Father, we come to worship you and to lift up your name.
We come to say, God, that there's no one like you in all the earth, in all creation.
You stand alone, God. You are the one true God.
Father, when all creation falls away and fades away,
God, when the end of the world as we understand it has come,
God, you will still be eternally existing.
You will still be worshipped, God, by those that you have created.
God, you are the one true eternal God, and there's no one like you.
There's no one as majestic as you. There's no one as tender as you.
There's no one as strong and glorious as you.
There's none as merciful and gracious.
There's none so holy and set apart like you.
God, there's none so loving and welcoming.
God, we worship you this morning.
We come to align our hearts with what is true, with who you are.
Father, this morning as we pray for various churches in our city,
we want to pray for Ebsen and Trophina at Hope for All Church.
God, we really want to lift Ebsen's health before you this morning.
This young man that has planted a church, God, on the Kailun side.
Father, we know that he's gone through health challenges, and you know everything.
You know things better than we do.
We lift him up before you, and we ask, God, won't you be gracious?
We pray for restoration.
We pray for healing.
We pray strengthen his body, Lord.
We pray for a full and a speedy recovery.
We pray for him to be back preaching soon, Lord God.
God, we pray for their children and their children's health, God,
and the challenges that their children have faced health-wise.
Father, we pray for that church.
We pray for Hope for All Church, that leaders will emerge,
for there to be fruit, for numbers to increase, for people to get saved.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to be powerfully at work at Hope for All Church.
We really do lift up our brothers and sisters there before you this morning.
We stand with them.
And so, God, just as we sang, may your name be lifted up,
we pray not only in Watermark, but in Hong Kong.
May your name be lifted up, God.
And do so in that church, we pray.
Fathers, we think of our city this morning.
We pray for the orphans.
We pray for the orphan workers in our city.
We pray for Mother's Choice and other organizations like that that work with orphans.
God, we pray for children that are awaiting adoption in homes.
God, we pray, won't you draw near to them, God.
Won't you flood their hearts with your love, Lord God.
We pray for those families that are in the process, God, of waiting adoption.
God, won't you match the right children to the right families, Lord.
Pray, God, for Christians, God, that are obeying your command
to look after widows and orphans, Lord God.
We pray for financial support and blessing for those organizations.
And we ask, God, that your church really will be a light in our city, in this area, God.
That young children that are without parents and without families
will find families and find homes, God.
God, help us as Christians to know what to do and how to respond, Lord.
Give us courage, we pray.
Father, pray for Watermark, for opportunities to witness and to share our faith, God.
We pray, God, for conversations to start.
We pray that as a church we'll be more courageous.
We pray for people to come to know you, people that are not Christians,
to come to find the wonder of Jesus and to find grace, Lord God.
We pray for you, Holy Spirit, to draw people closer to yourself.
We pray for those in our midst that are starting to have conversations
with neighbors and colleagues and friends and family.
Oh, God, won't you be with us, we pray, God.
We pray the gospel go forward in Hong Kong.
And then, God, lastly, we pray for the Holy Spirit to be deeply at work in our church.
God, we pray not so much for the blessings of the Spirit,
but for you, Holy Spirit, yourself.
We so often feel your absence.
We find ourselves acting by our own spirit, our own initiative.
God, even this week in my own preparation, I confess I've been so self-reliant,
not reliant on you.
Oh, God, we need you.
Save us from being content with only a little measure of the Spirit, God.
Make us uncomfortable with how little we walk with you.
And teach us to know the fullness of your Spirit, we pray.
We pray these things in your wonderful name.
Amen.
Let's listen to God's Word being read to us this morning.
The scripture reading comes from Matthew 4.
Please follow along.
Your bulletins are on the screen.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.
And the tempter came and said to him,
If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
But he answered,
It is written,
Men shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Then the devil took him to the holy city
and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
and said to him,
If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down,
for it is written,
He will command his angels concerning you,
and on their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against stone.
Jesus said to him,
Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
Again the devil took him to a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
And he said to him,
All these I will give you,
if you will fall down and worship me.
Then Jesus said to him,
Be gone, Satan,
for it is written,
You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.
Then the devil left him,
and behold,
angels came and were ministering to him.
This is the word of God.
Great, thank you.
Echo.
Okay, well,
this morning we are looking at this
fairly well-known passage of Scripture,
the temptations of Jesus.
And we do so
as we continue to work through the book of Matthew,
Matthew's Gospel.
Matthew's Gospel is all about Jesus,
the King,
and His Kingdom.
And it's a book about the upside-down kingdom of Jesus.
Jesus came to inaugurate His kingdom,
but it's a kingdom which is so different
to the kingdoms of this world.
It is a kingdom which is true.
It is a kingdom which is eternal,
and its king is the one true king.
Now, last week,
we saw just before this,
the passage that precedes this
is Jesus getting baptized.
And He gets baptized by John the Baptist,
which was an unusual event.
It wasn't what John was expecting.
