As we're beginning to work our way now
through this first gospel in the New Testament,
where our overall plan is on Sunday mornings
to go through the entire New Testament and
take about a chapter a week, I think
you'd probably agree that in the 50 minutes
or so, or 55 minutes that we have
to be in the Word on Sunday morning,
we cannot exhaustively search out each nuance of
every verse.
So Sunday morning is not meant to be
an in-depth study of each and every
single verse and each and every single word.
So we may at times skip over things
and go, Oh, I wish that they would
have talked about that.
Well, what I just encourage you to do
during the week is pray that you would
hear what you need to hear out of
that chapter and be studying it ahead.
So this week, we're going to teach chapter
4 this morning, but this week be reading
ahead, particularly 5, 6, and 7 together as
a unit.
That's the Sermon on the Mount.
And it's powerful, and we could probably spend
a whole year going through that.
I don't know if I'm going to be
able to do, I don't know if I
can contain myself to just do an overview,
but we'll see how God leads.
But be in the Word, be studying it
ahead, be looking through that passage.
And as you do, just ask the Lord,
Lord, speak to me.
When I get together with the rest of
the body on Sunday morning and Pat or
whoever happens to be teaching on that particular
Sunday, that my heart would be ready and
my heart would receive the instruction that you
have for me.
So chapter 4.
Chapter 4, we're seeing the very beginnings of
Jesus' ministry.
And we had seen at the end of
chapter 3, His baptism.
And the Father had spoken from heaven.
The Spirit of God as a dove came
down upon Him.
And this voice from heaven said, This is
my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased.
What a kickoff!
You know, what a start!
But how many of you know that after
blessings, trials often ensue?
Be careful when you're at a mountaintop because
you don't usually stay on a mountaintop.
Isn't that the truth?
And you know you really shouldn't stay on
a mountaintop.
Because if you've ever been on a mountaintop,
it's exhilarating and the view is wonderful, but
nothing grows up there.
And there's no running water on a mountaintop.
Usually no food, no animal life on a
mountaintop.
You got to go down into the valley.
That's where most of life takes place.
But when we're in the valleys, we know
that we are not without an intercessor.
We know that we're not alone.
We know that our Savior and our Redeemer
went there as well and made it through
without sin.
He's our perfect advocate.
God had just borne witness of His pleasure,
pardon me, in the Son's obedience.
And now that witness is challenged by the
devil.
The name devil means slanderer, an accuser.
We're all tempted to deny the effectiveness of
the work of God within us.
We are.
God says, God says, I love you.
The devil says, no, he doesn't.
How can one so good and holy love
someone who does the stuff you do?
Where's that come from?
That's from the devil.
God says, I love you with an everlasting
love.
And the enemy lies to us and says,
no, he doesn't.
Maybe there's other people, but not you.
And that's a lie.
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 tells us, for
we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in
all points tempted as we are, yet without
sin.
We read in 1 John 2 kind of
a summary of all of temptation.
And the things that tempt us are the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, the pride of life.
Those temptations that pull us in terms of
I want it, I need it, or I'm
worth it.
And Jesus was tempted likewise in all of
those areas, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.
Why?
Because he already went through it for us.
There is mercy.
There is help in a time of need.
I don't know how many of you are
in need this morning.
I talked to a few of you already
today and you're in need.
But it's not like I'm in need and
there's nobody there.
You're in need.
And the one who can completely and fully
meet you is here for you today.
And he's given his word to us.
So we find Jesus, before the public ministry
is about to begin, we find him being,
in a sense, proven in his private victory.
Warren Wiersbe said public ministry is always built
on private victory.
Want to have an effective public ministry?
Your private life needs to be walking right
before the Lord.
Our Lord was not tempted so that God
could examine him, for the Father had already
approved him.
He was tempted for our sake.
Remember that.
Jesus was tempted for you and me, that
he might personally know temptation and be able
to help us when we are tempted.
And we all are.
Frequently.
Thank you.
Just checking.
I know I am frequently.
Hebrews 2.17 says, Therefore, in all things,
all things, he had to be made like
his brethren, that he might be a merciful
and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make propitiation or atonement, to stand
in our place for the sins of the
people.
For in that he himself has suffered being
tempted, he is able to aid those who
are tempted.
All right.
That's a good promise, because I know I'm
tempted, but I also know that he is
able to aid me.
He's able to see me through that temptation.
I am able to have victory over that
temptation because Jesus went through it.
He knows the pressure, and he also had
the victory.
