Adrian Rogers - How to Handle Temptation
Take God's Word and find if you would Luke chapter 4 and we're going to be talking today about how to handle temptation. While you're finding it, let me tell you this. In football they say when you throw a pass, three things can happen, two of them are bad. In handling temptation, there are three ways that people try to deal with temptation, two of them are wrong. One way that people deal with temptation is simply to give in to it. They're not bothered by temptation because they do what they want to do when they want to do it. They're like animals and we have a lot of people who are living like intelligent animals, really not so intelligent.
An animal lives for self gratification, self propagation, self preservation. An animal does what it wants to do because it wants to do it. It eats when it wants to eat, it sleeps when it wants to sleep, it does what it wants to do, propagate when it wants to propagate. And so the way that some people deal with temptation is just simply give into it. They really don't even bother about what some of us would call temptation. Then the way that others deal with temptation is they try to fight it but they do it in the strength of their own flesh. And so they try and fail, they try, they fail, they try, they fail, and finally they're like that woman who said, "I can overcome anything but temptation," and maybe you're that way.
You just have failed and struggled so much. There're three ways, however. The third way is the way that we're going to look at this morning and that is to teach us to understand both the example and the power for overcoming satanic temptation and we're going to find that in the story of the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ there in the wilderness. Because, friend, Jesus is our example and Jesus is our power. Now why should you and I study this? Well, we need to study it because, first of all, friend; there is an enemy who would harm us. Look if you will here in Luke 4 verses 1 and 2, "And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil".
There is an enemy who would harm us. Now you may not understand that you have an enemy, but you have an enemy and he is a malevolent enemy and he wants to hurt you, harm you, and hurt and harm those you love and he has a plan, he has a strategy for your life. The dynamite is in place, the fuse is laid, the match is struck, you may be living high, wide, and handsome, but he's setting you up for a fall. You have an enemy who would harm us. Now don't get so cocky about that. It's not that you're that important. Satan's real war is with God. And evil persons have always known that if you can't get at somebody, get at somebody that somebody loves and you've gotten at them anyway. And so Satan wants to get at God by getting at you because God loves you. There is an enemy that would harm you.
Another reason we need to study today is not only the enemy that would harm us, but the experience that humbles us. I mean, most of us have failed and failed and failed and failed and we're sick and tired of failing. We read about victory, we sing, "Oh, victory in Jesus," but how many Christians do you know that you could say are really living a victorious life day after day after day, not being overcome but being over comers, not being victims but being victors. The enemy that would harm us, experience that humbles us, and the example that helps us. Oh, friend, we need to study this because we're going to find out what Jesus did when Jesus was tempted. And I want to say again, listen to me very carefully, that Jesus is both your example and He is your power.
The Bible teaches that God gave us an example in the Lord Jesus and we are to walk as He walked. So we're going to study what happened to the Lord Jesus when Jesus had a head on collision with the devil and how He came out of the wilderness victorious. And we're going to learn some lessons today and I pray God that God the Holy Spirit will write this upon your heart so that you will begin to live a victorious life. Now, let's think for just a moment about the possibility of temptation. Notice again Luke 4 verses 1 and 2, "And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil". Now it wasn't just one temptation, for forty days He was tempted. "And in those days He did eat nothing and when they were ended He afterward hungered".
Now the Bible is completely inspired, but that almost sounds like an understatement. He fasted for forty days and then He was hungry. Yes, indeed, He was hungry and all of the artillery of hell was aimed at the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm talking to you about the possibility of temptation. Here's the first thing I want you to understand; temptation can come to any person, temptation can come to any person. Don't think that when you get saved suddenly you have become immune to temptation. If the devil had the unmitigated gall, if the devil had the audacity to tempt the very Son of God, don't you think he would tempt you? Do you think that somehow that you are immune? Jesus was tempted.
Now if you think that you're not going to be tempted, do you know what you're doing? You are tempting the devil to tempt you. The proud Christians tempts the devil to tempt him. The Bible clearly says, and you may put this in your margin, First Corinthians chapter 10 verses 12 and 13, "Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it". You will be tempted, there is a way to overcome, and we need to understand that. But put it down big, plain, and straight, temptation may come to any person. There's not a mother's child in this building that cannot and is not tempted. To be tempted is not a sin.
Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are and the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15, "He was yet without sin". Don't get the idea that there must be something inherently wrong in you if you have temptations. There is something inherently right in you if you have temptations because it means that you are not in collusion with the devil but in collision with the devil. So temptation may come, number one, to any person. Have you got that? Now let me say something else about temptation. Not only may it come to any person, but it can come in any period, it can come in any period. Now look if you will again in Luke 4 verse 1, "And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan".
Well, where was He, what was happening in Jordan? Well, if you'll go back to Luke chapter 3 verses 21 and 22, you'll find that Jesus had just been baptized. It was, no pun intended, the high water mark of His early ministry. The Lord Jesus has been down in Jordan, He's baptized of John the Baptist, He comes up straightway out of the water, there comes a voice from Heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and the Spirit like a dove descended upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, after the dove, the devil. Think about it. Did you know that some of your greatest temptations will come after some of your highest spiritual experiences? Did you know that? Did you know that temptation can come at any period?
Sometimes people get in trouble because they've been in a revival meeting and they've been so gloriously, wonderfully blessed, they begin to praise God and then they begin to coast. Sometimes ministers will testify, they'll get in some of the biggest arguments with their wife right after one of the most glorious revival meetings the church has ever known. Just because Satan comes to counter attack. It can come at any time. When you have the approval of Heaven, you're going to have the assault of hell. And you can study the men in the Bible who were tempted sorely after great victories. First Kings chapters 18 and 19, Elijah, after he saw 450 prophets defeated on Mount Carmel, he called down fire from Heaven, and then you see Elijah, backslidden, tempted, running from one woman, Jezebel.
You see Moses in Exodus 14, Moses had just seen a great victory leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. What an incredible experience! Later on you see Moses in Numbers chapter 11 verse 15, out there in the wilderness asking God to kill him, just like Elijah asked God to kill him. You can study in the Bible, in Jonah chapter 3 and 4, you can find old Jonah. Jonah had been in a revival meeting and he saw an entire city about the size of Memphis, Tennessee or bigger, repent in sackcloth and ashes, Nineveh, and then Jonah, got so backslidden, he sat under a gourd vine and requested that he might die. Think about it. All of these people had great spiritual experiences. Put it down; temptation can come to any person. Put it down; temptation can come in any period. Put it down; temptation can come in any place.
Now here is the Lord Jesus out in the wilderness. Jesus is the last Adam. Jesus was tempted in a wilderness and Jesus overcame. Adam was tempted in a garden and Adam fell. The first Adam fell in the garden, the second Adam overcame in the wilderness. Now Satan doesn't care whether he comes to you in a garden or in the wilderness. Don't get the idea that somehow you can isolate and insulate yourself from temptation. Church workers will know temptation. You know, every now and then somebody gets the idea, "Well, you know what, I'd just like to quit this job that I'm at where all these obscene jokes and all of this gambling and all of this profanity and dog eat dog, I'd just like to get in a church where everything would just be so holy. And I wouldn't have any more temptation".
Sometimes people go all the way to a monastery and they find out you know they go to fast and pray and get off in some cliff, some hole in the rock, and they find out there's no holiness in the hole. You cannot escape temptation by being in any place. Temptation may come to any person, it came to Jesus. It may come in any period, it came after His baptism, He's filled with the Holy Spirit. It may come in any place, whether it be in a garden or whether it be in a wilderness. Friend, we need to be forewarned and it may come at any point, at any point. Jesus was tempted. Look if you will again at this, Luke 4 verse 2, "And being forty days tempted of the devil".
Well how was Jesus tempted? Well, put in your Bible, Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 and it speaks of Jesus, it calls Him our, "High Priest". And it says, "For we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities". That is, He knows our weakness, He is touched, He sees how weak we are, because He goes on to say, "But was in all points tempted like as we are". Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are. Now that may shock you to know that Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are, but that's what the Bible says. Temptation may come to any person, it may come in any period, it may come at any place, it may come at any point. Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are.
