The greatest temptation is to misuse the spiritual life and blessings God provides by placing them above God Himself. Using the temptations of Jesus, the story of Simon the sorcerer, and the warnings to Israel, the message illustrates how people can become so focused on the benefits of faith and service that they forget the source of those blessings. The core lesson is that true devotion means serving God alone, not the gifts or privileges He bestows. The application is a call to prioritize worship and service to God above all else, ensuring that our talents and blessings are used to glorify Him, not ourselves.
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We have noticed that the first temptation that Satan leveled against the Lord Jesus was an attempt for the Lord Jesus to deny true life. When you live by bread or by what you wear or the home you live in or the car you drive, when this becomes the source of your life, then you deny true life. The Lord Jesus quoted to Satan the words, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The second temptation was an attempt on the part of Satan to make the Lord Jesus spoil true life.
Please notice that he could not lose true life, nor can we lose true life. Once we have been born into the family of God, we are members of that family through the grace of God forever, but that life can be spoiled. Paul speaks of those who make shipwreck of their Christian experience. And I'm sure all of us here this morning have friends, and we can remember how in their lives they spoiled their life for God. And instead of living in harmony with God under the shadow of His wings, in His home, in His temple, they went their independent way, and they spoiled their testimony for God.
Now this morning, the third temptation, as they are listed in Matthew's Gospel, is an attempt on the part of Satan to make the Lord Jesus misuse light. And this is surely a temptation that comes to all of us, perhaps more than once in our lives. I would like, first of all, this morning to read to you from Acts chapter eight. Acts of the Apostles chapter eight. And we will read from verse five. Acts eight, verse five. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and and preached Christ unto them.
Verse eight, and there was great joy in that city. And there was a certain man, I ought to emphasize, that passing the joy was linked to the preaching of Christ and to those who had received him and experienced his power and blessing. Verse nine, and there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God, and to him they had regard because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorcery.
But when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God. If perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee, for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me. that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. Now the indignation of Peter in this particular case must be understood in the light that when Philip went to Samaria he preached Christ.
The message had to do with the glory of the Lord Jesus, with the love of the Lord Jesus, with his grace in giving his luck for men and women. He preached Christ. When Peter and John were sent by the church in Jerusalem, they confirmed that message. And for a special reason, through the laying on of their hands, the Spirit of God manifested himself, and the results were tangible, almost visible. They were real results. But the results came together. because Christ had been preached in Samaria. Now Simon was a man recognized in his own city as a great one, a man in whom you could see the power of God.
This man, before John and Peter arrived, he too believed the message of truth. He believed in the Lord Jesus. But when Peter and John came, And there were such great visible manifestations of the blessings that come through belief in Christ. His imagination was caught by the results, by the power, by the blessings. So much so that he had more interest in the blessings than he had in the blessed earth, the Lord Jesus. And he went to Peter and John and he offered them money.
I suggest to you that the indignation of Peter and John is linked to the fact that Simon put more emphasis on the blessings than he did on the blesser, the Lord Jesus. And Peter turned to Simon and he said, Your money perished with you. The very thought that the gift of God can be bought, that the blessings of God can be bought, that you, through your might, in your wealth, can buy the blessings of God. It's an inconceivable thought. Your money perish with you. The man was deeply startled and eventually asked Peter to pray for him that none of these things would come on him.
In summary, it is a tragedy that And it is sometimes down to the history of Israel and the Christian church more common than it should be. It is a tragedy when we place more emphasis on the blessings than on the blessing. Now, turn with me to First Peter chapter five. This may come closer to many of us this morning than the case of Simon, the magician. First Peter chapter five. And verse one, the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. The specific subject of the portion is the elder, the local elders in the local church.
May I broaden the concept because the principal embraces much more than elders. You may be a Sunday school teacher. You may be an elder. You may be a teacher. You may be an evangelist. You may be a leader amongst the ladies. You may have the gift of singing. You may have some talent, some gift that you have received from God. Now Peter mentions two things. There are those that place such emphasis on the gifts that God has given to them that to keep it and to exercise it they use force and they become lords over God's heritage.
