The Kingdom, The Power, And the Glory | Matthew 4:8-11

Good morning.

It is Palm Sunday

in which we celebrate the day that

Christ came into Jerusalem riding on a

donkey and he was hailed as the king.

And oftentimes

uh during the passion week, I'll go and

I'll take a break from our text and go

into something that directly reflects

the church holiday. But this week or

this year, I decided not to do that

because our text deals with the kingdom

and the authority of Christ. We're going

to be in Matthew chapter 4 and we're

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

going to finish up the temptation of

Christ by the devil in Matthew chapter

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

4. And I've titled this the kingdom, the

power, and the glory.

In this passage, we're going to read

about how Satan tempts Christ to Make a

kingdom without a cross.

Circumvent the cross. Get the kingdom

directly. If you fall down and worship

me, he says, I'll give you the kingdoms

of this world. Now, there's a background

here. We know that Satan takes him up

into a very high mountain. In the book

of Genesis, God creates Adam and he puts

him in a garden with four rivers coming

out of it. And if you ever about it. If

there's four rivers coming from it, what

does that mean? Means that Eden was the

highest place around and therefore water

flows downhill. That means that Eden was

a mountain. And in Eden, Adam was made a

king. In Genesis 1:28, we're told God

Genesis 1:28

blessed them. And God said to them, "Be

fruitful and multiply and fill the earth

and subdue it and have dominion over the

fish of the sea and over the birds of

the heavens and over every living thing

that moves on the earth." So, Adam was

given dominion over the earth.

He was the king of the world and his

wife was queen of the world. Now, when

we think of kings and kingdoms, we think

of doineering over mankind. But There is

no sin. There is no need for police

officers and and hangmen and uh Caesar's

bearing swords. In a in a world where

there's no sin or even less than uh no

crime, you wouldn't need civil

government. But man was called to have

dominion over the earth.

When we talk about the dominion mandate,

and I encourage men and women to to look

at their occupation and their role as

mother and father as a fulfillment of

the dominion mandate that comes from

Genesis 1:28. Be fruitful, multiply, and

Genesis 1:28

subdue the earth. Take the dirt and make

cool things out of it. build houses,

build families,

uh have gardens, build businesses, get

involved, and bring the law of God, the

law of Christ to bear in whatever sphere

that you're in. This is a form of

dominion. Well, what happens? Well, Adam

is tempted in the garden to rebel

against God,

to be his own authority. Satan says,

"You shall be as God.

you'll be able to declare for yourself

what is good and what is evil. This was

a rebellion against God that that uh

ended up Satan offered the bait and Adam

took it and Adam now in a fallen world

with frustration of work has dominion

but in a fallen sort of way. And as we

see in a little while, Satan in some way

has a form of dominion over the

kingdoms, the sinful kingdoms of this

world. And we'll get into that. And now

here Jesus, the last Adam, is on a very

high mountain being offered the kingdoms

of this world by Satan if he will fall

down and worship him. And it's not that

Jesus isn't to reign. It's not that he

doesn't reign, as we shall see, he does.

He's being offered the kingdoms of this

world

without a cross. You can avoid the

cross. And this comes up later in the

book. You can have the crown without

without a cross. You can have authority

without being submitted to God. If you

will submit to me, I will give you the

kingdoms of this world. He says, and you

can reign without the suffering, without

the cross. And this Jesus would not do.

So the point of this this morning's

sermon is no crown without a cross.

Christ had to suffer before he could

reign. If you stand with me now for the

reading of our short text, Matthew

Matthew 4:8

chapter 4, verse 8. Again,

the devil took him to a very high

mountain and showed him all the kingdoms

of the world and their glory. And he

said to him, "All these I will give you

if you will fall down and worship me."

Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan,

for it is written, you shall worship the

Lord your God, in him only shall you

serve." Then the devil left him, and

behold, angels came and were ministering

to him. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank

you that you did not avoid the cross,

but you willingly went to the cross to

bear our sins so that we could be

redeemed from evil, so that we could be

reconciled to God. And now you reign.

All authority has been given to the son

in heaven and in earth. And we thank

you, God, that we serve you, the

sovereign God, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who reigns supreme. You are our Lord and

our Savior. We rejoice in your rule. In

Jesus name I pray. Amen. You may be

seated.

So there's a contrast to be made. Adam

sent in a garden. He's temped in the

garden. Jesus is tempted in the

wilderness. Adam on a full stomach.

Jesus is hungry. Adam names the animal

animals is surrounded by friendly

animals. and and Mark it highlights that

Jesus was with the wild beast. Uh Adam

will fall, Adam will fail, Christ will

prevail. Adam will be driven from the

garden by angels. Jesus will be

ministered to by angels. And so there's

a contrast between the two. Adam had

every favorable condition, but when he

was offered the bait, he took it. Jesus

was in a very hostile condition, and He

prevails where Adam fails. And now

Christ gets the kingdom back. Christ

will be tempted through he has been

tempted for his 30 years of life up to

this point. He will be tempted many

times after this and his ministry. We'll

see another one of uh Christ final

temptation will be at the cross where he

will prevail once again. Adam will

prevail at a tree. Jesus will obey on a

tree. The thorns were put there for

Adam's sake. Christ will bear the crown

of thorns. And so Christ is the last

Adam. And every man, every woman, every

child is either in the fallen Adam or in

the last Adam. Jesus is called the last

Adam. But here we see his temptation and

we see Satan offering him the kingdoms

of the world if he will do

the very simple thing. Bow down and

worship me. Now, the first commandment

says, "You shall have no other god

before me." And the first commandment

isn't so much about worship as the first

commandment is about authority. Who's in

charge? Who's in charge? Where where do

your rules come from? Do your rules come

from the culture? Does it come from your

family? Does it come from the civil

order? Who makes the rules? God says in

the first commandment, "I am the Lord

your God that brought you up out of the

land of Egypt, out of the house of

bondage. You shall have no other gods

before me." This is a declaration. I am

your authority and you're to have no

other authority before me. But what's

Satan doing here? Satan is saying, "If

you'll bow down and worship me, if

you'll make me your authority, I'll give

you what's under my control, the

kingdoms of this world." And what's

inferred is without a cross, you don't

have to go to the cross. You can just

bow down and worship me. And and the

cross part will come in later in the

book. We'll look at it some more. But

let's I got a lot of verses to look at.

