The Story Of Jesus's Fasting | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

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We hope this message will light up your day.

I've been teaching well at least I began a simple

not simple, but it's going to be an ongoing series

which I hope to teach from the Book of Matthew,

the Gospel of Matthew. And I think when I started

off at Matthew three, chapter three, about a couple of

weeks ago, I was talking about John the Baptist and

teaching on baptism. And today we're going to continue on

from where we left off. Of course, after what John

the Baptist did. We know that as you read on

in the scriptures in chapter three of the Gospel of Matthew,

it goes on to talk about Jesus being baptized, and

then what happened when Jesus was baptized, and then what

happened immediately after Jesus was baptized in chapter four. So

this is why we are going to be venturing into

We're going to go through the scriptures systematically to a

certain extent. We're going to go through it, and I

hope to be able to draw out some truths in

which I pray that it will encourage us, but not

just encourage us, more importantly prepare us, because everything in

scripture we can learn from, and we've got to learn

from these scriptures because this is God's instructions to us. Amen,

everyone doing, Okay, Okay, I'm gonna just go on and

on until hopefully not beyond twelve thirty. And so I

pray that there's some clarity today and we can learn

from God's work together. Matthew, Chapter three, verse sixteen. I'm gonna,

like I said, just quickly read the last part of

chapter three, which may not have been read last two

weeks ago, but it says this, Okay, Matthew, Chapter three,

verse sixteen, before we go into chapter four. It says,

after his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water,

the heavens were open, and he saw the spirit of

God descending like a derve and settling on him, and

a voice from heaven said, this is my dearly loved son,

who brings me great joy.

Wow.

I love it when I read this. No, I mean

it's sometimes it sounds almost magical. No, Jesus' baptism and now,

of course my rap baby wondering whenever happened to me yesterday,

and when the heavens didn't open up, the derth didn't

come down. It's I actually pray for every baptismal candidate

as they go through the waters of baptism, that they

will also experience the Spirit of God come upon their lives,

because Jesus actually experienced it almost simultaneously. That means if

I read the scriptures correctly, and it's up to you

to interpret it, but just reading it, it seems to

tell me that as Jesus was water baptized, he was

also baptized in the spirit, the spirit feel him, and

that's where he got the power thereafter to do what

he was called to do. So let's study and let's

look at some unique features of Jesus' baptism, and not

for you to compare and wonder how is it so

different from what I went through? Because whatever it is,

I understand that baptism, the essence of it is actually obedience,

because I thought the last time around that even Jesus,

who did not need to be baptized, there was no

need for the son of God or the son of

Man to be baptized because he had nothing to bury.

He was perfect in his own right, but years he

obeyed the commandment of God the Father in the scriptures

to go through the waters of baptism. And that's why

John the Baptist found it so hard to do. Initially

because he says, I'm not worthy to baptize you, but

because it's also in the scriptures, I'm going to do

it living out his blessing. And unique features of Jesus'

baptism is this, Jesus saw heaven being torn open, and

suddenly there was a white derth that came down. And

we know the white dearth is the symbol of the

Holy Spirit. It represents order and power. That's what the

Holy Spirit does in our lives. Whenever the Holy Spirit

comes upon earth, the Holy Spirit brings order. That's why

we can sing of the song that ali let us.

Just now the worship band letters he what was it again, Alie?

There's something about chaos who turns the chaos into order.

It's the spirit of God that turns the chaos into order.

Can you imagine at the inception, at the beginning of

it all, there was nothing and for someone to make

something out of nothing, it was just.

Chaos, and then there was order.

And it was done in the orderly fashion and in

the orderly manner, and that's in six days the entire

universe was created. And you see all that God is

a god of order. The Spirit of God represents that order.

And there was power, both order and power right at

the inception. Because if it wasn't power, how do you

think any of this came about. It could not have

come about just by chance or accident, which is what

a lot of people subscribe to. Oh, the whole universe

was created by chance when someone decided to fart. No,

that's not what happened. Really, there was power and there

was order because when God spoke, he spoke power, and

so that is a unique feature of the Holy Spirit.

