The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - The Temptations Of Christ ｜ Part 2 - Matthew 4_1-11

00:00:00.000 is Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11. If you were with us last Lord's Day, this is the text

00:00:04.420 that we had for that Sunday as well. This is a part two dealing with the text that addresses

00:00:10.040 the three temptations of Christ in the wilderness. Again, our text is Matthew chapter 4 verses 1

00:00:15.800 through 11. I'll read the text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say

00:00:19.460 this is the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond

00:00:23.500 by saying thanks be to god one final time our text for today is matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11

00:00:30.780 the bible says this then jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the

00:00:36.760 devil and after fasting 40 days and 40 nights he was hungry and the tempter came and said to him

00:00:42.960 if you are the son of god command these stones to become loaves of bread but he answered it is

00:00:49.660 written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God

00:00:55.340 then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him

00:01:01.340 if you are the son of God throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels

00:01:07.740 concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone

00:01:15.460 Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

00:01:21.360 Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

00:01:27.620 And he said to him, All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.

00:01:33.920 Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

00:01:42.160 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

00:01:47.820 This is the word of the Lord.

00:01:49.980 All right, please be seated. Let's begin.

00:01:52.960 Last week, I spent the entirety of our time simply introducing this text

00:01:58.720 and predominantly setting the stage, some of the framework, the context

00:02:05.560 for understanding this battle royale, this cosmic war that takes place in the wilderness

00:02:13.220 with no audience, at least no human audience, between Satan and the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

00:02:20.980 So I provided the context, set the stage, but today we're going to delve in detail into each of these three temptations.

00:02:29.960 So I'm skipping the introduction that's written in your notes.

00:02:32.280 As a reference point, if you weren't here last week, you can go online and check out the sermon there.

00:02:38.180 But today we're going to pick up with the first of the three temptations.

00:02:42.140 And I've given this header for each of these three temptations.

00:02:46.420 Number one, doubting the Father's goodness.

00:02:49.840 The first temptation deals with despair.

00:02:53.380 Doubting the Father's goodness.

00:02:55.340 Particularly, that is, his practical goodness, his fatherly goodness, as it pertains to provision.

00:03:03.780 Secondly, the second temptation as a header or title, I put this, demanding the Father's power or presuming upon the Father's power.

00:03:17.420 Demanding is the word that I chose because then that allows all three of these headers to start with the letter D.

00:03:24.080 And that is what preachers do, for better or worse.

00:03:26.840 So, the first is doubting the Father's goodness,

00:03:30.460 despair of the Father's provision and goodness.

00:03:32.780 The second, demanding the Father's power or presuming upon His power.

00:03:37.720 And third, denying the Father's glory.

00:03:41.340 Denying the Father's glory.

00:03:43.940 Rather than rendering to God the Father that which is due to Him and Him alone,

00:03:48.480 taking that into your own hands denying the father his rightful glory let's begin doubting

00:03:55.980 the father's goodness in your notes i've written the following christ did not need to fast for the

00:04:01.600 purpose of mortifying indwelling sin so then that begs the question why did jesus fast that's an

00:04:09.360 important point worth noting right here from the outset a christ goes into the wilderness and fast

00:04:15.760 for 40 days and 40 nights

00:04:17.280 and He is not doing so

00:04:19.200 for the reasons prescribed to you and I

00:04:21.640 as followers of Christ

00:04:22.900 for the purpose that we might

00:04:25.260 engage in this spiritual discipline of fasting.

00:04:28.740 One of the primary reasons

00:04:30.460 that you and I as followers of Christ

00:04:32.380 choose to fast

00:04:33.840 or are convicted and led by the Holy Spirit to fast

00:04:37.800 is for the mortifying of the flesh.

00:04:41.020 That's not the only reason for fasting

00:04:42.700 listed in the Scripture,

00:04:43.660 But that is a chief reason. 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.

00:05:02.620 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 of faith alone.

00:05:19.640 Even once this takes place, yes, you are a new creation.

00:05:22.600 Yes, you have a new heart.

00:05:24.740 You have a new heart.

00:05:25.500 The old heart, which was non-responsive and even rebellious towards the things of God,

00:05:31.780 the heart of stone has been removed and it has been replaced with a heart of flesh.

00:05:37.300 That is a heart that is softened, it is malleable, and is receptive, responsive to the things of God.

00:05:44.520 That all takes place at the moment of conversion.

00:05:47.900 This is the doctrine of regeneration.

00:05:50.880 The Holy Spirit regenerates hearts sovereignly as the Father chooses.

00:05:57.040 He comes and removes the heart of stone, replaces it with the heart of flesh.

00:06:00.680 And once this happens, and this is an important theological principle that we need to understand.

00:06:06.600 Once this takes place, you've been converted, you are now a Christian.

00:06:10.200 You no longer at that point have a sin nature.

00:06:14.900 And that's something that I think many Christians misunderstand. 0.97

00:06:19.040 And I can see why.

00:06:20.120 Because it is a little bit complicated, but it's not that complicated.

00:06:24.280 So I'll do my best to concisely and clearly explain it now.

00:06:28.000 The Christian does not have a sin nature, but the Christian does still have in this life,

00:06:34.140 until glorification, which comes later, after this life,

00:06:39.220 until glorification, the Christian who has experienced justification,

00:06:44.380 is experiencing sanctification, but has not yet experienced glorification,

00:06:50.120 that Christian no longer has a sin nature, but they do still have the flesh. And Romans 7 says,

00:06:57.580 so I find this law at work, that when I want to do good, this I cannot do. And the evil that I do

00:07:04.440 not want to do, this I keep on doing. Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who will save me? The Apostle 0.94

00:07:10.300 Paul goes on underneath the inspiration of the Spirit. Who will save me from this body of death?

00:07:17.260 The Apostle Paul is not saying,

00:07:18.960 who will save my soul that is still currently damned?

00:07:22.620 And that's the exact reason why I still find myself wrestling with sin.

00:07:27.120 No, that's not what he says.

00:07:29.080 This is not Paul pre-conversion,

00:07:31.900 as some theologians might suggest.

00:07:34.860 Those theologians are wrong.

00:07:37.660 No, this is Paul who is saved. 1.00

00:07:39.900 He's not speaking as a Jew.

00:07:42.440 That's one of the arguments people say.

00:07:43.960 He says, I delight in my inner being,

00:07:46.100 In Romans 7, that's another part of the text.

00:07:48.560 In my inner being, I delight in the law of God.

00:07:50.600 And people will say, well, that's just a Jew thing to say. 0.89

00:07:54.820 First century Judaism, a Jew, unconverted, not a Christian, 0.85

00:07:59.080 but a Jew would still say, I delight in the Torah. 0.89

00:08:01.600 I delight in the law of God. 0.90

00:08:02.720 So Paul's just speaking as a Jew. 0.96

00:08:05.520 He's not a Christian yet. 0.96

00:08:06.740 It's pre-conversion. 0.78

00:08:07.680 He's just saying, in my inner being, I delight in the law of God.

00:08:10.780 No, he's not saying that.

00:08:12.440 Because we know that what Paul is speaking of about himself,

00:08:17.460 we don't know the exact timing of his self-description,

00:08:22.360 but we do know the timing of him writing this.

00:08:25.820 And Paul is writing the book of Romans

00:08:27.460 underneath the inspiration of the Spirit

00:08:29.660 after conversion as a Christian.

