When We Become Our Own Tempter

[00:00:00] Matthew, chapter four. And we will begin reading in verse number one, reading down to verse number eleven. This is, of course, the temptation of Christ. This is where we are in our study of our study of the book of Matthew. So we'll begin in verse number one. The Bible says, then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. [00:00:25] And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was afterward and hungered. [00:00:31] And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. And he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. [00:00:51] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down. For it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. [00:01:11] And Jesus said unto him, it is written, again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. [00:01:18] 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, and saith unto him, all these things will I give thee. If thou wilt fall down and worship me, then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan. For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him. And behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Let's pray together. [00:01:51] Our Lord, first of all, thank you that you've given us your word. And thank you, Lord, that you endured temptation and you endured it victoriously for us. [00:02:06] Thank you that it's recorded in scripture. And what great power and grace that you've given to us through this portion of scripture. Lord, we know you suffered greatly during this time of temptation, 40 days and 40 nights. [00:02:22] And, lord, you did it. That we might have an example, have a pattern to follow, that we might understand the wiles of the devil, and that you might be seen as one who is perfect and sinless and righteous. Lord, please help your people. I pray that you would use your word to minister to them and give them what they need. So guide our study here this morning, and may you be glorified in Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:52] Now, in chapter three, we talked about the baptism of Jesus, and of course, we saw that the spirit of God descended like a dove and lit upon the Lord Jesus in verse 16 of chapter three. [00:03:06] And then of course, the father, you know, the Trinity there is mentioned in verse 17. The Father speaks from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now what's interesting is immediately after this, immediately in fact, in one of the other gospels, the Bible actually says immediately Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The wilderness being just a desert, right? A place where he was by himself alone. Mark says that he was with the wild beasts. I'm not exactly sure what the significance of that is, but that's what the Bible says. [00:03:41] And it brings up notice in verse number one, it says Jesus was led up of the spirit. So we know the Lord Jesus was filled with the spirit. He was, at every moment of his life totally and absolutely controlled by the spirit of God. There was never a moment, there was never a moment that he was not under the direct control of the spirit of God, of course, in his humanity, because of course he was 100% man and 100% goddess. But notice, the Lord was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the spirit of God. [00:04:19] This was not something that was orchestrated by the devil. It was something that was appointed and ordained to be done by the Lord himself. [00:04:31] And that's an interesting point. You know, in the, in the, we'll study later, but in the model prayer later on in Matthew, we read and lead us not into temptation, but Jesus was led into temptation. Not only that, but can you think of another person in scripture that was directly led by God into temptation into a test? [00:04:55] The one that comes to my mind is job. [00:04:59] Hast thou considered my servant job? You know, and I'll just be honest with you, this truth, the Lord being our example here. And of course we could argue, you could say, well, this was unique. And of course the Lord's temptation was unique, I'll grant you that. But as an example and as a pattern to us, this is a little bit frightening, a little bit scary, that sometimes the Lord has a reason to lead us to into temptation. [00:05:29] Sometimes the Lord, for whatever reason, permits his people to suffer temptation by the devil. It's not just like we have this idea sometimes I think we kind of humanize this whole thing. We have this idea that, you know, the Lord is fighting against the devil. And the Lord wants, now hear me, the Lord wants us to be healthy, wealthy and wise. And the devil's trying to take all our money and take our health, and the devil's trying to take our happiness and our joyous and there's little bits of truth in that. But God wants to make us happy. God