There are also those who become so involved in the financial benefits in the service of God, that that really is the reason why they serve for filthy lucre, for money, not of a ready mind. And again, if you're familiar with church history in its widest aspect, so many men and women in places of leadership and some of them gifted have served God in their own way more for the money, more for the material blessings than they have out of a ready mind, out of a deep love for the Lord Jesus.
And some of them have become so involved with their own position, their own preeminence, their own gift, that they have used force to keep themselves in their position. Peter says that is not how we should serve God. We should not serve him by constraint, that is, force. We should serve him willingly. We should not serve him for any of the blessings that may come to us because of that service. We should serve him of a ready mind, a deep love for the Lord Jesus. Also, we should not serve him as lords by force over God's heritage, but rather we should do so in lowliness and in joy and do it out of respect and love for God.
Now, the case of the elders is very different from the case of Simon the magician, but they do have something in common. Simon wanted to have the blessings more than the blessings. And the elders mentioned here are warned against putting more emphasis on their position and their ministry instead of real love and devotion to the Lord Jesus. I would like you now then to come to Matthew four where we have the third temptation that the Lord Jesus received. You may have noticed that in Matthew's Gospel the order is different.
In Matthew this is the second temptation. But, pardon me, in Luke it is the second temptation. But in Matthew's Gospel it is the third temptation. Matthew chapter four and verse eight. Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. When I read that verse, I always go back in my mind to Deuteronomy chapter thirty-four. We've gone to Deuteronomy many times as the background for the temptation in Deuteronomy chapter thirty-four.
And verse one you read these words. And Moses went up from the plains of Moab. unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisca, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all of Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, and to the Atmos Sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho. and the city of the palm trees, and the saw. The Lord said unto him, This is the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed.
I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over it. In a sense, Moses is the representative of the people of Israel. And Israel failed. We have mentioned this many times. But in the great grace of God, Moses has taken to that high mountain, and he sees all the land, all of its beauty, all of its resources, all of its glory. But he was not allowed to enter into those blessings because of his own personal shortcomings and the sins of his people.
But I want you to remember as we go on this morning that he saw the land. He knew what was there. He was captivated by his glory. If you read right through Deuteronomy, there is one portion where Moses pleads with God to have permission to enter that land. But the answer was no. And he was not to again ask or request permission to enter. But we've read this morning that God showed him the land. And here there is quiet resignation, personal dignity. Moses knows he will not enter, but he loved that land, and he saw its beauty and glory that day.
Why I want you to remember this is that Moses, knowing how great the blessings were that God was going to give to his people, he repeatedly warned the people of placing more emphasis on the blessings than on the blessing. Now here Satan has taken the Lord Jesus to a very high mountain, and he has shown him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. I don't know this morning what you think about that verse, just what it was that the Lord Jesus sought.
You may think that in that moment he saw all the kingdoms of the world right then. The greatest would be the Roman Empire and the glory of the Roman Empire and all other kingdoms of the world. Or you may think that what he saw was all the kingdoms of the world from the beginning of time, right up until that moment when he stood on the high mountain He saw all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in the past and in the present. Or you may be bold enough this morning that I shared with you in this to think that it was possible that on that moment he saw all the kingdoms of the world and all of their glory, past, present, and future, a sweep of all history.
Of all the greatness of the kingdoms of the world and their glory, in a moment it flashed before the Lord Jesus. Now you may remember or may wonder just what was the temptation in this particular case. I know that in the following verse you read, And Satan said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. There is no deceit. There is no malice in that sense. There is no covering up in this temptation. All is out.
All is open. All is very frank. I really don't think the emphasis falls on falling down before Satan and worshiping him. There is no attraction in this to the Lord Jesus. But there is a very real attraction. as Satan presented to him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. I'd like you to come with me to Psalm II for a moment, the second Psalm. And in this Psalm, you have first reference to David, and then of course the messianic reference to the Lord Jesus. Psalm II, and I'm sure many have spoken to you of this Psalm over the years, is really a poem in the Hebrew.
It can be divided into four distinct verses. Each verse is made up of four, pardon me, of three verses in our English translation. That is, the first verse of this Psalm. Psalm two is comprised of verses one, two, and three. Something is wrong with the nations of the world. They rage. They are in a state of rebellion. They have stood up against God's anointing. I suggest to you that the anointed one was David. David was the man after God's own heart. David was the man that God was going to make king over a united kingdom, the kingdom of Israel.
