Navigating Temptations: Insights from Matthew 4 with Don

In this sermon, Don delves into Matthew chapter 4, focusing on the theme 'living for what lasts.' He explores the story of David's mighty men, particularly Benaiah, and the significance of battling the 'lion of winter.' Don illustrates key lessons on temptation from Jesus' confrontation with the devil. He highlights five essential facts about temptation and addresses a rarely discussed audience: older individuals. Don outlines six specific temptations they face and underscores two crucial applications: the enduring nature of lions (temptations) and their unchanging nature. Join Don as he offers practical insights and biblical wisdom to help believers of all ages resist temptation and stay true to their faith.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
01:40 Living for What Lasts: The Lion of Winter
01:55 David's Mighty Men: Lessons from Benia
03:01 The Battle with Temptation
05:17 Five Essential Facts About Temptation
08:48 Four Essential Applications from Jesus' Temptation
14:24 Three Universal Temptations
21:58 Temptations for the Mature
33:09 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Transcript

Good to see everybody tonight. You have a Bible this evening. We're going to the fourth division of Matthew's great gospel and we will spend almost all of our time. There tonight, Matthew chapter four, and while you're opening your Bible and getting settled, certainly welcome to joining the Welcome you received already from Reagan.

We're glad you're with us tonight. If you're visiting with this church family, as I am this week, we especially welcome you. Thank you for coming our way and thank you for the encouragement that you give us by being here tonight. I know. I know that there are so many things that buy for your time and your attention through the course of a week.

I know that for most of you, you worked hard today or you went to school all day and you got home and time to grab a bite of food and then make your way to the building tonight. Thank you for making that effort. Thank you for the encouragement that you give us by doing that. So good to see all of you.

One of the things about coming back to this area where I've been so many times in various churches is getting to renew acquaintance with so many and see people who are visiting here tonight who mean an awful lot to me and with whom I've shared some life over the past many years. And so thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you for your encouragement so very much. Are we doing okay with that? Is that good? Alright. Alright. I wanna talk with us tonight a little bit as we as we continue our theme about living for what lasts, living for what lasts tonight in particular, we want to talk about the lion of winter, the lion of winter, and we'll explain what that means in just one minute or two.

David's mighty men, David's mighty men, were so named for good reason. I want you to consider, for example, the gentleman named Benia. It was said of him, the Ben Valiant Fighter from Kazi performed great exploits. He struck down Moabs, two mightiest warriors. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

Think about that. Think about what was just said about this mighty man of David. He went number one down into a pit. Can you imagine that? He went down into a pit evidently knowing that there was a predator there, that there was a lion there, and this was on a snowy day. And so this would be a day when footing would be treacherous.

And yet he's going to go into that pit with a lion on a day when footing is going to be hard and. He prevailed. He killed a lion against all lots on a day that there was snow on the ground. Footing would be treacherous. He prevailed and killed a lion. And the point of that is that he killed a lion in winter.

And I wanna suggest you tonight, ladies and gentlemen, that if you live long enough, you're going to have to do so as well. The Bible speaks of two great lions. It speaks of the lion of the tribe of Judah, and it speaks about our adversary, the devil who is a roaring lion. Who walks about seeking whom he may devour.

Now, those two lions did mortal battle with immortal consequences in Matthew chapter four, and you understand, you know the story that of course Jesus prevailed. But the fact of the matter is that you're going to have to do battle with that roaring lion as well, whether you're in the winter of your life.

Or the spring or the summer or fall of your life, wherever you may be, you're going to have to do battle with this lion. Now, we tend to think about temptation and think that that's just kind of a young man's game, right? Seconded two and 22, we, we quote this a lot for our young people, that you need to flee youthful less.

