A Test Or A Temptation

Good morning. Good lessons already this morning. Joshua, you didn't give your name for sharing at the church camp for an object lesson.

You do good on your last minute object lessons. Oh, that's good. Yeah, I don't think you brought that in the van, right? You did, honestly? Oh, okay.

Oh, wow. Good, good. Well, let's pray before we start the service.

Heavenly Father, again we come to you. Thank you, Lord, for your blessings for us. Thank you, Lord, for each one that is here.

We pray you bless us. Bless us now as we further think of your word. Lord, I pray that you would speak to us.

Encourage us, Lord. Help us, Lord, to be encouraged to know more of you and live for you and to be strong. As these amazing trees that you've created and allowed to grow, help us, Lord, to be men and women strong in faith.

Thank you, Lord, for letting us gather. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So I do find our service unique this morning, starting with the song service and Brother Ben sharing and Joshua's children's lesson. And I think I'll just tie it in with what I'd like to share for a message. Song number 351, I think it was.

I too thought the words were precious. Lord, in the fullness of thy might, I would for thee be strong. While runneth o'er each dear delight, to thee should soar my song.

I would not give the world my heart and then profess thy love. I would not feel my strength depart and then thy service prove. I would not with swift-winged zeal on the world's errands go and labor up the heavenly hill with weary feet and so on.

So yeah, that was good. And I was thinking about that because of what I studied and want to share with us this morning. And so it went together.

More of the songs went together very well. So we're talking a little bit about that tree and what causes it to blow over. And it's yeah, when there is a storm, the trees can get a lot of pressure.

And if the roots aren't strong or if the tree is not strong, then it falls over. I don't know how many of you noticed the tree at Ben Samantha's, the one that you cut down. You got a nice ring around the outside and the center is hollow.

So that's a tree that could possibly come down in a storm. So a very unique tree. I thought you had drilled it out.

But as you told me, you had cut it and it was hollow. So the title I want to give my message this morning is a test or temptation. A test or temptation.

As you go through life, we often use the word that I am being tempted or we can be tempted through life. Maybe before we go there, let's let's look at a bit of a bit of a picture about be a test or temptation. And I was pondering my earlier years and growing up.

I don't know that I would have been so much aware of temptation as I would have been aware of the guilt. So I think guilt was more familiar to me than noticing that I was being tempted. But now looking back, now looking back in my young years and I look at what took place there.

And you just look at how we, you know, how our character is built in our mind and emotions and will as we grow. And all the things that come involved there with what I've studied and what I'd like to share. I don't think we'll get through this morning.

But the idea of a temptation, it brings me back to think about why a temptation? Why should why should people face a temptation? So when I was young, there was the younger years where if I was told to do something, it was, you know, if it was it was easier to obey. Maybe like an eight year old, an eight year old doesn't find it too challenging. I was blessed by Kedron.

Kedron was told to stand. He stands. And then Joshua moves the tree over there, which to me would signal, OK, we're done this thing.

I would probably go and sit down. And Joshua or Kedron does well. He stands.

Kedron stood still until Joshua asked him to go and sit down. So obeying, well, that's good. That's a blessing.

And as I got older, there arose a conflict, a real conflict in my heart. And I struggled to obey. And what would we call that? And I was pondering that this morning.

What would I call what happened? We could say that it was sin. Yes. We could call it disobedience.

Yes. But how would I try to explain the transition that was taking place? And so it's a little bit hard. So my will would rise up and I would feel that I would want to do my thing.

I was not willing to further be told what to do. And so there would be this battle, this struggle. And, you know, when I was 14 and 15 and I went through the hardest years of my rebellion, it was also the hardest years of my conviction and guilt.

But I never really would have thought about, I wouldn't have really thought about what was happening to understand. Let's say, for example, I wanted, maybe I planted a tree and I want this tree to grow. And I go and take a chainsaw and start cutting at it.

If I had understood as you're cutting at the tree, you're going to kill it. It's not going to be able to grow. And if my heart was I want it to grow, then I would have understood I'm destroying it.

I should not do that. And if I had fertilized it and watered it and helped it, then it could grow. So and I went through that phase where facing these challenges.

And I did not know that I was destroying myself. The guilt and the trouble and the and the attitude and the sin. It was just I was destroying myself.

And if I had the knowledge at that time to think about the guilt and how what I was getting. So here if I'm self-willed and disobeying my father and my mother, I found myself in school many, many times. As a school student, I was a very, very disobedient child.

And that's a shame. That's sad. So as a very disobedient child, now I would look back and I say, I'm embarrassed.

But I could also look back and ask myself, what did I gain? What did I get by disobeying and not listening to the teachers and so on? And today I would say I got nothing except for hardship. The time I should have spent in school learning, I did not. So I didn't learn well.