I want to have victory over temptation.
I don't want to be beat up by
temptation.
I don't know how many of you are
just tired of getting beat up by temptation,
but the Lord wants you to know today
you don't have to be beat up by
it.
You can walk in victory because Jesus was
victorious.
Because he went through it, he is perfectly
able to minister to you and me.
And what Jesus endured in the wilderness when
Satan tempted him was real temptation.
The sense of need, the consciousness of being
urged by Satan to satisfy that need, the
knowledge of having to resist the tempter, and
the struggle to which this gave rise was
real, even for Jesus Christ, who was sinless.
So we read in verse 2, when he
had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, I
can hardly go 40 minutes without a grumble
in the tumble, you know?
40 days and 40 nights.
And it said afterward he was hungry.
And it is said that when hunger pains
return after such a fast, it indicates the
subject is beginning to starve to death.
When you and I get hungry because we
miss lunch, that's not hunger.
That's appetite.
It's not the same.
When hungry is used here after a fast,
it usually means that your body is starting
to consume itself and you're dying.
Your essential organs now are now going to
be eaten up.
All the fat's gone.
Now the very organs of life are being
shriveled up.
That's where Jesus was at after 40 days
and 40 nights of fasting.
And then the tempter comes.
Oftentimes that's when you will be tempted, at
a time of great weakness, at a time
when you're, how many of you when you've
been really tired, you know?
It seems like, man, your heart just goes
off, your temper is lost, your eyes go
where they're not supposed to.
And so the first temptation that we see
here is an appeal to the lust of
the flesh.
The period of 40 days and 40 nights
is a familiar period of testing in the
Bible, both in the days of Noah and
for Israel in the wilderness.
Jesus will succeed where Israel as a nation
failed, where the nation failed in their times
of testing.
Jesus would not fail.
So when the tempter came to him, verse
3, he said, if you are the son
of God.
Now, wait a minute.
The father had just said, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
If you are a Christian.
How many of you ever get that one?
If you were really a Christian, you wouldn't
do that.
You must not really be saying, you know
what, you're still going to hell.
Oh, the enemy loves to put that kind
of trip on us.
But the tempter said, if you are the
son of God, command that these stones become
bread.
Use your divine authority and power and let
the spirit serve the flesh, the lusts of
the flesh.
All temptation has to do with the life
of the flesh and the life of the
spirit.
The scriptures constantly teach us that the life
of the spirit is superior to and more
important than the life of the flesh and
that the flesh should be subservient to the
spirit.
The predominant aspect of your being should be
the spirit, not the flesh.
In Matthew chapter 6, in the Sermon on
the Mount, verse 31, we read Jesus saying,
therefore, do not worry.
Man, how many, honestly, is there anybody here
that has not worried about anything the last
week?
All right.
Now, what don't we understand about this?
Obviously, there's a need.
There's a congregational need because we've all worried.
We worry about things.
And they may be legitimate things, at least
in our thinking.
We worry about being able to provide for
our family.
We worry about being able to provide for
the church.
We worry about our kids.
We worry about our loved one's health.
I mean, there's sting.
We worry about our own health.
That always seems to be working.
And yet, as we come to the scripture
and we look to the Lord, we see
him saying to us, therefore, do not worry.
Do not worry.
What shall we eat?
Don't say, what shall we eat?
What shall we drink?
What shall we wear?
That's the things of the flesh.
Those material things, don't worry about them after
all these things the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly father knows that you need
all these things.
So what are we to do?
Seek first the kingdom of God.
Not last, not after you've exhausted every ability
of the flesh, but seek first.
That means living in the spirit.
Seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things shall be added
to you.
Satan is suggesting that Jesus use his spiritual
powers to take care of the needs of
his flesh.
And you might think, well, hey, I mean,
he's been fasting 40 days, 40 nights.
I mean, if he's got the power, why
not turn those stones into bread so he
can eat?
And that was the essence of the temptation.
You've got great spiritual power, access it, and
whatever you can conceive, you will receive.
Oh.
A lot of people mistake spiritual power and
think that spiritual power is given to them
that they might be rich or wealthy or
powerful or successful.
And we'll find that Jesus didn't buy that.
He was tempted with it to use his
spiritual power to satisfy the needs of his
flesh, but he wouldn't.
And I think there's some example there for
us as well.
Since he could have, the temptation was very
real.
Since he had the power to do that,
and we know he did have that power.
I mean, what did he do with five
loaves of fish and a couple, or five
loaves of bread and a couple of fish?
