WEBVTT

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Well, sir, this is my second in a series of messages

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on the temptations of Jesus. Oh, bless you. And

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it was the very first time that you fully realized

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that you really hadn't stopped to consider what

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the temptations of Jesus really were. Sure, you've

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known all of these years that Jesus was tempted

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of Satan in the wilderness. But you had never

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really stopped to consider what those temptations

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were that Jesus suffered in the wilderness. One

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thing you knew, those temptations were real.

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One thing we agreed upon, in our last heart -to

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-heart talk together, was the fact that Jesus

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could have yielded to those temptations. Otherwise,

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the temptations in the wilderness would have

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been a farce. And I left you with the fact that

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when Jesus was here on earth, he was as much

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God as though he were not man. He was deity.

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He was divinity. He was the very son of the living

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God. But he was also as much man as though he

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were not God. Those temptations were real. As

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man, as one in the flesh. Jesus could have yielded

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to any one of those three temptations. Jesus

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was in that hour of temptation our representative.

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Know that. Whenever you stand face to face before

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a temptation, always know that Jesus has been

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in the wilderness, faced temptation and was man's

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representative and as surely as jesus one day

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came out of the wilderness not having yielded

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to temptation you too can come forth from any

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temptation as clean as victorious as Jesus did

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that day. All right. Very quickly now, I want

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you to consider some of the details of this portion

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of the Word of God as found in the fourth chapter

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of the book of Matthew. For I told you that we

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will use that scripture for our basis. The fourth

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chapter. Now... There is no detailed account

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of the 40 days spent in the wilderness prior

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to the temptation. None. Search the scriptures,

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if you will. You can find no account whatsoever

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as to how Jesus spent those 40 days. Luke says

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that he did eat nothing. Therefore, we know that

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Jesus did not have one morsel of food during

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the entire time that he was in the wilderness.

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Outside of that, we know nothing as to how the

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time was spent or what he did. There is a portion

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of this word that is most significant. For remember,

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up until now, we have not yet discovered what

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the temptation really was. What was the first

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temptation? We know that the enemy challenged

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Jesus to turn the stone into bread. But on the

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surface of that, I see no sin. Neither can you

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find sin in it. What was the object of the attack

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in this first temptation? Now the objective point

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does not appear on the surface. So cunning, so

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sly was the enemy that on the surface you can

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see no temptation whatsoever. But watch something.

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Let me read the very first words as recorded

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in the fourth chapter of Matthew. Then was Jesus

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led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be

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tempted the devil. Those first words. Then was

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Jesus led up. The great significance in those

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words. Here's the secret. It was God's will that

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Jesus be led in the wilderness. It was in the

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perfect will of God that he fast 40 days and

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40 nights. It was God's perfect will. It was

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the will of the Father that Jesus, as much man

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as though he were not God, taste not of bread,

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of food, for 40 days and 40 nights. When one

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speaks the will of God, sometimes I wonder how

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many of God's children really know what one is

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speaking of. Most of us live our lives exactly

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as we desire to live them. You talk about the

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will of God and few Christians even know what

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you're talking about. There is a place of consecration

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in the Lord where it is no longer just a matter

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of whether something is a sin or something is

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not a sin. There is a place. As a spiritual Christian

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that goes far beyond whether or not it is scriptural,

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there is a place of consecration where literally

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you seek the will of God. The will of God for

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my life may be absolutely different than God's

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will for your life. I am an individual. You are

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an individual. God's perfect will for me is one

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thing. God's perfect will for you is another.

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There is a place in Him where we are led of the

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Spirit. And we walk as the Spirit leads us. And

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in walking in the Spirit, we say we are... in

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god's perfect will and when we live that life

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in god's perfect will then nothing that comes

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into our life nothing can touch us but what he

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allows and he permits nothing is accidental and

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If we are living in God's perfect will, then

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he will carry out his own plan and his own purpose

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through these lives and ours. The secret of this

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entire thing is the fact that Jesus was led of

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the Spirit. Jesus was in God's perfect will.

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When he went into the wilderness and he knew

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he was in God's will, he was led of the Spirit.

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In the will of God, when he fasted those 40 days

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and those 40 nights, he ate nothing, absolutely

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nothing. Now watch. In the life of every Christian,

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wholly consecrated and devoted to God, there

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is that perfect will. interfere with his will,

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and you change the results, and you interfere

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with God's purpose. Pause a moment. The scripture

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said that Jesus was hungry. Lo, these many days

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of fasting, he was hungry. The circumstance of

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hunger was incidental, but not accidental. Know

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that. As I told you before, if you're in God's

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perfect will, let of the Spirit, nothing is accidental.

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Absolutely. The circumstance of hunger was incidental.

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but not accidental. It was a circumstance within

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his divine will. The hunger of Jesus, therefore,

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was within the purpose of God for him. It was

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perfectly natural for Jesus to be hungry. Hunger

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was natural and therefore sinless. Jesus did

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not sin. Neither was the hunger a result of sin.

