NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - The Temptations Of Christ | Part 2 - Matthew 4:1-11
Aired: 2024-09-09
Duration: 01:02:01


=== Three Temptations in the Wilderness (02:38) ===

[00:00:00]  Is Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 through 11.
[00:00:02]  If you were with us last Lord's Day, this is the text that we had for that Sunday as well.
[00:00:06]  This is a part two dealing with the text that addresses the three temptations of Christ in the wilderness.
[00:00:13]  Again, our text is Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 through 11.
[00:00:16]  I'll read the text in its entirety.
[00:00:17]  When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say, This is the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying, Thanks be to God.
[00:00:25]  One final time, our text for today is Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 through 11.
[00:00:31]  The Bible says this.
[00:00:32]  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
[00:00:37]  And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
[00:00:41]  And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
[00:00:48]  But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
[00:00:55]  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 a stone.
[00:01:15]  Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
[00:01:21]  Again the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
[00:01:28]  And he said to him, All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.
[00:01:34]  Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, in him only shall you serve.
[00:01:42]  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
[00:01:47]  This is the word of the Lord.
[00:01:50]  All right, please be seated.
[00:01:51]  Let's begin.
[00:01:53]  Last week, I spent the entirety of our time simply introducing this text and predominantly setting the stage, some of the framework, the context for understanding this battle royale, this cosmic war that.
[00:02:11]  Takes place in the wilderness with no audience, at least no human audience, between Satan and the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
[00:02:21]  So I provided the context, set the stage, but today we're going to delve in detail into each of these three temptations.
[00:02:30]  So I'm skipping the introduction that's written in your notes.
[00:02:33]  As a reference point, if you weren't here last week, you can go online and check out the sermon there.