wants to make us wealthy. God wants to make us well. And. [00:06:05] But the problem is, well, the biggest problem is the Bible, because the father, the spirit of God, rather, led Jesus into temptation. [00:06:17] There was a purpose in it. [00:06:19] And if he led our Lord as our example into temptation, who's to say that the Lord won't lead us? You know, the Lord uses these kinds of difficulties in our lives as well. For good. He uses, imagine this, the Lord uses the evil designs of his archenemy for good. [00:06:42] Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? I mean, we talk about romans 828 and we know that all things work together for good and that, you know, makes us feel good and everything, but this is an example of that. [00:06:55] This temptation that the Lord Jesus Christ was subjected to was obviously the will of God. [00:07:04] Think about it. [00:07:05] Because the spirit of God directed him to the place where he would be subjected to this temptation. The Lord had a purpose for this season of temptation, and there was a great. There was a great purpose. But even though. Listen, even though we might be subjected to temptation like the Lord Jesus was, and even though there was a purpose, as we see here, that doesn't, you know, we can console ourselves and say, well, the Lord has a purpose in what I'm going through. The Lord has a purpose in this trial or this temptation. Because temptation and trial, you know, they're kind of kissing cousins. You know, one is tempting to sin, another one, you know, they're very similar. Temptation and trial are very similar words. [00:07:47] We can console ourselves and say, well, the Lord has a purpose in it. Yes, but that doesn't diminish the seriousness or the reality of a real satanic temptation. [00:07:59] But just note that it was not God tempting Jesus. It was not the father tempting Jesus. It was Satan. [00:08:07] And again, the Lord can use even the evil designs of the wicked one for his purposes. So we might ask this question. [00:08:16] Why was the Lord Jesus Christ so tempted at the very beginning of his ministry, when he first is revealed to the nation of Israel, when he's first revealed as the savior? The lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world by John right. [00:08:33] Why is this one of the first things that happens after his baptism? [00:08:37] I'll submit to you that I think there's two reasons and there's probably more, but two for our purposes today. [00:08:43] The first thing is that Jesus had to be demonstrated and proven that he was a fit sacrifice and that he was perfectly righteous. And the way you do that is by being tried. Right? [00:09:04] You're tried. You know, when you think about just in the natural world, you know, you prepare something. You know, they build a bridge and the engineers draw it up and they figure all their calculations, and, you know, they. They have it on the computer and they draw it out with the CAD program and they get it. Everything, and everything's just right. Right. And then they build it, and then it has to be tested. Ships are like that. Airplanes are like that. They all have to be. Cars are like that. They have to be tested. So it's no longer theory. It's been put to the practice and demonstrated and proven that it's safe. In this case, the Lord is being tested to demonstrate and to prove that he is perfectly righteous and therefore fit to be the savior. [00:09:49] Just like in the Old Testament, the sacrifices that were brought had to be examined. They had to be scrutinized. I'm talking about the animals now had to be scrutinized, and they had to be tried with the watchful eye of a priest to ensure that this animal was fit for the offering. There was no, like, casual or cursory examination that was not sufficient. [00:10:14] It was only if the offering was without spot and without blemish that was worthy of the holy one of Israel. [00:10:23] And so Jesus was subjected to this kind of scrutiny, you might say moral or spiritual scrutiny. [00:10:32] The second reason I think the Lord was tempted was to provide an example for us. And we will look at that in this temptation section. We're going to slow down a bit and look at it in some detail. This is a major portion of scripture. This is a very important part of scripture, of course. And so we want to slow down and see our Lord's example here in our later studies. [00:10:58] There is an example in here of temptation, satanic in particular. Satanic temptation, and how we are to respond to it. Second thing I want you to see is in verse number one again, it says this then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted notice of the devil, to be tempted of the devil. [00:11:34] The reason I note that is because very often we like to blame temptation on the devil. This was temptation of the