Matthew 3:13-17 (Part 2) and Matthew 4:1-11 (Part 1)

Matthew chapter 3 we are continuing our study and we are going to wrap up the last few verses of the third chapter of Matthew and then we will Lord willing get into the fourth chapter so let's start looking in Matthew 3 and we are going to begin reading in verse 13 says this then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John but John tried to deter him saying I need to be baptized by you do you come to me Jesus replied let it be so now it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness then John consented as soon as Jesus was baptized he went up out of the water and at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him and a voice from heaven said this is my son whom I love with him I am well pleased let's let's pray at least at that point father thank you for giving us this time today to worship you to dig into your word and to know you better and we pray that you would speak to our hearts each and every one of us right where we are we we trust you to do that Lord because you know us you know where we are you know what's going on in our lives and what we most need to hear and so Lord we pray that we would be receptive today to your voice to the ministry of your spirit among us as you teach us from your word as you instruct us in the things that are truly important about life so be with us we ask father in the name of Jesus our Savior and King amen amen it's always amazing to me you know when I'm teaching through the Word of God both on Sundays and Wednesday nights how many times the studies really dovetail and compliment one another and for those of you that that might have missed our study in Genesis last Wednesday I want to encourage you to get online and maybe listen to it what was interesting about it is that last week we dealt with Genesis chapter 3 which of course is that chapter which tells us the whole story of how sin entered the human race and how mankind began to propagate a race of sinful people people whose gravitational pull is towards sin and and doing wrong and messing up and and and so on and so on and so on as we get into this section of Matthew chapter 3 what we see here is Jesus coming to identify with sinful man to identify with us in the place that we kind of where we live this is our address sin and he came to do this now you gotta you gotta figure this must have been really weird for John the Baptist because he's been ministering out in the wilderness of Judea bringing people to out there to be baptized in water but what was this baptism all about it was all about confessing your sin right it was all about repenting of that sin and getting right with God and he's telling people to get ready for the Messiah because the Messiah is coming and stuff like that well guess what the Messiah is here and not only is he here but he comes to where John is and and probably a whole lot to John's chagrin Jesus starts walking down into the water and presents himself in such a way as to prepare himself for water baptism and John's gotta be like wait what are you doing and even we see in the passage that he even protests he says um I need to be baptized by you and he's not talking about water either remember he said earlier that Jesus came to baptize with the Holy Spirit he says man I just baptized with water but he's coming to baptize in the Spirit I need to be baptized by you and yet you're coming to me what is this all about and by the way Jesus do you understand the implications of what you're doing here I mean stop and think about it for a moment there are hundreds and potentially even thousands of people that are lining the Jordan River and coming down to that area to be baptized by John this is really the the zenith of John's public ministry people are flocking to where he is so did you ever stop to think that people were gonna see Jesus get baptized I mean it's a good thing all I can say is it's a good thing he hadn't yet picked his disciples because they certainly would have objected probably on the grounds that Jesus you don't want to do that because people are gonna see you get in the water and they're gonna think that you're getting into the water to repent of your sin but you and I both know that you don't have any sin to repent of right and this whole baptism thing is all about getting right with God and and you are God so this is really weird Jesus and I don't know if you're like tracking here on this whole scenario but I don't think this is really good PR I don't think you know because people are see you do this do you really want people to see you do this yeah yeah he does and you know what 700 years before Jesus was born on the face of the earth the Prophet Isaiah said he was gonna do it check out this passage from very popular passage from Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12 it says he was numbered with the transgressors was he a transgressor oh no Jesus committed no sin and yet he was numbered with the transgressors he came to identify with you and I were the sinners right we're the ones who messed up we're the ones who are constantly doing things wrong but he came to actually identify with us in that and that is such a wild thing it's such a wild thought but think about it for a second this is the same Jesus who is going to in about three years time hang on the cross for you too he will so identify with sinful man during the course of his public ministry that at the end of it he will actually represent sinful man on the cross there on Golgotha and think about it for a minute wouldn't it be strange wouldn't it be weird if someone came to represent you but he really didn't live with you he really didn't identify with you he really didn't go through the motions of of kind of life like you live you know this is it's interesting we should be thinking about this because you know we're in that that that season where we're moving up toward a presidential election and have you ever noticed that these guys these candidates for president they always resist till the very end releasing their tax statements and their income levels and it's probably a good thing that they do because they really don't want everybody you know in America to know how much money they make but when they finally get pressured enough and then they release their tax statements and their income things we all kind of go oh man and we look at these incomes which you know we will never see in our entire lives and we wonder to ourselves can this person really represent me when he really can't identify with me I mean has this guy ever put on a pair of dirty jeans because that was the only one he owned you know does this guy really know what the inside of a Walmart looks like has he ever cut a coupon in his life you know because you look at these income levels on most of these guys and you're kind of thinking goodness gracious because you know the vast majority of the people live in the United States are just like you and I so we ask ourselves the question can this person represent me when they can't identify with me it's one thing I love about seeing Jesus at this point as he is beginning just beginning this point of his public ministry he gets down and dirty and identifies himself with sinful man and he's not afraid to do it either and you know what he's gonna keep doing it during his public ministry and he's gonna come under fire for doing it in his public ministry you'll remember that there's a point in time there's a several points in time but one in particular where just after he calls Matthew the guy who's writing this gospel account to come and be one of his disciples he goes over to Matthew's house for dinner you remember that and Matthew you'll remember was also named Levi and he was a tax collector and they were considered to be lower than the lowest scum because here's why they were working for Rome they were actually collecting taxes for the enemy these people were despised by the Jewish you know, people. Even though they themselves were Jews. And Jesus went to dinner at Matthew's house. And not only were there tax collectors there, there were sinners there. And they used that word sinners. And you almost kind of need to read it in quotation marks because it doesn't mean that the people that were there at that place sinned and everybody else didn't. They used the word sinners to describe notorious sinners. In other words, these aren't the kind of people who keep their sin in a closet. They just kind of live it right out in the open. They'd have a, you know, a sin pride parade and think nothing of it. And we're, you know, because they're just out there doing their thing and I'm a sinner, you know. Whereas the rest of the people are just as much sinners, they just do it in private. And so people would come to Jesus and they would say, why are you eating with these people, these tax collectors and these sinners? Jesus came to identify with sinners because he's going to represent them on the cross. And I love that about Jesus. I just gotta tell you that. He wasn't afraid to be numbered with us. The very people that he came to save, the very people that he came to die for on the cross. Look at verse 16. It says, as soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water and at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, this is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Jesus came up out of the water and God the Father made sure that everybody there knew that this wasn't just another baptism of someone. This is my beloved son. And then there's this visible manifestation of the spirit that lights upon him in this recognition of God's grace and power and the voice of the Father saying, with him I am well pleased and so forth. And it is truly, truly amazing. I think I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of the fact that we have this beautiful and unique snapshot of the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son all together here. The Trinity, Jesus coming up out of the water, the spirit descending in the form of a dove, the voice of the Father speaking and saying, this is my beloved son. It's a beautiful picture. But you have to believe that part of that whole process of God's delight with his son is that willingness that Jesus showed there to be identified with sinful man. And here's the crazy thing about it. You and I get to identify with Jesus too. You know, water baptism is a really powerful thing for Christians because water baptism for you and I is also an identification. Because Jesus came to identify with you and I in our sin, we get to identify with him in his death, in his burial, and then his resurrection. And the benefit of that we'll look at in a second. But there's a passage in Romans where Paul actually talks about this. Let me show you this from Romans 6, back one actually. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning, Paul asks, so that grace might increase? No, he says, obviously not, by no means. We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Look at verse 3. Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were actually baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. This is identification. Paul is taking this whole concept of identification one step further for you and I. Because Jesus came and identified himself with you as a sinner. Now you get the opportunity to identify with him in his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And then there's this other crazy identification that we get to look at. And that is in 2 Corinthians 5 21, the next verse on the screen here. Look what this says. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That, people, that's crazy. Do you know that God identifies you now with his Son in righteousness? He looks at you. He looks at you, those of you who are in Christ. You've identified yourself in his death, burial, and resurrection, death to sin, burial to the old ways of life, being raised up to the newness of walking with Jesus, and now you are identified with him in righteousness. And God looks at you and says, that's my child and he or she is righteous in my eyes because they've been identified with my Son. And I see in them the righteousness of my Son, Jesus Christ, when I look at them. And it's just a most amazing process that takes place in the life of believers. Again, because Jesus identified himself with us, we are now identified with him. Chapter 4 goes on, it says, then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. What an understatement. And by the way, I read something, and this is kind of an interesting side note, that 40 days is like the absolute longest you can go. I don't remember where I read that, but I read that anything after like 40 days of going without food and so forth is very, very dangerous physiologically, you know, to your body. But anyway, to say he was hungry was probably an enormous understatement. And then it says, the tempter, verse 3, came to him and said, if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. And Jesus answered, it is written, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, notice that little injection of doubt once again. He said, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered him, it is also written, do not put the Lord your God to the test. And again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. He said, all this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me. And Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan, for it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only. And then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Now, I want you to stop there if you would, please, and give me your attention as we go through this section because this is a very, very important section of Scripture. And we're going to look at these temptations, and we're going to look at what they teach us and what Jesus modeled for us in them. But the first thing that I think is very interesting is the fact that Jesus was moved by the Holy Spirit to go out in the wilderness and to engage in this period of 40 days of fasting. And it was at the end of that 40 days, it appears here then, that the devil came to him and so forth. And I think it's fitting that Jesus began his public ministry. He has identified already himself with you and I in the waters of baptism, even though he did not need to be baptized. He did not need to be made right with God. He did not need to confess any sin. Nonetheless, he went into the waters of baptism to identify himself with you and I. And now, as he begins his public ministry, the very first thing he does is he is tempted by the devil. Why is that significant, and why is that appropriate? Well, once again, it gets back to what we were studying just this last Wednesday. You see, there were two other people who represented us at one time, and their names were Adam and Eve, and God created them. And he created them perfect, without a sinful nature, and he put them in this situation that was perfect. And they, too, were subjected to various temptations, and yet they failed. They failed. They did not stand in the midst of those temptations. They fell to them, even though there was nothing inside of them that forced them to fail. There was nothing inside of them like you and I have, you know, a sinful nature to draw us toward that failure, to draw us toward that rebellion or that disobedience. There was nothing of that inside of them. These temptations from the enemy to Adam and Eve were completely from without. They were not from within do you understand what I mean by that so many times we Christians We we want to put it all on the devil, you know We'll talk about well the devil did this or the Satan made me do that or I'm tempted to do this or that or whatever And we want to try to convey the idea that it's all out there, you know But we forget the fact that we also possess a sinful nature within us and there is this Gravitational pull towards sin always all the time in that old sinful nature, right? And you know what? I think many times what we what we blame Satan for we is it he probably didn't anything to do with You know I? Regarding myself. I think Satan could probably leave me alone for the rest of my days on earth And I'd still have plenty of opportunity to mess up. I'd still have plenty of reason, you know in my sinful nature to go bad You know apart from Christ Even without Satan's interference now He does interfere in our lives and he does bring temptation and stuff like that But we are dealing with a sinful nature We've got that that grant that bent towards sin if you will Adam and Eve didn't have it So don't get mad at Adam and Eve don't be thinking you know, man. I'll tell you I Had done a better job if I'd have been in the garden and that Adam and Eve couple, you know Hey, listen, God gave them the best possible Scenario for making the right decision For going the right way, but they chose because they were morally free to choose they chose to listen to the enemy rather than listen to and Remember the Word of God that he had given to them and so therefore we find that all of humankind Follow the same footsteps as our first parents and we too are involved in sin deliberate acts of sin So our first parents Although we don't necessarily blame them. We kind of look at them like Yeah, you messed up So Jesus comes along at the outset of his public ministry. And what is the first thing