=== Paul on Inner Delight and Law (15:28) ===

[00:02:38]  But today we're going to pick up with the first of the three temptations, and I've given this header.
[00:02:44]  For each of these three temptations.
[00:02:46]  Number one, doubting the Father's goodness.
[00:02:49]  The first temptation deals with despair, doubting the Father's goodness, particularly, that is, His practical goodness, His fatherly goodness as it pertains to provision.
[00:03:03]  Secondly, the second temptation as a header or title, I put this demanding the Father's power or presuming upon the Father's power, demanding Is the word that I chose because then that allows all three of these headers to start with the letter D.
[00:03:24]  And that is what preachers do, for better or worse.
[00:03:26]  So, the first is doubting the Father's goodness, despair of the Father's provision and goodness.
[00:03:32]  The second, demanding the Father's power or presuming upon his power.
[00:03:37]  And third, denying the Father's glory.
[00:03:41]  Denying the Father's glory.
[00:03:43]  Rather than rendering to God the Father that which is due to him and him alone, Taking that into your own hands, denying the Father his rightful glory.
[00:03:54]  Let's begin doubting the Father's goodness.
[00:03:57]  In your notes, I've written the following Christ did not need to fast for the purpose of mortifying indwelling sin.
[00:04:04]  So then, that begs the question why did Jesus fast?
[00:04:09]  That's an important point worth noting right here from the outset.
[00:04:13]  Christ goes into the wilderness and fasts for 40 days and 40 nights, and he is not doing so for the reasons prescribed to you and I as followers of Christ for the purpose that we might engage in this spiritual discipline of fasting.
[00:04:28]  One of the primary reasons that you and I, as followers of Christ, choose to fast or are convicted and led by the Holy Spirit to fast is for the mortifying of the flesh.
[00:04:41]  That's not the only reason for fasting listed in the scripture, but that is a chief reason.
[00:04:46]  One of the reasons that we fast, that is, to voluntarily deprive ourselves of food for a time, is so that Christ might be formed more acutely within us, that we might mortify the sin which still dwells within the members of our being.
[00:05:03]  One of the chief texts speaking about residual indwelling sin that remains even for the Christian, even after conversion, even after being made to be a new creation in Christ Jesus as a work of the Spirit by grace and faith alone, even once this takes place, yes, you are a new creation.
[00:05:22]  Yes, you have a new heart.
[00:05:24]  You have a new heart.
[00:05:25]  The old heart, which was non responsive and even rebellious towards the things of God, the heart of stone, Has been removed and it has been replaced with a heart of flesh.
[00:05:37]  That is a heart that is softened, it is malleable, and is receptive, responsive to the things of God.
[00:05:44]  That all takes place at the moment of conversion.
[00:05:47]  This is the doctrine of regeneration.
[00:05:50]  The Holy Spirit regenerates hearts sovereignly as the Father chooses.
[00:05:57]  He comes and removes the heart of stone, replaces it with a heart of flesh.
[00:06:00]  And once this happens, and this is an important Theological principle that we need to understand.
[00:06:06]  Once this takes place, you've been converted, you are now a Christian.
[00:06:10]  You no longer, at that point, have a sin nature.
[00:06:14]  And that's something that I think many Christians misunderstand.
[00:06:19]  And I can see why, because it is a little bit complicated, but it's not that complicated.
[00:06:24]  And so I'll do my best to concisely and clearly explain it now.
[00:06:27]  The Christian does not have a sin nature, but the Christian does still have, in this life, until glorification, Which comes later, after this life, until glorification, the Christian who has experienced justification is experiencing sanctification, but has not yet experienced glorification.
[00:06:50]  That Christian no longer has a sin nature, but they do still have the flesh.
[00:06:55]  And Romans 7 says So I find this law at work that when I want to do good, this I cannot do.
[00:07:03]  And the evil that I do not want to do, this I keep on doing.
[00:07:06]  Oh, what a wretched man I am.
[00:07:08]  Who will save me, the Apostle Paul goes on underneath the inspiration of the Spirit, who will save me from this body of death?
[00:07:17]  The Apostle Paul is not saying, Who will save my soul that is still currently damned?
[00:07:22]  And that's the exact reason why I still find myself wrestling with sin.
[00:07:27]  No, that's not what he says.
[00:07:29]  This is not Paul pre conversion, as some theologians might suggest.
[00:07:34]  Those theologians are wrong.
[00:07:37]  No, this is Paul who is saved.
[00:07:40]  He's not speaking as a Jew.
[00:07:42]  That's one of the arguments.
[00:07:43]  People say, He says, I delight in my inner being.
[00:07:46]  In Romans 7, that's another part of the text.
[00:07:48]  In my inner being, I delight in the law of God.
[00:07:50]  And people will say, Well, that's just a Jew thing to say.
[00:07:53]  All right, first century Judaism, a Jew unconverted, not a Christian, but a Jew, would still say, I delight in the Torah, I delight in the law of God.
[00:08:02]  So Paul's just speaking as a Jew.
[00:08:05]  He's not a Christian yet, it's pre conversion.
[00:08:07]  He's just saying, In my inner being, I delight in the law of God.
[00:08:11]  No, he's not saying that because we know that what Paul's speaking of about himself, we don't know the exact timing of his self description, but we do know the timing of him writing this.
[00:08:25]  And Paul is writing the book of Romans underneath the inspiration of the Spirit after conversion as a Christian.
[00:08:31]  And as a Christian, and not just any old Christian, but the Apostle Paul, who was the premier theological titan of the Christian faith 2,000 years ago and remains uncontested for the past 2,000 years, no one has surpassed him.
[00:08:47]  The Apostle Paul, who is writing this as a Christian, would not be describing himself pre Christian, unconverted, as one who in his inner being delights in the law of God.
[00:08:59]  If he was writing about himself as a Jew before conversion, he would have said, In my inner being, I hate the law of God.
[00:09:08]  I pretend to like it because that's what we do as Jews in Israel.
[00:09:13]  We pretend to like the law of God and then we twist it and tweak it and pervert it in such a way that we're able, without a fair trial, to murder the very Son of God on a tree.
[00:09:27]  But in my inner being, in the objective sense, I hate God's law.
[00:09:32]  As all Jews in first century Palestine did hate the law of God if they were not converted by grace and become disciples of Jesus.
[00:09:41]  And for the record, that's not just Jews, that's called all unbelievers.
[00:09:46]  All unbelievers hate the law of God.
[00:09:48]  That's very clear, right?
[00:09:50]  Romans chapter 8 tells us explicitly, I don't like the way you're interpreting that, Pastor.
[00:09:54]  I'm not going to interpret this one, I'll just quote it.
[00:09:57]  Romans chapter 8 says that the mind of the sinful man, that's the unconverted man, a.k.a. the non Christian, The mind of the sinful man, it does not submit to God's law, nor can it.