What did he do?
He fed thousands.
That's all they had, and he multiplied it.
That's pretty supernatural power.
We knew he could, but at this point,
to meet his own need, he didn't.
Instead, he answered and said, it is written.
And I love that.
Because he didn't go, back off Satan, I'm
Jesus.
He didn't kind of do that to him
or something.
He just said, it is written.
He went to the word.
And we're going to see that over and
over again in these temptations.
He goes back to the word.
It is written, man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God.
Whew.
Now, all the quotations that Jesus has in
this first section are from Deuteronomy.
Chapters 6 to 8.
And some commentators have suggested that perhaps these
were the passages that the Lord was meditating
on.
Oftentimes, when you are fixing on a particular
section of scripture, that God will teach you
through that and help you to make application
through it.
Well, here, he's contemplating on this.
The man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God.
And Satan comes along and says, you hungry?
Turn those stones into bread so you can
satisfy your physical hunger.
And he remembers, wait a minute, there's a
higher standard.
Just the fleshly life isn't enough.
We need that spiritual side of our nature
fed.
And we all, I mean, by our potlucks
and so on, I mean, we all we're
pretty well fed.
We eat pretty good.
You know, and when we don't eat, when
we don't get a meal, we get grumpy.
You know, it's just the way, that's our
flesh.
And we understand that we don't really grow
spiritually just by feeding the flesh.
You can have the best of delicacies.
You know, you can have the finest, you
can eat in the finest restaurants.
You can have a perfectly equipped chef gourmet
kitchen.
You know, all of those things.
But that doesn't feed your spirit.
It'll only feed your flesh.
It can never feed anything more.
And that's true with all of the lusts
of the flesh.
Whatever stuff you think you want or you
think you need, is it to bring glory
to God?
Is it for the advancement of the kingdom
of God?
Or is it just to make you feel
satisfied?
Usually it's to make you feel satisfied.
And that will not help you grow in
the spirit.
Your spirit can remain stagnant even though you
have many things.
Things will not give you spiritual maturity.
They won't.
In Job 23 verse 12, and we all
know Job went through it.
Job had a serious season of testing, but
in the middle of it he said in
verse 12 of chapter 23, I have not
departed from the commandment of his lips, and
I have treasured the words of his mouth
more than my necessary food.
I treasured the words of his mouth more
than my necessary food.
Oh, I pray for that kind of hunger
for God's word.
Dave Guzik noted that Jesus used Scripture to
battle Satan's temptation.
Not some elaborate spiritual power inaccessible to us.
Jesus fought this battle as a man in
this battle.
And he drew on no special resources unavailable
to us.
Hey, if Jesus had taken those, you might
say he was justified in doing it.
He was hungry, he had the power, so
he turns the stones into bread.
Just like that, because he's God and he's
the creator.
That'd be a tough act to follow for
you and me, frankly.
I mean, I can't go over the church
budget and go multiply.
I believe today it will double.
Right there, that one plate will turn to
two plates.
You know?
How many of you know if we had
that kind of power, we'd be in big
trouble, huh?
How many of you could use that kind
of power humbly?
I don't think so.
So instead of putting that as a standard,
Jesus as our perfect high priest accessed what
you and I have access to.
The word of God.
He went to the word and he answered
the temptation of the enemy with the same
resource that you and I have.
And I appreciate that.
I'm so thankful that he did it that
way.
There's no special resources, no little tricks, no
special courses you have to go through to
know how to perform a miracle.
You have the word, I have the word.
As we immerse ourselves in the word, the
power of the word of God will give
us victory over the attacks of the enemy.
So we effectively resist temptation in the same
way Jesus did.
By countering Satan's seductive lies by shining the
light of God's truth upon them.
If we are ignorant of God's truth, we
are poorly armed in the fight against temptation.
And when I talk to people that are
battling the lusts of their flesh constantly, I
ask them, are you in the word of
God?
Are you meditating on the word of God?
And they go, not as much as I
should.
I mean, I can't tell you how many
times I've heard that.
Well, then what are you coming to me
for?
I don't have any magic hocus-pocus to
deliver you.
Each of us have to go the same
way.
We have to feed upon the word of
God.
Feed upon God's word.
Treasure it in your heart more than your
necessary food.
And you will have ample light to overcome
darkness.
And as you're in the word of God,
you'll have that discernment when the lies and
the tricks of the enemy are laid upon
you.
But if you're not in the word of
God, you can get snowed real easy.
And so many people are.
Let's look at the second temptation.