But the peoples of the world, the nations of the world, their attitude can be seen in verse three. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. There is no desire to submit to the will of God. There is open rebellion. We will not accept David as king, neither his people, nor the peoples round about the nation of Israel. But God sits in heaven. Verse four. And he laughs. Then verse five, he speaks in his wrath and his sore displeasure. And verse six is the great verse of this poem.
That word, yes, really means in spite of all the rebellion and the rage of the nations of the world, God said, I have set my holy one upon the hill of Zion. God's will will not be changed. David would be changed. over the people of Israel. The third verse of the psalm, which is made up by verses seven, eight, and nine, has to do with the decree that God gives to David. Now, the decree simply refers to the will of God. The word of God is given to David. David reads it, and in it you find Verse nine, thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, and thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's best.
That was exactly what David did. David was a man of blood, so much so, that though he was allowed by God to gather all the materials for the building of the temple, God said, I'm sure in grace and love to David. David, your hands are stained with blood. You've fought the battles of Israel. You've defeated the warring nations round about. You've united the kingdom. You've brought the kingdom into a state of peace. But your hands are so stained with the blood of those wars that your son Solomon, a man of peace, he will build my house. David broke the people with a rod of iron.
But notice the previous verse. Verse seven says, pardon me, verse eight. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen. In Spanish and in other English version, the word is nations for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. That is the decree given to David. David, you only have to ask, and the nations of the world will be yours. And in that limited local sphere, that happens. The nations were subjected to David. He was victorious. He asked and he received. The last verse of the psalm, the last three verses, is the plea of the Holy Spirit.
And it's very beautiful in connection with David. It's addressed to the kings of the world, to the judges of the earth. Be wise now, therefore. Verse ten. Verse eleven. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. That is, submit yourself to the will of God. Then verse twelve, kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way. Be reconciled to David. Don't allow yourself to be destroyed was to flee from the Spirit of God. Now that limited fulfillment in the days of David comes to its great fulfillment in the Lord Jesus.
The nations of the world, they waged a day. they are opposed to God and to his anointed one. Our God sits in the heavens. Psalm twenty-two, he rules above the nations. He looks down and he laughs at the petty rebellion of men. For his will is that his holy one will sit on time. And dear Christian friend, we do not sing in vain, Jesus shall reign whereer the Son got his successive journeys run. His kingdom spread from shore to shore. The moon shall wax and wane no more. The decree has been given to the Lord Jesus.
I suggest to you that Psalm two, and that decree may point to that book held in the hand of the one who sits on the throne in Revelation five, and the book is taken by the Lord Jesus. In that book is the decree of God that has to do with the history of mankind and the destiny of our world. And it cuts the climax when Jesus is Lord of Lord and King of Kings. He only has to ask. They belong to him. The day will come, and with a rod of iron, he will place them in subjection. But he only has to ask. They belong to him. Now, turn to Revelation chapter eleven.
Some, too, is a promise. But Revelation is a book where God takes the curtain aside so that we can look out of our present situation and see the future as already realized. And so you read in Revelation chapter eleven and verse fifteen. And the seven angels sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
Verse sixteen, and the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and was and art to come. because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. That is realized. It's got a lot of it. It's all summed up. It's true. It's real. It's now part of history. So in Psalm two you have the promise. In Revelation you have the reality. Between those two points in history Satan comes to the Lord Jesus and he shows them all the kingdoms of the world.
Now these are yours if you fall down and worship me. I would like to dwell on that just in the moment, but as you think this morning of this temptation, we must go back to Israel, the first begot, the Son of God, in the Old Testament. For Israel went through the same temptation, and when the Lord Jesus in this portion in Matthew answers Satan, he takes the words right out of the book of Deuteronomy and what is written about Israel. So turn with me please to Deuteronomy chapter six. Deuteronomy chapter six and I'm going to read from verse ten.
Deuteronomy chapter six and verse ten. Now please listen carefully to the contrast this morning in the portion we're going to read. Deuteronomy six and verse ten. And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which ye swear unto thy fathers to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things which thou fillest not, and well dig, which thou diggest not, vineyards, and olive trees, which thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten and be full.