that he does? By the Spirit he has moved into the wilderness and subjected to 40 days of fasting followed by these incredible temptations During which he proves to you and I that he will stand and he is the victorious one and what Jesus is doing here just after identifying himself with us in our sin is He is now showing that he is uniquely qualified to represent us on the cross Adam and Eve failed in that respect By plunging the human race into sin, but the second Adam as the Bible refers to Jesus came and walked in victory in the midst of temptation and The worst temptation, you know Adam and Eve were in a garden And they had everything they needed Jesus was in the wilderness. He had nothing for 40 days nothing to eat and Yet he stood He stood in the face of temptation He stood to show you and to show me I can do this I am qualified to do this and at the end of my ministry I will allow myself to be nailed upon a Roman cross and I will die there Bearing your sin the punishment of your sin because I am qualified to do so I Did not fall to the temptation of the enemy. I did not give in to sin. I Conquered the work of the enemy and therefore I am qualified to be your Savior and your Lord Pretty powerful sort of a situation so talk about Representation Wow, this is the coolest represent representation we could ever hope to have now. Let's take a look at these three temptations that come to Jesus in the wilderness and let's see what the Lord wants to teach us about these because Remember something before we get into them Jesus is The one who identifies with our sin. He is our representative on the cross, but he's also our model for life Jesus came to show us how to live. He came to show us how to deal with the enemy How do you deal when the enemy attacks? How do you how do you handle that? You know Jesus came to show us he didn't come to do something that we couldn't do Because through the power of the Holy Spirit that now resides in all of us who are in Christ. We can be victorious We can walk in the steps of his victory and that's what he's gonna show us here But let's look at these temptations because we learn a whole lot about how the enemy tries to drag us down to look at verse 3 With me again 3 and 4 says again the tempter came to him Remember when the tempter came to him after 40 days. He was hungry, right? That's when the enemy comes the enemy is not going to hit you at your point of strength. Okay? He's gonna hit you at your point of weakness. So he waits until 40 days are up. Jesus is beyond hungry famished is a better word and He says if you are the Son of God and remember this may not have gotten anywhere with Jesus in terms of Projecting any kind of doubt into his mind, but just know this this is what Satan does Satan always comes to call things into question and particularly the promises of God The power of God you're standing as a child of God and all the other things that go with it He is going to come and he's going to call those into question But he's gonna do it at a time when you're primed and cocked to go that way Because you're in a period of weakness. You're in a situation of difficulty and and you're just you know, the way is kind of Made to go that way Anyway, so the tempter comes to him and says if you are the Son of God tell these stones to become bread and Jesus answered It is written man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. All right What's going on in this first temptation what's happening here people is something that Satan does all The time he comes to make you focused on your problem you've got an issue in your life and it's something just as gnawing and as as Potentially dangerous as not having eaten for 40 days and remember I said that Physiologically you enter a danger zone after that point where you really can do irreparable You know damage to to your physical body. So here you are in a situation Whatever it may be. Obviously you haven't fasted for 40 days, but you're in some kind of a situation in which you feel danger All right, if you're in some sort of a situation in which you feel like we've got to do something about this now we have got to resolve this thing and Satan comes along at a time like that and he plants a Suggestion into your heart and mind about how you can take care of the situation But you need to understand something about this this this suggestion that he is planting there It is predicated or based upon In this case Jesus, but in your case you Stepping out and taking this matter into your own hands And that's what he's trying to get Jesus to do and that is to act Independently of the father and out of his own self-sufficiency if you are the son of God Then why don't you do something about this nagging problem that you have of hunger In fact, you probably noticed as you were hanging out here for 40 days that some of these rocks around here I you know if you kind of Squint and use your imagination. They even kind of look like loaves of bread Well, why don't you just take that step and turn them into loaves of bread? Wouldn't that be great? You can just take care of this situation and your hunger will be gone and you know what I mean You all you have a public ministry here to think about right, so Why don't you do something, you know for you you deserve it? But once again Jesus came to model for you and I how to be submitted to the will of the father And how to trust in the provision of God Even when life looks bleak Will you still trust in him will you still put your hope in him? Will you still rest in him and will you wait for his provision? Satan's big temptation and let me tell you something We got this situation here and in Matthew with loaves of bread, but where I see it happening most is marriage problems Financial problems Family relational problems whatever Are you gonna? Panic