Then the devil took him up to the
holy city and set him on the pinnacle
of the temple.
This would be in Jerusalem, in Herod's temple.
Magnificent structure.
And then he says to him again, if
you are the son of God, throw yourself
down.
For it is written.
Now here's Satan quoting the word.
You better know the word.
Because Satan can pull things in and out.
He can take things out of context and
really mess up your head.
So here he's coming to Jesus.
Jesus is going to use the word.
Okay, I can play that game, says Satan.
He shall give his angels charge over you.
And in their hands they shall bear you
up, lest you dash your foot against the
stone.
Well, the second temptation is an appeal to
the pride of life.
Well, I am the son of God.
Yes.
And I have all of these angels at
my command.
And that's right.
They will hold me up.
Satan is tempting Jesus.
Note this here.
Satan is tempting Jesus to force the Father
into a supernatural event.
To force the Father into a supernatural event.
That's kind of like what the snake handlers
in Eastern Kentucky or wherever they're at.
But they'll take poisonous snakes and they'll put
them right up to them.
And they believe, they take that scripture out
of context where it says, you know, that
no weapon fashioned against you will prosper and,
you know, that you shall tread upon serpents
and scorpions and over all the power of
the enemy and nothing shall by any means
hurt you.
And so they'll take a snake, a poisonous
snake, to prove their faith.
That's tempting God.
That's not what we find that Jesus didn't
do that.
Jesus didn't need to do that and you
don't need to do that.
Satan is tempting Jesus to force the Father
into a supernatural event.
The pinnacle of the temple arose some 200
feet above the floor of the Kidron Valley.
A leap from there and the appearance of
the promised angel's protection would be quite a
show.
What a way to introduce your ministry.
Woohoo!
Here I am!
Son of God!
Yeah!
And angels appear!
Whoa!
And you know what?
People would come for another show the next
day too.
Because folks like shows.
And that would be a show.
But we don't grow in our faith through
shows.
We grow in our faith through the Word
of God.
That would be very presumptuous.
And in Psalm 19.13, King David said,
Keep back your servant, also from presumptuous sins.
Let them not have dominion over me.
In Psalm 131, Lord, my heart is not
haughty, nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
nor with things too profound for me.
You see, Jesus understood from his knowledge of
the whole counsel of God, that Satan was
twisting this passage from Psalm 91 that he
quoted.
That Satan quoted there in verse 6.
Jesus knew how to rightly divide the word
of truth.
And so he says to him in verse
7, It is written again, You shall not
tempt the Lord your God.
Folks, we never need to demand something spectacular
from God to prove his love or concern
for us.
He has already given the ultimate demonstration of
his love for us at the cross.
He can do nothing more spectacular than that.
Romans 5.8, but God demonstrates his own
love towards us in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.
I had a guy once call me and
say, I'll believe in the Lord if you
can translate me from my house to your
house right now.
He was serious.
I think he was a little tweaked, but
he was serious.
He wanted me to perform a miracle, and
if I would perform a miracle, then he
would believe.
Sorry, Charlie.
I don't think his name was Charlie, but
I don't remember his name.
But I thought, I didn't think anybody would
ever really say that, but I'm hearing it
right now.
Do a miracle for me, and then I'll
believe.
Hey, you know what?
Jesus raised people from the dead.
They were dead!
Being carried out on a funeral pyre, out
of the city of Nain, being buried four
days, wrapped in the burial cloth.
He was dead, dead, dead, Lazarus was.
So dead that when they said remove the
stone, what did the people say?
My lord, he stinketh.
You know?
The rotting had already taken place.
And there were still, even with that, people
who would not believe.
There were people who saw that and go,
whoa, that's, we got a real threat going
here, and they'd go back to the high
priest and tell him what was going on,
and then they would plot to kill him.
It didn't bring people to repentance.
Just because you have a show.
And I don't know how many people at
one particular time in their life or other
have gotten mad at God because they wanted
God to do something, and God didn't do
it the way they wanted them to do
it, and they've held a grudge ever since.
God has demonstrated his love towards you and
me.
But while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.
Let's get back to the cross.
When you get back to the cross and
you realize what Christ has done for you,
you don't have any beef.
You don't have anything to complain about.
And we rest in that, and then that
peace that passes understanding helps us to discern
the situation that we're in.
We all go through tough things.
Some of us, some really, really, really tough
things.
Life and death tough things.
But God is still faithful.
So don't tempt the Lord.
Don't say, I wonder how far I can
go and not get hurt.
