Man Camp Session 4: Our War Hero

2:43I'm about to get myself hurt here, I think, if I keep talking about this. So, anyway, my kid, what's that? Anyway, I got this hat, you know, and so I just my kids said, Hey, dad, dad, looks good on you, you should get that. So, I got it, and then I just started noticing. Noticing when I'd walk into places, restaurants, and other, you know, people would kind of look at me and kind of sneer at me a little bit. And I was like, what's going on, man? This is, and then my, my, yeah, and hiss and stuff like that. And so, anyway, I went over to my neighbor's house one day. We moved into this new neighborhood. And I had heard that he was, you know, they had a business up in Aggie Land. And so, anyway, I walked over one day just to do something. I don't remember what it was. And I was wearing that UT hat and my longhorns hat. And anyway, I walked up and he opened the door. He said, he just looked at me. He didn't say, hi, how are you doing? He said, seriously?

3:43He said, you're going to wear that house or that hat to my house. And I was like, hey, man, I got the sense. I really offended the guy. And I'm like, hey, man, I am so sorry. I said, the only reason why I'm wearing this hat is because I don't have any Aggie hat. I don't have an AM hat. And didn't think anything about it. Well, the next day, I'm back in my closet, and I study in my walk-in closet there. And so I hear the doorbell ring, and I come out, and there's nobody at the front door. And I'm like, that's weird. So anyway, I open up the door and I look down and there's this grocery bag sitting on the front steps there. And I pick it up and I look into it and there were five AM hats.

4:29There's. One for me, one for my wife, and one for our three kids. So we could never make that mistake again, right? So, yeah, no more excuses. So, anyway, yeah, we've kind of definitely the house divided. We've got, our daughter went to UT dental school, and she died in Houston, so she denies the fact that she's a longhorn. She's like, dad, it's not a longhorn, it's something else. That's in us. Our son went to University of Houston. So, he's a cougar. They do that, right? So, we got, we got, what do we got? That, sorry, we got that, right? And then, and then you got this one, and then, of course, you got, so our, our youngest son, just so you know, we finally got it right, okay? Our youngest son is at AM, okay? So, um, yeah, so we figured it out. It just took us a little while, okay? We tried out these other universities, and then we find that we better put our last son in there or somebody's gonna get hurt, so we're gonna get offended somebody. So, we can, at least we can claim one Aggie, all right? And uh, we're just praying he graduates now. So, um, anyway, but I know that uh today was not a good day if you're an Aggie fan, at least a football fan. I feel like we should have a moment of silence. Uh, it's been a rough, a rough, uh, a rough season so far. High highs and low lows, right? I mean, it's just like, can you just kind of let us relax and have fun here? I mean, this is like we're on a roller coaster, right? But anyway, it's good to be with you guys. And thank you guys for just loving Jesus, loving me, and loving the word. And it's been a blast. So, anyway, take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4 for our time tonight.

6:20And so far, we've looked at our call to arms. We've looked at our protective gear. And tonight, I thought it would be appropriate for us to look at our war hero, our war hero, who obviously is none other than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so read with me Luke chapter 4, and you just follow along as I read it. Luke chapter 4, verse 1. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, he became hungry. And the devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone. And he led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you worship before me, it shall all be yours.

7:36Jesus answered him, It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. And he led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

8:04And Jesus answered and said to him, It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. When the devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time. Father, we thank you for preserving this account of the temptation of Christ for us to read and to study and to meditate on, to learn from. And tonight we want to go to school on Jesus and learn from him as he battled against Satan in the wilderness. And so, Lord, give us a keen insight into this text, and Lord, that you would open up our eyes to see wonderful things, perhaps that we've never seen. Seen before that would encourage us and equip us and to help us to be more of who you want us to be. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

9:11Well, our primary focus has been on Paul's classic treatment of spiritual warfare in Ephesians chapter 6, right, verses 10 through 20. And his instruction in those verses is based on the foundational truth that as believers, we have already won the victory over Satan, and our victory rests in the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's the good news of the gospel. That through Christ's life and death and resurrection, he disarmed and he defeated the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil. For example, the world. Galatians chapter 6, verse 14. Galatians chapter 6, verse 14. It says, But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. So Christ disarmed, defeated the world. He also disarmed and defeated the flesh. Romans chapter 6, verse 6. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with. So that we would no longer be slaves to sin. And so Christ disarmed, defeated the world. He disarmed, he defeated our flesh. He also disarmed and defeated the devil. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, Jesus, likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

11:00In other words, we don't have to pray to have victory that God will give us victory over Satan. I've for years prayed that. Lord, Lord, give me victory over Satan. Well, I'm praying something that's already been accomplished. I'm praying something that really you don't need to pray because he's already given us the victory over Satan. And we simply need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us appropriate and apply Christ's victorious life and death in our lives.