because remember Satan wants you to focus on the problem not on the solution. You're hungry Aren't you? Whoa bad yikes You need to do something about that see focus on your problem get you thinking about your problem and then suggest that you do something about that problem in your own strength and apart from God by the way The enemy will always suggest something apart from God Okay, the enemy will always put out a plan that doesn't include God It's just you taking the bull by the horns taking matters into your own hands and taking care of it And usually it's because the pain is unbearable you are just wanting relief from the situation and so you act and it's not a hard thing for Satan to come along and to begin to kind of you know put those thoughts in your heart and mind because you're primed for it so well how does Jesus respond he comes back in the response to Satan who says you know Jesus if I were you I would focus on this hunger issue you got kind of going on here because this looks pretty dangerous to me and you know you've got the ability to resolve this issue it's it's within your power Jesus to resolve this issue so I think you need to do that Jesus comes back and he says I will not I refuse I refuse to look solely at my problem like it is the number one issue or concern of my life man doesn't live by bread alone that's what that statement means now that might that might be interpreted a different to you depending on your situation if you're having marriage problems you could come back when that when when the enemy suggests a short course of action to take care of that situation you might come back and say yeah well you know God hates divorce and you know what might the answer to all my problems is not simply cutting the situation off and throwing it away man doesn't live by those sorts of things man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God what Jesus is saying to Satan is it is God's word that I am going to listen to it is the importance of being obedient to him trusting in him resting in him and waiting for the provision of the Lord that is most important to me not taking matters into my own hands and resolving the thing because I don't have the ability to do that with the kind of wisdom that I need to stay out of trouble but see we do this all the time believe me guys I'm not pointing any fingers at you that I don't point right back at myself I have done it in numerous times in my life where panic fear stress whatever has come to such a boiling point in my life that I simply just you know we cave we cave to those kinds of temptations but this is when we need to stand and Jesus is telling us how to stand the way we stand is by taking the sword of the Spirit the Word of God and using it against those temptations of the enemy and saying no I am going to trust the Lord in this situation you know I love it with the kind of a prayer regarding I'm using that example as your marriage so the kind of a prayer I think that the Lord would have you and I you know lay up before him is you know God this thing is it isn't good things aren't good right now and I got to tell you Lord I am tempted to just end this thing take this thing off life support whatever I whatever you want to call it but you know that would be to deny your ability to resolve things your way and so I will not Lord take this matter into my own hands I'm going to leave it in yours and I'm going to let you resolve it as you see fit and I'm going to trust you for the best possible outcome for everyone involved that's trust that's putting God back in charge that's putting him in a place of lordship where he belongs rather than you stepping into that position of sovereign lordship and making those decisions on your own now again it might not be something as huge as whether to end your marriage it could be something as simple as what college you're going to attend you know who you're going to marry and I don't call that one simple but you know who you who you choose to to marry you know who you choose to date and so forth even once again Satan's gonna come along and I breaks my heart I've seen it happen so many times over the years seen a man or a woman get to a place in their life where they're they feel like you know they're getting they're getting to the place where if they don't marry soon the opportunity to marry is going to be gone and they're so concerned about it they're so stressed out about it that now they you know that they're there it begins to to grow this weakness in their heart for this oh and the enemy just loves that I mean that's just fertile ground for the enemy to come along and say well if God loves you so much you know and so forth and so on and pretty soon you know you're looking for a mate in places that you wouldn't have looked before and suddenly compromise begins to become the order of the day well he's not exactly a Christian but he believes in God or you know she's open you have never done that before but desperation and fear and panic puts us into a situation where the enemy just has this fertile ground to rush into our lives and suggest all these possible scenarios where we simply stop trusting in God and we take it into our own hands to relieve the pressure you better do something or it's not going to get done you know test number two look at verse five it says then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple if you are the Son of God he said throw yourself down for his written he will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone Jesus answered him it is also written do not put the Lord your God to the test this is where Satan ups the ante because Jesus has already used the Word of God to thwart his first attempt at getting him to step out in his own strength and so forth so now Satan is going to come at it with the same