As we come to the Word of God this morning, I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel. We have embarked upon a study of this amazing book. And we are now a few weeks into it. And this morning, we're going to be looking at primarily Mark chapter one verses 12 and 13. But I wanted to get a running start and back up a little ways. So follow along as I read in Mark one. "In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth, in Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opening and the spirit, like a dove descending upon Him, and a voice came out of the heaven: 'You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.' Immediately, the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him." I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, "The King and His Adversary." We're going to look closely at not only what Mark has said, but Matthew, and Luke. And as I was contemplating the glory of these passages and all that they represent, I was just stunned in my own heart when I compare the glories of his grace with what we are experiencing in our world today. It's such a stark contrast, isn't it? And as Christians we're appalled, we're disgusted with the escalating wickedness in our culture. There was a mass shooting and where was it Buffalo, New York, some white supremacist, shooting up people. I saw in Milwaukee, they've got a curfew, because gangs are fighting something like 21 people, wounded and I don't know, it just goes on and on and on. I was talking with a lady here in town, over in Pleasant View where we live. And she was frustrated with her child in the public school because there are kids in the school and this was a 12 year old kids in a school that identify them with themselves as being dogs. And so they're wearing collars and fuzzy things and all of this and, and if you bark at them to make fun of them, you can be suspended. I mean, it's just a level of insanity that it's hard to wrap your mind around. Of course, Satan has easy access to the minds and hearts of our children through computer screens, through the pollution of social media. I was reading where in summer of 2020, there was a 22% jump in emergency room trips for potential suicides by 12- to 17-year-olds, compared to the summer of 2019. The majority of those teens were girls. The article said right at the beginning of the pandemic from February to March 2020 emergency room visits for potential suicide attempts among girls spiked by about 50% compared to the same time in 2019. Just staggering. According to the CDC numbers there was an incredibly sharp increase in hospitalizations for self-harm among teens starting in 2009, with the sharpest increases among teenage girls, inbetween 2009 and 2019. The number of teens who reported having made a suicide plan within the past year increased by 44%. And by 2019, that number was one in six. One study showed a 60% increase in major depressive episode among teens between 2000 and 2019. But another striking figure from the CDC shows that suicide rates for people, ages 10 to 24, were basically stable between 2000 and 2007. But catch this, they leaped almost 60% by 2018. Now you read the experts, and they claim that much of this has to do with social media, the bullying, low self-esteem, all of these types of things. And then of course, when COVID hit kids, we're dealing with remote learning and restrictions in extracurricular activities and being cooped up in the house. And they would argue, and I think there's some merit to this, that excessive smartphone and screen use contributes to sleep and exercise deprivation, both of which are protective factors against depression. And certainly smartphones have become the most worshipped and destructive idol, I believe in the history of civilization. But I would argue that the biggest factor in all of this is the absolute total moral freefall in our country. Kids trying to find their identity in being a dog, or in being the opposite sex, is absolutely inconceivable. See, today, we live in a culture where there is no moral standard except what people want it to be. No value of human life. Right now we've got half of the country that's absolutely apoplectic over the possibility of Roe v Wade being overturned, which would make it more difficult for women to brutally dismembered their unwanted babies. We look at all of the issues going on in our country. We have the most incompetent, immoral and corrupt administration in the history of our country. We have an ungodly president that's clearly in a state of cognitive decline. I mean just all of the factors just point to absolute chaos and ruin in our country. Fewer and fewer people, according to all of the metrics have any interest at all in Christianity. And I would argue that most of evangelicalism today is thoroughly apostate. This whole progressive Christianity, where you view the Bible through the lens of a godless society, rather than viewing a godless society through the lens of the Bible. There's an utter disregard in churches today for the authority of Scripture. The true gospel has been so compromised, that it bears little resemblance to the biblical gospel. We have counterfeit gospel, prosperity, the social justice, the whole Neo Marxist woke, gospel. Dear Christian, we need a righteous king. We need a righteous king, one that is an absolute dictator that will rule with a rod of iron in absolute righteousness. We need the Prince of Peace to dethrone the prince and the power of the air. We need the King of kings and Lord of lords to return in all of his glory, we need his kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And beloved, that King is coming someday. And that's the king that we honor today. All that he has promised, will indeed happen. In fact, at the book of, at the end of the book of Revelation, He said, "Yes, I am coming quickly." And as I thought of all of this, I was reminded again of what Paul said in Second Corinthians four, beginning in verse 17, he said, "For momentary, light affliction, is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