00:08:31.520 And as a Christian, and not just any old Christian,

00:08:34.540 but the Apostle Paul,

00:08:36.520 who was the premier theological titan

00:08:39.900 of the Christian faith 2,000 years ago,

00:08:41.940 and remains uncontested for the past 2,000 years.

00:08:45.720 No one has surpassed him.

00:08:47.780 The Apostle Paul, who is writing this as a Christian,

00:08:51.240 would not be describing himself pre-Christian, unconverted,

00:08:54.960 as one who in his inner being delights in the law of God.

00:08:58.660 If he was writing about himself as a Jew before conversion,

00:09:03.940 he would have said in my inner being, I hate the law of God. 0.95

00:09:07.820 I pretend to like it because that's what we do.

00:09:11.940 As Jews in Israel, we pretend to like the law of God, 1.00

00:09:15.880 and then we twist it and tweak it and pervert it

00:09:18.720 in such a way that we're able, without a fair trial,

00:09:22.700 to murder the very Son of God on a tree.

00:09:27.080 But in my inner being, in the objective sense,

00:09:30.100 I hate God's law. 1.00

00:09:31.980 As all Jews in first century Palestine did hate the law of God 0.97

00:09:36.180 if they were not converted by grace and become disciples of Jesus. 0.63

00:09:40.540 and for the record that's not just jews that's called all unbelievers all unbelievers hate the

00:09:47.700 law of god that's very clear right romans chapter 8 tells us explicitly i don't like the way you're

00:09:53.340 interpreting that pastor i'm not going to interpret this one i'll just quote it romans chapter 8 says

00:09:58.680 that the mind of the sinful man that's the unconverted man aka the non-christian the mind

00:10:05.160 of the sinful man, it does not submit to God's law nor can it. Meaning that the mind of the 0.92

00:10:12.560 unbeliever is both unwilling and, catch this, unable to submit to the law of God. Why? Because 0.95

00:10:21.600 he cannot nor will he submit to that which he hates. He hates God and he hates God's law. So

00:10:31.600 Paul is not writing as a Jew pre-conversion. No, this is Paul writing and describing himself

00:10:39.420 after conversion. This is a present day description of himself saying, even as a Christian,

00:10:47.620 born again by grace, with a new heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is a very real

00:10:54.380 sense where now, because I have a new heart, because of the Spirit's work in conversion and

00:11:00.300 regeneration. Because I am, not that I'm not, but because I am a new creature in Christ Jesus,

00:11:06.540 in my inner being, I delight. I don't hate, but rather delight in the law of God. And yet,

00:11:14.240 simultaneously with that being as true as it is, inner being, delight in the law of God, and yet

00:11:20.960 sin still resides within the members of my being, so that I find this law at work. That when I want

00:11:27.620 to do good, evil is there present with me, so that the good that I desire to do I cannot carry out. 0.84

00:11:33.140 Oh, what a wretched man I am. Who will save me? Again, here's the key. Who will save me from this

00:11:38.140 soul that's unjustified? This soul of death? No. Who will save me from this body of death?

00:11:46.680 What Paul is lamenting out loud under the inspiration of the Spirit is he is saying,

00:11:51.740 I long not only for justification, which by God's grace I've already received, and not only further

00:11:58.720 degrees of sanctification, which have come, and I trust that as long as I'm in this life that

00:12:04.660 more degrees of the process of sanctification will follow. No, but what I'm lamenting and also

00:12:10.840 longing for out loud on the pages of Holy Writ is glorification. Justification, the salvation of the

00:12:19.140 soul. Sanctification, the lifelong process of the renewing of the mind. But glorification,

00:12:26.260 the salvation of the body. We're our very physical bodies that even as Christians with new hearts and

00:12:33.300 a new nature, sin even for the Christian still resides within the members of our flesh. But one 0.51

00:12:38.580 day, praise be to Christ Jesus, even our very body will change. So that first John rings true when it 1.00

00:12:45.620 says that when we see him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Who is him? Christ

00:12:53.000 Jesus. In what way will we be like him? Well, we'll have his deity. We'll be gods like him. No.

00:13:00.540 It's not speaking of being like him in every regard, but in a particular regard. What way

00:13:05.420 will we be like him? We shall be sinless as he is sinless. Not God as he is God. We will always be

00:13:12.900 creatures. And we will always be finite creatures. Immortal, but still finite. We'll never be in

00:13:20.900 heaven omniscient. We will be learning things. And that's good news for the record. That's what

00:13:26.400 makes it so fun. We'll be learning and learning and learning and growing and growing and growing

00:13:30.800 for eons and eons and eons without end for eternity. And the nice thing about God being

00:13:36.200 infinite is, guess what? A finite creature, even glorified, with a glorified mind and a higher

00:13:43.060 capacity for learning and understanding and comprehension and all these things, and sin now

00:13:47.560 being removed because of a new body in which sin does not reside within the members of your being.

00:13:52.220 So an unperverted mind and a greater thinking mind with higher capability, still finite belonging

00:14:00.080 to a creature, that mind will never fully comprehend God because He is infinite. How long

00:14:07.520 does it take to grasp infinity? To grasp that which is infinite requires, in terms of duration

00:14:16.080 of time, eternity. And so for eternity, we will be surprised and amazed, experiencing ecstasy and

00:14:26.340 pleasures forevermore. In his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. And in his presence

00:14:31.080 there is fullness of joy. And of this there shall be no end. But in the meantime, you and I as

00:14:38.940 Christians, we no longer have, here's the doctrinal truth, we no longer have, if you are in Christ

00:14:46.060 Jesus as a new creation with a new heart, you no longer have a sinful nature. But you still do have

00:14:52.620 the flesh in which sin

00:14:54.580 still resides. That is

00:14:56.600 the flesh with its proclivities,

00:14:59.340 its inclinations,

00:15:01.700 its temptations,

00:15:03.460 not just outward temptations

00:15:05.000 as Jesus experienced in the

00:15:06.760 wilderness in our text today, but

00:15:08.640 you and I differ from Christ in the sense

00:15:10.800 that we have inward temptations.

00:15:13.620 See, Jesus was led

00:15:14.860 by the Spirit into the

00:15:16.760 wilderness where He was tempted

00:15:18.600 outwardly by Satan.

00:15:21.400 You and I, as the book of James says,

00:15:23.480 how are we tempted?

00:15:25.060 Well, we're tempted just like Jesus.

00:15:26.680 The Spirit leads us into temptation.

00:15:28.340 No.

00:15:29.680 No, James literally says the opposite.

00:15:32.140 Jesus Himself, when teaching us how to pray,

00:15:35.120 says the opposite.

00:15:36.560 How should we pray?

00:15:37.820 Lord, lead us not into temptation.

00:15:41.020 The Spirit led Jesus into temptation

00:15:43.340 so that God would never have to lead you and I

00:15:46.600 into temptation.

00:15:48.460 No, you and I are not led by God into temptation

00:15:50.960 and then tempted merely or only by outward forces and demonic powers.

00:15:57.520 But you and I, rather, we are led ourselves into temptation,

00:16:01.380 as James says, by what? By desire.

00:16:05.140 That no one should say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.

00:16:08.040 For God does not tempt anyone, neither can he himself be tempted.