11:42Someone in our church gave me a copy of a book called The Whole Armor of God by Ian DeGoud. You may be familiar with that name. He's a very helpful commentator. And this is what he said in the opening chapter of his exposition of Ephesians chapter 6. Quote, the mighty power of God was demonstrated in the once-for-all work of Christ in resisting sin and Satan in our place. And typically, when we think about what Christ did in our place, we think about his death on the cross in our place. He died in our place. But we also have to remember that he also lived in our place. This is what's called the active obedience of Christ, the passive obedience of Christ, his death on the cross. The active obedience of Christ is his life, his perfect life.

12:37And so we have to consider he also didn't just die in our place, he lived in our place. We fight and stand firm against Satan only in the strength that comes from the victory that Christ has already won for us. Each of the various pieces of armor points us to Christ. God clothes us with the same armor that Christ has already worn on our behalf in his lifelong struggle with the mortal enemy of our souls. I don't know if you ever thought about it that way. That Jesus not only died in our place, he wore our armor in our place, or God's armor in our place. He stood firm against Satan's schemes throughout his entire life and ministry. He goes on, he says, we wear God's armor because Jesus wore it first. In the final analysis, standing our ground. Simply means clinging desperately to Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation. In that attitude of dependent trust is true victory. That's a good word, isn't it?

13:44And I think arguably the best illustration of Christ wearing the armor of God is when he warded off Satan's attacks for 40 days in the wilderness. And what we have before us here in Luke chapter 4 is the greatest, most important spiritual showdown ever fought in the history of the world. The future of mankind rested on the outcome of this battle. Our eternal destiny hung on this fight. And we've already briefly referenced Christ's temptation in the wilderness a few times, but I think any discussion of spiritual warfare is incomplete without a deeper look into this epic struggle. And so, in these verses, in Luke chapter 4, verses 1 through 13, Luke is like a sports announcer who gives a blow-by-blow commentary of the three-round fight between Satan and Jesus. I don't know if any of you are into UFC, but every Saturday night, you see a big advertisement somewhere, and it's the picture of two heads or two guys right up in each other's face, and it's usually something like.

15:00Hernandez versus Cortez, or something like that. I don't know. But here we see Jesus versus Satan. And so it's appropriate, I guess, right? Saturday night, fighting night. Here we are. And it's going down. And we're going to get to watch it. And we don't even have to pay for it, right? This is not pay-per-view. This is the real deal, man. This is the scriptures we're looking at tonight. And I think Luke's main purpose for including this account in his gospel was to prove that Jesus is the sinless Son of God, who is the only one qualified to be the Savior from sin. And the reason why I say that is: look at the context. The previous chapter, chapter 3, starting in verse 23, all the way up to the end of the chapter, verses 23 to 38, is the genealogy of Jesus. And he starts way back at the very beginning.

16:02And he goes all the way through the genealogy of Christ, all the way. Notice what he says: the son of Enosh, the son of Seth. This is verse 38, the son of Adam. And there's not a period there. What else does he say? Verse 38, the son of God. So this guy goes all the way back past the first man, Adam, all the way back to God. This is the Son of God. But I also think that the Spirit of God had another purpose for including this in Luke's record of Christ's life and ministry. I think he wanted to provide us with an example to follow in our fight against the schemes of the devil. There's no better example than Jesus. And in this narrative, he modeled how to resist Satan and stand firm against him. And I don't know what kind of learner you are. I tend to be more of a visual learner, right? Don't just tell me, show me.

17:02It's one thing to study something, which we've been doing for the last three sessions, right? We've been studying the spiritual warfare and the armor of God. Well, it's another thing to see it in action. And that's what we get to do tonight: we get to see spiritual warfare in action. And I want you to look carefully as we go through this and see if you can pick out the strategy that Satan, or excuse me, that Jesus used in overcoming Satan. And we're going to analyze it at the end.

17:34Because if we follow the example of Jesus here and use the same strategy that he used, we too can have victory over Satan like he did. So look for that strategy as we walk our way through this. Well, let's look first of all at round one. Round one. Okay, it's a fight, right? Round one. And under each round, we're going to see Satan's deceit and then Jesus' defense. We'll be listening for that as we go through these different rounds. So, first of all, let's look at Satan's deceit. Verse 1: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days.