tactic I'm gonna use scripture now and get you to try to do what I want to get you to do now first of all let's ask ourselves what's the big thing about jumping off the temple this pinnacle is I mean what's up with that why in the world would that even be tempting would you be tempted by that if they have Satan took you up to this high place you know it's like hey jump down because I'm sure the angels will just kind of give you a hand on the way down and you'll just kind of float and that'll be pretty cool and so forth well you have to understand that there was a belief among some sectors of Judaism that this is how the Messiah was going to enter the picture and it was kind of a misinterpretation or or maybe a miselaboration of a particular prophetic scripture in the book of Malachi that talks about the coming of the Lord check out this verse on the screen he says see I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me and that's speaking of John the Baptist all right then it talks about the Messiah then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple doesn't that sound like it should be on the front cover of some weird magazine that you see going through the grocery aisle then he will come and there's probably some rabbi around that at the time who you know got a little imaginative and began to say things like you know he will come from the temple he will float from the temple I have no doubt in my mind there were people during this time who were expecting the Messiah to come just this way otherwise what's the temptation you see Jesus is being tempted here by Satan to become instantly popular I mean you got to admit floating down from the temple gently reaching the ground I'd be impressed and you think other people probably would have been too and so this is the whole idea of just wanting to be liked this is that temptation regarding the pride of life and Satan is coming to him and saying you know why don't we do it this way that's not the way God had in mind did he God had in mind for Jesus to present himself slowly incrementally and quietly remember what Jesus would say after performing a miracle he'd say to the person don't tell anybody what happened if there if there's a requirement in the law to go show yourself to the priest and go do that but other than that you know keep your yap shut because you know we don't want this thing to get out of control but the whole point of this was that Jesus came in obscurity you know and Satan is suggesting the opposite you know you can get the love and acceptance of the people and just kind of come in sensationally you know but Jesus responds essentially by saying it's also written don't put the Lord your God to the test and what he means by that is that when you're walking in disobedience that's not the time to arbitrarily expect that God is simply going to take care of you that's putting God to the test I mean it'd be like me driving 25 miles an hour over the speed limit all the time and just saying God will take care of me now wait a minute you're being disobedient can you really truly have that expectation that God's just gonna always pull your fat out of the fire just because and that's really what Satan is kind of enticing or at least attempting to entice Jesus to do why don't you step out on your own and introduce yourself to the Jews this way because This is kind of the way they're expecting you to do it and it'll all be good and Jesus comes back and says no This isn't the will of my father And so when when you begin to step out in ways that are not the will of God To expect that God is simply going to just take care of you is a foolish putting God to a foolish test And I won't have any part of it last test verse 8 Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their Splendor all this I will give you he said if you will bow down and worship me Jesus said to him away from me Satan for it is written worship the Lord your God and serve him only first of all you have to understand that the reason Satan even could make this temptation a Reality for Jesus was because when God first created the heavens and the earth and he put man on the earth He gave man dominion. He gave man the ability just to say hey this thing is all in subjection to you You just go for it. This is yours But what did Adam and Eve do they listened to the voice of the enemy and they abdicated that position of authority? that position of leadership that position of Dominion and Satan usurped the throne small tea that You know God had given to the man and to the woman and now he was in a position that he could give this To whomever he wished and I like the fact that Jesus didn't sit around and debate anything with him He simply responded again with the Word of God saying you know what The Bible says worship the Lord your God get away from me, you know Satan And the and the scripture goes on to tell us that Satan left him until an opportune time Satan Loves to suggest ways though that he can get you to get what you want, but not have to go God's direction You know Isn't there an easier way I've ever heard somebody say that isn't there an easier way to go about this Oh Satan loves that sort of an attitude Because you know the way that God Directs us many times by his spirit is not the easy way is it sometimes? It's the hard way the way to life is hard and narrow and few find it but Satan wants to come along and suggest an easier path an Easier way to go about doing this an easier way to get a man in your life an easier way to get a woman in your life an easier way to have pleasure an easier way to get rich an easier way to do this or do that there's always an Easier way the problem is it's gonna come back, and it's gonna fall in on you someday It's gonna collapse in on you. You're gonna find yourself in worse trouble God's