Trials and temptations, though often confused, are distinct experiences originating from different sources and with different purposes. Temptations typically come from the evil one with the intent to destroy, while trials are permitted by God to refine and strengthen believers. The sermon illustrates this distinction using the examples of the disciples and Job, both of whom faced severe challenges under God's ultimate will, and highlights Jesus' own temptation in the wilderness as the ultimate example of overcoming through obedience to God's Word. Ultimately, believers are encouraged to trust God's faithfulness, recognizing that He sets limits on trials and always provides a way of escape, enabling them to endure and grow.
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I have many good and choice friends in the Dominican Republic. Let me tell you this morning about two of them. One is an elderly man, retired from his work as a farmer some years ago, has been a close friend. I have known him now for over thirty years. But just about a year ago, he was overtaken by a temptation. He will forgive me if I omit the details this morning, and had left a stain on his life that will never be removed in the eyes of others until we meet in the presence of the Lord. Then I have a young friend whom I visited for the last time, oh, about a month ago, in a small hut in a rural area of the Dominican Republic.
He was on his deathbed. He'd gone through a trial of suffering for many months. Again, I omit all the details. But one of the things that I remember as I listened to the conversation in the group that stood around the bed, not all of them were Christians. Many of them were neighbors and friends who'd come in as is the custom in the Dominican Republic. And I heard some whisper to another and they said, he's a real saint. That's part of our culture in Roman Catholic Latin America. And as they'd watched this man in his trial, some of them were deeply impressed. They had seen evidence of something that was otherworldly, and they were calling him already a saint.
I mentioned these two friends this morning because sometimes we think the young are tempted and the old are tried. But really age has nothing to do with it. Young people can be tempted, and old people can be tempted. And young people can go through deep trials, as can also older people. Let me take you this morning to a number of passages in the Word of God. We will begin in Luke chapter four and verse thirteen. Now, if it's difficult for you to move from chapter to chapter and verse to verse, You just listen, but if you'd like to follow the readings, I'm in Luke chapter four and verse thirteen.
We read, And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. Now in the same gospel, chapter twenty-two, we have in verse twenty-eight the following font. Luke chapter twenty-two and verse twenty-eight. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. I'm not suggesting that Spanish is a superior language to English, but in Spanish, in this portion the word temptation is not used, but the word trial or testing.
And you'll find that is also the word used in many other translations in English. And so we could read, Ye are they which have continued with me in my testings or my trials. The truth is that both words in Luke four and Luke twenty two come from a common word in the original language. But in English and in Spanish, that common word can be translated either temptation or testing. Here in Luke chapter twenty-two and verse twenty-eight, I think it's a very beautiful thing that the Lord Jesus recognized, in spite of all of the failures of the disciples, that this small group of men, all of them had continued with him in his trials and testings.
But in chapter four, Satan is referred to specifically. He was the one who had concluded all temptations in connection with the Lord Jesus, and then he left him for a season. In our English language and in Spanish, we can use either of these words to translate this common word in the original language. We make the difference according to the person who is behind the action. If the experience that you have in your life right now comes directly from the evil one, there is no doubt about it, it is a temptation.
But if it comes from God, it is a testing. And the difference has to do with the final outcome. Satan tempts in order to destroy. God, he tests. in order to refine us, to purify us, that we might grow more in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Let me give you two illustrations of what these thoughts represent in the New Testament in Luke chapter twenty-two and in verse thirty-one. We read, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
that I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. You may notice in verse thirty-one that the desire of Satan was to sift you as wheat. And that is the plural, all of the disciples, not just Peter specifically. But the Lord is speaking to Peter, and he says, Peter, for you specifically I'm going to pray. And when you are restored, then you strengthen your brethren and bring them back into fellowship and into active service for God. But Satan wanted to sift them in order to destroy them.
In First Peter chapter one and in verse seven we read that the trial of your faith, the testing of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. The action is inspired by God.
And God is testing the faith. It is for the good of the believers, and it brings joy and satisfaction and growth for the glory of God. We have noticed then this morning in Luke's Gospel that the Lord Jesus was both tempted and he was also tested. Let me quote or read to you from Hebrews chapter five, a verse which perhaps sometimes has caused you some concern. Hebrews chapter five and verse eight. though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now this verse does not question the sonship of the Lord Jesus. The verse simply means that even though he was the son, yet in a very special way he had to come down into our situation and right here, as a human being, learn obedience. And through that particular process, the Lord Jesus was perfected. Not that he was not eternally perfect. Don't misunderstand me. But the Lord Jesus came down into our world and he stood right alongside human beings.
