Bill Johnson - Who Do You Think You Are?
The enemy will always try to attack the last thing God said to you. He can’t change who you are; he can only alter your confidence in who you are. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks. Well, I love you too. You are unusually nice. Thank you. Um, by the way, Benny had the best week she’s had in quite a while last week. I’m very thankful. I appreciate your prayers so much. Laughing at your own mistakes lengthens your life; laughing at your wife’s mistakes shortens it. This reminds me of another saying I read years ago: a study was done, and they found that women who add a few extra pounds live longer than the men who mention it. This brings us to the next one: behind every husband who thinks he wears the pants is a wife who told him which pants to wear. I was lonely until I glued a coffee cup to the top of my car; now everyone waves at me. A Pennsylvania man is suing Smart Water, the brand, for not making him smart. I’d like to formally announce my lawsuit against Thin Mints. One more! I met a woman outside the mall crying; she had just lost two hundred dollars. So I gave her 40 from the 200 I found. When God blesses you, you have to bless others. Oh my goodness, yes, that’s funny! I have more if the message doesn’t go well, and I save them. So why don’t you open your Bibles? I’m going to have you open to two portions, and then I’m going to read from a third. Okay? I want you to open your Bible to Genesis chapter 3 and Luke chapter 4. Okay? Genesis 3 and Luke 4. Then I’m going to read to you from Romans chapter 5.
So here’s what I want to do today: you can tell what the enemy fears about your life by recognizing what he attacks. The enemy lives in reaction to realities, and when he recognizes something he fears you discovering, he attacks. Sometimes his attacks are very overt, very extreme; we see it in tragedy, crisis, difficulty, and affliction—those kinds of things. But the most common attack of the enemy is his questions. Now, the Lord is not at all afraid of questions; He’s pretty secure and fairly intelligent. It’s not about the questions; it’s just that whenever the enemy gets you to ask his questions, it’s always to lead to deception and unbelief. Deception rarely begins with an outright lie; he starts with a distortion of something that’s real. When the Lord asks a question, it’s always to bring you into understanding and greater faith.
The two stories we’re going to look at is one from the first Adam, which is Genesis 3, and the second from the last Adam, which is Luke 4. We don’t call Jesus the second Adam because there isn’t going to be a third. He is the last Adam. He literally is the firstborn of the dead. Now, he’s not the first person raised from the dead, but he was the firstborn from the dead because in his resurrection is the template or the power or the mandate to raise up an entire new generation of people. Everyone born again is a new creation, something that has never existed before. The first failure, or the failure we see of Adam and Eve, happened in the Garden of Eden, a place of absolute perfect beauty and perfect abundance. Instead of failure, we see the last Adam’s success and breakthrough in the wilderness with the devil.
You can become more culturally aware of important things if you just stop to recognize what the enemy is targeting. I don’t mean he sets the pace; I don’t mean he shows us what’s important. We learn what he fears—what does he fear in this individual, in this family? He only attacks what is a threat to him. You’ll notice in the Old Testament, in the story of Israel, in their journey from Egypt eventually into the Promised Land and then into taking over the land that God had given them as an inheritance, they were attacked by an enemy nation whenever they were close to another victory. As I heard somebody say recently, Israel would find themselves being attacked by an enemy nation whenever they were close to another victory. So the implication is that when you are under attack, for whatever reason, whether it’s the attack of the enemy, it’s only because you are threatened and are close to another victory.
What he does in his attempts to target our lives is to get us to turn inward instead of upward. We question our spirituality instead of his. You know, we question ours instead of relying on his. I heard somebody say once that they were casting a demon out, and something happened, or a demon had pointed to the fact that they hadn’t been fasting, and the guy said, «Well, I bind you in the name of Jesus as fast.» So that was pretty good.
Okay, so hey, listen, on your best day, it’s only the grace of God. The moment that you showed the strongest measure of faith you’ve ever known in your life, that was a gift too. It all traces back to the gift of God’s grace. Absolutely.
All right, so let’s take a look at these two stories. Oh, I was gonna read. I’m sorry, Romans. Let me just take a couple of verses just because I want to create the context. First Adam, Last Adam, Romans 5, verse 12, says, «Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.»
Okay, what’s being said here? The first Adam sinned; as a result, a death sentence was released to all humanity through his one sin. All right? So what’s happening here is Paul is talking about how the sin of one spread death to all. Got it? Now, verse 17 says, «If by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.»