00:16:12.260 But each one is tempted and led astray or enticed

00:16:16.080 when his desire, implication there being sinful, fleshly desires,

00:16:21.840 which still exist, even for the Christian who has a new heart,

00:16:25.620 when our sinful desires, because sin still resides within the members of our flesh,

00:16:29.840 when those desires, uncombatted, unsubdued, un-mortified,

00:16:35.420 coming back to the original point now, believe it or not, I still have it,

00:16:39.460 when our desires un-mortified, which reside within our flesh with its sinful proclivities,

00:16:46.080 and inclinations, when those desires are allowed to get the best of us, it is those inward fleshly

00:16:53.820 desires that lead us into temptation, not the spirit. So, Jesus fasting. Jesus fasting. Here we

00:17:03.580 are. Jesus did not go into the wilderness to fast in order to subdue his flesh. Jesus had flesh.

00:17:11.920 Jesus has flesh.

00:17:13.880 He had flesh then.

00:17:15.840 He is the God-man, fully God, fully man.

00:17:18.900 He has flesh now, that flesh now glorified, but still flesh.

00:17:24.100 He is forever the God-man, seated in the flesh, albeit glorified flesh,

00:17:29.120 at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

00:17:33.100 But Jesus' flesh was different than yours and mine,

00:17:36.920 in the sense that it was human, as our flesh is,

00:17:40.160 but it was not fallen as our flesh is.

00:17:44.660 Jesus, in his human nature, was finite.

00:17:50.040 You and I, in our human nature, are both finite and fallen.

00:17:55.520 And that's the difference.

00:17:57.640 Jesus did not have a sinful nature,

00:18:00.880 nor did he have sinful desires residing within the members of his being.

00:18:06.660 Jesus, not only in his deity, certainly in that regard,

00:18:10.540 but also in his humanity, remained unfallen, uncorrupted.

00:18:16.880 And so Jesus is not led by sinful desires to be tempted in the wilderness.

00:18:22.720 And he is not tempted then in the wilderness by sinful desires,

00:18:27.200 but rather led by the spirit outwardly,

00:18:30.360 and then tempted by the devil outwardly.

00:18:33.660 And for the purpose of mortifying the flesh, no, all that work needs not to be done.

00:18:41.180 He has no sinful inclinations there to be mortified in the first place.

00:18:45.320 But rather, if for no other reason, Jesus fasts for 40 days and 40 nights merely to set an example for you and I.

00:18:54.940 Now, I think it's more than this, and I'll mention one other reason briefly, but let's begin with this.

00:19:00.640 Jesus sets for you and I an example.

00:19:03.180 One other example that we might find God doing something that he has no need of doing.

00:19:10.440 And yet doing it nonetheless in order to set an example for you and I would be in the very creation narrative.

00:19:19.400 In the opening of the Bible.

00:19:21.480 Think of the pattern here.

00:19:23.640 That for six days God worked and on the seventh he rested.

00:19:29.280 Because he was weary.

00:19:30.540 because he was tired?

00:19:34.200 Because creating the entire cosmos

00:19:36.840 of the universe is hard work.

00:19:38.660 He needed a break.

00:19:40.300 No.

00:19:41.920 The infinite does not grow weary.

00:19:45.220 He needs no rest.

00:19:47.540 And so why does God choose to rest

00:19:49.300 on the seventh day?

00:19:51.040 And not only rest,

00:19:52.000 but call it the Sabbath

00:19:53.580 and bless that day

00:19:54.620 and make it holy

00:19:55.420 to set a pattern for you and I.

00:19:58.400 God who is infinite

00:19:59.360 and needs no rest

00:20:00.380 sets a pattern of weekly rest for his finite creatures who he knew would require rest.

00:20:07.700 And so too, Jesus does the very same thing.

00:20:11.340 He who is holy, holy, holy, and has no indwelling sin,

00:20:14.800 and therefore has no need to mortify the flesh through the spiritual discipline of fasting,

00:20:19.760 sets a pattern for you and I who are fallen,

00:20:23.040 who do have corruptions in our flesh so that we might follow.

00:20:26.660 In creation, God sets the pattern of rest, though he needs no rest, for his finite creatures.

00:20:34.100 And in the wilderness temptation, God sets again the example of fasting for his creatures who do need fasting because of our fallenness.

00:20:43.540 A pattern of rest as an example for finite creatures.

00:20:47.100 A pattern of fasting as an example for fallen creatures.

00:20:51.560 And this is just one more way to demonstrate the mercy,

00:20:55.580 the condescension, as we've spoken of earlier in previous weeks,

00:20:59.260 not meaning that in a derogatory or demeaning sense,

00:21:03.720 but simply condescending as a parent would with a toddler.

00:21:07.320 Not berating them, but to condescend,

00:21:10.020 it simply means to lower yourself.

00:21:12.740 That you're speaking with your young child

00:21:14.420 and you might even physically in that moment

00:21:16.420 choose to get down on your knees

00:21:18.620 in order to be eye level with them

00:21:20.480 and say, son, I'm listening.

00:21:23.400 I hear you.

00:21:24.860 Now I need you to hear me.

00:21:27.440 I understand that you're struggling

00:21:29.140 with this temptation

00:21:30.000 and that your desire is strong.

00:21:32.880 But God tells us not to be mastered

00:21:34.780 by our temptations,

00:21:35.940 but rather that we must master our desires.

00:21:39.560 Your passions must come under control.

00:21:42.620 Right now it's cute

00:21:43.700 because you're two.

00:21:46.140 And to be honest, it's not that cute.

00:21:47.540 But right now it's cute.

00:21:49.940 But these passions of wanting to grab this spoon

00:21:53.340 so that you can flail it around like a sword

00:21:55.420 or wanting to put your food off the tray,

00:21:57.900 brothers and sisters, this is a freebie,

00:21:59.840 a little fatherly, motherly parenting lesson here.

00:22:02.320 Those are the same passions

00:22:03.820 that when that young man is 16 years old

00:22:06.740 will cause him to do things with a girl

00:22:10.280 that the Bible forbids.

00:22:13.800 It's not different passions.

00:22:16.740 When you teach your young child

00:22:19.040 to master his passions early,

00:22:21.640 you are setting him up for success

00:22:23.720 so that on that day later on,

00:22:25.580 when you're not with him,

00:22:27.800 when you can't see what's going on,

00:22:29.360 and hear me,

00:22:30.260 when our children are older,

00:22:31.680 we still want to do our parently duty

00:22:34.260 of monitoring their time.

00:22:36.780 But the reality is there will be some moments

00:22:38.980 in a 24-hour day period

00:22:40.840 where we're not there.

00:22:43.460 Even homeschooling.

00:22:45.740 Even the best of parental restrictions, which we should employ, especially when it comes to technology.

00:22:54.360 And yet there will still be certain moments when we're not there.

00:22:58.060 And if not in the home, there will certainly be moments when we're not there when they leave the home.

00:23:04.620 The best defense that we have is training our children while they're young to control and master their passions when we are there.

00:23:13.060 When we are there.

00:23:14.120 So Jesus is setting for us an example of how to master our passions,

00:23:21.400 how to mortify the flesh, and how to do it through discipline. 0.57

00:23:28.460 There is no alternative in the Christian life or simply in life in general, 0.72

00:23:36.320 no alternative to discipline. 0.94

00:23:38.600 And to pretend that we could somehow sever physical disciplines, such as fasting, from spiritual realities is a Gnostic inclination.

