Okay, thank you. Back to Luke,
the Gospel of Luke. Difficult decision. whether it's the preaching from
Hebrews 11 or the Gospel of Luke. And I think we'll just maybe
save these messages right now for the Wednesday night service,
and then Sundays, Sunday morning, go through Hebrews 11. Chapter 3. You remember, we did
not finish all of chapter 3. It may be obvious to you. Verses
23 through 38 make up the family tree or genealogy of Mary. Now, I know what verse 23 says. Look at verse 23. It says, Jesus
himself began to be about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed,
the son of Joseph, which was the son of Helias. They say Jesus, being the son
or grandson of this Helia, And just by way of explanation there,
women were not counted in genealogies, just the heads of home. And this
Heli was Mary's father. That's who he was. And this is
Mary's genealogy down in verse 31. Verse 31 speaks of, you see,
Nathan, Methodi, which was the son of
Nathan, which was the son of David. In Matthew's gospel, it's given
the genealogy of Joseph. And the lineage from David on Joseph's
side went through Solomon. You remember Bathsheba is mentioned. It's Solomon, you see, and on
down. That's just a short explanation
of that. Now, it's not without importance. The Lord would not have recorded
this if it were not important. Certainly not without importance
or significant. There's significant names, and
if you read it, you notice something. Verse 27. And verse 30, Judah. And of course, David in verse
31. But from verse 24 on down, these
names, verses 24 through 29, Now, that Levi is not Levi, but
Levi, the tribe of Levi, the son of Israel. But these names are not
mentioned in the Old Testament. None of these names are mentioned,
save Zerubbabel in the Old Testament. It's not found there in the Chronicles. Many are after those verses. Many are. And they're a significant
statement. I thought about this. Everyone
whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life is God's Son. Everyone found
in Christ is God's own. The Lord knoweth them that are
His, whether men know them or recognize them or not. Like I
said, these names aren't recorded. Most of, half of them aren't
recorded in the Old Testament. But, and that's a type, isn't
it, of God's people. Some, though unknown, still,
if God knows them, they're known. And whether their name be David,
son of Jesse, or Henry, the son of Sorge, they're still God's
own. All right? And I'm sure there
are gospel applications, but we've made some of those in Matthew.
We don't know anything about some of these names, but we've
looked at Matthew's first chapter one time and made those applications.
But I tell you this, we're warned, Paul warns twice, warns Timothy
and Titus, not to be taken up with or be too concerned with
genealogies. Remember that? Endless genealogies. Jews would camp here awhile. That's the old fathers, you know.
Let's study them a while. But we're warned not to do that
lest we miss Christ. And our Lord does this for legitimate
reasons. And like I said, there are gospel
applications and for the validity of Christ's heritage of Mary
and so forth. But we're going to go on. All
right? We're going to go on the chapter.
But I do want you to note this. Look at it. Verse twenty-three.
Verse twenty-three says, Jesus himself began to be about thirty
years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, which was
the son of and so on and so on. As was supposed, he was thirty
years old. He wasn't thirty years old. He didn't have that age at all. He's eternal. As was supposed,
though, he was thirty years old. You say, well, as was supposed,
he was the son of Joseph. Well, yeah, that too. They supposed a lot of things
about him, didn't they? Well, he's thirty. He's the son of
Joseph. He's neither. And down in the last, look at
the last verse, as was supposed, he was the son of Joseph. And
it goes on, which was the son, which was the son, verse thirty-eight
says, which was the son of Adam. Now Jesus, as was supposed, was
just a man like everybody else. Son of Adam. No, he's not the
son of Adam. Oh no. He was born a virgin. He was
born a virgin. He's the son of God. Only begotten
well-beloved Son of God, because there's no sin in Him. He's not
the Son of Adam. The child was born, yet the Son
was given. When actually the Son of God
entered that, that's a mystery isn't it? God manifested in the
flesh. God wasn't born. God entered that body. Alright,
but He's without sin. He's not the Son of Adam. He's
made of the likeness of sinful flesh. But he's not a sinner. No sin in him, as we're going
to see. Now, chapter 4. Chapter 4, that's what this chapter
validates. That there's nothing in him.
There's no sin in him. All right? Chapter 4, this is
a Christ-honored and sinner-helping message. You need Christ, you'll see Him.