And the derv represents the Holy Spirit that descended upon

the son of men. You see, Jesus did not preach

a single sermon or perform any miracles before this moment.

It's not recorded in scriptures that he did.

And so we can take it for the fact that

it did not happen until he went through the waters

of baptism and anointed in the Holy Spirit. Why not, well,

because being a real human being as well as the

son of God, he could not do it without the

Spirit's power, and Jesus needed an anointing of the Holy

Spirit with power to do what he eventually went ondoing.

If the power of the same Holy Spirit who came

down upon Jesus at the Jordan River is available to us,

then the truth of what Jesus said. And you know,

Jesus actually said this in John fourteen, verse twelve. He says,

anyone who has faith in me will do what I

have been doing. In fact, he will do it even

better than me, even greater things this person will do

if this person has faith in me, that's amazing, right.

There was a vision that he gave and he left

with the people.

Of course, I don't know whether they were dumbfounded back

then or they were like, when the world is he

talking about? Does it even make sense? But that is

the vision that we should hang on to. And I

believe he should encourage every Christian and every believer to

realize that if the Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus

that enabled him, empowered him to do all that he

came here to this earth to do and to fulfill

his commands, his commandment, to fulfill the commandment that God

gave him is made available to us. Do we not

want the Holy Spirit in our lives? You know, I

read a story of D. L.

Moody. I don't know how many of y'all know who D. L.

Moody is.

Maybe you should pick up some books and read about D. L. Moody.

He's an amazing evangelist who went around just really winning

souls for the Lord. And he realized that he claimed that. Actually,

he says that if that power that was made available

to Jesus I can obtain. I know I can go

and do all things through Christ, Jesus who empowers me

through his Holy Spirit. And we know he just hung

on to that promise, and he went on and on

and on, and so we take none that the power

of the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism.

There was something that was unique. And then, of course,

not only was there a derth, there was also a

voice which was obviously God speaking. And then you notice

that God quotes the Old Testament twice, So technically God

was quoting himself. Okay, because God quoting scriptures okay, and

he is the original word in himself. But I think

what is interesting is what he said because he said

you are my son in whom I dearly love, or

you are my.

Son in whom I delight in.

And you can actually see the references in Psalms chapter

two and also Isaiah forty one, So it's referred here

inside Arms chapter two. You actually see it talking about

you are my son. It's from that portion of scripture,

and the context in which Psalms Chapter two is written

in is actually part of a coronation service. You know

what the coronation services is basically a king being and

trone put up on a throne. So Psalms chapter two,

that where you see that verse or that phrase you

are my son, is actually for a coronation service for

a sovereign. Compath this with compared this with Isaiah forty

two verse one, in which you see the same words

in whom ideal in whom is I'm well pleased with,

in whom I'm ideally love. It's not referring to a sovereign,

but it's actually referring to a servant. And this is

the amazing thing when you look at both Psalms two seven,

which is concerning the highest position that a person can

have a sovereign, you are my son and Isaiah forty two,

in whom I delight it concerns the lowest of the law.

And in the count of Jesus being baptized, we actually

see that Father God wanted him to combine the highest

and the lowest, the greatest sovereign and the humblest servant

in his ministry. It's amazing, and that is what baptism

meant to Jesus. It men taking the responsibility of being

king of kings and servant of servants. And how do

you combine the two?

I know.

Only if you look at the life of Jesus Christ,

can you actually see the highest and the lowest perfectly combine,

perfectly merge and I see someone who can wash the

feet of his own disciples and wear a crown with

equal dignity.

I see someone who can fit.

Into any form of society, who can fit anywhere in

the social skill. Only Jesus was able to do that,

and he was able to do that in the power

of the Holy Spirit. You believe we too can be

anointed with the Holy Spirit. It's the question that we

have to ask ourselves, because I want you to know

that the Holy Spirit is made available to each and

every one of Us here today. And that's why we

need to desire, because really ministry it's both in the

authority of Christ Jesus, which means that we serve the

King of kings, but we also serve the servant King

who serve his people. Amen, let's now take note of that,

have in mind and remember Jesus's baptism and the uniqueness

of it. And then now we want to go into

the next part, because immediately we go into chapter four

of the Gospel of Matthew, and then it just reads

in the NLT translation is entitled the Temptation of Jesus.