He was an authentic, real man. And here in our world, He had to learn by experience what it means to obey the will of God in our situation. He learned obedience through the things which he suffered. And the Lord Jesus suffered temptation. And he also suffered testings and trials. And in that whole process, the Lord Jesus came out victor. He was never defeated. And he stands today as the example for all of us that you can pass through temptations and you can be tested in Christ and you can come forth victorious.
Now when you think of what we have in the Scriptures, you will find, as I have found, that sometimes it's difficult to distinguish between the temptation and the trial. I think that is backed up by the Word of God. Sometimes, from our point of view, they seem to blur together. But I would like to suggest, first of all, to you this morning that Satan is not a free agent. He cannot come and deal with you as he wishes or pleases. He is not a free agent to... Cases I share with you this morning, one we have read already in Luke chapter twenty-two in connection with the disciples, and the Lord Jesus said to Peter, in Luke chapter twenty-two and verse thirty-one, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee.
That great hath desired to have you, gives the indication very clearly that he is not a free agent. It was his desire. And he was given permission, and he did sift the disciples. And unfortunately, from our point of view, Peter fell. He denied the Lord Jesus. But Peter was subject to that temptation under the will of God. It was Satan who had desires. He was not free to come and do what he wanted. It was his desire. He was granted permission to do so. The case of Job, of course, is much clear.
And I take you back briefly to the book of Job chapter one. And you read in verse six, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it, and the Lord said unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth gone, and is dueeth evil.
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job feared God for not? Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every sign? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself.
Put not forth thine hand. If you remember the words of Satan, which we have read this morning in verse eleven, put forth thine hand, the hand of God, now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. God did not do that. But permission was given to Satan. And you read in verse twelve, and the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. That is the power of Satan. Only upon himself put not forth thine hands. He was restricted in what he could do.
He could touch all that Job had, but he was not to put his hand upon Job. Now you probably are familiar with the story, chapter two. You find again that the sons of God present themselves before God. And in chapter two, verse two, and the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth? a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cross. And Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. Again there is restriction. And as you know the story, Satan came to Job and he was afflicted with an awful physical problem, but the man retained his integrity.
This man went through then a double experience. The overwhelming experience is the experience of testing. God is testing his servant Job. Within that experience, there is two satanic attempts, one against his children, his servants and all that he had, another against his person himself. And when you try and divide the experience, it is very difficult. Satan acted under the will of God. Nevertheless, he failed. And in this experience, God tried and proved his servant.
And Job came forth and was blessed with greater blessings than he had had in the beginning. He did not fail under the satanic attack, and he came through to the glory of God, in spite of all of his weaknesses and his confusions. That man came forth a shining example for the glory of God. Now the disciples, by permission, they were sifted. Job, by permission, was tempted also by Satan. But in both experiences, Job and the disciples were also tested by God, and they came forth for the glory of God.
Now I would like to suggest to you this morning for your comfort that there's a very beautiful verse in First Corinthians chapter eleven, pardon me, chapter ten, where it is stated very specifically that we are not tempted about that which we can support. In First Corinthians ten in verse eleven, there has no temptation taken you but such as it's common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Whatever your temptation or trial may be today, God has set limits. There is nothing that you are personally experiencing that is not common in the general sense to mankind. And limits are placed and there is a way of escape. But let's look at verse thirteen again a little more carefully. The first phrase, and there has no temptation taken or overtaken you, but such is common to man, that word is rightly translated temptation. I do not think it suggests an action of God.
This is something that overtakes you unexpectedly. It may come in many different forms, and it seems consistent. This is the way that Satan acts. In the most unexpected place, in the most unexpected circumstances, a temptation can overtake you. As I've mentioned, when you're young, when you're middle-aged, when you're old, There is no time of absolute security from his attacks. He can overtake us with temptation. But then we read immediately in this verse, verse thirteen, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted about that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Now I suggest again, and the thought is not original, that the last word temptation might be better translated, tested, or tried. For now this is linked to the direct action of God, and God does not tempt us. He tries us. And in connection with the action of God, the last part of verse thirteen reads, He will not suffer you to be tested, above that ye are able, but will with the testing also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Thus we are often overtaken by temptation from the evil one. But above all of his actions is the will of God, supreme.
And when God is testing us, even if in the testing Satan acts and there is temptation, above that is the testing of God. and He will not suffer us to be tested more than we can bear. And with the testing, He will provide a way of escape. To me, this is confirmed in the case of the Lord Jesus. For we are specifically told in Matthew chapter four, where we have the story of the temptation of the Lord Jesus. And during the conference, I would like to speak on the temptation the Lord Jesus endured in the desert. In Matthew chapter four and verse one you read, Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit?