If you're a sinner, you'll get help. All right, chapter four,
verse one. Now, Jesus, Jesus, the man, the
young man, that was thirty years old. And I'm glad he was young, as was supposed to be. I'm glad
he went through that age, because I did. But this young man, thank
Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost. How full was he of the
Holy Ghost? Full of the Holy Ghost. It said John was filled with
the Holy Ghost. Well, he's full. In Hebrew, it's
called full. John was filled. In other words,
somebody put the Holy Ghost in him, in John. But Christ was
full. Because He is. He is. Without measure, that's how.
And to be sure now, it says Jesus. But to be sure, He's God. But
He became flesh. God became flesh. And as a man,
as a man, Scripture says, He was full of the Holy Ghost. Why? Why is it necessary? that Christ be full of the Holy
Ghost. If He's a God-man, what's He
even mean, the Holy Ghost? He's God. Why does He need the
Holy Ghost? Because He's man. And He's our representative,
you see. And for a man like me, or you,
or a woman, For a man to walk with God, to know God, to have
life that we talked about Sunday morning. Spirit gives life. The Spirit causes us to know
God. Spirit of God, without which
we'd be dead. So he's our representative, and
here it says that he's full of the Holy Spirit. And to be full
of the Holy Spirit means, what does it mean to be full of the
Holy Spirit? To be full of the Holy Spirit
means to be filled with the knowledge of God. I hope that he was. full of the knowledge of God,
be full of the knowledge of God's will. Do you remember when Paul
prayed that? Oh, I pray that you might be filled with the
knowledge of his will. The Holy Spirit gives knowledge.
He's a teacher. It means to be filled with the
fruit of the Spirit. Oh, he had that. It means to be filled with
the Word of God. Oh, he has that already. He is
the Word of God. The Word of God. But she sees
a man and all those things he has by the Spirit of God. And
this is a mystery. Who can explain this? It can't be done. And we're going to see here,
now we talked about him being full of the Word. We're going
to see here that that's the only defense a man has against temptation. All right, now look at verse
1. It says, being full of the Holy Ghost. He returned from
Jordan. And you remember what happened
in Jordan? He came and was baptized, wasn't he? And anointed by the
dove, the Holy Spirit, and he was there with John. You reckon
they had Celsius? Huh? Oh, you know they did. You know they did. Scripture
doesn't tell all what was said and done by our Lord. If it did,
then the world couldn't contain the book. He and John had a sweet
fellowship. And there were other disciples
there too, weren't there? Huh? There were other, lots of
people came. And he, alright. So he was there
in his baptism and his fellowship with John and other, of God's
people, other disciples. And then it says, look at this,
returning from Jordan was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
From Jordan, with God's people, sweet fellowship, sweet enjoyment
of the things of God, out in the wilderness. That's
right, I always fear that, to be tempted. Look over John 17
with me. John 17. You see, God sent His
earth, His Son to earth to become a man. That's why Christ came, to become
a man, to live as a man. And full of the Holy Spirit and
led by the Spirit, He was led out into the wilderness Right? All right? God's only forgotten son. God
had one son. What did he do with him? But
he kept him isolated from the world. Kept him away from sin, and when
he was exposed, put him right in the middle of it. Right in
the middle of it. put right in the middle of the
sinful world as all of God's sons must be. Look at John 17. This is what our Lord Himself
prayed. Verse 15, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world. No, don't do that. But keep them. Thou shouldest
keep them from the evil one. Let's do that stuff, the evil
one. Don't take them out of the world. Listen, people, when God
takes His people out of this world, there's no more use for
the world. If you take God's people out
of the world, they're no more use to anybody. We're called the salt. We're
called the light. Aren't we? That's what we're
good for, and our Lord talked about that. If a soldier lost
his saber, what good is it for him? God sends his people out into
the world, and that's what God did to his own son. He had one
son, and he stuck him right in there. Now, we know that Christ
is our substitute, our representative. He's also our example. All right,
all right, back to the text. So he was led by the Spirit in
the wilderness, and this world, you know, is a wilderness, isn't
it? It is a wilderness. Wilderness of sin, the sin that
the children of Israel went through. Verse 2, being forty days tempted
of the devil. Forty days. Now Christ only lived
here on earth thirty-three years. Right? Thirty years is the scriptural time of manhood. That's what
scriptures tell Jews. Well, our Lord seems to indicate
that thirty years was a mature time, or at least the time of
the beginning of maturity as a man. And our Lord, that's when
his earthly ministry began. And it says, just as soon as
he reached that age, he was led into the wilderness and being
40 days tempted of the devil. Now, all right, Henry, we reached
30 years of age, and how long do we live after 30? To rescore 10, that's 70 years,
isn't that right? How many years, if you add what
to 30, you get how many? Forty years, we're tempted in
this wilderness. All right? We lead God's people. And our
Lord didn't have long on this earth, did he? Joe, he suffered
the equivalency of forty years of temptation and forty years. We think we go through a lot
knowing forty years. Think what a trial, a tough time,
what a hard life this world is for us. In forty days he suffered. Forty years. Forty days. What a man. Oh, the man. And in those days, it says here
in verse two, in those days he did eat nothing. And when they
were ended, that was forty days rendered, he afterward hungered.