Our text is very short this morning. I

break it into two halves, but I have a

lot of background that I think will

clear up a lot of confusion about this

passage. There's a lot of confusion

about this passage. So let's look at it

again. Verse eight says, "Again, the

devil took him to a very high mountain

and showed him all the kingdoms of the

world and their glory. And he said to

him, all these I will give you if you

will fall down and worship me." So,

first of all, notice he took him to a

high mountain. Adam was on a mountain.

Four rivers flew out flowed out of it. I

didn't a high mountain. And those say,

well, this is this is kind of some kind

of mythology where you people thought

that if they could get to a high enough

mountain, they could see to the end of a

flat earth. No. High places were places

that people believe they would meet with

the gods. And throughout the Old

Testament, people would go up to the

high places and they would build altars

to Baal and Ash. One of the the great

sins of Solomon was he built high places

to foreign gods. People would worship

their false gods on high places. And to

this day, and you go to India and Tibet,

people put temples on high places. uh

ziggurats and pyramids and Mexico are

man-made high places. You ascend to the

steps and there they would go to offer

their sacrifices to the gods. Uh I

believe this is in a vision. Satan takes

them in a vision. He shows them the

kingdoms of the world and he says all

this I will give you if you will fall

down and worship me. Now there's

different ways of looking at this one.

This could be like the person that says,

"I have a bridge to sell you." Right?

You want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?

I'll sell it to you cheap going for a

hundred bucks today while I'm hungry.

Well, they don't have the authority to

sell the Brooklyn Bridge. And that could

be what's going on here. But I I think

what I'm gonna what I'm going to show

you here in a little bit is that God is

the most high God who owns the world.

But prior to the coming of Christ, he

delegated territory to different

spirits. He the nations under under

spirit beings, the sons of God. And I'll

show you that in a minute. But but the

one that ultimately owns the world and

always has is God. God delegated it to

Adam. Adam loses it to Satan and

principalities. And Jesus gets them

back. Not just merely as God, but as the

God man. So who owns the world? Psalm 24

verse one says, "The earth is Yahweh's

and the fullness thereof, the world and

those who dwell therein. For he has

found it upon the seas and established

it upon the rivers. Now Psalm 24:1

Psalms 24:1

and verse two is written after the fall

of Adam. Who does it say owns the world?

Yahweh does

say Satan owns the world. Yahweh owns

the world. The earth is the Lord's and

the fullness thereof and they that dwell

therein. So the Moabites and the

Hittites and the Amorites and the

Bratton and the Germanians and everyone

else, he owns all people because he's

God. Why? Because he founded it. He

established it. He created it. He's the

ultimate owner. He's the landlord.

He evicts whom he chooses. He delegates

it to whom he chooses.

Now in the book of of um

Daniel

there's a king named Nebuchadnezzar.

He thinks he rules the world. He calls

himself the king of kings.

He he thinks that he is the highest

authority on earth. By the way, I think

this is one of the reasons why atheism

is so dangerous and politics because

what's the highest authority according

to the atheist?

man. It's the man with the most guns.

So, the civil government becomes the god

of the atheist, the savior of the

atheist. And the way to save mankind is

by seizing control, doing what's right

in your own eyes. Why? Because the

government doesn't answer to anybody

unless they're defeated.

So atheism is a very very dangerous

political philosophy because it believes

that rights come from man and salvation

comes from man and so it looks to the

state. Atheist that's why like atheist

communism uh was able to kill millions

of people and not feel bad about it

because hey if you're going to make an

omelet you got to break a few.

So if you got to eliminate a few people

and you got to redistribute some wealth

that's okay. That is not a biblical

worldview. The biblical worldview is all

authority comes from God most high.

Christ is the authority of every man.

You'll read that in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11. Christ is the head of the

church. Christ is the king of kings and

the lord of lords. So Christ is head of

the family, the individual, the church

and the state. All authority, all

legitimate authority comes from God.

That's why we must never obey a civil

authority if it means disobeying God.

Because all authority comes from God. I

heard one man on a podcast earlier, I

think it was this week say to another

man says, "You could never you could

never be someone like the the head of

the FBI because you're a Christian. If

you're going to be the head of the FBI,

then you got to you got to do ungodly

things because that's what needs to be

done." You're telling me right there

what you think the ultimate authority is

and who your ultimate savior is

because you're saying man is the savior

and man has right. No, I think precisely

since civil magistrates are the minister

of God to you for good. Romans 13. They

should be Christians because they should

prioritize God and his word above what

man says and what people think.

Well, anyway, this man Nebuchadnezzar,

he thought he was the highest power on

earth and God gives him a dream to

humble him. And he does get humbled and

he the whole chapter Daniel 4 is written

by Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king. I don't

know uh really any other complete

chapter is written by non-Jews in the

Bible. But here we have in Daniel

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, I'm going to read a few

pieces of it. This is what what

Nebuchadnezzar says. King Nebuchadnezzar

to all peoples, nations, and languages

that dwell in all the earth. Peace be

multiplied to you. It has been good to

me to show the signs and wonders that

the most high God lion is the Hebrew

name. The most high God has done for me.

How great are his signs, how mighty his

wonders, his kingdom is an everlasting

kingdom, and his dominion endures from

generation to generation. So the king is

about to bear w testimony. I no longer

see myself as the most high.