Some people do that too.
You know, I've heard young people ask the
question sometimes, how far can I go and
not sin?
In terms of my relationship with my boyfriend
or my girlfriend.
How far can I go?
Don't even start, man.
How far can you go?
That's feeding the flesh.
You feed the flesh a little.
The flesh is insatiable, folks.
It's never satisfied.
You give it a little, the next time
it's going to want a little bit more.
You think you can control that?
You're a fool.
You can't.
That's why Jesus said, deny yourself, take up
your cross, follow after me.
And I'll tell you what, that is far
more fulfilling than a little buzz we might
get physically.
Don't tempt the Lord and think, how far
can I go without getting hurt?
Sometimes people wonder, how much can I be
like the world without really being in the
world?
How worldly can a Christian be?
I'm sorry.
We need to be like Jesus.
Your question should be, how much like Jesus
can I be?
How much more like Jesus can I be?
Not, how much can I get away with
and still be a Christian?
I wonder, do you really know the Lord?
If you're thinking that way.
It might be, I'm wondering how much I
can still be accepted at the church?
You know, how much will the church put
up with?
But the Lord says, be holy.
For I am holy.
Where's your standard?
Is it holy?
Or is it kind of just where you
can reach?
Because I can't reach holy with my own
strength.
I've got to die to myself and trust
the Lord and His work in me to
be holy.
If it's up to me to be holy,
forget it.
I can't.
I'll fail.
It forces me.
God's standard forces me to trust Him and
to lean on Him.
And anything less is purely subjective to what
you feel comfortable with.
That's the flesh.
Don't settle for that.
Again, the devil took Him up on an
exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world in their glory.
And here the lust of the eyes is
being tempted.
Oh, and how many of us look at
stuff and read things and see things on
TV and read stuff in magazines or hear
what our neighbors have or our friends have
and we lust for it.
We want it too.
You know, I want to have the same
toys you have.
I want to have the latest and the
greatest.
But Jesus said in Matthew 16, 26, For
what profit is it to a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his
own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul?
So Satan says to the Lord, All these
things I will give you if you will
fall down and worship me.
Satan's boasting that he's in control of the
kingdoms of the world.
And in a sense he was and he
is.
This is his realm.
In 2 Corinthians 4, Jesus or the Holy
Spirit is talking through Paul of those whose
minds the God of this age has blinded.
There is a power at work in our
day.
And it is a wicked power.
And as you look at the things that
are going on in the world, it seems
like he's having his way in so many
places.
This is a very strong and difficult temptation
because Jesus came to redeem the world back
to God.
Note that the purpose of Christ's coming in
Luke 19, For the Son of Man has
come to seek and to save that which
was lost.
That was the purpose of his coming.
1 John 4, 9 In this the love
of God was manifested toward us that God
has sent his only begotten Son into the
world that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent
his Son to be the sacrifice for our
sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another.
Jesus' purpose in coming was to die in
your place, in my place, that our sins
could be taken away.
You see, the world was in rebellion to
the authority of God and God desired the
world again to be in the kingdom of
God.
We pray the Lord's Prayer.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.
Jesus came that the world would be redeemed.
Now here, the issue is to Jesus, really
the temptation to Jesus is you don't have
to go to the cross.
You want all the kingdoms?
I'll give them to you, just bow down
to me.
See the deception?
I know you came to redeem the world,
but you don't need to go God's way.
You don't have to follow God's plan.
Bow down to me and I'll give the
kingdoms of this world to you apart from
the cross.
It's an important warning to us today, because
Satan always tempts people with this deception that
you can find fulfillment, the realization of your
heart's desires apart from the cross.
But as I said earlier, quoting Luke 9
23, if anyone desires to come after me,
Jesus said, let him deny himself and take
up his cross daily and follow me.
First Peter 4 1, therefore since Christ suffered
for us in the flesh, arm yourself also
with the same mind for he who has
suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
that he no longer should live the rest
of his time in the flesh for the
lusts of men, but for the will of
God.
That's how we should be living.
The idea that Satan waves before us is
that of immediate fulfillment of our desires or
short-term gratification.
I want it and I want it now
and I don't want to wait for it.
That's why people get in so much trouble,
rather than waiting for marriage.
How many young people have gotten venereal diseases
or pregnancies and their whole lives are changed
because they wanted it now.
I just want it now.
And if you love me, you'll give it
to me now.
You know, this kind of nonsense.
You don't need to trust God.
You don't need to wait until marriage.