So, beloved, everything that you can see with your eyes right here, right now, is temporal. But that which is unseen is eternal. And we have an opportunity to gaze into the eternal things, the unseen world here this morning. And I would also submit to you that as we do that, as we behold, through the eyes of faith, all that God is and all that He has promised, our souls will be exhilarated with what is really going on behind the scenes, and what will one day happen as Paul said, "Indeed, momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison." So be encouraged this morning, despite all of the darkness, all of the gloom, and hope I haven't made you too depressed. But to just show the beauty of the diamond of the gospel of Christ, against the backdrop of black velvet.

Now, as we come to Mark's historical narrative, I want you to remember now he is speaking primarily to Gentile believers, people that have come to Christ in Rome, and his emphasis is on the kingship of Jesus, Jesus, the Son of God, the Promised Messiah of Israel. And as you will recall, Mark's opening statement as a royal pronouncement of a divine deliverer verse one, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." And, of course, both the Jews and the Gentiles understood the term gospel to mean, the good news, or the arrival, or the ascendancy or the enthronement of a coming king who is going to bring peace and prosperity. They understood all of that. But Mark wants them to see that it is Jesus, not Caesar, that must be worshipped. But Mark has also underscored Jesus' desire to do the will of his Father in all things and we saw that the last time through his voluntary submission to baptism. Baptism for Jesus had a threefold purpose, first of all, to fulfill the righteous requirements of God, secondly, to identify with the sinners that He came to save, and then finally to divinely authenticate his ministry. And his baptism, therefore, was a regal ceremony. It was a royal coronation of the Messianic King, as the Spirit of God came and descended upon Him. It was a divine commissioning and inauguration of Jesus' public ministry that involves all three members of the Triune Godhead. But then something remarkable happens, as Mark says, "Immediately," he is taken into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. So this morning, we want to look at three things regarding this temptation: the significance of the temptation, the setting of the temptation and the substance of the temptation. And I trust this will be helpful to you for your edification, as we worship the Lord our God this morning.

First of all, let's look at the significance of the temptation. Notice verse 12. "Immediately the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness." Mark uses this term "immediately” a lot because he has kind of a staccato type of narrative. He doesn't spend a lot of time on things, and he just kind of moves right along, as we will see. So, immediately, think about this now, immediately, after the Lord Jesus' coronation by the Spirit, where the Spirit anointed him at his baptism, the Messiah King is led into the wilderness. The term here "immediately the Spirit impelled him to go", it comes from a Greek term, "ekballo." It's the idea of throwing out or driving out and here it carries the idea of the Spirit of God animating within the Lord Jesus, andurging to go into the wilderness. Remember, now Jesus walked with the spirit so perfectly, that the Spirit's will was his will. Would that we be the same way? Matthew tells us why the Spirit did this in Matthew four one, "Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil." So the picture here is not one of Christ being dragged into the wilderness by the devil to be tempted, because the initiator here is God, not Satan. Moreover, don't picture Jesus as some petulant, frightened child that's been grabbed a hold of by the scruff of the neck and is being dragged into the nursery by its mother where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. All right, that's not what's going on here. But rather beloved, this is a picture of the anointed of the Lord, who with his nostrils flared, and his eyes ablaze for battle, is being led into the wilderness to confront and defeat his adversary and ours, the devil, the enemy of our souls.