18:18So, the Holy Spirit had just descended upon Jesus at his baptism, affirming him to be God's Son and empowering him for service. That's chapter 3, verse 21. Now, when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while he was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven: You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased. And immediately after that, after Jesus was baptized, he led him out into the wilderness for 40 days. Mark recorded that the Spirit impelled him to go out into the wilderness. Mark chapter 1, verse 12. And so this was really Jesus' final preparation for his public ministry. And so he was out in this wilderness. It's called the wilderness. And this is the Judean wilderness between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. This is about 35 miles long and about 15 miles wide, which even to this day remains a dry, dusty, hot, desolate, uninhabited wasteland. Noah, you probably remember. That when you went and visited Israel, that this area is just like you don't want to be there, it's the last place on the planet you'd want to go.

19:41And so Jesus was there, and it says here that he was tempted for 40 days by the devil. Notice that it says he was being tempted. In other words, he was being tempted continuously. It wasn't like there was just these three temptations in those 40 days. It was like the entire time he was being pursued, stalked by Satan. Satan was nipping at his heels the entire time. And again, by the way, this was not the only time that Christ was tempted by Satan. He was tempted his entire life, just like we are. But Jesus went to the desert for these 40 days for the sole specific purpose of being tempted by Satan. And for 40 days, Satan did everything in his power to get Jesus to sin to ultimately thwart God's plan of redemption. He knew that if Christ was a sinner, then he couldn't be our Savior.

20:43And so after 40 long days, when Jesus was at the height of his physical and emotional and spiritual exhaustion, Satan unleashed a final flurry of blows upon him in a desperate attempt to get him to sin. Notice verse 2. For 40 days he was tempted by the devil, and he ate nothing during those days. And when they had ended, he became hungry. And the devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.

21:16Well, I get hungry. I get grouchy if I miss a meal, let alone 40 days' worth of meals. So he hadn't eaten for a month, and so his human anger, excuse me, anger, his human hunger naturally craves something to eat. But it really, this was not about food. And we're going to see that. There's a whole lot more going on here than just Jesus is simply satisfying his appetite. And by the way, Satan wasn't doubting whether or not Jesus was really the Son of God. He knew exactly who he was dealing with here. And what he was saying was it'd be better, a better translation is not if you are the Son of God, but since you are the Son of God. Because you're the Son of God. I know who you are. Tell this stone to become bread.

22:09So Satan was trying to get Jesus to doubt who he was, to doubt what God had said about him at his baptism. What did he say? Again, back in chapter 3, verse 22, you are my beloved son, in you I am well pleased. Well, if that's true, Satan says, if you really are God's beloved son, then what in the world are you doing out in this God-forsaken wasteland on the verge of starvation? I mean, hadn't God even provided manna for the rebellious Israelites who were wandering in the wilderness as a result of their sin? And here was the perfect Son of God, and God wasn't providing for him anything to eat. And so I think he was trying to get Jesus to question his father's care and to get him to use his powers to provide what God hadn't. But to do that, Jesus would have to disobey God's will. Because God's will at this time was for him to humbly lay aside the independent use of his divine attributes and his abilities and only use them when God directed him to.

23:22And so Satan wanted Jesus to act independently from God by using his own powers to supply his own needs. He was suggesting that being hungry was incompatible with being God's son. And that certainly God would not want him to have to endure such hardship and discomfort if he was as loved as he said he was. That was Satan's deceit. Now let's look at Jesus' defense. Verse 4. And Jesus answered him: It is written, man shall not live on bread alone. This is a direct quote from Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3.

24:05And the entire quote is this: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. And again, the context in Deuteronomy chapter 8, Moses was reminding the people of Israel how he had led them and provided for them while they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years to test them to see whether or not they would obey him. And I think this is a good reminder here for us that temptations are a test of our allegiance and faith in God. Every time we're tempted, we usually think of temptation as a negative thing, but it's actually a positive thing in the sense that it's an opportunity for you to prove how loyal you are to Christ, how devoted you are to Christ.

24:54And so God humbled the Israelites. He let them be hungry, and then he fed them with manna to teach them to trust him for their daily sustenance and to teach them that life is more than just food. Food isn't the most necessary part of life. God's word, we know, is far more important because it provides us what we need most, and that's spiritual nourishment. Jesus said later in John chapter 4, verse 34, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. In other words, what Jesus was saying, Is there was that serving and obeying God was Jesus' top priority, not worrying about when or what he was going to eat next.

