We're in this series of messages regarding the
temptation of Jesus. And I told you when we began
this series of messages that there is scarcely
a single Christian but what has spoken of and
knows well the scripture regarding the three
temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. And yet,
if you were called upon, to answer the question
as to just exactly what those temptations really
were, to define those temptations, you could
not have done it. If you were to ask regarding
that first temptation, you would have said that
Satan challenged Jesus to turn the stone into
bread. But on the surface, There's no temptation
in that. Wherein was the temptation? Well, you
know the answer now if you have followed me in
the two previous messages. And remember, we're
winding up the first temptation today, and then
I'll go right into the second temptation. So
do not miss a single one of these messages in
this series. We established the fact that Jesus
here on earth was as much man as though he were
not God. We established the fact that Jesus did
not face temptation nor overcome it in the realm
of his deity, but in the magnificence of his
pure, strong manhood. And in that hour of temptation,
when he stood face to face with the enemy of
a soul, Jesus in the wilderness was your representative
and my representative. And had he not come out
of the wilderness victorious, when he faced those
three temptations, it could not... have been
said of him that he was in all points tempted
like as we are and yet without sin he came out
of the wilderness full the spirit and victorious
having overcome the tempter was the object of
the attack in the first temptation? The objective
point does not readily appear on the surface.
But in our last heart -to -heart talk, we saw
that the key was in those words. Jesus, led by
the Spirit, driven by the Spirit, true and in
the wilderness. Herein is great significance.
He was in the perfect will of God going into
the wilderness. This was part of God's plan.
It was in God's perfect will, in the Father's
plan, that he should not partake of food. He
should not partake of bread, lo, those many days
and nights. Interfere with God's will and you'll
change the results and you'll interfere with
God's purpose. Had Jesus interfered with the
will of God, had Jesus eaten, during those days
and those nights, he would have changed the results
and would have interfered with God's purpose.
The circumstance of hunger was incidental. It
was perfectly natural, but it was not accidental.
It was a circumstance within God's divine will.
The hunger of Jesus, therefore, was within the
purpose of God for him. I left you telling you
that if Jesus could have been persuaded by Satan
to minister to his physical needs to satisfy
his hunger, then his loyalty to the will of God
would have been destroyed. Know that. Not that
there was any sin in Jesus being hungry. There
was no sin in that whatsoever. His hunger was
perfectly natural. For the Bible said he had
eaten nothing. But Satan knew that Jesus was
there in the perfect will of God. His fasting
was in the perfect will of the Father. And if
he could persuade Jesus to minister to his physical
need, to satisfy his human hunger, then his loyalty
to the will of God would have been destroyed
and Jesus would have sinned. Satan attacked Jesus
through the physical. to try to get him to disobey
God's will. For Jesus to have eaten would have
caused him to be disobedient to the will of God.
How did you see something? Long centuries before,
long before this incident ever happened, the
devil had asked a question, another question
in divine presence. Go back with me. Centuries
before this, a servant of God, a perfect and
upright man, was living in such conditions that
all other necessities of his life seemed to be
met. He had everything he desired. And the enemy,
the same devil, the same Satan, coming before
God said, Does Job serve God for aught? Now,
around that question and insinuation was one
of the lowest, the meanest, the cruelest insinuation
that the devil could have possibly made. The
suggestion made was that Job's loyalty to God
was ensured by the satisfaction of... All physical
need. Job was wealthy through the blessing of
God. Job was full. Job was blessed. Job had cattle
and had lands, had everything. He was a wealthy
man. And the devil, in his vulgar language, was
just saying this. Job feared God for what he
could get out of him. Job served God because
he knew what side his bread was buttered. Ha,
the old dirty scoundrel. And that's the way the
devil feels about it, too. And he was saying
to God, ha, ha, if you'll take away your blessing
from him, if you'll cease... in supplying his
physical needs, he'll turn his back on you. He'll
cease to serve you. That same thought underlay
the temptation of the master. It is as though
he had said to him, thou art hungry. That sense
of hunger is a part of the divine arrangement.
Therefore, it must be right to satisfy it. If
God has made no provision for the satisfaction
of a need which he's created, then act independently.