00:23:53.340 The physical and the spiritual are far more intertwined than you and I would like to admit.

00:24:01.540 Studies have been done on this.

00:24:04.140 you know how you could get someone to transition from voting democrat to voting republican

00:24:10.540 well you know facts don't care about your feelings and so you sit down and you make a

00:24:16.300 pros and cons list and you make arguments and you show them that democrats are the real racists and

00:24:20.560 they're the ones who actually were in the you know the south and the planet no no that's not how you

00:24:25.540 do i understand history matters and logic matters but you know another way that you can take a 21

00:24:32.740 year old liberal male who votes democrat and wears t-shirts saying i'm a proud feminist you know how

00:24:40.180 you can radically change his worldview cut out soy make him work out in a gym

00:24:47.580 and boost his testosterone levels and all of a sudden by golly as though it's almost a supernatural

00:24:55.860 magic spale he becomes more conservative in his worldview isn't that remarkable

00:25:02.380 and this is documented i'm not i'm not this is not hyperbolic you change your physical habits

00:25:09.180 and all of a sudden you will change the way you think about the world

00:25:14.360 high testosterone men vote republican women who marry those high testosterone men

00:25:23.180 vote republican so who votes for democrats women who are unmarried and men who aren't men

00:25:30.720 that's it really is that simple

00:25:35.340 spiritual disciplines are tied to physical bodily disciplines we are not just souls floating in the

00:25:46.720 ether but god's design this isn't part of the curse the curse is that flesh would become fallen

00:25:53.540 the curse is not flesh itself this is god's good and original design that we would not be

00:25:58.880 bodiless souls floating in the 17th dimension,

00:26:03.140 but rather that we would be physical creatures.

00:26:05.940 We would be embodied souls.

00:26:08.520 And what is our eternal state?

00:26:10.920 And the final analysis,

00:26:12.960 what will it be?

00:26:14.800 When the end of human history

00:26:16.820 finally culminates

00:26:18.520 and Christ returns to judge

00:26:20.400 both the living and the dead,

00:26:21.520 what will the final state of Christians be? 1.00

00:26:25.180 It will be glorified flesh.

00:26:28.880 and spirit once more together. You and I are not going to have merely spiritual existence

00:26:37.780 in heaven for all eternity. We will have a physical and spiritual existence in heaven for

00:26:45.240 eternity. This is why even when it comes to funerals, this is not a hard and fast legalistic

00:26:53.060 rule. I understand that at times there are extenuating circumstances, and I have no desire

00:26:58.720 to disparage anyone in the room who has used, for instance, I can't think of the word. I want to say

00:27:07.740 incarceration, but that's jail. Cremation. Thank you. If you've used cremation for a loved one,

00:27:15.040 I understand. Please do not feel disparaged. Here's the beauty. A lot of Christians have died

00:27:21.980 at sea thousands of years ago and eaten by fishes and spread across seven oceans. And when Jesus

00:27:28.800 comes, he will be able to take every molecule and glorify their flesh. So it's going to be okay. 0.58

00:27:34.540 So hear that disclaimer. That said, symbolically, the reason why Christians historically have 0.99

00:27:43.080 chosen burial as opposed to cremation and even in burial used embalming in certain practices to

00:27:50.720 preserve the body as long as possible, while knowing in the logical sense, we know what's

00:27:56.340 going to happen. If Jesus tarries another 10,000 years, that embalming is not going to hold up.

00:28:00.800 Let's be honest. We know that. Well, why do we do it? Because what we're saying as Christians is

00:28:07.420 that the body matters. And that when someone dies, we're not saying, you know, this is just a shell.

00:28:15.000 That's not really them.

00:28:16.460 No, there's a very real sense

00:28:17.940 in which their personhood

00:28:19.760 is with, if they were a Christian,

00:28:22.200 with the Lord,

00:28:23.320 spiritually with the Lord.

00:28:24.480 To be absent with the body

00:28:25.400 is to be present with the Lord.

00:28:26.760 Who is present with the Lord?

00:28:28.220 The person is.

00:28:29.600 And yet at the same time,

00:28:30.740 I can look at the person's body

00:28:32.220 and I can say,

00:28:33.240 not just there is so-and-so's body,

00:28:36.300 there is so-and-so's now empty shell,

00:28:38.400 but I can also look at the person,

00:28:40.440 their body,

00:28:41.220 and say,

00:28:41.600 there is so-and-so.

00:28:43.040 That's them.

00:28:45.100 You are, it's not just that you are a soul that possesses a body.

00:28:49.680 Let me say that again.

00:28:50.480 You are not merely a soul that possesses a body.

00:28:52.940 You are a soul and you are a body.

00:28:57.520 Both.

00:28:58.980 And so the physical matters.

00:29:01.880 And if the physical matters, then when we engage in spiritual disciplines,

00:29:06.600 they're not simply spiritual.

00:29:08.860 They're not merely pietistic and only pietistic, but they also engage the flesh so that when we

00:29:19.360 pursue Christ spiritually, there is also disciplines employed physically. And fasting

00:29:25.880 is a wonderful example. And Jesus sets that example for us.

00:29:30.740 so in this temptation the devil is trying to get jesus to doubt to doubt the fatherly goodness

00:29:42.780 particularly the provision of his father let me finish reading this quickly so why did jesus fast

00:29:49.880 one so that his victory over satan might be all the more profound it says though a boxer enters

00:29:57.020 the ring with one hand tied behind his back and says, I got this. Jesus is led by the Spirit into

00:30:03.480 the wilderness voluntarily fast to, if anything, make his human nature all the more vulnerable and

00:30:11.720 weak, knowing that that's still plenty of strength to defeat his adversary. So one reason he fasts

00:30:19.900 for 40 days and 40 nights is to make his victory over Satan all the more profound. It's the same

00:30:26.360 principle of God whittling down the army of Gideon to 300. Why? Because 300 is more advantageous in a

00:30:32.980 practical sense for defeating their foe? No. But it is more advantageous if the ultimate goal is to

00:30:39.120 garnish glory for God. Secondly, Jesus fasted to recommend fasting to us. That's what I've already

00:30:46.740 espoused thus far. God who needs no rest rested to set an example for finite creatures. Jesus,

00:30:52.520 who did not need to fast

00:30:54.120 in the sense that fasting

00:30:55.580 mortifies the flesh

00:30:56.580 and he had no sinful flesh,

00:30:58.460 no corruptions in his being.

00:31:01.380 Jesus, who does not need to fast,

00:31:03.120 fasted to set an example

00:31:04.180 for fallen creatures.

00:31:05.960 And thirdly,

00:31:06.640 to demonstrate that he is 0.61

00:31:07.800 the true Israel of God. 0.91

00:31:09.620 We hit this last week,

00:31:10.700 so I'll only discuss it briefly here.

00:31:12.640 But to demonstrate 0.60

00:31:13.300 he is the true Israel of God.

00:31:15.200 Israel, that is the nation

00:31:16.640 under the Old Covenant

00:31:17.700 and the Old Testament,

00:31:19.500 Israel wandered faithlessly

00:31:20.960 in the wilderness

00:31:22.060 for 40 years.

00:31:24.240 This is not a coincidence.