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It was natural. As man, he had not eaten. As

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man, not having eaten, he became hungry. But

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because he became hungry, it was not sin. There

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was nothing wrong with being hungry. The sense

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of hunger was perfectly sinless. But it was in

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the will of God that he fast and that he eat

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not. Lo, those many days. But for Jesus to have

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eaten would have caused him to be disobedient

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to the will of God. Do you see it? If now, this

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is what the enemy saw. This is how cunning the

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enemy was. Oh, don't you belittle the cunningness

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of Satan. Don't you for one split second ever

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belittle the shrewdness, the craftiness of Satan.

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Just reading this portion of the Word of God,

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you would never detect in Satan's smoothness

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just where in was a temptation. If now Jesus

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could be persuaded to minister to his physical

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needs, to satisfy his hunger, then his loyalty

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to the will of God would be destroyed. You see

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it? Satan attacked Jesus through the physical

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to try to get him to disobey God's will. Now,

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all sin, any temptation, any temptation that

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you might have in life can be put either to the

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lust of the flesh, The lust of the eye, the pride

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of life, or in other words, there's Satan, there's

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the world, and there's the flesh. And when it

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comes to the devil, I am not afraid of him. The

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old boy and I have had many a bout, believe me.

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I don't have to be defeated on a single score.

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And when it comes to the world, it holds no attraction

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for me whatsoever. But there is one thing that

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I am scared to death of, and that's the flesh.

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My weakness is in the physical. My weakest point

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is when it comes to the flesh. And it's just

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like that. I know where my weakness is. And if

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the devil's going to tempt me, he'll tempt me

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through the physical. Don't sit there and feel

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that you're strong and sit there and say, huh,

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she is some preacher. to admit that she is weak

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when it comes to the flesh. Be careful, sir.

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No man, no woman can boast of his power, his

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strength, when it comes to the physical. He who

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boasts most of his strength in the physical is

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the first to go down in defeat. Oh, no, sir.

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Watch it. The very first place where Satan tempted

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Jesus was in the physical, the flesh. It was

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God's will for Jesus to go into wilderness. It

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was God's will for Jesus not to touch food. but

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to fast lo those many days and many nights jesus

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knew he was in the will of god he had gone there

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in god's perfect will he became hungry which

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was perfectly natural being man he became hungry.

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Not that there was any sin in that hunger, but

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had he yielded to the flesh, had he yielded to

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his craving for food, he would have sinned against

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the will of God and gone contrary to God's will

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because it was God's will that he eat not. Satan

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knew it. And he knew that if he could persuade

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Jesus to minister to his physical needs to satisfy

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his hunger, then his loyalty to the will of God

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would have been destroyed and Jesus would have

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sinned. Do you see it? Mm -hmm. For Jesus to

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have eaten. would have caused him to be disobedient

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to the will of God. There is something I want

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you to see. Oh, to me this is... I hope the Holy

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Spirit is making this as real to your heart as

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he has made it real to my heart. Because if he

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does, he'll keep you on guard constantly. I believe

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that lo, these many years... When we have made

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the statement, I have been guilty of saying so

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myself, that when the enemy said to Jesus, if

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thou be the Son of God, command that these stones

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be made bread, that he was challenging the deity

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and divinity of Jesus. No. You know, you can

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put emphasis. on just one word of a statement

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and you can change the entire meaning. I do not

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believe that Satan was challenging the deity

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and divinity of Jesus when he said, if thou be

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the son of God. If you put the emphasis on if,

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then it sounds like a challenge. But it wasn't.

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When they were in the wilderness standing face

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to face, Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of

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God. Jesus knew his power. Jesus knew that even

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though he was standing there, as much man as

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though he were not divinity, he also knew that

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he was divinity. Both knew. Why? Because just

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prior to that, read it, it's just prior to this

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fourth chapter, was that wonderful experience

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of Jesus coming out of the waters of baptism

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and God spoke from heaven, low voice from heaven

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saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well

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pleased. And this incident happened just prior

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to Jesus being led into the wilderness. God had

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put his seal upon Jesus. He had said to the whole

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world, this is my beloved son. Therefore, the

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devil was not challenging the deity and divinity

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of Jesus, but instead he was saying to him, he

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was assenting to the fact that he was deity,

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that he was divinity, and he was saying to him,

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as deity, as divinity. having the power of divinity,

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then turn to those resources, turn to your power,

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take advantage of your deity, and turn those

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stones into bread. And they both knew he could

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have done it. The devil knew that Jesus could

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have turned those stones into bread. Jesus knew

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with just one word, with just one slip of his

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finger, with just a bat of an eyelash, he could

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have turned the stones into bread. They both

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knew it. The devil was saying, act independently

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of God's will. command that the stones be made

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red. Had Jesus done it, he would have acted contrary

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to the will of God. Amen.