Now, it's also important for you to understand that God never tempts people to do evil. Sometimes I hear people talk about this and they get confused about it. God never tempts us to do evil, God ordained and decreed sin to enter into his perfect universe through the voluntary choices of moral creatures. And this is evidence by what God has said his own testimony. For example, in Isaiah 45, verse seven, he says, "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord do all these things." And again, again, he has ordained to allow evil to come into his universe, that he might dramatically display the glory of His perfections, his grace, his mercy, his love, even his wrath, and so forth. But it is a supreme blasphemy, to consider God as the author or the cause of sin. For example, in Leviticus 11, verses 44 and 45, we read that God is infinitely holy, meaning he is totally other, totally transcendent, totally separated from sin, and frankly, separated from anything that we can imagine. We also know according to Deuteronomy 32, and verse four, that he is bereft of any form of unrighteousness, he cannot act wickedly Job 34:10. And the prophet Habakkuk said in Habakkuk one and verse 13, "Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor." So Scripture reveals that God cannot be tempted by evil, or solicit anyone to do evil. And certainly this is affirmed by James in James one in verse 13, where we read, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone." So beloved, with confidence, we can say with the psalmist, in Psalm 19, verse 19, "The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous all together."

Now, as we think about God ordaining this scenario, of the Spirit taking Jesus into the wilderness to do battle with Satan, it's absolutely amazing to think that once again, God has ordained this, that this was part of his plan. In fact, in first John three, eight, we read that, that "The devil had sinned from the beginning", referring to the first time that he rebelled against God, but He goes on to add, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." Think about that. This means that even the devil's diabolical works, had to have been divinely ordained. Because Christ was delivered, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God in Acts 2:23. So none of this catches God by surprise. So God has ordained evil to exist and he even ordained this temptation by Satan. In fact, speaking through Isaiah, The Lord said in Isaiah 45, beginning of verse six, "I am the Lord, there is no other, besides me there is no God." And then he went on to add "The one forming light and creating darkness, causing wellbeing and creating calamity I am the Lord, who does all these."

Dave Harrell  

And indeed, we know that all of his elective purposes were ordained from all eternity.  "Prochronon aionion" from all eternity, which literally means in the original language before time began. We see this phrase in Second Timothy one nine and Titus one two, before time began and by implication, this means that there was a divine decree for Satan to rebel, there was a divine decree for Adam and Eve to sin in the garden. And by imputation, all men to sin in Adam. There is a divine decree for Satan to tempt Christ, as well as Satan's future empowerment of the Antichrist, and on and on it goes, all had to have been known by an omniscient God, who also ordained them by his uninfluenced willed, thus requiring, according to Revelation 13, eight, "The lamb to be slain from the foundation of the world." And I know that's a lot of heavy theology, but I want you to be able to think that through some, I want you to realize that all that we're reading here is something that God in His sovereignty, ordained, to come to pass, to ultimately bring glory to himself, as we will see, so in the providence of God for His glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, is led by the Spirit to go into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Yes, Jesus was the Messiah King, but he also had to be presented as the suffering slave who must be assaulted by the opposing king, Satan himself and soundly defeat him, thus proving that he was the divinely coronated King, able to overthrow the usurper. That's what's going on here. Remember, it was Jesus who came to crush the serpent's head, Genesis 3:15. Right? Jesus came to overthrow the unlawful and temporary god of this world, small g, referring to Satan. Second Corinthians four four, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil." As we examined a few minutes ago in first John three, eight. So think about it, the most holy one had to be tempted by the most vile one, the most majestic Son of God must also be humiliated as the Son of Man, he must do this, to prove his power over him and to defeat him. You might think of it this way, the first Adam, when tempted in the garden, succumbed. The second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, when tempted in the wilderness, resisted, and his victory became the victory for all who are united to him in saving faith, through his voluntary submission to the Father's will, and the Spirit's direction, then he was tempted by Satan, Jesus. As the last Adam fulfilled the law, the first atom violated.