And so I'm going to read the first eleven verses

of the Gospel of Matthew. In chapter four, it says this,

Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness

to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days

and forty nights, he fasted and became very hungry. During

that time, the devil came and said, to him, if

you are the son of God, tell these stones to

become lows of brain. But Jesus told him no. The

scriptures say people do not live by braid alone, but

by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him.

To the Holy City Jerusalem, to the highest point of

the temple, and said, if you are the son of God,

jump off, For the scripture says he will order his

angels to protect you, and they will hold you up

with your hands so you won't even hurt your food

on a stone. Jesus responded, the scripture also says you

must not test the Lord your God. Next, the devil

took him to the peak of a very high mountain

and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and

their glory. I will give it all to you, he said,

if you will kneel down and worship me, get out

of here, satan, Jesus told him, for the scripture says

you must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.

Then the devil went away, and angels came and took

care of Jesus. Okay, this, of course is an account

of Jesus in the wilderness, and we know and we

have read on different occasions, Jesus was alone for how

many days after his baptism forty days? Forty days, and

so the first thing you have to ask is was

he really alone?

Okay?

Was he really alone, because we just read right at

the very start, it was the Spirit of God that

led him into the wilderness.

So the spirit was with him.

Satan met him in the wilderness, and so Satan was

with him. He was with the wild beest, because we

know we read the scriptures, the wild beasts were prowling around.

And then of course at the end of it, we

know that the angels came and ministered to Jesus, and

so technically Jesus was not really alone in the wilderness

because of those different ones who were there with him,

even though humanly speaking, it looks like he was alone.

So the wilderness was where the real battle began. On

the one side, there was the Spirit and Jesus and

the angels. On the other side you have the wild

beasts and the devil, and so you got both natural

and supernatural forces that were being engaged. And it's very

significant that we take notre of this. It was our

after the high moment of Jesus's baptism that this battle

took place, and there is a spiritual battle that is

actually ongoing in all of our lives, and Jesus also

went through it, you know, right after baptism right after

he came out with the power of the Holy Spirit,

he went through this and thank God, after forty days,

we know that he came out victorious as well, because

he won this battle, this first battle. And so temptations

happened when Jesus was alone. Okay, like I said, there

were other people, or there were other persons there with him,

But the reality is temptations always happened in the wilderness

of our lives when we are alone. And we know

that there is no other way in which anyone else

could have recorded all this unless Jesus told them the

account of what happened, because he was with no other

human being actually, and so how do they get the scriptures?

How do they know that what happened, what took place.

I believe Jesus spoke and told the disciples, told those

who are recording the scriptures, this is what happened in

the wilderness. And why did he have to share this experience?

I thank God he shared it because it is because

of what He has shared that today we've got so.

Much to learn from.

And that's what we want to learn from today, and

we want to be encouraged by what God has said

and taught in the scriptures.

Amen.

So the question we have to ask is, actually, what's

the big deal about temptations? It's ok, I'm not I'm

someone who is not easily tempted. On I'm resolved, I'm strong. No.

I know some people will claim that. I don't dare

to claim that. But if you there, good on you

by all of us, I believe we are easily tempted

in life. Okay, sometimes even the word itself gives a

bit of a negative connotation. In Basa is called God

and the GORDA. You're attracted, you are tempted, you are

led away. And so what's the big deal about temptation? Well,

the first thing to take note of is this temptation

is not sin. Our Lord, in telling us that he

was tempted, is actually making it quite clear that you

can be tempted and you can still leave a perfect

and holy life. In fact, the reality is, until you

end up in the grave, you can expect to be

tempted by the devil. I assure you, I don't believe

that anyone of us can go to life without being

tempted by the devil. But what can we learn from

the Lord's experience here?