And so we tend to think that temptation is kind of a young person's battle, but it's more than that. If you are, if you're in the winter of life, if you're in the mature season of your life. You're going to have to face temptation as well. So lemme tell you what we're gonna do tonight very quickly. We're going to take most of our time tonight, and we're going to say some things, address the matters of temptation that are applicable to everyone in this room, but then we want to take the last part of our lesson tonight, and we want to talk to a segment that very rarely is ever addressed along this line.

We want to talk not to young people about this tonight, but we want to talk tonight to some people who are a little bit older, maybe my generation, or if you're here and you round it up, you would be in my generation and you know who you are in that, don't you? We very seldom say anything about temptation to that age group, but I want you tonight when we get to the end of things, so.

I want you to, you should have received a handout tonight, and I know, I know you've looked at that handout and you've done the math. I know that. And so you've looked at it and thought, okay, five and four is nine and three, that's 12, and two is 14, and one of those has six subpoints, and that's two. Now, usually my sermons, I say, say three points in the lesson, yours.

But tonight, as Reagan said, buckle up because 20 points in the lesson jar. So I hope on, I hope you brought something for breakfast. Let me just say that also tonight. But we're going to blitz through some things tonight as we think about this. Let's begin with this tonight. Let's begin with five essential facts about temptation.

They're very simple. Number one, temptation is not a sin. It's an invitation to sin. It's an important distinction, isn't it? The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in all points, like as we are and yet without sin. Think about it this way. Think of it as the devil ringing your doorbell. You open the door and invite him in, you're going to have trouble.

Genesis four says that. Sin lies at the door. But if you open the door, let him in, bad things will happen. You refuse to open the door and eventually the devil will go away. The Bible promises that James four, in beginning of verse seven, resists the devil and he will flee from you. And so temptation is not a sin, it's an invitation to sin.

Number two, temptations evolve, but they never stop. Temptations evolve, but they never stop. The temptations for the spring of life, the summer of life, the fall of life, the winter of life, they typically differ from one another a good bit. But the common denominator is they never go away. You understand that your grand and grandmother and grandfather.

Are tempted. Your elders in this church are tempted. Your deacons in this church are tempted. Your preachers in this church are tempted. Every person in this room is tempted, none or exempt. Now, temptations evolve over time, but they never stop. Number three, temptation for the mature can be catastrophic.

And what I mean by that is that when the mature, when those who are in the. Older age of life when they succumb to temptation and fall, the effects are often catastrophic because now we're talking about individuals who are leaders. They're bible class teachers, and they're mentors, and they're ones that others look to.

For counsel, they are shepherds and deacons and preachers in a local church. They are moms and dads and grandparents who influence generations to come. When any Christian falls, damage is done. But when a leader falls, the consequences are multiplied many times over. Temptation for the mature can be catastrophic.

Number four, temptations of attitude can be especially challenging. Temptations of the flesh, they're easy to identify. They're the things that we look at and we know that are wrong. Immediately see them. We know we shouldn't do that, but temptations of attitude. Can be a particular challenge for all of us being self-centered or self-indulgent, or refusing to forgive or racist or unkind or tolerating should repulse a Christian.

We're often oblivious to those kinds of things because again, those are not such tangible things that we can, that we could immediately see. So temptations of attitude can be especially challenging. And then number five, temptation has two unchanging constants. There are two constants of temptation that never, ever change.

The first is that God knows us. He loves us, and he is with us. It's one of the great keys themes in the New Testament. I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you. So God knows us, loves us, and he is with us. But the second constant is that our adversary, the devil knows us. Hates us and lurks in the shadows, and so he too knows us, but with a very sinister motive.

He hates us and wants to see us fall, and so he lurks in the shadows. He doesn't come clean about what he wants and what he is trying to do. Temptation is often so very. Subtle and those two things, those two truths never ever changed. Five essential facts about temptation. There are four essential applications I think that come from that.

When we think about the lion of winter, tempting to mature, you have to think about Jesus. Look at Matthew four with me, beginning in verse one. So Matthew and Luke both chronicled the temptations of Jesus in Matthew's account. In chapter four, verse one, he begins it saying this. Then Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness of the desert to be tempted by the devil.

