WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.059 We're in this series of messages regarding the 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:09.359 temptation of Jesus. And I told you when we began 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.900 this series of messages that there is scarcely 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:16.539 a single Christian but what has spoken of and 00:00:16.539 --> 00:00:20.460 knows well the scripture regarding the three 00:00:20.460 --> 00:00:24.820 temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. And yet, 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:30.910 if you were called upon, to answer the question 00:00:30.910 --> 00:00:37.270 as to just exactly what those temptations really 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:40.850 were, to define those temptations, you could 00:00:40.850 --> 00:00:44.810 not have done it. If you were to ask regarding 00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:47.729 that first temptation, you would have said that 00:00:47.729 --> 00:00:53.810 Satan challenged Jesus to turn the stone into 00:00:53.810 --> 00:01:00.329 bread. But on the surface, There's no temptation 00:01:00.329 --> 00:01:06.030 in that. Wherein was the temptation? Well, you 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:09.030 know the answer now if you have followed me in 00:01:09.030 --> 00:01:14.930 the two previous messages. And remember, we're 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:17.709 winding up the first temptation today, and then 00:01:17.709 --> 00:01:22.349 I'll go right into the second temptation. So 00:01:22.349 --> 00:01:25.629 do not miss a single one of these messages in 00:01:25.629 --> 00:01:31.030 this series. We established the fact that Jesus 00:01:31.030 --> 00:01:33.109 here on earth was as much man as though he were 00:01:33.109 --> 00:01:39.409 not God. We established the fact that Jesus did 00:01:39.409 --> 00:01:44.349 not face temptation nor overcome it in the realm 00:01:44.349 --> 00:01:48.769 of his deity, but in the magnificence of his 00:01:48.769 --> 00:01:55.390 pure, strong manhood. And in that hour of temptation, 00:01:55.650 --> 00:01:57.269 when he stood face to face with the enemy of 00:01:57.269 --> 00:02:03.790 a soul, Jesus in the wilderness was your representative 00:02:03.790 --> 00:02:12.050 and my representative. And had he not come out 00:02:12.050 --> 00:02:18.669 of the wilderness victorious, when he faced those 00:02:18.669 --> 00:02:22.400 three temptations, it could not... have been 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:29.680 said of him that he was in all points tempted 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:37.159 like as we are and yet without sin he came out 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:42.039 of the wilderness full the spirit and victorious 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:49.990 having overcome the tempter was the object of 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:53.530 the attack in the first temptation? The objective 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:57.490 point does not readily appear on the surface. 00:02:58.550 --> 00:03:02.189 But in our last heart -to -heart talk, we saw 00:03:02.189 --> 00:03:09.030 that the key was in those words. Jesus, led by 00:03:09.030 --> 00:03:16.210 the Spirit, driven by the Spirit, true and in 00:03:16.210 --> 00:03:20.419 the wilderness. Herein is great significance. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:29.900 He was in the perfect will of God going into 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:32.719 the wilderness. This was part of God's plan. 00:03:34.139 --> 00:03:39.060 It was in God's perfect will, in the Father's 00:03:39.060 --> 00:03:44.300 plan, that he should not partake of food. He 00:03:44.300 --> 00:03:48.400 should not partake of bread, lo, those many days 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:56.719 and nights. Interfere with God's will and you'll 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.219 change the results and you'll interfere with 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:04.080 God's purpose. Had Jesus interfered with the 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:11.889 will of God, had Jesus eaten, during those days 00:04:11.889 --> 00:04:16.430 and those nights, he would have changed the results 00:04:16.430 --> 00:04:21.250 and would have interfered with God's purpose. 00:04:23.389 --> 00:04:27.230 The circumstance of hunger was incidental. It 00:04:27.230 --> 00:04:31.209 was perfectly natural, but it was not accidental. 