devil. [00:11:48] But very often we like to blame temptation on the devil when it actually arises from our very own nature and from our own willingness to yield to it. [00:12:02] And we shift the blame from ourselves for the temptation. [00:12:09] We shift it to an outside source to describe the cause, when actually the cause is actually in us. [00:12:18] We say, the devil is tempting me. [00:12:24] And when we yield to fleshly temptation, it leads us to sin. [00:12:31] In other words, we become our own tempter. [00:12:38] This is not what's happening here. [00:12:40] What's happening here is the devil, as an outside force entity, is subjecting the Lord Jesus to temptation. And that is a real thing. And that happens, and we're going to examine that and look at that, and that's a real thing. But what we often blame on the devil is actually we ourselves tempting ourselves, and we want to blame the devil for it. [00:13:07] So it's one thing when you have verse number, verse three, it says, when the tempter came to him, in other words, he was over here, and the devil came to Jesus. He drew nigh and he subjected him to the temptation. Right. But what do you do when the tempter is within you, when the tempter is not outside, but the tempter is inside? [00:13:35] I believe that likely the vast majority of our problems are not satanic in origin, but inward. [00:13:46] The tempter is ourselves. [00:13:48] Now, I just want to make something clear. Based upon the Lord Jesus Christ and what we know of his nature, there was no inward temptation that the Lord had. The Lord Washington. The Lord was without sin. He was without any kind of wicked nature like we possess. He had none of that. So the temptation came from outside. [00:14:09] But the Bible does describe another kind of temptation that does not have something outside as its source, but something inside. Same word is used, same wording and language. Pause here and hold your place and come to James chapter one. [00:14:36] Look at verse number 13 or verse twelve for context. [00:14:47] James 112. The Bible says, blessed is the mandev that endureth temptation for when he is tried. Notice I said, temptation and trial are synonymous words. You remember I said that a minute ago. This is how we know it. We think of, just as a side note, we think of temptation as something that. You want to do this, don't you? An outside force is tempting us, and we think of a trial as some misfortune that comes upon us, that puts pressure upon us, or something like that. But in scripture, they're together. That's what you see here. [00:15:23] Because really that outside pressure or the pressure of an unfortunate, we might say an unfortunate situation, it often becomes a source of temptation to sin in us. [00:15:40] So it says in verse twelve, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Verse 13, let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil. Now you say, well, what about Jesus? Okay. [00:16:05] Jesus was enduring the temptation in his humanity. Okay? It's just that simple. [00:16:12] This is a mystery of the unity of Christ's deity and his humanity, okay? So it's not hard to understand and it's not a contradiction. It's part of the mystery of who he is. And if you and I don't understand that fully, that's okay, because, I mean, what would it say of our God if we could understand our God fully? [00:16:32] But anyway, it says this, for God cannot be tempted with evil. Neither tempteth he any man. Okay? So let's pause there and just say this. [00:16:43] Anytime someone is tempted or is prompted or urged to do something that is. That is unlawful or transgressive of God's law or any way immoral or wicked, no matter what they say, God is not the author of it. [00:17:03] You know, there are many, many times people have a deluded idea of what God is telling them to do. Somebody is talking to them, but it's not God. [00:17:12] We don't deny that somebody's talking, you know, and God is. In other words, it is a satanic strategy to malign God's name. God made me do it. God told me to do this. Listen, I just want to say, be very careful when you claim the Lord told you to do this and that and the other. Be very careful when you say that. Now, the Lord does tell us to do things. I don't have. You know, the Bible says the spirit of God leads us, but we got to be very careful about that because we can deceive ourselves into those ideas. And then when it goes south, what happens? It's the Lord's the one that gets the bad name. [00:17:54] So just be careful. My best advice is, if you feel like the Lord is directing you or leading you to do something, pray about that thing between you and God until he brings it to pass. And then you can say, the Lord told me this and told me that way back when. And that's okay. That's okay. Keep that thing between you and the Lord. Or with a