And yet,
at the end of this,
Jesus gets baptized.
He comes out of the water.
The heavens are opened.
The Holy Spirit descends upon Him.
And a voice is heard.
Jesus hears this voice.
And it's the voice of His Father.
And it's the voice that says,
This is my Son,
with whom I'm well pleased.
And as the Father does that,
He's affirming Jesus and His calling.
He's affirming Him as the Messiah King,
the one before whom one day
every nation will bow down,
all people will bow down.
But He's also affirming Him
as the suffering servant.
He's saying,
One day all nations will bow down before you,
but first you will go to the cross.
And so,
just having encountered this
out-of-this-world experience,
the Holy Spirit coming down,
this voice in the heavens,
this commissioning moment,
you'd expect that the next thing that happens
is Jesus gets on His horse and says,
Right, now's the time to bring in the kingdom.
Now's the time to get on the throne.
Now's the time to throw that victory party,
to nominate my cabinet,
announce my key positions in government.
Let's go.
But He doesn't.
He does something very unexpected.
The next thing that happens
is He gets led into the wilderness
for a time of testing.
The word there, testing,
could be temptation or testing.
And here's the Messiah King,
the Savior of the world.
Jesus is called to be the one true King,
and His call and His mandate
and His commissioning
as Son of God,
as Messiah King,
as suffering servant,
is put to the test.
Now, right up front,
or let's actually read the first verse.
Look at verse 1 with me
in Matthew chapter 4.
It says this,
Then Jesus was led up by the Holy Spirit
into the wilderness
to be tempted
or to be tested by the devil.
Now, straight away,
we learn two things here.
First thing is this,
it's worth noting
that what happens to Jesus here
is very often the pattern
for what happens with His followers.
Very often,
those of us that are followers of Jesus
have some kind of spiritual high,
or maybe you make a bold decision
to a step of obedience
or a step of faith.
You decide to follow Jesus.
Maybe you decide
that you're going to start witnessing
to a neighbor at work
or a colleague or a friend.
Maybe you decide to step up
into some position of leadership,
or you take a step
of great faith and obedience,
and you'd expect
that the next season after that,
after saying,
Okay, God,
I'm willing to trust you,
that God will pour His Holy Spirit
upon you,
and the next season
is one of ease and comfort.
God carrying you along
with His Holy Spirit.
But actually,
what happens is what?
Very often,
the life of followers of Jesus,
as we say,
Okay, God,
I'll trust you,
that call
is then tested.
We go straight into a season
of testing that call.
We see this with Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden.
God commissions them
as His agents,
image bearers of God,
and what happens next?
Satan comes along
and says,
Huh,
let's just talk about that.
Has God really asked you to do this?
Has God really said that?
We'll think of the people of God
in the Old Testament.
They are delivered dramatically
out of Egypt.
The Passover lamb is sacrificed.
God dramatically saves them.
There are signs and wonders.
They get to the Red Sea.
They're in trouble.
The Red Sea opens.
They walk through,
and as they enter
the other side,
they're about to enter
the promised land,
what happens?
They experience a season
of testing.
And they test it
in the wilderness,
and they experience
some challenges.
Will they trust God
to feed them
and give them what they need,
or will they trust
their own devices?
Will they trust God
to look after them
and protect them,
or will they take matters
into their own hands?
Will they love and serve
and worship Yahweh,
the one true God,
or will they start
worshiping the gods
of the nations around them?
And friends,
this is true for the life
that Christ follows well.
You come with some
spiritual high,
you've just seen God
work dramatically,
God has done
something spectacular,
and the next thing,
Satan comes up,
and he sidles up next to you,
and he starts asking you questions,
filling your mind
with doubt,
or maybe putting
half-truths
into your mind.
Maybe for those of you
that are new Christians,
this has been your experience.
When you first become
a follower of Jesus,
you decide,
okay Christ,
have your way in my life.
You can have it all of me.
And the first six months
are just wonderful.
It feels like you've come home.
It feels like you've finally found
what your heart has been longing
for all your life.
It feels like you've found
a family,
and the first six months
are just wonderful.
And then what happens?
Suddenly you have questions,
and you have doubts,
and you wonder,
is this thing true?
Maybe it was just
a psychological phenomenon.
Maybe I was just emotional
at the time.
What's happening in that time?
I've seen it time and time again.
Your call to follow Jesus
is being tested.
Your newfound identity
as a Christ follower
is being tested.
Your obedience to Jesus
is being tested,
just like 1 Peter says.
He says our faith
gets passed through the fire
just like gold
is passed through the fire
to test the genuineness of it.
And that's what's happening
to Jesus here.
He gets baptized,
the heavens are open,
the Holy Spirit comes upon him,
the voice of God
affirms him
as the Messiah King,
and what happens?
The same Spirit
that anoints him
two verses before
now leads him
into the wilderness
for a time of testing.
But,
it's not God
who does the temptation.
Who causes the temptation?
What does it say?
