Make yourself, make these stones
into bread. Feed yourself. If you're the
son of God, do that. If you're the son of God, make
these stones bread. And then he said, if you'll just
cater to me, if you'll worship me, I'll give you the kingdoms
of this world. You know what you want? You know
what you came for? To get me and to follow you, to be a king,
to set up a kingdom? I'll give you these kingdoms.
Just cater to me. You get any feeling that maybe
you've been this route before? Just do my bidding and you can
profit. Just do it my way and you can
succeed. Just do it my way and we'll take a short cut to success.
Just do it my way and your family won't suffer anymore. You won't
have to do without. If you're the son of God, prove
it. Prove it. Cast yourself headlong
off this place here. Prove you're the son of God.
Tempting him prove you the Son of God you see all of these temptations
were directed at Christ our representative and their picture of his temptation
of us Prove you the Son of God and
then he said in Luke 4 13 that he departed from him for a season
Not not for good, but for a season for a season now then now then
our Lord's talking here and He's not talking about Satan trying
to kill all the babies and put him out of business. He's not
talking about this temptation, if you're the son of God, let's
do some showing off here, make bread out of stones, or worship
me and I'll give you kingdoms, or if you're the son of God,
prove it, test the Lord. But this here, this, what he's
talking about here, is that final assault. The prince of this world
is coming. He's coming for a showdown. He's
coming with special violence. He's coming, personal attention.
He's coming with bitter wrath. He's coming with all the force
of sin and hell and darkness. He's coming with a dedication.
You talk about the dedication of the British when they invaded
the Falklands for the pride and glory of the United Kingdom.
That was child's play compared to the dedication Satan had right
here. I'm coming. I'm coming. We've been talking about this
for 4,000 years. I'm coming. We've been preparing
for this battle 4,000 years. I'm coming. We've been preparing
for this showdown. We've been preparing for this
battle all these millenniums. I'm coming. That's what our Lord
is saying to His disciples. I'm not going to talk much more
with you. He's coming. He's coming. The prince of this
world. You know, I hear preachers, I
get a little bit troubled about how much most preachers know
about spiritual matters when I hear them talk lightly of Satan. The other day I said to the devil,
go on back to hell where you belong. I don't believe most of us have
ever encountered Satan at all. I really don't. I don't think
you've ever had his personal attention. You wouldn't be here
now if you did. Let me show you something in
Jude verse 9. Now listen to me, I know you've
dealt with darkness, I know you've dealt with evil, I know you've
dealt with temptation, I know you've dealt with trial, I know
you've dealt with the forces of power and darkness and evil,
but let me tell you something. In Jude 9 it says in verse 8,
Likewise these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise authority,
dominion, speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, now
listen to who we're talking about. Michael the archangel, when contending
with the devil, with Satan, he disputed about the body of Moses. Michael would not bring against
Satan a railing accusation, but rather said, the Lord handle
you, the Lord rebuke you. My friends, you want, Michael
wanted no confrontation with Satan. There were some other angels
back yonder that had some dealings with him, and how many of them
fell? What I'm emphasizing here is
who's coming. I hope I'm emphasizing it strongly
enough. Our Lord said, I won't talk much
more with you. He's coming. The prince of darkness
is coming. The prince of this world is coming. The personification of all evil
is coming. There's a showdown on the horizon. There's a final assault. He's
coming with special violence, with bitter wrath. He's coming
with dedication. He's coming against me, arrayed
with all the power of hell. You know, our Lord taught His
disciples to pray, deliver us from the evil one. You know,
Christ said to Peter, Satan hath desired you, Satan wants you,
but I prayed for you. He didn't say, now Peter, Satan
has desired you, buddy, double up your fist and take him on. Peter, you'd be like a snowball
in a blast furnace. That's about how long you'd last.
