Well, sir, this is my second in a series of messages
on the temptations of Jesus. Oh, bless you. And
it was the very first time that you fully realized
that you really hadn't stopped to consider what
the temptations of Jesus really were. Sure, you've
known all of these years that Jesus was tempted
of Satan in the wilderness. But you had never
really stopped to consider what those temptations
were that Jesus suffered in the wilderness. One
thing you knew, those temptations were real.
One thing we agreed upon, in our last heart -to
-heart talk together, was the fact that Jesus
could have yielded to those temptations. Otherwise,
the temptations in the wilderness would have
been a farce. And I left you with the fact that
when Jesus was here on earth, he was as much
God as though he were not man. He was deity.
He was divinity. He was the very son of the living
God. But he was also as much man as though he
were not God. Those temptations were real. As
man, as one in the flesh. Jesus could have yielded
to any one of those three temptations. Jesus
was in that hour of temptation our representative.
Know that. Whenever you stand face to face before
a temptation, always know that Jesus has been
in the wilderness, faced temptation and was man's
representative and as surely as jesus one day
came out of the wilderness not having yielded
to temptation you too can come forth from any
temptation as clean as victorious as Jesus did
that day. All right. Very quickly now, I want
you to consider some of the details of this portion
of the Word of God as found in the fourth chapter
of the book of Matthew. For I told you that we
will use that scripture for our basis. The fourth
chapter. Now... There is no detailed account
of the 40 days spent in the wilderness prior
to the temptation. None. Search the scriptures,
if you will. You can find no account whatsoever
as to how Jesus spent those 40 days. Luke says
that he did eat nothing. Therefore, we know that
Jesus did not have one morsel of food during
the entire time that he was in the wilderness.
Outside of that, we know nothing as to how the
time was spent or what he did. There is a portion
of this word that is most significant. For remember,
up until now, we have not yet discovered what
the temptation really was. What was the first
temptation? We know that the enemy challenged
Jesus to turn the stone into bread. But on the
surface of that, I see no sin. Neither can you
find sin in it. What was the object of the attack
in this first temptation? Now the objective point
does not appear on the surface. So cunning, so
sly was the enemy that on the surface you can
see no temptation whatsoever. But watch something.
Let me read the very first words as recorded
in the fourth chapter of Matthew. Then was Jesus
led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted the devil. Those first words. Then was
Jesus led up. The great significance in those
words. Here's the secret. It was God's will that
Jesus be led in the wilderness. It was in the
perfect will of God that he fast 40 days and
40 nights. It was God's perfect will. It was
the will of the Father that Jesus, as much man
as though he were not God, taste not of bread,
of food, for 40 days and 40 nights. When one
speaks the will of God, sometimes I wonder how
many of God's children really know what one is
speaking of. Most of us live our lives exactly
as we desire to live them. You talk about the
will of God and few Christians even know what
you're talking about. There is a place of consecration
in the Lord where it is no longer just a matter
of whether something is a sin or something is
not a sin. There is a place. As a spiritual Christian
that goes far beyond whether or not it is scriptural,
there is a place of consecration where literally
you seek the will of God. The will of God for
my life may be absolutely different than God's
will for your life. I am an individual. You are
an individual. God's perfect will for me is one
thing. God's perfect will for you is another.
There is a place in Him where we are led of the
Spirit. And we walk as the Spirit leads us. And
in walking in the Spirit, we say we are... in
god's perfect will and when we live that life
in god's perfect will then nothing that comes
into our life nothing can touch us but what he
allows and he permits nothing is accidental and
If we are living in God's perfect will, then
he will carry out his own plan and his own purpose
through these lives and ours. The secret of this
entire thing is the fact that Jesus was led of
the Spirit. Jesus was in God's perfect will.
When he went into the wilderness and he knew
he was in God's will, he was led of the Spirit.
In the will of God, when he fasted those 40 days
and those 40 nights, he ate nothing, absolutely
nothing. Now watch. In the life of every Christian,
wholly consecrated and devoted to God, there
is that perfect will. interfere with his will,
and you change the results, and you interfere
with God's purpose. Pause a moment. The scripture
said that Jesus was hungry. Lo, these many days
of fasting, he was hungry. The circumstance of
hunger was incidental, but not accidental. Know
that. As I told you before, if you're in God's
perfect will, let of the Spirit, nothing is accidental.
Absolutely. The circumstance of hunger was incidental.
but not accidental. It was a circumstance within
his divine will. The hunger of Jesus, therefore,
was within the purpose of God for him. It was
perfectly natural for Jesus to be hungry. Hunger
was natural and therefore sinless. Jesus did
not sin. Neither was the hunger a result of sin.