And when he had fasted 40 days, 40 nights afterward, he was, he was hungry. I want you to think about that with me for just a moment. So Jesus comes, or the the devil comes. To temp Jesus. Have you ever thought about that? Why did he even try? It is amazing to me that this story is recorded in our Bible. Why would the devil think that he might be able to tempt Jesus?

Because he knew who Jesus was. I know that he knew his own demon, said to Jesus on one occasion, what have we to do with you Jesus, son of the most high God? Well, if, if the devil's demons knew that, he knew that. And so what on Earth made him ever think that he could tempt Jesus? Why is this narrative even here for us?

Well, I think probably for four reasons. Number one, that if Jesus was to destroy the works of the devil, he had to prove his superiority over the devil. And I know that's true. The Bible says in one John three 18th that whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason, look at this, the reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. So if Jesus was going to prove his superiority. Over the devil, he had to overcome these kinds of temptations. Secondly, secondly, by being tempted, Jesus understands us. The Bible says that in the book of Hebrews, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one in whom every respect is been tempted as we are and yet without sin.

And so we can come confidently to the throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so by being tempted, Jesus understands us. That's a wonderful thing. Now concomitantly, the other side of that is that we then, by being tempted, we understand Jesus. We know something about Jesus', humanity.

It tells us something. It makes us feel that our Lord knows and understands. What we are going through. We sometimes say to people, I know I know how you feel. We really don't, but Jesus does. And it helps us to know that Jesus really does, and then forth how Jesus dealt with Satan is how we deal with Satan.

This is extraordinarily important, ladies and gentlemen. How did Jesus deal with the devil in the desert? He did not call Angels down to extricate him from that situation. He did not pull a miracle out of his pocket. So what did he do? Well, you've heard this in a thousand sermons and Bible classes, haven't you?

That he simply said, it is written now, more literally, it is. It remains written as if Jesus was saying to the devil, look, it has been written by God. It is written by God. It will forever be written by God. These words do not change, and how he dealt with the devil is how we have to deal with him as well.

Why? Well, because times change and customs change, culture changes, but God's word does not. And so that means of dealing with the devil is still as applicable today as it was 20 ago. Now with those four applications in mind, one quick side note here, at the end of the Temptations, the text says that the devil then left him.

For a season, that's an important thing. There are two aspects of that. The devil did what James four says, that he would resist the devil, he will flee from you. That's exactly what happened here. But the other important element of that is that he left him for a season. And so you've heard this in class as I know that the implication is that it would come back and he always does.

He always comes back and tries again, and he did with Jesus. And you say, well, where did, where did the devil ever try to temp Jesus again? Well, a couple of places, at least. One is in Matthew chapter 16 after the after Jesus has the, the mountaintop experience of the transfiguration. And he comes back down and he meets with the apostles and he says to them, the son of a must go to Jerusalem.

He will be delivered in the hands of sinful men. They will crucify him, but on the third day, he will rise again. You remember what happened? Peter takes him aside and the text says that Peter began to rebuke him and to say, Lord, this will never happen to you. And do you remember what Jesus said? Get behind me.

Who? Satan. Get behind me. Satan. And so that was one of the times that he came back to Jesus. Another, no doubt would be on the cross in Matthew 27 when the people, Peter said they, they went by and they hurled their insult at him. And then that Matthew narrative says that they wagged their heads at him and they said, you, you that destroyed the temple in three days and build it again.

Come down from the cross and we will believe you. Well, who do you reckon was behind that leading gentleman? I tell you, our adversary. The devil was behind that. Asking him, begging him, come down, save yourself from this kind. Of excruciating situation. Four essential applications. It leads to three universal temptations.