It's the devil, right?
Look at what it says.
Jesus was led
by the Spirit
into the wilderness
to be tempted
by the devil.
And there's the second lesson
we learn.
And this is a two-fold lesson.
On the one hand,
we mustn't blame God
for temptation.
Temptation to sin
and sin itself
is always repulsive to God.
It's contrary
to His holiness.
And so,
when we face temptation,
we don't say,
oh, well, God's, you know,
the one that's causing me
to be tempted.
But at the same time,
we mustn't credit the devil
as if he is equal to God
and yet just opposite.
In other words,
God doesn't cause temptation,
but He does allow it
to come our way.
The devil's not equal to God,
but just opposite.
Even what the devil does
is within the bounds
of what God permits.
Now, I understand
that this is a mystery
to some extent,
and it's not always
that easy to understand.
But when I'm tempted
to sin,
when I'm tempted
to indulge myself,
when I'm tempted
to hold a grudge
against someone else,
that's not God tempting me.
That's my own sinful heart.
That's the devil
at work inside of me.
And yet,
I take great comfort
in the fact that God says,
even the temptation
I face is not,
or God never allows me
to be tempted
beyond what I can bear.
Even my own temptation,
God has allowed
and He knows what's going on
and He's carrying me
and He's saying,
Kevin, my grace
is sufficient for you
in the time.
Do you see that?
Jesus is led
into the wilderness
by the Spirit,
and yet,
it's the devil
that comes
and tempts Him.
Now,
let's dive into
these temptations
and see what they are
all about.
What's happening here?
So,
look at verse 2
with me.
It says this,
after fasting
for 40 days
and 40 nights,
Jesus was hungry.
Just possibly
a little bit hungry.
Okay,
you and I
would also be hungry
after 40 days
of no food.
The tempter came to Him
and said to Him,
if you are the Son of God,
why don't you command
these stones
to turn into bread
and satisfy your hunger?
Now,
let's think
what's going on here.
Who here thinks
that eating bread
is sinful?
Who here thinks
that eating bread
when you're hungry
is wrong?
No,
I don't think so either.
So,
what's going on here?
What's this temptation about?
Why is this a temptation
to say,
come on,
you're hungry,
eat some bread?
Well,
look at first
what He says.
He says,
Jesus,
if you are the Son of God.
Now,
the devil is not here
actually questioning Jesus.
He's not saying,
listen,
I don't think you really
are who you say you are.
If you are,
prove it to me.
That's not what He's saying.
All the commentators tell us
the grammar here
is such that
the devil is saying,
listen,
if,
as is the case,
you're the Son of God,
since you are the Son of God,
well,
that means something.
It means that
you are entitled
to ABC.
It means that
you can use your powers
as the Son of God
to do X,
Y,
Z.
Jesus,
since you're the Son of God,
why don't you just
indulge your flesh
a little bit
and please yourself?
And so what He's saying here
is He's coming up to Jesus
and saying,
Jesus,
since you're the Son of God,
since you have this
special privilege,
why don't you use
your privileges?
Why don't you,
you're entitled
to satisfy your own desires,
but satisfy them
in your own way,
according to your own pleasure.
Satan isn't coming
and tempting him
to,
you know,
make food
in an improper way
or to use a miracle
to prove that He's God
or to just think selfishly
without thinking of others.
This is a temptation
to pursue His desires
that are centered
on self,
on me.
What pleases me
completely devoid
or divorced
from what is God
saying about this to you?
See,
later on,
Jesus,
how does Jesus respond?
He says,
He doesn't say,
no,
the Messiah is not
allowed to eat bread.
He doesn't say that.
He says,
it is written,
man shall not live
by bread alone,
but by every word
that comes from
the mouth of God.
See,
Satan's coming saying,
Jesus,
you've got this natural life here,
you've got this spiritual life here,
just keep these two separated
and you,
one,
just satisfy yourself,
your own way,
your own desires,
your own pleasure.
And don't worry about,
you can deal with that
when you go to synagogue
on Saturday.
And Jesus is saying,
this life,
divorced from relationship
with God,
is contrary to how God
has organized
organized
and called me
to live my life.
Man shall not live
just by desires alone,
but by every word
that comes
from the mouth of God.
Friends,
isn't that exactly
what Satan comes
and did to Adam
and Eve in the garden?
He says,
look at this fruit.
You have needs,
you have desires.
God's put you in charge
of all the stuff.
You're entitled
to satisfy your desires.
It's just a little dragon fruit.
Dragon fruit's not going
to harm anyone.
I'm sure it was dragon fruit
in the garden of Eden.
Friends,
isn't that how Satan
comes and tempts you and I?
For most of us,
the temptations we face
are not going to be
to rob a bank
or to start
an international drug cartel
or something like that.
How's he going to come?
He's going to say,
you've got desires.
You've got sexual desires.
It's natural.
It's part of your body.
That's just dissatisfied.
You've got financial desires
and needs.