way is truly always best, but Satan is always going to suggest The easy path so what does Jesus do he says be gone I? Want to end with a passage quoting for you a passage that Most of you know Although we tend to kind of dissect it a little bit and not take the whole verse into consideration and here It is it's James 4 7 submit yourselves then to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you you remember that part Resist the devil, and he will free flee from you people love to quote that you know something's going on Whatever you feel like the enemy's attacking people to say hey resist the devil, and he will flee from you You need to resist the devil Let's talk about what it means to resist the devil and that it ended up And you need to just be strong and resist the devil and we forget the whole beginning of that verse Submit yourselves therefore to God Submit yourselves therefore to God Then resist the devil and He will flee from you the most difficult thing in the world is to begin to try to Resist the work of the enemy when we have been the very person that has given him the invitation to rush in and Do his dastardly work in our lives Paul calls that in the book of Ephesians giving the devil a foothold And there is an inconsistency In our lives when we when we live our life in such a way as to be open to inviting the enemy to mess with our lives, and then expecting that we can just resist him and Say be gone, and he's going to be gone Submit yourselves to God is the first step to spiritual Warfare and the victory that comes from that in the name of Jesus Christ submitting yourselves to God and Submitting yourselves to God means Lord. I'm gonna do it your way. I'm not going to take my own Purpose my own plan. I'm not going to take things into my own hands. I'm not going to manipulate this situation I'm going to let you work out this issue in my life, and I am willing to bet That there are many people in this room right now and within the sound of my voice who have something going on in your life That is really bugging you Maybe even distressing you Maybe even causing fear some of you might be even at that place of panic or just about there and the temptation for you is Strong to step out to take it in your own hands to do as the world says take the bull by the horns as if that's a good thing and Just resolve the issue. We've got to take care of this Stand up and be a man sort of a thing you know and the Word of God says to you and I Submit yourselves first to God Lord I submit to you. I submit to you. I submit to your will I submit to your purpose. I submit to your plan People can I just say something very quickly here? Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to fast For 40 days did you catch that you know what that means it was God's will for him to be without food for 40 days now I Share that with you because it's important that you understand that if you don't understand that there is an easy place that Satan has to Come along and suggest that you take care of this issue Okay One of the most hideous things that has happened in the body of Christ over the last few decades is the health and wealth prosperity doctrine which comes along and tells you that God is never going to call you into a place that is going to challenge You or be difficult in any way God never wants you sick God never wants you You know to not have enough of this God always wants you rich and prosperous And all these other things and so you know what that does that plays right into the hands of the enemy I? Mean that plays right into the hands of the evil one Because you assume then this is never the will of God And so then you find yourself in this situation And it's an easy thing to take it into your own hands because it's obviously not God's will But you see the reason Jesus was able to stand or or the thing that predicated his standing I should say related to the attacks of the enemy was I am right Smack dab in the middle of the will of my father, and I am NOT budging Even if it's painful even if it's hard even if it's challenging even if it causes fear to rise up from time to time I Am going to trust him and there's nothing you can say to me that is going to move me off this mark of trusting my Lord and putting my hope in him and waiting for the provision of the Lord to come my way and If I die I die Because it's God's will That is a faith and a trust that the large portion of the body of Christ knows nothing about Yet Though he slay me she'll still shall I trust in him still shall I hope in him that's that attitude And it's important that we understand these things otherwise, we're easy prey for the enemy And he can just waltz in Obviously this isn't God's will How do you know that? How do you know? The most powerful and insightful prayer that you and I can pray whatever the circumstances of our life may be is Lord, I don't know what's going on, but I got I got to tell you Lord. I don't like what's happening at all But I know that you love me and You've promised never to leave me nor forsake me. You've promised that you would never abandon me ever So I'm gonna trust you in this I'm gonna trust you in the midst of this and I believe Lord. You're gonna bring me through this situation and I'm gonna get to the other side and I will yet praise the Lord and I will thank you even for the difficulty of this thing one day Because you are gonna show yourself faithful on my behalf Even though this is hard and even though I am tempted within every fiber of my being to do something about this now I'm going to rest in the Lord my God, and I'm gonna wait for your Solution your resolution this issue in my life and i will not manipulate the circumstances take this thing in my own hands because it's not mine to do my life belongs to you i've been bought with the price