And you know what? I had to learn all of that later. All the things I could use, the lessons I could have used then that would have prepared me for life. I now had not learned.

So I had to learn them again later. So I lost. As I disobeyed and and the sins that I had committed.

I remember the one time as young boys. And again, this is to a shame. So I trust none of you would be tempted with something like this.

Me and my brother, one of two of my brothers, we snuck out and we were going to smoke some cigarettes. And I asked myself today and I say, why would I do that? What would have caused me to want to smoke some cigarettes? Was I going to get a good taste from them? No. Was I going to gain anything? The answer is no.

And we really choked and hurt ourselves with doing it. It was a shame. It was a shame.

But let's think about it just a little bit. What causes the I want to do whatever it is. So that's my childhood experience.

Wanting to start there. And what about for us adults? What is there and what would cause us to find ourselves in a place where we desire something that is not good for us, that will not help us, that will not give us any any blessing? Hence the title, a test or a temptation. If I were to ask you as you're going through a struggle, are you being tested or are you going through? Are you tempted? Yeah.

So sorry there. Are you being tested or tempted? Well, I'll get to explaining what the difference is. But first, I want to say your heart set and decision will determine whether it is a test or a temptation.

And I'll show you why. So your heart set, my heart set and my decision will determine whether it's a test or a temptation. So the word tempt or the actual root word, which I didn't write down, actually would mean in the Old Testament would mean test in the New Testament.

It's used as tempted. And there's a there's a difference in why. So for us to use the word that I'm tempted is the proper word so that that's good.

But I want to lift up this word tested here. And hopefully this will be a somewhat it'll be inspiring for us to think that we're being tested, not tempted. If our heart set is right.

So God would have it to be a test. Satan means it for a temptation. Let's come up with some things.

Men, some of you that have experience, anyone has experience. Could you name a thing that you thought would give you gain as a as a as an unconverted person or even as converted? But what did what is something that you have experienced? I thought this was gain, but it was not. Ben.

While you were speaking, I was thinking about one loss that I had when I was in school. And so I think I could have been a pest, but I didn't yield to temptation. In music class, I flunked.

Not because I didn't have the capacity to learn music. It was very clear when I was around my friends, I wouldn't sing. I would kind of keep my mouth closed.

I thought one time my friends weren't there and I sang a heart. I got a B, which was good for me. And so I probably I still regret those years today.

I wish I would have paid attention in music class. I was a cool boy and I thought I would gain friends and reputation. I kind of lost because I didn't pay more attention.

Good. Anyone else? Any experience where you thought you would gain, but it was a loss? And maybe if there's as you're thinking about a little bit. So I too was going to look at Paul.

You know, Paul as a religious man, as a well-known man among his peers. The most zealous of them all going about persecuting Christians. And lo and behold, he finds out.

Can you can you imagine like we realize the work God did through Paul? And, you know, thank God that Paul was faithful after he got converted. But think about the regret that Paul will have thinking about his prior years, where the very Lord he loves and dies for, that he's willing to die for. He was one who went and persecuted.

Just if you wanted to go through the through the unimaginable depth of horror of the of the labor of Paul, it was terrible, terrible people dying under his hands, just him being brutal. All for the sake where he where he thought he was doing it for God. And yet it was it was a terrible thing.

And to him, it'll be a major regret. I do think of young men and young ladies and the different things that we allow or you allow yourself to be excited about. And things that start to work in your minds and your decision making and cause you to do things that are not good for you.

All these things, the idea of being a test or a temptation lead to two masters, one of two masters. And that's all we have. That's the only two choices we have for me.

And this is unique, very interesting. So God is one master. Satan is the other master.

God is a master of love, peace, joy, forgiveness, because we fall short. He does not owe it to us. Satan is a master of hurt, disappointment, guilt, death, all the horrible things.

And yes, so Satan being an evil master and somehow let's think about the how this works. So God says, brother, you know, Peter. So when when Peter reads the word, the way Peter would receive it, God speaking to me, God's asking me to love my neighbor as myself.

So for Peter to make a decision, he needs to he needs to make a decision to go for and do something. Maybe it's like saying for Peter to work for God, he has to go and get it. Now, here's what I want to explain.

I want to just explain the effort that has to go into following God's word. So when the Lord says to us, you know, be humble, it doesn't come to us like it feels good. It comes to us where my my my flesh resists that.

I'm going to embarrass myself like that. I'm gonna go say sorry. No way.

So it comes to me as a resistance. No. So now I have to battle through that to get to the point where I can go and apologize or whatever else it would be and be able to to do God's will.