The setting of Matthew four and Luke four are the temptations is noteworthy. Now, there are three things about the setting. These are not on your handout tonight, by the way, if you're taking notes. But there are three things about the setting. The first is that Jesus had just been baptized. Amazing things happen when Jesus was baptized, when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit of God descended on him in the form of a do, and the voice of God broke the silence of heaven and validated the person of Jesus.

And so it was an amazing time. It was a mountaintop experience for Jesus. And it tells us that, that even when you were at a, on a spiritual high as it were. You can be very vulnerable to temptation. You know, temptations don't end the day you're baptized. They don't end the day that you are married or when you get a promotion at work or when you retire.

They just evolved. And so this was a time when Jesus was certainly on a mountaintop. The second thing about the setting is that he's alone. He's alone in the desert, and that can be a very vulnerable time. Three Dog Night used to sing that one is the loneliest number. You young people are gonna have to ask your parents who three Dog Night was.

There really was a group named that, Hey, they really were. I. One is the loneliest, number one can make you very vulnerable in regard to temptation, because on the one hand, when you are alone, it's easy to feel like, well, God's abandoned me. And if God has abandoned me, then I, I can go ahead and indulge myself.

Why? Why shouldn't I indulge myself? If God has left me alone? I. And the other side of that is when you are alone, it's easy to believe. Who's ever gonna know? Nobody's ever gonna know. And so there's no real consequence to this. And so why would it even matter if I do this? Jesus is alone. And the third thing about the setting of his temptation is that he's hungry.

Jesus is fasted for 40 days and he's hungry. Hunger is always at the root of temptation. Not physical hunger, but a hunger for something. Is off limits with God. A desire for something that we know is out of bounds. There were three temptations of Jesus. And you could look at these temptations in a variety of different ways.

I think there's certainly multiple layers with which you can look at these. We'll look at them in three very simple ways tonight. The first was the temptation to put yourself first, and so that's, let me go back. That's in verses three and four. The tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become lows of bread.

I mean, what could be the harm in that? I mean, Jesus, look, look at these stones. They look kind of like bread anyway. And so just with a snap of your finger, you could make them bread. And what could be wrong with that? Because the desire to eat is an innate desire that has been given you by God. And so all you would be doing is fulfilling the desire that God your father put in you.

And so what could be possibly the harm in that? Of course you know that Jesus said, look, it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that recedes out of the mouth of God. It would seem to me that this would be the most innocent of the temptations, would they not. How can feeding yourself be wrong?

I mean, nobody's gonna get hurt. Nobody's gonna know. All you're doing is taking care of yourself. That how familiar. How many times as our adversary, the devil said to us, look, what you wanting to do here is just a natural desire that God placed in you. So how could God possibly be displeased with you, fulfilling a natural desire that he already gave you?

And so the temptation is to put yourself first. Secondly. To interpret the scriptures however you want, however you wish, just interpret them however you want. The devil took you to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you were the Son of God, throw yourself down because it is written.

He will command his angel concerning you and on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Well, what's the temptation there? It's to interpret scripture the way that you want to interpret it. That is in fact, what the scripture says. That is not in fact what the scripture meant.

That was a challenge in the first century. It's a challenge in the 21st century as well. Jesus said to him, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. The challenge, ladies and gentlemen, to interpret the scriptures however you want to make scripture. Say whatever you want it to say to nuance and massage the word of God so that ultimately you can make it say what you want it to say.

It's a temptation. It was then and it still is today. And the the amazing thing is that if you search long enough, you can find a preacher. You can find a teacher who will tell you exactly what you want to hear. That has always been a temptation. And then number three, faith just should be easy. There really should not be a price.

To faith. And so again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all of these will I give you. Look at this. If you will just bow down and worship me. If you'll just bow down and worship me, bow down and worship me. The devil says, and I will make this worth your while.

While you can have, you can have your heart's desire. All you've gotta do is bow down and, and worship me. I think we look at that and say, why? Why would he even bother? Surely he knew that Jesus would not even contemplate that, and of course he does it. He immediately says, it is written. You shall worship Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.