Peter, Satan hath desired you. He hath desired you. But I've
prayed for you. I've prayed for you. Brethren, Satan has come to men
before. And without exception, he's found
something in them in common with him. Did you know that? Our Lord
said he's coming, the prince of darkness, of evil, the prince
of this world is coming. And he won't find anything in
me. He won't find an opening. He won't find a flaw. He won't
find anything in common. He won't find any place where
he can charge me or accuse me. But you and me, Well, let's look
at some of these illustrations. I say he's come to many men,
and he's found in them, every one of them without exception,
in all of them, he's found something in common with him. One day he
came to Adam. I don't read any great struggle
there. I don't read of any great frontal
assault, do you? I don't read of any gathering
of all the forces of evil and the powers of darkness and the
forces of hell. I only hear Satan making some
gentle suggestions to Adam. That's all. You want to be like
God? Did God say that you were not
to... Of course, he brought his wife
in as an ally and a helper there, you know. And he said, God say you weren't
supposed to eat that fruit? Yeah, God said we shouldn't eat
it, lest we die. You won't die, huh? Wasn't too
hard, was it? Not too difficult. You'll be
like God. His victory was not hard fought. It wasn't too difficult. He just
appealed to Adam's ambition, that's all. And when he comes,
when he sends one of his representatives my way, I'm easy pickings. Are you? I'm easy pickings. I'm easier than Adam. He can
appeal to my pride so easily. I can sit right there and think
thoughts of pride and ambition. Can you sit right there and think?
I'm easy pickings. He's a victim. He's got so much
in me to which he can, if he comes, he finds it in there.
He finds something in me in common with him. He finds something
in me. And he doesn't even have to come personally. He can just
send a thought wave, that's all. Or he can send a representative
in human flesh. He doesn't even have to be an
imp. Or a demon. Everybody talks about being demon-possessed
and all of this. My friends, we're flesh-possessed.
That's bad enough. One day he came to Abraham. You
want to turn over here? Let me show you something. And
this is the father of the faithful. This is the father. This is the
one, you know, that represents all believers. The pattern of
believers. Abraham believed God. It was
imputed to him for righteousness, and even so shall we have that
righteousness if we believe. But Abraham, he had a beautiful
wife. She must have been adorable.
And they went down into this strange country, and Satan made
a little suggestion to Abraham, chapter 12, verse 10. Abraham journeyed, and verse
10, chapter 12, see it, Genesis, there was a famine in the land.
And Abraham went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine
was grievous in the land. And it came to pass when he'd
come near to enter into Egypt that he said unto Sarah, his
wife. Now, I know that you are fair
to look upon. You're a beautiful woman. Therefore,
it shall come to pass when these Egyptians see you, they're going
to say this is his wife, and they're going to kill me. But
they'll save you because you're so pretty. Now, here's what I
want you to do. Tell them you're my sister, and
then it'll be well with me for your sake. I'm doing it for your
sake, honey. You don't want to be a widow,
do you? I'm doing it for your sake. I
like that. And my soul shall live because
of you. And you're going to do me a favor.
Oh, we're easy pickings. Here's the father of the faithful.
Here's the man who left his father's house. Here's the man who gave
Lot the best choice, the choice, acreage. Here's a man that went
down and delivered Lot and all of them from the kings of, the
evil kings, kings of Sodom, was it? Here's a man that went up
on top of the mountain and would plunge a knife into his son's
heart at God's command. Here's that man of faith doubting. But he came to Abraham again.
Look at Genesis 16. Watch this now. You know, God
promised him a son. And we're reasoners. We reason things out. This is
what God told me to do. I think God gets credit for a
lot of things He didn't tell us to do. In Genesis 16, now,
Saber, Abraham's wife, bear him no children. Genesis 16. She
had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Saber
said to Abraham, Now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing
children, I pray thee. Now you go in to the maid. It
may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abraham hearkened
to the voice of Saber. We see ourselves in We don't
lay claim to being as strong as these men. We don't lay claim
to having the faith of these men. We don't lay claim to being
patriarchs like these men are. But they were no match for Satan.
His suggestions? Our Lord said in 1 Corinthians,
He that thinketh, he standeth, let him take heed. Blessed Father. You don't want any dealings with
this fellow. You don't want any dealings with him. Turn, if you will, to 2 Samuel
chapter 11. Here's David. Here's our champion. Here's the sweet psalmist of
Israel. Here's the great king of Israel.
2 Samuel 11. 2 Samuel 11. Here's the one who wrote the
23rd Psalm, most of the Psalms. It came to pass, 2 Samuel 11,
2, in the evening tide that David arose from off his bed, walked
on the roof of the king's house. From the roof he saw a woman
washing herself, and she was beautiful to look upon, a woman
taking a bath. David sent and inquired after
the woman. One said, is this, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter
of Elam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? David sent messages
and took her. She came unto him. He lay with
her. My friends, when Satan comes to us, he finds something in
common in every one of us. It's there. It's there by birth.