So the Messiah King is also depicted now as the suffering servant that has to come to be a sacrifice for sin and my what a stunning paradox. He was both the messianic king but also the suffering slave. This was what was so hard for the early Christians to understand, especially the Jewish believers. Therefore, he had to submit himself to the humiliation and overcome the temptations of his greatest adversary the devil. Now, think about this, had Jesus succumbed to Satan's attempts to persuade him to abandon his humiliation, to abandon all of his suffering, had he chosen relief over blessing as we tend to do, he would have sinned. And at that point, he would no longer be the spotless Lamb of God. To be the propitiation for sins, that means there would be no atonement. That means there would be no salvation. He would no longer be able to claim power and authority over the usurper. So all of this was a necessary path for him to tread, one that would eventually lead him to the cross, and ultimately, lead him to ascend his throne in his kingdom as King of kings. So that's the significance of the temptation.

Let's examine for a moment the setting of the temptation. Notice again, verse 12. "Immediately the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts." Now this wilderness is a stretchabout 35 by 15 miles, a stretch of desert that comes up from the western part of the of the Dead Sea toward Jerusalem. As you've heard me say before, since I've been there, some of you I know have and those of you who are going to Israel with me, you will see this. We will be in it quite a bit, but this is a barren, desolate place it's filled with, with rocky ledges and cliffs, massive cliffs and ravines, steep canyons. It's extremely arid, it's blistering hot in the summer, bone chilling cold at night. It's utterly inhospitable. And especially in that day, not as much today, but in that day, it was the haunt of hyenas and jackals and wild hogs and panthers and leopards, and even lions. So this is a place you did not want to be in, also filled with scorpions,poisonous snakes. So we're talking about a dangerous and an isolated wilderness, no place to hide, no place to dwell in safety. No one around to help and there's nothing to eat. Now, Matthew and Luke provide a lot more details about Christ's temptation than what Mark does. Mark gives a greatly condensed version. But I want you to understand before we look at some of these details from Matthew and mainly from Luke, that Mark does not omit those details, because they are unimportant, but rather, because he wants to move quickly to the main theme of his story, which is to establish Christ's royal authority over all evil forces and thus validate his royal credentials; credentials as the Messiah King announced by John the Baptist. And what you will see, as the chapter unfolds, Mark will reveal Christ's authority over Satan and his world system, as we're gonna see here in verses 12 through 13. And then in verses 14 and 15, has authority over sin and its power in verses 16 through 20, over sinners in their bondage to both.

So again, verse 13, "He was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan, and He was with the wild beasts." Now, why the wilderness? Why not take him to the ghettos of Jerusalem or someplace else? Why the wilderness? Well, I think there's two things. I don't want to make a big deal out of this. But I think these have merit. And the first is that this is a typology of the Old Testament testing of Israel in the wilderness. I think this is kind of a secondary reason, but it certainly fits here. Remember, Deuteronomy eight in verse two, God says, "You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." And there, in the midst of divine affliction, God's miraculous provision, both humbled the people, as well as tested their obedience. There he provided manna for them as food; food, by the way that was decreed by the word of God, which is most significance. It was through his command. Therefore, ultimately, it was not the bread, it was not the manna that kept them alive, It was the Word of God that kept them alive. But I think, secondly, and this is, I think, the more primary issue, the wilderness also completely isolated the Lord Jesus from any protection, any means of provision, any kind of human care, and thus required him to be utterly dependent upon his father, and the Holy Spirit. So folks, this is a scene of desertion and danger. It's an opportunity for him to be in the midst of the terrifying effects of the curse. The curse that God made on sin, even in creation, and when you get into these barren wilderness regions, you see, the effects of the curse displayed most vividly. And as I think about it, it is the absolute antithesis of the ineffable beauty of the Garden of Eden where perhaps in his shadow I know he once walked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve and had fellowship with them prior to their sin and his curse upon them. But even then, he knew that a day would come when he would no longer be in the garden, but he would be in the wilderness, in a state of humiliation and suffering. And there he would be made utterly dependent upon his heavenly father. And he was made in that place utterly vulnerable to the supernatural assaults of his arch enemy, the assaults of Satan and his minions, his adversary, and ours.