You can have it now.
You don't need to trust God with your
finances.
After all, you received four credit card applications
this week, telling you what a wonderful thing
it would be to serve you with an
18% credit card, but by the way,
if you're late once, it'll jump to 29%.
And you'll never pay it off.
And you'll be subject to the lender for
the rest of your days.
Oh, but I want it.
And I got it.
You know?
What do you mean I'm overdrawn?
I still have checks.
You know?
You don't need to trust God.
You don't need to wait upon God.
You can have satisfaction and happiness right now.
And the Lord is showing us how false
and how deceiving that is.
The cross was not a pleasant process to
look forward to.
And yet Jesus endured the cross to give
his life, to pay the price, to redeem
this lost world back to God.
You know, when you're reading the Gospels, and
they're all excited, and there's great miracles that
happen, and Jesus pulls his disciples aside and
says, let me tell you, you know, the
high priest and so forth, the Son of
Man is going to be arrested and tortured
and killed, and three days later, he will
rise.
And they went, huh?
They just didn't get it.
Went right over their heads.
Because they were in the moment.
They were in the moment, the excitement.
But think about what Jesus must have had
to endure.
He knew what was ahead.
He was in a human body, and I'm
sure a normal process of a human mind
as well, but he knew the purpose, and
as he came closer and closer to it,
it was very clear that he would have
to give himself as the sacrifice for the
sins of mankind.
That meant the cross.
Not bowing down to Satan.
Not a shortcut.
It meant going all the way.
Satan is suggesting that you can have these
shortcuts apart from God's will.
And how did Jesus answer him?
Verse 10, Away with you, Satan, for it
is written, again, he goes right back to
the word, You shall worship the Lord your
God, and him only you shall serve.
Worship the Lord your God.
Him only shall you serve.
James 4, 7 says, Submit therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you.
Resist him, he will flee.
John 16, 33, Jesus said, These things I
have spoken to you, that in me you
may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation, but
be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world.
And because of Jesus' victory over the enemy,
in him we have victory.
The devil left him, we read in verse
11.
That means Jesus won.
The devil left him, and behold, angels came
and ministered to him.
Remember this always.
Satan is subject to the authority of Jesus,
and not the other way around.
This was not the first or the only
encounter with the powers of darkness.
The New Testament records many, but in each
case, Jesus overcame them.
And he overcame them by the power of
the Word.
And you and I can overcome by the
power of the Word.
John Corson notes this, if I could quote
him for a minute.
First and foremost, Jesus quoted Scripture.
Whether he was dealing with questions of provision,
or protection, or promise, in all three cases
Jesus quoted Scripture.
And that encourages me, because I can do
the same thing.
When the enemy attacks, I can quote Scripture,
and so can you.
You can do exactly what Jesus did.
There's a little book you can get called
the Jesus Person Pocket Promise Book.
It's got 800 promises from the Word in
categories for every situation.
800 promises to utilize when the enemy says
the Father's not providing for you.
He's not really going to protect you.
But that promise isn't going to come to
pass for you.
You can come back with Scripture.
But notice also, when Jesus said man shall
not live by bread alone, he was saying
I am not going to live by bread
alone.
The material realm is not going to have
priority for me.
When he said thou shalt not tempt the
Lord your God, he was saying I am
not going to do it, because the Word
forbids it.
When he said you shall worship the Lord
your God, and Him only shall you serve,
he was saying I will serve my Father
in Him alone.
A lot of Christians are under the mistaken
impression that by simply quoting a Scripture, Satan
is going to run away.
But Satan himself can quote Scripture, and so
can the demons, and so can agnostics, and
so can atheists.
No, the power lies not in the quoting
of Scripture, but in submission to the Word,
not in recitation of it.
Satan flees when he hears us say I
will do it, not I can quote it.
It's good to learn the Word of God,
but remember your life needs to match up
with it.
Again, Jesus was meditating on the Word, and
as he was thinking about these principles in
Deuteronomy, he was saying I am submitted to
these principles.
I am living according to these principles.
And meditation on the Word is crucial, because
Satan comes to us when we least expect
him.
He doesn't say like, Pat, I'm going to
meet you in three days, get ready.
I'll beat you up, three days.
No, he watches and waits until he sees
I'm in a place of weakness or frustration
or tension or fatigue or transition and boom!
He strikes.
But Ephesians 6 says that the Word of
God is the sword of the Spirit.
Learn the Word, meditate upon the Word, stay
in the Word, and like Jesus, in submission
to the Word, you'll beat back the enemy.