confidant maybe. [00:18:14] Okay, let me get back to my message here. Okay. [00:18:18] Look at verse 14. [00:18:22] But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. [00:18:30] Let me ask you a question. Is in these verses, same verse, temptation, same idea, same language? Is there another party that is involved in this case? [00:18:43] No. [00:18:44] This is coming from inside of me. [00:18:48] This is a temptation that I am being subjected to from within. So we can't blame the devil. This is our own lust. [00:18:57] And if it comes verse 14 of our own lust. What does that say about our responsibility? About it? We can't say, well, the devil, you know, the devil's made me do it. Or the devil, you know. No no no no. Look at what's happening here. [00:19:12] Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. So the lust within us pulls us towards sin. That's what it says. [00:19:25] It pulls us towards sin. We should not attempt to blame God or blame the devil for this kind of temptation. And this is the kind that's really scary. [00:19:36] So when we look at the temptation of Christ, the source of temptation is different. One is the devil. [00:19:42] Here, the source of temptation is not that. In this case, the source of temptation is the flesh. [00:19:49] Also, the cause of the temptation is different. In Matthew chapter four, the cause is the spirit of God. [00:19:56] In this case, that would never be the case. The spirit of God does not listen. Please hear me. Please hear me. The spirit of God. Whereas we do see in Matthew chapter four the spirit of God leading the Lord Jesus into a situation where he would be subjected to satanic temptation. [00:20:11] But the spirit of God does not, however, lead us into a situation where we are subjected to internal, fleshly temptation that is described in James chapter one. [00:20:26] How do I know that? [00:20:28] I'll show you in just a minute. So in Matthew chapter four, the cause of the temptation is the spirit of God. In this case, the cause is myself, my own nature. [00:20:41] And here's why that difference is important, not only in the way we shift blame. [00:20:49] Now hear me. [00:20:51] When we try to blame the source of our temptation on something other than our own selves and our own nature, our own lust, that has drawn us toward that thing, when we shift blame to something else, we're also going to lose sight of the solution. [00:21:10] It's an attempt to relieve ourselves of the responsibility of that matter. [00:21:15] It's our own fault. [00:21:18] It's our own fault. [00:21:23] And not only that, but the difference between the temptation of the Lord and the temptation, as we read in James one, results in a difference in response in each case. [00:21:37] Rather, in Matthew chapter four, what is the devil trying to do from the outside? The devil is trying to lure the Lord Jesus Christ to do something using manipulation, using lies and deception. He's trying to implant wicked and false thoughts into the mind of the Lord Jesus. And what is the Lord? We're going to look at this later, but you know this answer. What is the Lord's response in each case? What is it? It's the word of God that is the response. The devil brings a temptation, a lie, whatever it comes. And there are different strategies he uses, but the response is always the word of God. We'll get into that later. [00:22:17] But in this case, in James one, this temptation that rises from within, what is the response? It is not the word of God. [00:22:27] Let me show you the response. Look at a few verses with me. Look at Romans chapter 13. [00:22:41] I have three verses. I want to look at. [00:22:44] Romans 1314. [00:22:52] Romans 1314 says this, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. [00:23:09] The Lord doesn't say, fight it with the word of God. He says, don't provide for its opportunity. [00:23:22] Look at two Timothy, chapter two, verse 22, 2nd Timothy, 222. Flee also youthful lusts. See that? [00:23:57] Listen, don't stay and fight. [00:24:03] Run. [00:24:06] When we are subjected to this temptation, this lust from our own, from our own nature that draws us towards sin, the Lord doesn't say, well, you need to take out the sword of the word of God. No, he says, you need to run away from that thing. Don't stay and fight. You will lose. Listen, you and I will lose 100% of the time if we stay and fight. [00:24:29] I think, obviously, I think immediately of things related to the Internet and television. [00:24:36] Listen and listen. Remember that temptation is not arising from the devil. I mean, he might put something out. He might lob a grenade in your direction. But once that thing gets, once that thing catches you, it's your own lust that draws you into it. Listen, don't even go there. [00:24:55] You run from that thing. You set up barriers. Keep