It's there by nature. We see David, another illustration,
and he was a man after God's own heart. Another illustration,
his men were out there in the desert, in the mountains, in
the caves, and they were hungry. And he sent some of them down
to a fellow named Nabor. What was his name? Nabor or something
like that. Down there to Abigail's husband
to get some food. And the fellow said, well, I'm
not going to feed that renegade. David's a renegade. I'm not going
to send any food up there to him. So the messengers came back,
and David had saved his property. David had run the thieves off
this old man's property. And he said, I'm not sending
that renegade anything. And the men came back and told
David. And David didn't drop to his knees and pray for God's
grace and mercy to be upon Nabor. Is that how you say his name?
Nabor, I believe. Something like that. No, sir. David went in his tent, got his
sword and strapped it on and shoved it down in the, in the,
whatever you call that thing. And he called his men, the best
ones he had. He said, just get ready, boys. We're going down
there and kill every male in that place. Don't spare a baby
on a mother's breast. Boy, I tell you, Satan found,
not to mention Peter, who fell to fear. Not to mention Moses,
who vented his anger at the rock. Not to mention Noah, who by God's
grace floated through destruction and judgment while the whole
world perished and succumbed to drunkenness. Not to mention,
turn if you will to 2 Corinthians 12. Not to mention the Apostle
Paul. And I won't mention his conflict
with Barnabas over John Mark. Was it Barnabas? They split up. Had a fuss. One
went one way. Well, you can just go your way
and I'll go mine. But here in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 7, God
had to permit Satan to deal with Paul, lest I be exalted, lest
I be proud above measure through the abundance of the revelations
that was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of
Satan." Preacher, what are you saying
all this for? I'm saying all this to say this, the creature
is no match for Satan. We're like the chaff before the
winter wind. We're like the brittle straw
before the flame. Don't you get proud and arrogant. Don't you speak lightly of even
fallen dignities. Don't you speak lightly. He said,
if a brother be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest you also be
tested. Want to be? Do you want to be?
I don't. You're welcome to meet this avenger.
You're welcome to meet this archenemy of souls. You're welcome to meet
him. I pray daily for deliverance
from any personal contact with Satan in any shape, form, or
fashion. I just don't want any dealings with him. He's not omnipresent,
but he's somewhere. He's not omnipotent, but his
power is great. He's not omniscient, but His
knowledge of my frailty is totally sufficient to do whatever He
wants to do by God's permission. Our Lord said to His disciples,
He's coming! Here our Lord stood in human
flesh. Same eyes we got, same hands,
same organs, same body. That's right. He was bone of
our bone, flesh of our flesh. And here he stood before these
disciples and he said, this is not a game, this is not child's
play. I've told you these things, I've
comforted you, I won't leave you orphans, I'll send you my
spirit to you, I'll bless your work, but I'm not going to talk
to you much anymore. Prince of this world is coming. There's
a showdown. There's a frontal assault. There's
a final battle. I'm about to engage the prince
of this world. And I'll tell you, he came. He
came. He met our Lord in full array,
in full force, in full wrath. He met our Lord for a final showdown. He met our Lord with all the
dedication, pent up, saved up. Through all of these millenniums,
He met our Lord. And here's the results. Our Lord
said, He found nothing in me. Nothing. Oh, He found a lot in
me. He found it in Adam. He found
nothing, had nothing in common. He found in Adam ambition. He
found in Abraham doubt. He found in David Lust. He found in David pride and arrogance. He found in Moses anger. He found in Peter fear. He found
in Paul covetousness. He found we're in association
with him. It says in Ephesians 1 that we're
children of wrath even as others and we do what the prince of
darkness wants us to do. But when He came to my representative,
when He came to my Lord, clothed in human flesh, Christ said,
He's coming! And when He comes, He won't find
anything! He found no pride. He found no
lust. He found no fear. He found no
doubt. He found no selfishness. He found
no envy. He found no covetousness. He
found no jealousy. He found no guilt. He found no
ambition. He buffeted Him. He searched
Him. He tried Him in every way. Even the Father left Him alone. And He found nothing. found nothing. And here at this
very time, my righteousness was won. Because when he came to search
Christ, and when he came to engage Christ in battle, when he came
seeking to overcome Him, he engaged me at the same time in Christ,
my representative. And there my righteousness was
won, and there in that battle my redemption was secured, and
there my ransom was paid, and when it was over my Lord lifted
His voice in a cry that was heard to the farthest reaches of this
universe and to the deepest recesses of hell, It's finished! It's finished. And he died. And bless your heart, the Heavenly
Father raised the victor from the grave. He raised the conqueror,
the man Christ Jesus, and took him to glory and sat him at his
right hand. Satan's power was conquered.