But for Satan, it's just the other way. For Satan, his works, they appeal to our flesh. Very much so.

For Satan, it's Satan brings it to you. It's like if we were to talk about good food, you want healthy food, you have to go get it. If you want the unhealthy food that will kill you here, you can he'll bring it to you.

It's the easy way. Just simple. And so there's two masters.

One wants to destroy us and every deed he does is to is to deceive. OK, so that we don't understand so that we do not want it. And he pushes us into a camp of death.

And for Jesus, he says to us, do you want it? You can have it for free, but I want you to voluntarily choose it. Come and get it. And then he will give it to us.

But it's it's it takes labor. Our flesh doesn't want it. So a test or temptation.

So Satan tempts. So Satan tempts us, giving us a test with the purpose to cause us to sin, to fail so that he can pull us into death just like he will have one day. So as we think about that, Satan comes about with a bit of poison and makes it look pretty.

And he says, would you like this? So the idea of actually, I was just trying to see if I think of a story where I know we have a story somewhere where the. Where they mock the one that's doing good anyway. So the idea being Satan comes to us and he offers us these things that so-called they they they go well with the flesh.

You know, they feed the pride. They make me feel good. Maybe it's, yeah, different examples.

But so they feed our flesh. Our flesh is actually comforted. It's like someone who is willing to steal.

And when he finds out that he did not get caught, there's an element of comfort to his wickedness rather than feeling like he'll still feel guilty. But if he overrides the guilt, takes comfort that he didn't get caught, and then he will stay hidden in his sin rather than clearing it up. So Satan gives us a test to cause us to sin, to fail.

And James one verse James, chapter one, verses 14 and 15. This is and this is where we want to combine this. So Satan is up and about and he wants to tempt us.

That is true. But look at how we this is our weakness. And this is a weakness I wish, which I don't think I could have.

I wish I had understood this more in my younger years. The weakness of the sinful flesh that is prone to evil. It likes evil and it does not like what is good.

But the unique thing about Satan, before I read these verses, included in Satan will give you the sin. And God, for God, we have to labor through the hardship. We labor through the struggle of our of our pride and all the other things and shame to get to being able to apologize and clear things up.

Or just to be at peace and whatever the guilt is for the thief. For him, he is going to labor through the the challenge of the consequence of his sin. Before he can go back and make it right with the person and possibly face jail time if he were to admit what he did.

But Satan has a unique language and we we are weak in this language. Why is it as we go through this difficult time, this test and temptation? Why does our body, our mind, our flesh? Why does our flesh feel like I'm winning? Does it not feel like that? When we do when we do something wrong, when Satan tempts us with something to cause us to to deny our Lord. It actually makes us think that we are winning.

We're getting a better part of the deal. Adam and Eve. Perfect example.

Talking about trees. Who knows how many trees Adam and Eve could choose from? Probably thousands. But the one tree they shouldn't have that was going to cause them to die.

And the serpent comes and deceives them. So of all the fruit they could eat that would give them all the nutrition and let them help them live forever. For whatever reason, wasn't enough.

And the snake's words or the serpent's words to say, you know, there's more. And that temptation of there's more caused within Eve to think, what is there? And I'll be better off if I have it. Only for her to realize there was going to be death and suffering.

So imagine. I know they do this to monkeys when they try to catch monkeys where they can put something into a jar. And the monkey will go again.

Think of the advantage the monkey is thinking about. Here's my banana in a jar. And he goes and puts his hand in the jar.

But the jar is made in such a way as he grabs a hold of the banana. He can't get his hand back out. And that's the trap.

And so here he is so focused on what he's getting, the banana, he can't let go and thereby will lose his life. He's caught. That's how sin is to us.

Why is it that sin to us looks like we are winning? When I was in my young years, I thought I was going to live a better life. And I did. And I can I guarantee us all of us can testify to that.

Right. When we were in our young years living these strong willed sinful life, we thought we were going to live the best life. Until the sin and all these other things just came overbearing and showed us that Satan wasn't for us.

Satan wasn't going to help us live a good life. Satan was going to, first off, tempt us, deceive us. And then once our hand is in that jar and we're stuck, then Satan was going to mock us and laugh at us and call us a loser and weak and dumb and all the wicked things that could come to us.

Satan wasn't there to support us. Satan wasn't there to help us. He doesn't care.

He only cares in the beginning when he tempts you to say, you know, there's something else. Oh, well, what is it? Oh, it's going to be good for you. He'll be like a God.

And that's all Satan wanted. That was all the soft tonedness that Satan has. After that, it's I've got you and now you're going to be destroyed.

OK, so let's think about that as brothers and sisters, as we walk with God. We just want to remind ourselves this morning. Somehow the language of sin resonates with us.

