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Bro. Bill Nichols
Okay, I guess we're ready to start and whatever's here is here and if people come in we'll wait for them or let them join up. We're going to begin this morning again with the Lord's Prayer. Normally I make a prayer and my prayers are not nearly as good as the one that the Lord gave us as his model and here's what he said when they asked him how do we pray.
He said this, I'm just going to read it. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Well that's what the Lord gave us as a model for our prayer to begin with praising God and to request to be the request for the things that we need and then to give a little tag on, two statements.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Now last week we read verse 1 of chapter 4 of Luke and spent almost the entire day dealing with that one verse. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Now from last week we came up with three things that we saw in that verse. First thing is he was full of the Holy Spirit, not indwelt as we are. He was indwelt, that's right, but he was also full of the Holy Spirit.
The second thing we can infer is that he was alone in the wilderness. It doesn't say that he was alone but we can infer that he was alone. And then it said explicitly that he was there because he was led there by the Holy Spirit.
Those are three things that we can either read or we can infer from the first chapter, verse 1 of Luke. Also from last week we came to the conclusion that Jesus lived his life and performed his ministry as a Spirit-filled man, choosing not to rely on the resources of his divine nature.
After all, Jesus was fully God and fully man. He didn't relinquish his fully God part when he became fully man. He just voluntarily chose not to claim all of the resources that he would have had and did have being fully God.
He relied only on the, he willingly limited himself to what could be done as a man under the guidance of God the Father and of the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Resources that are available to all men when they're walking in the Spirit but unavailable when they're not.
Now as we go forward we're going to soon see Jesus move from the highest of all possible peaks where he is praised by God the Father as my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He will move from that highest of all possible peaks to a deep valley where he is tempted by Satan in the wilderness.
And that temptation was done after he was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. And we talked about this a little last week as well. So we can see that not every request that we make or even in the Lord's model prayer is granted in the way we wish.
After all, in the Lord's prayer it said what? Lead us not into temptation. Well did the Spirit lead Jesus into temptation? He did. He led him into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan. So he led, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit in order that he be tempted.
So that part of the Lord's prayer request was not availed to Jesus in those 40 days. We're just beginning chapter 4 verse 1. We read it and in fact we spent all of last week dealing with chapter 1, dealing with verse 1.
And now we're going to rehash or we just did rehash what we did last week and we're getting ready to go on. Okay, but the second part of that Lord's prayer request, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Here we see that Jesus was led into temptation but he was delivered from evil or from the evil one, some translators say. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. So Jesus was led into temptation but he was delivered from evil.
Any comments about anything that we did last week? Okay, so in my comment from earlier, probably I should have said Jesus was separate from any other physical man's support in the wilderness. But he was never separate from God's support.
He was full of the Holy Spirit. He had the Holy Spirit in him all of the time that he was in the wilderness so he was never alone. And of course he couldn't be alone with regard to Satan because Satan was there as well.
So you're exactly right in that. And I, me personally, I don't know, this I do know, he chose not to know some things at various times in his ministry and said that I chose not to do it because he said for example, not even the son knoweth the time of the return.
So not the angels, nobody knows, not even the son knows, only the father knows. So he chose to disavow himself of some of the resources at particular times and then he chose to do some at particular times.
That I don't know. I think we can only tell when we look specifically at the instance that we're talking about. Sometimes we know that he's using divine resources and sometimes we know that he was not using divine resources.
I believe that here in the temptation he was using only things that are available to all men. If they're walking in the spirit. And if they're not walking in the spirit, they're not available. And we know, and we know he was because he always walked in the spirit because he was full of it, not just indwelt by it.
Okay, so back to verse 1 of chapter 4 of Luke. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. Now here's something else that only occurred to me this week, actually late this week.
I always thought in terms of Jesus being tempted by how many temptations? I always thought in terms of three. And they're listed in Matthew and they're listed in Luke. They're listed in different orders in Matthew and Luke.
They're listed in Mark. But just three. But it doesn't say that. It says being forty days tempted by the devil. Until this time through I failed to recognize the extent of the wilderness temptation. Jesus was tempted forty days.