God is acting. The Lord Jesus is in the world, and the Spirit of God is leading him. Mark uses an even stronger word. He is thrust into the desert. This is the work of God. It is the Spirit of God that takes Him and thrust Him into the desert. But chapter four of Matthew and verse one is very clear. To be tempted of the devil. It is impossible to divorce those two thoughts. The action of God, leading the Lord Jesus by the Spirit into the wilderness, and the reason for the leading, to be tempted of the evil one.
The supreme thought is the leading of the Spirit. God is acting, and as we'll see in a moment, to prove what is in the heart of the Lord Jesus. But in that leading, there is a secondary action, and that is of the devil. He will be tempted of the evil one. Now, in your specific case and in mine this morning, we sometimes, in one given experience, may not know clearly whether it is primarily a temptation, an attack of the evil one, or whether it is a testing which comes from God.
The difference is not really that important to us, because even if it is a temptation above the act of Satan, supreme is the act of God. and God tests to purify, to refine us, to help us grow more in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, even though at the same time and perhaps even in the same experience Satan comes to tempt and the purpose of his temptation is to destroy us and our testimony here in this world. Now the background for understanding the temptation of the Lord Jesus is, as I'm sure most of you know, the story of Israel.
I think we would miss the impact of the Lord's temptation if we're not familiar with the story of Israel. As a matter of fact, right here in Matthew chapter three, the end of the chapter, just before the story of the temptation, you read in verse sixteen, and Jesus, When he was baptized, went up straightly out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
I don't have a great imagination, but many times I wonder what it would have been like to be present in the days when the Lord Jesus walked through Judea. To be at that particular moment when, after his baptism, the heavens were literally open, and in some marvelous way the voice of God was heard. I speak most reverently this morning. The Father stands. and shouts down to the earth, this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. Now when you come to chapter four, and the three temptations twice, the evil one says, if you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, the whole temptation is directed against this testimony that comes from heaven.
This is my beloved Son. Satan says, we'll see. If you are the Son of God, and then the temptations begin. The background for this is that many centuries before, Israel was the Son of God. Let me read to you from Exodus chapter four. Exodus chapter four and verse twenty-two. You will remember the story of how Moses brought the people up out of Egypt into the desert. Now here in Exodus chapter four and verse twenty-two, God is speaking and he's telling his servant Moses how he is to act before Pharaoh.
Verse twenty-two of Exodus four, And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. Pharaoh did not take the word of God seriously, and as a result all the firstborn sons in Israel died on the night before the people of Israel left.
The reason why the firstborn sons died is that Israel was the son of God, his firstborn. And Pharaoh said to Moses, no, I will not let the people go. And God acted, and the firstborn sons they died because Israel was the son of God, his firstborn. In Jeremiah chapter thirty-one, there is another phrase that I leave with you this morning, Jeremiah thirty-one in verse nine. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
And then you may be familiar with the well-known portion. In Osaya chapter eleven, it finds its full or its complete fulfillment in the Lord Jesus himself, but its first application is to Israel. The prophet Osaya chapter eleven, verse one, When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Now when Joseph and Mary were down in Egypt with the newborn baby Jesus, and the call came to return, this portion received its full and complete fulfillment.
But first of all, it refers to Israel. For Israel was the son of God. Israel was the firstborn. God himself said, I will be a father to Israel. I loved Israel when Israel was a child, a son. When you think then of Israel as a son and the failures of Israel, then you come to the temptation of the Lord Jesus, the son of God, here in the world, you can see the comparison. And Satan comes and says to the Lord Jesus, if you are the son of God, I sometimes make this distinction because there is a great distinction.
Israel is the Son of God with a small s. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God with a capital S. There is a sense in which the Lord Jesus is the eternal Son of God, a member of that mysterious triune God. But the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son, came down into our world. He was born right into our situation. And as a man here in our world, he was tempted of the evil one, just the same way that Israel was tempted so long ago.
But above the temptations of the evil one, in both cases, God was testing Israel first and then the Lord Jesus. Let me make the comparison even clearer this morning. And if you would like to take Matthew chapter four and then at the same time go back to Deuteronomy chapter eight, you will see just how clear the comparison is between the Lord Jesus and Israel. Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse two. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.
Matthew four, verse one, then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness. I've never been to what we call the Holy Land. It's possible that both sons, Israel and the Lord Jesus were in the same desert. It was God that brought up the people out of Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea and brought them into the wilderness. It was also the Spirit of God that led the Lord Jesus into the wilderness. Then you read in Deuteronomy chapter eight in verse two, thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.