00:04:32.589 --> 00:04:37.410 It was a circumstance within God's divine will. 00:04:38.569 --> 00:04:41.670 The hunger of Jesus, therefore, was within the 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:48.790 purpose of God for him. I left you telling you 00:04:48.790 --> 00:04:57.449 that if Jesus could have been persuaded by Satan 00:04:57.449 --> 00:05:03.290 to minister to his physical needs to satisfy 00:05:03.290 --> 00:05:07.560 his hunger, then his loyalty to the will of God 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:13.959 would have been destroyed. Know that. Not that 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:18.120 there was any sin in Jesus being hungry. There 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.379 was no sin in that whatsoever. His hunger was 00:05:21.379 --> 00:05:24.579 perfectly natural. For the Bible said he had 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:30.279 eaten nothing. But Satan knew that Jesus was 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:34.329 there in the perfect will of God. His fasting 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:38.670 was in the perfect will of the Father. And if 00:05:38.670 --> 00:05:44.930 he could persuade Jesus to minister to his physical 00:05:44.930 --> 00:05:51.009 need, to satisfy his human hunger, then his loyalty 00:05:51.009 --> 00:05:54.449 to the will of God would have been destroyed 00:05:54.449 --> 00:06:00.829 and Jesus would have sinned. Satan attacked Jesus 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:04.540 through the physical. to try to get him to disobey 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:12.699 God's will. For Jesus to have eaten would have 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:15.860 caused him to be disobedient to the will of God. 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:19.920 How did you see something? Long centuries before, 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:24.259 long before this incident ever happened, the 00:06:24.259 --> 00:06:28.100 devil had asked a question, another question 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:33.509 in divine presence. Go back with me. Centuries 00:06:33.509 --> 00:06:37.850 before this, a servant of God, a perfect and 00:06:37.850 --> 00:06:41.529 upright man, was living in such conditions that 00:06:41.529 --> 00:06:45.230 all other necessities of his life seemed to be 00:06:45.230 --> 00:06:51.009 met. He had everything he desired. And the enemy, 00:06:51.170 --> 00:06:54.769 the same devil, the same Satan, coming before 00:06:54.769 --> 00:07:04.199 God said, Does Job serve God for aught? Now, 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:09.480 around that question and insinuation was one 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:15.939 of the lowest, the meanest, the cruelest insinuation 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:19.759 that the devil could have possibly made. The 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:25.740 suggestion made was that Job's loyalty to God 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:32.100 was ensured by the satisfaction of... All physical 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:37.279 need. Job was wealthy through the blessing of 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:45.300 God. Job was full. Job was blessed. Job had cattle 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:49.459 and had lands, had everything. He was a wealthy 00:07:49.459 --> 00:07:58.620 man. And the devil, in his vulgar language, was 00:07:58.620 --> 00:08:03.889 just saying this. Job feared God for what he 00:08:03.889 --> 00:08:09.569 could get out of him. Job served God because 00:08:09.569 --> 00:08:14.189 he knew what side his bread was buttered. Ha, 00:08:14.350 --> 00:08:18.910 the old dirty scoundrel. And that's the way the 00:08:18.910 --> 00:08:21.810 devil feels about it, too. And he was saying 00:08:21.810 --> 00:08:27.050 to God, ha, ha, if you'll take away your blessing 00:08:27.050 --> 00:08:30.810 from him, if you'll cease... in supplying his 00:08:30.810 --> 00:08:35.269 physical needs, he'll turn his back on you. He'll 00:08:35.269 --> 00:08:41.990 cease to serve you. That same thought underlay 00:08:41.990 --> 00:08:45.549 the temptation of the master. It is as though 00:08:45.549 --> 00:08:51.590 he had said to him, thou art hungry. That sense 00:08:51.590 --> 00:08:53.870 of hunger is a part of the divine arrangement. 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:59.600 Therefore, it must be right to satisfy it. If 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:01.960 God has made no provision for the satisfaction 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:06.980 of a need which he's created, then act independently. 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:13.399 Command that the stones be made bread. Use your 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:18.259 own authority. Use your own sonship. Use your 00:09:18.259 --> 00:09:24.019 own deity. It's your right. Work independently 00:09:24.019 --> 00:09:30.860 of God's will. and command the stones to be turned 00:09:30.860 --> 00:09:37.440 to bread. Oh, look how subtle the old devil was. 