Go ahead and take it and make your way in it to Luke's Gospel, chapter 4. Today we'll look at the first 15 verses in a message that I am calling, Triumph Over Temptation. Temptation has been defined as the enticement of a God-given desire beyond God-given bounds. It's the taking and the twisting of a natural inclination. I mean, it might be something subtly or something very obviously, but it's twisting it so that it goes beyond the context for which it was created. Put simply, temptation is the desire to pervert that which is pure, and though temptation will many times or Every time present itself in the practical or in the natural, its roots are found in the spiritual. Paul the Apostle said it like this, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And what that means is that God has given to you, He's given to me, the necessary tools to triumph over temptation. The problem comes in when we're not really willing to simply employ those tools, but rather we just find it easier to just surrender to it, rather than try and fight against it. But the Bible is clear that no temptation has overtaken you except that which is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Now, I have discovered, perhaps you have as well, that many times it's on the heels of high times that hard times follow. that trouble many times follows triumph. Well, in Luke chapter 3, we find Jesus making His way onto His public platform. He's baptized, then the Spirit of God comes upon Him, and then the voice of God audibly speaks to Him and about Him, and I think that we can qualify that as a high time. Well, with regard to that, it's no wonder then that following here in chapter 4, we find Jesus entering into a hard time. He walks into the warfare. Notice with me verses 1 and 2, Luke chapter 4. We read here, Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, he was hungry." Okay, several things that begin to surface here that we want to make mention of. I'm just going to start drawing them out for you, not necessarily in a particular order of importance, but so that we might see them. And the very first thing that we need to see, and by the way, this one is, if I had to categorize it, this one is the single most important in the subject matter we'll peel out of these two verses, is the fact that Jesus was filled with the Spirit. Underline it, circle it, somehow make mention of it. When it comes to facing or fighting temptation, if you want to triumph over temptation, you cannot do it, I cannot do it, apart from being filled with the Spirit of God. And I want to point out to you, perhaps the obvious in this passage, and that is this. Jesus is all alone here. He has no emotional support group. He has no accountability partner. He has no family or friends to lean on or draw strength from. And on top of that we read that he was physically famished, that is he was fatigued, he was weak through a lack of nourishment, and yet he was able to triumph over these temptations and deal appropriately with and defeat the devil. Now some people feel like, and they almost set themselves up in such a way as they can't be alone. Listen, when it comes to this particular temptation, I can't be alone. I need the support of my friends or my family or else I will fall. Now listen, I am all for drawing strength from, friends, being accountable, and all of that. But the bottom line here is that Jesus had none of those things, and yet he was able to triumph over his temptation. How so? Well, we read here, because the Holy Spirit enabled him and empowered him to have Victory in his time of trial and temptation. Listen, if you're leaning solely on family or friends, you've set yourself up already for a fall when they are not around. You see, you've already justified something in your mind. As long as I've got my friends, as long as I can call on, then I will be. But what happens when they are not there? Now I have this sense of, well, you see, you need and I need to recognize the sufficiency of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. You see, it's imperative that we understand that Jesus was not drawing upon his deity to deal with the devil and these temptations. Because if that was the case, really, honestly, what would be the point of even recording this? Why, how would that? I mean, that's neat, it shows us that God's stronger than the devil, but how does that help us? Jesus was facing these temptations in the fullness of His humanity using the same resources that are available to you and me, namely, the power of the Spirit of God and the authority of the Word of God. And the idea here is that God has given us the necessary tools to triumph over temptation, and Jesus is demonstrating that in this passage. But listen, apart from the Spirit of God in your life, it won't happen. Okay? I want you to notice that he was filled with the Spirit and he was led by the Spirit. Did you see that in verse one? Being filled with the Holy Spirit, he returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. What does that mean? It means he wasn't looking for a fight. He wasn't stepping out there going, come on, devil, bring it on, give me what you got. You know, you see some groups trying to get all up in the enemy's face, kind of like that or whatever. No, this wasn't anything like that. The Spirit led him into an arena whereby he would be tried. Now listen, it's true that the Lord will lead us, the Spirit of God will lead us into or beside still waters. He will