And by the way, those assaults are always limited by what God permits. Matthew tells us in Matthew four and verse one, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He then became hungry." And we're going to look at this a little more closely, we've seen now the significance of the temptation, and the setting, let's look more of the substance of it. And here I want to take you also to Luke's gospel in Luke chapter four, beginning in verse one. The inspired apostle tells us this, "Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days and when they had ended, He became hungry." Now, this is reminiscent of the 40 days of fasting by both Moses in Exodus 34, as well as Elijah in First Kings 19, two of the divinely chosen representatives who, who spoke for God spoke on his behalf, who represented God before his people. And I find it interesting as well that these are the same two Old Testament prophets that later appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17. But Mark and Luke's account show that Jesus was tempted throughout the 40-day period, it wasn't like just at the end, all of a sudden, there were temptations. We don't know what all those temptations looked like, but they were there. No doubt Jesus was in constant communion with his Father, the Spirit. And Satan and his meant minions were doing all manner of things to distract him, to scare him, to discourage him, to tempt him. I mean, all we have to do is look at our own experience, and we get a little sample, little minute sample of what Jesus would have experienced in a much more profound way. But the three recorded temptations occurred at the end of the 40 days when Jesus was the weakest physically. I might also add that Jesus, we know, was tempted throughout his life. It wasn't like this was the only time, the only 40 dayperiod. In Hebrews chapter four and verse 15, we read that he "was tempted in all things", which means at all points in his life. He "was tempted in all things, as we are, yet without sin." In Luke nine, verse 58, we read that his life was filled with temptations and hardships Luke 19:41, his life was filled with sorrows, Verse 44, with agonies. That was the life of our Lord. He even said to his disciples, in Luke 22:28, "You have continued with Me in My temptations", the King James Version says. And he would later be sorely tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane before he went to the cross.  So indeed, we read in Hebrews 4:15, that he "was tempted in all things again", at all points of in his life, "as we are, yet without sin." And it's really important for you to understand, beloved, that because Jesus had no sin nature, he was unable to sin. Won't that be amazing when we won't be able to sin? Hebrews seven, verse 26, "For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners", meaning he had no sin nature, which would be the source of any act of sin. And because of this, Jesus said of himself, in John 14:30, "The ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in Me." In other words, there was no sin in Jesus, to which Satan could appeal. Now someone will say, Well, if he didn't have a sin nature and sin didn't appeal to him, in what way can he identify with us? Ah, but what you failed to consider is that his temptations are, were, far greater than ours because he never yielded to them. We yield to them immediately. And we might fight them a little bit, but then we yield. But not so, the Lord Jesus, He endured them to the to the extreme, plus he was infinitely holy. And therefore, his sensitivity to sin was infinitely greater than ours. It was far more heinous to him than it is to us. In Hebrews 12, beginning of verse three we read "For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin."

So indeed, he was able to resist, because he was totally yielded to the control of the Spirit of God to help him do the will of the Father. Whenever I think of our sinless Savior, I'm reminded of something that I think is quite intriguing. If you look at the furniture that was in the tabernacle, and then later in the temple, you will see that they were magnificent pieces of furniture, they all were symbolic of various aspects of who Christ is and the gospel and so forth. But there was one piece of furniture that was missing. And that is a chair. There was no place to sit. The priests of Israel, you see, could never sat down, because their work was never done. Sin was always present. Because sin was always present, a sacrifice was always necessary. But the Lord Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, according to Hebrews 9:11, entered the perfect tabernacle not made with hand, and he offered a single sacrifice. And Hebrews 10:12 says, "And he sat down." Why? Because he was the sinless Lamb of God. Unlike the priests of Israel, Jesus did not offer the blood of bulls and goats, which can never take away sins, Hebrews 10, four, but rather, he offered himself, his own precious blood, the blood of the sinless Lamb of God, which secured for us an eternal redemption, Hebrews 9:12;fascinating statement. It secured for us an eternal redemption. His was a better sacrifice Hebrews 9:23, one that never needed to be repeated, as in the blasphemous Roman Catholic mass. Hebrews 10:18, "For where there is forgiveness of the sins, there is no longer any offering for sin." Might also add as an important footnote, here with, dear friends, is the glorious sufficiency of the atonement, established by its efficacy. Meaning its ability to produce a desired and intended result. That is to say, that by dying on the cross as the sinless Lamb of God, Christ actually, not potentially, saved his people. He didn't give his life to make salvation hypothetical. He didn't give his life to make salvation possible. He didn't give his life to merely make salvation available. He gave his life to actually, quote, "Save His people from their sins", Matthew 1:21. You see, his death was not to make us redeemable, but to redeem us. His death was not a provisional atonement, but an actual atonement. Something actually happened on the cross and for this reason, Jesus declared, "It is," what? "It is finished", John 19:30. He didn't say, "It is possible. So again, he entered the Holy Place once for all, having obtained the eternal redemption.