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:42.700 The evil of the temptation lies within the fact 00:09:42.700 --> 00:09:47.820 that he suggested that a legitimate craving should 00:09:47.820 --> 00:09:54.879 be satisfied in an illegitimate way. Now, notice 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:58.600 the argument that the devil made. thou be the 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:02.100 Son of God. As I explained to you in a previous 00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:04.740 message, I do not believe that he was challenging 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:11.320 his deity and divinity. They both knew that he 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:16.159 could have turned those stones into bread. The 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:22.779 if there was not challenging his deity for the 00:10:22.779 --> 00:10:25.360 temptation closely followed upon the baptism. 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:31.139 But forty days ago the silence of the long thirty 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:34.200 years had been broken, and the divine voice had 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:38.740 said the very voice of God the Father, had spoken 00:10:38.740 --> 00:10:41.799 and said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am 00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:46.840 well pleased. And thus the seal of God was set 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:50.639 not merely in approbation upon the perfection 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:55.090 of life, but in identification. of the personality 00:10:55.090 --> 00:11:03.350 of Jesus, this is my beloved son. Now here the 00:11:03.350 --> 00:11:12.070 enemy's if. Not challenging his deity, but saying 00:11:12.070 --> 00:11:18.909 to him, what is the use of a position such as 00:11:18.909 --> 00:11:24.529 yours without his privileges? God said you were 00:11:24.529 --> 00:11:29.490 his son. Then use the privilege. What value is 00:11:29.490 --> 00:11:32.309 there in being the son of God unless thou shalt 00:11:32.309 --> 00:11:39.870 make use of all that the name implies? Mark well 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:43.049 that the devil's idea of the privileges of sonship 00:11:43.049 --> 00:11:49.049 is that of selfish gratification. And a lot... 00:11:50.029 --> 00:11:54.909 are professing Christians are using their inheritance 00:11:54.909 --> 00:12:01.370 in Christ Jesus for self -gratification. They're 00:12:01.370 --> 00:12:06.610 playing upon it. They're using it. Using it selfishly, 00:12:06.610 --> 00:12:14.250 which is a sin. Jesus could have used his sonship. 00:12:14.509 --> 00:12:19.139 Jesus could have used his power. Jesus could 00:12:19.139 --> 00:12:23.659 have used his position, his authority, and could 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:30.139 have turned those stones into bread. But there 00:12:30.139 --> 00:12:34.580 was something more important than his authority 00:12:34.580 --> 00:12:41.700 and his power. And that was his submissiveness 00:12:41.700 --> 00:12:49.750 to the will of the Father. carry that submissiveness 00:12:49.750 --> 00:12:54.970 clear on through even to the cross when in the 00:12:54.970 --> 00:12:58.950 last moment he looked up and cried nevertheless 00:12:58.950 --> 00:13:09.490 not my will but thine be done oh this is thrilling 00:13:09.490 --> 00:13:17.980 this temptation moved wholly in the physical 00:13:17.980 --> 00:13:27.019 realm. Know that. The man Jesus was hungry and 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:29.740 the enemy took advantage of this fact. And moving 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:33.559 along the avenue of his hunger and using the 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:37.480 argument of his sonship, he suggested that he 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:40.120 should exercise his sonship for the satisfaction 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:44.139 of his hunger without reference to the fact that 00:13:44.139 --> 00:13:49.309 his hunger at the moment, was a part of the will 00:13:49.309 --> 00:13:53.009 of the Father. In other words, to sum the whole 00:13:53.009 --> 00:13:57.690 thing up, the objective point was the loyalty 00:13:57.690 --> 00:14:03.429 of Jesus to the will of God. The avenue of approach 00:14:03.429 --> 00:14:09.009 was the perfectly natural and sinless hunger 00:14:09.009 --> 00:14:15.159 of his manhood. The argument used was that If 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:19.700 he were the Son of God, he might use that privilege 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:25.620 to minister to his necessity without consulting 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:35.740 the will of the Father. Oh, watch it. The devil 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:39.879 did not suggest that he should minister to any 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:43.679 craving of life. That was not in itself right. 