25:39And Jesus encouraged his followers to live the same way. Matthew chapter 6, familiar passage, verse 31. Do not worry then, saying, What will we eat? What will we drink, or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. And I think too often we worry and fret about our physical needs, our material needs, our financial needs. And we're prone to question whether or not God really loves us, whether he cares about our needs or even knows about our needs.

26:23And I think that's when we're tempted to meet those needs ourselves and satisfy those desires that God, for his own sovereign purposes, has left unmet and unsatisfied. But this is how subtle it is. We begin to think that, you know, if God really loves us, then he wouldn't allow us to be in whatever painful and disappointing situation that we're in. How is that an act of love? I'll never forget the day I walked into a hospital down in the medical center in Houston.

27:01And there was a mother sitting in a chair next to her daughter, her, I think at the time, probably three-year-old daughter, who had just been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which is a rare form of cancer that attacks children. And at that moment, they had no idea if she was going to survive this or not. And so I went down to visit her, and there were members of our church at the time. And I walked in there and thinking that I was going to minister to this mom who was grieving next to her daughter, who was, at the time, we thought was on her deathbed. And as we were talking, she looked at me and she said, Ken, I have to believe that this is an act of God's love for me and my daughter.

27:57I was stunned. The faith of that mom to take God at his word and fight against the temptation, right, to question God's goodness and God's love and his care and his provision. It's one thing when it happens to us, but it's another thing when it happens to one of our children. I think what we can learn from this first temptation is it's always better to obey and depend on God to provide for our needs instead of taking matters. Into our own hands. In fact, if you look at Matthew, Matthew's account of this same situation here, the same 40 days of temptation, it says at the end that angels came and provided Jesus food. So God had every intention of providing Jesus what he needed, but it was on his timetable.

28:52And so we need to learn to wait on the Lord to provide no matter what, no matter how important, no matter how urgent a need may seem to us. I remember a guy telling me one time, he was the youth pastor that trained me back in the day. And he said that one time he was, one evening he was sitting in his house and there was some young people in his church that had gotten pregnant and the lady was in the hospital having, you know, in labor. And this guy, this husband, called him and said, he said, listen, man, the doctor just told me that both my wife and baby are in distress, and that if we don't take the baby, if we don't kill the baby, it may kill my wife.

29:42What do I do? And my friend said, don't play God. That was his answer. Don't play God. And in the mercy of God, God took that child's life and spared his wife's life. Life. But they didn't have to have that on their conscience, right? That they had aborted that baby because some doctors said they should. Never take matters into your own hands. Jesus refused to take matters into his own hands. He chose instead to trust his father to meet his needs in his way and in his time.

30:27That's round one. Let's look at round two. Again, first of all, let's look at Satan's deceit. Verse 5. And he led him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you worship before me, it shall be yours.

30:56This was probably some sort of supernatural vision, something in the spirit realm where Satan was able to show Jesus all the inhabited earth at the time. And by the way, some would say, well, this, who does Satan think he is? He has no right to offer this to Jesus. He's not the owner of this. Well, I think I would suggest to you that this was a legitimate offer by Satan because originally God had entrusted man with the dominion to rule over the earth. But when Adam succumbed, To Satan's temptation and sin, he surrendered that rule to Satan. Christ referred to Satan as the ruler of the world. Paul referred to Satan as the God of this age and the prince in the power of the air. John said that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

31:47So Satan was asking Jesus to strike a deal with him, to kind of reach a compromise here. In essence, I think he was saying, listen, you and I both know that all this is already promised to you. Psalm 2 talks about how the nations would be the inheritance of the Son of God, right? So why wait? Why wait for what's rightfully yours? You're going to rule this all someday anyway. Why not rule it now? All I'm asking, just one simple thing, is that you acknowledge my authority over the world by bowing down and worshiping me, and I'll just hand it all over to you.

32:24Do you see? He still hadn't got over his lust for worship. That's what got him where he was in the first place. But Satan here was offering Jesus a shortcut to success. His reasoning was this: listen, why endure a life of poverty with no place to lay your head and a long, painful death, having to be separated from your father when he would say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why go through all this? That when you can have a painless glory instantly, right now, I'll give it to you.

33:09Just for a split second of idolatry, Jesus could have bypassed the cross and go directly to the throne. And here he is, God's Son, heir to the universe, out in the middle of nowhere with nothing on his back but the clothes that he wore. And yet he refused to make a deal with the devil. Ain't happening. Not going along with that. Because he knew God's plan was for him to reign after his death and resurrection. So that was Satan's deceit. Let's look at Jesus' defense. Verse 8. Jesus answered him, It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Jesus quoted here from Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 13.

34:12And I think it's interesting, Satan hadn't said anything about Jesus serving him. He just asked him to worship him, but Jesus knew that whatever we worship, we also serve. And this is again typical of Satan. From the very beginning, Satan was, he always wanted. To usurp God's place and receive worship. Isaiah 14, verse 13: the five I wills of Satan, I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.

34:49That's what he was going for here, and that's why he was cast out of heaven in the first place. And so Jesus had to remind him that he was simply a created being who was created by God to worship and serve him. And again, a great reminder that God is the only one worthy of our worship and service. We must never bow to anyone or anything else. I think another thing we can learn from this second temptation is that Satan is always trying to get us to take the easy way, to avoid pain, to travel the path of least resistance, to sacrifice the eternal for the temporary.

35:37Warren Wearsby said it well. He said this: there are no shortcuts in the Christian life, and there is no easy way to spiritual victory and maturity. If the perfect Son of God had to hang on a tree before he could sit on the throne, then his disciples should not expect an easier way of life. And it was actually in the rest of the book. Of Luke, where Luke chose to record, unlike any of the other gospel writers, the radical de-invitations that Jesus gave. We talk about giving an invitation for people to come follow Jesus, right? Well, Jesus tended to drive people away. When he said things like Luke 9:23, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

36:34Or Luke chapter 9, verse 57. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He said to another, follow me, but he said, Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. But he said, Allow the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. Another also said, I will follow you, Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home. And Jesus said to him, No one else, or excuse me, no one after putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.

37:08And then in Luke 14, he goes off again on this crowd that was all excited about what was going to happen when he got to Jerusalem. They thought he was going to overthrow the Roman government and set up the throne, reign over Israel. And so the crowds were getting bigger and bigger the closer and closer they got to Jerusalem. And Jesus. Turned on his heels and he said, Time out. Let me level with you here. Verse 26: This is Luke 14:26. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me, he cannot be my disciple. So that none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

37:57The point is simple. As followers of Christ, we must be willing to sacrifice our earthly comforts, our possessions, our relationships to walk in the footsteps of Christ along the path of suffering and obedience that he willingly walked for us. That's round two. Now let's look at round three. Again, first of all, let's look at Satan's deceit. Verse 9. And he led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up so that you will not strike your foot against the stone.

38:47Now, we don't know the specific spot of the temple where Satan took Jesus for this third temptation. Most likely it was the tower on the southwestern corner of the temple wall where there. A sheer drop of about 450 feet to the Kidron Valley. And again, Satan was trying to get Jesus to prove that he really was the Son of God. This wasn't if, hey, I'm not sure who you are. No, he's saying since. Since you are the Son of God, you know it, I know it.

39:24And so he's challenging him to prove it. And I think now Satan turned up the heat. He had seen Jesus' loyalty to Scripture and how effectively he used it to ward off the previous two temptations. So he decided to try to use Scripture against Jesus. To try to beat him at his own game if he could. And so he thought, well, I'm going to start quoting scripture then. And so he misquoted Psalm 91. And by the way, if you take verses out of context or don't view certain passages in light of how they fit into the whole counsel of God, you can prove pretty much anything from Scripture. You know that, right?

40:06Almost every cult, every false teacher claims that what they teach is based on the teachings of the Bible. But it's simply because they're ripping something out of context. And so the verses that Satan quoted here were a messianic psalm where God promised to protect the Messiah and Satan. Knew that Jesus was the Messiah, the chosen one. And so he tried to back him up against the ropes, if you will, by using scripture against him. And in essence, I think what he was saying is: listen, if you trust God's word so much, put your money where your mouth is. Well, why don't you prove it by jumping and watching God fulfill his word by sending angels to save you, to rescue you? I mean, this would be instant proof to everyone that you are the Messiah. Come on, let's go. Unless, of course, you're too scared to jump, to step out in faith.

41:11Satan was implying that by not jumping, Jesus would be demonstrating a lack of faith. You actually don't believe the word of God. But Jesus saw right through Satan's ploy, and he knew he was being tempted to presumptuously put God's love and power and patience to the test. So look at his defense. Jesus' defense in verse 12. And Jesus answered and said to him, It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, another quote from Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 16.

41:48And the context there is that Israel was constantly testing the Lord. Constantly testing the Lord, which made God angry because they were always wanting to see some. Of sign. They were continually demanding that he perform some miracle to prove to them his power, his presence. But no matter what he did, it was never enough. And so they were guilty of the sin of unbelief. Their problem wasn't a lack of evidence, it was a lack of faith.

42:17And so Jesus knew better to put himself in a situation that would force God to act. Which, by the way, sometimes we do. We do. We presume upon the Lord by acting carelessly or recklessly, and then we expect God to bail us out of trouble. We take some foolish leap of faith or step of faith by doing something even though we know it violates God's word, and then we ask God to catch us before we hit the bottom.

42:53And sometimes we even test God by seeing how far we can go into sin. We're not going to go all the way, we'll just go part of the way, which in and of itself is proof that we don't trust him to begin with. Testing God is not trusting God. Look at verse 13. When the devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune time. Like I said earlier, this wasn't the first. Time that Jesus had been tempted by Satan, and this wasn't the last time. Satan tempted him during his entire ministry. He was always lurking in the shadows, waiting for just the right opportunity to attack. Remember when Peter said, when Jesus said, Hey, I'm going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to die. And Peter essentially said, Over my dead body, I ain't going to let it happen.

43:55And how did he respond? Get thee behind me, Peter. No, get thee behind me, Satan. But when Jesus was in the wilderness here, Satan attacked him with every conceivable test, every kind of temptation, every weapon in his arsenal, everything in his bag of tricks, everything in his tackle box. We talked about that, right, earlier, 1 John 2:16. Everything that's in the world, what? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Did you see those things in here?

44:37Tell this stone to become bread. That's the lust of the flesh. You're hungry. Make yourself something to eat. I'll give you all this domain and its glory. So he showed him. It says he showed him all the kings of the world in a moment of time. That's the lust of the eyes. And then he said, Hey, go. Up here and jump off and have the angels come and rescue you, man. You'll look really cool. Talk about appealing to the pride of life, vindicating Christ and who he actually was.

45:13But none of these things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, none of these things appealed to Jesus. And so, as a result, Satan lost the fight. TKO in the third round. I say TKO because he's not completely knocked out yet, right? He's still fighting. According to the book of Revelation, Satan will be knocked out for good when Christ returns and casts him into the lake of fire. Now, again, I said there's a lot more going on behind the scenes here in this supernatural battle than maybe meets the eye.

45:57Satan was under the delusion that if he could get Jesus to sin, then the whole plan of redemption would be destroyed. And all hope for salvation would be shattered. And so he relentlessly pummeled Jesus with temptation in a futile effort to get him to sin so he couldn't be the sinless sacrifice, the sinless substitute for those who would turn away from their sin and place their faith in him for salvation. And the fact that Jesus came through this battle untouched, unscathed by Sin is undeniable evidence that he truly is the Son of God who has the power to save us from our sins.

46:41Now, I know you guys all attend a great church and you hear the Word of God faithfully taught week in and week out, but I still feel compelled to ask this question tonight: Has Jesus saved you from your sins? Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Some of you might be sitting here tonight knowing that you're getting beat up all the time by Satan and you feel like you're losing a battle. You just lose every time. You give into him all the time. He's got your number. He owns you. He controls you. He rules over you.

47:39Which may be an indication that you lack the Spirit of God in you. And that's why you've not been able to overcome some of those sinful habits in your life. And if that's the case, if you lack the Spirit of God, then you need to understand that Satan is planning to take you to hell with him unless you repent. Of your sin, and you place your faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can forgive you and the only one who can empower you to overcome sin and temptation. You must have Christ in your life.

48:20Well, let's move past the commentary here and quickly analyze this fight to find out how Jesus beat Satan. And that's usually the fight lasts, what? Could last a few seconds, it could last a few minutes, a few rounds, and then the rest of the evening is taken up with the analysis of the fight, right? And guys sit around and they talk about it. And they talk about what this guy did and what that guy did and how did he beat him and what moves he used.

48:54And so a careful analysis of this fight reveals the principles that Jesus used to have victory over Satan. And hopefully you noticed he didn't rebuke Satan. He didn't bind Satan. Nor did he use any of his divine attributes to defeat Satan. Remember, I said he had already determined to lay aside all of his independent use of his divine attributes. He took on, maybe a better way to understand it, he took on human limitations. All that to say is Jesus overcame temptation. He defeated Satan as a human.