Not just the three temptations documented in Luke and Matthew. And I believe, and this is just me, and I want your comments about this. I think it was left to us to imagine and consider all of the ways that Satan might have tempted us had we been in the wilderness being tempted for forty days.
Well, I wouldn't have worried about bread on the first day. Now wait a minute, wait a minute. Would you have been so concerned about the bread on the first day? Okay, then maybe you're not a good example.
I wouldn't have really been tempted too much on the first day to turn the rocks into bread. Maybe by the fourth or fifth day. Yes, but I would have been hungry for the first day. Okay, but that's because I eat a lot already and so I'm well prepared.
But I think he was tempted in the kind of ways that we all are tempted as we are left alone. I would be tempted by loneliness. How many of you, has anybody ever gone on a backpack camping trip by themselves?
I have. You put your backpack on and you start and as you walk up the mountain you look and you see all the splendor and you're just so excited and all the juices are churning and you sit down and you camp for the night and you look around and you realize you're alone.
That nobody's there with you. Nobody to wake you in the morning. Nobody to scare off the coyotes. I would have been lonely and I know that all of you would have been lonely. I know that. It wouldn't have taken us a day to experience loneliness and fear.
And say, is the Lord strong enough to protect me? Those kinds of things would go through our mind. Well, were they brought to Jesus' mind? Maybe, I don't know, but we know this. If they were, he dealt with them.
We only have documentation of the three. And it goes on to say, verse 2, and in those days he did eat nothing. And when they were ended, he afterward hungered. Now, 40 days later, he hasn't eaten for 40 days.
At 40 days, your body begins to break down. Your body's thinking it's starving to death. And one of the commentators that I read wrote this. To tempt a man with food, who had fasted for 40 days, seems almost unfair.
Yet the Father allowed it. Why do you think he allowed it? Why do you think the Father allowed Jesus to be tempted for 40 days? And then the first temptation after the 40 days is up, being a temptation to turn the stones into bread.
Okay, what lesson would it be? He did it as a human, not as a man, so it would be available to us, yes.
I think that's great.
And would you cite that verse again? Hebrew 4, 15, and 16. I didn't go there. I went to a different letter of Paul. I went to 1 Corinthians 10, 13. Would you all turn there? 1 Corinthians 10, 13. And I think this is a perfect follow-up for the verse that you just read.
He was tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin. That's the basis of your verse. Jesus was tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin. And then Paul's going to tell us about all the rest of us.
There hath no temptation betaken you, but such is common to man. Now he's not talking to Jesus now. This is Paul talking to Christians. There hath no temptation taken you, but 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 also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. Now what does that tell you? He won't give you anything that you can't handle. He won't give Jesus anything Jesus couldn't handle.
Now, John, will he give you as much as he gave Jesus? I'm pretty sure he won't too. He won't give us all the things he gave Jesus, but he understood, God the Father understood, the extent to which he could test Jesus and the extent to which he could test you.
And he will not give you a temptation beyond which you are able to withstand it. It's in one of Paul's letters and I think I left out something in my editing that I wanted to include but I don't remember what it was.
I'm kind of like Marianne. I remember that I forgot it, but I can't remember where I put it. So let's go on. Luke 4, 3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it may be made bread.
Satan knew he was God. Well, that could have been that could have been translated since you because if the word that if comes from can be translated as either if or since. And a lot of times we rely on that.
Since you are the Son of God, command this stone to be made bread. Well, there's three points to consider here. Number one point is Satan's point of attack against Jesus in the wilderness was against the words of God.
At Jesus' baptism. What did God say at his baptism? This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. My beloved Son in one version. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. That's the verse he was attacking.
Okay, here is Son. You have all this power. Turn the bread, the rocks into bread. Jesus Go ahead. He did it sarcastically. Jesus understood the sarcasm. Jesus understood the words and Jesus understood the point in the devil's attack.
It wasn't an attack against him. It was an attack against the word of God. It was the word of God coming down from heaven that says You are my beloved Son. And Satan is attacking that word. And therefore Jesus responded to Satan with the word of God.
In Matthew 4 .4 he responds this way. But he answered and said It is written Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. So that's the second thing to consider.
First thing to consider is Satan's point of attack was against the word of God. The second thing to consider is Jesus understood that it was an attack against the word of God and used the word of God to deflect it, defend it, disperse it, whatever you want to use.