"You mean, Pastor, Jesus was tempted to smoke dope, Jesus was tempted to run a red light"? Of course not. No, no. It doesn't, he's not talking here about individual incidences of temptation, he's talking about the great major points of temptation. There are really only three, and the devil threw all three of these at Jesus in the wilderness, the same three that you will face this afternoon and tomorrow morning and next week and the rest of your life. Now what are these points of temptation? The incidentals may vary, but put this down in your Bibles also. First John chapter 2 verse 16. Now listen to it, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world".
Now you say, "That's all that's in the world, I mean that sums it up, that's it". You want me to tell you what temptation is? Temptation is, "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life". Every temptation that you face is a component of one of these. It may be a syncretism of all three, it may be one of these individual, it may be two of them, but every temptation is made up of, "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life". And you're going to find out, that's exactly how Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness and that's the reason the writer of Hebrews says that, "He was in all points tempted like as we and yet without sin".
Now, let's analyze these a little bit. What is the lust of the flesh? Well, that's the sins that we do with our bodies. Now the flesh is not evil, but it can be made an operation of evil. That's called the lust of the flesh. That deals in the area of physical appetites and actions, food, sex, liquor, rest, laziness, violence. All of these things are in the body. Now the Bible calls that the lust, the desires of the flesh. It deals primarily with the area of doing, got that? Doing. Now, what about the lust of the eyes. Did you know that your eyes have an appetite just like your body has an appetite? The lust of the eyes. Have you ever heard anybody say, "Feast your eyes upon that"? The lust of the eyes does not deal with doing, the lust of the eyes has, deals with having. It means, things that will satisfy the aesthetic values, or whatever values that you have that you might feast upon and feed your eyes upon.
Now, so if the lust of the flesh deals with doing, the lust of the eyes deals with having, the lust of the flesh is primarily against the body, the lust of the eyes is a temptation against the soul, the inner person. And then the pride of life. That doesn't deal with doing or having, but it deals with being. Be somebody, be a hot shot, be a big shot, have authority, have power, have respect, be famous, get everybody's attention turned to you. Doing, having, being. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life". The first, the lust of the flesh, that deals with our passions. The lust of the eyes, that deals with our possessions. The pride of life, that deals with our person, with who we are. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ, "Was tempted in all points like as we, yet without sin".
How did Jesus overcome these temptations? What were these temptations that Jesus had? Well think about it. What was the lust of the flesh? Well, that was to turn stones in to bread. Look at it if you will here in Luke 4 verses 3 and 4, "And the devil said unto Him, 'If Thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.' And Jesus answered him, saying, 'It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'" "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path, a lamp and a light". You see what Satan said to Jesus was this, "Jesus, You're hungry. You have miracle power, turn this stone into bread".
By the way, if you have ever traveled to Israel, you'll find the ground is covered with little brown stones about this big that look exactly like a loaf of bread. It was incredible, you would think that you could put them in the market and until people touched them they would absolutely think that it's a loaf of bread. He's working on the imagination of the Lord Jesus and he says, "Turn these stones in to bread". Now what does that mean to you? What would that say to you? Make a god of your passions, whether it would be food, sleep, sex, liquor, games, whatever. That deals with doing, the lust of the flesh. Now listen. There's nothing wrong with eating bread. Jesus fed His disciples bread, Jesus took bread in Luke 22:19 and said, "This is My body which is broken for you". Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread". But what was this temptation? To put the desire of His flesh above the will of God. Jesus was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to fast, He was there by divine appointment.
What is sin? Sin is the misuse and the abuse of something that is normally right and good. Every sin is only a perversion of that which is good. So what he was saying to Jesus was, "Put bread above the will of God". And that's what he might say to you, in anything that may be normally good. But if you put it above the will of God then it becomes sin because what does the Bible say in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33? You remember that? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you". This was a temptation, just to put things, bread, above the will of God, to put God in second place. God will not take second place. And so you're going to be tempted tomorrow with the lust of the flesh. That doesn't mean that you're going to be tempted to go down to one of these casinos, God forbid, but there will come to you temptations to put your things that you want to do above the will of God.