It's natural.
There's nothing wrong
with a bit of wealth.
Come just indulge
in that a little bit.
You've got relational desires
or whatever it is,
leisure desires.
Just indulge in that.
Friends,
is it wrong
to pursue a relationship?
No,
not at all.
Is it wrong
to work hard?
Is it wrong
to save money
for the future?
Is it wrong
to eat bread
when you're hungry?
Of course not.
But what Jesus
is saying is this.
He's saying,
the life of a Christ follower
rejects the idea
that I'm entitled
to whatever pleases me
in whatever way
that it pleases me.
A Christian is someone
who lives by faith
that God himself
satisfies me
and all my pleasures
and all my desires
come off filtered
within the channel
of God,
what is your will
for my life?
You see that?
Man doesn't live
by bread alone,
but it's God.
What is your word saying?
What are you saying
about this area of desire?
What are you saying
about this relationship?
What are you saying
about my relationship
to money?
What are you saying
about my relationship
to everything in life?
Jesus is saying,
the decisions I make
aren't based on
what I feel,
what I desire,
but what aids
my relationship
with God.
And so he says,
it is written,
God has spoken,
God has said,
I do not live
by pleasure alone,
but that which comes
from God.
See friends,
what Jesus shows us here
is that food
and work
and relationships
and overseas holidays
and university degrees
and children
and promotion
and mobile phones
and fashion.
These things aren't wrong.
They're gifts from God.
He's made them.
He doesn't denounce them
as evil.
He's not opposed
to these things.
Later on in the Gospels,
Jesus will make food
and feed 5,000 people.
Jesus will turn water
into wine.
He can turn stones
into bread.
But he's saying
that every pleasure
of God
is approached
through the filter
of God.
What aids my relationship
with you?
I do not live
by relationships alone
or work alone
or overseas holidays alone,
but my relationship
with my heavenly Father.
Does that make sense?
Okay.
Let's look at the second thing.
Let's look at verse 5 to 7.
Now,
the devil comes
to Jesus again
and he takes him
up to a high point
of a building
and he says,
Jesus,
since you are
the Son of God,
why don't you
throw yourself down?
For God has promised
to always look after you.
God has promised
that nothing
will go wrong with you.
God has promised
that not even
your small baby toe
will get a tiny scratch.
He's promised
to look after you
to make your life
go comfortably
and to always
be there at your side
and why don't you
test him?
Check if he's good
for his word.
Now,
the devil's
learning something here.
He's learning
that Jesus
doesn't just respond
according to desire,
but he always says,
what has God said?
And so the devil here
quotes the scriptures
and says,
remember what God said
in Psalm 91,
that every one
of your needs
he will take care of.
Now,
of course,
the devil is quoting
the scriptures
out of context,
right?
Jesus calls him
the father of lies.
The devil will take
God's word
and he'll slightly
adjust it
or twist it
or put it
in a certain context
to make it say
something other
than what it means.
And so what's
the devil saying here?
He's tempting Jesus
with a kind of
prosperity gospel.
He's saying,
Jesus,
God has promised
that nothing
will go wrong
with you.
Your life
will be blessed.
Whatever difficult
situation you find
yourself in,
you find yourself
falling from a building,
you find yourself
in trouble,
whatever difficult
situation you find
yourself in,
he will deliver you.
He will look after you.
He'll never let
anything go wrong
with you.
Just test him.
Throw yourself down.
See what I mean.
And what he's doing
is he's tempting
Jesus with the belief
that God owes you
a safe life,
a comfortable life,
a blessed life,
a life without inconvenience.
Friends,
have you and I
bought the lie
that God promises us
that nothing will ever
go wrong with our lives?
That whatever situation
we find ourselves in,
that God will just
suddenly swoop us up
and pick us up
and that he won't
let us scratch
our baby toe?
Friends,
have we bought the lie
that God is only good
and he's only trustworthy
because he makes our lives
comfortable,
convenient,
and he doesn't allow
any difficulty
to come our way?
Friends,
have Satan convinced us
that God is only good
and trustworthy
and worthy of worship
if nothing goes wrong
in your life?
That every time
you face a challenge,
God must surely
save you from that challenge,
otherwise he's not
worthy of worship.
Friends,
if we're a Christian
because God did something
good in our life
once upon a time,
like he healed our child
or he gave you a job
or he gave you a child
or he saved your marriage,
if that's the reason
why we're a Christian
because God did some
good thing,
like we felt like
we were falling off
the building
and God suddenly
swooped up
and caught us,
then maybe we're not
actually a Christian
because we love God
but because we love
ourselves.
And we're asking God
to serve us
rather than us
serving him.
In fact,
we may just be using God
and not worshiping him
and we may not be
Christians at all.
What's Jesus' response
to this?
Well, he quotes
Deuteronomy chapter 6
which recounts the way
that the Israelites
were in their own wilderness
and they're grumbling
and they're moaning
and they're saying,
God, we thought
you were good.