00:31:25.780 40 days for Christ, 0.85

00:31:27.260 40 years for Israel. 0.88

00:31:30.100 Jesus is fulfilling 0.95

00:31:31.660 all the ways that Israel failed 0.99

00:31:34.380 to prove that He is the true Israel 0.90

00:31:37.460 and He is the better Israel. 0.97

00:31:41.040 Israel wandered faithlessly

00:31:42.560 in the wilderness for 40 years

00:31:44.220 with constant provision,

00:31:46.600 manna and quail.

00:31:48.820 God always providing

00:31:50.360 for their physical nourishment

00:31:51.900 and needs. Jesus, on the other hand, wandered faithfully in the wilderness for 40 days,

00:31:57.660 not faithlessly, but faithfully for 40 days without provision. And when he is tempted to

00:32:05.620 grumble against God by Satan, he does not give him. He does not despair of the Father's goodness.

00:32:13.840 That was the first temptation. Going on, Matthew Henry, I'm using him, this late great Puritan.

00:32:19.380 He says this, the great thing that Satan aims at in tempting good people is to overthrow their relation to God as a father.

00:32:29.140 And so to cut off their dependence on him, their duty to him and their communion with him.

00:32:35.500 The good spirit as comforter of the brethren witnesses that they are the children of God.

00:32:42.340 He's speaking of the inward witness of the Spirit

00:32:44.620 that cries out, Abba, Father,

00:32:46.340 affirming and assuring us of our adoption,

00:32:50.760 our salvation.

00:32:53.020 So the comforter of the brethren

00:32:54.400 witnesses that they are, in fact,

00:32:56.860 the children of God. 0.95

00:32:58.120 The evil spirit, as the accuser of the brethren,

00:33:01.060 does all he can to shake that testimony.

00:33:04.680 So, as it pertains to Christ in our text today,

00:33:07.680 so Satan does not say to Jesus,

00:33:09.820 pray to thy father, and notice,

00:33:11.660 the distinct and dynamic difference because it's massive. It is not subtle. Satan does not say to

00:33:19.180 Jesus, pray to thy father as a petition, a humble request that he would turn these stones into bread

00:33:26.880 for you. But rather what Satan tells Jesus to do is command it yourself to be done. Thy father

00:33:34.760 hath forsaken thee.

00:33:36.480 That's the implication.

00:33:38.420 Your father has forsaken you.

00:33:40.620 So therefore, set up for thyself

00:33:43.280 and be not beholden to him.

00:33:46.440 Satan noticed the temptation.

00:33:47.900 He doesn't come to Jesus and says,

00:33:49.420 hey, you look pretty hungry.

00:33:52.620 Right, as I said last week,

00:33:53.700 understatement of the century,

00:33:55.300 of the millennium, right?

00:33:58.860 The text that says Jesus fasted

00:34:00.920 without food or water

00:34:02.800 for 40 days and 40 nights

00:34:04.640 and he was hungry. Oh really he was? He was hungry. Okay yeah just a little just a little snackish you

00:34:10.700 know. Yeah 40 days and 40 nights and yeah yeah he's he's starving. By all accounts he should be dead

00:34:18.200 and he is near the the very precipice of death. He's barely alive. Barely alive and Satan comes

00:34:27.340 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

00:34:33.820 would not abandon you, but rather

00:34:35.880 he has promised to provide for you.

00:34:37.800 So go to him humbly and request

00:34:39.620 that he turn these stones into bread

00:34:41.580 so that you might eat.

00:34:44.180 See, that actually would not be

00:34:45.680 sinful. And so

00:34:47.780 because it is the aim of Satan to get

00:34:49.740 Jesus to sin, that is not the

00:34:51.700 temptation. Rather, the temptation

00:34:53.760 underneath it,

00:34:55.460 guised, but by way of

00:34:57.620 implication, the temptation is

00:34:59.260 your father has abandoned you.

00:35:01.660 so take matters into your own hands

00:35:05.440 provision

00:35:06.580 is something you'll have to make

00:35:09.420 for yourself

00:35:10.240 you should choose independence

00:35:13.640 over reliance

00:35:15.980 on God

00:35:16.840 that's the first temptation

00:35:19.280 and one extra

00:35:23.780 principle that certainly we

00:35:25.700 should employ

00:35:26.400 that we should deposit deep within our hearts

00:35:29.900 is this that in all three temptations what is it that Jesus wields as his weapon against the fiery

00:35:38.080 darts of Satan it's the word of God as it's been said from the book of Ephesians with the armor of

00:35:45.400 God it's the only offensive weapon that we have the sword of the spirit the word of God but I did

00:35:52.140 find it interesting in my study again citing the commentary of Matthew Henry that Jesus would be

00:35:58.780 able to wield the word of God, as it were, without citing verbatim scripture. Why? Because he is the

00:36:07.480 very eternal living word of God himself. Jesus is the word of God. Think of John chapter 6,

00:36:17.240 where Jesus speaks of man, you know, man, well, he says it here, but in John chapter 6, he says,

00:36:22.840 unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood,

00:36:25.400 you have no part in me.

00:36:27.900 I am the bread of life given from heaven.

00:36:30.540 I am the word of God, the manna of God,

00:36:33.980 by which man lives.

00:36:36.100 It's the same principle espoused in John chapter 6

00:36:39.560 as referenced here in its temptation of the wilderness

00:36:41.920 when he says man shall not live by bread alone,

00:36:44.300 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

00:36:46.860 There is the written word that we have inscripturated,

00:36:49.520 inspired by the spirit and illuminated by the spirit still to this day but there's also the

00:36:57.080 living word the logos the son of god himself john chapter 1 in the beginning was the word

00:37:03.080 not the bible but jesus in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word

00:37:08.900 was god he was with god in the beginning later on john chapter 1 verse 14 and the word became

00:37:15.440 flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen his glory. Glory as of the only Son of God, full of grace

00:37:21.620 and full of truth. Jesus is the Word. And the point here is that Jesus could have combated

00:37:29.240 Satan in all his wiles by simply refuting him on his own merit. No, Satan, I will not do that

00:37:37.560 because you're trying to get me to despair of the fatherly goodness and provision of God

00:37:44.420 to take matters into my own hands,

00:37:47.500 to sever myself in relation to God my Father,

00:37:50.880 to be independent rather than reliant and submissive

00:37:53.880 and subjected to Him.

00:37:55.620 He could have said that.

00:37:57.500 And it would not have been wrong.

00:37:59.780 It would have been true.

00:38:02.100 And if Jesus said it, it would be the Word of God.

00:38:07.000 But instead, he quotes Scripture.

00:38:10.680 He doesn't quote Scripture because of speaking himself

00:38:13.700 is something other than the Word of God.

00:38:15.440 It would be the Word of God.

00:38:16.700 But he quotes Scripture,

00:38:18.140 the Word of God inscripturated,

00:38:19.960 because, again, just as fasting.

00:38:23.440 He's not mortifying the flesh.

00:38:24.760 He has no sin to mortify.

00:38:26.380 But he's setting an example for us.

00:38:27.940 Well, he could have exercised his own mind

00:38:30.020 and spoken from his mind,

00:38:31.180 the very mind of God,

00:38:32.200 because he is deity.

00:38:33.080 He is God encapsulated in flesh.

00:38:37.780 But he doesn't do that.

00:38:39.080 He cites the Scripture.

00:38:40.080 Why?

00:38:40.560 Because you and I are not God.