[00:10:11]  Meaning that the mind of the unbeliever is both unwilling and, catch this, unable to submit to the law of God.
[00:10:20]  Why?
[00:10:21]  Because he cannot, nor will he, submit to that which he hates.
[00:10:27]  He hates God, and he hates God's law.
[00:10:31]  So Paul is not writing as a Jew pre conversion.
[00:10:35]  No, this is Paul writing and describing himself after conversion.
[00:10:41]  This is a present day description of himself saying, even as a Christian, born again by grace, with a new heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is a very real sense where now, because I have a new heart, because of the Spirit's work in conversion and regeneration, because I am, not that I'm not, but because I am a new creature in Christ Jesus, in my inner being, I delight.
[00:11:08]  I don't.
[00:11:09]  Hate, but rather delight in the law of God.
[00:11:12]  And yet, simultaneously with that being as true as it is, inner being, delight in the law of God, and yet sin still resides within the members of my being, so that I find this law at work.
[00:11:27]  That when I want to do good, evil is there present with me, so that the good that I desire to do I cannot carry out.
[00:11:33]  Oh, what a wretched man I am.
[00:11:34]  Who will save me?
[00:11:35]  Again, here's the key who will save me from this soul that's unjustified?
[00:11:41]  This soul of death?
[00:11:43]  No.
[00:11:43]  Who will save me from this body of death?
[00:11:46]  What Paul is lamenting out loud under the inspiration of the Spirit is he is saying, I long not only for justification, which by God's grace I've already received, and not only further degrees of sanctification, which have come, and I trust that as long as I'm in this life, more degrees of the process of sanctification will follow.
[00:12:08]  No, but what I'm lamenting and also longing for out loud on the pages of Holy Writ is glorification.
[00:12:16]  Justification, the salvation of the soul.
[00:12:20]  Sanctification, the lifelong process of the renewing of the mind.
[00:12:24]  But glorification, the salvation of the body.
[00:12:29]  Our very physical bodies, that even as Christians with new hearts and a new nature, sin, even for the Christian, still resides within the members of our flesh.
[00:12:38]  But one day, praise be to Christ Jesus, even our very body will change.
[00:12:43]  So that 1 John rings true when it says, when we see him, We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
[00:12:51]  Who is him?
[00:12:52]  Christ Jesus.
[00:12:54]  In what way will we be like him?
[00:12:56]  Well, we'll have his deity.
[00:12:58]  We'll be gods like it.
[00:12:59]  No.
[00:12:59]  It's not speaking of being like him in every regard, but in a particular regard.
[00:13:04]  What way will we be like him?
[00:13:07]  We shall be sinless as he is sinless.
[00:13:10]  Not God as he is God.
[00:13:12]  We will always be creatures, and we will always be finite creatures, immortal, but still finite.
[00:13:19]  We'll never be in heaven omniscient.
[00:13:23]  We will be learning things, and that's good news for the record.
[00:13:26]  That's what makes it so fun.
[00:13:27]  We'll be learning and learning and learning and growing and growing and growing for eons and eons and eons without end for eternity.
[00:13:34]  And the nice thing about God being infinite is guess what?
[00:13:37]  A finite creature, even glorified with a glorified mind and a higher capacity for learning and understanding and comprehension and all these things, and sin now being removed because of a new body.
[00:13:49]  In which sin does not reside within the members of your being.
[00:13:52]  So, an unperverted mind and a greater thinking mind with higher capability, still finite, belonging to a creature, that mind will never fully comprehend God because He is infinite.
[00:14:07]  How long does it take to grasp infinity?
[00:14:12]  To grasp that which is infinite requires, in terms of duration of time, eternity.
[00:14:18]  And so, for eternity, we will be surprised and amazed.
[00:14:24]  Experiencing ecstasy and pleasures forevermore.
[00:14:27]  In his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore, and in his presence, there is fullness of joy, and of this, there shall be no end.
[00:14:36]  But in the meantime, you and I, as Christians, we no longer have here's the doctrinal truth we no longer have, if you are in Christ Jesus as a new creation with a new heart, you no longer have a sinful nature, but you still do have the flesh in which sin still resides.
[00:14:56]  That is the flesh with its proclivities, its inclinations, its temptations, not just outward temptations as Jesus experienced in the wilderness in our text today, but you and I differ from Christ in the sense that we have inward temptations.
[00:15:13]  See, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he was tempted outwardly by Satan.
[00:15:21]  You and I, as the book of James says, how are we tempted?
[00:15:25]  Well, we're tempted just like Jesus.
[00:15:26]  The Spirit leads us into temptation.
[00:15:28]  No.
[00:15:29]  No, James literally says the opposite.
[00:15:32]  Jesus himself, when teaching us how to pray, says the opposite.
[00:15:36]  How should we pray?
[00:15:37]  Lord, lead us not into temptation.
[00:15:41]  The Spirit led Jesus into temptation so that God would never have to lead you and I into temptation.
[00:15:48]  No, you and I are not led by God into temptation and then tempted merely or only by outward forces and demonic powers.
[00:15:57]  But you and I, rather, we are led ourselves into temptation, as James says, by what?
[00:16:03]  By desire.
[00:16:05]  That no one should say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.
[00:16:08]  For God does not tempt anyone, neither can he himself be tempted.
[00:16:12]  But each one is tempted and led astray or enticed when his desire, implication there being sinful fleshly desires, which still exist even for the Christian who has a new heart, when our sinful desires, because sin still resides within the members of our flesh, when those desires uncombated, unsubdued, unmortified, coming back to the original point now, believe it or not, I still have it.
[00:16:39]  When our desires unmortified, which reside within our flesh with its sinful proclivities, And inclinations, when those desires are allowed to get the best of us, it is those inward fleshly desires that lead us into temptation, not the spirit.
[00:16:58]  So, Jesus fasting.
[00:17:02]  Jesus fasting.
[00:17:03]  Here we are.
[00:17:04]  Jesus did not go into the wilderness to fast in order to subdue his flesh.
[00:17:10]  Jesus had flesh.
[00:17:11]  Jesus has flesh.
[00:17:14]  He had flesh then.
[00:17:15]  He is the God man, fully God, fully man.
[00:17:19]  He has flesh now.
[00:17:20]  That flesh now glorified, but still flesh.
[00:17:24]  He is forever the God man, seated in the flesh, albeit glorified flesh, at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:17:33]  But Jesus' flesh was different than yours and mine in the sense that it was human as our flesh is, but it was not fallen as our flesh is.
[00:17:44]  Jesus, in his human nature, was finite.
[00:17:50]  You and I, in our human nature, are both finite and fallen.
[00:17:55]  And that's the difference.
[00:17:57]  Jesus did not have a sinful nature, nor did he have sinful desires residing within the members of his being.