And the third thing to consider is that Jesus sometimes referred to as the second Adam would succeed where the first Adam failed. Why? Because Jesus obeyed every word that proceeded from the mouth of God.
Not just some of the words as we are often prone to do. But all of them. It is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Now that was out of Matthew.
This is the continuation in Luke. And Jesus answered him saying it is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Jesus is going to respond to every one of Satan's enumerated temptations by appealing to the word of God.
Satan is going to quote the word of God and Jesus is going to refute Satan by appealing to the word of God. So let's look on. And the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed him all of the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
This occurred to me this morning also. Did he show him all the kingdoms that were in existence at this moment in time? Or did he show them all of the kingdoms that had existed or ever would exist in that moment of time?
That's when he showed it to him. Is he showing him all the kingdoms that ever existed? Or just the kingdoms that were existing at that moment? In other words, is the United States included in one of those kingdoms?
For God the Father lives outside of time. Time is not a factor to him. Jesus in his manhood lived in time. And we don't know about Satan. So when Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms, right now he's showing Satan all the kingdoms.
Is he showing Satan all the kingdoms that ever existed? Or all of the kingdoms that were existing right now? Okay, there's a reason for me asking this question, but we're going to kind of go on and pick it up in a minute.
Verse 6. And the devil said unto him, All this power I will give thee, and the glory of them, for that it is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will give it. If therefore thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
So what Satan is doing, whatever these kingdoms are, Satan is offering to give Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world, and all Jesus has to do is fall down and worship him. And the question I want to ask now is, were these kingdoms Satan's to give?
Was he the ruler of the world at the time he showed Jesus this, all the kingdoms, and said well, maybe I took us in the wrong direction. I think Marianne was correct. He is referred to as the prince of the power of the air.
There's a couple of places I'm going to quote, and it's going to be a little bit longer, so go to John 12, 27, and we'll read, and we'll get a quick answer to one of these questions in this passage. John 12, 27.
This is Jesus, and this is in the garden of Gethsemane, I believe. That may not be the right place. It may not be. It may not be where Jesus was. But this is Jesus talking, at least. I'll say that. Now, my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And then came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The people, therefore, that stood by heard it, and said that it thundered.
Others said an angel spoke to him. Jesus answered and said, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world, and now shall the prince of the world be cast out.
Now, who is he talking about when he's talking about the prince of the world? That's Satan. Or at least Satan's emissary. The prince of the world shall be cast out. And if I be lifted up from the earth, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me.
This he said signifying what death he should die. That was John 12. Now here in John 14 is another passage. John 14 starting at verse 30. Hereafter I will not talk much with you. For the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me.
Now who's he talking about? The prince of this world that's coming? Satan. And now go to 2 Corinthians 4 4 and read this. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
So there are three passages that refer to Satan as being the God of this world. And the best one for me is 2 Corinthians 4 4. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
So my answer to the first question that I ask is, all the kingdoms of the world that existed or ever would exist with two possible exceptions. Maybe Eden before the fall of Adam. When Adam had dominion of the world.
At the fall, the dominion of the world was ceded to Adam. And from Adam forward, Satan is the ruler of this world. This is my opinion. And we can you can take that or you can leave it. And we can discuss it if you wish.
And then the second possible exemption or exception is the Millennial Kingdom. After Christ returns and is ruling from Jerusalem on the throne of David, now he is the kingdom of the world. Now let me tell you this.
Did Satan have any influence in the world of Adam before the fall? Wait a minute. He was in the garden to tempt Adam. But who was given dominion of the world when Satan was tempting Adam? Who had dominion of the world?
Now we know God had dominion of the world. But Adam was given dominion over everything. Adam was in control of everything. In the garden, up to the time that Satan entered the serpent and tempted Eve, until the time that Eve tempted Adam until they both ate of the apple and they fell and God created the curse.
And at that time, the dominion of the world was delivered over to Satan. And he not only had a role, but he was in dominion. He was the prince of the world. He was the God of the world. And now even up until the time that we're talking about now, up until the time that Jesus returns and sets up his millennial kingdom, Satan still has a role in the millennial kingdom.