Now, I realize that’s wordy—just follow through here. He says if death reigned through Adam, then even more so life reigns through Jesus Christ to the point where you will reign in life. It’s the phrase he uses. Say that with me: reign in life. It’s such a strong biblical term because it is actually the purpose for the Book of Proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is training for reigning. Reigning in life is not ruling over people; it is reigning over life. Money doesn’t control you; you control money. Relationships don’t control you; you don’t get depressed because somebody didn’t like you on your Facebook page. You are not controlled by the opinions of other people. You manage those things for the glory of God. You manage your own heart for the glory of God and reign in life. It’s an amazing contrast: the first Adam—death reigned, the last Adam—reigns.
I didn’t make that up; that’s in the book! Now, obviously, we reign in Christ, not independent of Him, but because of Him. All right, so let’s go to Genesis 3. Let’s read that story. See, Genesis 3, verse 1: «Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord had made, and he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? '» And the woman said to the serpent, «We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it.» She added this part: «nor shall you touch it, lest you die.»
The serpent said to the woman, «You will not surely die. God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.» And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit, she ate, and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees.
Verse 9: «Then God called to Adam, and he said, Where are you?» God asked Adam where he was, not because He didn’t know, but because Adam didn’t know. When the Lord asks a question, it’s different from the enemy. The enemy is always trying to take us into deception and eventually unbelief. Unbelief is partnership with the demonic.
When Jesus asks a question, it’s always to heighten awareness of what truth is, to lead us into understanding and greater faith. So God asked the question, «Adam, where are you?» It’s interesting to note that the first temptation in this story was not to eat of the forbidden fruit; it was to question what God said.
The serpent came to Adam and Eve and said, «Has God said?» At some point, you have to come to a resolve as a believer, and the sooner the better: you must resolve that you will live with absolute abandonment and trust in the word of God. Somebody says, «Well, Bill, there are errors in the Bible.» I know—even if there are, there’s not as many errors in it as there are in you! First of all, I say there aren’t any errors, but if there are, for conversation’s sake, there are not as many in there as there are in you. So I’m not going to let the bigger error redefine the lesser. It’s the only book in existence where the author shows up when you read it, which I’m really thankful for because it would be horrible to be in your bathtub reading a book, and in the office let’s be honest. I’m thankful, but the author shows up when you read; you’re engaged with a person because it’s a living book. It’s vital to understand that His words actually give life; they bring life.
One of my favorite stories that I reference often is in John 6, where Jesus is teaching. People were enthralled with every word that came out of His mouth. I mean, they would say He teaches like someone with authority, not like the scribes and Pharisees. They were always amazed at His words except for this one sermon where He began to teach that you must eat His flesh and drink His blood. The people, you know, I don’t know, they’re probably thinking everyone has a bad day; let’s, uh. So a crowd of perhaps 15,000 leaves, and Jesus is left with His 12 disciples. He turns to them and says, «Are you guys leaving too?» Peter gives the best answer. He says, «Where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life.»
Think through this: where are we going to go? To me, he’s saying, «All we know is that whenever you talk, we come alive inside.» There’s life on a word you don’t understand; that’s the whole point. That’s why we come yielded, ready to learn, ready to be impacted. Has God said was the beginning of the downfall of humanity—questioning the most reliable thing in the universe, and that is God’s declarations.
I was listening to a message on YouTube just last week by Derek Prince. He’s one of the best Bible teachers probably in the last hundred years—an amazing man. I assume he was talking back in the '70s or perhaps the '80s, and he gave this message about a book he had read. He discussed the persecuted church in China, the many believers who have lost their lives and many who were imprisoned, tortured, and beaten. This book did a study comparing this group of people with others who confessed the Lord but turned and denied Him in the day of difficulty, and this book’s study compared the two groups. What was the difference? The answer completely shocked me: the common denominator in all these folks who did well in the face of opposition was that they all memorized Scripture.
It’s the John 15, verse 7: «If you abide in Me,» that’s the felt realization of His presence, «and My words abide in you.» It’s more than just putting to memory verses, but it’s allowing the impact of what He says to become you—to shape you. See, the goal isn’t for me to be able to give a nice scriptural answer to a question; that’s a good beginning. The goal is to become the answer, in a sense, to have it come forth from me because I’m so intertwined with what God has said. This may sound strange to you, but God wants His word to become flesh again.
So, the first temptation to Adam and Eve was to question what God said. Any time the enemy knows you’re too deep, you’ve been at this too long; you’re not going to deny the word of God, but perhaps for you, the weak point would be, while you wouldn’t ever deny the word of God, you would deny your ability to hear from God. They are interconnected, and the enemy will always look at that weak point and try to get us shifted from the awareness that we were designed to hear from God. Again, it’s a gift; it’s not like I somehow worked hard and arrived at this place of breakthrough. I was designed to hear from the Lord; everything about me is wired to perceive Him—from my physical senses to everything about me emotionally and mentally; it’s all designed to perceive Him. The most obvious thing in the universe is Him! You have to work hard to train yourself to ignore Him; that’s the truth!
Look at Luke 4: Luke chapter 4. Verse 1: «Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.» Does your Bible just say what I just read? The Holy Spirit, the kind, wonderful, generous, gentle, merciful, compassionate Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
When the Lord leads you into a conflict, it is never punishment for you; it is always punishment for the devil. Listen to me carefully: there is no contest between God and the devil. There is not! It’s not a contest; it’s not worthy of mentioning the two in the same breath. There is no contest; with a word, He can completely demolish and obliterate all powers of darkness. He has chosen to keep them here because they are training ground for you and me, who will reign with Christ for eternity. Anytime the Lord leads us into a conflict, it’s only because He’s equipped us to win.
The enemy’s only chance is to get us to question what God has said or who we are. Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for 40 days by the devil. In those days, He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. I don’t get that at all; I’ve done 40 days and was hungry all 40 days. In fact, I was hungry before it started, and I was hungry after it ended. This is amazing!
Afterwards, when the 40 days were over, He got hungry, and the devil said to Him, «If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.» Jesus answered and said, «It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.»
Okay, listen carefully: we are alive because He talks. We live because He speaks. The Bible says He spoke the worlds into being. «Let there be light,» and there was light. He spoke things into being. Secondly, the Bible says that all things are held together by the word of His power, so His abiding, prevailing word actually holds every molecule in place. It’s the glue that holds everything in place. Thirdly, we know that He sustains us and brings life to us with His voice.
Again, back to the only book you can read where the author shows up when you read it, because He sustains us with His word. Paul said in Romans, «Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.» It doesn’t say faith comes from hearing the word of God. I’m not saying that that’s bad or wrong; I’m just saying it’s not what it says. If faith came from hearing the word of God, we should all get Bible apps on our phones and just play Scripture 24/7, and we’d be like Wigglesworth by Friday or Father Abraham or somebody.
Many people hear the word but never hear the word. They hear it and can quote it, but there’s no impact here because the living word has not pierced their soul here. He says faith comes by hearing. It doesn’t say faith comes from having heard. Wow, by implication, it’s a present tense encounter, a present abiding relationship. Faith comes from hearing; hearing comes from the word of God.
I’ll tell you a secret for hearing the voice of God: just come back next week and say yes before He commands. If there’s a willingness to obey before He speaks, you will attract the voice. By the way, Him speaking to us five, six, seven times about a matter, audible voices, writing on the wall—all the external things—is not a sign of our maturity; it’s a sign of our immaturity.
He wants to lead us—listen carefully—not just with the still, small voice, but the Bible says with His eye. What He gives attention to, we give attention to. The enemy comes to Jesus, and the first temptation—now that He’s hungry—might appear to be to turn a stone into bread, but that wasn’t really the first temptation. The first temptation was, «If you’re the Son of God.» There’s nothing the devil could do to persuade Jesus He wasn’t the Son of God. What he was trying to do is get Him to prove His identity out of insecurity.
We all do stupid things when we feel insecure. It may look bold or powerful, but if it comes out of insecurity, it has too much flesh to attract the hand of the Lord. Many things go unfulfilled in our lives because we function out of insecurity.
So, what was the last thing that the Father spoke to Jesus before this wilderness experience? If you look back just a few verses before, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the enemy. Just a few verses earlier, Jesus was baptized in water. He came up out of the water, and the Father speaks: «This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.»
The enemy will always try to attack the last thing God said to you. He can’t change who you are; he can only alter your confidence in who you are. Here’s the reason behind why I felt compelled to talk to you today about this: I’m not one to try to feed off what the devil is doing to figure out what we’re supposed to be doing. I don’t like that at all, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the enemy is working hard to really confuse people’s identities.
And I don’t say this out of humor or malice; it’s just that we have a lot of folks, and maybe even people in the room joining us today, who aren’t sure of your gender. What once was common sense isn’t anymore! Why? Because we’ve got a culture that started listening to the wrong questions: «Has God said?» «If you’re the Son of God?»
It’s amazing how aspects and parts of culture that seem so absolute and immovable can be moved if he can just get people to ask the wrong questions. See, the enemy’s questions don’t lead to Jesus. The Lord’s questions always lead to encounter, always lead to a place of faith, always lead to a place of understanding.
So the last thing declared over Jesus before this encounter in the wilderness was the Father speaking, «My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.» Twice in this series of temptations, the enemy says, «If you are the Son of God.» I don’t know why it surprises us when we have this fresh insight of what God is going to do in our life that that’s the first thing to get attacked.
It shouldn’t surprise us. «Well, I thought for sure the Lord said the business would work, and I don’t know why we’re having these problems.» That’s actually why! It’s about fully embracing what God has said.
Here’s the deal: there’s a design to our life because of a Designer. The Designer creates design; design implies purpose, purpose implies destiny, and destiny requires accountability. If you mess up any of that sequence, you end up with people living for themselves instead of what God has actually intended for planet earth.
The thing being harassed, if you will, in culture by seemingly well-meaning people is questioning the most simple things in the world. I point to it not for mockery, but to arm us for prayer. The more secure you become in who you are, the more you and I leak that sense of identity and purpose into a culture.
Become sure of the right things; become firm in the right things. Number one: you are made in the image of God. Every human being is made in the image of God. Why? For the purpose of relationship. That’s the design! There was no other part of creation that God could fellowship with in the same way that He fellowshiped with Adam and Eve and now with those who are born again. Nothing else even comes close!
He celebrates every aspect and part of creation, but only people made in His image, now born again, are created for seamless connection in relationship. You are made in the image of God, and at your worst point, lost in sin, you were worth dying for. That’s who you are! You were worth dying for!
And your neighbor who doesn’t yet know Jesus was worth dying for. She was worth dying for! That person you work with, they were worth dying for. Jesus calculated the price and looked at the prize, and that’s worth dying for! When we embrace that, we don’t just embrace fire insurance to avoid spending eternity in hell; we actually become grafted into a family that has been assigned to be filled with the fullness of God, doing greater works than Jesus Himself did.
There’s to be a full manifestation of the triumph of Jesus in the earth every single day of our lives. This is the assignment; it’s the design! «Has God said?» «If you’re the Son of God?» Those are the two questions I think every temptation and issue that we face in life falls into one of those two categories—either questioning what God said or questioning who He says you are.
You were designed to be a part of a people, a chosen race—chosen not because we’re better. In fact, God tends to choose things that are less. «Yeah, you should boast of your strength.» No! That’s the point!
Best of the book: He chose us as a people, a chosen race. Every one—regardless of your natural race, we are a chosen race according to Scripture together, sons and daughters of the King, a new creation, which means a creation, something created that has never existed before, for the purpose of illustrating who Jesus is until the earth is filled with the glory of God.
The target of the Lord is for the earth to be filled with the glory of God, and it’s through an obedient surrendered people that live for His purposes, under the glory of His name. This is the privilege of life, and there are just two things we anchor our soul to: one, what did God say? And two, who am I? What has He declared about me?
In the case with Jesus: «This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.» I remember watching my boys play baseball. I’d be in the stands, and one of them would make a great play, and I’d stand up in the middle of that crowd and say, «Whose son is that?» That’s His delight over you. If you forget it, you’ll get weird. If you forget it, you’ll make stupid decisions.
Evil things only become appealing to a people who have forgotten who they are. Let’s see! All right, oh Jesus, help us!
Here’s the thing I want to pray the most: I want everyone in this room to know who God says we are. That’s all! This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased—or My daughter. Whose son is that? Whose daughter is that? There’s something so engaging about seeing His delight over us not just here, but here!
The deep realization you were not chosen as a part of a group; you were chosen by name, and He delights in you. So Father, I pray that in the weeks to come, this would become clearer and clearer for the honor of the name Jesus. Amen!
Let me ask one more question before I turn it over: is there anybody in the room who has never committed your life to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus? To surrender your life to Him is a term we use. If there’s anybody in here who would say, «That’s me; I want to know Jesus; I want to surrender my life to Him,» it may be somebody online—let someone know in the chat room what you’re doing right now. If there is anybody in the room that’s in that position, put your hand up right now and just say that’s me—I don’t want to leave this place until I know I have been forgiven and I have found peace with God.
Anybody at all? Real quick? Okay, I’m going to assume you’re all in! Then come on up and wrap it up for us.