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[159.32 --> 161.00] think their product is the best.
[161.72 --> 167.04] And so, I actually Googled for this sermon the most deceptive commercial.
[168.00 --> 170.36] And you know what one of the top results were?
[171.92 --> 174.06] I won't name it, but it was a dating site.
[174.06 --> 176.18] I won't name the specific dating site.
[176.18 --> 182.04] But it's a dating site that promised you your perfect match based on scientific research.
[182.74 --> 185.30] Now, this is actually based on real research.
[185.62 --> 188.22] So, there is some truth to that.
[188.22 --> 197.72] But it's deceptive when they had to create fake profiles to make your perfect match, bait you into paying for their services,
[198.04 --> 200.12] and you end up being sad and broken again.
[201.52 --> 206.82] And so, the best lies are the ones that are a twisting of the truth.
[206.82 --> 209.06] And this is how the devil works.
[209.76 --> 213.20] Not a blatant lie, but a twisting of the truth.
[214.32 --> 219.96] And so, on that cheerful note, if you would turn with me to Matthew chapter 4, and we read from verse 1,
[220.92 --> 224.28] on how our Savior Jesus was also tested in the wilderness.
[225.78 --> 229.10] Matthew chapter 4, verse 1.
[229.10 --> 235.24] Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
[236.20 --> 239.80] After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.
[240.84 --> 242.40] The tempter came to him and said,
[242.70 --> 246.16] If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.
[246.90 --> 247.72] Jesus answered,
[248.04 --> 248.58] It is written,
[249.04 --> 253.18] Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
[253.18 --> 259.14] Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
[259.80 --> 261.64] If you are the Son of God, he said again,
[262.00 --> 264.44] Throw yourself down, for it is written,
[264.94 --> 267.04] He will command his angels concerning you,
[267.20 --> 271.76] and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against stone.
[272.98 --> 273.84] Jesus answered,
[274.34 --> 275.36] It is also written,
[275.88 --> 278.12] Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
[278.12 --> 285.34] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
[286.04 --> 290.14] All of this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me.
[290.78 --> 291.82] Jesus said to him,
[292.40 --> 293.76] Away from me, Satan.
[294.38 --> 295.16] For it is written,
[295.82 --> 298.02] Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
[299.12 --> 301.96] Then the devil left him and angels came and attended him.
[304.72 --> 307.80] Now on an initial reading of this text this time around,
[308.12 --> 315.20] It was weird how the phrase that stuck out to me was this little part of the sentence where it says that Jesus was hungry.
[316.30 --> 323.20] I highlighted this specific part of my Bible because it sounded so real down to earth for me.
[324.36 --> 327.14] So after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights,
[328.10 --> 328.96] Jesus was hungry.
[329.50 --> 330.36] That's just fact.
[330.72 --> 333.04] That he was really human, that he was really hungry.
[333.04 --> 340.06] And I remember a time where my dad, in preparation of his, I think it was ordination, but whatever it was,
[340.28 --> 342.82] He did a whole 40-day fasting as well.
[343.20 --> 345.06] Now I don't know if he did the whole 40 days,
[345.30 --> 349.14] But during that time, no one was to go around his little prayer room.
[349.48 --> 350.38] Like that was his space.
[350.44 --> 351.84] It was really dark and gloomy there.
[352.24 --> 353.76] And he didn't seem too happy.
[354.50 --> 355.62] He was very hungry.
[356.10 --> 356.78] Very human.
[356.78 --> 365.96] And it was a reminder for me that it, or it showed me, of how Jesus our Savior and the Son of God Himself that we glorify and worship,
[366.96 --> 367.92] Was really human.
[369.34 --> 374.88] He came, he became a human like us to be tempted and tested just as we are.
[374.88 --> 381.90] And so with this real Jesus, who came to us as a real human being,
[382.42 --> 388.02] Satan tempts Jesus, trying to split the relationship between Him and God.
[389.24 --> 394.26] And this is what He does against us as well, through lies and deception again.
[394.86 --> 398.88] And specifically, the lie or the twisting of the truth is,
[399.46 --> 402.12] Our own God-given desire for goodness.
[402.12 --> 409.32] And I would argue that every human being made in the image of God has this deep desire for goodness.
[409.84 --> 411.54] This is a reflection of our designer.
[412.22 --> 417.54] But what Satan does is he takes that natural, truthful desire for goodness,
[418.24 --> 421.16] And he uses it to pull us away from God,
[421.22 --> 424.62] Not to bring us closer in harmony and relationship with Him,
[424.82 --> 425.88] Which is such an irony.
[426.50 --> 428.34] Using the gift God gave us Himself,
[428.72 --> 430.52] And using that to pull us away from God.
[430.52 --> 431.82] And that's deception.
[432.80 --> 437.04] Again, it's not a blatant or explicit lie telling you right in your face,
[437.40 --> 439.20] Hey, betray God.
[439.54 --> 441.56] Or betray your own convictions.
[441.96 --> 443.70] Your own desires for goodness.
[445.06 --> 448.90] Betray all that and live in a life of sadness and anxiety and depression.
[450.40 --> 452.66] If that was Satan's method,
[452.66 --> 457.14] I would think it would be a little bit easier to ward off.
[457.14 --> 458.78] Because we know it's a lie.
[459.82 --> 467.94] But why it's so deceitful is that he takes a snippet of truth again and twists it in a false idea or message.
[467.94 --> 473.58] Before we get into the actual content of the temptations,
[474.22 --> 478.74] Notice that Jesus is led into the wilderness right after the baptism.
[478.74 --> 484.84] The conjunctive word that connects the chapter 3 to chapter 4 that we read is the word tote.
[485.02 --> 486.06] It just means then.
[486.70 --> 490.20] And it's a conjunction connecting Jesus' baptism
[490.20 --> 494.22] And continuing straight into the wilderness for his temptation.
[494.22 --> 498.40] Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
[498.40 --> 506.64] And this is important because there is a temptation to think that the natural or right path after being baptized
[506.64 --> 510.86] Is now to live gloriously and triumphantly as new creation.
[511.92 --> 513.72] That's the temptation to think that.
[514.00 --> 516.02] That because I'm a Christian, everything is okay now.
[517.00 --> 519.16] Just test that theory out right now.
[519.80 --> 523.40] Was that the case for you after your baptism or your profession of faith?
[523.40 --> 527.42] That all problems were gone and away with after you became a Christian?
[529.50 --> 533.78] At the very least, Jesus, it wasn't the case for Jesus.
[535.40 --> 539.26] God's Spirit himself leads Jesus into the wilderness
[539.26 --> 542.94] So that he would be tested and tempted by the devil.
[544.54 --> 546.18] God leads Jesus.
[546.46 --> 548.46] God's Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness.
[548.88 --> 551.18] And so I had to ask and kept asking,