Right? At the beginning of his ministry.

Because this was even before he preached to the crowds,

This was even before he performed his first miracle. He

had to fight and win this private battle first alone

in the wilderness.

He had to go through this.

This was something that he had to not just go through,

but he had to embrace and make the right choices

known because he was not baptized, he was not full

of the Holy Spirit. And you got to realize this.

It was the Holy Spirit who led him into this

place of testing and temptation. Read again at the start

of it on the scriptures, what does he say verse one?

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness

to be tempted there by the devil.

Wow.

Sometimes we are like reading it and like what why, why?

Why would the Holy Spirit do that? But it was

what took place. You know, when you see the Lord's

prayer lead us not into the tempted, into temptation. You know,

some people would say, surely God wouldn't lead us into temptation. No,

my answer is yes, he would, and he it with

the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit led him right

into that place where he was going to be exposed

to all the attacks of the evil one. We see

also in the account of Job. If you read the

Book of Job, it's quite similar because I think the

devil was going around and I was having a conversation

with God, remember, and then then know what's my servant

Job doing? And so the devil was just going around

and we are all exposed to the devil's attack. This

is something that we need to take note of. And

God allows it because this is a testing ground. And

so these are some of the things that we need

to take notice of about the temptations. First, the moment

when it occurred, because that will tell you when to

expect the devil to attack. A lot of times is

when we let our guards down, that we fall and

we make mistakes and we succumb, and so very important

to take note of when it all occurred, and the

devil does not stay with you. Sometimes we think, oh man,

my life just seems to attract the devil. The devil

is we meet twenty four to seven. No, the devil

is not able to be everywhere at all times. That

is not a trait of the devil, that is the

trait of God. God is omnipresent, he's ever present. But

the devil is like any other angel there can be

at one place at one time. So happened he was

here in the wilderness. Wait, Jesus, when did he attack Jesus?

You got to take note. He actually attacked Jesus after

a high moment of spiritual experience. Jesus had just been baptized.

It was an amazing baptism because the heavens opened up,

the nerve came down, the spirit of God descended upon him,

and there was the voice of God. But very shortly

after that the devil came. And really, if you have

a blessing today, I can tell you this, the devil

will try in some way to arrange that you lose

that blessing. If you have a great time, expect trouble.

If you have had a high moment of assurance, then

expect the devil to cast doubts into your life almost immediately.

That's why sometimes, you know, we have people who go

for cams, who go for different you know, events where

there's amazing spiritual high, so high that after that when

they fall, they fall hard. It's because when you're on

that high and you're thinking that no, you are untouchable

and everything is all great, and then temptations come, and

you don't deal with the temptations in your life, the

fall is hard, and so be very wary and take

note of the timing in which the devil attack, because

we can learn from Jesus. Another thing you can take

note off is the temptation came to the Lord Jesus

after a very exhausting period because he was how many

weeks without food? It was forty days, which is around

six weeks without food, and in the extreme heat during

the day and extreme cold at night. That is the

weather in the desert. Extremely hot during the day it

can go up to fifty degrees and at night it

can drop to zero. It is often when we are

exhausted ourselves that temptation comes with a greater fauce.

This is true for me.

I know I experience it. It's real whenever I lend

my guard now, whenever I'm exhausted, whenever I'm physically drained, tired,

whenever I'm emotionally frustrated. That is where sometimes the temptation

to do what is not right is so strong.

How do we deal with it?

We've got to learn and we take note of this

things because this is how the devil operates. He likes

to hit when someone is down and weak. So let's consider, okay,

let's consider the method that Jesus used to deal with temptations.

And you notice that Jesus used certain weapons.

Very important to have some weapons in your arsenal, because

we will come under attack. He used scriptures. That's what

Jesus did. In fact, someone once said, if you want

to deal with the devil, throw the book at the devil.

Through the book at the devil.

Jesus, the son of God, who knew the Father, so

intimately used the weapon of quoting the word of God.

