel like doing anything. Right now, I don't feel like it. And so right now, for the moment, it's much easier to say yes. But for the long haul, For the long haul, you're going to wish you'd taken the harder road and said no. But you know what? We do that with sin. We think, well, right now, it's just so much easier if I just say yes, if I just give in. It might be. It might be. But in the long haul, the way of transgressors is hard. It's hard, the proverb says. Let us know the Word of God. Well, because we see in this instance, in this temptation, that Satan, after Jesus Christ had responded with the Word of God, what did Satan do? Satan then brings the Word of God and seeks to use it to justify what he was asking Jesus, tempting Jesus to do. And we've got to be aware of that, that Satan is a great manipulator and twister of Scripture and seeks to take things. And listen, when you're wanting to give in to a temptation, it's very easy sometimes to go to the Word of God and say, aha, look at this. People do it all the time. I've seen people justify certain sins from the Word of God. Sins are like, how did you even do that? How did you take scriptures and twist them so well to make that sin be okay? But we have seen that time and time again. Listen, when you're wanting to justify your sin, anybody can go to the Word of God and twist it to seek to justify it. So Jesus here has Satan do this to him, but he answers back with the Word of God in response. So we need to know the Word of God well. It is our best defense. It is the sword of the Spirit against all the fiery darts of Satan. And beware of our own pride. It is one of Satan's greatest tools. Whatever he thinks will feed that pride, that's what he will bring. So be aware of our pride. The third temptation we find in verses 8 through 10. This is what we'll call the lust of the eyes. Remember 1 John 2, we have the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes. And so now the devil takes him here unto a high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said, I will give you all of these if you fall down and worship him. So let his eyes behold all of the kingdoms, all the kingdoms. Look at all of what you can have. if you worship me. First know this, that in all temptations, Satan is seeking our allegiance to him. That's his main purpose, that we will not bow to Christ, but that we will bow to him. That is the design of all temptation, is to seek our allegiance and loyalty to him rather than to the Lord. Remember, he wants to be in the place of God. I will be like the Most High, he says. He wants God's people to bow before him. Satan tempts with sight. We see it all the time, do we not? How much does sight play into the role of temptation? It plays a great deal into it, doesn't it? We see all the commercials, we see the billboards, we see the magazines. Sight plays a great deal into temptation. Satan is willing to offer anything in order to get people to follow him. Sometimes he may actually give it to them, what he's promised, and sometimes he may not. Sometimes people follow after power and riches, and sometimes they get it, and sometimes they do not. But both have forsaken following after Christ. Satan promises prosperity to those who follow him, doesn't he? Is that not what he's doing here? If you follow me, you will have all of these kingdoms. If you follow me, you have all of this fame. You have all of this power. It sounds much like some preachers today, doesn't it? But they reverse it. So if you follow the Lord, you'll have fame. If you follow the Lord, you'll have riches. If you follow the Lord, you'll have prosperity. Is it really the Lord that they're seeking to get you to follow? Listen, that's the work of Satan. that's doing that, just as he's doing here. Speaking of false prophets, Peter says, through covetousness shall with feigned words make merchandise of you. And we have many of those out there today. Many false prophets will use covetousness as a means to tempt others. They promise great riches, but all the while using them to line their own pockets. There are many ways we can allow what our eyes to see to lead us into temptation. And we must be aware of this. Turn over a page, if you would, to Matthew chapter 6 and verse 23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. Listen, what you see, what goes into the eye affects the rest of you. You know the old saying, well you can look and it doesn't hurt to look. Oh yes it does. There's nothing wrong with looking, right guys? Oh yes there is. Jesus said, if you so much as look upon a woman with lust in your heart, You're committing adultery with her in your heart. It does matter what we look at, because what we look at affects our mind. What we look at affects our hearts. We begin to set our affections upon the things we see. And one of the best things that you can do to resist temptation is not look at it. Don't keep looking at it. Say, well, I keep getting tempted. Well, are you looking at it? Well, yeah. Quit looking at it. Of course you're being tempted. The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, let the eye be single. Thy whole body shall be full of light. Verse 22. Verse 23 says, But if the eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! The things we allow our eyes to stay upon will have a way of capturing our hearts, and we will find ourselves following the wrong master. Verse 24, no man can serve two masters. For either will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon or money. See, the things we allow our eyes to be set upon, that's what we will fill our hearts with. Let's compare as well Matthew 4 and verse 11. After Christ resists, it says, Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him." Isn't that amazing? Christ, the Son of God, angels then come and minister to Him. Is not the blessing of resisting temptation far greater than yielding to it? Think about the temptations maybe that you're facing in your life and maybe you've been yielding to. The guilt you have by continuing to yield to it. The conscience that sometimes keep you up at night. The lies you have to tell in order to hide it. Things that haunt you because you know you're guilty and you keep running to it. What does that give you? How does that help you? How does that bless you? It doesn't, does it? When Christ resisted the temptation, the angels came and ministered to Him. When we resist temptation, when we resist