00:38:43.140 We cannot speak and it be the Word of God.

00:38:46.620 You and I are reliant.

00:38:48.320 If we are to speak the Word of God,

00:38:50.460 we are reliant upon the Scripture.

00:38:53.380 And so Jesus uses the very tool

00:38:55.680 that He knows you and I will have to use.

00:38:58.900 He wields the very weapon

00:39:00.400 that He knows that you and I will have to wield.

00:39:02.640 Once again, in His mercy and condescension,

00:39:05.700 setting an example for you and I

00:39:07.440 that we should follow.

00:39:09.560 There's so much in this text.

00:39:11.820 But let's move on.

00:39:12.800 The second temptation, demanding the Father's power,

00:39:15.160 or presuming upon the Father's power.

00:39:17.240 In the first instance, Satan is trying to get Jesus to be self-reliant,

00:39:22.040 despairing of the fatherly goodness of God,

00:39:25.300 making provision for himself rather than trusting that the Lord,

00:39:29.680 God, his Father, would provide.

00:39:32.840 In the second instance, it is now taking upon himself,

00:39:37.500 demanding, presuming upon the power of his Father,

00:39:41.060 so that his feet would not strike a stone

00:39:45.740 that God the Father would command his angels

00:39:48.100 to come and bear him up

00:39:49.640 if he were to listen to the devil

00:39:51.820 and cast himself off of the pinnacle of the temple

00:39:54.580 in the city of Jerusalem.

00:39:57.020 But what?

00:39:57.560 For what purpose?

00:39:58.520 What motive?

00:39:59.680 Notice the stark difference

00:40:02.380 between these two contexts.

00:40:04.980 The first temptation in the wilderness.

00:40:08.240 No human audience.

00:40:10.340 It's private.

00:40:11.060 despairing of the father's goodness and provision and the second temptation it's public

00:40:17.520 in fact it's the most public place that he could possibly be the purpose and there are a few

00:40:24.260 purposes to be drawn out but for our purposes today let's simply focus on one satan takes

00:40:29.680 jesus to the holy city that is jerusalem to the pinnacle of the temple that is the public square

00:40:37.360 the downtown arena of Jerusalem.

00:40:40.380 For what purpose?

00:40:41.420 Because it's the opposite of the wilderness.

00:40:43.120 Rather than being private and alone in isolation,

00:40:46.680 he is now in the most public place he could possibly be.

00:40:51.280 And so here the temptation is not self-reliance,

00:40:54.160 making provision for himself rather than trusting his father.

00:40:57.240 But now it's self-exposure.

00:41:01.280 It's proving, taking matters into his own hands once again,

00:41:05.720 but now not to provide for his physical nourishment, but to prove his spiritual and true identity.

00:41:14.140 All these people doubt that you're the Son of God.

00:41:16.860 And if you really are, why don't you take a shortcut?

00:41:20.280 Rather than submitting to the Father's will of proving your deity, your sonship,

00:41:26.520 throughout his ordained course of time and with the methods and the plan that he has set for you,

00:41:32.180 why don't you do it yourself?

00:41:34.040 I'll put you right here in the middle of the town square

00:41:36.700 where all the crowds are gathered around.

00:41:39.080 You jump off this building.

00:41:41.540 The angels will be sent by God the Father.

00:41:44.100 Surely he won't let harm come to you

00:41:46.020 if you are in fact his son.

00:41:47.320 The angels will be sent by God the Father

00:41:49.520 to bear you up.

00:41:51.700 And right before your feet strike the ground

00:41:54.260 and harm is brought to your physical body,

00:41:56.680 the angels will intervene, sent by your Father,

00:41:59.240 bear you up, and in the sight of all,

00:42:02.780 Your supernatural power and deity will be proven.

00:42:10.220 Matthew Henry says it like this.

00:42:12.420 Satan fixes Jesus on a public place in Jerusalem, a populous city,

00:42:16.400 in the temple, one of the wonders of the world,

00:42:19.180 continually gazed upon with admiration by some one or other.

00:42:23.560 There he might make himself remarkable

00:42:25.740 and be taken notice by everyone

00:42:28.220 and prove himself to be the Son of God,

00:42:31.080 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.

00:42:42.120 Furthermore, going on, Matthew Henry says this, note, whatever real mischief, now this right here is classic Puritan.

00:42:50.100 And when I say classic Puritan, what I mean is far-fetched exegesis that every reformer gives a pass to. 0.67

00:43:01.080 Because they're Puritans. 0.97

00:43:03.020 And that's why, 1.00

00:43:04.720 that's just simply how it works

00:43:06.620 in the Reformed tradition.

00:43:08.080 If you don't like it,

00:43:08.880 well, you've got to find a church 1.00

00:43:10.980 that's not Reformed

00:43:11.540 because this is what Reformers do.

00:43:13.780 When modern-day Reformed pastors

00:43:16.260 make application 0.60

00:43:17.540 and we don't like it,

00:43:19.920 we start a campaign online

00:43:21.420 and slander them publicly.

00:43:23.940 But when John Bunyan says

00:43:25.360 that the point of being able

00:43:27.500 to eat animals

00:43:28.740 that have hoofed, split hooves,

00:43:34.380 that really what God was saying there

00:43:35.800 is He was speaking to the double part of the gospel.

00:43:39.660 And this is not hyperbolic.

00:43:41.260 This is not exaggeration.

00:43:42.140 Read John Bunyan and his commentaries on Leviticus

00:43:46.500 and the dietary restrictions given under the Old Covenant

00:43:50.080 and the ceremonial law to Israel

00:43:51.680 and why they could eat certain beasts of the field

00:43:54.980 and then others they couldn't.

00:43:56.720 he literally makes arguments and says well you can eat the cow that cheweth the cud because

00:44:02.580 chewing of the cud is chewing of the goodness of the gospel and and and he's not saying this is

00:44:07.940 just an application to be drawn he's saying no this is literally the text this is literally god's

00:44:12.900 meaning and for the record i'm here for it i like it i'm down give me some john bunion i just want

00:44:22.940 to be able to do it too. I would like to, for me, I'm not against the Puritans. I'd just like to see

00:44:27.980 some Puritans today. And to be honest, a lot of the applications that we see from some of the,

00:44:35.180 whatever you want to call them, new Christendom, post-millennial, culture, political, engaging,

00:44:45.340 muscular reformed wing of the church those guys a lot of the applications we see today

00:44:52.840 right the dots connecting it from the text to this practical cultural and political application

00:44:59.680 those dots are like right next to each other it's a real straight line john bunyan his dots that's

00:45:07.580 like that that's pretty complex it's like you've got to go around the map a little bit and it's

00:45:12.020 like don't you see it's simple it's like are you are you joking like we went through 48 different

00:45:17.440 dots to draw out that application i mean charles spurgeon prince of preachers do you know why

00:45:24.520 everyone likes charles spurgeon today it's really simple if you know feel free to shout it out it's

00:45:30.860 really simple because what he's a man he's dead correct that's why we like him good and dead

00:45:41.760 That's why we like them.

00:45:44.120 That's it.

00:45:45.700 Read Charles Spurgeon on the four soils.

00:45:50.680 One of his most famous sermons.

00:45:53.620 When Jesus says, a sower went out to sow.

00:45:56.560 He doesn't get past that.