49:36And the same resources he used to defeat Satan are available to us. It's not like, oh, he's Jesus. He's just, he's next level. I just, you know, he's got, you know, extra skill, extra power, whatever. No, he used the same resources to defeat Satan that are available to us. And so let me just suggest to you a three-step strategy here for resisting Satan and causing him to flee, because that's what he did. Satan fled from Satan in the wilderness. So how did he do it? Well, number one, we need to yield to the Spirit of God. We need to yield to the Spirit of God. Again, notice verse 1. Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit. Literally, he was saturated by the Holy Spirit. He was permeated with the Holy Spirit. And it said he was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness. He was directed by the Spirit. He was controlled by the Spirit. He was influenced by the Spirit. He yielded to the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 talks about do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be controlled, be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16. I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you'll not carry out the desire of the Flesh, for the flesh sets a desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

51:13Romans 8:13 talks about how we put to death the deeds of the flesh, we mortify sin by the Spirit, with the Spirit's help. How about this one? 1 Thessalonians 4:8. This is in the context of Paul appealing to the Thessalonians to be sexually pure. He says it's the will of God, your sanctification, that is, you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess your own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all these things. Just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he rejects this as not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

52:03You see what's going on there? In the very context where Paul is appealing and commanding and exhorting the believers in Thessalonica to live holy lives, he reminds them that he they have been given the Holy Spirit. And it's the Holy Spirit who enables us to be holy. And so we need to remember that the way to keep from yielding to Satan. Or giving in to Satan is by yielding or giving in to the Holy Spirit who constantly indwells us.

52:39And so the next time you're staring face to face with your toughest temptation, you've got to decide: am I going to yield to Satan or am I going to yield to the Spirit? We need to yield to the Spirit of God. Secondly, we need to wield the Word of God. We need to wield the Word of God. And of course, this is obvious. We've already talked about this a number of times already. But Jesus responded to all three temptations the same exact way by quoting Scripture. It is written, verse 4, verse 8, it is written. Verse 12, it is written.

53:17But you need to understand, Jesus didn't just quote some random verses, but ones that applied specifically or directly to the specific temptation he was facing at the time and were custom-designed, custom-fit, if you will, to repel Satan's attacks. And again, I mentioned this. You quoted from Deuteronomy 8, Deuteronomy 6, and what was going on. What's the context of Deuteronomy? Again, Israel standing on the east side of the Jordan River, ready to enter the promised land. Moses is reviewing the past 40 years and reiterating the law to them, urging them to obey God, reminding them all that he had done for them, all that he had commanded them. And so, Christ's 40 days. In the wilderness, in many ways, resembled Israel's 40 years in the wilderness.

54:06And the fact that Jesus immediately quoted from this passage indicates to me that this was what he was meditating on. He was meditating on this specific section of scripture as he wandered around in the wilderness for those 40 days. And it was those repeated sword thrusts of the word. It is written, it is written, it is written, that sent Satan running. And again, this is Jesus, God in a human body, had all the power, all the authority in the universe at his fingertips to use against Satan and his temptations. But guess what? He didn't use any of these resources. He used the one resource available to all of us. And that is God's Word. The sword of the Spirit.

55:03The main weapon that God has given us to hack Satan to pieces, like Samuel hacked egg egg to pieces. So we need to yield to the Spirit of God. We need to wield the Word of God. And thirdly, we need to pray to the Son of God. We need to pray to the Son of God. Now, the first two steps or strategies here are drawn directly from the text. You can see them right there. This third one is implied. It's implied from this text and from other texts in the scriptures. For example, look at Luke chapter 22. If you just jump over to the end of this gospel, Luke chapter 22, we find that classic account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke chapter 22, some would say this was the final temptation where Jesus was being, in his humanness, being tempted to not go through with the crucifixion.

56:06This is what it says: Luke 22, verse 39. And he came out and proceeded, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed him. When he arrived at the place, he said to them, What did he say? Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and began to pray. He did exactly what he told the disciples to do, saying, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him, and being in agony, he was praying very fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. I mean, that's some exertion.

56:48You're under so much pressure that the capillaries in your face are bursting, and the blood is coming out and mixing with the sweat. When he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. From sorrow, and he said to them, Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation. So here was Jesus praying himself, exhorting his disciples to pray. And so we need to pray. Men, we need to pray.

57:33And Jesus modeled for us what it looks like to be dependent on the Lord, to be dependent on God in his humanness. He was the target of Satan's most vicious attacks. He was tempted all the time in every possible way. He experienced everything that we have except for sin. And I believe Jesus' temptation was not just to prove that he was the sinless Son of God, but to provide his followers with an empathetic high priest. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. We're almost done here. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 18. For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What is verse 16 calling us to do? How do you draw near with confidence to the throne of grace? You pray.

58:59And why would we come before the Lord to pray? Because we know that we have a faithful high priest, we have a sympathetic high priest. Jesus gets it, he knows what it's like to live in this fallen, broken, sin-cursed world. He's been there, he's done that. So he can relate, he can relate to our battle with fleshly lusts that wage war against our souls. And he serves as our advocate before the Father, and he is constantly interceding for us.