We thought you were
meant to look after us.
Where's our food?
And then God
gives them food.
And they say,
where's the water?
And God gives them water.
And then they say,
where's the meat?
We're tired of bread.
And every step of the way
they're moaning
and grumbling
because things aren't
going their way.
And they start to wonder,
God, are you really good?
Are you really trustworthy?
Should we really worship you
when things don't go our way?
And they're saying,
God, it feels like
we're falling here
and we're your angels
to save us,
to pick us up.
And what does God say?
He says,
why are you testing me?
Why are you checking
whether I'm still
worthy of worship
just because things
aren't going the way
that you expect them to be?
Don't you know
that I know what I'm doing?
Why are you putting me
to the test
as if I'm only honest,
good or trustworthy
when things will go
the way that you want them to?
And so Jesus responds
to Satan.
He says,
Satan, don't give me
your nonsense.
I'm sure that's what
the original Greek says.
He says,
God is good
and he's trustworthy
and I will not
put him to the test.
What's Jesus saying?
He's saying,
the life of a Christian
rejects the lie
that I deserve
God's blessing
and protection
and lives by faith
that God is good
all the time
and he knows
what he's doing
not just when he does
miracles that benefit me.
Okay?
Does that make sense?
Okay.
I hope so.
Let's look at
the third temptation.
Look at verse 8
with me.
Satan now comes
and he brings
the final temptation
and he says this
verse 8.
Again,
the devil took him
up to a very high mountain
and he showed him
all the kingdoms
of the world
and their glory.
And he said to him,
all these things
I will give you
if you fall down
and worship me.
Now,
what's Satan saying here?
What's going on here?
Remember
the passage
just before this
that we spoke about
last week.
Jesus is baptized,
right?
And as he comes out,
we said it earlier,
this voice comes
and this voice
from the heavens,
which is God's voice,
speaks to him
and says,
this is my beloved son,
which is a quote
from Psalm chapter 2.
And it's a quote
that speaks about
how Christ is
the Messiah King.
He is the one
who will one day
rule the whole world.
And then he says,
this is my son
with whom I am well pleased,
which is a quote
from Isaiah 42,
talking about how
Jesus is the suffering servant.
And what God is doing
is he's commissioning
Jesus saying,
you are the one
true king,
the Messiah king,
but the way
that you will
get to glory
is through the cross.
You're the king,
but you're the suffering servant.
In other words,
this is a road
to glory,
but the road
to glory
passes through Calvary.
Okay?
What's Satan
saying here
when he says,
Jesus,
I will give you
all the kingdoms
of the world
in all their glory,
if only
you'll worship me.
he's offering him
glory
without the cross.
He's offering him
the end result.
He's saying,
Jesus,
that cross
is not going to be
very nice.
I will organize
a shortcut for you.
I will allow you
to get to the end goal
without needing to suffer,
without needing
to humiliate yourself,
without needing
to go through
the painful,
humiliating experience
of the cross.
Jesus,
I'll offer you glory
without Calvary.
Friends,
is this not
one of the most
subtle and sinister
and yet pervasive
temptations we face?
Satan comes to us
and says,
I'll offer you
control of your life.
I'll offer you glory.
Why don't you
just be lord
of your own life?
Why don't you
be lord
of your own kingdom?
Without any cost
involved,
all you have to do
is just make a deal
with me.
Without any cost,
you can avoid
the cost of the cross.
You can avoid
the cost of humiliation.
You can avoid
the cost of humbling yourself.
You can avoid
the cost of repentance.
I'll give you
what you want.
Just make a simple deal
with me.
Except the problem is,
whenever we make
a deal with the devil,
it does come
with a price.
In fact,
one of the things
about the devil
is that it always
comes with a price
far more
than we're willing
to pay.
I don't know
if you've ever
had this experience
where you've bought
something
and it's something
really expensive.
You thought you've
done all your homework
and you've checked it out
and you say,
okay,
I'm going to do it.
Maybe it's
whatever it is.
Then only later,
afterwards,
you realize
there are all these
hidden costs.
There's this service cost
and there's this fee
that's been added
and there's this
small fine print
and because you did it
in this way,
there's this extra fee.
Has that ever happened
to you?
You feel the sense
of regret.
You feel like,
oh my goodness,
if I'd known
how much it was
going to cost me,
I would never
have done that.
And you feel this
like sick in your stomach
feeling that actually
cost you far more
than you bargained for.
Do you know that feeling?
Friends,
when you make a deal
with the devil,
it's like that
but only a million
times worse.
In your mind's eye,
you think,
okay,
I know how this works.
Yeah,
it might cost me that
but I'll get all this benefit.
Friends,
it always,
always,
costs a million times
more than you
bargained for.
And that's what the devil's doing.
He's coming and he's offering
Jesus that
and he offers it to us.
He offers it to us
every single day
to have all the kingdoms
of the world
and all their splendor,
all their glory.
And he says,
you won't even have to
humble yourselves.
You won't have to admit
you're a sinner.
You can avoid the humiliation
of repentance.
Just come and listen to me.
And really,
in essence,
this is what the whole
of the passage is about.
It's about
who are you going to serve?
Are you going to serve yourself
or are you going to serve
the one true God?
And so Jesus' response is this,
it is written,
you shall worship
the Lord your God
and him only
shall you serve.
And this really is the essence
of the entire passage.
Who are you going to serve?
Yourself
or the one true God?
Friends,
there's only one person
that is rightly,
that can rightly occupy
the throne of our lives.
There's only one person
who is worthy of our worship.
There's only one being
that is worthy
and trustworthy enough
for us to give our lives
to him,
the one true God.
You shall worship God
and him only
shall you serve.
Jesus tells us
that Christian faith
rejects the delusion
that self-glory
and living for ourselves
is the way to go,
but that serving
the one true God,
he alone is worthy
of our worship.
No matter what
the cost.
No matter
what the cost.
Now,
how do we respond
to this?
How do we respond
to temptation
and testing
when temptation
comes our way?
I want to suggest
two responses
from this passage.
Well, this passage
gives us two ways
to respond.
Two ways to stand
against the schemes
of the devil.
The first is
be ruthless
with temptation.
Ruthless means
be extreme.
Don't compromise.
Don't make any deals.
Be ruthless
with temptation.
And secondly,
rejoice in Christ
your king.
Look at verse 10
with me
if you've got your Bible
on the bulletin.
Satan comes and says,
Jesus,
I'll offer you
all the kingdoms
of the world.
I'll offer you
all their glory.
Just bow down
and honor me.
And Jesus says,
what does he say first?
He says,
Satan,
be gone.
Get your bags
and get out of here.
Be gone.
And friends,
remember,
Jesus says the same thing
just before he's about
to be crucified.
Peter comes up to him.
Jesus tells his disciples,
listen,
the Son of Man
is about to be crucified.
He's about to be nailed
to the cross
for the sins of the world.
And Peter comes up to him
and says,
never, Lord.
Never.
It shouldn't happen to you.
He says,
you are the Christ.
You are the Messiah.
You shouldn't have to die
on the cross.
And then Peter comes
and he's starting to
persuade Jesus
not to go to the cross.
And what does Jesus say?
He doesn't say,
Peter,
let me just explain this
to you one more time.
He says,
Satan,
get behind me.
And friends,
sometimes we need to do that
with temptation.
We can't coddle it
and just say,
okay,
well,
let's see if I can make a deal.
Sometimes we need to be ruthless.
Be gone.
Get out of here.
Pack your bags
and go.
Friends,
sometimes we need to get angry
with temptation
and the devil.
He's lying to you.
He's deceiving you.
He's the father of lies.
And Jesus has come
to give you life
and life to the full.
And Satan
has come to rob you of life.
He's come to destroy your life.
He's come to destroy
your relationships.
He's come to destroy
your self-worth.
He's come to destroy
your relationship with Jesus.
He's coming to kill you.
And sometimes,
let me put it this way,
1 Peter says that
the devil's like a roaring lion.
He wants to devour you.
He wants to tear you apart.
He wants to take your marriage
and strip it.
He wants to take
your dating relationship
and destroy it.
He wants to take
your reputation
and leave it in tatters.
He wants to take
your self-worth
and your confidence
and rip it to shreds.
He wants to kill you
and devour you
like a roaring lion.
Except,
he's very sneaky.
He'll come to you
and pretend
to be a kitten.
He'll ask you
just to stroke him.
And you'll look very cute
and very appealing
until he grows up
and he kills you.
Friends,
can I ask us,
what sin
or what temptation
are we holding on to?
What sin
or temptation
have we made a deal with?
Maybe you feel like,
I've given in so many times,
what's the point in fighting?
Maybe you feel like pornography.
It's like,
I just can't beat this thing.
I've given in so many times,
what's the point?
Why do I even fight
one more time?
It's just going to happen again.
I might as well
just go with it.
Friends,
you fight.
Get some fight.
Get some steel.
Get some backbone
and kick that thing.
You tell the devil,
get out of here.
Pack your bags and go.
Maybe it's offense.
Maybe it's bitterness.
Maybe somebody's let you down.
Someone's hurt you.
This is probably
one of the biggest temptations
for me.
It's so hard
to let that thing go.
I just play that situation
over and over in my mind.
I play what they said
and I play what I said
and then I remind myself
just once more
what they said
and then I just remind myself
how sorry I feel for myself
and how unjust it was
and how unrighteous they were
and how I don't deserve that
and I just remind myself again
of just how badly
I've been treated.
Woe is me.
Friends,
self-pity is a form
of self-glory
because it's all about me
and I want to be king
and I don't want to be treated badly.
Friends,
is there bitterness?
Is there unforgiveness?
Is there offense
that you're holding on to?
Friends,
be ruthless
with temptation.
You kick that thing
out of the house.
Be gone.
Sometimes the best response
we can give to Satan,
his lies
and his temptations
is be gone.
Get out of here.
But then
there's a second way
to respond
and this is
rejoice in Christ
your king.
Now,
in some ways
this is one of the most
important things
and so I want to land
with this
but it's one of the most
important things.
I want you to listen
and take careful attention
to this.
The thing of standing
against temptation
is probably not new
for any of us.
I doubt there's anybody
here that has never
thought about the concept
of I should stand up
against temptation.
I mean,
we all know it, right?
We all know that we
should serve Christ
our Lord.
We all know that we
probably shouldn't give in
to our natural desires.
We all know that we
shouldn't test God.
We all know that there's
one true God
and he alone is king.
These are things
that we know
and we know that we
shouldn't use God
for ourselves.
We know that we
shouldn't wallow
in self-glory
and yet we still do it.
We still give in.
We still mess up
time and time again.
We buy the line.
We make a deal
with the devil.
We pay the price.
We abandon restraint
and we give in to pleasure.
Why do we do it?
If we know these things,
why do we still do it?
Well,
the answer is not
because we are ignorant
of the truth.
We probably know
and understand the truth.
The answer is
because there's something
going on in our hearts
at our deepest,
most fundamental level,
our hearts love ourselves.
We love self-worship
and self-glory.
Notice all of these
temptations are about me,
my desires,
my security,
my glory.
And what that means,
friends,
is that we're in deep,
deep trouble
because what we need
is more than just
more teaching
and more than just
more knowledge.
What we need
is a savior,
someone to rescue,
someone to change us,
someone to change
the disposition
of our hearts.
We need someone
to come alongside us
in that moment
of temptation
and to pick us up
and to put his arm
around us
and to carry us
over the finishing line.
There's a story,
1992,
the Barcelona Olympics.
Some of you might know
the story,
very famous story.
There's a British runner
called Derek Redmond
and he has made it
to the Olympic Games.
He's a 400 meter runner
and he's obviously
mid-20s.
He's been training
for decades
since a young boy
running at school,
got to high school,
running in all the competitions.
There his talent
was noticed
and people said,
hey,
you've really got
something in you.
And so even
as a high school student,
he starts making sacrifices,
getting coaches,
watching his diet,
starts training,
getting fitter,
stronger,
goes to college
and spends thousands
if not millions
of dollars
on coaches
and training exercises,
regimes,
extremely disciplined,
becomes a professional athlete
and makes it
to the Olympic Games.
And so it's 1992,
he's at the Olympic Games
in Barcelona,
his first heat's coming
and he smokes it.
Does brilliantly.
Gets through to the next heat.
The next heat comes
and he does fantastically
and he gets through
to the finals.
And now it's the finals
of the 400 meters,
the Olympic Games
and he is pitted
to be a medalist.
They think he's probably
going to finish
in the top three
if not get the gold medal.
He's one of the favorites.
And his race comes up,
he goes to the starting line,
does the whole thing,
gets ready,
goes down,
the gun goes off
and he's out of the blocks
and he's giving it his all.
He goes past
the first 100 meters
and as he gets past
the 100 meters,
I think we've got a picture,
as he gets past
the 150 meters,
he feels his hamstring going
and he's out.
And he falls to the ground
and everyone else
just comes sprinting past him
and leaves him
in the trail.
And there he is
on the greatest world stage,
he's lying on the floor,
he's grabbing his hamstring,
he's in absolute agony.
But it's not just the agony,
it's the pain
of decades of training.
Everything he's given his life to
in one second is gone.
And it's all done,
it's finished.
He's fallen,
he's on the ground.
And the crowd,
I don't know whether
to watch him
or to watch the winners,
right?
And the guys go past
and they finish the race.
And the crowd starts
to get on their feet
and they're cheering him
and he gets up
and he tries to hobble
and he hobbles about 10 meters
and he falls down
to the ground again.
He can't hobble anymore.
And at that moment,
a man,
an older man,
jumps over the barricade
and he runs onto the track.
And the security guards
try and stop him
because he's not allowed
to do that.
And he's fighting
the security guards off
and he's saying,
let me get to him,
let me get to him.
And he gets to him
and Derek Redman
tries to push this guy away
until he realizes
who it is.
And it's his dad.
And his dad picks him up
and he puts his arm around him
and for the next 250 meters,
they hobble to the finish line
and he crosses the line
with his dad holding him.
Friends,
you and I don't just need
a good instruction
how to beat temptation.
We don't just need
three ways to get better
at getting through life.
Friends,
if you and I have sinned this week,
like you and I have,
if you and I have done
something wrong this week,
what we don't just need
is someone in the crowd
saying,
get up,
sort yourself out.
What we need
is a savior
who will come alongside us
and pick us up
and will come
and carry us
over the finishing lines.
Friends,
have you sinned this week?
Have you messed up?
Have you fallen?
Maybe you've fallen spectacularly
and you're embarrassed about it.
Maybe even ashamed.
Friends,
have you wallowed
self-pity
or self-glory?
Have you bought the lie
that you're entitled
to gratify
and fulfill
your own fleshly desires,
your own ways
on your own terms?
Friends,
if you're a Christian this morning,
you have a savior
who came to forgive you
and cover you.
But you have a savior
who did more than that.
He came to pick you up
and to carry you
over the finishing line.
You have one
who has ultimate compassion
and tenderness.
You have one
who has gone through
every trial
that you've gone through,
who's been tempted
in every way
and a million times more
and he knows
what you've gone through
and yet you've got one
who is uncompromised,
who then not a single accusation
can stick to him,
one who is spotless
and trustworthy
and he's come
to bring you to himself.
Friends,
if you're not a Christian
this morning,
do you know what that means?
It means you're on your own.
It means that you carry
your sin all on your own.
It means that the crowds
may be shouting
that you stand up,
pick yourself up,
but you do not have a Savior
who has come to do it for you.
You come to Jesus
and he has come to do it for you.
He's inviting you
not just to become religious,
he's offering to come
and pick you up
and carry you over the line.
And that's what Matthew's telling us.
What Matthew's showing us here
is that Jesus faced
the temptation
that Adam and Eve
faced in the Garden of Eden
and they failed
and they fell.
Jesus is facing
the same temptation
that the people of God
faced in the wilderness desert
and they failed
and they fell.
Jesus is facing
the same temptations
that you face
and I face
every single day
and friends,
we fail
and we fall.
But here is one.
Here is a true Israelite.
Here is a true Adam.
Here is a true son of Adam
that went through
every temptation
that you and I
could ever go through
and is absolutely spotless.
Not a single accusation
has stuck to him.
And as he does that,
he's serving notice
that he came
not just to show us
how to be better
but to defeat sin
and evil
on its own grounds.
He came to dismantle
the work of the devil
by exposing its lies
and ultimately
he would do so
by ending up
on the cross.
I want to read
a quote to us
by William Collier.
Listen to this.
It says,
Jesus' temptation
in the wilderness
does not primarily
sketch a moral story
providing helpful hints
on how we too
with a bit of Jesus'
inspiration
can conquer temptation.
Jesus' hostile standoff
with evil
was a reprisal
for all that humanity
had lost
in the Garden of Eden
or that we could never
on our own regain.
When Jesus emerged
from the wilderness
at Victor,
his triumph
signaled evil
was doomed
to obliteration.
Humanity was destined
for joy.
In other words,
Jesus did not merely
wink and make evil
disappear.
Rather,
he walked into
the bowls of evil
and defeated evil
on its own terms.
First in a wilderness
and then on a cross.
Jesus did not merely
cover evil.
In his humble humanity,
he dismantled it.
Friends,
and this gives us
reason both to rejoice
with much joy
and celebration
and it gives us
the courage
to fight on.
We can fight
because we know
that sin
doesn't ultimately satisfy.
We can fight
because we know
that it's a lie
which promises the world
but it only enslaves us
and entraps us.
We can fight
because we have a Savior
who came to defeat it,
who came to lift us
out off of the muck
and the dirt
and the surge
we find ourselves in
and to carry us
over the line
with his victor's crown.
Friends,
this week you and I
will be tempted.
We will be tempted
to satisfy our own desires
on our own terms,
fulfill our own pleasures.
Friends,
this week we will be tempted
to feel entitled
that God owes us.
He owes us
a good and comfortable life,
a life of ease
and blessedness.
This week we will be tempted
to build our own kingdom,
to seek our own peace of glory.
Friends,
this week let's be ruthless.
Let's tell Satan
to get out of here.
Let's fight
with resolve.
But more than that,
let's rejoice
in the Savior
who came
to pick us up,
to cover our shame,
to cover our sin
and to carry us home
with him.
Let's pray together.
Jesus Christ,
we thank you
and we revel, God,
that where we have fallen
and sinned,
you, Christ,
are spotless.
God,
we thank you
and we revel
and we rejoice
and we delight
in the fact that you,
God,
are the only one
that's worthy, God.
God,
where Satan tempts us
to despair
and he tells us
of the guilt within,
upward we look
and we see you there,
you who made an end
to all our sin.
And God,
that gives us confidence
to keep going
and reason to rejoice.
Father,
we pray that even now,
God,
won't you set us free
from the lies
and the accusation
of the evil one, God?
Won't you set us free
from the despair, God,
that so easily
covers our hearts?
Jesus,
won't you come
and pick us up
where we have fallen
and we are lying
on the ground,
hopeless and helpless?
Jesus,
won't you come
and lift up our heads
and lift up our hearts
and carry us
to the finishing line,
Lord God?
Jesus,
we pray,
come and draw near to us.
Come and remind us,
God,
that our hope
is in you.
we ask you,
God,
to do these things
in your name.
Amen.