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We return again to Luke's Gospel. If you will take your Bibles and turn there; Luke chapter four. We are going to examine the temptation of Jesus Christ in the first 13 verses, so follow along as I read the text, Luke four, beginning in verse one,

"Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness

"for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.

"And the devil said to him, 'If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'

"And Jesus answered him, 'It is written, "Man shall not live on bread alone."'

"And He led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

"And the devil said to Him, 'I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

"'Therefore, if You worship before me, it shall be all Yours.'

"Jesus answered him, 'It is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only."'

"And he led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;

"'For it is written,

"'"He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,"

"and, '"on their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone."'

"And Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is said, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."'

"When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time."

This is a magnificent passage of scripture with profound significance, and I fear some of that significance often goes unnoticed. Typically, the focus on this text - when it is taught, when it is preached - is on the actual temptations and the parallels in our life as Christians; how and when Satan tempts us, and how we can overcome those temptations; and certainly there is merit to that, and we will examine some of that ourselves this morning, but there exists a far more glorious, greater significance in our Savior's encounter with Satan that I hope to help you understand.

We have to ask the question, "What is really going on here?" "Why did Jesus willingly submit to this?" "Why did God ordain this to happen?" "What was the purpose behind it all?" And, "Why does Luke introduce the devil in this passage, and, and really give evil a name and a face?" We have to ask the question as well, "What was Satan up to here?" "What was his end game, and why did it happen immediately after Jesus' baptism?" "Why was he taken into the wilderness, and why are there such striking parallels with this temptation in the wilderness and the temptation that occurred in the garden?"  Well, when properly understood, I believe that the glory of Christ's work of redemption will shine even more brightly for each one of us.

Now, after addressing the glorious significance of our Savior's encounter with Satan, we're going to see what Satan was up to, and how those parallels might look like for each of us, and I'll give you that little outline now, so you kind of know where we're headed. We're going to see that Satan tried to number one, destroy his confidence in the Father's goodness to sustain him, and also destroy his confidence, number two, in the Father's plan to exalt him, and finally destroy his confidence in the Father's providence to lead him; and we are going to see how he does those same types of things to each one of us. But first I want you to see the big picture here. What is really happening? So let's look at the text closely.

First of all, notice in verse one it says "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit." The term full could it really carries the idea of being totally saturated with; and we know that in his humanity he fully yielded to the Spirit's control to do the Father's will, having voluntarily set aside the use of his divine attributes. So Jesus, now, he's full of the Holy Spirit, and it says, "...returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil." Now every passage of scripture is significant, every word is significant, and it's significant that we are told here that this happened when he returned from the Jordan. So we have to ask the question, well, "What happened at the Jordan, what's he talking about there?" Well, you will remember that that's where Jesus submitted to baptism, to fulfill all righteousness, Matthew 3:15. And think about John's baptism; you will recall that it symbolized the need for repentance and forgiveness of sins, the sinner's need for cleansing. This, by the way, was not Christian baptism that symbolized a believer's personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his identification in his death, burial, and resurrection, because none of that had happened yet. And remember, John's baptism was horribly offensive to the Jews because they didn't think they needed to repent of anything. And though Jesus was sinless, though he was the spotless lamb of God, he made himself to be no reputation to publicly identify with the very sinners that he came to save - each one of us. And indeed he was numbered, as the Bible says, among the transgressors, and he willingly stood with them, knowing that he would identify with them in death and in judgment, and this was really the first act of his public ministry.

Now you will recall what happened at his baptism in Luke three, beginning at verse 21, we read,

"Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.'"

Now, together the Father's affirmation of the Son harkens back to certainly Psalm two, as well as some of Isaiah's prophecies, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 52 through 53, Isaiah 61; and you will recall that in Psalm 2, God exalts Jesus as the Messiah king, all right; so bear in mind now this is what's going on as the Father affirms him in his baptism. He is going to be exalted as the Messiah King.