And we want to be aware of that, that sin somehow often makes us feel like we are gaining, we are winning. Our relationship can go wrong and we can retaliate and feel like we are getting the better end of this. Have an argument.

If you win the argument, that is satisfying and so on. There's so many things that can apply to us and that could be wrong for us. Some of it for some.

This was an interesting thought for me as well. For some, it can be business, you know, business and money, thinking of all the things we could accomplish. But out of God's will in a selfish way, I'm going to gain.

I'm going to be happier. I'm going to have more. It's a temptation where Satan can actually push us into a camp of darkness and death and cause us harm.

So Satan tempts us, giving us a test every time for the purpose of failure, every single time. James chapter 1, 14 to 15, this is the message. First, Satan speaks to us in many cases.

We'll use the example of Adam and Eve, of Eve there, of what happens, the serpent speaking to Eve. Then you look at verse 14, it says, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Sin has a hunger that cannot be quenched until you're dead or you repent. That's the outcome of sin. So temptation, temptation.

So I found something a highlight for me, and that is the two different words. Temptation is the negative word where we're grieved, we're laboring, we're tired, and someone says, I'm facing a temptation. It's almost like, woe is me, not again, I don't want to face another temptation.

But there's a very, there's a beautiful sunshine, sunlight to this, if we can view it as a test. And the difference here, the outcome is so different than it being a temptation. It doesn't mean it's going to feel good, but it has positive results.

Again, I want to repeat, the goal in causing us to sin is to persuade us to choose and accept death and destruction. Sin always shows itself as an advantage, a good thing, a win for the sinner. But it is a certain loss.

In life, Satan wants to weary us so that we don't consider Christ as valuable. Then Satan falsely presents himself as valuable, a better way to live. You will be happy following his wicked ways.

Now, he doesn't say they're wicked, but wicked ways. What does sin do? So if we fall into this temptation and we fail, what does sin do? Sin separates us from ourself. You ever thought of that? Sin separates you from yourself.

I won't go into the concept too deeply, but the idea, how many a person hasn't done something that they actually wouldn't do, had that temptation up in there? The young man that took part of alcohol that wouldn't want to. Brother Ben used the example of his peer pressure in singing. But let's think of the example of alcohol or having just the wrong friends.

There's a lot of examples we could use, but a young man who would not, on his own, drink alcohol, has no desire for it. But due to peer pressure, temptation, he caves in, participates in the drinking and gets hurt because of it. Or any other example we could use.

But sin has a way, sin has a way of making you something that you're not or that you weren't going to be. Sin separates you from yourself. It corrupts you and you are not who you should be.

Sin separates us from others. Sin separates you from God. Sin separates us from God.

Now I'd like to read to us the test part and then I'm going to go over a few more things about temptation. A test. So Satan gives the temptation and the purpose is to cause us to fall.

Why should it be a test? God wants it to be a test. God can take something that Satan wants for harm and use it for good. I'll read this here.

So God allows the temptation but as a test with the intention that he will give us strength through Jesus Christ so that we can overcome the test for our growth. Again, God allows the temptation which will reveal our weakness. And if it's a test and if we are concentrating on God's will, it reveals our weakness and causes us to look to God.

Now that's very good. That's powerful. It causes us to and it should cause us to choose God.

So God is glorified and our faith is strengthened. That should be the outcome of a test. The temptation is that we would fail in sin.

But let us view it as a test where something difficult comes and we will allow God to give us strength through Christ. And we choose to follow through and take that strength so that we overcome. And not only is God glorified, we are strengthened and Satan is confirmed and verified as evil.

By us following God, we verify that Satan is wrong. Satan is evil. His kingdom is evil.

Again, it's a twofold glorifying to God. James chapter 1 there, verse 2 to 4, it says, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and tire, wanting nothing.

Wanting. That word stood out to me. So we will go through these trials and what is it but wanting that causes us to look to sinful things? A wanting soul, a soul not content in Christ that will desire.

And as a Christian, when we are not content in Jesus, then we start to look for other things that will satisfy. So we will be wanting and we won't be wanting of God's ways. It will be sinful ways.

So, but here it says, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. So count it a joy when Satan is after you, harassing you, trying to cause you to fall. Count it a joy.

Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and tire, wanting nothing. A little bit more on temptations. There's three sources of temptation.

One is the world, this world's operating system, the evil prince. The evil prince's ways maybe, the world's operating system, that's one. Then we have the flesh, our inclination to sin.

As we understand that we are often, as we would say, bent towards sin. Sin is our language. The flesh, if someone hits me, my language, my flesh, my flesh's response would be, hit him back.