Satan's power was broken. Satan, the prince of this world,
is cast out. There's no more battle to be
fought. Oh, it's finished. And now, let
him come to me in Christ. I don't want him any other way.
Turn to Romans 8, let me show you something. Let him come.
Let him come. Paul said, let him come! Romans
8, verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Verse 34, who is he that condemneth? Christ died. He rather is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. My friends lay hold on the full
meaning of this term. Christ is my wisdom, my righteousness,
my sanctification, and my redemption. There in my text, when he told
his disciples these words, He told him the full extent of the
victory of Calvary. The prince of this world is coming.
All of the charges, and condemnation, and darkness, and dedication,
and wrath, and vengeance, and fury rolled into one. He's coming. And when he comes, he's not going
to find one thing in me. And he's going to turn around
and depart. with Satan my accuser near. My spirit trembled when I saw
the Lord in majesty appear and I heard the language of his law.
In vain I wished and tried to hide the tattered filthy rags
I wore while my fierce evil foe insulting cried, see what you
trusted in before? struck dumb and left without
a plea. I heard the gracious Savior say,
No, Satan. I, this sinner, set free. I died
to take his sins away. This is a brand which I in love
to save from wrath and sin design. In vain your accusations prove. I answer them all. I claim them
mine. And at Christ's rebuke the tempter
fled. And then Christ removed my filthy
dress and said, poor sinner, take this robe, it's my perfect
righteousness, and see a crown of life I prepared that I might
thus your head adorn. I took all the shame, and I thought
the suffering not too hard, and I wore for thee a crown of thorns. And, oh, when I heard those gracious
words, they broke and healed my heart at once, and brought
me to love and trust my Lord, and all my idols renounce." Now,
Satan, you've lost your game against this brand. plucked from
the fire, your threats are vain." Jesus Christ plucked me from
that flame, and you can't put me back in again. He did it for me. That's what
we're talking about. That's what this is saying here.
I'm not going to talk to you much anymore, you see. My representative is going into
battle. He went into battle with all
the forces that hell could muster, evil, evil from generations and
eons and eras and the widest extent of the whole universe,
met together in one representative. Bless your heart, all God's people
met him in one representative, the Lord Jesus Christ. Forces of hell did engage my
champion in battle. And they came upon him with all
the subtlety, and craftiness, and insinuations, and ambitions,
and pride, and lust, and kingdoms, and glory, and glitter, and gold,
and all these things. And they tried him from every
angle. They tested him in every point. They engaged him in the
worst kind of battle, shame, humiliation, spittle, pain, soul
agony, suffering. Even the Father left him alone,
and they found nothing in him. And they went on back to hell.
He stood, and I stand. He lives, and I live, Joe. That's the only reason. Don't
get cocky. Don't get to be a fundamentalist
smart aleck. You feel you're saved, secure,
sanctified, separated, and set apart. You just live by his grace. All Satan has to do now is not
come himself. You're not worth his time. He
doesn't even have to send one of the chief ambassadors. Don't that humiliate us? All
he's got to do is send a whisper. That's all. All he's got to do
is send a little gentle breeze, and he'll find plenty in common
with you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Nothing to it. But I got to lay
claim to Christ. Got to enter into Him. Got to enter into Him. There
I'm safe. Nowhere else. Our Father blessed
this gospel to our understanding. Lord, Thine is the power and
the greatness and the majesty and the glory. Jesus Christ,
oh, there's something about that name. King of kings, Lord of lords,
victorious over sin, hell, shame, death, evil, darkness, the grave,
and our victories in Him. our sanctification in Him, our
provision. He's our portion. He's our food
and our drink. He's our security, our safety. He's our refuge. He's our life. He's our all. Deliver us from
the evil one. Oh, God, protect us. Show mercy
to us. Watch over us. Lead us. Our still
waters in green pastures give us peace of joy, peace of heart,
peace of mind, assurance and confidence. Only in Christ take
away from us that awful ungodly self-sufficiency and pride. Don't let Satan test us. You promise we'll not be tried
in a way greater than we can bear. We trust Thee. We thank
Thee for Christ, our victor. In His name we pray. Amen.