Whatsoever there is in this world of glory, of beauty, of majesty, is but the shadow of _good things to come_. Satan tries to urge us to clasp the shadow, that we may lose the substance. 6. Satan showed all _in a moment of time_; we learn thereby— α. That his temptations come upon us with great suddenness. β. That the things he offers us are fleeting and without stability. In this world nothing is enduring. (1 Cor. vii. 35.) If Satan gives us what we desire, he removes it from us speedily. (Ps. lxxvi. 5. Prov. xiii. 11.) _And saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me._ Here note— I. Satan no longer says, _If Thou be the Son of God_, for he is now presenting himself as God, and might therefore be supposed to know all things. II. Note here also, that— 1. The devil’s motive in tempting man is still his unconquered pride. Still does he desire to be equal with God. But one of the three things which God hateth is, _a poor man that is proud_ (Ecclus. xxv. 2); and who is poorer than the devil, yet who more proud? 2. All sin leads to the worship of Satan, and the breach of the First Commandment. For sin is a turning from the obedience of God to the bondage of corruption, a leaving the kingdom of grace for the slavery of sin, an electing of eternal death in the realm of outer darkness in place of resurrection to eternal life in the kingdom of Christ. All sin leads to this, for— α. Sin must inherit death and damnation. β. Sins lead to infidelity. (Ps. xiv. 1. Prov. xviii. 3.) γ. They make gods of mammon or the belly. (Tobit iii. 3. Phil. iii. 19. Eph. v. 5.) 3. Satan is like a merchant offering wares in exchange for souls; like the king of Sodom who said, _Give me the souls, and take the goods to thyself_. (Gen. xiv. 21, Vulg.) But _what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?_ 4. Satan tells here three lies. α. He claims the world and its kingdoms as his own, whereas they belong to God. _The whole world is Mine, and all that therein is._ β. He says that he gives kingdoms to whom he will (St. Luke); whereas God says, _By Me kings reign_. (Prov. viii. 15. Dan. ii. 21. John xii. 31.) γ. He says that he has power to bestow things, whereas he has no such power whatever.