In Matthew four, verse one, pardon me, verse two, and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights. Israel was there for forty years. The Lord Jesus was in the desert or in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights. But then even more remarkable in Deuteronomy chapter eight and verse three, you read, And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger. Much better in the Spanish language because it's more forceful. He made Israel to experience hunger. Then you read in Matthew chapter four, verse two, the last phrase, He was afterward unhungered.
I make a suggestion to you this morning. I am not dogmatic, but it would appear to me that the fasting in Matthew four and verse two is not a voluntary fasting. The Spirit of God took the Lord Jesus into the desert. We do not think of the desert as a place of plentiful food or of abundance of water. It is a place of scarcity. And the Spirit took him, thrust him deep into the wilderness. This was not then necessarily a willing or voluntary fasting. More likely, it was a forced fasting because of the circumstances.
In connection with Israel, it is specifically said that God made Israel to hunger in the desert. Now that may seem a very cold and harsh thing for God to do, but that is not true. In both cases, you find that God wants to prove what is in the heart of his people. It is thus stated in Deuteronomy chapter eight and verse two, and thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee or to test thee, to know what was in thine heart.
whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not. Thus that experience in the desert for Israel was above all else a testing experience. It is true that Satan was present and in many ways tempted the people of God and they murmured and they did many terrible things. But above all of the satanic activities, God was testing his son Israel God wanted to prove what was in his heart, whether or not Israel would obey the Word of God. The word testing is not used in Matthew four, rather in verse one you read, Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Thus, in the comparison of these experiences, one places the emphasis on the testing of God. The other place is the emphasis on the temptations of the evil one. For sometimes you find them in one and the same experience. Now, as we conclude this morning, I would like to bring to your attention with deep sorrow that Israel, the Son of God in the Old Testament, Son of God with the smallest, failed. Tragically failed. So you read in the New Testament, because of Israel's disobedience, they were prostrate in the desert.
They fell in the desert. That first generation, only two, Caleb and Joshua, were allowed to enter into the new land. For the rest of that generation, they failed, and they did not enter. When you come to the story of the Lord Jesus, he not only tried in the temptation, But you read in Luke's Gospel that he came out of the desert in the power of the Spirit of God. And he has left us an example, and we should follow him. For you see, we too are the sons and the daughters of God. And in our life today, we too are tempted, and we are tested.
Perhaps every individual here this morning has a different experience But your experience, my experience, they're all experiences that are common to our humanity. In James chapter one, and in verse eighteen, we read these words, James one eighteen. Of his own will, begot he us, with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruit of his creature. We are a special family of God, begotten of God, to be a kind of first fruits of all of his creatures.
What God wants to know this morning is what he wanted to know so long ago about the people of Israel, that if in our heart we are set on obedience to the word of God and to do the will of God, the Lord Jesus said, My sustenance, my me, is to do the will of Him that sent us. So as we begin our studies during the conference season, let us remember that all of us here this morning, we are either like Israel, we have failed or we are following in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. If I may remind you, in First Corinthians ten, thirteen, where we read this morning, you have that beautiful phrase in the context of temptation and also of testings.
God is faithful. Whatever experience is yours this morning, it may be poor health. It may be family problems. It may be business problems or setbacks. There are so many things that tend to depress the Lord's people today as we are exposed to the temptations of the evil one. and then periodically to the testings of God. But in these experiences, our confidence rests in God, for He is faithful. How do we know He brought the Lord Jesus through in victory in that temptation, as the Lord Jesus had opened His heart and mind as a man in our world to the authority of the Word of God?
And with the Word of God, every temptation was defeated. He is our example, and we desire to follow closely after the Lord Jesus. Now, please take your hymn book, and as we conclude our service this morning, let's sing hymn number six hundred and one. Hymn number six hundred and one. Be still, my soul, the Lord. It's on my side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide. In every change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend, through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
We'll sing the last three verses of hymn number six hundred and one. Verse two, Be still mindful thy God does undertake to guide the future as he has the past. Confidence when nothing shakes, all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be tell thy soul, the way thy will follow, his voice will rule, and while he dwells below. Geez, if I go with fear and strength depart, And always darkness is the pale of tears, Then shall the wretched of his love of his youth, by sorrow and by fear.
Be still thy soul, thy Jesus every day, from his own soul, and for he takes the strength. Be till, my soul, the hour is hastening on, when we shall be, forever pray, the Lord, when there comes light. When grace and tears are gone, sorrow for God, love, pure and joy is restored.
He shall die soon when grace and tears are gone. O faith and where, then we shall be at once. And now may the love of God our Father and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us during this day and this conference. as we commend ourselves to you now in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Oh, oh, oh.