Now back to the substance of the temptation. Matthew and Luke record three specific temptations, we're going to look mainly at Luke's. And I think the first reason why Satan tempted him, and what he was up to, was to tempt Christ to doubt his father's love. It's pretty obvious here, Luke four verse three. "And the devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell the stone to become bread.'" By the way, it's interesting that Satan and his minions never questioned the deity of Christ. Unlike the liberals do. Oh, what flattery, you're the Son of God. And if you're the Son of God, tell the stone to become bread. In other words, you can do this. You need to feed yourself, you're starving. Now, obviously, it's not a sin to want something to eat when you're starving, but Satan wanted Jesus to doubt the Father's love for Him, to make him think that somehow the father was indifferent towards him, to make him think, in his humanity, you know what, this isn't fair. I mean, this has gone too far. It's what 40 days, I think I'm going to die. I want relief, more than blessing. I'll take things into my own hands. So yeah, I can do that. I'll take that stone and turn it into bread and I'll eat it. But no, in verse four, we read, "And Jesus answered him and said, 'It is written, man shall not live on bread alone,'" Quoting from Deuteronomy, eight three. Again, what sustains our life, dear friends, is not food, but obedience. In fact, that verse goes on to say, obedience to everything that precedes out of the mouth of the Lord. Once again, it was the Word of God that sent the manna that saved the Israelites, not the manna itself. For this reason, Jesus told his disciples in John four 34, “'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.'" And dear Christian, that must be the priority for us, as believers, and when it is, God is going to take care of all of the rest of the stuff in his own way, in his own time. We need to trust Him. We need to remember that God is never ever indifferent to our plight, to our difficult circumstances. In fact, we read this in Matthew six, beginning of verse 31, Jesus says, "'Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' Or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles,'" In other words, unbelievers, "'eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Would that we all remember what Paul said regarding the faithfulness and the power of God to sustain us and meet all of our needs. He said in Philippians 4:19, My God will supply some of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. I didn't quote that right. My God will supply most of your needs, according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. That's not right either, is it? I left out the word all, "My God will supply all your needs, according to his riches, and glory in Christ Jesus." So as we look at this, we see that Jesus refused to exercise his divine power to satisfy his own needs. Rather, he remained steadfast in his determination to trust His Father, come what may, to trust him to meet his needs, in his timing for his purposes, even as Israel had to trust God for their sustenance in the wilderness.  Now, so too, must the Son of God.