And this is one of the best ways in wish

you can use to battle the devil. Really, you know,

almost all the scriptures that was mentioned by Jesus in

the wilderness was from Deuteronomy. It's almost like Jesus true

the whole book of Deuteronomy at the devil. Another secret

of Jesus is this, as part of the method that

he used to combat the tempter, which is the evil,

one is to use the power of the Holy Spirit.

And he was full of scripture, and he was full

of the Holy Spirit. And together these two things allowed

Jesus to be able to not just battle true but overcome. Basically,

with these two things, it made Jesus almost invisible against

the devil. We praise God because the devil is cunning,

the devil deceives, the devil is all out to do

all sorts of things. And you know, sometimes us as Christians,

as believers, sometimes we know the scriptures so well.

We can quote scriptures, we can memorize.

No, we've got the words thought in our hearts, tong

and our handstone in our whole lives, while we lack

the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and basically we lack

the power that is needed to draw from that word

the right weapon. And that's why it's so important that

we have the sword of the Spirit coupled together with

the belt of truth. Remember I preach this the last

time round. We need the entire armor of God. The

armor of God is not just defensive. There's also an

offensive part to the armor of God, which is the

sword of the Spirit. So we need the spirit and

we need God's word to go hand in hand. We

worship Him in spirit and in truth. Then, of course

there are some who are full of the spirit, but

they are not feeding on the solid teaching of God's scriptures,

they too will relack a vital dimension when the devil comes. Really,

it is those who are full of scripture and full

of the Spirit that are more than a match for

the devil. And that, believers, why is it that we

always imploy and keep begging each and every one of you, please,

for the sake of overcoming this world? You need the

Holy Scriptures and you need the Holy Spirit. We can't

do without God's Word and we can't do without God's

Spirit in our lives.

Amen, Believers, do you believe that?

If you believe it, then we need both God's Word

and the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Therefore, we got to do.

Things that will ensure that we are constantly equipped with

His word and constantly empowered with His Spirit.

So what is the meaning of these temptations? You see,

you will never.

Understand that temptation until you approach it through understanding the

mind of Satan. So the question is not so much

what was Jesus hoping to achieve? Don't ask that, ask

what was Satan hoping to achieve? Then you will understand

the temptations because it was Satan who was tempting. Jesus

is not tempting. He's allowed, I mean, God is allowing

for the temptations to happen. He is not devising. And

he was Satan that was devising this whole thing. And

so we have got to see what the enemy was

trying to do when he tempted our Lord. It is

Satan trying to essentially gain an advantage. That is what

Satan's trying to do. And we know we are dealing

with reality because Jesus is a real person. But let

me tell you this, the devil is also a real person.

It's not just a figment of your imagination. If you

do not believe in a personal devil, I honestly wonder

how much experience you have of a personal God. They

are both around, and they are both they both exist.

A lot of times we say, I don't believe in

the devil. If you don't believe the devil, you don't

believe in God as well. Sometimes we believe in God

and I don't believe in the devil. Or if you

believe in God, then you will know that the devil

exists as well. And this is an account where you

actually see both of them existing and so we must

realize that we must remember that they are personal things.

And their life.

And that's why in the scriptures, in the Lord's Prayer

it says lead us not into temptation, but deliver us

from the evil one. The evil one is actually the

more accurate translations. Some translations translated as evil very general.

It's like almost anything can be evil. But if you

read and you it's translated properly, is actually alluding to

a person, deliver us from the evil one.

The next thing you have to realize is this, you know, what.

We are reading now is only a little tiny bit

of the Bible. And whenever you want to understand one

part of the Bible, is also important that you look

at other parts of the Bible. Because the Bible is

a self interpreting book. Because one passage unlocks other truths

in other passages. And that's the brilliance of the Bible.

That's how amazing, that's the divinity of the Bible. Is

not written at one period of time or just one

moment someone just downloaded everything and then churn it out. No,

it's written in the span of a thousand years almost.