Now here's the exhortation. Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. Have you seen the contrast? They're going to enter into cities they never built. Into vineyards they never planted. They're going to enjoy water from sisters that they never made. It's all given to them these great, marvelous, abundant blessings of God. But Moses knew deep down in his heart that sometimes the very blessings of God can detract us.
take us away from our loyalty and devotion to God. So after he numbers the blessings, Moses says, Beware lest you forget the Lord your God. Deuteronomy chapter eight and verse seven. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water of fountains and debts that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranate, a land of oil, olive and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness.
Thou shalt not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig grass. When thou hast eaten, and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God, for the good land which he hath given thee. Now the exhortation, beware, that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest, when thou hast eaten, and art full.
And then you go down another list of blessings. You come eventually to verse seventeen. And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand have gotten me this well. To me it's inconceivable, but it's true. Moses saw the danger that having received such great and marvelous blessings from God, the people would forget God and would eventually say, My might and the power of My hand has gotten this well.
And when you read the story of Israel, that of course is the tragic story. They forgot God. They enjoyed the blessings. They almost made out of the blessings deities, but they forgot God until finally the Lord comes down himself to visit his people. And we all know the story. They eventually crucified him outside of Calvary. That is, men and women can receive the blessings of God and then forget God and think that they themselves have brought those blessings into their own lives.
Now there's the Lord Jesus on the high mount, and Satan shows him all the kingdoms of the world. This is part of the heritage which God is going to give to his well-beloved son. These are the blessings, some of them, which God is going to give to his son, for he is going to reign as king of kings and lord of lords. when he sees all of those blessings, past, present, and future, the temptation is to take them now, to make the blessings more important than the blessing, to serve the blessings instead of serving the blessing.
And the moment you serve the blessings, instead of gone, whether you know it or not, you are prostrate before the evil one. It is not necessarily a determined act. I will prostrate myself before the evil one. It is more usually the result of placing the blessings about the blessing. And every time we do that, we prostrate ourselves before the evil one. Now in Deuteronomy chapter six, and in verse thirteen, you find the words that are quoted by the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter four verse thirteen follows right on after the exhortation I have mentioned in verse twelve then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage thou shalt fear or worship the Lord thy God and serve him.
In the New Testament, the quotation comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and it reads, serve him only. And then there's another phrase in verse thirteen, as shall swear by his name. The only possible way to avoid the danger of forgetting the Lord because of the blessed is to remember that we must worship Him and serve Him only. And those were the words that the Lord Jesus used when he addressed Satan after seeing all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
That is, that great blessing, which is His, which is so great and marvelous, that the twenty-four elders in heaven when it happens will fall down and worship God because he has taken his great power to reign over the destiny of mankind and on this earth that great and glorious day did not eclipse in the heart of the Lord Jesus his first loyalty to God he did not serve the blessed He only served God. So we must bring it this morning as we conclude to our own situation.
We have not been taken. Now today is the fourth July. I am a visitor with you from Canada. Our day was July the first, Confederation Day. I live in the Dominican Republic. And February the twenty-seventh is our great national holiday. Our Independence Day. When we brought from Spain, set up a new country in the Western Hemisphere, we've had our many downs and our few ups over a very long and rugged history, but the Dominican people, like your sounds, take pride in their history and in their country. But spiritually, we have not been given any land.
We have not been given hope. We don't have systems that others built for us. We have not been given material blessings in that sense. Oh, we may have many material blessings. They're the fringe benefits. The real blessing for the Christian today are spiritual blessings. Now, because their spirits don't ever think for a moment they're less important. Many of us, after long years of reading the Bible, of knowing the Lord Jesus, haven't yet grasped how great and marvelous are the blessings that God has given to us.
Perhaps one of the portions of the New Testament that takes us into these blessings more fully than any other portion is Ephesians chapter one and two. I would like you to listen as I read from this portion this morning. Ephesians two verse one and you have he quickened that is he has made you alive who were dead in trespasses and sins verse five even when we were dead in sins have God quickened us God has made us alive together with Christ And then in your Bible, in brackets, in parentheses, you have the words by grace, you are saints.
You may wonder why those words are there, because it's not really part of the ongoing thought in that verse and into the second verse. It's something that has been wedged in. But Paul wedges it in. Because Paul knows just how great and marvelous is the life that God has given us. We call it eternal life. That's not life that goes on forever and ever. It does go on forever and ever, but eternal life is life from eternity. It's the quality of the life. God has given to us the very life of Christ so that you this morning as a Christian walk through Keystone Heights enjoying the natural physical life as every other resident of Keystone Heights.
But apart from that life, you have been given life together with Christ. That is the life that comes from God. You may remember the Lord Jesus. Sometimes when he was here in this world, he said some very offensive things from a human point of view. One day he was surrounded by people just like yourselves. And the Lord Jesus said to the people, I have come that you might have life. Well, none of them considered themselves dead. They were walking, working, they married, they had children, they were alive. The Lord Jesus said, I have come that you might have life, inferring that what the natural man calls life is not really life.
in view of the life that God gives us in Christ. It's such a distinct life. The quality of that life is so different that you really can compare it to what we call life in the world that we live in. And when Paul thinks about that life, what it means, he wedges in. Dear Christian friends, by grace, he are saved. Don't be like the Israelites. Don't take it for granted. Don't go to the extreme some day to think, because I'm an American or a Canadian or because I come from Europe. I have this great and marvelous new life in Christ. How often in the Christian church men and women have said in their own way what Israel eventually said by my might, by the power of my hand, I have these blessings, blessings that really came from God.
They forgot. They were all given in grace. Paul is taking us to a higher level, to blessings with eternal dimensions. He says, you've got life together with Christ. Now remember, it's all by grace. Don't become proud and puffed up. Then in the following verse in Ephesians two and verse six, Paul says, and have raised us up together. and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. There are two thoughts. He not only gave us life, but he raised us up. You see, the Christian moves today in two worlds at the same time, this ordinary natural world that we're all in with all mankind.
But we also move in heavenly places. That's the great eternal spirit. where the government of God is recognized, where seraphins and cherubims and our angels and angels and the twenty-four elders, they all move in absolute harmony with God. We were not just given life together with Christ. We were raised up and introduced into heavenly places. We were twice this morning in Deuteronomy. When Moses spoke to the people of Israel, when God takes you, or introduces you into the new land. Well, we've been raised up into a new eternal land.
Paul calls it heavenly places. And then within that fear, we have been made to sit together with Christ. That is the highest peak of glory at the right hand of the majesty on high. All of these blessings are of such great importance. such great significance that when you come down to verse eight and you may take it as a gospel text and with every reason but remember it was written for people like us who begin to think of the blessings that God has given to us Paul says for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God It is all of the grace of God.
Why? Verse seven reads that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now, on an earthly scene, many thousands of years ago, this is what God wanted to do in the world. He brought Israel into a new land filled with blessings, that Israel would be a testimony to all the peoples of the world of just how great is the kindness and the grace of God.
Israel misused that life, finally saying, By my power, by my might, this belongs to me, and thus they misused the life that God gave them in grace. serving the blessings above the blessing. Dear Christian friend, I really believe this morning I speak first to myself and then to you the blessings God gives to us of home and family, of material blessings. The gifts he gives to us for his service, the gift of teaching, the gift of preaching, the gift of singing, the gift of administration, whatever the gift may be.
All of the spiritual blessings of life and position and atmosphere that we have that we've noticed already in Ephesians chapter two. These blessings are so great that there is always the temptation to serve them first and to place the Lord in a second position. our Christian church and the people of Israel. Both histories are stained with the lives of men and women who receive this great life from God, and they misused it. How? Serving the blessings more than the blessings.
The Lord Jesus said to Satan, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shout thou serve. Whatever talents you have, whatever administrative position you might have in the Christian community, whatever talents, whatever blessings, may we follow the Lord Jesus this morning and never use them, misuse them. Rather, let us worship God and serve him only. Now, take your hymn book One of the good things about coming to North America now and then is the joy of singing some of these great Christian hymns in English.
Hymn number four hundred and twelve. It reads, Not what I am, O Lord, but what thou art. I've taken fifty minutes this morning. There you have it in one little phrase. Not what I am, but what thou art, O Lord. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. and him only shalt thou serve. Shall we sing this hymn verses one, three, four, and five? We'll omit verse two.