00:45:59.460 You have to get to the fourth and fifth and sixth sermon in the series

00:46:04.700 to get to the actual four different types of soil.

00:46:07.360 With the thorns, the rocky soil, the path.

00:46:10.920 and then the good soil.

00:46:12.260 You've got an entire sermon on this text.

00:46:15.740 My text today is,

00:46:17.300 A Sower Went Out to Sow.

00:46:20.580 And that's the text for the day.

00:46:22.840 Please stand for the reading of God's Word.

00:46:24.180 A sower went out to sow.

00:46:25.280 This is the Word of the Lord.

00:46:26.180 Thanks be to God.

00:46:26.800 Please be seated.

00:46:27.740 And now, 60 minutes of exposition.

00:46:33.120 And can I prove that it's in the text?

00:46:35.440 Nope.

00:46:36.300 Not at all.

00:46:38.240 Not even close.

00:46:39.200 well that sounds like eisegesis it sounds a little far-fetched

00:46:43.660 what are we going to do with you we'll call you the prince of preachers

00:46:47.840 and hear me i think he is the prince of preachers

00:46:51.720 my point is not to say that the puritans were too far-fetched in their exegesis or the charles

00:46:56.700 spurgeon took a little liberty with the text that's not my position my position is stop building

00:47:02.320 tombs to the prophets and praising them and then when other guys do far less exegesis with the

00:47:08.180 clearest applications you could possibly imagine in the culture and politics today,

00:47:12.280 stop condemning them. If you really like the Puritans and you really like the Prince of

00:47:17.540 Preachers, then stop killing all the Puritans today. Stop doing that. That's my position. So

00:47:25.540 that's all for free. But here we go, a very Puritan-esque, which Matthew Henry was,

00:47:33.520 a Puritan, ask exegesis. He says this, and I think it's good. Note, whatever real mischief 0.90

00:47:41.740 is done to us, it is of our own doing. The devil can but persuade. He can push. He can tempt. He

00:47:49.780 can prod. But he cannot compel. He cannot force, that is. He can but say, cast thyself down,

00:47:58.380 Christian just as he said to Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple cast thyself down Christian but he

00:48:05.480 cannot throw us down himself every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust that is

00:48:13.100 desire and not forced but as James says enticed it is no new thing for the grace of God to be

00:48:22.300 turned into wantonness. License. The grace of God being a license for sin. And for men to take

00:48:29.840 encouragement in sin from the discoveries of God's goodwill towards sinners. But shall we

00:48:36.540 continue in sin that grace may abound? Throw ourselves down that the angels may bear us up?

00:48:43.660 God forbid. What do you call that? You call it loose exegesis. What else do you call fantastic

00:48:54.720 preaching? It's good preaching. The scripture can be used this way. And you know who was the

00:49:01.920 example for the Puritans in the way that they would exegete scripture? The apostles. Look at

00:49:08.220 the way that the apostles exegete the old testament how many texts are cited in the new

00:49:13.860 testament from the old especially from the psalms especially psalm 110 and the apostles without

00:49:20.060 blushing without a twinkle in the eye without a wink no they're just straight faced they say psalm

00:49:27.900 110 says this and that of course means this this this this this this this this this

00:49:34.780 and this is my sermon for today you want apostolic preaching you want puritan reformed preaching

00:49:45.060 then you have to have preaching with application

00:49:50.820 and if you condemn preaching with application then you are merely building tombs to the the

00:49:59.260 fathers and the prophets that came before you. But your present actions, they reveal your real

00:50:06.620 heart of hypocrisy. You hate the Puritans. You hate apostolic preaching with application. 1.00

00:50:16.180 You hate all these things. And the only reason you tolerate it or pretend to tolerate it when

00:50:22.200 it was done once upon a time is because those books can be edited we can embrace the reformers

00:50:30.180 and their soteriology that is their doctrine of salvation and we can reject all their political

00:50:35.340 theology because it was icky all right but this is a fantastic point that matthew henry brings up

00:50:46.760 what lesson can we learn from jesus resisting the second temptation which was what cast yourself

00:50:51.980 down and presume upon the power of God that he would command his angels to bear you up.

00:50:58.380 What principle can we glean that's not actually far-fetched, but is perfectly legitimate exegesis?

00:51:06.920 Well, the application that we can employ in our lives today is so too we should not cast

00:51:12.380 ourselves down. Satan can't push us. When we sin, it's because we jumped, not because we were pushed.

00:51:20.300 and so just as Jesus did not presume upon the mercies of God by putting the Lord his God to

00:51:28.040 the test neither should we presume upon the grace of God as a license for sin Satan can't push us

00:51:36.440 but we can jump and will God catch us in his mercy when we fall yes but God forbid that that be made

00:51:44.640 an excuse as a license for sin. Third and final temptation now, denying the Father's glory,

00:51:51.760 despairing of the Father's goodness, demanding the Father's power. Now the last and most heinous of

00:51:58.280 the temptations where the mask, as it were, of Satan is now pulled fully down. Satan masquerades

00:52:06.040 as an angel of light. As I said last week, if there was any time for him to employ this disguise,

00:52:11.340 it would have been in the temptations of Jesus.

00:52:14.440 That He would masquerade as an angel of light,

00:52:17.200 pretending to simply care about Jesus' physical well-being

00:52:20.740 and making sure that He's taken care of in the wilderness.

00:52:24.520 Or, I just want you, Jesus, to be worshipped

00:52:26.700 and rightly viewed by the populace

00:52:29.180 for your true identity as the Son of God.

00:52:31.380 So cast yourself down.

00:52:32.220 All these things seemingly are harmless.

00:52:34.840 Now, Jesus knows better.

00:52:36.660 And He doesn't fall for these temptations.

00:52:38.920 They're certainly not harmless,

00:52:40.060 but they at least carry the veil

00:52:42.340 of well-meaning temptations.

00:52:45.960 The last one, there's no veil.

00:52:49.560 There's no disguise.

00:52:51.500 At this point, Satan pulls out the big guns.

00:52:54.260 He knows the charade is up, if you will.

00:52:58.020 And he says this,

00:52:59.680 verses 8, 9, and 10 of our text.

00:53:01.400 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain.

00:53:04.140 Not the high temple to be seen by man,

00:53:07.240 but now a high mountain

00:53:08.540 so that Jesus can see man.

00:53:11.240 So that Jesus can see all the kingdoms of the world.

00:53:15.760 He showed him all the kingdoms of the world

00:53:17.560 and their glory.

00:53:19.000 And he, being Satan, said to Jesus,

00:53:21.260 all these I will give you

00:53:22.520 if you will fall down and worship me.

00:53:25.780 The mask is off.

00:53:27.860 It's very clear now

00:53:29.060 that Satan wants Jesus to sin,

00:53:33.880 to perform idolatry.

00:53:37.620 Then Jesus said to him, he doesn't just quote scripture now,

00:53:41.640 but Jesus now says to him before quoting scripture, be gone.

00:53:46.720 Be gone, Satan.

00:53:48.640 Jesus is now, in a holy and righteous sense, vexed.

00:53:53.960 His righteous indignation is now fully flared.

00:53:58.560 No more tolerance.

00:54:00.440 No more patience.

00:54:03.180 You've just commanded me to commit idolatry.

00:54:06.720 One last time, utilizing Matthew Henry, he says the following,

00:54:19.320 With abhorrence and detestation, Christ says,

00:54:24.020 The two former temptations had something of color, which would admit a consideration.