He is just not in control of it. He's not the God anymore. Up until the fall, Adam was in dominion. After the millennial kingdom, Jesus is in dominion. Satan has a role all the time until he is finally cast into the lake of fire.
Yes. That's right, but he still is in dominion of the world. We're just not in the world he's.
In dominion of. And even.
Though we are in the world, we're not of the world. So when we belong to Christ, we are separate from the world that Satan has dominion over, but we live in that world, and that creates problems for us every day.
So I don't know the answer to my question. I just thought I'd bring it up. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me Satan. Who's he talking to? He's talking to Satan. Did he ever tell anybody else the same thing?
He said the same words to Peter, but who's he talking to? He's talking to Satan then too, but he's just talking to See, Satan has influenced Peter to say something that Peter shouldn't have said. And so Jesus responds to it this way.
And I wanted to say this. This is exactly what Jesus told Peter when Jesus made the same argument that Satan has just presented to Jesus in the temptation. What was that? I will give you the kingdom without the cross.
That was the promise. What Satan promised to Jesus was Hey, you don't really have to do the cross. You can have the kingdom part without having the cross part. Well, Jesus knew better because he knew all of the words of the gospel.
He didn't know some of them. And he didn't live by some of them. He lived by all of them. Right now, we're getting ready to look at Peter. Peter is going to say Hey, no Lord, you don't have to die. Let's look at it.
Jesus Matthew 16 21 is where we want to begin. Matthew 16 21. From that time forth, Jesus began to show his disciples how he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and be raised again on the third day.
Now, that's what he's telling them right now. I've got to go into Jerusalem and when I get there, I'm going to suffer many things of the elders, chief priests and scribes. I will be killed and I will be raised again on the third day.
And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying Now, why do you think he said that? Because Satan inspired him to. Satan told Eve Hey, you can eat the apple. You can touch it. You can throw it up in the air.
You can do all sorts of things with it. And if you eat it, you won't die. See, I'm not dead. Peter told Satan This is my view. This is my version. He doesn't really have to die. He can have all the kingdoms he wants without dying.
Tell him that. And Peter said Be it far from thee, Lord. This shall not be unto thee. But Jesus turned and said unto Peter Get thee behind me, Satan. That very well may be exactly why he did what he did.
All we can for certain agree with is Peter was influenced by Satan and because he was influenced by Satan, he said this. And the Lord said Get thee behind me, Satan. He didn't know he was speaking to Peter.
Thou art an offense unto me. Ah, he's talking to Peter now. Wait a minute. Did you see the switch? Get thee behind me, Satan. Peter, thou art an offense unto me. For thou savoureth not the things that be of God, but the things that are of men.
Now, Ms. Marianne, had I read this before I made my comment, I probably would have said Peter was selfish. He had just found the Lord. He didn't want the Lord to be taken away from him. He was concerned about things of men, not things of God.
And so, if I were to rewrite this for tomorrow, I would put that quote in. Your quote. But I think it's great. Satan inspired Peter to sin. God, Jesus, scolds Satan. And Jesus scolds Peter. Okay, we're going to read verse 6 again.
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 whomsoever I will give it, if thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written. Now, this is Jesus' answer to Satan. We've had his answer to Peter already. And again, Jesus responds to Satan's temptation. What was his temptation?
You can have the kingdom without the cross by appealing to the words of God. The words of God that Satan ignored. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and only him shalt thou serve. That was one of the verses that was written in the little box that the Jews wore on their head.
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Devil, I'm not to serve you. I'm to serve God, no other. Okay, so Satan's deterred but not defeated, he says. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto them, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, and keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Was that an accurate quotation? Was it a complete quotation? Maybe it was a complete quotation of that particular verse, but it wasn't a complete quotation of the thought. Satan quotes Scripture in order to continue his attack against the Word of God.
So he's using the Word of God to attack the Word of God. And in Luke it says this,. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Now, Matthew says it in a little bit more favorable way to the flow of this passage.
In Matthew 4, 7 Jesus said unto him, same person, same time, same event, It is written again. So he says, Is it written? Satan says, It's written. And Jesus says, Yes, it is written, but it's also written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Now, Jesus demonstrated right here, that one portion of the Scripture must not be set against any other portion of the Scripture. Now, we hear that in brother David's message almost every week. When he cautions us when we refer to commentaries.