00:14:44.730 --> 00:14:47.750 indeed such a suggestion would have been utterly 00:14:47.750 --> 00:14:51.450 useless for there was no such craving in him 00:14:51.450 --> 00:14:57.870 it was even then as he said afterward that the 00:14:57.870 --> 00:15:05.299 devil cometh and he hath nothing in thee The 00:15:05.299 --> 00:15:07.799 enemy asked him to do a right thing in a wrong 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:12.399 way, to satisfy a lawful appetite in an illegal 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:16.320 fashion, to make use of the privileges of sonship 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:21.379 for violating its responsibilities. The temptation 00:15:21.379 --> 00:15:30.240 was an attempt to pervert the will of God. This 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:35.870 was done by a... subtle suggestion of the unkindness 00:15:35.870 --> 00:15:40.850 of God in order to quench love towards God. This 00:15:40.850 --> 00:15:44.269 suggestion was the nature of an attempt to cloud 00:15:44.269 --> 00:15:48.970 the intelligence by mixing the privileges and 00:15:48.970 --> 00:15:57.570 the responsibilities of sonship. What did Jesus 00:15:57.570 --> 00:16:06.620 do? Turning to the repulse of the enemy. This 00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:11.200 is the weapon which the master used. His first 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:16.220 words were these, it is written. These words 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:19.320 he addressed to Satan in answer to the suggestion. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:26.659 It is written. There was no argument there whatsoever, 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:32.620 none. It is written. is a declaration of the 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:36.159 fact that he stood within the circle of the will 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:42.659 of God. And what that will permitted, he willed 00:16:42.659 --> 00:16:47.940 to do. And what that will made no provision for, 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:58.100 he willed to do without. It is as though Jesus 00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:02.700 had said to the enemy, I am here as man, and 00:17:02.700 --> 00:17:09.640 as man I meet thy temptation. That temptation 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:13.859 had been to overemphasize the privileges of a 00:17:13.859 --> 00:17:19.059 son and to minimize the responsibility of humanity. 00:17:20.299 --> 00:17:26.019 Christ's answer restored the true balance. and 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:30.559 with magnificent courage declared that his presence 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:33.380 in the wilderness would challenge the devil on 00:17:33.380 --> 00:17:39.960 the part of a representative man no he did not 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:42.819 face temptation or overcome it in the realm of 00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:47.009 his deity But in the magnificence of his pure, 00:17:47.109 --> 00:17:51.109 strong manhood, manhood tested for 30 years in 00:17:51.109 --> 00:17:53.829 ordinary private life and for 40 days in the 00:17:53.829 --> 00:17:58.109 loneliness of the wilderness, he stood there 00:17:58.109 --> 00:18:01.289 as your representative, as my representative. 00:18:02.829 --> 00:18:09.990 There he stood. Thus the first attack of the 00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:15.730 foe, the first attack of Satan. is seen as being 00:18:15.730 --> 00:18:20.950 directed against God's man. And the first victory 00:18:20.950 --> 00:18:25.829 of Jesus is seen as being gained by man as he 00:18:25.829 --> 00:18:30.269 quietly remained within the sphere of divine 00:18:30.269 --> 00:18:37.009 government. The man of Nazareth, the second man, 00:18:37.029 --> 00:18:42.779 the last Adam, stands erect. at the close of 00:18:42.779 --> 00:18:47.500 the first attack because he had refused to be 00:18:47.500 --> 00:18:52.539 enticed by any argument from his simple and unquestionable 00:18:52.539 --> 00:19:00.559 alliance to his God. And, beloved, man with God 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:10.480 is equal to all strain and superior to all temptation. 00:19:10.829 --> 00:19:12.630 Amen.