I think we look at that and say, you know what? That all the temptations, this is the one that I would never, ever do. I would never, ever bow down and worship the devil. Could I suggest ladies and gentlemen, that, that if you do something, for example, if you, if you lie to someone to avoid responsibility, you're bowing down to Satan.

If you hate, instead of forgive, you're bowing down to sat. If you fornicate instead of flee, you're bowing down to Satan. If you hide instead of confess. Bowing down to say the temptations, of course were not the same. And yet Jesus addressed them in exactly the same way it is written. And so it begs the question, the question behind every temptation is whose voice will you hear?

The question behind every temptation is whose voice will you hear? You realize, ladies and gentlemen, that. One of the most predominant questions in diagnostic psychiatry is the question, do you hear voices? And the fact of the matter is, we all hear voices. We all hear voices. The world. Our adversary, the devil, they're always speaking to us.

They're always striving to get us to walk away from what Jesus said. It is written. And then there are two final applications, two final applications. The first is simply this. Lions roam in winter. Now, no matter how old you are, you're going to be tempted. If you tonight are in this audience and you, you're very young, you're in the spring of life, you'll be tempted.

If you're in the summer of life or the fall of life, you'll be tempted. But if you're in the winter of life, you're going to be tempted as well. Temptations come to those who are mature and strong. We need to understand that our adversary, the devil, will try to reclaim our soul until the very day that we die.

And so I wanna take just a couple of minutes here, if I may, and I, again, I wanna talk to a group of people that are just never talked to. We don't ever discuss this. We talk to our young people all the time about the temptations that are peculiar to them. But I wanna talk tonight about some of the temptations that are peculiar to those of us who are a little bit older.

And so, if you're in my generation. If you're in the generation, perhaps just undermine. There are certain temptations that, that I think we are particularly vulnerable to. So let me give you some of these and just very quickly say a word about, about each of them. The first, I think, is that we're, we're vulnerable to weariness and discouragement.

Weariness and discouragement. I mean, it it, in my generation, you can get weary of ill health and weary of fighting against the culture, weary of the world, just in general. I think the antidote to that is to remember as we, as I talked to the young people last night in, in, in their gathering, that the world has never been a safe place to live.

We need to understand that. I mean, it wasn't in Adam's day or David's day, or Jesus' Day and Paul's day, and it's not in our day as well. It's why in Galatians six, in beginning of verse 10, Paul said that in due season, we will reap a reward provided. Look at this, that we do not lose heart, that we don't go weary and well-doing.

He said. The temptation is there. The reason that he said you've gotta not lose heart and grow weary and well-doing is because that temptation is there. It's easy to get tired of fighting against the culture, tired of fighting against the things that drag us down, and so weariness and discouragement.

Number two, spiritual complacency. They lay out a sea syndrome. The idea that I reach a point in my life because of age and because perhaps even in my experience. Really, I just couldn't put myself on spiritual autopilot. We would never say this out loud, but I think sometimes it's easy for individuals in my generation to say to themselves a little bit, look, I have walked with the Lord for literally decades.

I have done enough. I've done my time. Nobody again would ever say it, but I wonder how many, how many people have said, you know what? I have retired from work. I've kind of semi-retired from the kingdom, and now there are plenty of other people to take up with the mantle and do the work, and I'm, I'm not saying ladies and gentlemen, that, that forever we can continue to do the same things.

I understand that. I understand that as we get older, our roles may have to change, and what we're able to do may not be exactly what it was before. But I will say to you that, that, at least for me, I, I have no desire whatsoever to, to rust out. I hope for as long as God gives me health, health to be able to, to go as hard as I can for as long as I care and do as much as I care.

I think that's what God expects us to do, but this kind of individual who, who falls into this, this kind of trap of our adversary, the devil, I. They have very little time for seeking new insights from scripture or deepening their relationship with God. I would just say the antidote to that is to renew your passion for God every day.