Elon is the most high God. That's a very

important the the word lljon means the

most high God. There are lesser beings

and lesser spirits, but he is the god of

god. So skipping down to verse 24, he

says uh so so let me tell you this. Dan

Nebuchadnezzar has this dream about his

dream and getting cut down and uh Daniel

comes to interpret the dream and he says

verse This is the interpretation of

kings. It is a decree of Elon the most

high which came upon my lord king that

you shall be driven from among men and

your dwelling shall be with the beast of

the field. You shall be made to eat

grass like an ox and you shall be what

the do of heaven and seven periods of

time shall pass over you till you know

that the most high rules the kingdom of

men and gives it to whom he will. Look

at that last verse. The Most High rules

the kingdom of men and gives it to whom

he will. Now, what happens is Daniel

tells me, "You don't humble yourself.

God's going to make you eat, give you a

mental illness, and you're going to eat

grass like an

hair is going to grow long and your

fingernails are going to grow long. And

he's going to do this just to show you

that God can make you do whatever he

wants.

You will eat grass like an ox until you

know what? that the Most High rules the

kingdom of men and gives it to whom he

will. A lot of Christians don't know

that today.

A lot of Christians don't know that the

Most High rules the kingdom of men and

gives it to whom he will. They think

Satan is in control of everything. But

Satan is a prince. He's not the king of

kings, which we shall see.

He says, "You're going to eat grass like

an ox until you know this." And he's

like, "I advise you to repent."

Okay, that's a good idea. But then one

day he's out walking this palace and he

gets lifted up in his in his heart and

he says look at the look at the kingdom.

Look at all that I have built. I have

done this. You know idolatry is talking.

Idolatry starts with the letter I.

Remember that I have built this. I have

done this. I am this great man. and and

and immediately at that time he hears

the voice of an angel and God gives him

the sentence and he goes for seven years

in each breath like an ox and then

afterwards he's restored to his mind and

this is what it says in verse 34 at the

end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted

my eyes to heaven and my reason returned

to me and I blessed the most high

there's that llon again and praised and

honored him who lives forever for his

dominion is an everlasting dominion and

his kingdom endures from generation to

generation. All the inhabitants of the

earth are accounted as nothing and he

does according to his will among the

hosts of heaven and among the

inhabitants of the earth and none can

stay his hand or say to him what have

you done. So so Nebuchadnezzar at the

end says the most high rules

the nations with all their weaponry and

all of their strategies are like dust to

him. They're nothing to him. counted as

nothing. Not only that, but he also

rules among the hosts of heaven, which I

believe could be a reference to the

stars because God rules the universe

like that as well. And it also can be a

reference to the angelic beings in the

spiritual realm, which I think is most

in view here. But what's very clear is

the most high is the ultimate authority

from which all authorities are derived.

Even demons are under his control.

the most high God. And that is the point

of Daniel 4. If you'll read the whole

passage, the point you're supposed to

walk away through is the most high

rules. All right? So, how can Satan

offer the kingdoms of this world when

he's not the most high? Well, prior to

that, in Deuteronomy 32, I'm reading a

lot of scriptures out of Matthew 4 this

morning, but Deuteronomy 32,

Moses talks about Elon, the Most High.

long before Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel.

And look at what he says. It's a very

important verse. Deuteronomy 328 says,

"When the Most High gave to the nations

their inheritance, when he divided

mankind, he fixed the borders of the

people according to the number of the

Elohim, the sons of God." This verse is

one of those vers.

So, how did the ancient world read this?

Well, when God divided the nations after

the tower of Babel, uh, the nations

rebelled against God. They wanted to

build this temple. God said, "Be

fruitful, multiply, fill the earth,

spread out." They said, "No, no, we're

going to make a name for ourselves.

We're going to be one people. Sheam and

Jacob, we're all going to be one people.

We're going to build a tower under the

stars, and we're going to forget about

God, rule things on our own." And so God

divides up the nations at the Tower of

Babel. He split them up. They all

started speaking the different

languages. They didn't understand each

other. and they they separated. And

we're told here at that time, God

delegated God I'm using the word

delegated here. God delegated the nation

to be under what's called the sons of

God, which is some people call it

angels, but the technical term is the

sons of God. You can read about it in

Job chapter one when the sons of God

come before the throne of of uh of God

to give an account of what's going on.

But God delegated the nations to be

under different spirits. They rejected

the knowledge of God. And so God handed

them over to hostile spirits. God said,

"Fine, you don't want you don't want to

serve me, you'll serve them." And God

allowed this to take place. God allowed

the nations to be under the different

powers.

But he made a distinction for Israel.

Verse 9, he says, "But the Lord's

portion is his people. Jacob, his

allotted heritage. He found him in a

desert land in the howling waste of the

wilderness and encircled him and he

cared for him. He kept him as the of his

eye like an eagle that stirs up its

nest. There's that Genesis 13 word again

to stir up the bird word that flutters

over its young spreading out its wings,

catching them, bearing them on its

pinion. The Lord alone guided him. No

foreign god was with him. God's

basically saying, I put all the nations

under these different sons of God except

Israel. They're my heritage. They're my

special people. I have a special

relationship with them. I've left the

nation.

We might use the phrase, "No, I won't

use it." But we might, we just say he

just said, "I'm leaving the nations for

their paganism, their idolatry." We're

told in Romans 1, why? When they knew

God, they didn't glorify him as God.

They rejected God. So what did God do?

God handed them over to a reprobate mind

to do those things which are not

convenient. Do those things which are

harmful. And they changed the glory of

God into an image like forooted beasts

and freak and things. Because mankind

selfconciously rejected God, God said,

"Fine, I'm going to hand you over to

your idolatry. I'm going to hand you

over to these false spirits." And to

this day, what happens when a nation

rejects Jesus Christ, God hands him

over.

Look at what's happening to Britain.

Britain used to

the the empire in which the sun never

Why did it never set? Because they had

territory all over the globe. They ruled

the world.

And and then they they rejected Jesus

Christ. They rejected the Lord as as a

whole. They became a lukewarm people.

And now it's it's the the curses are

coming upon them in many ways. And I

pray I pray for the revival. I think

there's some hints of revival happening.

They have real consequences that are

happening. And America, will we fare

better?

state of Missouri are is the state of

Missouri acknowledging the Lord Jesus

Christ. Somebody in prayer request

brought up the um the whole abortion

thing, how the last amendment three

Missurans in large number higher than I

thought. I thought it was a small

margin, but large numbers of Missurians

voted for

uh for the crime to be able to murder

children in the womb.

That's a rejection of Jesus Christ. We

are not a godly state and The churches,

the church has hardly cried out against

it. Why? It's a mystery to me. But

apparently the churches has adopted some

other authority than Jesus Christ.

Because they wouldn't cry out against

the sin of the land. It reminds me of in

Jeremiah 23. I think it's Jeremiah 23.

He says, "If they had stayed in my

presence, they would have turned my

people from their sins.

They run when I don't send them. They

share visions with one another, but but

they won't turn my people their sins.

That's the role. That's what a

god-fearing pastor, God-fearing elders

do is they want to turn people from

their sins.

Tires

want to fill seat.

Godly shepherds want to fill heaven.

Well, anyway, when people reject the

knowledge of God, God hands them over.

And that's what God did. God handed him,

man, is there any other scripture that

says that? Yeah. Actually, Daniel,

again, let me show you an example of

this. I'm going to make a point. I know

I'm taking a long time to get back to

Matthew. I will. I will. Daniel 10:18.

Daniel 10:18

Daniel has another he's been praying.

He's been praying for repentance uh of

of Israel. And uh it says and he has he

has a a vision and Daniel says 10 verse

18. He says, "And again, one having the

appearance of a man touched me and

strengthened me and he said, "Oh man

greatly loved, fear not. Peace be with

you. Be strong and of good courage. As

he spoke to me, I was strengthened. And

he said, "Let my lord speak, for you

have strengthened me." Then he said, "Do

you know why I have come to you? But now

I will return to fight against the

prince of Persia, and when I go out,

behold, the prince of Greece will come,

but I will tell you what is inscribed in

the book of truth. There is none who

contends by my side except your against

these except Michael, your friend." All

right. So, I'm just gonna give you like

I'm just going to boil this down. What's

happening is is in the in the natural

realm, Daniel is praying and in the

spirit realm, there are these

principalities and powers that are

fighting against each other. There's a

principal power of Persia. There's a

principal power of Gree. And they're

they're at war with each other. And

there's the prince of his people Israel,

an interesting person to talk about

sometime. He's called Michael here. And

and uh the message is that the Behind

the natural realm, there are spiritual

battles taking place. There are

territorial spirits that rule over

different areas. And I I wondered over

we go over we went yesterday to the

abortion mill. And I really felt like

God answered prayer yesterday. One car

turned away. There were way less people

yesterday. It just I just believe God

did it. It just less people came and and

went in that place. And I was so

thankful. Thanks were out there

worshiping God on the sidewalk. a

beautiful thing. Uh but you know, long

before they were killing babies there,

they uh they were offering up young

girls to the corn goddess on the hills

over there near Cahokia and those kind

of places. And and sometimes you wonder,

man, are there still territorial spirits

that that desire human blood that are

ruling over that area in Granite City?

St. Lucy called Mountain City. Why was

it called Mountain City? Because they

had lots of Indian mountains mounds,

both sides of the river. People are

offering up human blood to the false

gods, to the corn gods

on those hills, in those areas. And and

there's still babies being offered up to

the gods of of of materialism and

same same false spirit powers are still

deceiving people in our day. They're

still spiritual powers and and and they

have been, as I'm going to show you,

they've been

legally dethroned by the death of

Christ. But as We still have to wage war

for them. Say, "Well, where do you where

do you get that, Matt?" Well, Paul

acknowledges it here in Ephesians 6:10.

Ephesians 6:10

He says, "Finally,

be strong in the Lord in the strength of

his might. Put on the whole armor of God

that you may be able to stand the

schemes of the devil. For we do not

wrestle against flesh and blood, but

against the rulers, against the

authorities, against the cosmic powers

over this present darkness, against the

spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly

places. Therefore, take up the whole

armor of God that you may be able to

withstand in the evil day and having

done all to stand firm. What's Paul

saying? He's saying, okay, there's still

still a spiritual battle that is taking

place.

And we wrestle against principalities

and powers. And under these

principalities and powers, there were

principalities and powers. And they had

a legal right to rule over the nations

until Christ came and defeated them at

the cross. And now they've been

dethroned. is still at work and we have

to wrestle with them. We have to fight

with them. I'm going to show you more

about it in a minute, but but Paul

alludes to these principalities and

powers and rulers of darkness. Some of

you are like, "Man, I've never I've

never heard of this before." Well, it's

there. It's just that we're removed from

the original context. The original

audience understood this. Paul

understood this. They knew Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 32:8

32:8. They knew the book of Daniel. And

Paul knows the book of Daniel here. And

Paul is going out and preaching the

gospel. He's being resisted by spiritual

powers that do not want him to preach

the gospel.

So part of Paul's ministry is prayer.

Submitting ourselves to God, resisting

the devil so he will flee from us. This

is not just intellectual, folks. Your

sin temptations are not just

intellectual. They are spiritual. And as

long as you think they're just immoral,

hormonal, just chemical, just for dinner

you you'll ignore part of the battle

which is we wrestle against

Jesus was tempted by the devil we will

be tested by spiritual forces

and just like Jesus spoke scripture back

at the devil we should be taking up

Ephesians 6 says the sword of the spirit

which is the word of God if you look at

all these scriptures when you put them

together they they agree

Now what if so when Satan says

bow down and worship me and I'll give

you the kings of the world in what sense

can he give the kingdoms of this world?

Well, he's not the most high. He doesn't

own the earth and the fullness thereof.

That's very clear. I've showed it to you

in Matthew, I'm sorry, Psalm 24:1. The

Psalms 24:1

earth is the lords and the fullness

thereof. Satan cannot give what he does

not possess. What Satan is offering him

is apparently all these spiritual powers

have come under him.

He's the dominant power. And what he's

saying is he's saying without a cross

you can avoid the cross. Just go down

and worship me and I'll let you in on

what I'm doing down here.

You can join me if you'll worship me. In

other words, show declare that I'm your

ultimate authority. I will give you the

kings of this world. Rome and Hindustan

and the Germanic tribes, you'll you'll

just I'll give it to you. I'll make you

my man. You can be like the new

Alexander or the new Julius Caesar or

the new um uh Kublan. What was the guy's

name? It was uh the Mongolian Empire.

Yeah, you can be that guy.

Take take your take your position. Just

fall down and acknowledge me as your

authority. That's that's what he's

enticing him to do. Satan doesn't own

the earth. Satan Satan is a prince. In

Ephesians 2

verse one, it says, "And you were dead

in trespasses and sins in which you once

walked, following the course of this

world, following the prince of the power

of the air, the spirit that is now at

work in the sons of disobedience, among

whom we all once lived in the passions

of our flesh, carrying out the desires

of the flesh and the mind, and were by

nature children of wrath like the rest

of mankind." Satan here is called the

prince of the power of the air. He

doesn't own the world. That's the point

I'm trying to make to you.

There are spiritual impostors. There are

there are rebellious spirits. There are

demonic strongholds. But he doesn't own

the world.

He does not have ultimate authority. As

we shall see, Christ has ultimate

authority. I'm going to show it to you

in black and white. But at this time,

Christ has not gone to the cross yet.

And Satan is saying, "Ball down and

worship me and I'll give you my network.

the spiritual network that's in the

unseen realm. Let's go back to Matthew

4. So, yeah, it's been long enough.

Matthew 4:10. Then Jesus said to him,

Matthew 4:10

"Be gone, Satan, for it is written, you

shall worship Yahweh Elohim, the Lord

your God." That's what it would have

been in Hebrew. And him only shall you

serve.

He said, "No, I'm not going to bow down

and worship you.

Only only God. I'm only going to worship

and serve God. I tell you this, this

really has application for us in our

lives because many times like the guy

was talking about the one man says the

other man, you could never, you're a

Christian, you can never run the FBI.

I'm like, well, why not? To the degree

you need an FBI, if you need an FBI,

that could be called into question. But

I'm just saying if there is a civil

authority, I would like him to be a

god-fearing man.

Backer, William Baxter, the Pur said,

"If God would have rulers, then God

would have laws. Then God would have

rulers that rule by his laws."

I I don't want the king to murder

whoever he wants. I don't want the

president, frankly, to go and declare go

declare war without Congress.

Now, why did our founding fathers do

that? Why did they separate powers?

Because our founding fathers understood

that the nature of man is sinful. And

mankind wants to do others. They want to

do they don't have dominion over the

soil. dominion over you and me, right?

And so they separated these powers and

kind of put them at odds with each other

so that in order to get anything done,

they'd have to cooperate.

So if you want to go to war, listen, if

we got invaded from Mexico or Canada,

we'd all be on board, pick up your guns,

boys, and show up, right? We'd all be in

favor of that. You wouldn't you wouldn't

have to do much convincing and Congress

could say, "We declare war." And we'd

all be like, "Fine, we've been attacked.

We're there." Right?

public support for it like there was in

World War II after Pearl Harbor got

bombed. We all jumped behind it. America

jumped behind it and there arguments

about, you know, whether or not that was

known about or not. But in any case, we

declared war as our Congress. And what

did that mean? That meant that um if you

didn't agree with it, you could vote

against your congressman next time. He'd

have to give an account to the people he

represents. Well, when one man can go

and invade a country whenever You know,

well, there's reasons why I can't tell

you, right? Uh, and if you knew, you'd

want me to. Yeah, but leaders are

supposed to be accountable to the

people. But more importantly, who they

supposed to be accountable to? God.

God's law is to be the standard from the

dog catcher

to the president of the United States.

Because Christ is Lord.

And when Christ is honored, Christ will

bless. And when Christ is dishonored, it

will bring the curse. And your sons and

daughters will come back wounded in body

and soul.

And they'll spend their most productive

lives off fighting wars that you don't

know why you fought.

And they'll come back and saying, "Was

that murder or was that justified? I

don't even know. I don't even know.

I want God-fearing rulers that fear God

more than man." This is true in the

corporate world as well.

worship me and I will give you the

kingdoms of this world. Just compromise,

lie, steal, manipulate, cheat. This is

not the world can do that. That's not

for the Christian to do. Our highest

authority is Christ. We are to obey

Christ.

And if obedience to God leads to your

dismissal, your firing, or your

execution, then so be it.

She said, "If you won't take up your

cross and follow me, you can't be my

disciple.

There's no crime without a cross. Not

for him, not for us."

Our authority is Christ.

And so Jesus says, "Be gone, Satan. Get

out of here, Satan.

It is written, you shall worship the

Lord your God, and him only shall you

serve." Now, if God's word often say,

"Well, that's in the Old Testament.

That's in the Old Testament." Well,

Jesus could have said, "Satan, I'm not

just a man. I'm God. I created you. Get

lost." I'm not going to do that. He

doesn't. He quotes scripture as a

pattern to you and me. He quotes

scripture. He quotes Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

6. You shall worship the Lord your God,

and him only shall you serve.

Deuteronomy 63:15. It is the Lord your

God you shall fear. Not not your

commanding officer, not your boss, not

your neighbor, not the guy with the

baseball bat. It is Yahweh Elohim you

shall fear. Him you shall serve and by

his name you shall swear. That's the

verse. You could say him only you shall

serve because the Hebrew grammar is

translated that way. Him only shall you

serve and by his name you shall swear.

You shall not go out after other gods.

The gods of the peoples who are around

you. For the Lord your God is in your

midst is a jealous God. Let the anger of

the Lord your God be kindled against you

and he destroy you from the face of the

earth. You shall not put the Lord your

God to the test as you tested him that

made I I uh I I threw in verse 16 just

because I want you to see that's that's

what he replied in last week's

temptation. You shall not put the Lord

your God to the test. One brother texted

me and says it's ironic that Satan in

his temptation is testing is testing

God. God

and Jesus, don't put God to the test.

That's who Jesus is both God and man.

And now here, um, he dares one more

time.

He has so much pride. He's willing to

say, tell you what, bow down and worship

me and I'll give you everything I got.

I'll give you the kingdoms of this

world.

But Jesus says, "No,

bow down to any god." See, he's the most

high God. There are little G gods under

his authority. That that's that's what

the nations worship these gods were were

fallen angel indices who were delegated

over the nation. That's who they were

worshiping. You know, you think the

people that built the Roman aqueduct and

the Roman road and the coliseum were

idiots. Just superstitious idiots. No,

they they saw supernal

when when the prophets of Baal jumped up

and down and cut themselves and were

falling down. They did so because they

had seen supernatural things happen

before Christ died on the cross. It was

even more dramatic spiritual things.

Satan manifested himself a lot.

Missionaries will tell you when they go

into new countries that the gospel

hasn't been there very long or hasn't

Christ has not been exalted. The witch

doctor has real power over people. They

really fear the witch doctor. Why?

Because they're working with demons.

They're partnering with demons. Demonic

enemy still has their stronghold here.

So, The missionary goes in, the

missionary does more than just hand out

Bibles and say nice things. There's a

spiritual warfare that has to take place

because there are entrenched spiritual

powers that have been legally dethroned

by Christ but still have to be resisted

in

that's why Paul says that we we wrestle

against principalities and powers and

rulers of darkness of whom Satan is one.

And Jesus says, "No, I will not bow down

to you. Only God is man to worship and

serve. And Jesus met the challenge as a

man, not merely as God. Jesus has a

pre-existence. He's the pre-existent son

of God. But now he's meeting the

challenge as the second Adam. And as the

second Adam, he says, you shall only

worship and serve the Lord. No other

God. Deuteronomy.

Verse 11. Then the devil left him, and

behold, angels came and were ministering

to him. I think it's in Mark. It might

be in Luke. The devil left him for a

season. That's the little phrase left

him for a season. The devil left him

that day and angels came and minister to

Jesus. You notice after Adam falls, what

happens? Angels drive him from the

garden. Jesus prevails and angels come

and minister to him. It's a reversal of

Adam's fall. It is the prevail

prevailing of Christ the second and

last.

Now,

Satan season. He's going to come back.

He's going to test him again. Uh we read

about this in a very significant passage

in Matthew. Same in Matthew. But I want

to show you another passage

and in which uh Jesus is tested and it's

a very similar temptation.

Matthew 16, Jesus has just asked who do

people say that I am? Well, some say

that you're Elijah, some prophet, some

this or that. Jesus, who do you say that

I am? And Peter speaks up. Verse 16.

Simon Peter replied, "You are the

Christ, the Messiah, the Messiah, the

one you've been waiting for, the son of

the living God." And Jesus answered him,

"Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, for

flesh and blood has not revealed this to

you, but my father who is in heaven, and

I tell you, you are Peter, and on this

rock I will build my church, and the

gates of hell shall not prevail against

it. I will give you the keys of the

kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind

on earth shall be bound in heaven and

whatever you loose on earth shall be

loosed in heaven. Then he strictly

charged the disciples to tell no one

that he was the Christ. So Peter says I

know who you are. You're the Messiah,

the son of the living God.

And Jesus says, "Yeah, the spirit will

give this to you." And what does he what

does he say? He says, "I'm going to blow

my rock on." There's a lot we'll go into

a lot of details on this when we get to

there in Matthew 16. But I just want to

point out to you that one of the things

he says he's gonna build his church on

this rock, which we shall talk what that

is later on. And he says, "The gates of

hell will not prevail against it." Now,

are those gates designed to keep people

in or to keep people out?

The gates of hell are supposed to keep

the kingdom out.

Keep out the kingdom. And Jesus says,

"The gates of hell will not prevail

against my church.

The king is going to advance. Going to

trample the gates. The gates will not

hold back." See, the these spirits that

were territorial spirits have legally

been evicted. As a landlord, I know

this. I've had to evict people before. I

can't just kick them out. I can't say

it's my property. They're like, you

know, you know, I can't, as a landlord,

I can't enter someone's house without

permission. I Well, I I own the

building. Yeah, but you signed a lease

with us and you're bound by your

covenant.

If you're going to come in here, state

of Missouri says I have to I have to I

have to knock. I have to give

permission. I mean, if there's some

imminent danger, I guess, like, you

know, water is flowing all over the

place. I got to save the place. Maybe

that that would be an excuse. But

generally speaking, I can't just I hand

accuse over to somebody. I can't just

barge in without their permission. Well,

that's kind of the way it was in the Old

Testament. God delegated the nations.

He's the landlord, but he has delegated

them a territorial spirit, their

boundaries, and their land. Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 32:8

32:8. And God said, "I'm delegating them

under you." Well, now, guess what?

Christ got the judicial eviction.

What do I do when I go to court? If

someone had been paying their rent, I

get a court order. Court order says they

have to move out within 10 days. What

happens if they don't move out with 10

days? Well, then I got to get somebody

with due authority to come and open the

doors, police officer, sheriff,

whatever, and take their stuff and put

it out on the curb if they refuse to

leave. I think that's an illustration

what's going on. Christ gets the world

back

at his resurrection,

but the don't want to leave. And so

there's spiritual warfare that's taking

place. It says the gates of hell will

not prevail against it. So um it says

for from that time Jesus began to show

his disciples that he must go to

Jerusalem and suffer many things from

the elders and chief priests and scribes

and be killed and on the third day be

raised again. Why is he talking about

this? Because this legally had to be

done for him to get the nations.

Notice what happens next Peter the star

pupil that day is now emboldened to

speak yet again. Verse 22. And Peter

took him aside and to rebuke him, to

rebuke the Lord, saying what? Far from

you, Lord. This shall never happen to

you. But he turned and said, "Get behind

me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me.

For you are not setting your mind on the

things of God, but on the things of

man."

So Peter does this what Satan does. He

says, "You you can have this stuff

without a cross." And Jesus says, "No, I

told you I'm born in Jerusalem to suffer

and die. I've got to go bear the sins of

my people. I got to redeem my people. I

I've got to be tested on a tree like

Satan was tested at like Adam was tested

at a tree. I got to prevail.

And he says Jesus recognizes that even

though it's Peter speaking that Satan is

behind what he's saying. You can have a

crown without a cross. Jesus far be it

from you. Don't go to the cross. No. No

crown without a cross.

You're not favoring the things of God.

You're favoring the things of man.

Jesus makes it clear that we had to bind

Satan. Matthew 12

earlier verse 24 says when the Pharisees

heard it they said it is only by be

elible the prince of demons for Satan

that this man cast out demons knowing

their thoughts and said to him every

kingdom divided against itself is laid

waste and no city or house divided

against itself will stand and if Satan

cast out Satan he is divided against

himself how then will his kingdom stand

and if I cast out demons by be elible by

whom do your sons cast them out there

therefor Therefore, they will be your

judges. But if it is by the spirit of

God that I cast out demons, then the

kingdom of God has come upon you. Jesus

said, "The kingdom of God has come upon

you. He's casting out demons." In

Israel, he he was not sent before the

lost people, the house of Israel. There

he had authority,

total authority. Outside of Israel, he

had to gain that authority. And he says

in verse 29, he says, "For how can

someone enter a strong man's house and

plunder his goods unless he first strong

then indeed he may whoever is not with

me is against me and whoever does not

gather with me scattered Jesus is

talking about Satan here he's got him

bound once he's legally bound which is a

a legal has a legal definition then his

goods can be fun that's what he does at

the cross but no crown without a cross

so Jesus goes to the cross he's

crucified for our sins he rises again

And how does the book end? Well, in

Matthew 28, final words of the book of

Matthew, Matthew,

Jesus came and said to them, "All

authority in heaven and on earth has

been given to me.

Who rules the world?"

Read the verse. Who rules it?

Who rules it, church?

Jesus does. Satan does not rule the

world. a prince that works and the sons

of disobedience.

He deceives, he entices, but he does not

rule. Christ is at the right hand of the

father and he will remain there until

what?

All enemies are put under his feet.

Psalm 10 verse one.

Christ rules.

Christ rules over the nations.

All legal authority in heaven and earth

has been given to him. And the great

commission that follows is a consequence

of this authority. Satan offered him the

Jesus of this world without a cross.

Jesus chose the cross. Now Jesus gets

the crown and he says go out there and

preach the gospel to every nation. Verse

19. Go therefore. See how this is the

case. Go therefore and make disciples of

all

ethnic, right? All nations, all

families.

Concept of a political state wasn't

all the families of the earth. Baptize

in the name of the father and of the son

and of the holy spirit teaching them to

observe all that I commanded you and

behold I am with you always to the end

of the age so you baptize baptism is

spiritual warfare

ancients understood this

is a person identifying with Christ's

death on their behalf and they're saying

there is now a change of ownership I am

immersed in Christ he is my lord I

confess he is my lord I trust him as my

lord I'm relinquishing in fact early A

lot of a lot of the early church they

required the denunciation of Satan uh at

baptism. It's not found in the scripture

and we don't practice it but a lot of

the early church did. A lot of the early

church people would renounce Satan. It

was an understanding. I am now under the

lordship of Christ. I am not one of the

sons of disobedience. His spirit is no

longer to work in me. I am now under his

authority and I trust in his vicious

death in my place.

It's a it is a it is a submission to God

whereby we can resist the devil and what

he flees from us.

So God says you'll baptize them and then

what you teach him to all things. Now if

you're a trinitarian how much of the

Bible is the word of Jesus.

You believe in the doctrine of the

trinity. How much of the word of God is

the word of Jesus?

All of it.

We're to take his word properly

interpreted through the lens of the new

covenant and the cross. Right? But all

of God's word is given by say those of

you who are study on Wednesday night.

It's all God breathed out and it's

profitable for teaching, for reprove,

for instruction, for rebuking,

to thoroughly equip us to every good

work. So when we go, we're to teach the

nations to obey all things he has

commanded us. That is transformative to

the family, to the individual. Wherever

the gospel goes, literacy goes. Why

people want to read God's word? Wherever

the gospel goes,

spirits are defeated.

Families are discipled.