So first he wants Jesus to doubt the Father's love. Secondly, to doubt the Father's plan. Notice he goes on to say, "And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, 'I will give You all this domain, and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You worship me, it shall all be Yours.'" In other words, to get someone to say, to think to themselves, in this case, Jesus, you know, maybe there is a better plan. And if I go this direction, I can avoid all of the suffering that's ahead of me, I can avoid the cross. And by the way, it's part of our sinfulness to try to find a shortcut to glory, right? Especially when the long way may include suffering,persecution, and discipline. We look for shortcuts. And I want you to notice, too, that Satan is a master at half-truths. I mean, Satan does not possess the kingdoms of the world. All right. He is simply allowed to rule them temporarily. So all of this is just arrogant bluster. So he twists scripture to make it say what he wants it to say. But we are all tempted to lose faith in God's plan, especially when the going gets tough, don't we? It's tempting to do that, and to take things in our own hands. When we do, we unwittingly surrender to Satan's rule. And we returnonce again into his domain, because indeed, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death. I think of a pastor that I talked with at the last Shepherd's Conference in California, dear guy, I had never met him before and he began to talk with me and read one of my books, and he was just sharing his heart. He said, "You know, back several years ago, I compromised on sound doctrine to avoid a church split. Inside, I knew it was wrong, but somehow I just couldn't bring myself to fight the people, especially the leadership." One of them had a homosexual son, so he went soft, he said, on the whole LGBTQ agenda, and eventually, the church went full woke. And he said, "I ended up pastoring an apostate church and feeling guilty every time I stood in the pulpit." And he said, "through another series of events, I ended up losing my church, I lost my marriage, and I've lost all my kids, not to death, but they're just living ungodly lives." And he said something interesting. He said, "I felt like it was either go with the flow or go out the door." That was a quote. I understand that, we're all tempted to do these things when difficult times arise, so we come up with a way that we think is a better plan. And then we end up regretting it. So Satan says, you know, hey, I want you to do this, worship me and all this shall be yours. And Jesus answered him, quoting Deuteronomy 6:13, "'It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'" Jesus wasn't going to fall for it. The bait looked luscious, but he knew that inside was a hook. It's interesting, too, isn't it, that Jesus was always perfectly armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We read about that in Ephesians, 6:17, and so on, and that always proved to be invincible and impairing the blows of Satan.

So Satan wanted him to doubt the Father's love, doubt the Father's plan, by the way, can't you identify with some of this as you hear it? But then thirdly, wanted to presume upon His Father's Grace. And here we have, frankly the original prosperity gospel. Luke four verse nine, we read, "And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple." This may be the southeast corner that overlooks the Kidron Valley, that's about a 200 foot drop off, in that day. And he "said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here for it is written, 'He will command His angels concerning You to guard You. On their hands, they will bear You up so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.'" Oh, he's quoting there from that great Messianic Psalm in Psalm 91. I find it interesting the Devil loves to quote Scripture. Have you ever noticed that when you read these passages? Oh, he loves to use the Bible. I had a lady not too long ago, asked my opinion on, I think it was three of the most well-knownwomen preachers that are so popular today that so many women, in particular are following. She asked me what I thought about them. And I said, "Well, I I believe they are narcissistic charlatans and heretics that do not know Christ and compromise the gospel. And they're deceiving people into hell." Well she was horribly offended, and she said, "Yes, but Dave, they preach right out of the Bible". And I said, "so does Satan." So does Satan; they preach what they want it to say not what it says. They do not know or care about rightly dividing the word of God. Their hermeneutic is not solid exegesis, but selfish, narci-Jesus, they interpret the Bible in such a way as to make it all about you; that God exists for me, rather than me existing for him. So the Bible is all about me and my needs, not God and his glory. And this is reminiscent of what Paul said, in Second Timothy, "For that day will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but they will accumulate for themselves teachers, in accordance to their own desires. They want to have their ears tickled, they will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside into myths," and so on. And dear friends, Satan is brilliant and he is cunning in facilitating this very thing through false teachers, who will use the Bible to make it say something that it does not say. So Satan wanted Jesus to jump. After all, I can hear him say, I mean, your father is trustworthy, isn't he? Aren't you going to trust him? Aren't you going to have faith in him? Your father is a God of love, doesn't he want you to exercise your faith in him? Didn't he promise that if you cast yourself down from here, he will command his angels to deliver you. I mean, I'm just repeating what he said, is what it says right there. I mean, you can read it as well as I am. All I'm suggesting is that you honor God enough to trust Him at His word and do this thing. Just think of the glory that will give him and the relief that it will give you. Again, this is the original prosperity gospel, name it and claim it right. With enough faith, you can release the power of God on your behalf. And for a little bit of money, and we'll show you where you can send that, I'll show you how you can manipulate God to pry the goodies out of his stingy fingers. Dear Christian, please understand, true faith never presumes upon God to satisfy your self-interests. Moreover, it never dictates to God what he must do. True faith says "Father, I don't understand all that's going on here. And it is painful, and I am hurting, but I will trust you. Even if it takes me to the grave. I will let you deal with me in the way that you know is best, because I don't know what's best. And while I'm praying for a, b, and c, if that doesn't happen, I know you have a different plan. And I will rejoice in that." True faith never uses narci-Jesus to manipulate God and claim promises that he never made. Because dear friends, God is sovereign over man, we are not sovereign over him. Now had Jesus jumped it would result in two possible outcomes. First of all, he could have died in the fall and not be able to be a sacrifice for sins as was predicted in Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and so forth. Or he would presume upon God, His grace and forced God to miraculously snatch him up and deliver him from death and thus violate God's plan and interject his own plan to manipulate God to do things his way rather than trusting in God and letting him do things his way.

So, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" There he is, quoting Deuteronomy six, verse 16. And then back to Mark's gospel. He says, "When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time." You know, when I read this, I remember what James said in James four, seven, "Submit, therefore to God", by the way, this is the key to spiritual warfare. This is how you do battle with Satan. All right? Frankly, you ignore Satan, but you, "submit, therefore to God." And then he says, "resist the devil, and he will," what? "He will flee from you." It doesn't say bind the devil, and he won't bother you anymore, doesn't say use mystical incantations and rebuke the devil, or exorcise the devil. But just submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you and that's what Jesus did. We also read in Ephesians, six and other passages "stand firm against the schemes of the devil," resist, stand firm. Those are the keys. This is what Jesus did. So Satan, Christ's archenemy who is implacably hostile to God, now leaves the field defeated.

And in Mark one, the end of verse 13, we read, "and the angels were ministering to Him." What a precious statement, who knows what all that included. I'm sure it would have includedsomething delicious to eat. Can you imagine angelic food? Maybe even angel food cake? I'm not sure. But certainly, those angels ministered to him. So the Father in His great love and in His perfect timing, sent his angels to render service to his beloved Son. What an amazing thought, and what a parallel in all of our lives. Well, as we close this morning, I want you to remember a few things. Remember that Satan uses the same methods on us as he, as he did on Jesus. He tempts us to doubt God's love, he tempts us to question his plan. And he puts within our minds, another plan that is seemingly a better plan and then that appeals to our flesh. And therefore we presume upon His grace, we put him to the test. And he also attempts us, or he tempts us, with the allurements of the world; things that never satisfy, they always make promises, but they never satisfied. It's like the euphoria of drugs. At first, it's absolutely inexpressibly glorious, people tell me that abused drugs. But over time, they lose their effect, and it takes more and more drugs to somehow get even close to where it originally was until eventually, they have no effect at all. And you die. Because Satan is a liar, and there is no truth in him. Please know that he is absolutely ingenious in his ability to twist scripture, to make it say that which it does not say, and cause you to believe a lie that appeals to your flesh. And all the time you will think that you are being biblical. That's the great danger.

So therefore, we want to be all the more careful in rightly dividing the word of God, and to resist the devil by submitting to God, standing firm in our faith wearing the whole armor of God. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for these eternal truths that speak so practically to each of our lives. I pray that by the power of your Spirit, we will be able to live consistently with what we've heard today and beyond that, that you might move us to a whole new level of worship, as we contemplate The glories of Christ, not only as the King of Kings but also the one who became the suffering slave on our behalf. That he might redeem us from our sins. And Father, if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to truly be in fellowship with the living God through faith in Christ. I pray that you will bring such overwhelming conviction to their heart today. That they will confess their sin they will repent of their sin and cry out for the mercy that is available to them through the precious blood of Christ, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.