Just like you expect God every day, limitations, you expect God every day to renew his mercies to you. Well, if we expect God to do that on a daily basis, then we need to renew our passion for him on a daily basis as well. Number three. There is such a temptation as you get older to develop bitterness and unforgiveness.

I think that is a particular challenge for those who are my generation to develop bitterness and unforgiveness over time, unresolved conflicts, unresolved family issues, unresolved personal disappointments can create a hardened heart. In the book of Hebrews chapter 12, the Hebrew writer said, look, make sure that you don't miss the grace of God in your life so that no root of bitterness grows up in you if you reach a point as you age.

That you no longer, that you no longer feel that you need to offer the grace of God to others is inevitable that bitterness will grow in you. When a Hebrew mind saw the word bitter or bitterness, they thought poison. It was something that was toxic and it is. Religion without grace is toxic. Relationship without grace is toxic.

And so he says, you've gotta be sure that you continue to offer grace to others so that, so that this kind of bitterness and toxicity doesn't build in you and destroy you. It's so easy as we get older to believe a couple of things, to believe on the one hand that you know what, it's been so long, whatever this unresolved conflict is, it's been so very long that forgiveness probably is not even necessary now.

Or number two, if forgiveness is necessary, then they're gonna have to make the first move. It's so easy. But ladies and gentlemen, think about that. If you're my generation, I. Do you want to have to face God with this kind of bitterness and feelings of unforgiveness toward others? The antidote to that, by the way, is to pray, to pray for those who have hurt you, and to remember how much Christ Jesus has forgiven you.

Temptation number four, living in the past. It is so easy if you're my generation or older to kind of live in the past. Paul said, you know what, in Philippians three, I'm not gonna do that. Now in Philippians three, Paul, in his day and time, would've been an aged man. He would've been considered an older man.

Today in American culture, not so much I. Certainly in his day and time, and yet Paul says, you know what? Forgetting those things that are behind, I am reaching forward, forward to things that are ahead. And he said, I am reaching toward the prize of the upward calling, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He just refuses. We talked about this yesterday morning. He refuses to live in the past. It is so easy as we get older to look back on our years of service and to see ourselves as kind of having arrived that we don't really need to grow anymore to compare ourselves with others. Jesus talked about that.

Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse nine, two men went through the temple to pray and one of one of them said, God, thank you that I'm not like other people, that I'm better than all of that. And it's easy as we get miles on the odometer of our life, particularly spiritually. So to come to, to feel that way and to rest on our past accomplishments, instead of trying to continue to make good progress in life, it's a terrible danger.

The antidote to that, by the way, is to stay humble. To encourage, not compare, and to celebrate what God's doing now instead of longing for the past because the past is the past, and to remember that Paul said, it is not that I've already attained, I'm not already perfect. I press on challenge number five.

Cynicism and negativity. Cynicism and negativity. If you're of my generation. Or if you're older, what have you seen? If you're my generation or older, what have you seen in your lifetime where you have seen a decided moral decline? In our culture, you have seen things that have come to be embraced and believed and lived and defended that just a few years ago were absolutely unimaginable.

You have come to see dignity and decency stripped away. From the common discussion you have come to see the evolution of feelings over facts and religion and the list can go on and on, and if we are not careful, as we get older, it's easy to look with a jaundice eye and to believe, to believe that everything is just not only bad, but it's getting, getting worse, and to lament how things used to be instead of living in the present and looking forward to the future.

The folk, the, the antidote to that I think is to do what Paul said. What did he say twice to the Philippians? I'm saying to you, and I Say it again. Rejoice. He said to the Thessalonians in everything, give thanks. How do you do that? Well, you focus on the good. You make gratitude a priority. I think you learn to engage with younger Christians and to try to see the world as best you can through their eyes, and you limit negative influences.