make us to lie down in green pastures and all of that. But equally true is the fact that He will lead us at times into the wilderness, if you will, whereby we will be tried." Now, we understand that sometimes trials are necessary in our lives. We've spoken of the refiner's fire, the fact that God likes to burn away those things in our lives that distract us from Him. those things that confuse us concerning our need for Him and how desperately we are dependent upon Him. He likes to show Himself strong on our behalf. But as for Jesus, this is where we get a little bit like, what's the deal there? Because He had no sin nature. He had no need of refining. As God, He couldn't sin, so He wouldn't sin. So I mean, why put Him to the test? And there's a few things with that. We've already mentioned the fact that though He was fully God, Jesus fully God, fully man, not 50-50, 100-100, okay? But He was fully God and fully man, but He faced the temptations in His humanity. He confronted temptation as a man. But we're able to see then that God has given to humanity, as we already made mention, the tools necessary to triumph over these temptations, to have victory through the person and the power of the Holy Spirit. We also realize, though, that it was necessary for Jesus to be tempted so that He could sympathize with you, with me, with our weaknesses. We read in the book of Hebrews, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Now don't let this confuse you, okay? A lot of times people take issue with this verse when it says that He was in all points tempted as we are. That does not mean that if you're tempted to smoke crack, that Jesus was tempted to smoke crack. Okay? Doesn't mean that if you are tempted with pornography that Jesus was tempted with pornography. Or because you want to go get drunk, well Jesus must have wanted to get drunk. Or something like that. No, what this is saying is that Jesus was tempted in every arena through which temptation comes to man, therefore he is able to identify with every temptation of man. You see, the Bible teaches that temptation will come to you through one of three means, okay? There are three portals, if you will, through which temptation will find you. Satan only has three plays in his book and he has ran them over and over and over again from the beginning. He ran those plays in the garden with Eve and Adam. He will run those plays right here in our passage with regard to His temptation of Christ. And He will seek to run those same plays in your life. The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 2 in verse 16 that all that is in the world categorically, emphatically, without exception you see, the lust of the flesh, The lust of the eyes and the pride of life. These things are not of the Father, but of the world. So that, what that means is that when temptation visits your life, it will always be in one of these three arenas. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or it will appeal to your sense of pride. The pride of life. And don't think that the word lust is limited in a sexual context. It is not. Okay? It speaks of coveting something. Of having a desire for something in a manner that goes beyond those God-given parameters. And that God created context. Okay. Because Jesus was fully man, but fully God as well. There are those who think that maybe, well, you know, they want to believe that the temptations weren't really real for Jesus because He was God, therefore He couldn't sin, He wouldn't sin. But the fact of the matter is that the temptations that confronted Christ were of a much greater magnitude than anything that you and I could ever even conceive or will ever face. For you, For me, temptation, well, when it becomes too great, we will at times break down, we will find a release from it, from simply giving in to it. It's like, listen, this is plaguing me, it's bugging me, it won't leave me be, I'll just do it, and then it'll stop, you know? And there are times that we will, that I do, that you have failed. But with Jesus, He could never do that. So regardless of how heavy the pressure was put on Him, He would never bend, He would never break, He would take that pressure on His person to the full. In a way that you and I could never apprehend or understand. Something else that we see here in these first two verses is the fact that Jesus had fasted for 40 days. He ate nothing. Fasting, of course, is a denial of the flesh. It is not a weight loss program, okay? It is not something that we do while we're entertaining ourselves in other ways to keep our minds off the fact that we're fasting or anything like that. Fasting is to be done in such a way as to deny my flesh and to seek the heart and the mind of God. That's the point behind it, okay? And we also read that he was tempted for 40 days. Don't think that he was in the wilderness for 40 days and then he was tempted. No. He was being tempted and tried this whole time. What we have here is an account of a few of the scenarios by which he was tempted that came to him there at the close or at this time whereby the 40 days had finished. Okay. I guess we could point out the correlation between his 40 days of fasting and Moses fasting 40 days on Mount Sinai. We could talk about his 40 days and Elijah's 40 days of fasting. Of course we could mention his 40 days in the wilderness and Israel's 40 years in the wilderness. And certainly there are interesting correlations and things to think through about concerning