But as we look at Isaiah, we see that he is depicted in many places as the suffering servant that would come to do the Father's will. For example, in Isaiah 42 verse one, "Behold My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I have put My spirit upon Him, and He will bring forth justice to the nations." Isaiah 52 verse 13, "Behold, My servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted." There referring to his death on the cross and his exaltation to the right hand of the Father. And in Isaiah 53 and verse three, "He was despised and forsaken of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." And then later in verse six and following, "But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth."

So, beloved, at the Jordan, Jesus submitted to John's baptism, consecrating himself as not only the suffering servant but also the Messiah King, the one who would die in the sinner's stead and reign in their hearts throughout eternity; and so at the baptism you will recall, we saw the Son's humble submission, the Spirit's visible empowerment, and the Father's audible affirmation. You have the triune Godhead right there in that passage.

Now, bear in mind, Satan is watching all of this. None of this is outside the purview of what he wants to do, what he's planning on next, and so naturally he's about to challenge Jesus at the baptism regarding his commitment to be the Savior and challenge the Father's commitment to crown him as king. But, there's more, and we'll come back to that in a moment. Remember, this conflict really began in the garden, and its outcome was promised when God cursed man, when he cursed Satan, but when he also made a promise of restoration to man. You will recall in Genesis 3:15 God cursed the serpent, saying, "I will put enmity between you and the woman." Mind you, now he's speaking to Satan. "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed." Then he says, "He," referring to Christ, "shall bruise you on the head." In other words, he is going to inflict a fatal blow, he's going to destroy you, but he goes on to say, "...and you," referring to Satan, "shall bruise him on the heel." In other words, you're going to cause Christ to suffer, but he is going to destroy you.

Now, think about the parallel here. In Genesis three, we witness the first representative of man being tempted by Satan to sin, and he succeeded. In the temptation of Christ, in Luke 4, we witness the second representative of man; the Lord Jesus Christ, once again being tempted by Satan to sin, but here he failed. Oh, child of God, don't miss this. Here's the magnificent meaning of what's happening in the temptation of Christ. Immediately after his baptism, the Holy Spirit places him on the battlefield, if you will, as the champion of God; and he allows him to be all alone, to be exhausted, to be famished, and allows Satan to taunt him, to test him, to tempt him for 40 days. Why did he do that? The answer is to gain the victory as the second Adam, where the first Adam had failed, there in the wilderness of Judea.

Again, God deploys his champion, our Savior and King, who is full of the Holy Spirit, to defeat the devil. And I might also add, to put all the minions of hell on notice that this too will be their fate. Satan's goal was to cause Jesus to sin and make him unworthy to be the spotless lamb of God, the sacrifice that could be the propitiation for our sins and redeem all that the Father had given him. And Jesus' goal was to take on our nature, that He might destroy the one who had the power over death. We read about that, for example, in Hebrews two, beginning in verse 14, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same." In other words, Christ partook of flesh and blood. It's interesting, the term "partook" - "metechō" in the original language - denotes holding onto something that is not naturally one's own. We are by nature flesh and blood. Jesus wasn't until he became incarnated, so he himself likewise also partook of the same, the flesh and blood. Why? "...that through death He might render powerless him who had the power over death, that is the devil, and might free those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives." And we know that the wages of sin is death, it is physical death, it is spiritual death, it is eternal death, and because of sin, Satan has power over all of us until we are born again. His most powerful weapon, his most lethal weapon, is death, the terror of death. And oh dear Christian, aren't you thankful that the victory has been won? Oh, what a perfect Savior, who not only conquered sin, Satan, and death, but also has given to us himself, his righteousness and eternal life.

I think, as well, of Hebrews chapter two verse 17 and following, it says, "He had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people; for since He himself was tempted in that which He has suffered. He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted."

Beloved, everything that Jesus experienced, he experienced on our behalf, ultimately for us. He experienced what it would be like to be born, to be a little infant, to be a toddler, to be a little boy, be a young adult, to be an adult. All that he experienced in his life, all that he endured, all that he suffered, he did without sin, but also so that he could therefore identify with us. You know, so often we will hear somebody lament over some great difficulty in their life, and sometimes you will hear people say, "Well, I know exactly what you feel." No, you don't. You might have some idea, you might have something similar that you've experienced, but you don't know what they feel. But Jesus does; and everything he experienced throughout his life was for our benefit, that he might know fully what it was like to be human, except without sin, and I was thinking about that this past week, what it must have been like for him, even growing up as a young man. Imagine the emotional, the physical, the spiritual trauma Jesus suffered throughout his life, because Satan was tempting him then as well. Satan didn't wait until you know the wilderness to start tempting; he was hounding him all along. What would it have been like to know that you are the Son of God, and that one day you would bear the sins of all that the Father had given you in eternity path? Imagine living with that. In fact, we read some of what it was like in Hebrews five verse seven. It says, "In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save Him from death." The phrase "loud crying" is profoundly significant. It does not refer to a cry a man chooses to utter on his own, but rather it speaks of a cry that is pulled out of a person, one that is forced out because of extreme excruciating anguish. That's what Jesus dealt with throughout his life; and it's amazing that he shed tears to the one able to save him from death, but the Father gave him no exemption, right? The Father did not give him a pass. Because of that he perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father, and he experienced death on our behalf.

And also we discover that although he was a "son" in Hebrews five and verse eight, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered. In other words, every new, every agonizing form of rejection and pain required a new kind of obedience, something new that he experienced, and he had to deal with that in a new way of obedience, a new level of dependency upon his Father; a new level of faith in the Father's provision and protection; a new level of submission to the Holy Spirit working in and through him, and a new level of commitment to the directives and the application of the word of God, whatever the cost.

So, there is nothing we can experience that the Lord Jesus hasn't experienced even far more greatly, and for this reason He can be affirmed as our sympathetic high priest, Hebrews 4:15, you're familiar with the passage, "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Now back to the text, so he was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. Now let's look more closely at what Satan was trying to do. As I said in our little outline, first of all, he was trying to destroy Jesus' confidence in the Father's goodness to sustain him. The end of verse two,

"And he ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to him, 'If You are the Son of God, tell the stone to become bread.'"

Look at you, Jesus, come on, I mean, you're starving. What is the father doing? Obviously, he's abandoned you. I mean, this is crazy. What's happening in your life right now? And since you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. By the way, when it says, "If you are the Son of God," it can be translated "since." I mean, Satan knew who he was.

I also find it interesting, just as a footnote, unlike many heretical groups and liberal theologians, Satan and his demons knew that he was the Son of God, they never questioned his deity like many people do today, and as we look throughout the gospel record, we see how the demons were terrified of him. So Satan tries to destroy his confidence in the Father's goodness. Beloved, doubt is the great enemy of faith, and Satan will do everything he can, and his minions; and frankly, the way all of that works is through all of the false teachers, all of the false systems that are out there; all of the things that would appeal to our flesh, that would make us think that this is much better than what God is doing here. "I'm not so sure that what God is doing in my life right now is all that good. I just don't see it, but now this, now this makes sense." That's how the enemy works, and like every good counterfeit, much of what Satan said was true, a good counterfeit bill looks like the real thing, but there's something about it, if you look real close, that's not right. I think of snake venom, 90% of its protein, it won't hurt you, but it's that 10%...that'll do you in.

You this, is the same tactic he used with Eve in the garden. Let me make that parallel in Genesis 3:1, He says to her, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'" And you'll recall, she said, "No, essentially we're forbidden to eat from the tree, which is in the middle of the garden." And she kind of added to to the prohibition, saying, "We can't eat it, we can't even touch it." You know, so Satan's reeling are in now. Oh, the way we can twist and distort things. So Eve takes the bait. Satan now is going to set the hook, he's going to spin the truth, he's going to insinuate something that is pretty much true, but not quite.

By the way, every time you turn on the news, we see this, right? We get gas lighted and all of that type of that. That's how it works. And Satan's strategy with her was to insinuate that somehow God was restricting her from enjoying everything that was available, that he was kind of holding out on her, so he wanted to undermine her confidence in the goodness of God. And are we not the same way at times when things just seem to get worse and worse and worse, and we just wonder, God, where are you? Genesis three verse four, remember, He says, "You surely will not die, for God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil..." and so forth. You get the idea.

Now, the point is, Satan is using the same tactic with Jesus as he does with all of us to try to destroy his confidence in the goodness of God. "Tell the stone to become bread," and of course he could have done that. And Jesus answers him and says, "'It is written, man shall not live on bread alone.'" So Jesus now is going to trust the Father to provide for him in his own perfect time, and in his own perfect way, he's not going to take matters into his own hands. He is going to trust the Father, come what may. And it's interesting that when he says, "Man shall not live on bread alone," he's quoting Deuteronomy eight and verse three. Now this is most significant, because what is in Deuteronomy chapter eight? Well, the whole chapter speaks of God's gracious dealings with Israel. He's quoting out of Deuteronomy eight and verse three. Let me read the text to you.

"'He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.'"

You see, it was God that commanded the manna to come down to feed them. It was his word that sustained them, not just the manna, not just the bread. And what's interesting here, and I want you to catch this, Jesus didn't just suddenly pull out some quote out of his topical bible to kind of use it as some mystical way of, "okay, take that," you know, I'll quote you this; that's what a lot of times people do, they just quote some verse; and it may be true, it may even be appropriate, but it's not something that is proceeding from the treasure house of your heart. I mean, think about this. Jesus has been without food for 40 days. I can't imagine that. I miss a meal and I get hangry. He's been tempted by the devil. Now imagine what it would be like to be in that situation. Just to be in the wilderness alone is difficult enough, but what would it be like to be hungry? What do you think occupied his mind? Well, certainly it was the Father's goodness. "Father, when are you going to help me? I trust you, but oh, please help me. Give me grace." It would be just so easy to begin to question his plan, to question his provision.

And where would Jesus' mind go to contemplate these great truths about the Father's provision? Where would he go in scripture to find nourishment for his soul and for his body that's crying out for help? We all know where he went. He went to Deuteronomy eight. I would submit to you that he has been preoccupied with Deuteronomy eight for probably 40 days; that magnificent historical account of God's faithfulness to provide. So, therefore, please understand his response to Satan was not some off the cuff Bible quotation, rather it was the spontaneous reaction of his soul, because he has been nourished by this great text - this whole passage of scripture. For many days he has meditated upon it - the word of God.

Folks, this is why it's so important to be a student of scripture, not to just learn it, but to meditate on it, to make it become a part of who you are, to obey it, to apply it to your life, you must be so saturated with the Holy Spirit, who has revealed Himself in His word; that your spontaneous and instinctive automatic response to the great difficulties of life are going to be God-honoring, and when they are, they're going to be soul satisfying. "Out of the mouth speaks that which fills the heart," right? Luke 6:45 Jesus said,

"'The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."

Beloved, what fills your heart? I trust it is the word of God, not the word of man, and not the word of self. Jesus spoke from that which filled his heart. You see, he knew that his real need was far greater than physical, it was spiritual. His real need was to trust the Father, regardless of what was going on, to trust him to meet his need in his own perfect timing, and so he refused to take matter into his own hands.

It's interesting, later on, he told his disciples in John 4:34 "'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.'" And, of course, Paul said in Philippians 4:19 "'My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.'" And so what Jesus is doing now is just remaining submissive to God's will and trust him to meet his needs in his own time.

And by the way, we are reminded of this in so many other passages. I'll leave one more with you. In Matthew six, Jesus says,

 "'Do not worry then,'" in verse 31, "'saying, "What will you eat?" or "What will we drink" or "What will we wear for clothing?"

"'For the Gentiles, unbelievers eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

"'But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.'"