yourself away from that thing, because the moment it attracts you, your own lust will suck you into it. You need to run. You need to run. [00:25:08] If you're in a position where you find yourself anytime, listen, as a general rule, anytime you find yourself repeatedly sinning, repeatedly doing the same thing over and over and over, ask yourself, what brought me to this place? What position was I in when I started to be pulled toward this sin? And that thing is what you need to run from. Don't even make provision. Don't even put yourself in a place where you can do it. Because if you're a. If you're not in a place where you can do it, that drawing won't happen. [00:25:39] The Lord says, don't stay and fight like the Lord Jesus did. It is written. It is written. No, no. Run. [00:25:45] The temptation is coming from within. If you get. If it catches you, you are going to be sucked into its vortex and you will fall. I will fall. [00:25:57] The temptation might be to gossip and slander the temptation might regard money taking out debt. [00:26:07] It might be covetousness. [00:26:12] I mean there's any number of things the Lord says. Listen. [00:26:19] You would do yourself well if you would just memorize that verse. Make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. [00:26:29] Flee youthful lust. That's what Joseph did. Did he not? See? Here's what happened with Joseph and Potiphar's wife. With Joseph and Potiphar's wife. It's related to our study here this difference between temptation. Joseph was so wise wasn't he? Such a good example to us? Such a godly man. Here he is a servant in Potiphar's house. He still feared God and the devil sent a temptation to him in the form of Potiphar's wife. That wasn't his fault. [00:26:56] But if Joseph had lingered one moment one moment you know what would have happened? That wicked nature inside of Joseph would have latched on. [00:27:08] And so what did he do? [00:27:11] He fled and got him out. That's what the Bible says. [00:27:15] Left his coat and everything. [00:27:17] That's exactly what we see here. Get out of Dodge. Run away from that thing. Don't stay and fight. Don't try to. Well you know Parvur's wife. You know you can't. You're not supposed to. No no no. [00:27:27] He was gone. And that shows that he was cognizant of his own nature. If he stayed a moment he might convince himself to hang out. [00:27:40] And then look finally at Galatians chapter five for this. [00:27:47] Galatians chapter five verse number 16. [00:27:56] Of course. Galatians chapter five talks about the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. [00:28:01] All right. Now follow me. [00:28:05] So if we know there's a source of temptation found inside of us how we already found. Don't make provision. Okay. That's one. Flee. That's another. Don't stay and fight. [00:28:17] Number two or number three. [00:28:20] How do I avoid it? [00:28:22] How do I avoid that temptation that entices me from my own wicked nature from the flesh? How do I do it? Galatians 516. [00:28:31] This I say. Then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This is your daily walk with God. I'm not. When I say that I'm not just talking about reading your chapters and praying your prayers. I'm not talking about that. Walking in the spirit is more than that. That's part of it. But that's not the entirety. [00:28:54] This is daily obedience and yielding. Submitting to the Lord every day. [00:29:04] That is what will keep you and me from being led away by our own temptation. [00:29:13] That's the key. [00:29:21] How are you doing on this temptation? [00:29:25] Do you put yourself in a place where you know you will be tempted? [00:29:31] Are you putting yourself in a place where you know the danger lies and you still go there? You still do that? [00:29:38] Do you do that? [00:29:40] Listen, if you do that, you will fall. It is just a matter of time. It is just a matter of time. [00:29:49] That's not the devil doing that. That's something you need to understand. It's not the devil. It's your own fault. It is your fault because you have not fled. [00:30:00] You have made an opportunity for that flesh to reach out and long for that sin. [00:30:08] God help us. [00:30:14] The last thing I want you to see is back in Matthew four. [00:30:26] The goal of the temptation, if you'll call to mind, here in Genesis chapter two, how many commands did God give to Adam and Eve? [00:30:48] How many? [00:30:50] Exactly one. [00:30:52] Exactly one. [00:30:54] I know this is, you know, this might blow your mind. [00:30:57] If there's only one command, there's only one way you could possibly sin. You say, well, what about murder? Listen, that's not the world they lived in. They lived in a perfect world, an innocent world. There was no sin, death or anything like. No sickness, none of that, okay? So you can't