Why did he go without food? Why did our Lord go without food? Well, for many reasons, many
more than I've written down here. Moses, the deliverer, is a type
of Christ. What happened when Moses went
up on the mountain? How long was he on the mountain? the law, receive the covenant
of the law. Deliverer. Moses represented
Christ. He's a type of Christ. This is
a fulfillment by our Deliverer. He received the law of Christ.
He's the fulfiller of it. Christ received the covenant.
There were two people that stood on Mount Transfiguration with
Christ, Moses and, just told you, Elijah, all right? That represents the law and the
prophets, doesn't it? To him, it all gives witness,
all right? Moses represents Christ forty
days and forty nights. He was on that mountain to receive
the law. And Elijah, when he received his calling, How long
did he stay up there? Forty days. Forty nights he was
without food. Why? He's the type of that prophet. The prophet to end all prophecy. Alright? There's the type. And,
and our Lord's going to tell us in a moment to show how that
man does not live by bread alone. I'll show you, he said. We're not sustained by material
things. I'll show you. You know, he was a man now. He
had to eat. He had to eat. If he hadn't eaten,
eventually his body would die. But he just shows us that's really
not what sustains us. Food. God gives food, but we
don't live by bread alone. To prove his power over all flesh. including his own. Able to subdue all things, even
his own flesh. We can't do that, can we? He did, as my substitute representative. Even in his most weakened state, his most weakened state. My wife
likes to eat like most of us do, and she'll go just, oh, You
know, missed a couple of meals in a row, and she says, I'm,
and she put, I'm ravenous, ravenous. That's what she said. We all
say this, I'm starving to death. No way. We've got enough reserves,
like an old camel, to go on for quite a while, don't we? We're
going to starve to death. Our Lord proved that, even in
His most weakened state. And to show us this too, this
is good, that even when weak, Yet, through God's Word, that's
the way we've gone, all right? And many, many reasons. And also,
listen to this. You remember one time when the
disciples came back from trying to cast out devils out of someone,
evil spirits out of somebody, and they couldn't do it? Remember
that? They were all frustrated. What did our Lord say to them?
Remember what he said, that this kind, this kind, this kind of
evil spirit, a particularly troublesome one,
won't go away. This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Isn't that interesting? He's
got to deal with the father of demons. He's got to deal with
the head of all evil spirit. This kind is not going to go
out, but by prayer and fasting. And I could go on to say something
about fasting, but time won't allow it. Alright, I'll say this
much about it. It's not a forced thing or a
dutiful thing. It's when you're so taken up
with the Word of God that you don't care about anything or
anyone. All right, tempted 40 days, look
at this, verse 2, this is interesting, I've never, so much here I haven't
seen. It says that tempted 40 days,
verse 2, 40 days he was tempted of the devil, in those days he
did eat nothing, 40 days, and when they were ended, he afterward
hungered. In other words, the temptation,
what Satan's going to say to him now is after 40 days. Not
during, after. At the end of that, this seems
to be the toughest temptation. The point I'm trying to make
is, it doesn't tell us all the temptations that our Lord went
through, does it? It says He was tempted for forty
days, and after that, then it tells us some of them. All right? What all was He tempted
with? You got an answer? Do you read any word of this?
All points. That's it, John. Hebrews says
he was tempted in all points, like as we are. All points? All points. Let me say that. Aren't you glad? All points,
Sam. Like, you know, don't let your
mind wander and start trying to figure things out. It's enough
to know he was tempted in all points, like as we are yet without
seeing Archie Grant. And this is how he can know our
frame, because he took one and was tempted.
