Man shall not live by bread alone

• v We are always better off when we obey God and trust in His gracious sustenance than to impatiently selfishly try and bypass God.
• v And more importantly God is not just there to provide for our needs.

 Do not put the Lord your God to the test:

1. People are never satisfied.

2. Putting God to the test brings him into submission to our wishes and our desires.

3. Jesus warned us not to test God because test God is to doubt God.

4. Our need is not to prove God's faithfulness but to prove our own.

5. Seek His Kingdom first.

We have been looking at the words that Jesus spoke in Matt 4: while been tempted in the desert. 

Today we will look at Matt 4:8-10

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  ⁹ ‘‘All this I will give you," he said, ‘‘if you will bow down and worship me."

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, ‘‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only

Satan now drops all his pretenses and makes one final desperate effort to tempt Jesus. He now does not beat around the bush in any way but comes straight to the point and tempts Jesus to worship him in return for all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

As the King of Kind and Lord of Lords Jesus had the right to all the Kingdoms of the earth. God had already given him the kingdoms of the earth. Instead of enduring the long, bitter, humiliating and painful road to the cross, Jesus could take a short cut and rule the kingdoms of the earth. Satan now offered him the kingdoms of the earth, which he did not own, and secondly on his own corrupt terms. Jesus had to fall down and worship him.

God allowed Jesus to be tempted to show that He was worthy to inherit and rule the world.

Ps 2:8

⁶ ‘‘I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." ⁷ I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father. ⁸ Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.

Satan always comes in the same way to us, he offers you the kingdoms of business, he offers you the positions of power in politics and the world of fame. There is always a condition if only......Position and power and glory all come with a tremendous price.

We can get what we want, we can fulfill our fantasies, we can be somebody. All we must do to get those things of the world is to go after them in the way of the world - in Satan's way.

Satan promised Eve that by eating the forbidden fruit she would not die as God warned, but that in facts she would become a God herself.

Gen 3:4-5

⁴ ‘‘You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.  ⁵ ‘‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Why do you set your standards so high? Whit is the use of it when other seems to enjoy themselves so much. You can cut corners tell white lies, cheat as long as you get what you want.

When we set our hearts on money, prestige, popularity, power or selfish happiness, we are doing what Satan wants us to do  - put self first and God last.

Satan is a counterfeiter. He offers what seems to be the same as what God offers and his price is much cheaper.

Satan will come to you and say "did God say he will prosper you?" You know what he may do it but He is more interested in your character." Satan will say to you "I will give it to you sooner and cheaper." Just turn your head a little to questionable practices. Follow the crowd. That's the way to success. The end will justify the means.

What Satan wanted in the desert was the soul of Jesus.  "All these things I will give You, if you fall down and worship me." He wanted to bribe the Son of God to worship at his feet.

Let me tell you Stan always gives immeasurably less the he promises. If Jesus gave into this last temptation he would have disqualified himself as the King and savior.

The Devil had stepped beyond his boundaries and suggested utter wickedness to Jesus. The reply from Jesus came again as before as a quote from the Old Testament in Deut,

"Be gone Satan, For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord Your God and serve him only"

Jesus demonstrated to us that he would not be tempted to take short cuts or seeking glory for himself or testing God or worshipping anything or anyone in any form that is not God himself.

Jesus will inherit the kingdom in God's time, and we will inherit the kingdom with him.

Matt 5:5

⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Matt 25:

³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ ‘‘Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world

Rom 8:17

¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

James 2:5

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

At the end of all of this we will inherit a kingdom prepared for us. Who in his or her right mind would like to throw eternity with God away for a brief few years of deceptive, disappointing and short lived imitations that Satan offers.

God want to give us many good things even in this life.

Matt 7:9

⁹ ‘‘Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

The happiness that God give is not the cheap momentarily pleasures that Satan offers.

The difference in all of is this that God offers happiness while Satan offers pleasures

You can have the success of living righteously and pleasing our heavenly Father, why should we settle for the brief and disappointing success sin produces? By god's grade we can have the peace that surpasses understanding, why should we settle for cheap pleasures that everyone understand but that will soon pass and end in destruction.

Today we will look at Matt 4:8-10

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  ⁹ ‘‘All this I will give you," he said, ‘‘if you will bow down and worship me."

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, ‘‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Closing points about temptations:

• v Testing comes from God temptation from the Devil
• v Temptation is not sin but what we do when tempted can be sin.
• v If you make yourself a target for temptation your will become vulnerable and will fail and become tangled up in your sin.

Matt 4:11

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Anything that becomes more important than our relationship and service to God is worshipping false God's and will lead to destruction.

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