interpret it by our current world. All right? In that time, there was exactly one law. Where there is no law, there is no transgression. There was exactly one that Adam and Eve could have sinned. Now let me ask you a question. When Adam and Eve, that law, when God says the fruit is in the midst of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, right? Would you consider eating fruit to be a serious sin or not? [00:31:38] I would say it's probably minor, wouldn't you? [00:31:42] And is eating fruit inherently sinful from a moral perspective? No. Why was it a sin then? Obviously because God forbid it. And that tells us something about what sin is. It's what God forbids, what God commands. [00:31:58] So think about this. When Adam and Eve sin. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, there was only one sin that could be committed, and it was a sin that would be considered to us to be a trifle, sort of like turning to stones into bread for your hunger. [00:32:15] Was the Lord allowed to eat? Yes, the Lord was allowed to eat. Is eating a sin? Obviously, it's not inherently sinful. But the Lord Jesus Christ was under the direct, the direction, the direct leadership of his father. And at that moment, he was not permitted to eat it. See what I'm saying he was fasting and he was not permitted to take part. [00:32:45] And so something that was not inherently sinful is now off limits. [00:32:51] And not only that, but it was something in his natural desire. It's not a sin to be hungry. Adam and Eve were hungry. That's before the fall. [00:33:00] And so the Lord had been fasting 40 days and 40 nights. It was not wrong for him to have a natural desire for food. [00:33:08] And think about the other temptations of the Lord that we reread a minute ago. And again, we'll look at them in detail later. But the last of the three is to fall down and worship the temptations. To fall down and worship the devil. Okay. [00:33:21] Would you consider that to be a serious matter? I would say it's a serious matter. The second one, though, is kind of a moderate thing. He said, the temptation to cast himself down, definitely wicked. Tempt the Lord and those kinds of things. But, but not. Maybe not as serious as the third. But the first one is a trifle. [00:33:42] It's a minor thing. [00:33:46] The first one appears innocent. [00:33:49] But here's what I want you to see. [00:33:54] The devil's goal was to get the Lord Jesus to do some. Listen now. To do some trifle of a sin, some little thing. [00:34:05] Adam and Eve in the garden. Same type of thing. What was it not? [00:34:09] It was, in essence, the first temptation of Christ. Was, in essence, the same temptation that Adam and Eve suffered in the garden. [00:34:19] Listen to these verses. I'm just reading for time. [00:34:22] All in Romans, chapter five, verse twelve. By one man, sin entered into the world in death by sin. Verse 15. Through the offense of one, many be dead. Verse 16. Judgment was by one to condemnation. Verse 17. By one man's offense, death reigned by one. Verse 18. By the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Listen to that again. By the offense of one, that's Adam in the garden. [00:34:58] Judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Verse 19. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. That's Adam, and that's us. [00:35:14] One little sin, one small sin condemned the whole human race. [00:35:26] Think about it. One little sin in the garden. That's what romans five says. Over and over and over. One small sin condemned the entirety of the human race. In all of Adam's descendants, cast them all into sin and therefore death. [00:35:45] And so one small blot, just like Adam and Eve, one small blot in the Lord Jesus, one small blot in the Lord Jesus would have condemned the whole of the human race forever. [00:36:03] Think about it. If the Lord Jesus had had one blot, remember? What is the devil tempting him to do those three times? The first one is just some minor thing. [00:36:12] But had the Lord yielded to this minor thing, all of humanity would have been damned forever in the lake of fire. [00:36:21] Because there could have been no savior over a minor trifle of a sin. [00:36:30] Hebrews, chapter seven. I'll read it to you. [00:36:33] Says this verse, number 26. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. Listen now. Verse 27. Who needeth not daily as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for himself and then for the peoples. For this he did once when he offered up himself. You see that he's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. There is no need for him to sacrifice for himself. He is holy. [00:37:11] As that leads us to the third thing I want you to see. [00:37:14] Remember the devil tempting him with one trifle of a sin. [00:37:19] He already did it with Adam and Eve to cast all of humanity into wickedness and into judgment and into condemnation. He already won that battle. [00:37:31] Now he's trying to do it with the Lord Jesus. Because if he can do it with the Lord Jesus, as he did with Adam and Eve, so there would be no savior. Humanity would be lost forever. Because God is holy and we are not. [00:37:46] One little trifle. [00:37:49] And so we can say this, one small sin will keep you out of heaven. [00:37:58] One small sin cast Adam and Eve out of the garden. One small sin would have defiled the Lord Jesus and made him unfit to be our savior. [00:38:09] And one small sin in you and in me is enough to cut us off from a holy God. [00:38:16] This is what the Bible says. [00:38:24] This is why our Lord Jesus must be perfectly righteous. Not one sin because we have not been. [00:38:35] We must have a perfectly righteous substitute. And that's our Lord Jesus. [00:38:46] Fourth thing I want you to see. I'm almost done. Believe it or not, you know this. There was not one small sin or blot in the Lord Jesus whatsoever. [00:39:00] Look at romans, chapter five. [00:39:05] Romans, chapter five. [00:39:14] This is why. Listen. This is why when people do not hear me. Now, I know, we get it. We talk about doctrine. Doctrine is all dry and everything, but listen, if the Lord Jesus had ever actually sinned, our faith is vain. Do you understand that? I mean, we are lost forever. This is all useless. [00:39:33] We are all going to the lake of fire forever. [00:39:42] This truth, this doctrinal, dry, doctrinal truth, if you will, matters. [00:39:48] It's either true or it's not. [00:39:51] Romans 518. I just read you chapter five, how that one man's sin condemned the whole of the human race, including me and including you. But in chapter five, verse number 18, the Bible says, therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. That's talking about Adam in the garden. Even so, listen what it says very carefully. Even so, by the righteousness of one, you see that Jesus was righteous. We saw that last week. He was righteous. [00:40:23] It says, even so, by the righteousness of one, that's Jesus. The free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. You see that if he was not righteous, there is no justification, there is no savior. That's what this is saying, verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one Jesus shall many be made righteous. How does that work? How does this work? What this means is the Lord lived a perfectly righteous life, both in the the prohibitive commands, as we studied last week, and the prescriptive commands right. He did. He avoided all sin and perfectly obeyed his father. The temptation proves that he is righteous. [00:41:14] And because he is righteous, when we believe on him, he gives us his own righteousness. And we are, as it is, wrapped in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if that righteous robe that he has given us when we trust in him had one speck of a transgression in the sight of God, it would be useless to us, for we have those in abundance ourselves. [00:41:42] But his was perfectly righteous. [00:41:47] So the last thing I want you to see is this. We must have the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, or else we have no chance. [00:42:01] First Corinthians 130. [00:42:04] If you would look there, this is the last verse I want to look at. [00:42:09] First Corinthians 130. [00:42:26] The Bible says this, but of him of Christ, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made. Notice what it says. Christ Jesus is made unto us wisdom. He's made unto us righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. You see that? That verse says that Christ is our righteousness, the temptation and his victory over it, the fact that he is without spot. [00:43:02] That is why his righteousness is and can be our own righteousness. I stand before God clean and pure. [00:43:13] Certainly not because I've done enough good works. [00:43:17] I stand before God clean and pure because Jesus is my righteousness, and he is my righteousness because he is righteous. [00:43:32] Let me ask you a question. [00:43:38] Do you have the righteousness of Christ upon you? Are you wrapped in his righteousness at this moment? [00:43:46] Do you know for certain that you are. [00:43:52] But another question I want to ask you. If you're a child of God, are you putting yourself in a place where you're providing your own wicked nature and opportunity to sin? I. You're being your own tempter. [00:44:11] If that's you. If that's me. Listen, we need to get that thing right. [00:44:17] Sin will destroy us. [00:44:20] It will bring death. The Bible says in James there, in that same passage, it says in sin when it conceives our lust conceives sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.