=== Mastering Flesh Through Discipline (05:06) ===

[00:18:06]  Jesus, not only in his deity, certainly in that regard, but also in his humanity, remained unfallen, uncorrupted.
[00:18:16]  And so, Jesus is not led by sinful desires.
[00:18:20]  To be tempted in the wilderness, and he is not tempted then in the wilderness by sinful desires, but rather led by the Spirit outwardly, and then tempted by the devil outwardly, and for the purpose of mortifying the flesh?
[00:18:37]  No, all that work needs not to be done.
[00:18:41]  He has no sinful inclinations there to be mortified in the first place, but rather, if for no other reason, Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights merely to set an example for you and I.
[00:18:55]  Now, I think it's more than this, and I'll mention one other reason briefly, but let's begin with this.
[00:19:00]  Jesus sets for you and I an example.
[00:19:03]  One other example that we might find God doing something that he has no need of doing, and yet doing it nonetheless in order to set an example for you and I, would be in the very creation narrative, in the opening of the Bible.
[00:19:21]  Think of the pattern here that for six days God worked, and on the seventh he rested.
[00:19:29]  Because he was weary?
[00:19:32]  Because he was tired?
[00:19:34]  Because creating the entire cosmos of the universe is hard work?
[00:19:39]  He needed a break.
[00:19:40]  No.
[00:19:42]  The infinite does not grow weary.
[00:19:45]  He needs no rest.
[00:19:47]  And so, why does God choose to rest on the seventh day?
[00:19:51]  And not only rest, but call it the Sabbath and bless that day and make it holy to set a pattern for you and I?
[00:19:58]  God, who is infinite and needs no rest, sets a pattern of weekly rest for his finite creatures who he knew would require rest.
[00:20:07]  And so, too, Jesus does the very same thing.
[00:20:11]  He who is holy, holy, holy, and has no indwelling sin, and therefore has no need to mortify the flesh through the spiritual discipline of fasting, sets a pattern for you and I who are fallen, who do have corruptions in our flesh, so that we might follow.
[00:20:27]  In creation, God sets the pattern of rest, though he needs no rest for his finite creatures.
[00:20:34]  And in the wilderness temptation, God sets again the example of fasting for his creatures who do need fasting because of our fallenness.
[00:20:43]  A pattern of rest as an example for finite creatures.
[00:20:47]  A pattern of fasting as an example for fallen creatures.
[00:20:51]  And this is just one more way to demonstrate the mercy, the condescension, as we've spoken of earlier in previous weeks.
[00:20:59]  Not meaning that in a derogatory or demeaning sense, but simply condescending as a parent would with a toddler.
[00:21:07]  Not berating them, but to condescend, it simply means to lower yourself.
[00:21:12]  That you're speaking with your young child, and you might even Physically, in that moment, choose to get down on your knees in order to be eye level with them and say, Son, I'm listening.
[00:21:23]  I hear you.
[00:21:25]  Now I need you to hear me.
[00:21:27]  I understand that you're struggling with this temptation and that your desire is strong, but God tells us not to be mastered by our temptations, rather, that we must master our desires.
[00:21:39]  Your passions must come under control.
[00:21:42]  Right now, it's cute because you're two.
[00:21:46]  And to be honest, it's not that cute.
[00:21:47]  But right now, it's cute.
[00:21:50]  But these passions of wanting to grab this spoon so that you can flail it around like a sword or wanting to put your food off the tray, brothers and sisters, this is a freebie, little fatherly, motherly parenting lesson here.
[00:22:02]  Those are the same passions that, when that young man is 16 years old, will cause him to do things with a girl that the Bible forbids.
[00:22:14]  It's not different passions.
[00:22:17]  When you teach your young child to master his passions early, you are setting him up for success so that on that day later on, when you're not with him, when you can't see what's going on, and hear me, when our children are older, we still want to do our parently duty of monitoring their time.
[00:22:36]  But the reality is, there will be some moments in a 24 hour day period where we're not there.
[00:22:43]  Even homeschooling, even the best of parental restrictions, which we should employ.
[00:22:51]  Especially when it comes to technology.
[00:22:54]  And yet, there will still be certain moments when we're not there.
[00:22:58]  And if not in the home, there will certainly be moments when we're not there when they leave the home.
[00:23:05]  The best defense that we have is training our children while they're young to control and master their passions when we are there.