And then the devil, the fallen angel. The world is an external enemy. The flesh is an internal enemy.

And then we have the devil. The devil, well, I'll explain here. So we have three different sources of temptation and a thought for us.

These temptations apply to three different areas of our life. So there's three sources of temptation. The world, flesh and the devil.

And we also have the makeup of man is soul, body and spirit. I'd like to do more homework on this and I will be doing more homework on this topic. So soul, body and spirit.

The world tempts our soul. Mind, emotion and will. An example of that is someone that has an ego, ego trip.

Or someone that's on an ego trip. The example would be like Lot. Lot who looked after riches.

Lot didn't have a lot of good, it seems like he was weak on character. And he was tempted when he chose the better part of the lands. Because he wanted to be somebody.

He wanted to be wealthy. He wanted to be whatever he wanted to be. So the example he was, Lot, was on an ego trip.

He was all about himself. And that's an example of the world tempting our soul. The world tempts our mind, emotion and will.

Then we have the flesh. The flesh tempts our body. Which is appetite, laziness, lust, violence and so on.

One example is King David and his lust that he fell in. So King David was an example of the flesh tempting our body. I think of how applicable this is.

There's more to learn here. The idea of the body being tempted in appetite, laziness, lust and violence. The way our physical body would be tempted and would fall.

A lot of these are interwoven. But this is just to give us a little bit of a thought about how this works here. So the devil does tempt us, as we would say, through the world and through the flesh.

But the devil's concern isn't necessarily there. The devil is more concerned that he would tempt us in our walk with God. So I wrote down here, the devil tempts our spirit.

So the devil's goal, as he has influenced the world and it's his system that the world is run by. He has also influenced the flesh, which is my flesh, my fallen nature. I'm inclined for sinful things if I'm not living for God.

So he has influenced that. But as a believer, Satan is busy not so much in the flesh or in the world. Satan is busy in the spiritual realm.

And an example of that would be our God consciousness. So Satan is busy trying to annihilate a person's faith. So Satan spends his time trying to create and harass us and cause us trials and struggles that we would grow weaker and weaker in faith.

So again, it's a unique thing to think about. Yes, so the idea of the flesh, the temptations that we experience there, much of that is by choice. So Satan has influenced the flesh.

But these are things that we would choose. That's why it was called an internal enemy. These are things that we would actually choose.

There's a phrase that was said, it was like this. If the devil did not exist or if God would destroy the devil today, we would still continue sinning. Mankind, because of their fallen nature, would still continue sinning.

Sometimes when we look at sin and temptation, we would say the devil made me do this or the devil tempted me and so I fell. And so here, just wanting to highlight, there's two areas. The world and its operating system is something I choose to receive.

So if somebody offers me riches and I think I'm going to benefit, then in my mind I accept and I go after the riches. So that's something I decided. The flesh, it's my internal enemy.

So if I'm allowing things to come into my mind that caused me, let's say it was violence, if I go decide to hit someone, that's a decision that I made. And then we have the one that's not so easily seen, which is the devil in the spiritual realm, him being busy, trying to bring us to a point of weak faith. He wants to destroy our God consciousness.

It reminds me of a bit of Pilgrim's Progress and some of the challenges that Christiana goes through with giants. And again, I would say it seems easier to face giants that you can see. So maybe it'd be easier to deal with the world.

We could shut out the world, like we have seen of some Mennonites who would move to a place, to no man's land, where nobody lives. And they would think that that's where they're going to serve God. And the testimony is that they never serve God more.

They actually enter more and more of sin. That's because the flesh isn't dealt with, and so their inclination to sin is still there. So the flesh and the world, those two things could be, they seem to me, they're easier to conquer than the devil and him working in the spiritual realm, trying to destroy our spiritual life.

I don't know that I have an example for that for you to think about. I've been pondering it and pondering it. How does the devil labor to destroy our spiritual life? We know that it's the combination of the three, the world, flesh, and the devil.

But I don't have a clear example of how he does that. I think about someone getting discouraged, someone that struggles to look to God. And what's the struggle that they encounter or go through? That I'm not sure.

So the devil tries to separate us from God. He wants to weaken our faith. That is practical for us as we walk with God.

So us being tempted gives us an opportunity to choose Christ again more firmly, bringing God glory and strengthening our faith. So as I think about the devil trying to weaken our faith, I see the need for the devil to tempt us. Would you agree? I don't know if that would make, does that make sense? As we think about Satan working in the background, trying to destroy our faith.

If you had no temptation, if you had no struggle, nothing that consistently reminded you of going to God and coming to God, it seems to me it would be much easier for him to just slowly wipe out our faith. And so it was neat to think about that there's a need for our temptations. Because these are tendencies to help us wake up and focus on God.