All right, that's the lust of the flesh. And how else did the devil tempt the Lord Jesus? With the lust of the eyes. Look in Luke 4 verses 5 through 8 of this same chapter, "And the devil taketh Him up into a high mountain and showed unto Him," there's the lust of the eyes, "all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto Him, 'All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will give it. And if Thou, therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine.'" That is, "You're going to have possessions". "And Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Get thee behind Me, Satan, for it is written, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve."'" That's the lust of the eyes. And the devil makes some big offers; he made a big offer to Jesus.
Adam, the first Adam, had turned it all over to Satan and Satan says, "Jesus, I'll give it back to You if You'll just worship me". Jesus knew better than that. Now it's not wrong to have things! Passions are not wrong, possessions are not wrong. Doing is not wrong and having is not wrong. As a matter of fact, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:18, "It's the Lord thy God that giveth thee poverty and wealth". The Bible says in Exodus 20 verse 15, "Thou shalt not steal". That is, "Don't take from another person that which is rightfully his". But I'll tell you what else the Bible says, First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 10, listen to it, "For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows".
Let's find out if that's your problem. Let's find out if the devil's been working on you. What are your personal goals? I mean, what consumes you, what do you think about, what are your greatest energies directed toward? Buying a house, retirement, getting an automobile, a particular vacation, so called security, is that the thing that is most important to you? You say, "Pastor, there's nothing wrong with that". No, there is nothing wrong with that unless that's what consumes you. Are you more consumed with that? Are you more consumed with the character of your children? Are you consumed with growing in Christ? Are you consumed with getting out the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
You see how the devil can take something that's good in second place, put it in first place and then make it bad! Let me ask you a question. This'll be a hard one to answer, so don't answer it out loud. Is there any material possession that you own that you would not gladly depart with for the glory of Jesus Christ? Is there any material possession that you have that you would not gladly relinquish for the glory of Jesus Christ? Now, just worship Satan and anytime you don't put God first you're worshiping Satan. Just worship Satan and all this will be yours. That deals with possessions. Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, but folks, listen, people will sell out for a whole lot less than that. Judas sold out for thirty pieces of silver, Esau for a mess of pottage.
I believe there are some people who would give up coming to church before they'd give up getting a new refrigerator. People are so materialistic. That's the lust of the eyes and we all face it every day. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and then the pride of life. Begin now in Luke 4 verses 9 to 12 and see what Satan did to the Lord Jesus. You see, "And he brought Him to Jerusalem and sat Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said unto Him, 'If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down from hence, for it is written, 'He shall give His angels charge over Thee to keep Thee, and in their hands shall He bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against the stone.' And Jesus, answering, said unto him, 'It is said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."'"
Now what was this? Well, the Old Testament had said in Malachi 3 verse 1, "The Lord that you seek will come suddenly to His temple". Now Jesus was the Messiah, He was the Son of God and what Satan is saying is this, "Jesus, what You need to do is to really make a dramatic entrance. What you need to do is to get up on that highest point of the temple and just step off. Now don't worry, Jesus, because the Bible says, 'He'll send an angel escort,' those angels will swoop under You, they will gird You up, and You will come with an angel escort, right down into the temple". You know, He didn't come that way. He came riding on a donkey, didn't He? But they said, "Oh, get an angel escort". Ha, ha, that's what Satan says, "And You just come wafting Your way down and angels will deliver You there right to the court of the temple and all of the people will say, 'Look at that! Ha, ha!' And Jesus, won't You feel proud, won't You be somebody"?
See, that's the pride of life. Well, you say, "I don't face temptations like that". Oh, yes you do, every day. I mean, why do you think people have to have a brand new set of clothes every year. Well, to let everybody look at them. They don't need new clothes necessarily. Why do you think the manufacturer will put a big ad in the paper that says, "Drive the car that'll make your neighbors envious". Why do you think that you get stuff in the mail from advertisers that'll say something like this, "Dear Mr. Rogers, your name is on several mailing lists in which you are classified as being highly literate, progressive, interested in world affairs, good literature and science. Therefore, I know you will be interested in what I have to say".