temptation, I tell you, the freedom, the clearness of conscience, the sense of victory over sin through Christ helping us to overcome that temptation is far greater than the yielding unto it. You see, temptation focuses on what we gain. Temptation focuses on what we gain by yielding to the temptation, not on what we lose. And we've got to remember that. Well, if you yield, you'll meet this need. If you yield to this temptation, it will feel so good. If you give in to this temptation, how happy you will be. And Satan wants us to see the temporal fleshly joy that yielding to temptation gives, but that pleasure of sin is only for a season. But when we resist the temptation, we will find that there's great joy with the Lord we have because we have not broken fellowship and intimacy with Christ by yielding to it. I like James chapter 4. comparing it to Matthew 4.11. Turn there if you would and I'll read that. It'll be our last passage. We'll turn to... but in James 4 and verse 6 it says, "...but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Remember when Christ resisted the temptation? What does it say? The devil leaveth him. I think it's over in Luke. I think I might have said it for a while, and then we know he comes back. But you know what? The devil is not omnipresent, is he? like the Lord is. The devil comes and goes. He walks about, but what God says is a roaring lion seeking him, he may devour. So there are going to be times in which temptation of the devil is going to seem so much stronger than it ever was before. As a child of God, I know you can understand that. Has there not been times where you just felt like the devil was really after you? Harder than he ever was before. You could almost feel a satanic attack at times in your life and wanting to doubt God, to sin, and whatever it may be. And you just trust the Lord and you wade through that, hanging on to the scriptures and praying and pleading to God. And God gives you victory over that. And then it's as though the devil leaves, and it's like the temptation isn't as strong. Listen, the devil comes to us with temptations, stronger at certain times than others. But we, as fallen creatures, will always have this old flesh. Every man yields because of why. Why do we yield to temptation? Why does something even tempt you that's out here? It's because of what's in here. because of what's in here. I think it's James that talks about that. In James chapter 1, he says, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. You know, the things that tempt you outwardly and you end up giving into is because in your hearts you had those lusts. There are certain things that just don't tempt me. because I have no affection for those things. I've never been tempted in my whole life as a Christian to miss church, to go to a NASCAR game, or NASCAR, see I don't even know how to say it, NASCAR race. That's how tuned into NASCAR I am, you know, I call it the games of a race. I mean, there's just certain things that do not tempt me because I have no desire there. Watching cars go in circles, I just don't get it. But that doesn't tempt me, but that might tempt you. But there's other things I do enjoy, and there have been times, I remember as a young Christian, I was very tempted. I mean, opening day of deer season was one storm after another, and you couldn't go on a Saturday. And you had five days to hunt. I remember that. And Sunday, you got up, and man, was it nice weather. I was tempted. Because that's where my desire is at. We need to be aware of our flesh, our desires within, the things that truly tempt us. And those things that truly tempt us, we've got to even take extra precaution against because those are our weaknesses. And that's what Satan will use to exploit against us. So are we struggling with temptation? Of course we all will at times. Let us learn to fast and pray and get into the Word. Remember, we have a faithful high priest. Yield not to the temptation of the flesh, the pride of life, or the lust of the eyes. And don't ever seek to meet a legitimate need sinfully. Go the way of the cross. Don't always take the easy path. And don't be led by your sight, but live by faith in the Son of God. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we ask for your help this morning. Lord, I pray for your people. Help us, I pray, Lord, to be strong in the face of temptation. Lord, I ask that you would help us, Lord, to learn from the Word of God this morning the things that would benefit us spiritually, that would help us to stand against the temptations of Satan and the allurements of our flesh. Father, show us where we're weak, that we might be strong. Help us, Lord, to see where we're vulnerable, so we might build those walls. Help us, Lord, I pray, to understand that so much temptation comes through the eyes, and help us, Lord, to be willing, as Jesus said in the word of God, to even pluck out our own eyes. Not that we must do it physically, but Lord, we must turn our eyes completely away We cannot flirt with temptation. We cannot yield to it whatsoever and help us to see that. Help us, Lord, to understand that Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and he would desire to sit us as wheat. But Lord, help us as we look at this to not think that we are strong of ourselves, but help us to go, Lord, to you in prayer, knowing that we have a high priest. that was tempted like us in all points as we are yet without sin. And so I pray for your people that maybe have struggled against temptations and have fallen into sin, that they, Lord, as your people, would see the victorious Savior who conquered even the temptation to sin. Lord, that they would come confessing and repenting and find that there is forgiveness in the cross. That they would see that there is a clearing of their conscience through the blood of the Lamb. and that those who have been yielding to temptation, Lord, would see that there is restoration through Christ. And Father, I give them strength by your grace and through your word to not give in to that temptation any longer. Whatever it is that may be tempting your people this morning, whatever struggles they may have, help us through the faith in Christ and through the blood of the Lamb to overcome. And help us to take those necessary precautions that we need to take in order to fight against that temptation. In Jesus' name we pray, and amen. All right, we'll go ahead and lead us in.