 How do you seek his kingdom? How do you seek his righteousness? Through his word; knowing his word and obeying his word.

So Satan first tries to destroy his confidence in the Father's goodness to sustain him. Secondly, to destroy his confidence in the Father's plan to exalt him. Verse five, "And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time." Now, how did he do that? I don't have a clue. There's something supernatural going on there.

"And the devil said to him, 'I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

"'Therefore, if You worship before me, it shall be Yours.'"

Again, think about this: Jesus is all alone, he's physically miserable, he's famished, and it would be again easy to doubt God's goodness to sustain him, but also to therefore lose confidence in the Father's plan to exalt him. What is going on here? And yes, God has ordained to allow Satan to be the temporary God of this world, but he stretches it way beyond what has really been allotted to him. Remember, Jesus calls Satan in John 14:30 "the ruler of this world." Paul said in Second Corinthians 4:4, he is the "god of this world." Ephesians 2:2, he's the "prince of the power of the air." First John 5:19 tells us that, "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And so to that extent, there's truth to that, but Jesus also knew that Satan is going to be defeated. Remember, in Revelation 20, I believe in verse 10, it speaks of how Satan and the beast and the false prophet are going to be cast into the lake of fire, and they're going to be tormented day and night forever and ever; so Jesus knows the outcome here, but he trusted the promises of the word of God.

Remember the promise that was given in Psalm two and verse eight, the Father says, "'Ask of me and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as your possession.'" Likewise, in Daniel seven, beginning in verse 13, Daniel says,

"I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.

"And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.'"

But Jesus knows the outcome here, and he's going to trust that God's plan is perfect, and nothing can prevent it from happening just the way he has ordained it to happen. Now, back to the text; knowing the pitiful condition that Jesus is in, Satan offers him a way out. "Hey, you know what? Jesus, come on, there's no need for all this suffering. You don't need to go to the cross to get a kingdom here. You don't need to suffer and die, and all that's been bugging you all your life. Here's a better, here's an easier way to do the same thing. I mean, the Father's plan isn't working out very well. I mean, I'll give you all of this if you worship me."

Jesus answered in verse eight, "'It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'" Beloved, these are the words of a man that is filled with the spirit, you only worship and serve the one true God. Though the devil, and mark this, will provide for you a myriad of other options that you can choose to worship other gods, other ways of finding life in this difficult world.

Now, remember, Satan's temptations are always appealing to the flesh, but they're opposed to God, and he always promises more than he can deliver, right? He does so for our ruin, ruin not for our good. That's why in Proverbs 14:12 we read, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Last night we were coming home from Olivia's wedding, and I have to say, I have never witnessed such outlandish road racing in my life than what I witnessed - Nancy, and I witnessed - last night coming back from Murfreesboro, going into Nashville. There were at least a dozen racers just racing their cars in and out. I mean, they would be going 100 mile an hour, pull right up on you and cut around, and then just doing this. It was unbelievable. Of course, they have the loud mufflers and all that stuff that they're doing; and I'm just thinking to myself, how sad. There's a way that seems right to those men, but it's a way that leads to death. How many youth feel that? Some way, somehow, the only way they can really feel good about themselves is being like the rest of the crowd, kind of joining in, being affirmed by all of the cool people. Let's dress like they dress, let's talk like they talk, let's act like they act, and then you see them going down that road; they're being affirmed by all the right people, got to make sure that their hair is just the right way, the clothes are just the right clothes, their cars, their trucks are just the right way to get the affirmation they think they can need, where they can find life, and they keep going down that road, and 10 years later they are absolutely miserable, and their life is going nowhere fast. How sad.

Well, Jesus chose to worship the one true God, to wait upon the Father's plan, to exalt him, not take matters into his own hands. First Peter five, he speaks of this in verse six, "Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God," Peter says, "that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert." And here's why, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith."

So the Satan tries to destroy his confidence in the Father's goodness to sustain him and his plan to exalt him finally in the Father's providence to lead him. Verse nine, "And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God,'" it could be translated "since you are the Son of God"..."'throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, "He will command His angels concerning you to guard you, and, on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

Isn't it interesting, Satan uses scripture here to tempt him. I might add, that Satan is a masterful Bible scholar. He twists it in ways to accomplish his own end. I remember, especially in my doctoral studies, being around men that were brilliant Bible scholars, but they didn't know Christ. And this is what Satan is doing here, he's twisting Psalm 92 verses 11 and 12, to make it say what he wanted to say. So essentially what he's doing here, he's saying, "Okay, since you're the Son of God, prove it, I mean, after all, I saw what happened at the baptism there, I saw the Father speak audibly, saying that you were his Son, you're his beloved son. The spirit came upon you, and you know, here's just another opportunity for you to prove your deity." And Satan knew that if Jesus jumped and he was not rescued, he would not be around to go to the cross, right? But he also knew that therefore God would have to save him, but if he did, then Jesus would have stepped out of God's plan, and it would have been sin, and he would no longer be the spotless lamb of God. Ah, what a brilliant strategy. But Jesus saw right through all of that. Why did he see through all of that? Because he was filled with the Spirit. Why was he filled with the Spirit? Because he was filled with the word of God, and that was his natural, spontaneous, instinctive response to temptation.

So he remained confident in the Father's providence to lead him. He says, in verse 12, "And Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is said, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."'" Beloved, never presume upon God, and try to somehow force Him to do something on your behalf. By the way, that's at the very heart of the heretical prosperity gospel, the whole name it and claim it movement. They insist that poverty and illness indicates that somehow a person lacks faith or they're living in ignorance or even in sin. They talk about positive confession that kind of forces God to act. Don't do that. Never try to manipulate God to pry goodies out of his stingy fingers. What a wicked thing to do. Dear Christian, just humble yourself to God's sweet providence. Trust in Him, wait upon Him, worship Him, serve Him, and at the proper time He will accomplish His good pleasure in you. And you know what?  It may not be until glory, but it's coming. It'll happen.

So, after failing to tempt Jesus to sin, we don't know all the other ways he tried to tempt him, but we read in verse 13, "When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time." And beloved, please hear me, Satan never gives up, he just regroups. He is patient, he is brilliant, he's always coming up with new and more appealing seduction, and while he may not be dealing specifically with you, and maybe not even his minions specifically dealing with you, he is dealing with all of the systems of the world that are designed to seduce you and to destroy you, including false teachers.

I want to leave you with just a few practical insights. First of all, I want you to see that great blessings often invite satanic attacks. I have found that to be true in my life. Remember, I mean, you think about this: Jesus was exalted at his baptism. What a magnificent thing. I mean, the heavens were opened, whatever that was, and the Father speaks audibly, praising him, honoring him, and he received an anointing from God through the Holy Spirit, and all these words from glory. And then, what happened? Well, he built a ministry empire, got his own Learjet. I mean, he was set up after that, right? No, that's not what happened. Immediately after that, he's led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil; and now you understand why he in fact, I've learned that it is when things are going really well that you need to be the most vigilant. I've told my dear elders that before, I remember, not too long back, I was saying, "You know, guys, the Lord is just blessing so abundantly in our church, but let's beware, because the enemy is at work." You know, I've been in ministry about 42 years, I've seen these things cycle around over and over and over again. So don't think that there's ever a blessing so great that you are finally removed from the sphere of satanic attacks. It's not true, you just set yourself up for more of them, and often in the aftermath of great spiritual blessing comes sorrow and suffering.

In fact, I was reading from the Puritan, Matthew Henry, he said this, "When we have had the most comfortable communion with God and the clearest discoveries of His favor to us, we may expect that Satan will set upon us." And then, in parentheses, he says, "the richest ship is the pirate's prize," and he went on to say, "...and that God will suffer him to do so." In other words, God will allow it. Why? So that the power of His grace may be manifested and magnified. Well, that's what we saw, certainly with Jesus.

Another practical insight here, and that is loneliness and isolation. I guess in parentheses, you could say, a lack of Christian fellowship will leave you vulnerable to Satan's devices. I mean, Jesus was all alone in the wilderness, and he was so by God's design. Therefore, he had to depend solely on the resources of the Holy Spirit, which is all you need.

But isn't it wonderful that God gives us even more in the fellowship of other believers? It's interesting that it was only after that 40 days of temptation that the Father dispatched angels to fellowship with him. In fact, Matthew tells us this in Matthew 4:11, "Then the devil left Him; and behold," in other words, look at this, "angels came and began to minister to Him." I'm sure it was more than feeding him. It was the blessing of fellowship. Oh, never underestimate its power, and never be without it. Beloved, we need each other. We're members of a body. You can't be a kidney and just live out here on your own. You can't be an eye and just live out here; you need to be a part of the body.

Men, let me speak to you for a moment. Every man in here needs other men that they fellowship with on a regular basis, and women, each one of you need other godly women that you fellowship with on a regular basis. It's not good enough just to come to church and say hi and bye. I mean, that's nice, we can fellowship some, but I mean it needs to be much more intentional than that. We need each other. Iron will sharpen iron, that's the way God designed it.

And then I would also add that physical weakness will leave us vulnerable to Satan's attacks. Don't we all know that? I mean, when you've had a prolonged illness, or you're fatigued, you lack sleep. Oh, the dear caretakers, I know there's some of you here. I've experienced some of that myself with my dear parents. Nancy has, as well. My, the sheer exhaustion of trying to care for other people, and then there's bad relationships, poor working conditions, poverty, mothers that are unable to care for their children, all kinds of things that will make you weak. And it's interesting how Satan will look for that weakness and provide ways that will give you life, and think of some of the options. There's the television that will entertain you until you die and pump garbage into your heart, there's alcohol, there's drugs, and on and on it goes. The stressors of life can destroy you physically and spiritually, and Satan has a myriad of remedies that will appeal to you, your flesh, but lead you into deeper misery.

And then finally indifference towards theological study. In other words, learning the Bible, meditating upon it. And instead of that, just being content with a simple, mystic faith, just a Sunday morning Christian. All of that will render you powerless against the schemes of the devil; and if the schemes of the devil aren't difficult enough, your flesh is perfectly capable of destroying your life, and you put the two of them together, you've got big problem. How sad to see children raised in that kind of a home where mothers and fathers are undisciplined in their study of the word of God and the application of the word of God, and as a result the parents are kind of like spiritual toddlers, they just have no discernment. Therefore, they become easy prey themselves to deception. They don't see the machinations of the evil one working in the lives of their children, so they don't know to protect them from them. We must have a thorough knowledge of the word of God, so that we can have a thorough knowledge of the God of the word, and therefore a commitment to do His will. And then, like Jesus, we can parry Satan's blows with the sword of the Spirit, and we will have reflexive answers, so to speak, that are true, that are righteous, that are powerful when confronted with deception. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus, Amen? And greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world; we can rejoice in that.

Oh dear Christian, rejoice in the Lord and all that He has done on your behalf. Celebrate his victory in the wilderness, celebrate his victory at the cross, and may we gain confidence by his example and follow his example. And I made myself a little note here, so often hymns come to my mind. "Faith is the victory, faith is the victory, oh glorious victory that overcomes the world." Let's pray together.

"Father, thank you for the glorious truths of your word. Help us to grasp them in such a way as to find life; abundant life that you long for us to have, so that we can enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ Jesus. Help us to guard ourselves against Satan's attacks, all of the subtle ways that he lays before us, the snares that he puts in the well-worn paths of our own iniquities. Father, protect us, give us discernment. And, Father, as always, if there be one here that knows nothing of what it means to be united to Christ through saving faith, won't you bring conviction today that today will be the day of their salvation. We ask this for the glory of Christ. Amen.