Well, of course I will since he described me perfectly. I mean, they learn to deal with this called the pride of life. It happens. Why do you think people gossip? The pride of life. You know what gossip is? Gossip is an attempt to pull somebody down hoping that you will elevate yourself above them. Why do you think that people have made a god out of their business? Not because they need more money, they can only eat one meal at a time, sleep on one bed at a time, live in one room at a time, I don't care how fine it is, they're not making money, they're keeping score. I mean, it's a game with them and they've got to be on top. It is absolutely the pride of life.
Why do you think many people drink? Well, you say, "They drink because of the feeling they get". Well what is the feeling they get? They are ten feet tall. They think they're smart, they think they're humorous, they think they're well liked. Somebody ought to make a movie of them and show them the next day what they were, but they think that way, they feel that way. And for a moment, they're big, they're big. Now folks, again, the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15, "Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life," doing, having, being, passions, possessions, pride. Got it? Okay, now. It can take a myriad of forms, but your temptations are not new. That's the reason the apostle Paul said in First Corinthians 10 verse 13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man". Say, "Oh, I've got a special temptation". No, you don't. Yours is an ordinary garden variety temptation.
Now, very quickly, very quickly I want to give you some principles and show you how Jesus overcame the devil and I want you write these down and then you're going to find out. We've talked about the possibility of temptation, now let's talk about the principles of triumph. First of all, there's the principle of sonship. Go back to chapter 3 and look if you will in verse 22. Look at it. Well, let's start in verse 21, "And when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was open and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him and a voice came from Heaven which said, 'Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.'" The starting place is to be a son, a daughter of God, that's the starting place. You say, "But listen, that was Jesus, that was Jesus". That also ought to be you.
Listen, the Bible says in First john chapter 3 verse 1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God, the children of God". You see, Jesus' favorite term for Himself was what, the Son of Man? He was the Son of God, but He didn't call Himself the Son of God. Jesus called Himself the Son of Man. Why did Jesus Christ call Himself the Son of Man? To identify with us. You see, Jesus became the Son of Man that we might become sons of God. Jesus was born of a virgin that we might be born again and Jesus is showing us not how to overcome Satan as God would overcome him, but how to overcome Satan as man would overcome him being born of God.
Do you understand that? You've got to be saved, you've got to be born again. Folks, you don't have chance, you don't have half a hallelujah, you might as well be throwing snowballs at the Rock of Gibraltar than to try to overcome Satan without being born again. You've got to know the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's the principle of sonship. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? Second principle, the principle of submission. Now that verse I just read to you, Luke 3 verse 22, it said this, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". Well, why was the Father well pleased with the Son? Because in John 8:29, the Lord Jesus said, "I do always those things that please Him". "I am submitted to the will of My Father".
I want to ask you a forthright question. Is the consuming desire of your heart to do the will of God? Can God look at you right now, this moment, and say, "This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased"? Are you submitted to God's will, do you really want to know God's will, or do you just simply want to escape temptation and do your will? I'm telling you, as plainly as I can tell you, that victory is not for rebels, and unless you have bowed the knee to the Lordship of Jesus, unless you have made God sovereign in your life, that God can say to you or say about me, "He, she is My beloved son, My beloved daughter in whom I'm real pleased," there's no real hope for you to overcome Satan.
Now here's the third thing. Not only sonship, not only submission, but there is principle of spiritual endowment. Now notice chapter 4 and verse 1. Look at it again. The Bible says, "And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost". Do you see that? "Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost". Look if you will in Luke chapter 4 and verse 14, "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit". Look if you will, as to what He said in Luke 4 verse 18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He hath anointed Me". It's obvious, it's obvious. Jesus did not overcome Satan as God, though He was God and is God. Jesus overcame Satan as man filled with the Spirit. Now if He didn't overcome Satan as man filled with the Spirit, He could be no example to me, He would pull rank on me. I mean, what good would it do if He said, "I'm God, you're a man, you be like Me". I say, "I can't". But what if He says, "You're man and I'm man and I'm filled with the Spirit and you be filled with the Spirit". Then I say, "Yes, I can".