Our flesh would be grieved, doesn't want the temptation. And yet, if we receive the temptation as a test, it helps us to cling to God. So God allows the temptation, but as a test with the intention that he will give us strength through Jesus Christ, so that we overcome the test for our growth.

James chapter 1 again, verse 12 through 16. It says, Blessed is the man that endures temptation. For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. So God does not tempt us to cause us to fall.

God does not tempt with evil. Satan tempts us. God allows it as a test for us.

As the verses we read earlier, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Verse 16, Do not err, my beloved brethren. Now, we will take the last bit of our time to look at a situation. We will look at our own best example of going through a test, going through trials and temptations here.

There are some highlights that I'd like to have us look at. If you want to turn to Matthew chapter 4. This is where I started in my study. It was Matthew chapter 4 and looking at Jesus and him being tempted.

So I'm going to do, for the remainder of the service, I'll just do an overview here of verses 1 to 11. Matthew chapter 4. So this is very applicable to us. There is one unique difference to us.

Jesus was the Son of God. And there was a test for him that I hadn't so much thought about previously that I would think about more now. So one note to this chapter or to these verses, verses 1 to 11.

It would be that Satan is directly after Jesus for the very work that he was called to do. Now, I'll explain a little bit of that as we read. So that's a difference where it's different for you and I. But where I would like to include us into this is this.

For us, we often face a struggle where we would struggle with, am I God's child? I believe Satan has a lot of labor that he puts into trying to bring us to a point where we struggle with being God's child. So for Jesus, he was the Son of God. And there is a temptation for him based on him being the Son of God.

And wanting to cause him to fall as the Son of God. For us, as we have received Christ and have become his child. Then there is also a temptation for us to distract us and separate us from Jesus.

So, yeah, let's read that. Let's read starting verse 1 through 11. Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple and sayeth unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee. And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And sayeth unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

That's the temptation that Jesus faced. There is a full story here that we can relate to with his temptation. First, we would go back to Matthew chapter 3. And we would look into reading verses 13 to 17.

That's where you'll find that Jesus went to see John and requested baptism. And there Jesus gets baptized. And then God opens the heavens.

Let's read that verse, verse 16. So Jesus gets baptized. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.

And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lightning upon him. And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. I want to highlight a few things here.

One, we have Jesus obeying God and his word. Two, we have God verifying his kinship, like that Jesus is his son. So we have a strong relationship there between God and Jesus.

We have, in verse 17 there, he says, This is my beloved Son. So, confirming that Jesus is the Son of God. And I want to place this right where it is, as a situation.

This was neat to me as I was looking into this. Jesus has what we're going to call a good, strong, holy experience with God. This is on earth.

And I want to just note this, because this is often how it happens in our life. If you were to try to measure, or find out, when do the hardest temptations come into your life? And you will notice that most of the time, they come after your greatest highlight, or your strongest point of faith. Maybe you're doing some sort of service somewhere.

And you give of yourself, and you're serving, and you enjoy the serving. That's why they say many missionaries. Missionaries, they go and serve for two years.

They come back, and all of a sudden they crash. And I think they crash for more than one reason. One is the difference in environment.

They're not constantly serving. But two, I believe that Satan attacks them right after some of these experiences. I know of personal friends that, one example would be, here is a dear person.

They have a fatal accident. They really get hurt. The churches will give everything they have for the person.

Helping them out this way and that way, financially, with physical work and different things. So the brotherhood is there, helping this brother as much as they can. And it's shocking to me how many of them, where within a year or two, are gone.

In bitterness, hardship. Many of them walking into the world in a lot of pain. And I don't believe that it's because of how they were treated.

I believe it has to do with Satan tempting them. Jesus has a wonderful experience here with God. He fellowships with God.

And then we start in verse 1. The Spirit of God comes upon Jesus. And the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness. And it says to be tempted.

Furthermore, the hardship increases here. So again, I'm going to highlight the good experience Jesus has with God. Jesus obeyed God.

Again, we want to remember, we have two parts in this. One is, Jesus is man. And two, Jesus is God.

So when I would read this, I generally write it off saying, well, Jesus is the Son of God. That makes him different than me. That makes it right for me to expect him not to fail.

Well, we want to remember that he was also in person. He could feel, he would think as he was tested in every single way like we are. He can feel rejection.

He can feel loneliness. He can feel all the things that we feel. So he felt the joy, the rejoicing of him having strong communion with God.

And then it says the Spirit of God comes upon him. So he is doing well. Really, really doing well.

And then it's verse 1. He goes into the wilderness to be tempted. Verse 2. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. What we will highlight here.