=== Testosterone, Votes, and Republicanism (02:24) ===

[00:23:13]  When we are there.
[00:23:15]  So, Jesus is setting for us an example of how to master our passions, how to mortify.
[00:23:23]  The flesh, and how to do it through discipline.
[00:23:29]  There is no alternative in the Christian life or simply in life in general, no alternative to discipline.
[00:23:40]  And to pretend that we could somehow sever physical disciplines, such as fasting, from spiritual realities is a Gnostic inclination.
[00:23:53]  The physical and the spiritual are far more intertwined than you and I would like to admit.
[00:24:01]  Studies have been done on this.
[00:24:05]  You know how you could get someone to transition from voting Democrat to voting Republican?
[00:24:12]  Well, you know, facts don't care about your feelings.
[00:24:14]  And so you sit down and you make a pros and cons list and you make arguments and you show them that Democrats are the real racists and they're the ones who actually were in the South and the plantation.
[00:24:24]  No, that's not how you do it.
[00:24:27]  I understand history matters and logic matters.
[00:24:30]  But you know another way that you can take a 21 year old liberal male.
[00:24:35]  Who votes Democrat and wears t shirts saying, I'm a proud feminist?
[00:24:39]  You know how you can radically change his worldview?
[00:24:43]  Cut out soy, make him work out in a gym, and boost his testosterone levels, and all of a sudden, by golly, as though it's almost a supernatural magic spell, he becomes more conservative in his worldview.
[00:25:01]  Isn't that remarkable?
[00:25:03]  And this is documented.
[00:25:05]  This is not hyperbolic.
[00:25:07]  You change your physical habits, and all of a sudden, you will change the way you think about the world.
[00:25:16]  High testosterone men vote Republican.
[00:25:20]  Women who marry those high testosterone men vote Republican.
[00:25:25]  So who votes for Democrats?
[00:25:27]  Women who are unmarried and men who aren't men.
[00:25:33]  That's it.
[00:25:34]  Really, is that simple?

=== Body Matters: Soul and Existence (03:19) ===

[00:25:37]  Spiritual disciplines are tied to physical, bodily disciplines.
[00:25:43]  We are not just souls floating in the ether, but God's design, this isn't part of the curse.
[00:25:51]  The curse is that flesh would become fallen.
[00:25:54]  The curse is not flesh itself.
[00:25:55]  This is God's good and original design that we would not be bodiless souls floating in the 17th dimension, but rather that we would be physical creatures.
[00:26:05]  We would be embodied souls.
[00:26:08]  And what is our eternal state and the final?
[00:26:12]  Analysis?
[00:26:13]  What will it be?
[00:26:15]  When the end of human history finally culminates and Christ returns to judge both the living and the dead, what will the final state of Christians be?
[00:26:25]  It will be glorified flesh and spirit once more together.
[00:26:33]  You and I are not going to have merely spiritual existence in heaven for all eternity, we will have a physical and spiritual existence in heaven for eternity.
[00:26:46]  This is why, even when it comes to funerals, this is not a hard and fast legalistic rule.
[00:26:54]  I understand that at times there are extenuating circumstances, and I have no desire to disparage anyone in the room who has used, for instance, I can't think of the word.
[00:27:07]  I want to say incarceration, but that's jail.
[00:27:10]  Cremation, thank you.
[00:27:12]  If you've used cremation for a loved one, I understand.
[00:27:16]  Please do not feel disparaged.
[00:27:19]  Here's the beauty.
[00:27:20]  A lot of Christians have died at sea thousands of years ago and eaten by fishes and spread across seven oceans.
[00:27:28]  And when Jesus comes, he will be able to take every molecule and glorify their flesh.
[00:27:33]  So it's going to be okay.
[00:27:34]  All right.
[00:27:34]  So hear that disclaimer.
[00:27:36]  That said, symbolically, the reason why Christians historically have chosen burial as opposed to cremation and even in burial used embalming and certain practices to preserve the body as long as possible while knowing.
[00:27:54]  In the logical sense, we know what's going to happen.
[00:27:57]  If Jesus tarries another 10,000 years, that embalming's not going to hold up.
[00:28:00]  Let's be honest.
[00:28:02]  We know that.
[00:28:03]  Well, why do we do it?
[00:28:05]  Because what we're saying as Christians is that the body matters.
[00:28:10]  And that when someone dies, we're not saying, you know, this is just a shell.
[00:28:15]  That's not really them.
[00:28:16]  No, there's a very real sense in which their personhood is with, if they were a Christian, with the Lord spiritually.
[00:28:24]  With the Lord.
[00:28:24]  To be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord.
[00:28:26]  Well, who is present with the Lord?
[00:28:28]  The person is.
[00:28:29]  And yet at the same time, I can look at the person's body and I can say, not just, there is so and so's body, there is so and so's now empty shell, but I can also look at the person, their body, and say, there is so and so.
[00:28:43]  That's them.
[00:28:45]  You are, it's not just that you are a soul that possesses a body.
[00:28:49]  Let me say that again.
[00:28:50]  You are not merely a soul that possesses a body.
[00:28:53]  You are a soul and you are a body.

=== Choosing Independence Over God (13:53) ===

[00:28:57]  Both.
[00:28:59]  And so the physical matters.
[00:29:01]  And if the physical matters, then when we engage in spiritual disciplines, they're not simply spiritual.
[00:29:09]  They're not merely pietistic and only pietistic, but they also engage the flesh.
[00:29:18]  So that when we pursue Christ spiritually, there is also discipline employed physically.
[00:29:25]  And fasting is a wonderful example.
[00:29:28]  And Jesus sets that example for us.
[00:29:35]  So, in this temptation, the devil is trying to get Jesus to doubt, to doubt the fatherly goodness, particularly the provision of his father.
[00:29:46]  Let me finish reading this quickly.
[00:29:48]  So, why did Jesus fast?
[00:29:50]  One, so that his victory over Satan might be all the more profound.
[00:29:54]  It says, though a boxer enters the ring with one hand tied behind his back and says, I got this.
[00:30:01]  Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
[00:30:05]  Voluntarily fast to, if anything, make his human nature all the more vulnerable and weak, knowing that that's still plenty of strength to defeat his adversary.
[00:30:18]  So, one reason he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights is to make his victory over Satan all the more profound.
[00:30:25]  It's the same principle of God whittling down the army of Gideon to 300.
[00:30:30]  Why?
[00:30:30]  Because 300 is more advantageous in a practical sense for defeating their foe?
[00:30:35]  No.
[00:30:36]  But it is more advantageous if the ultimate goal is to garnish glory for God.
[00:30:42]  Secondly, Jesus fasts to recommend fasting to us.
[00:30:45]  That's what I've already espoused thus far.
[00:30:48]  God, who needs no rest, rested to set an example for finite creatures.
[00:30:52]  Jesus, who did not need to fast, in the sense that fasting mortifies the flesh, and he had no sinful flesh, no corruptions in his being.
[00:31:01]  Jesus, who does not need to fast, fasted to set an example for fallen creatures.
[00:31:05]  And thirdly, to demonstrate that he is the true Israel of God.
[00:31:09]  We hit this last week, so I'll only discuss it briefly here.
[00:31:12]  But to demonstrate, he is the true Israel of God.
[00:31:15]  Israel, that is the nation under the Old Covenant and the Old Testament, Israel wandered faithlessly in the wilderness for 40 years.
[00:31:24]  This is not a coincidence.
[00:31:25]  40 days for Christ, 40 years for Israel.
[00:31:30]  Jesus is fulfilling all the ways that Israel failed to prove that he is the true Israel and he is the better Israel.
[00:31:41]  Israel wandered faithlessly in the wilderness for 40 years with constant provision, manna, And quail, God always providing for their physical nourishment and needs.
[00:31:53]  Jesus, on the other hand, wandered faithfully in the wilderness for 40 days, not faithlessly, but faithfully for 40 days without provision.
[00:32:04]  And when he is tempted to grumble against God by Satan, he does not give in, he does not despair of the Father's goodness.
[00:32:13]  That was the first temptation.
[00:32:16]  Going on, Matthew Henry, I'm using him, this late great Puritan, he says this.
[00:32:21]  The great thing that Satan aims at in tempting good people is to overthrow their relation to God as a father, and so to cut off their dependence on Him, their duty to Him, and their communion with Him.
[00:32:35]  The good spirit, as comforter of the brethren, witnesses that they are the children of God.
[00:32:42]  He's speaking of the inward witness of the spirit that cries out, Abba, Father, affirming and assuring us of our adoption, our salvation.
[00:32:53]  So, the comforter of the brethren witnesses that they are, in fact, the children of God.
[00:32:58]  The evil spirit, as the accuser of the brethren, does all he can to shake that testimony.
[00:33:04]  So, as it pertains to Christ in our text today, so Satan does not say to Jesus, Pray to thy father.
[00:33:11]  And notice the distinct and dynamic difference because it's massive, it is not subtle.
[00:33:17]  Satan does not say to Jesus, Pray to thy father as a petition, a humble request.
[00:33:23]  That he would turn these stones into bread for you.
[00:33:28]  But rather, what Satan tells Jesus to do is command it yourself to be done.
[00:33:34]  Thy father hath forsaken thee.
[00:33:36]  That's the implication.
[00:33:38]  Your father has forsaken you, so therefore set up for thyself and be not beholden to him.
[00:33:46]  Satan, notice the temptation.
[00:33:47]  He doesn't come to Jesus and say, Hey, you look pretty hungry.
[00:33:52]  Right?
[00:33:52]  As I said last week, understatement of the century, of the.
[00:33:57]  Millennium, right?
[00:33:59]  The text says, Jesus fasted without food or water for 40 days and 40 nights, and he was hungry.
[00:34:06]  Oh, really?
[00:34:07]  He was?
[00:34:07]  He was hungry, okay.
[00:34:09]  Yeah, just a little snackish, you know?
[00:34:11]  Yeah, 40 days and 40 nights, and yeah, he's starving.
[00:34:16]  By all accounts, he should be dead.
[00:34:19]  And he is near the very precipice of death.
[00:34:22]  He's barely alive.
[00:34:24]  Barely alive.
[00:34:26]  And Satan comes to him, but here's the key he does not come to him and say, If you are the Son of God, then your Father would not abandon you, but rather he has promised to provide for you.
[00:34:37]  So go to him humbly and request that he turn these stones into bread so that you might eat.
[00:34:44]  See, that actually would not be sinful.
[00:34:47]  And so, because it is the aim of Satan to get Jesus to sin, that is not the temptation.
[00:34:52]  Rather, the temptation underneath it, guised, but by way of implication, the temptation is your Father has abandoned you.
[00:35:03]  So take matters into your own hands.
[00:35:06]  Provision is something you'll have to make for yourself.
[00:35:12]  You should choose independence over reliance on God.
[00:35:18]  That's the first temptation.
[00:35:22]  And one extra principle that certainly we should employ and that we should deposit deep within our hearts is this that in all three temptations, what is it that Jesus wields as his weapon against the fiery darts of Satan?
[00:35:40]  It's the Word of God.
[00:35:42]  As it's been said from the book of Ephesians, with the armor of God, it's the only offensive weapon that we have the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
[00:35:51]  But I did find it interesting in my study, again, citing the commentary of Matthew Henry, that Jesus would be able to wield the Word of God, as it were, without citing verbatim Scripture.
[00:36:05]  Why?
[00:36:06]  Because He is the very eternal, living Word of God Himself.
[00:36:11]  Jesus is the Word of God.
[00:36:15]  Think of John chapter 6, where Jesus speaks of man's, you know, man, well, he says it here, but in John chapter 6, he says, Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me.
[00:36:28]  I am the bread of life given from heaven.
[00:36:31]  I am the word of God, the manna of God by which man lives.
[00:36:36]  It's the same principle espoused in John chapter 6 as referenced here in his temptation to the wilderness when he says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
[00:36:46]  There is the written word that we have inscripturated, inspired by the Spirit, and illuminated by the Spirit still to this day.
[00:36:56]  But there's also the living word, the Logos, the Son of God Himself.
[00:37:00]  John chapter 1 In the beginning was the Word.
[00:37:03]  Not the Bible, but Jesus.
[00:37:06]  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[00:37:10]  He was with God in the beginning.
[00:37:12]  Later on, John chapter 1 verse 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[00:37:17]  We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of God, full of grace and full of truth.
[00:37:23]  Jesus is the Word.
[00:37:26]  And the point here is that Jesus could have combated Satan and all his wiles by simply refuting him on his own merit.
[00:37:36]  No, Satan, I will not do that because you're trying to get me to despair of the fatherly goodness and provision of God, to take matters into my own hands.
[00:37:47]  To sever myself in relation to God my Father, to be independent rather than reliant and submissive and subjected to Him.
[00:37:55]  He could have said that.
[00:37:57]  And it would not have been wrong.
[00:38:00]  It would have been true.
[00:38:02]  And if Jesus said it, it would be the Word of God.
[00:38:07]  But instead, He quotes Scripture.
[00:38:10]  He doesn't quote Scripture because of speaking Himself is something other than the Word of God.
[00:38:15]  It would be the Word of God.
[00:38:16]  But He quotes Scripture, the Word of God inscripturated, because.
[00:38:21]  Again, just as fasting.
[00:38:23]  He's not mortifying the flesh.
[00:38:24]  He has no sin to mortify, but he's setting an example for us.
[00:38:27]  Well, he could have exercised his own mind and spoken from his mind, the very mind of God, because he is deity.
[00:38:33]  He is God encapsulated in flesh.
[00:38:38]  But he doesn't do that.
[00:38:39]  He cites the scripture.
[00:38:40]  Why?
[00:38:40]  Because you and I are not God.
[00:38:43]  We cannot speak and it be the word of God.
[00:38:46]  You and I are reliant, if we are to speak the word of God, we are reliant upon the scripture.
[00:38:53]  And so Jesus uses the very tool that he knows you and I will have to use.
[00:38:59]  He wields the very weapon that he knows that you and I will have to wield.
[00:39:02]  Once again, in his mercy and condescension, setting an example for you and I that we should follow.
[00:39:09]  There's so much in this text.
[00:39:11]  But let's move on.
[00:39:12]  The second temptation, demanding the Father's power or presuming upon the Father's power.
[00:39:17]  In the first instance, Satan is trying to get Jesus to be self reliant, despairing of the fatherly goodness of God, making provision for himself rather than trusting that the Lord, God, his Father, would provide.
[00:39:32]  In the second instance, it is now taking upon himself, demanding, presuming upon the power of his Father.
[00:39:42]  So that his feet would not strike a stone, that God the Father would command his angels to come and bear him up if he were to listen to the devil and cast himself off the pinnacle of the temple in the city of Jerusalem.
[00:39:57]  But what?
[00:39:57]  For what purpose?
[00:39:58]  What motive?
[00:39:59]  Notice the stark difference between these two contexts.
[00:40:05]  The first temptation in the wilderness no human audience, it's private, despairing of the Father's goodness and provision.
[00:40:15]  And the second temptation, it's public.
[00:40:18]  In fact, it's the most public place that he could possibly be.
[00:40:22]  The purpose, and there are a few purposes to be drawn out, but for our purposes today, let's simply focus on one.
[00:40:28]  Satan takes Jesus to the holy city, that is Jerusalem, to the pinnacle of the temple, that is the public square, the downtown arena of Jerusalem, for what purpose?
[00:40:41]  Because it's the opposite of the wilderness.
[00:40:43]  Rather than being private and alone in isolation, he is now in the most public place.
[00:40:49]  Place he could possibly be.
[00:40:51]  And so here the temptation is not self reliance, making provision for himself rather than trusting his father, but now it's self exposure.
[00:41:02]  It's proving, taking matters into his own hands once again, but now not to provide for his physical nourishment, but to prove his spiritual and true identity.
[00:41:14]  All these people doubt that you're the Son of God.
[00:41:16]  And if you really are, why don't you take a shortcut?
[00:41:20]  Rather than submitting to the Father's will of proving your deity, your sonship, throughout His ordained course of time and with the methods and the plan that He has set for you, why don't you do it yourself?
[00:41:34]  I'll put you right here in the middle of the town square where all the crowds are gathered around.
[00:41:39]  You jump off this building.
[00:41:41]  The angels will be sent by God the Father.
[00:41:44]  Surely He won't let harm come to you if you are, in fact, His Son.
[00:41:47]  The angels will be sent by God the Father to bear you up.
[00:41:51]  And right before your feet strike the ground and harm is brought to your physical body, the angels will intervene, sent by your Father, bear you up, and in the sight of all, your supernatural power and deity will be proven.
[00:42:10]  Matthew Henry says it like this Satan fixes Jesus on a public place in Jerusalem, a populous city, in the temple, one of the wonders of the world, continually gazed upon with admiration by some one or other.
[00:42:23]  There he might make himself remarkable and be taken notice by everyone and prove himself to be the Son of God, not as he was urged in the former temptation in the obscurities of the wilderness, but now before multitudes upon the most imminent stage of action.
[00:42:42]  Furthermore, going on, Matthew Henry says this Note, whatever real mischief.
[00:42:47]  Now, this right here is classic Puritan.

=== Preaching With Real Application (07:49) ===

[00:42:51]  And when I say classic Puritan, what I mean.
[00:42:54]  Is far fetched exegesis that every reformer gives a pass to because they're Puritans.
[00:43:03]  And that's why, well, that's just simply how it works in the Reformed tradition.
[00:43:08]  If you don't like it, well, you've got to find a church that's not Reformed.
[00:43:11]  Because this is what Reformers do.
[00:43:14]  When modern day Reformed pastors make application and we don't like it, we start a campaign online and slander them publicly.
[00:43:24]  But when John Bunyan says that the point of being able to eat animals that have hoofed, Split hooves, that really what God was saying there is he was speaking to the double part of the gospel.
[00:43:40]  And this is not hyperbolic, this is not exaggeration.
[00:43:42]  Read John Bunyan and his commentaries on Leviticus and the dietary restrictions given under the old covenant and the ceremonial law to Israel and why they could eat certain beasts of the field and then others they couldn't.
[00:43:58]  He literally makes arguments and says, well, you can eat the cow that cheweth the cud because.
[00:44:02]  Chewing of the cud is chewing of the goodness of the gospel.
[00:44:06]  And he's not saying this is just an application to be drawn.
[00:44:09]  He's saying, no, this is literally the text.
[00:44:11]  This is literally God's meaning.
[00:44:14]  And for the record, I'm here for it.
[00:44:19]  I like it.
[00:44:20]  I'm down.
[00:44:21]  Give me some John Bunyan.
[00:44:22]  I just want to be able to do it too.
[00:44:24]  I would like to, for me, I'm not against the Puritans.
[00:44:27]  I just like to see some Puritans today.
[00:44:30]  And to be honest, a lot of the applications that we see from some of the Whatever you want to call them.
[00:44:38]  New Christendom, post millennial, culture, political, engaging, muscular, reformed wing of the church.
[00:44:49]  Those guys.
[00:44:51]  A lot of the applications we see today, right?
[00:44:54]  The dots connecting it from the text to this practical, cultural, and political application, those dots are like right next to each other.
[00:45:03]  It's a real straight line.
[00:45:05]  John Bunyan?
[00:45:06]  His dots, that's like, that's pretty complex.
[00:45:10]  It's like, you've got to go around the map a little bit, and it's like, don't you see?
[00:45:12]  It's simple.
[00:45:13]  It's like, are you joking?
[00:45:15]  Like, we went through 48 different dots to draw out that application.
[00:45:20]  I mean, Charles Spurgeon, Prince of Preachers.
[00:45:23]  Do you know why everyone likes Charles Spurgeon today?
[00:45:27]  It's really simple.
[00:45:29]  If you know, feel free to shout it out.
[00:45:30]  It's really simple.
[00:45:32]  Because what?
[00:45:34]  He's a man.
[00:45:36]  He's dead.
[00:45:37]  Correct.
[00:45:38]  That's why we like him.
[00:45:40]  Good and dead.
[00:45:42]  That's why we like them.
[00:45:44]  That's it.
[00:45:45]  Read Charles Spurgeon on the four soils.
[00:45:51]  One of his most famous sermons.
[00:45:53]  When Jesus says, A sower went out to sow.
[00:45:57]  He doesn't get past that.
[00:45:59]  You have to get to the fourth, fifth, and sixth sermon in the series to get to the actual four different types of soil with the thorns, the rocky soil, the path, and then the good soil.
[00:46:12]  You've got an entire sermon on this text.
[00:46:15]  My text today is A Sower Went Out to Sow.
[00:46:20]  And that's the text for the day.
[00:46:22]  Please stand for the reading of God's Word.
[00:46:24]  A sower went out to sow.
[00:46:25]  This is the Word of the Lord.
[00:46:26]  Thanks be to God.
[00:46:26]  Please be seated.
[00:46:27]  And now, 60 minutes of exposition.
[00:46:33]  And can I prove that it's in the text?
[00:46:35]  Nope.
[00:46:36]  Not at all.
[00:46:38]  Not even close.
[00:46:40]  Well, that sounds like eisegesis, it sounds a little far fetched.
[00:46:44]  What are we going to do with you?
[00:46:46]  We'll call you the Prince of Preachers.
[00:46:48]  And hear me, I think he is the Prince of Preachers.
[00:46:52]  My point is not to say that the Puritans were too far fetched in their exegesis or that Charles Spurgeon took a little liberty with the text.
[00:46:58]  That's not my position.
[00:47:00]  My position is to stop building tombs to the prophets and praising them, and then when other guys do far less exegesis with the clearest applications you could possibly imagine in the culture and politics today, stop condemning them.
[00:47:14]  If you really like the Puritans and you really like the Prince of Preachers, then stop killing all the Puritans today.
[00:47:23]  Stop doing that.
[00:47:24]  That's my position.
[00:47:25]  So, that's all for free.
[00:47:29]  But here we go a very Puritan esque position.
[00:47:32]  Which Matthew Henry was a Puritan, esque exegesis.
[00:47:36]  He says this, and I think it's good.
[00:47:39]  Note, whatever real mischief is done to us, it is of our own doing.
[00:47:45]  The devil can but persuade, he can push, he can tempt, he can prod, but he cannot compel, he cannot force, that is.
[00:47:55]  He can but say, Cast thyself down, Christian, just as he said to Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple, cast thyself down.
[00:48:04]  Christian, but he cannot throw us down himself.
[00:48:09]  Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, that is, desire, and not forced, but as James says, enticed.
[00:48:19]  It is no new thing for the grace of God to be turned into wantonness, license, the grace of God being a license for sin, and for men to take encouragement in sin from the discoveries of God's goodwill towards sinners.
[00:48:35]  But shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
[00:48:40]  Throw ourselves down that the angels may bear us up?
[00:48:44]  God forbid.
[00:48:47]  What do you call that?
[00:48:49]  You call it loose exegesis.
[00:48:52]  What else do you call it?
[00:48:54]  Fantastic preaching.
[00:48:56]  It's good preaching.
[00:48:58]  The scripture can be used this way.
[00:49:01]  And you know who was the example for the Puritans in the way that they would exegete scripture?
[00:49:05]  The apostles.
[00:49:07]  Look at the way that the apostles exegete the Old Testament.
[00:49:11]  How many texts are cited in the New Testament from the Old, especially from the Psalms, especially Psalm 110?
[00:49:18]  And the apostles, without blushing, without a twinkle in the eye, without a wink, no, they're just straight faced.
[00:49:27]  They say, Psalm 110 says this.
[00:49:30]  And that, of course, means this, And this is my sermon for today.
[00:49:39]  You want apostolic preaching?
[00:49:42]  You want Puritan reformed preaching?
[00:49:47]  Then you have to have preaching with application.
[00:49:53]  And if you condemn preaching with application, then you are merely building tombs to the fathers and the prophets that came before you.
[00:50:03]  But your present actions, they reveal your real heart of hypocrisy.
[00:50:08]  You hate the Puritans, you hate apostolic preaching with application, you hate all these things.
[00:50:18]  And the only reason you tolerate it or pretend to tolerate it when it was done once upon a time is because those books can be edited.
[00:50:28]  We can embrace the reformers and their soteriology, that is their doctrine of salvation.
[00:50:33]  And we can reject all their political theology because it was icky.

=== Idolatry and Earthly Dominion (11:19) ===

[00:50:41]  All right.
[00:50:42]  But this is a fantastic point that Matthew Henry brings up.
[00:50:47]  What lesson can we learn from Jesus resisting the second temptation, which was what?
[00:50:51]  Cast yourself down and presume upon the power of God that He would command His angels to bear you up.
[00:50:58]  What principle can we glean that's not actually far fetched but is perfectly legitimate exegesis?
[00:51:07]  Well, the application that we can employ in our lives today is so too we should not cast ourselves down.
[00:51:13]  Satan can't push us.
[00:51:15]  When we sin, it's because we jumped, not because we were pushed.
[00:51:21]  And so, just as Jesus did not presume upon the mercies of God by putting the Lord his God to the test.
[00:51:28]  Neither should we presume upon the grace of God as a license for sin.
[00:51:35]  Satan can't push us, but we can jump.
[00:51:38]  And will God catch us in his mercy when we fall?
[00:51:41]  Yes.
[00:51:43]  But God forbid that that be made an excuse as a license for sin.
[00:51:47]  Third and final temptation now denying the Father's glory, despairing of the Father's goodness, demanding the Father's power.
[00:51:56]  Now, the last and most heinous of the temptations, where the mask, as it were, of Satan is now.
[00:52:03]  Pulled fully down.
[00:52:05]  Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
[00:52:07]  As I said last week, if there was any time for him to employ this disguise, it would have been in the temptations of Jesus.
[00:52:14]  That he would masquerade as an angel of light, pretending to simply care about Jesus' physical well being and making sure that he's taken care of in the wilderness.
[00:52:24]  Or, I just want you, Jesus, to be worshipped and rightly viewed by the populace for your true identity as the Son of God.
[00:52:31]  So cast yourself down.
[00:52:32]  All these things seemingly are harmless.
[00:52:34]  Now, Jesus knows better.
[00:52:36]  And he doesn't fall for these temptations.
[00:52:38]  They're certainly not harmless, but they at least carry the veil of well meaning temptations.
[00:52:46]  The last one there's no veil, there's no disguise.
[00:52:51]  At this point, Satan pulls out the big guns.
[00:52:54]  He knows the charade is up, if you will.
[00:52:58]  And he says this verses 8, 9, and 10 of our text again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, not the high temple to be seen by man.
[00:53:07]  But now a high mountain, so that Jesus can see man, so that Jesus can see all the kingdoms of the world.
[00:53:15]  He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he, being Satan, said to Jesus, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.
[00:53:25]  The mask is off.
[00:53:28]  It's very clear now that Satan wants Jesus to sin, to perform idolatry.
[00:53:37]  Then Jesus said to him, He doesn't just quote scripture now.
[00:53:41]  But Jesus now says to him before quoting Scripture, Be gone.
[00:53:47]  Be gone, Satan.
[00:53:48]  Jesus is now, in a holy and righteous sense, vexed.
[00:53:54]  His righteous indignation is now fully flared.
[00:53:58]  No more tolerance.
[00:54:00]  No more patience.
[00:54:03]  You've just commanded me to commit idolatry.
[00:54:07]  Be gone, Satan.
[00:54:10]  For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
[00:54:16]  One last time, utilizing Matthew Henry, he says the following With abhorrence and detestation, Christ says, Get thee hence, begone, Satan.
[00:54:27]  The two former temptations had something of color, which would admit a consideration, but this was so gross as not to bear a parley.
[00:54:38]  It appears abominable at the first sight, and therefore is immediately rejected.
[00:54:44]  While Satan tempted Christ to do himself a mischief by casting himself down, Though he yielded not, yet he heard it.
[00:54:52]  He was willing to hear it.
[00:54:54]  But now that the temptation flies in the very face of God, Christ cannot bear it.
[00:55:00]  Get thee hence.
[00:55:02]  Be gone, Satan.
[00:55:04]  Whatever is an abominable thing, which we are sure the Lord hates, we must thus abominate it.
[00:55:12]  Far be it from us that we should have anything to do with it.
[00:55:17]  In simple translation, Matthew Henry is saying this That which God hates, we must hate.
[00:55:25]  That which God hates, We must hate.
[00:55:28]  God hates idolatry.
[00:55:30]  The very last verse in John's first epistle is this little children, keep yourself from idols.
[00:55:38]  God hates idolatry because he loves his own glory.
[00:55:43]  We too must hate idolatry.
[00:55:47]  And I've said this many weeks, not just last week, many weeks because this verse, this text is taken out of context so many times.
[00:55:57]  By pietistic reformers who build tombs and go on cruises to visit the prophets, John Calvin's grave, John Knox, all men that today, if they were alive, these same Calvinistic churches would excommunicate these men.
[00:56:17]  They would.
[00:56:20]  And because that is their position, the excommunication of the reformers and the Puritans, these so called modern day reformed preachers.
[00:56:31]  They have taken a liking to Matthew chapter 4, verses 8, 9, and 10, and said the reason why Jesus is he saves his revulsion, the highest degree of his anger, white hot indignation.
[00:56:48]  Out of all three temptations, this is the one that bothers him the most.
[00:56:51]  And why?
[00:56:52]  Why is it that now, in the third temptation, Jesus says, That's it, I've had it, be gone.
[00:56:59]  I will not tolerate another word from you, Satan.
[00:57:03]  Why this response from Christ?
[00:57:06]  Well, in the purview of our so called pretend reform pastors today, it's because here Jesus is tempted with receiving the kings of this world.
[00:57:16]  And if there's anything that Jesus is the least interested in, if there's anything that gives Jesus the ick, it's politics and worldly power.
[00:57:30]  No, it's idolatry.
[00:57:34]  Are you kidding me?
[00:57:36]  You're going to tolerate.
[00:57:40]  John Bunyan's exegesis of hooved animals, and then say that the exegesis that's the most plain reading of the text possible that Jesus is infuriated because Satan is demanding idolatry.
[00:58:02]  You're gonna say, No, no, no, that can't be it.
[00:58:05]  That can't be the exegesis.
[00:58:06]  That can't be the interpretation.
[00:58:08]  Jesus vexed because Satan is literally telling him to bow down and worship it.
[00:58:12]  No, no, no.
[00:58:13]  That's not what really is upsetting Jesus.
[00:58:15]  What's upsetting Jesus is the mere thought of worldly power.
[00:58:20]  No.
[00:58:22]  What's upsetting Jesus is not being given the kingdoms of the world because he has no desire for these kingdoms, but it's being given the kingdoms of the world by virtue of idolatry rather than taking the kingdoms of the world by virtue of obedience.
[00:58:42]  Jesus does not forego the offer of the kingdoms of the world.
[00:58:46]  Jesus takes that kingship.
[00:58:50]  And it is his now.
[00:58:52]  Satan was the prince of the air.
[00:58:55]  Was.
[00:58:57]  He is no longer.
[00:58:58]  When Satan offers the kingdoms of the world to Jesus, it is a real offer because they really were his kingdoms.
[00:59:05]  They really belonged to Satan.
[00:59:07]  God gave Adam as viceroy of all earthly creation, he gave him dominion over all the world in the garden.
[00:59:14]  Adam failed.
[00:59:16]  And when he failed, he then forfeited his kingly rule and dominion to Satan.
[00:59:23]  Satan then has and possessed that earthly domain and rule over the kingdoms of this earth from the time of Adam's sin to the time of Christ's obedience.
[00:59:35]  But upon Christ's victory, the dominion that was once the first Adam's, forfeited by him to Satan, is then taken from Satan by the second and final Adam, and Jesus is now ruling in power, in majesty, and in glory over all the kingdoms of this earth.
[00:59:56]  Of the earth, and like a little leaven which slowly works through the whole batch of dough, like a small mustard seed that slowly grows into an all earth encompassing tree, so too the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the face of the earth as the waters cover the sea.
[01:00:13]  It is not if, it is merely when.
[01:00:15]  This is happening gradually and progressively throughout human history because Jesus is not waiting to be king, but he is king and he is executing his kingly authority progressively.
[01:00:28]  Little by little, through his body on earth, which is the church, he is king, and we now are his viceroys, expanding and pushing forward the crown rights of King Jesus over every square inch.
[01:00:43]  Jesus is disgusted by this third temptation, not because Jesus doesn't care for earthly power, it is because Jesus doesn't care to gain earthly power through idolatry.
[01:00:56]  Let's pray.
[01:00:57]  Father, help us to be faithful like Jesus.
[01:01:01]  That we would want to see his kingdom expand over all the earth, and that we would rule faithfully in all the different various vocations of life that you have sovereignly appointed to us.
[01:01:14]  For some of us, it will be in a political and civil sphere.
[01:01:19]  Some of us are called to be kings, to be lowercase p princes.
[01:01:24]  Let us then, if that be your will, be Christian princes, to govern and to rule.
[01:01:31]  Righteously.
[01:01:32]  The call of the Christian in this gospel age is not to forego ruling, but rather to rule righteously.
[01:01:41]  Help us to embrace that call and that we would embrace it always through the path which Christ embraced it, which was by taking dominion through obedience to God, rather than being given dominion by compromise and idolatry.
[01:01:57]  We pray this for Christ's sake and in his name.
[01:02:01]  Amen.