59:36Hebrews 7:25. Therefore, he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. And Romans 8:33, we already looked at this passage earlier. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns. Christ Jesus, who died, yes, rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. So, man, when you find yourself facing temptation, don't just grit your cheat teeth and man up and try to fight it. Man, cry out to God in prayer.

1:00:25Prayer is like our secret weapon in the battle against Satan. And yet it's the most underutilized weapon, which is why we so often give into temptation. And back to Ephesians chapter 6. I think this is why Paul was sure to emphasize here the importance of prayer as he wrapped up his instruction on spiritual warfare. It ends with verse 18: with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit. There's no break there between 17 and 18.

1:01:02And that word with means literally by means of. This is how you put on the armor. This is the instrument that is used to put on our protective gear. And prayer is really not a weapon, but it's really the atmosphere or the attitude in which the Christian soldier must live and breathe. That we need to maintain a prayerful attitude at all times. And we should don our Armor, and we meet our enemy in a spirit of prayerful dependence upon God.

1:01:36And the picture that I think Paul paints here is just fabulous. It's out of a soldier who is suited for battle. I mean, he is decked out from head to toe with his armor, and he's got his sword drawn courageously, and he's standing his ground as the enemy rushes towards him. But then he does something totally unexpected that just baffles the enemy. He falls down on his knees to pray. And I think Paul's point is that, yes, we must get suited up for battle, but we must fight in total dependence on God's power through prayer.

1:02:24Men, always remember, while Satan is tempting you, at that very moment, you're being assaulted by Satan. Jesus is praying for you. He's interceding for you at that very moment. Luke 22. Hey, Peter, just so you know, Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat. But just so you know, And by the way, I gave him permission. But just so you know, I'm praying for you. I prayed for you. I mean, what a comforting thought that is.

1:03:10To consciously think that the next time you are tempted, talk about a personal connection with Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is interceding for you at that very moment, that you would resist that temptation, that you would overcome Satan. And so, when it's all said and done, really, putting on the armor of God is synonymous with putting on Christ. Romans 13:14, familiar verse: put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. I think another way to understand that is that we must continually look to Christ and depend on Christ, knowing that we can do nothing apart from Christ.

1:04:10If there's one book I would recommend that every one of you read, obviously, along with your Bible. But before you die and go to heaven, this needs to be on your bucket list of books. It's the book called Holiness by J.C. Ryle. Go ahead and write it down. If you haven't read it, Get it and read it. Holiness by J.C. Rowle. Let me close by just reading for you this beautiful description of the Christian soldier and the connection that we have to have to Jesus.

1:04:48Listen to what he says, just to J.C. Rowell. A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christ's person, work, and office is the life, heart, and mainspring of the Christian soldier's character. He sees by faith an unseen Savior who loved him, gave himself for him, paid his debts for him, bore his sins, carried his transgressions, rose again for him, and appears in heaven for him as his advocate at the right hand of God. He sees Jesus and clings to him. Seeing the Savior and trusting in him, he feels peace and hope and willingly does battle against the foes of his soul. He sees his own many sins, his weak heart, a tempting world, a busy devil, and if he looked only at them, he might well despair. But he sees also a mighty Savior, an interceding Savior, a sympathizing Savior, his blood, his righteousness, his everlasting priesthood, and he believes that all this is his own. He sees Jesus and he casts his whole weight on him. Seeing him, he cheerfully fights on with a full confidence. That he will prove more than a conqueror through him that loved him. A few more struggles and conflicts, and then we shall bid an eternal goodbye to warfare and to sin. A few more days of labor and sorrow, and the king of kings shall send for you, and in a moment your warfare shall be at an end, and all shall be at peace.

1:06:25I trust you long for that day, men, when we will be out of range of Satan's darts and will be safely home in heaven. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time. We've been able to consider what your word teaches us regarding spiritual warfare. And Lord, there's far more than we could look at and consider. But, Lord, this is enough. I pray that these four messages that we've all heard, Lord, would have a life-changing impact on all of us. And that by your grace, you would grant us greater success in our battle against Satan. We know the victory is already won through Christ and what He accomplished for us in His life and His death and His resurrection. But Lord, you've left us here to continue to battle with Satan. And so I pray we would do it all in dependence upon Jesus, who is our great war hero. Our great example, and that we would keep our eyes fixed on Him, the author and perfecter of our faith, and that it would be like Him for the joy that is set before us that we would continue to march on and labor on for your glory. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.