This, he himself was tempted. We have a high priest who's touched
with the feeling of our infirmity because he was tempted. Men and women, I don't care what,
all of them, like as we are. touch with the feet of our first
scripture says he knoweth our frame. Why? He had one. He himself
was compassed by it. He's touched. Why? Because he
was tempted. Scripture says he's tempted. You can empathize with somebody
who's going through what you've gone through. You can't until
you do it. You can't really. Enter into
what somebody's going through that you can do the same. Can
you? All at once, Joe. All at once. Isn't that wonderful? He
knows. He knows. And listen to this. Even more than we know, even
more than we know, he knows that without him we can do nothing. Wouldn't you believe that, John,
without Him? You feel the infirmities of your flesh, don't you? The
weakness of your flesh. Your helplessness, don't you?
You feel that, don't you? You don't know the answer. I
don't know the answer. He does. He knows. Now think about that a second.
Now that's a good, that's a comforting thought. We don't know just how
much we need. We don't know how helpless we
are. We don't know if God could open the heavens up and show
us that which is against us. Demons and the devils and the
dangers and so forth that are around us, if God would show
us, try to fear it, He knows. He knows
our weakness, He knows. He knows us. Without Him, we
can do nothing. Aren't you glad? We have such
a... Paul said, we have such a high... See, and therefore,
that we have such a high priest. Well, let's come boldly to the
throne of God that we might ask for help in time of need. My nose are frayed. He's touched.
He pines. Come boldly. I started thinking about the
disciples. Those three and some odd years that they lived with
him, and all that stuff they got into, and all their weaknesses,
and all their ignorance. He didn't deal harshly with them.
He didn't upbreak them, did he? Huh? He never was unkind to them. Never was. He never did say, He never did say, I ain't going
to give you any more. I've given and given all I've
got, and I'll be giving more. He just keeps picking, keeps
picking. He knows that. Now if I don't get past this point here,
you all, somebody's going to give a blessing out of me. I
know. Our friend, we had such a happy, tempting day. And I'm not going to get into
that argument about the impeccability of Christ, you know, how you
can't tempt God with sin. I said I wasn't going to get
into that. I'm not going to. Well, and here's why he was tempted,
because all of God's people are tempted with sin. All of God's
people are tempted people. We saw how that God took his
son, put his son down into this world right in the middle of
sin, as the life of the world, as
the salt, my, my, the salt from which we get iron. And all God's
people are tempted people, tempted people. And that's how we can
relate to one another too, isn't it, Brother Henry? We can relate
to one another being tempted. God's people aren't overly pious,
super-Christians living a victorious life. Isolated and sinless and so forth,
living above sin. No, no, no. You can't relate
to somebody like that. You run into them all the time,
don't you? They look at you like something's
wrong with you since you are sinning. And if you talk about
being a sinner, that's a strange language to say I'm in. You still
a sinner? Well, I don't know, not anymore.
Don't think. You're brand new to me. Huh?
I can't relate to people like that. Sinners I can. Common folk, can't
you? Huh? I could have talked to old
Peter. Old Peter and I could sit down and have a conversation.
Huh? I guarantee it. I know what we'd
get around to talking about. The Savior, sir. Peter wouldn't be talking about
himself, nor me. He'd be talking about Christ. Why? What's there to talk about,
sir? Huh? I could relate to old Zacchaeus. Huh? He and I are both short. He and I have both been up in
the trees. The Lord doesn't bring us both down. Mary Magdalene. Anybody be able
to talk to her? We're going to. Thomas. I could talk to Thomas. Daddy
and Tom and David. Couldn't you talk to David? Wouldn't
you like to talk to him? We're going to. Jacob. Any sons
of Jacob in here? All kinds of people. They're not overly
pious, but tempted people. And that's the reason our Lord
was tempted, and that's the reason we're tempted. So we can succor
one another and help one another. All right. And our Lord being
our representative, our substitute, was tempted in all points, like
as we are, without sin. All right? Afterward, he was
hungry. Now, verses 3 and we'll read all the way down through.
The soul that it be made for him. The first thing the devil tried
to do was create battle. Sorry to hear you being a son
of God. Now he, he, he tried to create
doubt in the new son of the almighty God. Well, look, Satan knew he,
Satan knew he knew. He kept it all for himself. Oh,
isn't that something? If you were a Christian. If thou be the Son of God, look
at it. He says, command. But this stone, command this
stone that it be made brave. Do a miracle. If you're really a son, do something. Do something. Do something for
yourself. Well, you know what the Bible
says, if God had a son, he'd have you. Do something. Heaven said it. Do something
for yourself. Huh? No, no. God doesn't have tolls
to help Himself. As a matter of fact, the very
opposite is true. You know, that's the very opposite.
If God has tolls, He's helping others. You see, Christ once commanded
bread for everybody else, didn't He? You remember? Once He said,
uh, turn those loaves. He turned those loaves into men.
But not for Himself. Not for Himself. And you know,
this reminded me of the devil and his false prophets today,
how they question our faith because we can't do these mighty works
that they're doing, these super-Christians are doing. Huh? You ever run
into anybody like that? You ever had anybody sick in
your family or whatever, and you run into one of these super-high
Pentecostals in the heads? And they say, what did you pray
for? What's wrong with you? Where did God make you a healer? Have you ever run into a man
like that? I have. And he takes every bit of grace God can give
you to keep on living. Have you ever had any trouble
concerning your father's healing? That's what they believe, that's
what they say. All the prophets cast doubt on our faith because
we can't perform some great miracle or some work. But again, I remind
us that our Lord sent down evil and adulterous generations to
get back their sign. And it says God sends them strong
and moody because they don't love the truth, the gospel. God sends them all these signs,
and that's what they get. But in the end, they don't get
salvation. But God's people now, He opens
their eyes to the whole wondrous thing from the world. It works. It works. Quite often God's people,
like Lazarus, just beg his sick and they die. What's wrong? Didn't the disciples, didn't
they have enough money? Take it back. No, it was for God's
glory. Well, look at verse four now,
and Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Jesus answered
him with this three words. And James says, resist the devil. James says, pretty much, resist
the devil. How? In his testimony. That's it. Every time our Lord was sent
to him, he said that. The last time he said it, he'd
seen it. He'd spoken. Not only written,
he'd spoken. The Word is not only written,
but incarnate. God's Word. Resist the devil.
How? God's Word. And not merely by quoting the
Bible, like some moniker or something, you know, holding up a cross
or quoting scripture or whatever. No. No. You remember Michael, Archangel. I say, what is that? The Lord, then, rebukes them. The Lord
rebukes them. Faith and pride. What did John
say overcometh the world, or the prince, or the power of it? We live on the Word. We live on the Word. We're protected by the Word,
and that being Christ Himself. And without it, without Him,
we're weak and helpless, and easy prey for the evil one. I
look at the next couple of verses, verses 5 through 7, and the devil,
taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms
of the world in the moment of time. And the devil said unto
him, All this power will I give thee, the glory of them. For
that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it.
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. Now, these are strange versions
of it. But he says here, he sent the
world. He showed him the kingdoms of
the world in a moment's time. He sent all this power. will I give unto thee the glory
of the world, all its pleasures." This is what he endeavors to
tempt our Lord with, the pleasures of the world, the beauties of
the world, the glories of the world, the allurements of the
world, the fame, the fortune, the power, and the prestige. That's what this world's all
about, isn't it? It's all about pleasure, beauty,
deliverance, fame, fortune, power. Satan said to deliver it unto
me, didn't he? Well, is that right? Well,
in a sense, he's not the owner of it though. I know the scriptures
say he's the prince of power in the earth. I know there's
a passage in Revelation that says that Satan has a Satan season
for a little season. He's not the owner of it. God
never did relinquish this world to anybody. Huh? He made it. It's his. But he, in a sense,
he has given it. That's a mouth. In a sense, he's
given it. the world, or at least as a means
for Satan to get his attempt with. Now, look at what he says
in verse 6, people. Look at every act. Look at the
last line of verse 6. He says, "...and all his power
I will give unto thee, and the glory of them. For that is delivered
unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it." Now, the false prophets of day would have
us believe that God wants us to be wealthy, healthy, wealthy. That Satan doesn't want you to
be healthy, wealthy, because the Satan's going to destroy
all of you. That's not what that says, is
it? He doesn't say, now whoever I
will, I'll take it away from them. No, no, no. This is how he thinks,
and this is his most powerful temptation of all. And for every
one person that's fallen in gross, open sin, there's been nine million
fall through their lurements and riches and pleasures and
lusts of this world. He knows. He knows. That's how he tempted
our first parents in the garden. Lust of the eye, lust of the
flesh, pride of life. He said, I give it. I give it. Not withhold it. Give
it. Now Christ, oh I'm glad I use
my representative, aren't you? Christ was not tempted with this
world. Why? He doesn't. He has here no contingency.
He says, OK, here, I'll let you live in this city. I wouldn't
want to live there. Pretty poor city, isn't it? I've
got a city. Here, I'll give you this palace. Look at this mansion. You call
that a mansion? He's saying that for our sake.
He had a city, God's city. He had pleasures. And I'll give
you these pleasures. The psalmist says that God's
right hand art. Pleasures. Pleasures that I hadn't seen
or hadn't heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things that God had prepared. They had entered into Christ's
heart, and that's the only thing that was there. Not the world. The devil tempted Christ with
this world, but he could find nothing in it. Nothing in this
world. He was out of this world. He said, I'm not out of this
world. What could you tempt? What could you tempt? What could
worms tempt us with? A bunch of maggots in a garbage
can. What? Look here, Hank. Look here. Look here. What? That's
it, too? To live like that? Oh, he didn't
come here. He came here voluntarily. It was like going from... Oh,
my, he came from heaven to this earth. That's enough said. Well,
with no world in him, he's filled with the Spirit, not flesh. It
was substance, not scope, real substance. As my representative,
he was perfect, perfect. And according, listen now, this
is important, according to our feeling, it says here, Christ
was full, and according to our feeling with the Spirit or the
Word of God will be our resistance to this world. You hear that? According to our feeling with
the Spirit of Christ, the Word, according as we're full of the
Word of God, will be our resistance to this world. All right? You can, Paul, keep
praying over and over and over. You might be filled with all
the fullness of God. Why? Because there's nothing
else to find a place in. Oh, that Christ might fill all and
end all. Oh, why? So that nothing else
can get back and take root. Understand? More people fall to the lust
of riches, and I believe that this is the greatest sign of
the end times. I really do. In the days of Noah,
what were they doing? Well, they weren't without. They
had everything they could have. The church that led the sea. Why did they talk? Why did that
church fail? The rich increased the good,
I think. Well, look at this. Here's what the Lord said to
him, answered him. Look at verse 8. He answered
and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve. The first sign of one falling
to temptation, the temptation of this world, is that they quit worshiping. Isn't that profound? He tempts
him with the world, and he says, Thou shalt worship. And the first sign of someone
falling in temptation of this world and falling captive to
it, they quit worshiping. We've seen it here, right in
our midst. I mean, literally, literally, seeing people killed.
New family, new house, a new job, a new car, a new boyfriend,
girlfriend, husband or wife, a neighbor. They quit worshiping. They had nothing in Christ. Christ
was not in them, but the world was. Demas hath forsaken thee,
having loved this present life. But here it says, Christ said,
Get behind me, Satan, and only if I have Christ before me will
Satan be behind me. Only as Christ is before me,
he goes out before his people, and here he's tempted for my
sake. Only will Satan be behind me,
only with Christ as my desire. Only with Christ as my desire
will Satan be killed. I need that. I need that word. All right, verses 9 through 11.
And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of
the temple. And said unto him, If thou be
the Son of God, cast thyself down from him, for it is written,
He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in
their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash
thy foot against a stone. Finding no fleshly enticements,"
now he's going to get religious. Satan himself is going to do
a little preaching and he answers the prayer. He says some good
things. He's going to stretch out. You know, I thought about this.
Have you ever thought about this? I bet you Satan can quote the
whole Bible. I bet you. No, he can't. I know we can't quote the whole
Bible. But right here, it's interesting, he left out a few words. And he added a few. Now isn't that the way he does
things? Huh? That's just exactly how he operates
it. Leave out a few words here, use
the Scripture, yes. Say some good things. But it's
not what he's saying that's what he's leaving out. So he's adding two. Christian,
but that's how it works through his preacher. And you know, this
made me think he said, if you'd be the son of God, cast yourself
down, he'll give you, he'll bury you up. The angels will bury
you up. If you dash your foot against the stone. This made
me think of those poor, all the poor fools in this world that
take Mark 16 verses 15 through 18 so literally. Immediately,
I thought of all of those. You know that? This is back just
a few pages, Mark 16, where he talks about they'll, signs will
follow them and they'll speak in tongues and cast out devils
and take up serpents and drink deadly poison. I immediately thought of those
verses. And this is what Satan has attempted, the word, the
one who wrote it with. Why is he doing that? For my
sake. For our sake. Not only as my
representative, my substitute, to be tempted in all points,
to overcome sin for me, to be revealed as a sinless one without
fault, without privilege, no sin, a sinless substitute, a
woman's seed. Not only for that, but to teach
me something here. He said, look at our Lord's answer.
Our Lord said, Thou shalt not, it is said, it is spoken, Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Joe, the Lord didn't say
over in Mark 16 to go around handling snakes. He did not tell
us to pick up something poisonous and drink it and prove you've
got great faith. Only an absolute fool would do
something like that. And he tells me otherwise. He
tells me, he instructs me that some of these poor fools out
there, sad, they actually do that. Some of them die. They
tempt. That's tempting the Lord God. That's tempting the Lord God.
We're not to tempt the Lord our God in anything. Whatever means,
or at our disposal, go ahead and use them. Don't trust them.
Don't give them the glory and the credit, but if they're there,
use them. You understand? Certain laws
of this land, we better abide by them. Huh? Wear a seatbelt. Now, I'm just
getting into civil laws here, but I'm just giving an illustration
here. The law of the land says wear a seatbelt. We get hit in
the head on a collision and we die. I'm not wearing a suit belt. And we are sent to tempt the
Lord our God. You don't walk across the street
without looking both ways. You take precautions. Things
like that. This is written for our learning
here. Don't tempt the Lord God. You don't tempt the Lord God. You don't do that. And like I
said, we don't rely on these manes. We don't trust in them.
We don't give them the glory. My wife needed an operation. So we did. We went to the hospital
and she got an operation, OK, and not using faith. I was just
not tempted in the Lord. And who's in charge of the physician? Luke. All right, and look at verse twelve. So Christ answered him and said,
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had
ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season,
for a season. For a little while, he departed,
but he came back, didn't he? And it says, Christ returned
in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and went out of fame
of him through all the regions round about, and he taught in
their synagogue, being glorified of all. All God's people glorify
him. And here's the point. The devil tempted him as our
substitute. He was tempted with sin, in all
like we are, yet without sin. Alright? For 40 days, 40 nights,
alright? Then he lived there for a season,
for a little season. Then he came back. When did he
come back? And Christ came back. Christ
came back into Galilee, and into the Garden of Gethsemane. And
that's right there when he was being made a sinner. And that's
when Satan was born. That's when he said, The devil
having entered into Judas and then assaulting him, that's when
Christ was being made sin. Here he's being tempted as our
substitute, and then later on he's being made sin as our substitute. And for a season, for a season. If you note there, it says Christ
went out into the wilderness by the Spirit and he was led
by the Spirit into the wilderness. And so will God's Spirit lead
us and guide us wherever we go. Go out in the world, send your,
don't be afraid, go. Go out in the world. Go into
the plant tomorrow. Asking the spirit to go with
you. I was driving by Fleetwood early this morning. This morning? Yeah, this morning. About 4 opening time, about 4-7,
and all these people were shuffling in. Boy, that's what they were
doing. And oh, My heart went out to
those people. It really did. And some of you
are going to do that in the morning. You're going to go to MW, you're
going to go to wherever it may be, and you're going to go back to the grind. And oh, and I thought, and I
thought, so many memories came running back to me of the railroad
construction and all that, and all the temptation. As soon as
you walk in, somebody just blasphemes God's name, and curses, and they,
you know, pictures everywhere, and just, oh, just assault it. Aren't you saying, just assault
it on every side, what you have, hope, what you have. Saint Christ
here, Son of God, Holy Spirit, lead me, deliver us from evil,
lead me not into temptation. And the same one that led you
in there to keep you, lead you out, lead you back, bring you
back, and bring you back to get the same nourishment you need
to go in strength. All right. Stand with me. But Joe would need this business
in the fire department. Our Holy and Sovereign God, we
give thanks unto You, through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.
We thank You, Lord, for this opportunity to come into Thy
house and look into Thy Word, O Lord. We pray and ask that
You would take and use it for Your honor and for the Lord's
glory, to apply it to each and every heart, Lord, as I will
do. Give those of us who seek You, Lord, to be faithful to
You, Lord, for You are the Great Redeemer. This place is now part
of us as we go our separate ways to come back and make the full
return in Christ's name, in Christ's holy blood, in Jesus Christ's
name. Amen.