all of that stuff. But what I want to do is just point out the fact that at the end of that time, those 40 days, he was hungry, okay? And then we'll start moving on. It's significant that we're told that he was hungry at the end of 40 days. because at your body there are phases of fasting, and there are cycles that take place, where after a few days, your body will cease to hunger anymore. And you might go a week or ten days with no hunger whatsoever, and then you might hunger a little bit more, and then it'll enter a second phase, and go even longer, where you won't feel hunger pains, or there won't be this desire like, oh my goodness, I'm starving, and this and that. But at the end of that period, When your body starts to hunger again, it points to a renewed hunger, points most probably to the critical need for food. What this is saying is that Jesus' body is beginning to starve to death. Okay? He has not eaten in so long that now this hunger pain is pointing to a critical need for food. He's beginning to starve. Well, it's no wonder then that the first temptation that comes to Christ has to do with food. But, before we look at that, I wanted to point out that what we're seeing here in Jesus is pretty much, oftentimes, I find, the polar opposite in position of where we so often are. What are you saying? Well, what I'm saying is that we find Jesus in this passage filled with the Holy Spirit, but with an empty stomach. As to where so many times we are filled, our stomachs are filled, while our spirit is starving. You understand what I'm saying? Okay. Now look at verse three. And the devil said to him, if you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread. But Jesus answered him saying, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Okay, we'll stop right there, if I could have your attention please. First things first, believe me when I tell you that Satan was not questioning the identity of Christ. The word if here would have been better translated, since, okay? Since you are the son of God. You say, well then, why didn't they just translate it that way? And the answer to that is, I have no idea. I have no idea why they didn't do that. But the word if is used in a number of ways in every language. On occasion, it expresses doubt. But then in another occasion, in another context, it basically says, because or since. You know, an employer comes home every day, griping about his secretary or someone who's, you know, making mistakes, costing the company money, whatever the case may be. His wife looks at him and says, well, if you're the boss, why don't you fire her? Or whatever, you know, and the idea there is, hey, since you're the boss, Why don't you act like the boss, take an appropriate course of action to end the scenario that you're struggling with? And that's what we have going on here. Since you're the Son of God, why don't you act like God and command this stone, these stones, to become bread? What He's doing, you guys, is seeking to entice Jesus to cater to the lust of His flesh. That's the first one, the lust of the flesh. physical temptation. Hey, the temptation to eat something inappropriate worked pretty well on the first sinless man, so why not try it again on the second sinless man, right? But notice how subtle it is. I mean, think it through. What's wrong with feeding yourself? I mean, after all, you've been fasting for 40 days. Well, you guys, this is so often just the way it works. Satan appeals to a legitimate desire within Jesus, I mean, to eat and to survive, but he suggests that Jesus satisfy that desire in an illegitimate way. And this is the essence of temptation. He's seeking, listen, he's seeking to get Jesus, here's the phrase, feed His flesh. Are you hearing me? He's seeking to get Jesus to feed His flesh, to serve Himself, to look out for number one, to give in to a physical urge and let that become the dominating force behind the decision that He makes. Are you hearing me with that? You understand what I'm saying? He's saying, allow the appetite of your flesh to be the dominating factor behind the decision you make. Okay, Jesus responds. Hey, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Few things with that. Notice that Jesus doesn't try to debate him or employ his own opinion. Oh yeah, well this is what I think. No, he doesn't do that. He was filled with the Spirit, He was led by the Spirit, therefore He employed the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, Ephesians chapter 6, write it down, read it later. You remember, the weapons of our warfare, we started our introduction with it, are not carnal, that is, they are not physical, they are mighty in God. casting down arguments, pulling down strongholds, all of these kinds of things. They're mighty in God. When Jesus is confronted by the endeavors of the enemy, he engages via the word of God. So, number one, Jesus shows us that when it comes to warfare, spiritual warfare, it is imperative that we have a working knowledge of the word of God. Okay, now we're going to get to that a little bit more a little bit later. But I want you to notice that he says, that he acknowledges, he quotes the fact that we are to feed on every word of God. Okay? Every word. What that means is that there's no part of your Bible, there's no aspect of the Scripture that is not good for your inner man. Okay? From cover to cover, we're to take in and chew on the entirety of God's Word. Paul spoke of the importance of the whole