It was natural. As man, he had not eaten. As
man, not having eaten, he became hungry. But
because he became hungry, it was not sin. There
was nothing wrong with being hungry. The sense
of hunger was perfectly sinless. But it was in
the will of God that he fast and that he eat
not. Lo, those many days. But for Jesus to have
eaten would have caused him to be disobedient
to the will of God. Do you see it? If now, this
is what the enemy saw. This is how cunning the
enemy was. Oh, don't you belittle the cunningness
of Satan. Don't you for one split second ever
belittle the shrewdness, the craftiness of Satan.
Just reading this portion of the Word of God,
you would never detect in Satan's smoothness
just where in was a temptation. If now Jesus
could be persuaded to minister to his physical
needs, to satisfy his hunger, then his loyalty
to the will of God would be destroyed. You see
it? Satan attacked Jesus through the physical
to try to get him to disobey God's will. Now,
all sin, any temptation, any temptation that
you might have in life can be put either to the
lust of the flesh, The lust of the eye, the pride
of life, or in other words, there's Satan, there's
the world, and there's the flesh. And when it
comes to the devil, I am not afraid of him. The
old boy and I have had many a bout, believe me.
I don't have to be defeated on a single score.
And when it comes to the world, it holds no attraction
for me whatsoever. But there is one thing that
I am scared to death of, and that's the flesh.
My weakness is in the physical. My weakest point
is when it comes to the flesh. And it's just
like that. I know where my weakness is. And if
the devil's going to tempt me, he'll tempt me
through the physical. Don't sit there and feel
that you're strong and sit there and say, huh,
she is some preacher. to admit that she is weak
when it comes to the flesh. Be careful, sir.
No man, no woman can boast of his power, his
strength, when it comes to the physical. He who
boasts most of his strength in the physical is
the first to go down in defeat. Oh, no, sir.
Watch it. The very first place where Satan tempted
Jesus was in the physical, the flesh. It was
God's will for Jesus to go into wilderness. It
was God's will for Jesus not to touch food. but
to fast lo those many days and many nights jesus
knew he was in the will of god he had gone there
in god's perfect will he became hungry which
was perfectly natural being man he became hungry.
Not that there was any sin in that hunger, but
had he yielded to the flesh, had he yielded to
his craving for food, he would have sinned against
the will of God and gone contrary to God's will
because it was God's will that he eat not. Satan
knew it. And he knew that if he could persuade
Jesus to minister to his physical needs to satisfy
his hunger, then his loyalty to the will of God
would have been destroyed and Jesus would have
sinned. Do you see it? Mm -hmm. For Jesus to
have eaten. would have caused him to be disobedient
to the will of God. There is something I want
you to see. Oh, to me this is... I hope the Holy
Spirit is making this as real to your heart as
he has made it real to my heart. Because if he
does, he'll keep you on guard constantly. I believe
that lo, these many years... When we have made
the statement, I have been guilty of saying so
myself, that when the enemy said to Jesus, if
thou be the Son of God, command that these stones
be made bread, that he was challenging the deity
and divinity of Jesus. No. You know, you can
put emphasis. on just one word of a statement
and you can change the entire meaning. I do not
believe that Satan was challenging the deity
and divinity of Jesus when he said, if thou be
the son of God. If you put the emphasis on if,
then it sounds like a challenge. But it wasn't.
When they were in the wilderness standing face
to face, Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of
God. Jesus knew his power. Jesus knew that even
though he was standing there, as much man as
though he were not divinity, he also knew that
he was divinity. Both knew. Why? Because just
prior to that, read it, it's just prior to this
fourth chapter, was that wonderful experience
of Jesus coming out of the waters of baptism
and God spoke from heaven, low voice from heaven
saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. And this incident happened just prior
to Jesus being led into the wilderness. God had
put his seal upon Jesus. He had said to the whole
world, this is my beloved son. Therefore, the
devil was not challenging the deity and divinity
of Jesus, but instead he was saying to him, he
was assenting to the fact that he was deity,
that he was divinity, and he was saying to him,
as deity, as divinity. having the power of divinity,
then turn to those resources, turn to your power,
take advantage of your deity, and turn those
stones into bread. And they both knew he could
have done it. The devil knew that Jesus could
have turned those stones into bread. Jesus knew
with just one word, with just one slip of his
finger, with just a bat of an eyelash, he could
have turned the stones into bread. They both
knew it. The devil was saying, act independently
of God's will. command that the stones be made
red. Had Jesus done it, he would have acted contrary
to the will of God. Amen.