Now, I've never heard brother David say exactly this the way I'm saying it. I'm just saying that this thought was brought to my mind as I went there. Scripture as we refer to commentators and commentaries.
Scripture is the most important commentary. Scripture is the most important commentary there is. Or interpreter of the Scripture. I'll read it that way. Scripture is the most important interpreter of the Scripture.
And I add this, and the only reliable one. Now, brother David says, if you go back a hundred years, you find that the commentators and the commentaries are more reliable. The closer we get to the end times, the more falling away there is.
And the less reliable they become. So he suggests that we stay away from modern commentaries. And I agree with that. But the one thing that we 100 totally agree with, and I know everybody here does, there is no commentary of the Bible as important as the Bible itself.
If you go to the Bible to support what you think you read in the Bible, you've got the best commentary of all. And the only one that's reliable. Verse 13. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
And I hate that last three words, for a season. Now, Matthew 4, 11 deals with the ending of the event this way. Then the devil liveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Jesus remained, Satan departed, and the angels of God ministered to Jesus in the wilderness.
Verse 14. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. Jesus came through his time of testing stronger than ever. When he went out of the Jordan, into the wilderness, he was full of the Holy Spirit, and he was strong.
He faced the temptation, he came out of the temptation even stronger than he went in. Though he was already filled with the Holy Spirit. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
That was verse 1. He continued to walk in the power of the Spirit after experiencing victory over temptation. And here's a commentator that is a reasonably old one. He who through the grace of God resists and overcomes temptation is always bettered by it.
This is one of the wonders of God's grace. That those very things which are designed for our utter ruin, God makes instruments of our greatest good. Thus Satan is ever duped by his own proceedings and caught in his own craft.
That was by a man by the name of Clark. And Jesus returned in power of the Spirit into Galilee and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues. Whose synagogues?
The Jews' synagogues. He taught in all the synagogues and being glorified of all. Jesus' focus in his ministry was teaching. And at this early point in his ministry, he had no organized opposition. He will have some later.
We'll see that next week, God willing. As a result, he was glorified of all. So he comes out of the temptation stronger than he went in. God knew that he was going to succeed. God would give him no more than he could overcome.
He knew Jesus would come out successful unlike Adam who failed. Unlike us who often fail, Jesus did not fail. He came out stronger than ever before. Everybody heard about him. He begins doing things that leads to awe and wonder.
And for a time, everybody is on board. He is glorified by everyone. But Jesus, if he was using his foresight, which I'm sure he could use, we'll recognize and we'll know that the time will come when he will not be glorified by everyone, but that he will be humiliated.
That's because Satan only left him for a season. If Satan had left him forever, well, had Satan left him forever, Jesus would have actually gained the kingdom without the cross. But all of that was not the way it had to be.
And so we can be glad for what he is. Yes, because the physical real problem was never a physical real problem. It was always a spiritual problem. He was always a spiritual man, so he always fought it with spiritual means.
He could have turned a stone to bread, and he could have eaten, and he would have been filled, and he would have been fighting a spiritual battle with a worldly physical in a physical way. And if that particular assault on your body had failed, then he's going to attempt an attack on your inner being.
What were the three things that you said? Because I really love those. So it's kind of like the three... Yes. Soul. Yeah, that was the word I was trying to fit in. Body, soul, and spirit. Body, soul, and spirit.
The mind is the soul part. The spirit, yes. And I hadn't considered that either. That Satan attacks all aspects of our being. Our natural body, the physical wants and needs that we have, our natural hungers, our mental hungers, our desire for power, our mental workings, and our spiritual being.
He attacked all of them. He focuses on the carnal because that's all he has access to. He doesn't have... He has no access to the spirit of a spirit-filled man. And that's what I think we said a while ago.
Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all of our many blessings. And thank you for the temptations that you give us along with a way out. Help us to understand that when we come out of a period of testing successfully and He will not test us unless He gives us a way of succeeding, a way of getting out of the testing.
It doesn't necessarily mean that we will always succeed, but it always means that if we don't succeed, it is on us. It is not on Him because He will always give us a way out, a way of defeating the temptation.
Bless us and keep us and go through the rest of the service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay.