Overcoming Temptation — Zac Poonen

Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness

So, the last few studies, we were looking at New Covenant truths from the first few chapters of the New Testament. We came to the end of chapter 3. Now we come to chapter 4 of Matthew. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he became hungry and the tempter came to him and said to him.

Then we read of those temptations. We are trying to see particularly truths that are special, specific to the New Covenant. And it's very interesting that right in the opening chapters of the New Testament, you find so many things which were not found in the Old Testament at all.

Have you noticed that in the entire Bible, after Adam and Eve, or rather Eve confronted Satan, and that was in a perfect world, once man was thrown out of the Garden of Eden, no one ever confronted Satan face-to-face.

In the entire Old Testament, it was not possible. This is the first time a man confronted Satan face-to-face on the earth. Now we read in the Old Testament a few instances where evil spirits possessed people and Satan tempted David once, it says.

But here was a face-to-face confrontation and Jesus overcame on our behalf. The other great truth we see here is the big question that many believers, and that's a very important question. Did Jesus overcome Satan as God or as man?

We know that when he was on earth, he was fully God and fully man. I mean we read right in chapter 2 how the wise men came and worshipped Jesus. Worship of Jesus begins in Matthew chapter 2. And a number of times you read that he accepted worship from people, which no, not even an angel would do.

So we know he was fully God when he was on earth, but we also know he was fully man. And one of the first indications that he was fully man is here, because it says in James chapter 1, God cannot be tempted.

See that's a very important truth. So having established first that Jesus was fully God on earth, most Christians don't have a problem with that. There are certain cult groups that have a problem with that, but most Christians don't have a problem with the fact that Jesus is fully God on earth.

The heresy, I call it heresy, that a lot of Christians believe or don't acknowledge is that Jesus Christ was fully man. They're hesitant to say that, lest they take away from his deity. But do you know that it's as much an error to say he was not God fully, as it is to say he was not fully man.

And so this is very important. You cannot enter fully into the new covenant, if you don't see Jesus Christ as a man fully. The only thing he didn't have was this, what we call sinful nature. Sinful nature, another totally unscriptural word never found in the whole Bible.

Do you know the number of words Christians use which are not found in the Bible? But we need to understand there's nothing wrong in using it provided you understand what is the biblical word. The biblical word for sinful nature is not flesh, as a lot of people think.

That's the result of careless reading of scripture. It is the old man. Jesus never had an old man. He was not born of a human father. So that, but he was tempted like us. Hebrews 4 .15 is a very important verse in this connection.

He was tempted in all points exactly like us, and did not sin. So we see that's important for us to understand, and that's something which, a new covenant truth that comes right there in the beginning of scripture that Jesus was tempted as a man.

Jesus as the Believer’s Example

Because otherwise, I'll tell you what, why this is important. He's no example for us. Like I've used the illustration before of an angel flying across a swimming pool. How can an angel be an example for us in teaching us how to swim?

Because he has an ability that I don't have when I get into a swimming pool. So I have to tell that angel, if you want to teach me to swim, get rid of your wings and get rid of your ability to fly, and come and be subject to the law of gravity that pulls me down, and then you can teach me.

So if God were to come on earth, incapable of being tempted, and says to me, follow me, that would be teasing me. That would be like an angel flying across a swimming pool and saying, follow me. God doesn't tease anybody.

When Jesus said, follow me, follow me, how many times he said that to people, he really meant it. When it says in 1 Peter 2 that we are to walk in his steps who committed no sin. Have you read that? We are to walk in his steps who committed no sin.

It's good to look at that verse, because I think a lot of Christians don't know it. It's amazing how many things we discover in scripture when we just learn to read it carefully. A lot of people know that there is a verse that says we are to walk in his steps, follow in his steps, but they don't know the rest of that verse, who committed no sin.

1 Peter chapter 2 verse 21, Christ suffered for you in the middle of that verse, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. Comma, comma, not full stop, follow in his steps who committed no sin, nor is any deceit found in his mouth.

Is it possible to follow in his steps who committed no sin? According to your faith, be it unto you. You say not possible, according to your faith, be it unto you. When scripture says we are to do it, and you turn around to the Holy Spirit who wrote scripture and say not possible, okay, you'll have to answer to the Holy Spirit one day.

And, not only for yourself, but you'll be responsible for all the other people to whom you preach that lie, that it's not possible to follow in his steps who committed no sin. And the other is 1 John 2 verse 6, Peter said that, John said it, 1 John 2 verse 6, the one who says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same manner as he walked.

We have grown up in a Christendom that's so full of unbelief. They only have faith for bigger houses and better cars, which are not promised in scripture. But they don't have faith for the thing promised in scripture, that we are to walk as he walked and overcome sin.

And you know it's like, God's word is like seed, Jesus said that, the sower sows the seed. And if you're a farmer, you know that the crop you get depends on the type of seed you sow. If you sow tomatoes, you get tomatoes, you won't get potatoes.

If you want potatoes, you better sow potatoes as well. You get what you sow. So, if we keep on hearing truths about forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ, we'll get forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ, that's the crop we get.

And if we never, ever, ever have a seed sown into our heart that sin shall not have dominion over you, Romans 6 verse 14, or that we must follow in his steps who committed no sin, that's Paul and Peter and John, we are to walk as he walked.

Such seed is never sown into our heart. In a hundred years you will not get a crop. How can you get potatoes if you don't sow potatoes? So, that's why it's important for us. You can see how the devil has not only blinded the minds of those who don't believe in the forgiveness of sins, he's blinded the minds of multitudes of believers that they can overcome sin.

You think the devil is happy with just blinding the minds of unbelievers? Do you know the number of things in believers he's blinded their eyes to, that sin is not serious? Think of the number of believers who fool around with sin.

You think they fool around with poison like that? Oh, no. They know poison is dangerous, but they think sin is less dangerous. If you swallow poison, you don't necessarily go to hell. If you're born again and you accidentally swallow poison and you die, you'll go to heaven.

But if you live in sin, it's worse than poison. That'll take you to hell. So, the devil blinds people to the seriousness of sin. Now, all this matter of overcoming temptation, it's no use telling people in the old covenant about it, because they couldn't overcome.

The Old Covenant and the Need for a New Example

They couldn't overcome, I'd say, because of two reasons. One, they had no human example of anybody who had overcome. Moses, Elijah, some of the greatest men in the Old Testament could not turn around and say to people, follow me and overcome as I have overcome.

They could only proclaim the forgiveness of sins, Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all your sins, number one. Psalm 103, who heals all your diseases, number two. Who saves your life from the pit of hell, number three.

And who blesses your life with good things materially, number four. So, what are the blessings in Psalm 103? Forgiveness of sins, healing of sicknesses, deliverance from hell, and material blessings. If that is the gospel you have heard, that is an Old Covenant gospel from Psalm 103.

All those things are there. You know what is extra in the New Covenant? Most important of all, that you can be an overcomer. You can overcome sin. You can overcome temptation. You can follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who committed no sin.

And if we slip up and fall, don't ever say, that's because I'm human. Don't ever say, that's because I've got a sinful nature. Oh, how we love to put the blame on something else since the days of Adam.

It's not me, it's my wife. It's not me, it's this nature I have. Why not take the blame? Why not be a man, Adam, and say, yes, I did it, Lord, I'm sorry. Why not take the blame and say, Lord, it's because I was not wholehearted.

I was not humble enough. That's why I didn't get grace. We don't like to say that, do we? That's why we remain defeated year after year after year. Because we put the blame on something else. Oh, I was born with this nature.

I inherited this and this tendency and this pressure was too much, etc., etc. Keep on putting the blame. I believe God has put all those people who put the blame on others in a category where they'll never in their whole life get victory over sin.

Please consider that in your life. Whether you tend to put the blame on something else, someone else, circumstances. Today you were tired. Today you had a headache. That's why you did this, etc., etc.

I'll tell you a little secret of overcoming. Take the blame 100%. That's the first step to victory. And the second step is faith. Lord, I believe. So, so much as an introduction. The other thing I want to mention here is that the more godly you are, the more you'll be tempted and tested.

Temptation Throughout Jesus’ Life

There is never a time when temptation will cease. Jesus had already been faithful for 30 years. We know he was faithful. Because the previous verse says, Jesus the father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

And we know what happened in those 30 years. Hebrews 4 .15 tells us what happened in those 30 years. He was tempted in all points as we are. He was tempted as a little boy to disobey his mother. Never did it.

He was tempted as a little boy to get irritated and fight with his four younger brothers and two younger sisters. Never did it. He was tempted as a little boy perhaps to cheat in the examinations. Never did it.

He was tempted as a little boy to be tempted with all the things that little boys and girls are tempted with. Never did it. Then he grew up to be a teenager and he was tempted with all the things that young teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 are tempted with.

You know what they are. And he never sinned. Not once, not even for a fraction of a second. And you teenagers know how strong the pressures of certain temptations can be when you are young. And what relief you get when you finally yield to it.

And then what regret you have immediately after that for having yielded. You know the pressure. The pressure of temptation is pretty strong. You resist it, resist it and the pressure becomes more. Come on yield, yield, yield.

He was tempted exactly like you. In all points, Hebrews 4 .15 is an amazing verse. The devil has blinded Christians to the truth of it. We have proclaimed it for 30 years and people call us heretics for proclaiming Hebrews 4 .15.

That's how blind Christendom has become. That when we proclaim that Jesus was tempted like we are in all points, we are called heretics. When proclaiming God's word is called heresy, you know how far Christendom has drifted.

These are not theories or fairy tales. These are the words of scripture which the devil has blinded Christians to. Why does he blind them to that? So that they don't overcome. Do you think the devil wants a bunch of overcoming Christians in the world?

No. He wants a bunch of defeated Christians in every church. Who do you think would get more upset if you get victory over sin? God or the devil? You answer that. Who will get more upset if you get victory over sin in your life as a young man?

Who do you think wants you to believe that you will never get victory over sin? God or the devil? You just answer that question and you get the answer immediately. The Lord told Cain in Genesis 4 .7, you must overcome sin.

This is not a new message. Cain, you must overcome sin. Sin is crouching to overcome you but you must overcome it. Book of Revelation it says in Revelation 3 .21, you must overcome as I overcame. So right from the first pages of scripture to the last pages of scripture the message is this.

The Holy Spirit and Victory Under the New Covenant

But under the law nobody could overcome because as I said number one they had no example. In the Old Testament they only had words, commandments, commandments, huge list of commandments. Somebody totaled them up and found, you know how many commandments there were in the Old Testament?

613. You know ten of them in the Ten Commandments. There are lots of other commandments in Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. You total them all up there are 613 commandments. And even if you kept all of them you still wouldn't get life.

It was hopeless. And it was commandments, commandments. We do this and do that and do the other thing and do the other thing and lot of Christians try to live by that. Do this, do this, do the other thing.

That's not Christianity. Jesus said follow me. And the difference as I've often said is the difference between explaining to you on a blackboard how to swim and saying okay go jump in the river now, do what I taught you.

Breathe like this and move your legs like this and you'll drown. The other is teaching you to swim by me getting into the river and say follow me. Which is easier? Which would you rather, which way would you rather learn?

That is the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant. The Old Covenant was a list of commandments on the blackboard. Do this, this, this, this, this and you can't do it. And Jesus said I'll show you.

I'll be tempted in every single point that any of you at any age in your life have been tempted. I'll overcome and at the end of my life I will say follow me. And there will be people like Paul who will say 1 Corinthians 11 1 follow me as I follow Christ.

And who will say in Philippians 3 17 brethren follow us and others like us who are an example. The Christian world today lacks such men and women of God who can turn around to others and say follow me as I follow Christ.

That's not pride, it's faith. A lot of people think humility is to say oh don't follow me. Why in the world are you saying anything? Don't tell anybody something that didn't work in your own life. If the gospel hasn't worked in your own life you've got no business to share it with anybody else.

But praise God it can work if we have faith and we need to be challenged. We need to be stirred up out of our lethargy, laziness, unbelief especially to see that Jesus was tempted like us. The second thing as I said the first is that they didn't have an example in the Old Testament.

Now we have an example in Jesus. The second is they didn't have the Holy Spirit indwelling them in the Old Testament. So it was impossible. Everything in the Old Testament was external. You could only clean the outside of the cup.

Not the inside. Nobody could clean the inside of the cup. Even in the list of Ten Commandments you could keep nine of them but when you came to the tenth one who could keep it? You know what the tenth commandment is?

The first nine commandments are very easy. There are many many unbelievers, ungodly people in the world who keep it. You know there are many ungodly people who don't worship idols? There are certain religions where they just hate idolatry other than Christianity.

And there are many people who fear God and honor their father and mother, don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't bear false witness in a court, etc. But when it comes to the tenth commandment, you shall not lust after your neighbor's wife or your neighbor's daughter.

Every girl in the world is your neighbor's daughter. Who kept it? Paul was honest and said, when I came to the last commandment, Romans chapter 7, I found all types of lust in my heart. The word covet there means to desire something God hasn't given you.

To look with desire at something God hasn't given you. It's not your wife, anything. To desire somebody's property. To desire a sari that somebody else is wearing. You're broken, the tenth commandment immediately.

You don't have to go and grab it, to steal. That's another commandment, thou shalt not steal. To steal your neighbor's wife or steal your neighbor's daughter, it's another commandment. You may not do that, but the tenth one is you shall not desire that in your heart.

You shall not lust after that. When a man is honest like Paul to say, I couldn't keep it, God will lead him to victory. Because that's after he says in Romans 7, I found all types of lusting in my heart.

Are you honest enough to say, oh, how many Christians pretend as if they're not tempted. Liars, hypocrites. But Paul was honest, he said, I found all types of desires and lust in my heart. And he says, but, and he says, oh, wretched man, at the end of Romans 7, how shall I ever be free from this?

Have you had a cry in your heart like that? A longing to overcome temptation? Saying, oh, wretched man that I am, I get angry, I lust. Lord, I slip up here, I slip up there. I hurt people, oh, wretched man that I am.

Instead of saying, oh, wretched woman that she is, oh, wretched man that he is. You'll never get victory that way. When you say, like Paul said in Romans 7, 24, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me?

He moves on to Romans 8, 2 and 3 where he says, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Because what the law could not do, God did. That's Romans 8, 2 and 3.

So, there we have an example. That's why we have given the example of Jesus being tempted. And we see here that the fact that we are tempted doesn't mean that we are in the wrong path. Some people think, now, you can put yourself in temptation unnecessarily.

You can open a pornographic book and say, Lord, lead me not into temptation. That's a lot of rubbish. You know, you keep cigarettes in your drawer and say, Lord, please don't let me smoke, Lord. Destroy those cigarettes.

You can't keep sources of temptation around you and say, Lord, deliver me from temptation. The Bible says, run away from temptation. But God allows us to be tempted. It says, who led him to be tempted?

The Holy Spirit. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and the very next thing, the Holy Spirit would lead him into wilderness. And we think as soon as we are anointed with the Holy Spirit, we're going to go out and become great preachers.

Hang on. Before you become that great preacher, you've got to be tempted. You've got to overcome the devil in private before you have a public ministry. That's what we learn in this New Covenant, in New Covenant truths.

The Old Testament didn't have to be like that. Moses didn't have to be an overcomer in private before he proclaimed God's word or even wrote scripture like the first five books of the Bible. And Old Covenant preachers, and there are plenty of them today, can be defeated in their private life and get up and preach wonderful sermons, as wonderful as the books that Moses wrote.

But a man with discernment, only about 1 of Christians like that, can see through that. 99 of Christians are fooled. Boy, what a wonderful preacher. I want to say to you, my brothers and sisters, God wants us to serve him powerfully.

But that power can come only as we spend our lives studying God's word. That's one of the things Jesus did. We know that he knew the scriptures at the age of 12. And the very first answer to temptation here, when you come to that, is he spoke about the word of God.

We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit within, and we need to overcome in temptation. These are the sources of power. One, being filled in our heart and mind with the word of God. Psalm 119, David says, Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.

I think that's verse 9 or 11. And then be filled with the Holy Spirit, that's the other source of power. And the third source of power is when you have overcome temptation in private. When you have these three sources of power, your heart is filled with God's word, not your mind.

Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. To put it in your mind is just information, like chemistry, two parts of hydrogen plus one part of oxygen equals water. That won't help you to overcome sin.

And knowing that God is a trinity won't help you to overcome sin. You can have a lot of facts of the Bible, David killed Goliath, etc. etc. No, to have it in your heart means you've opened your heart to those truths of the word, and you're responding to it in faith, and you believe in your heart, the Bible says.

We don't believe in our minds, we believe in our heart. Romans 10, verse 8 to 10. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, Proverbs 3, verse 5. So if we fill our hearts with God's word, and our hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit, and thirdly, like it says in Hebrews 13, verse 8, our hearts are strengthened by grace to overcome temptation, then we have received the three sources of power.

Growing Through Increasing Temptation

Jesus' mind and heart was filled with God's word by the time he was 30. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. And now, and he was also tempted in 30 years, and he was to be tempted further. And you know it's temptation, there are grades in temptation.

When you're in the first grade, you get easier examinations, 2 plus 2, 5 minus 3. When you go up to 10th standard, you're dealing with geometry, and trigonometry, and later on with calculus. It gets more and more.

Temptation is like that. 2 plus 2 is a struggle for a 3-year-old, and calculus is a struggle for a 17-year-old. So temptation is always a struggle, but at different levels. When you're first born again, you're struggling with anger.

But if you're still struggling with anger after 5 years of being born again, I say, brother, there's something seriously wrong with you. It's like a child still struggling with 2 plus 2 when he's 10 years old.

That's pretty serious. It's not serious when he's 3 years old, but it's pretty serious if he's 10 years old and he doesn't know what 2 plus 2 is. So if you're born again yesterday and you're defeated by anger, that's not serious.

But if you've been born again 5 years and you're still defeated by anger, it's pretty serious. It is. You're still in the kindergarten, that's what I mean. How long are you going to stay there? When are you going to move on?

You want to spend all your life in grade 1? I don't want to do that. So Jesus was tempted for 30 years and he was still tempted. So these were not ordinary temptations. These are temptations at the PhD level, if you can understand that.

You know, very subtle, Satan's the cleverest of all created beings. I hope you know he's cleverer than you and me. Ezekiel 28 says he's cleverer than Daniel. So you can't outsmart him. He knows exactly your weaknesses because he studied your life. for so many years.

And he knows where to trip you up and he knows where to trip me up. We've got to be alert. The only way we can overcome is if we look at Jesus and see that he overcame. And if we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we believe that under the new covenant, the promise is, Romans 6 .14, sin will not rule over you.

And if you are led by the Spirit, if you walk in the Spirit, like we saw in Galatians 5, you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Romans 6 says you're slaves to the one to whom you yield. Let me show you that verse, Romans chapter 6, because this is essentially what happens in temptation.

The reason I'm not turning to all these verses is I'm hoping you'll do that later on. Romans 6, 7 and 8 are very, very important chapters that explain victory over sin. But we won't have time to cover it all.

That's why Romans chapter 6, it says here, verse 16. Do you not know that when you present yourself to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or obedience to God resulting in righteousness.

So, it's something like this. Here's the Holy Spirit and here's the devil. And in a provocative situation, maybe somebody yelled at me or said something to me or hurt me in some way, and now I hear two voices.

The devil says, give him a piece of your mind. Come on. Don't be a man. Don't just keep quiet. And the Holy Spirit says, follow Jesus now. Die. Die to your sense of dignity and reputation. Reckon yourself dead.

You are going to be a slave to one of these people in that moment. And you know whose slave you have been in past days. When you're on the internet and nobody's around and you see a sight which you know will satisfy the lusts of your flesh.

And the devil says, come on. Click on it. Just have a look for five seconds. I don't want you to see more than five seconds. And the Holy Spirit says, don't pollute your mind. Jesus wouldn't click on that sight and go there to see such filthy sexual stuff.

You have two voices and you are a slave to the one you obey. You think you're a slave to Christ. Really? How can you be a slave of Christ when you listen to the devil? And not just once, but again and again and again.

Now if two people are standing here and both claim that I am their servant. It's very easy to find out whose servant I am. Tell them both to give me a command. Mr. A says come here and I don't even listen.

Mr. B says come here and I go immediately. It's very easy to find out whose servant I am. Whose servant are you? You discover when you're tempted. Gods or the devils. You see what we are human. That's why I said you need to know that Jesus was human.

That is the secret. 1 Timothy 3 .16 says, great is the mystery. It's a mystery of godliness. That is the secret of how to live a godly life. It's a secret. He came in the flesh. It doesn't mean he came in his sinful nature.

No, I told you. He never had an old man. But he came in the flesh. Like me. Like you. And was proved righteous by the Holy Spirit. Even though he came in the flesh, he was pure in his spirit. How did he manage that?

This is what is proclaimed in the world. Believed. And in the previous verse it says, in verse 15, that the church of the living God is supposed to be the pillar and support of this truth. But the church has drifted away from this truth for hundreds and hundreds of years.

It is this great secret. And it's called a mystery, a secret. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him, it says in Psalm 25. It's with those who fear him, those who reverence him. God whispers his secrets to those who reverence him.

Forgiveness of sins is not a secret. That's openly proclaimed. No sins can be forgiven. But the secret of living a godly life, that is a secret. God whispers it in the ears of those who reverence him.

And if you haven't heard that secret, it probably proves you don't reverence him. The fear of the Lord is to hate sin. And the one who is honest like Paul and says, Oh God, I find lusting, I want to be free.

I want to be free. Who cries out at night, who wets his pillow with tears because he got angry once during the day. Who wets his pillow with tears because he lusted with his eyes once during the day. How many are there in the world like that?

Who would rather pull out one eye than lust with that eye? Very few, even among believers. God whispers certain secrets in their ears that lead them to an overcoming life, which 99 of believers never experience.

Remember that only 2 out of 600 ,000 Israelites entered the land of Canaan, of that original group that left Egypt. I'm not surprised that only 2 out of 600 ,000 believers who left Egypt enter a life of victory.

It's always the minority. Very few find the way to life, Jesus said in Matthew 7. Very few. I want to be among that few. And I want to encourage you to be among that few. Don't miss this wonderful provision God has made in the new covenant.

Don't give up. I remember when I cried out to God for power, I said, Lord, if it takes 10 years, it's going to take 10 years, but I'm going to seek you, but I'm not going to live the substandard, defeated Christian life I have right now and which I see around me in most Christians.

No. I will look at Jesus and run this race, like the Bible says. And so we come to these temptations. The first temptation, he was commanded to turn stones into bread. It's interesting that the first temptation that came to Eve was with food and that came to Jesus was with food.

The difference is that Eve was not really hungry and was in a beautiful garden and Jesus was hungry after 40 days of fasting and was in the wilderness. It was as difficult as possible and he overcame.

The First Temptation: Using God’s Gifts for Self

I remember once when I had a headache. Many years ago, my children were small and I said, Lord, did you ever have a headache in your life? Do you know what it's like to be tempted when you have a headache?

I hope you know that. I'm sure you know that the temptation is more difficult to overcome when you have a headache than when you don't have a headache, particularly if it's very severe. And the Lord said to me, you have overcome getting irritated with your children when you didn't have a headache.

Now you have to overcome getting irritated when you have a headache. So I've been promoted to a higher class. The examination is a little tougher. And I said, Lord, I want to be an overcomer. I don't want to get irritated with anybody when I have a headache because the power of the Holy Spirit is greater.

And whatever power there is in my flesh to drag me down. You must have faith. In those difficult circumstances, in the wilderness, after 40 days of fasting, this old bean was crying out for food. The devil says, not to do something evil.

He doesn't say go and rob some bakery or steal. No, no, no. He knows that Jesus has gone way beyond all that. A very subtle temptation. Haven't you got power? Weren't you anointed 40 days ago? Use that power for yourself.

And Jesus said, no. It's a very subtle temptation. It can come to you and me. God gives you something. In his case, it was the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Whatever it is in your case. And the devil says, use it for yourself.

When the prodigal son got his share of the inheritance, who did he use it for? Himself. And God gives you gifts and you use it for yourself. You don't even realize that you've fallen in temptation. It's very subtle, this PhD level of temptation.

But Jesus was alert. He was sensitive to the Holy Spirit. When you walk 30 years listening to the Holy Spirit, you become sensitive to little, little things which other believers don't even recognize.