That's part of what we're doing this morning.
But not just for head knowledge, but for
life change.
So how will you respond to testing?
According to the flesh, or by the Spirit
according to the Word?
I pray it's the latter.
By the Spirit according to the Word.
Now, as we move to verse 12, there's
a gap, maybe, of a year.
John's gospel fills in the details from the
baptism of John up until John the Baptist's
imprisonment.
So verse 12, when John heard, when Jesus
heard that John had been put in prison,
he departed to Galilee.
So John's imprisonment marked the beginning of that
public ministry.
And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in
Capernaum, which is by the sea.
That's up in the area of Galilee.
The regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, where a
couple of the tribes of Israel had settled.
And that it might be fulfilled, this is
interesting, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet,
saying, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sat in darkness have seen
a great light, and upon those who sat
in the region, and shadow of death, light
has dawned.
Isaiah chapter 9, the first couple of verses.
Even his moves around the land were fulfillment
of prophecy.
And in the darkness, the people who sat
in darkness have seen a great light.
Many are still in great darkness today.
The shadow of death is gripping them.
No hope, no peace, no purpose.
And to those folks, Jesus still shines his
saving light.
And that might be some of you today.
Jesus is shining his light to you today.
And what does he say, as he begins
his ministry?
From that time, Jesus began to preach and
say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.
The first word of the gospel of Jesus,
repent.
You know, there was a problem of fake
conversions.
There's a problem of fake conversions today.
Making an outward confession without an inward change.
Saying yes, when you're really saying no.
That's a fake conversion.
Remember, John came baptizing in the wilderness, preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins.
And he saw a bunch of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees coming to be baptized, and
he said to them, brood of vipers, who
warned you to flee from the wrath to
come, therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.
We learn that having remorse is not repentance.
Having penitence is not repentance.
Reforming is not really repentance.
Heathens can reform somewhat.
Doing penance is not repentance.
What is repentance then?
It is simply a change of mode of
thinking, a change of mind that results in
a change of direction.
Repentance makes inward change a visible reality.
In Ezekiel 18.30 the prophet was speaking,
therefore I will judge you, O house of
Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the
Lord God.
Repent and turn from your transgressions.
Repentance in the Bible alludes to a change
of mind about self, about sin, and about
God.
It is a turning around from self and
a turning to God.
Handbook of Bible application says repent means to
turn, implying a change in behavior.
So we can't say we're spiritual without a
change in behavior.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
I mean you think, well yeah, that's logical,
but it's amazing how many people struggle with
that.
A changed life with new and different behavior
makes your repentance real and visible.
Have you repented of sin in your life?
Can others see the difference it makes in
you?
The great essential is faith in Jesus Christ
as the Son of God and Savior from
sin.
Amen?
That's the essential.
That faith will lead to repentance.
But repentance is a step toward faith too.
In Jesus' preaching of the kingdom of God
is seen the truth that repentance and faith
are two sides of the same coin.
By repentance one turns away from sin.
By faith one turns toward God, accepting the
Lord Jesus Christ.
So to be truly repentant, we must do
both, turn from sin and turn toward God.
We can't just say, follow me here, I
know we talked a little about this last
week too, but since Jesus said it, we
need to talk about it.
We can't just say that we believe and
then live any way we choose.
Did you get that?
Neither can we simply live a morally correct
life without a personal relationship with God because
this cannot bring forgiveness of sin.
Determine, folks, to rid your life of any
sins God points out and to put your
trust in Him alone to guide you.
Repentance, I believe, demonstrates real faith.
Confession of sins and a changed life are
inseparable.
Now I'm not saying that, you know, you
have to have your polished halo and never
blow it again before you can come to
Christ.
But you need to understand that in coming
to Christ, Christ is going to change you.
And you need to be willing to let
Him change you.
James said, faith without works is dead.
And Jesus' hardest words, harshest words, were to
the respectable religious leaders who lacked the desire
for change.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees.
They wanted to be known as religious authorities,
but they didn't want to change their hearts
and minds.
Their lives were unproductive, barren of godly fruit.
Repentance must be tied to action or it
isn't real.
And this is true not only of religious
leaders, but of regular folks who just want
to be accepted in the church, but don't
want to change their lifestyle.
I pray that if you're coming to Christ
and coming to this church, you understand that
that means a lifestyle change as well.
If you were living a worldly lifestyle and
a fleshly addicted lifestyle, God expects change.
And He is able to see change in
your life.