00:54:31.500 but this was so gross as to not as not to bear a parlay it appears abominable at the first sight

00:54:41.420 and therefore is immediately rejected while satan tempted christ to do himself a mischief

00:54:47.620 by casting himself down though he yielded not yet he heard it he was willing to hear it but now that

00:54:55.580 the temptation flies in the very face of God, Christ cannot bear it. Get thee hence, be gone,

00:55:03.140 Satan. Whatever is an abominable thing which we are sure the Lord hates, we must thus abominate it.

00:55:12.100 Far be it from us that we should have anything to do with it. In simple translation, Matthew Henry

00:55:21.280 is saying this, that which God hates, we must hate. That which God hates, we must hate. God hates

00:55:28.940 idolatry. The very last verse in John's first epistle is this, little children, keep yourself

00:55:36.040 from idols. God hates idolatry because he loves his own glory. We too must hate idolatry. I've

00:55:47.320 I said this many weeks, not just last week.

00:55:50.660 Many weeks because this verse, this text

00:55:53.000 is taken out of context so many times

00:55:55.460 by pietistic reformers

00:55:59.720 who build tombs and go on cruises

00:56:04.220 to visit the prophets,

00:56:07.220 John Calvin's grave,

00:56:09.560 John Knox,

00:56:10.600 all men that today if they were alive, 0.77

00:56:12.820 these same Calvinistic churches

00:56:14.920 would excommunicate these men.

00:56:17.320 They would.

00:56:20.620 And because that is their position, 0.97

00:56:22.940 the excommunication of the Reformers and the Puritans, 0.73

00:56:26.760 these so-called modern-day Reformed preachers,

00:56:31.040 they have taken a liking to Matthew 4, verses 8, 9, and 10,

00:56:36.880 and said the reason why Jesus is He saves His revulsion.

00:56:43.160 The highest degree of His anger,

00:56:45.780 white hot indignation out of all three temptations this is the one that bothers him the most and why

00:56:52.280 why is it that now in the third temptation that Jesus says that's it I've had it be gone I will

00:56:59.320 not tolerate another word from you Satan why this response from Christ well in the purview

00:57:07.400 of our so-called pretend reformed pastors today it's because here Jesus is tempted

00:57:13.080 with receiving the kingdoms of this world.

00:57:16.580 And if there's anything that Jesus

00:57:18.040 is the least interested in,

00:57:20.340 if there's anything that gives Jesus the ick,

00:57:24.400 it's politics and worldly power.

00:57:30.320 No.

00:57:31.800 It's idolatry.

00:57:34.300 Are you kidding me?

00:57:36.520 You're going to tolerate

00:57:38.260 John Bunyan's exegesis of

00:57:42.260 hooved animals

00:57:43.940 and then 0.99

00:57:48.240 say that the

00:57:50.240 exegesis, that's the

00:57:52.240 most plain reading of the text

00:57:54.040 possible, that

00:57:56.180 Jesus is infuriated because

00:57:58.480 Satan is

00:57:59.880 demanding idolatry, you're going

00:58:02.240 to say, no, no, no, that can't be it.

00:58:05.020 That can't be the

00:58:06.200 exegesis. That can't be the interpretation.

00:58:08.800 Jesus vexed because Satan is

00:58:10.180 literally telling him to bow down and worship it.

00:58:12.060 No, no, no.

00:58:13.100 That's not what really is upsetting Jesus.

00:58:15.020 What's upsetting Jesus

00:58:16.120 is the mere thought of worldly power.

00:58:20.860 No.

00:58:21.920 What's upsetting Jesus

00:58:23.100 is not being given the kingdoms of the world

00:58:26.160 because He has no desire for these kingdoms,

00:58:30.140 but it's being given the kingdoms of the world

00:58:32.660 by virtue of idolatry

00:58:34.480 rather than taking the kingdoms of the world

00:58:38.320 by virtue of obedience.

00:58:42.060 Jesus does not forego the offer of the kingdoms of the world.

00:58:46.740 Jesus takes that kingship.

00:58:50.280 And it is His now.

00:58:52.820 Satan was the prince of the air.

00:58:55.640 Was.

00:58:56.880 He is no longer.

00:58:58.460 When Satan offers the kingdoms of the world to Jesus,

00:59:01.020 it is a real offer because they really were His kingdoms.

00:59:05.240 They really belonged to Satan.

00:59:07.560 God gave Adam as viceroy of all earthly creation.

00:59:11.040 He gave him dominion over all the world in the garden.

00:59:14.700 Adam failed.

00:59:16.060 And when he failed,

00:59:17.960 he then forfeited his kingly rule and dominion to Satan. 0.93

00:59:23.400 Satan then has and possessed that earthly domain and rule 0.86

00:59:29.020 over the kingdoms of this earth

00:59:30.460 from the time of Adam's sin to the time of Christ's obedience.

00:59:35.580 But upon Christ's victory,

00:59:37.520 the dominion that was once the first Adams forfeited by him to Satan is then taken from

00:59:45.720 Satan by the second and final Adam and Jesus is now ruling in power in majesty and in glory

00:59:54.120 over all the kingdoms of the earth and like a little leaven which slowly works through the

00:59:59.660 whole batch of dough like a small mustard seed that slowly grows into an all earth encompassing

01:00:05.460 tree. So too, the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the face of the earth as the waters

01:00:11.960 cover the sea. It is not if, it is merely when. This is happening gradually and progressively

01:00:18.000 throughout human history because Jesus is not waiting to be king, but he is king. And he is

01:00:24.800 executing his kingly authority progressively, little by little, through his body on earth, 0.96

01:00:31.820 which is the church. 0.99

01:00:34.040 He is king and we now are his viceroys

01:00:37.480 expanding and pushing for the crown rights

01:00:40.440 of King Jesus over every square inch.

01:00:43.860 Jesus is disgusted by this third temptation

01:00:46.520 not because Jesus doesn't care for earthly power.

01:00:50.200 It is because Jesus doesn't care

01:00:52.560 to gain earthly power through idolatry.

01:00:56.020 Let's pray.

01:00:57.360 Father, help us to be faithful like Jesus

01:01:00.680 that we would want to see his kingdom expand over all the earth

01:01:05.620 and that we would rule faithfully

01:01:07.800 in all the different various vocations of life

01:01:12.000 that you have sovereignly appointed to us.

01:01:14.280 For some of us, it will be in a political and civil sphere.

01:01:19.140 Some of us are called to be kings,

01:01:22.040 to be lowercase p, princes.

01:01:24.800 Let us then, if that be your will, be Christian princes

01:01:28.800 to govern and to rule righteously.

01:01:32.480 The call of the Christian in this gospel age

01:01:35.100 is not to forego ruling,

01:01:37.940 but rather to rule righteously.

01:01:40.960 Help us to embrace that call

01:01:42.820 and that we would embrace it

01:01:44.320 always through the path which Christ embraced it,

01:01:47.560 which was by taking dominion

01:01:49.580 through obedience to God

01:01:51.680 rather than being given dominion

01:01:54.260 by compromise and idolatry.

01:01:57.420 We pray this for Christ's sake and in His name. Amen.

The NXR Podcast - September 09, 2024

THE SERMON - The Temptations Of Christ ｜ Part 2 - Matthew 4_1-11

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