So Jesus takes time. He goes into the wilderness. And it tells us that he fasted.

And if you look at the culture of what he was doing, I'm just going to share a few thoughts here. Jesus went into the wilderness to think and to pray. And he would have continued his fellowship with God.

As he's fellowshipping with God, he's there for 40 days, 40 nights. And he finds himself. In Luke it says he was being tempted.

It sounds like throughout the whole time he was being tempted. But here we're going to say that whether he was tempted throughout the full 40 days and 40 nights, he finds himself at a place where it says at the end of verse 2, he was afterward and hungered. And this is another highlight that I want us to notice.

Jesus has a good relationship with God. Takes it serious. He's fasting and praying.

He comes upon a situation where he is hungry. We can imagine very hungry. And look at the temptation he faces first.

The first temptation is, And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, come in at these stones, be made bread. Isn't that an obvious temptation? One thing we want to highlight here. Your temptation will be to your weakest point.

The temptation doesn't come in the form when you're well fed. And you ran out of bread. The temptation comes when you're hungry.

Very hungry. And then you're tempted with Jesus here. Two things happen.

One, Satan says, If thou be the Son of God. Isn't that the perfect question to cause a reaction that would say, Well, I'll prove it to you. If thou be the Son of God.

And then he tempts him. Make yourself some bread. What would have happened had Jesus done so? What Satan wanted was, And there's a lot of details to this.

I'm just going to give some. What Satan wanted was to trip Jesus. To do something wrong.

To use his greatest weakness. And test his insecurity. If you're the Son of God.

And you're hungry. Make yourself bread out of these stones. And it was done so that he could make Jesus fail.

And by it, destroy mankind. He would have wanted to destroy Jesus and mankind. So those two things.

He says, if you are the Son of God. Command these stones to be made bread. And look at the answer Jesus gives.

But he answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. A beautiful response.

Jesus recognizes what has top priority. And for two reasons. One, he understood what Satan wanted to make happen.

To make Jesus fall. In other words, Satan tried to tempt Jesus. To value bread more than anything else.

Again, the temptation was alongside his feelings. So he brings out a temptation that would combine his need. That would combine his need with how he feels.

So he wanted to have Jesus think. The most important thing right now. No matter what.

Is my food. I have to have food. And then Jesus puts it in the right place.

Jesus says, no. Even if I'm really hungry. And I am the Son of God.

I do not need just bread. But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That's his response.

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city. And setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple. And saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God.

Cast thyself down. For it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee. So for verse, the second temptation here.

Again, challenging him if he is the Son of God. But now, he is testing God. In a way, it's an indirect test.

Satan tempts Jesus. If you're the Son of God. If you say you are who you are.

Then he says, will God do what God said he would do? Would God do that for you? So, he is saying, you know, yeah. Prove it that you're God's son. And prove it that God thinks the same way of you.

That God will take care of you. And then Satan quotes, I think it's in Psalm 119. But Satan quotes something of scripture to him.

Saying that God's angels will take care of him. So again, another temptation. Then Jesus says unto him, it is written again.

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And here, Jesus puts God in his right place. Which he'll do again in the next temptation.

So here, Jesus submits to God's will and not his own. Again, we could say that Satan is trying to deceive Jesus into looking at himself as more important than God. Take care of what you want.

Do what is good for you. Make yourself feel good and not what God wants. And Jesus says, it is written again.

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Then the third temptation. And again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain.

And sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Here he changes his tactic completely. And saith unto him, all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

So here, not only does Satan bring Jesus to show him all these kingdoms. And then Satan portrays to Jesus that he is the owner of all this. And he is going to give this to Jesus.

Here, Satan directly tempts the calling of Jesus. Jesus was going to be the savior of the world. And here, Satan tempts Jesus with that exact calling.

And again, if we think about the practical side of how Jesus was as a man. Where he would have mentally processed. What does God have for me? What is God's will for me? How will God have me save the world? And so here, Satan wants to tempt him there.

Saying, I am going to give you all these things. All the kingdoms, if you will bow and worship me. What would it have meant for Jesus to bow and worship him? It would have meant that all of the kingdoms that Satan wanted to give Jesus.

Would be under strict rule of Satan's kind. It would have been under the world system. Jesus would have denied God as his father.

God as his master. And he would have accepted Satan's ways. And operated those kingdoms according to Satan's will.

Jesus' response is very powerful here. Jesus says, then saith Jesus unto him. Get thee hence, Satan.

For it is written. And here it's like a command. A charge.

Not only for himself, for Jesus. But here, it's a charge given to Satan. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.

And him only shalt thou serve. That's Jesus' response. You will find, I don't have the exact writings here.