He's promised to supply, to give you all
that pertains to life and to godliness.
But you've got to come to understanding.
I'm turning away from that lifestyle and I'm
turning to God.
And that turn to God will be evidenced
by I'm not showing that stuff anymore of
my old lifestyle.
That's repentance.
Following Jesus means more than saying the right
words.
And believe me, I've heard plenty of them.
But it means acting on what Jesus says.
He said, if you love me, keep my
commandments.
True repentance then is not something you do
once.
It's how you live the rest of your
life.
Do you understand that?
So, repentance is almost, almost more a message
to believers than it is to unbelievers.
In that sense.
Yes, an unbeliever needs to recognize that they
have sinned and that Jesus has died to
save them from sin.
But believers need to understand that as we
walk with the Lord, our lives aren't going
to look back.
You know, we're not what we used to
be.
We've been changed by the Lord.
And we're never going back to that old
lifestyle again.
We need to pray.
The chapter wraps up with Jesus calling Simon
and Peter and Andrew and he says, follow
me and I'll make you fishers and men.
And the call was immediately responded to.
Lots of times people make excuses when they're
called.
But notice Jesus didn't say, take a course
in evangelism.
Study this book.
Go to this seminar.
Practice this technique.
Rather here's in essence what he said.
Listen carefully.
If you hang out with me I'm going
to be changing you.
And inevitably you're going to become more like
me.
A fisher of men.
You know, the apostles you know, after Jesus
had died and rose again and persecution started
coming on the church, what did the magistrates
have to say about the disciples of Jesus?
They recognized that they had been with Jesus.
They hadn't graduated University of Jerusalem, you know,
School of Theology.
They'd been with Jesus.
Be with Jesus, folks.
That's where real discipleship happens.
And I think it's a good way to
teach someone in ministry.
In an apprentice fashion rather than through formal
education as was the customary method in Jesus'
day.
You know, you can get your degrees, you
know, you can go to Bible college and
get your degrees and all of that, but
that is not going to make you a
man or woman of God.
It'll give you some head knowledge and sometimes
you'll learn some things that might be applicable.
But a lot of people go to there,
get their paper and think, now I'm a
minister because I've gone through this.
That's not what makes you a minister.
What makes you a minister is following Jesus.
Follow Jesus.
And hang around with other people who follow
Jesus.
And be in the Word and God will
make you a disciple and He'll use you.
And that's how all of our pastors here
and our missionaries were trained.
Hands on, doing the work of the ministry,
sitting under the regular verse by verse instruction
of the Word of God.
That's what you're doing this morning.
And as you hang out with each other,
you're talking about how God is at work.
And you look for opportunities other than just
here on Sunday morning in the big church
to get together with two or three or
four other believers and be going through the
Word together.
You're following Jesus.
You're learning to walk in His steps.
And I'll tell you that's when the power
of the Spirit of God moves so mightily.
As God uses regular people like you and
me to learn of Him and to grow
and be used for Him.
So press on in the good work that
God has before you today.
And so going from there he saw a
few others James, John calls them.
They immediately follow Him and Jesus went all
over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
Gospel of the Kingdom, healing all kinds of
sickness and all kinds of disease among the
people.
And His fame went throughout all Syria and
they brought to Him all sick people who
were afflicted with various diseases and torments and
those who were demon-possessed and epileptics and
paralytics and He healed them.
And great multitudes followed Him from Galilee, Decapolis,
Jerusalem, Judea and beyond the Jordan.
And Jesus did all these things with one
person, with a specific purpose in mind.
That the people were like sheep without a
shepherd and the miracles brought great multitudes who
needed to be taught.
He didn't just do one show after another.
Whenever a miracle was done, it was just
to give opportunity to teach them the Word
of God.
So good lessons here in this chapter.
Are you tempted?
We've got the Word of God, the same
Word that Jesus had.
And we have a great advocate to give
us victory in temptation.
Have you been messing around with a lifestyle
that doesn't please the Lord?
Then God would call you to repentance.
Well, I'm already a Christian, so you need
to repent.
You need to turn from that way and
follow after the Lord and let your lifestyle
be showing that change.
And you do so by following Jesus.
By staying close to Him.
And as we go from this place this
morning, may that mark our week.
Amen?
That we are walking close with Jesus this
week.
Letting His Word be in us.
And just like Jesus did, saying, I live
by this truth.
I live by this truth.
Not I just quote this truth, but I
live by this truth.
Praise the Lord.
Let's stand together, shall we?