I wonder how many of us are doing that, ladies and gentlemen. The apostle Paul said, listen to me. Paul said, whatever things are true and just, and pure and lovely and of good report, think on these things. How many of us every day fill, saturate, immerse our minds in the negativity that we see in the media?

And we do it day after day, after day after day. How in the world do we make that jive with what Paul said when he said, look, everything that is pure, just lovely of good report. Think on those things. No wonder, no wonder so many Christians, particularly older Christians, who have a lot of time on their hands and completely baptize themselves in the negative media every day.

Come to look at this world with a jaundice die. And then number six, it's easy in my generation for fear to replace faith. There are fears as you get older than a natural. Solomon talked about them, by the way, in the book of Ecclesiastes. But there's a difference between healthy concern for ourselves and our family and our church family, and your rational fear.

As we age, we get in perspective about so many things, but as we age, if we're honest, it's also easy to lose perspective about many things, and I will tell you the antidote to that is to rest in the promises of God. God's track record regarding his promises is absolutely impeccable. What did Paul say? All the promises of God in Jesus Christ.

They are, yes, and they are. Amen. And so the antidote is to trust in the promises of God. Lions, Roman winter. We would like to think that as we get older, the temptations are all going to subside and go away, and it's just a matter of abiding time until we go to be with God. But I will tell you. Those six things for those who are in the winter of life, those are real significant challenges.

Now, the second and final application is this, that lions don't change their nature. Lions never change their nature. Now, when you fill in that blank, before you put everything away, just give me about one more minute and we'll be finished. Lines don't change their nature in two. John wrote to Christians and he said, I don't want you to love the world or the things of the world because whoever has the love of the world, the love of the father is not in him.

And then he said in one John two and 16, these words for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the, in the product of life. These are not of the father. These are the world. Lust of the flesh, lut of the eyes, and the pride of life. I think if we were, if we were going to write that today in 2025, we might, we might use these words, we might, we might say, all that is in the world.

Sensualism, egotism, and materialism. These are not of the father. These are the world. Centralism, materialism, egotism. These three never change. Our adversary, the devil, has been trying to distract and deceive and discourage from Genesis three to 2025. He never changes and he uses those same three things, the lust of the flesh, the lut of the eyes, the pride of life, centralism, egotism, materialism.

It just doesn't change. When Jesus had his encounter with the devil at Matthew four, he knew Satan. He knew that Satan was not kind. He knew that he was not helpful. He knew that he disguised himself as an angel of light, but he's not. He knew that he had been a liar and a murderer from the very beginning.

Jesus knew his enemy. He knew his enemy's character, and he knew his enemy's heart, and so he knew that doing what Satan suggests is always a wrong idea and we need to learn that as well. Wrong can seem so right if our faith is not strong. Wrong, presents itself often as the only option. But it never is wrong.

Sometimes we try to justify it though because nobody else is doing it or everybody else is doing it, and, and so why, why shouldn't we? Wrong can be excused in our mind sometimes because we just want to do it this one time. It's not, not, we want to do all the, we just want to do it this one single time and we need to remember that Jesus taught us that there is never a right way to do wrong and wrong is never right.

When Jesus had the encounter at Matthew four with the devil, his answer to the Satan three times shows us that God expects it to live by and on. His word is Jesus saying, look, God's word will nourish you. It will strengthen you. It will bring life to you. It's what you need. The answer that Jesus gave to our adversary, the devil, was scripture came from the book of Deuteronomy, and he was able to give it because Jesus knew the word.

But more than that. He lived the word why? Because of the Psalm of David had said through your word, I gain understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. But more than that, Jesus would say in John six, the words that I speak to you, they your spirit and their life. So I ask you again tonight. Whose voice will you hear?

The voice of Jesus tonight offers you life. Now, maybe that's the life you need because you're baptized into Christ and you rise to walk in newness of life, or maybe it's life that needs to be restored as you come home to God, but if either is the need in the case for you. We can help you. We hope you'll let us.

Let's stand and let's sing

all to.