You will find each of these temptations is a temptation that the Israelites also faced. And Jesus fulfilled those temptations. So where Israel failed in the wilderness.

Jesus succeeded in the wilderness. That's the writing for that part. Okay.

So Jesus says, for it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. And him only shalt thou serve.

Something to note in this temptation here is. Satan offered to Jesus a kingdom that was not Satan's. And he offered it to him that he could rule.

And yet, if he had given in to that. Thank you. If Jesus had given in to the temptation to rule mankind.

According to Satan's wish. Then he would have lost all his rule. I had this written down, but I didn't bring those notes.

Yeah, again, I'll say it again. Satan offered something to Jesus. That wasn't Satan's to give.

And if Jesus had accepted. It would have been the cause of taking it away from Jesus. So Jesus refused to take what wasn't Satan's to give anyway.

To receive or to keep what was his. So Jesus does not rule the world according to Satan's wish. But he gives his life for the world.

That he would rule the world. In other words, Jesus denies to rule the world in a carnal way. But he accepts to rule the world in a spiritual way.

In a spiritual realm. There's two other parts that we want to notice here quickly. One is this.

Satan tempted Jesus in the physical way. This is the highlight of everything I want to say this morning. Satan took Jesus's physical need.

Tested him mentally and emotionally maybe with his security. Testing him if he was the son of God. So it was a carnal temptation.

And here's what we want to note. But a spiritual response. And I really appreciate that.

Jesus takes his carnal need. Satan takes his carnal need to tempt Jesus. And Jesus turns it to God's word, God's will.

And says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. That is practical for us. Will it be a temptation or a test? The difference is, how will we respond? How will we answer? As we are tempted with physical and carnal things.

Will we respond in spiritual ways? He does the exact same thing in verse 6. Testing God's credibility. Testing him again. And then Jesus responds with a spiritual response.

Giving God his perfect place. He said, it is written again. Here is a surrendered heart to God.

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And he does it again in verse 10. Where Satan wants to offer him all these things.

The fame and the world, everything. You can have all these physical things. Which would never have had any spiritual benefits.

Satan says, you can have all these physical things. And Jesus responds with a spiritual answer. It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.

And him only shalt thou serve. We could read through Romans. And you would find much written about the carnal man and the spiritual man.

And the encouragement for us this morning is. When we think about being in temptation. Let us remember that it can either be a temptation or a test.

As Satan means to tempt us so that we would fail and fall. God means to test us. So that we would be reminded of God.

But as we are reminded of God and we choose God. We then glorify God and strengthen our own faith. So when you and I are facing trials.

Maybe we are being tempted. And this is where I want to highlight again. Maybe when our flesh is tempted.

And I was trying to discern the differences here. What does it look like when the world tempts our soul. The mind, emotion and will.

Then there is all the sin that we could choose on that side. But maybe as a Christian desiring to walk with God. Maybe our weakest point might be the flesh.

So as a Christian our weakest point. It will be the flesh on an everyday basis. And then it will be the spirit in the spiritual realm.

But to be practical on the flesh side. As I said Satan's goal is to continue to harass us and tempt us to weary us. How many of you have experienced that when you get weary.

You struggle to be strong in faith. When you get weary then you start to question God. Again we can see it from the temptation Jesus went through.

He was weary and he was in need of food. Physical food. At his weakest point Satan tempted him with those exact weak points.

So for us it is the same. He continues to tempt us and weary us. And when we get weary and we are weak.

He will use that exact weakness and tempt us with that. He has what we call, what do we call it when there is interest. The quick way of gaining interest.

Compound interest. Satan has a compound temptation. He wants to cause you to fall here and use that to cause you to fall here.

And he keeps using your fall against you. And that is his goal. Sometimes we as Christians we have these hard feelings.

Am I walking with God? Am I a child of God? And we might feel distant and we might feel weary. I think it is important that we at that point consider. While is Satan harassing you? Is Satan tempting you to get you to be weary? So that he can weaken your faith and cause you to fall.

So when we come to everyday things that are in the flesh. That cause us grief and strife and disappointments and pains. Let's be careful of those.

That we handle those in a healthy way. So that we can be strong and not weakened in the faith. Yes we can add.

You know depending where you are at. Be careful that the world doesn't tempt you. And cause you to fall.

And choose Satan rather than God. The world wants to show its pleasantness to you. Only to devour you.

And then we have. May we continue to grow in faith. Be strong in the faith.

So that Satan cannot weaken our faith. And cause us to fall. God's power is much mightier than Satan's.

And again as I said. God allows the temptation as a test. So that he can provide for us through Jesus.

To give us the strength and the grace to overcome. And he is glorified. And we are strengthened.

May God add his blessing.