council. We're to live by the Word of God. All of it. And God has given us, Peter said, everything in His Word that pertains to life and godliness. What we should do, examples of what not to do, and what happens if you pursue to do what we're not to do. There's wisdom, insight, understanding, it's all there. It's all in your Bible, okay? We're to read it, we're to glean a working knowledge of it. Something else we see here is that when Jesus quotes this verse, which is Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 3, by the way, And it's interesting to do this on your own, we don't have time, but do this on your own, take these verses that he quotes, go back and consider the context from which they are drawn. And you'll find it amazingly applicable to what's going on right here. For instance, this verse is quoted when Moses is reminding the people, the children of Israel, prior to going in to the promised land, that there was a day when they were griping, they were complaining because they had nothing to eat, And God fed them, provided for them by giving them bread from heaven. And he says, you know, man is not to live by bread alone. God took care of you, but you don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And Jesus draws out of the same thing where he's hungry and the enemy's coming to him saying, God isn't going to take care of you. You know, you got bills to pay, whatever the case may be, there's no bread. What are you going to do? You see, And he says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. But when he says man, when he quotes this verse and he says man, what he's doing is identifying himself once again with man, okay? Man shall not live. He's saying I'm not meeting these temptations in my deity, but in my humanity. Now, how are we then to counter Satan's seductive lies? By shining the truth of the word of God upon them. Here's the deductive reasoning from that, okay? If you are ignorant of God's word, you are poorly armed in the fight against temptation. There should be a sense of urgency that you would receive the exhortation to get into the word of God to know it, that you might wage wise warfare for those things that enter into your life. Thirdly, Jesus is showing us that it's not the physical, but it's the spiritual that's to dominate and determine our course of action. Jesus, see it, Jesus refused to be a slave to the simple impulse of his flesh. He would not succumb to it, He would not submit to it, it would not enslave Him. The appetites of His flesh would not enslave Him. True satisfaction, hear me you guys on this, don't miss this, true satisfaction will never be found in feeding the appetites of the flesh, but by leading a life subservient to the Word of God. Contentment is not found in the things of the flesh. but rather in the things of the Spirit. Listen, we're not too far from Thanksgiving, are we? I mean, it's like, what, six weeks down the road, eight weeks? I don't know, we're not too far. It's just right around the corner. And by the way, I love that holiday. I mean, you know, there's something about a feast that just, well, I mean, I'm all about it. I don't have a problem with that. I'm thankful for it, you know? I love that. In my home, and I assume in most homes here, there's plenty. There's an abundance. There's more food than you could ever hope to pound down in a single gathering. And when it comes to that day, I hope that you just eat beyond the full. You know what I'm saying? Where you're just kicking back going, oh man, I couldn't eat another bite if I wanted to. But guess what's gonna happen the next morning when you wake up? you're gonna be hungry again. You know what I'm saying? That hunger will come again. Your flesh refuses to be satisfied. You think, man, I could never eat again. And then like by evening, you're going, where's all that pie, you know? And you're like, you're kind of just like grazing, you know what I mean? You're thinking, man, if I just got a better home, a bigger house, then all my needs would be met, I'd never need anything else, I'd be satisfied. So you work and you slave and you grind and you do all the things you gotta do, you finally get it, you think, man, this is it. And then like six months, a year goes by, the house payments are hitting you hard, you've already run out of room, no more storage space, and you're going, what is this? It's kind of a thing, you outgrow it, you think, you thought your starter home would be the one you'd retire in, and then you just go, man, it ain't enough. Man, that car was gonna be all I ever needed. But now the bills, I don't like them and it's got a dent in it and the news worn off and it's more of a burden than a blessing. You know, because the flesh is never satisfied. OK, it always wants more. You'll hunger again. You try to feed the flesh, you'll hunger again. And Jesus recognized that and he refused to feed his flesh, but rather he would submit to the will of God for his life. Now look at verse five. Then the devil, taking him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. This would be a radical thing to see, I'm certain. And the devil said to him, all this authority I will give you, and their glory, for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be yours. And Jesus answered and said to him, Get behind me, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve." Temptation number two, the lust of the eyes. Satan showed him. All the kingdoms of the world and their glory. There was an enticement there. There was that sense of, look at what I have to offer you. All this authority I will give to you. It's been delivered to me. And I can give it to whomever I wish. And I'll give it to you, if you'll just worship before. That's all it's going to take. Now, it's been pointed out before that Jesus didn't take issue with that fact. all of the kingdoms and all of the authority had been given to Satan, he didn't go, "'It has not, you liar.'" You know? He didn't do that. Because the fact of the matter is, it was delivered to him. Adam forfeited all of that authority when he sinned, when he fell, when the fall took place there in the garden. The Bible calls Satan the ruler of this world. John chapter 12 verse 31, Jesus called him the ruler of this world. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4, Paul calls him the god of this age. And so understand, you know, that He can impart authority to whomever He wishes. Now when we think about that, understanding that, it shouldn't really surprise us then when we see evil or ungodly men in places of power upon the earth. They should not shock you or stun you or chagrin you in some way. Satan can give authority to whom he wishes. Okay. But here's the deal. It's Jesus' destiny to rule the earth. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation. We know that every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. It'll happen, you know, to do so now equals salvation. To do so later is simply an acknowledgement and an addition to the condemnation. You see what I'm saying? I mean, you will do it. I will do it. I have done it. I do it gladly, you know. But the bottom line here is that it's his destiny to rule the world. Jesus knew that, and Satan knew that. But what's going on here, what's happening here, is that Satan is offering Jesus, if you'll see it, he's offering Jesus a shortcut of sorts. But here's what you and I need to realize. There are no shortcuts in the Christian life. and there is no easy way to spiritual victory and maturity. God's plan for Jesus to rule the earth would be through the redemptive power of the cross. First the suffering, then the glory. Satan offers Jesus to let Him sort of circumvent the suffering and head straight for the glory ruling the nations. All He had to do was take a knee, was to give homage, was to worship before Him, and it could all be His. What's the catch? Listen. It would mean that Jesus could rule over all of them. But listen, He couldn't redeem any of them. Apart from the shedding of blood, there could be no remission. Jesus could bring peace upon the earth, but peace with God comes through the blood of the cross of Christ. You see, God's plan starts with suffering and it ends in glory. Satan's plan starts with glory and it ends in suffering. He wants you to sacrifice the eternal for the temporary. Just take the easy way, you see. God's way served the greater good. Bringing peace on the earth is good. I mean, don't get me wrong, that'd be a good thing. but bringing peace and reconciliation with God is a greater thing. Listen, we can never lose by choosing God's will, and we can never gain by choosing what seems good if it's not God's plan or purpose for us. You understand that? It's not always about doing what seems good, it's about doing what's right. It's not about what I have the right to do, it's about what's right to do. You understand the difference? It's not about what I have the right to do. It's about what's right to do. What's the right thing to do? And it's always been Satan's desire to be worshiped, to be like the Most High. But once again, Jesus combats the satanic deception by shining the light of the word of God on it. It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Now Satan didn't say anything about serving him, But Jesus understood something very clearly, and that is, that what you worship, you will serve. You serve the object of your worship, make no mistake. Now, in verse nine we read, then he, that is Satan, brought him, that is Jesus, to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, meaning the highest point, which is believed to have been over the Kidron Valley, some estimate about 450 feet in the air, about 45 stories over the valley. That would be the distance down to the bottom of the valley. And he said to him, if you're the son of God, Throw yourself down from here, for it is written." You know, you want to get into this written kind of tennis match, Jesus? Okay. You've said it's written. You've said it's written. Listen, it's written. "'For He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you, and in their hand they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answered and said to him, it has been said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Thirdly, finally, the pride of life. Do something sensational, Jesus. Show the people through miraculous means who you are. Show them how much faith you have by demonstrating your trust in the Word of God. After all, it is written. I mean, did you catch that? You guys, you need to know that Satan is a Bible scholar. Okay, don't be impressed or persuaded to believe someone simply because they're rattling off Bible verses. They're quoting scripture and things of that nature. Satan quoted the Bible. Perhaps I should say he misquoted the Bible. I mean, he left out a little bit there. But the little he left out is a critical key. But Satan is a master at twisting the scripture to his own ends. Some have said that he's a Bible scholar because he's always looking for loopholes. I don't know if that's the case, but I know some people that seem to be Bible scholars looking for loopholes. Listen, simply using words that are in the Bible doesn't necessarily constitute a conveyance of the will of God. You know what I mean? Satan was trying to make it appear as though in doing this, Jesus would actually be demonstrating how much he trusted God. In reality, it would be an act of unbelief, putting His Word to the test. You don't test someone you trust. Listen, the only reason I'm going to test your Word is if I'm not sure I can trust your Word. You understand what I'm saying? In reality, That passage, which is Psalm 91, by the way, if you want to read it on your own sometime, it says this, He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. In all whose ways? Catch the context, in all of God's ways. in all of God's ways. And you see, you can claim the promises of God when you're walking in the will of God, when you're in submission to the Word of God. Outside of that, you're not trusting God, you're tempting God. You're presuming upon God. And that's not faith, my friends, that's foolishness. Now again, Jesus rightly divides the Word of Truth. He says, it's been said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Now I brought this up earlier. Here's where we conclude the thought process. In order to employ the Word of God, it's absolutely imperative that I have a practical, working knowledge of the Word of God. That is, if I'm not putting God's Word into my heart, then the Holy Spirit cannot draw God's Word out of my heart. I cannot stress it, emphasize it, highlight it, underscore it enough, okay? Remember the words of the psalmist, your word have I hidden in my heart. Why? That I might not sin against you. See, the word of God will act as a check in your heart, you know? You come across a scenario, you find yourself in a situation, and it's a sinful situation, and you know so, the word of God begins to To place that check, to shine that light, to give you that sense of, hey, this is inappropriate, you see. And I'm not going to be party to it or something like that. How can I walk in the light of God's Word? You know, thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, it is a light unto my path. How can I walk in the light of the Word of God if it's not shining in my heart, you see? Jesus utilized the Word of God in each one of these scenarios. I mean, just think about if Jesus wasn't really familiar with the Scriptures and Satan started quoting these Bible verses to try and motivate and manipulate Him. You know, what if Jesus would have said, well, I mean, the Bible does say that. Because He didn't know what else the Bible said. You know? The context of the whole counsel The totality of the counsel of God's word, that's what's critical. We've got to be men and women, you guys, who study it and rightly divide it. It's very important. Again, I can't stress it enough. You need to be chewing on and meditating on and thinking through and letting the word permeate into you that the Holy Spirit might draw it out of you in time of need. Okay, verse 13. Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him, underline it, until an opportune time. The battle was not over. Satan was waiting for an opportune time. And you're only deceiving yourself if you believe it's all over after you've successfully resisted a round of temptation. Every now and then I kind of enjoy that whole MMA thing, you know, the mixed martial arts. I like watching that. I don't know, some people don't. But there's a fella named Matt Hughes who's in there, and I don't know how many fights he's got left, but I like him. But he has a clothing line, and it's called One More Round, you know. And that's kind of the whole thing. There's always one more round. Always be ready to go. One more round, you know? And it's the kind of that when it comes to spiritual warfare, maybe you've successfully resisted for one round. There's one more, there's always another round. He's gonna come back, resist Him, He will flee, but He will look for opportune time to strike again. You resist Him that He might flee from you. You see, Jesus resisted these temptations by walking in the Word and in the Holy Spirit. And you will triumph over temptation in like manner. Now listen, there's another detail here that we need not miss. It wasn't just the fact that Jesus was able to quote Bible verses that made His warfare so effective, as though it's like some sort of, you know, Hindu prayer wheel or something. You just gotta read these words and, you know, and it's kind of like some superstition or something that if you're reading these words that you're bringing good fortune on yourself and all of that. No, what it was was that He led His life in obedience to the Word. Okay? He wasn't a hearer only, just kind of, oh here I am and I'm going to shout out these Bible verses and then go back to doing whatever I do. No, he wasn't a hearer only deceiving himself, he was a doer of the Word. And what's going to make you effective in fighting the good fight isn't only knowing the Word. but it's going to be doing the word, okay? So critical. Now verse 14, finally we read, then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of him went out through all the surrounding region. and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all." Now, we'll pick up here next time, but Jesus emerges from His time of testing stronger than ever, filled with the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, walking in the power of the Spirit. Verse 15 unveils the focal point of the ministry of Jesus teaching the people. He was teaching the Word of God so as to equip the people of God And it was the custom of Christ to be in the synagogue. What's that mean? Listen, it means Jesus went to church. It was his custom to go to church. And it should be the practice pattern of our lives as well. Okay, final thought, listen. Be filled with the spirit of God. Be led by the spirit of God. Be one who studies the word of God. hiding God's word in your heart, that you might not sin against God, but rather like Christ, you might triumph over temptation. All right, let's pray. God, may we respond to your word today in a manner that's wise. May we learn of Christ and lead lives better able to give you glory. Would You fill us with Your Spirit, help us to thirst for Your Word, help us to recognize the wiles, the ways of the wicked one, to see the subtleties of our enemy that we might respond appropriately and walk in holiness, Father. I pray that You would help us to lead our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit, that You might have Your way in us, that we might Hunger after what you have for us that we might be a people set apart to your purpose for our lives You know while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed I don't know maybe as we were reading God's Word today you picked up on the fact that This world is in its current state under the authority in many respects to Satan We talked about the fact that it's no wonder that there's corruption and ungodliness in places of power and influence. Satan is the ruler of this world. He's the god of this age. But you know what? That means that you are either a citizen of the kingdom of God or of the kingdom of Satan. It doesn't mean that you set your heart to do evil. I mean, it may be inadvertent. On your part, not intentional, I mean, it's nothing you'd want. But there's only one of two places that you can be. In God's kingdom. Or in Satan's kingdom. You're either in light. Or you're in darkness. You're either for Christ. Or you are against him. But God so loved this world that he gave his only begotten son, that he might translate you, that he might take me from the power of darkness and into the kingdom of the son of his love. Jesus made a way through the shedding of His blood for us to be forgiven of all our sin, to be made right in the sight of God. And if that's your need, then be encouraged to open your heart and surrender to Christ, even today. I don't care where you've come from. I don't care where you've been or what you've done, how young you are, how old you are. Maybe you've gone to church. Maybe you know about church. Maybe this is your very first time in church. I don't know. But what I do know is that Jesus stands at the door of your heart and He's knocking. He wants in. And if you'll open the door, He will come in and He will forgive you and He will make you brand new. He'll give you new life. If anyone be in Christ, He's a new creation. Old things pass away. Behold, all things are made new. Are you tired of this life? If you realize that the things of this world don't satisfy, you're always hungry for more contentments found in Christ. You drink of the wells of this world, you'll thirst again. That's why Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. If you drink of these waters, you'll thirst again. If you drink of the water that I have to give you, you'll never thirst. It means he wants to give contentment to your heart, a satisfaction that's not found in the things of this world. Listen, I've gone on long enough. Here's what I need to do. I'm just gonna open the door to you. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. We're just kind of meditating on the Lord, giving glory to the Lord in our hearts. But if you need Jesus Christ to come into your heart, I don't know everybody here, maybe we're just a big happy family in Christ. I think that's awesome. But maybe you don't know the Lord. Maybe there's something about this that's resonating in you in a way that's different than what you thought previously. And you go, man, there's something real about this. And I need in on it. Is that you? If so, I want to pray for you. Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. I'm just going to ask you to raise your hand wherever you're at. When I see it, you can put it back down if you want to. But I just want to pray for you. If you'd say, yeah, Jeff, I want you to pray for me, man. I need Christ in my life. I want to be forgiven. I want to be made new. I want contentment. All of these things, whatever. God's dealing with you. I want to pray for you. Now's your time. If you want to receive Christ, just raise your hand. If I see it, I'll say it, you can put your hand back down. Is there anybody at all that I can pray for in that capacity? God's just dealing with you. He's speaking to you, wanting to give new life to you. Lord, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. We're so thankful for the opportunity that you provide for us. and the washing of the water of Your Word. It's my prayer, Lord, that the seed of Your Word would just be rooted deeply in the soil of our hearts, that we might be a people who bring forth fruit for Your glory. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.