Jesus overcame Satan not with the inherent power that He had as Almighty God, but as a man filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the reason the Bible commands us to be being filled with the Spirit of God. And the Lord Jesus was filled with the Spirit and we need to be filled with the Spirit. As I was studying this passage I came to First John 4 verse 4, "Ye are God's little children and have overcome them because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world". Here's the fourth principle and I'm rushing now.
All right, remember sonship, remember submission, remember the Spirit, and now here's the next one, Scripture, Scripture, the principle of Scripture. Look if you will in Luke chapter 4 verse 4, "And Jesus answered, saying, 'It is written.'" Look if you will again in Luke 4 verse 8, "And Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Get thee behind Me, Satan, for it is written.'" Look if you will in Luke 4 verse 12, "And Jesus answering said unto him, 'It is said.'" And what He meant, "It is said in the Word of God".
Now when Satan came against the Lord Jesus, Jesus, a submissive Son of Almighty God, Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, then took the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and when Satan came with that temptation, Jesus ran him through with the Word! "It is written"! You have an idea as you read this that Jesus must've been having His quiet time in the book of Deuteronomy. He's quoting the book of Deuteronomy. The Bible says that the Bible is, "The sword of the Spirit"! And it's time that some of us learned to unsheathe the sword and use it! Yes. You don't even know it to use it, so you need to get in the Word of God.
There's another verse I found, First John 2 verse 14, "I've written unto you fathers because you have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men because you're strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one". Now here's the final thing that we have time for this morning, and it is the principle of satisfaction, the principle of satisfaction. You know what Jesus said about the devil, read John 14 verse 30, "The devil comes and he finds nothing in Me. Hath nothing in Me". What did Jesus mean by that? Jesus meant that Satan could offer Him anything He wanted, Jesus had no itch that the devil could scratch.
The devil said in Matthew 4 verses 3 and 4, "Turn these stones into bread". Well Jesus had meat to eat that they knew not of. He said, "Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". Jesus was satisfied already. Satan said in verse 8 through 10, "I'll give You the kingdoms of this world". What was that? A temptation to obtain a lawful heritage in an unlawful way. Jesus knew what He had. Jesus knew the prophecies, look in Revelation 11:15, "The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ". He didn't have to take a short cut. Matthew 4 verses 5 and 6, "Fall down from the temple". Jesus didn't have to do that, He knew that He came from God, He knew that He was going to God, He already had it.
You see, what is temptation? Temptation is from Satan to satisfy a legitimate desire in an illegitimate way. Friend, you don't have to do that. Understand who you are in the Lord Jesus Christ! And the devil says, "Hey, satisfy your passions". I'll tell him, "I'm satisfying my passions serving the Lord Jesus Christ". Listen, it is a thrill to serve Jesus! Anything else is second place. That deals with doing. Having, hey, friend, the Bible says, "All things are yours. The meek shall inherit the earth".
What do we have in the Lord Jesus Christ? Who would give up diamonds for dirt? Look up here. Now I don't say it arrogantly, but you know who you're looking at? A prince, a king, royalty, next of kin to the holy Trinity. Jesus is not ashamed to call me His brother. The devil is a dirty liar. You need to understand what you have in the Lord Jesus. You see, Jesus knew who He was. There was the principle of satisfaction. He knew who He was, what He had, and where He was going. And so He wasn't susceptible to this flim flam artist, this dirty liar, this filthy devil. Sonship, submission, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, knowing who you are in the Lord Jesus. And Jesus is both the example and the power to do that. And God's people said, Amen.
Bow your heads in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. And while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, would you begin to pray that many today will say an everlasting yes to Jesus Christ? And if you want to be saved today, may I guide you in this prayer? Pray it like this:
Dear God, I know that You love me, and I know that You want to save me. I am a sinner. My sin deserves judgment and will receive judgment unless I get saved. But Lord, I want to be saved. Jesus, You died to save me. You promised to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You. I do right now. Lord Jesus, I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Save me. I believe You're the Son of God. I believe You paid for my sin with Your blood. I believe that You were raised from the dead. I believe it and I receive it. And now begin to make me the person You want me to be, and help me never to be ashamed of You. In Your holy name I pray, Amen.