Command that the stones be made bread. Use your
own authority. Use your own sonship. Use your
own deity. It's your right. Work independently
of God's will. and command the stones to be turned
to bread. Oh, look how subtle the old devil was.
The evil of the temptation lies within the fact
that he suggested that a legitimate craving should
be satisfied in an illegitimate way. Now, notice
the argument that the devil made. thou be the
Son of God. As I explained to you in a previous
message, I do not believe that he was challenging
his deity and divinity. They both knew that he
could have turned those stones into bread. The
if there was not challenging his deity for the
temptation closely followed upon the baptism.
But forty days ago the silence of the long thirty
years had been broken, and the divine voice had
said the very voice of God the Father, had spoken
and said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. And thus the seal of God was set
not merely in approbation upon the perfection
of life, but in identification. of the personality
of Jesus, this is my beloved son. Now here the
enemy's if. Not challenging his deity, but saying
to him, what is the use of a position such as
yours without his privileges? God said you were
his son. Then use the privilege. What value is
there in being the son of God unless thou shalt
make use of all that the name implies? Mark well
that the devil's idea of the privileges of sonship
is that of selfish gratification. And a lot...
are professing Christians are using their inheritance
in Christ Jesus for self -gratification. They're
playing upon it. They're using it. Using it selfishly,
which is a sin. Jesus could have used his sonship.
Jesus could have used his power. Jesus could
have used his position, his authority, and could
have turned those stones into bread. But there
was something more important than his authority
and his power. And that was his submissiveness
to the will of the Father. carry that submissiveness
clear on through even to the cross when in the
last moment he looked up and cried nevertheless
not my will but thine be done oh this is thrilling
this temptation moved wholly in the physical
realm. Know that. The man Jesus was hungry and
the enemy took advantage of this fact. And moving
along the avenue of his hunger and using the
argument of his sonship, he suggested that he
should exercise his sonship for the satisfaction
of his hunger without reference to the fact that
his hunger at the moment, was a part of the will
of the Father. In other words, to sum the whole
thing up, the objective point was the loyalty
of Jesus to the will of God. The avenue of approach
was the perfectly natural and sinless hunger
of his manhood. The argument used was that If
he were the Son of God, he might use that privilege
to minister to his necessity without consulting
the will of the Father. Oh, watch it. The devil
did not suggest that he should minister to any
craving of life. That was not in itself right.
indeed such a suggestion would have been utterly
useless for there was no such craving in him
it was even then as he said afterward that the
devil cometh and he hath nothing in thee The
enemy asked him to do a right thing in a wrong
way, to satisfy a lawful appetite in an illegal
fashion, to make use of the privileges of sonship
for violating its responsibilities. The temptation
was an attempt to pervert the will of God. This
was done by a... subtle suggestion of the unkindness
of God in order to quench love towards God. This
suggestion was the nature of an attempt to cloud
the intelligence by mixing the privileges and
the responsibilities of sonship. What did Jesus
do? Turning to the repulse of the enemy. This
is the weapon which the master used. His first
words were these, it is written. These words
he addressed to Satan in answer to the suggestion.
It is written. There was no argument there whatsoever,
none. It is written. is a declaration of the
fact that he stood within the circle of the will
of God. And what that will permitted, he willed
to do. And what that will made no provision for,
he willed to do without. It is as though Jesus
had said to the enemy, I am here as man, and
as man I meet thy temptation. That temptation
had been to overemphasize the privileges of a
son and to minimize the responsibility of humanity.
Christ's answer restored the true balance. and
with magnificent courage declared that his presence
in the wilderness would challenge the devil on
the part of a representative man no he did not
face temptation or overcome it in the realm of
his deity But in the magnificence of his pure,
strong manhood, manhood tested for 30 years in
ordinary private life and for 40 days in the
loneliness of the wilderness, he stood there
as your representative, as my representative.
There he stood. Thus the first attack of the
foe, the first attack of Satan. is seen as being
directed against God's man. And the first victory
of Jesus is seen as being gained by man as he
quietly remained within the sphere of divine
government. The man of Nazareth, the second man,
the last Adam, stands erect. at the close of
the first attack because he had refused to be
enticed by any argument from his simple and unquestionable
alliance to his God. And, beloved, man with God
is equal to all strain and superior to all temptation.
Amen.