People are taught the ways of God. God's

word is applied to to the family and the

business. This is our job because Christ

has dominion. We're to apply his word to

every area of life. There is no area of

neutrality in our lives to which we deny

the authority of Jesus Christ. He's our

king. He's our lord. and we bow and

worship to no one else. I want to show

you another scripture. It's getting kind

of late.

It says uh in Colossians 2:13-15, "And

Colossians 2:13–15

you who were dead in trespasses and the

uncircumcision of your flesh," that's

what we were. We were dead to God. We

were not God's children. God made alive

together with him. He resurrected us

having forgiven us all our trespasses by

cancing the record of death that stood

against us with this legal demand. Then

he set aside this he set aside to the

cross he disarmed the rulers and

authorities and put them to open shame

by triumphing

over them in him. You catch that last

verse? He disarmed the rulers and the

authorities. They have been evicted.

They are disarmed.

They're still there. They're still

enticing going about as a roaring lion.

He can maybe devour, but we have the

power and the authority and he has the

glory through him. We have the power and

authority to do spiritual warfare

and and uh submit ourselves to God and

resist the devil and make pleas for us

because Christ won the victory. They are

disarmed.

One chapter earlier, I want to show you

this one. If it's not clear enough,

few little slides here, I want to show

you that has all dominion. The kingdom

is a present reality. It's not postponed

for the second coming. Christ is the

right hand father right now. He has all

authority right now. Okay. Colossians

Colossians 1:13

1:13. He has delivered us from the

domain of darkness and transferred us to

the kingdom of his beloved son.

In whom that's Jesus in whom we have

redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And

that's usually where we stop. Oh, we

have forgiveness of sins. Satan still

rules the world, but we've been

forgiven. Yeah, but listen to what it

says. He, Jesus, is the image of the

invisible God. The firstborn of all

creation. Firstborn means the heir of

all things. Doesn't mean he had a time

when he was not. It means he's the air.

The firstborn is the term for the heir.

For by him all things were created.

Jesus was God and man, and God he

created all things.

All things were created in heaven and on

earth, visible and invisible, whether

thrones or dominions or rulers and

authorities. All things were created

through him and for him. And he is

before all things, and in him all things

hold together. And he is the head of the

body, the church. He is the beginning,

the firstborn from the dead, that in

everything he might be preeminent.

Everything. You just go through there

sometime, get your pen. Every time you

see the word every, underline it. Every

and all. All all every every every Paul

is trying to say the authority of Christ

is all encompassing. It is not just your

spiritual time on Sunday morning.

It's it's not just this little piece of

your life. He claims preeminence in all

of life and he c he claims authority

over thrones and dominions, rulers and

authorities. You say, "Well, is that

talking about the unseen spiritual

authorities or is it talking about the

theme like political authority?" I'm

like, "It's talking about all authority.

seen and unseen.

So I don't just I'm not just like, you

know, King Charles

over there in England,

how much power does he really have?

Well, he's really rich, but he's got

some power.

But he's mostly it's just like a

figurehead, right? Is that what Christ

is to you?

And we call him Lord. Kind of like a

king without power. A figurehead, a bad

guy. Jesus, our master. our mascot and

savior or is Jesus our Lord?

According to Paul in Colossians 1, he

has all authority in heaven and earth.

He created it. He's creator God made

flesh and he has preeminence in

everything. Final slide. For in him all

the fullness of God was pleased to dwell

and through him to reconcile to himself

all things whether on earth or in heaven

making

of his

and Christ the fullness of God is as

well. Christ is the image of the

invisible God. Lots of transarian

theology go here that Jesus is both God

and man but he didn't just prevail as

God himself but as the God man. A man

sits on the throne of heaven. God always

sat on the throne of heaven, right? But

in a new sense, Jesus is the last Adam

has gained back what Adam lost.

So he could say all authority has been

given to me in heaven and earth. What

does this mean for us? Well, as his

redeemed people, we see all of our life

as Christ is welcome in all of it. He's

our Lord. He's our savior. He has

authority over everything. There's no

area not not entertainment, not

finances, not sexuality, in all areas.

He's the Lord.

We submit to him and there's a spiritual

battle that all of us are engaged in.

Spiritual forces are real. The witches

know it. The new aers know it. The

Hindus over there in India, they know

it. But in America, a lot of people act

like Satan isn't real. No. Satan,

demonic forces are real.

They're real. And we're to wage war with

them. We're to pray over our loved ones.

We're to pray that God would would open

their eyes like he's opened our eyes

because we're deceived by the power of

the air. He works in the children.

This is this affects the way we

evangelize. It affects the way we we

live in all areas. But in no area do we

deny Christ authority because he has all

authority.

It's not postponed. He demands obedience

now. There was a time when he wked at

the nation's ignorance. But now he all

people everywhere to repent.

Acts.

So let us be verse. Oh Lord God, we dear

we come to you this morning. We confess

you as our sovereign, as our lord, as

our king.

And we thank you for being our redeemer,

our savior, and our friend. We thank

you, Father, for the great love that you

have for us.

That you are not as the Gentiles of this

world who

We were proud and arrogant and cruel at

times, but you are the one who loved us

and gave himself for us before the joy

that was set before him endured the

cross.

You could have reigned in heaven without

taking on humanity. Without it, you

could have ruled from heaven and damned

us all, but you loved us. You've

redeemed us that you might forgive us

and reconcile us to your sins. Lord, I

pray for any rebel in here this morning

that you would turn their heart to you.

I pray God that you would bind the dark

spirits from off their mind and their

heart. That you would loose them from

the power of the deceiver and that they

would come to a saving knowledge of who

you are. Lord, we know that we're in a

spiritual war and we pray God that your

spirit would prevail here. prevail and

our loved ones and our children and our

neighbors and our friends that we bring

to hear the gospel. Lord, we pray that

you would save souls in this place.

That's what we're here to do, Lord. We

pray that you would work with us as we

endeavor to serve you in all that we do.