And so what are the other passages in the Bible

that can help us understand the temptations of Jesus in

the wilderness. Let's look at some so at least you

get the wholeness and then understanding of it. Firstly, two

weeks ago I talked about John the Baptists, and I

say that John the Baptist was also in he grew

up where in the wilderness. Remember, he was someone who

was wearing I can't remember. It was some funny skiin

that he was eating locus. He was out in the wilderness,

not for forty days. Actually, he was out for almost

twenty years. And that was where he learned. That was

where he was downloading, That was where he was receiving

the teachings of God that eventually someone is going to come,

and the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

The Kingdom of Heaven is near. So now Jesus is.

Going through six whole weeks in the wilderness is basically

a school. And it's so important that he went through

this school to fulfill his mission because it is here

that he learned obedience by suffering. Really, and sometimes I

know we don't like that because we don't like to suffer.

We like to be comfortable. But yet Jesus learn obedience

by suffering by what he suffered. When you are going

through the wilderness, God is sending you to school.

If you look.

Further back into the Old Testiment, you will realize God

sent his people.

Into the wilderness as well.

They were in the Sinai desert for how long not

forty days, for forty years.

That was a school as well.

And that is why Jesus, in order to beat the

devil in the wilderness school in which he was now

having first hand learning experience, went back to the book

of Deuteronomy, which is where you get the whole account

of the Israelites wandering around for forty years in the desert.

Another passage in which we can glean some truth from

and get some understanding is actually all the way back

to Genesis chapter three. Adam and If in the garden,

and there is a clear link here as well. You see,

the devil sought to rob them of paradise, and by

this obedience, he actually achieved it because of Adam.

And if this obeying and true, that this obedience.

They fail to obtain paradigse, they fail to enjoy all

that God has created for them.

And how did the devil temp them. He actually offered

them food.

You see, when the second Adam came about, and we

know the second Adom is Jesus Christ himself, he came

into the fight.

He came to rescue us. The devil tried.

The exact same tactic, which is he tried to temp

Jesus with food and tried to rob our Lord Jesus

of all the promises of God and to rob him

off his obedience.

He tried that.

And this is why it's so important that we use

other passages in the scriptures to help us understand what

we are currently reading. It's important for us to take

note of all this. So if you're going to understand

each of the temptations, let us start first by understanding

the mind of the devil and approach it step by

step through the scriptures, and then you can fully grasp

what the scriptures are trying to tell us.

So think, let's look, let's go into it.

The first temptation, the first temptation, the devil was taunting

Jesus as well as tempting him. No, we read about it,

and I don't know how long have you not gone

without food any If you all tried going without food

for a day. Anyone, okay, some raise your hands. Anyone

tried going without food for two days? Okay, Serene says,

I tried? Was he okay, you feel on top of

the world. No, anyone gone without food for three days? Well,

so we all have gone without food for three days. Well,

Jesus gone without He went without food for forty days,

six weeks. You know, we have plenty of food today.

Jesus was without food for six weeks. I can't even

imagine it. I mean, I've tried. I've tried fasting for days.

And really, you know, my wife used to tell me

why I tell you first you like to wash YouTube

bunk channels, because I tell her I can't eat physically

by eating in my mind. I'm trying to eat in

my mind. I'm preparing. But it's a real struggle. Really,

Jesus was without food for six weeks, and his body

was crying out for something to eat. And the devil

say this, if you are the son of God, you

can do anything. You can take these stones and you

can turn it into bread. And of course we know

Jesus can do that. You see, because we read in

other accounts. The amazing thing was a few weeks later,

Jesus was at a wedding in Canna, and what did

he do? He turned water into wine. So, yes, can

he turn stones into bread? I'm sure he's able to.

But why was it wrong to do such a met

at this very moment? I ever wonder why he didn't

just turn the stones into braain. Well, I believe the

reason is simple. The Father was going to teach his

son Jesus a very important lesson, and the lesson is this,

no matter what need, your body is crying out for,

his will must be done first. His will must be

done first. The father was testing him. Will you remain

obedient to me even though your body is crying out

for a little bit of break? Will you put your

principles before your appetite? Is the question that is being

asked here. And Jesus had a real battle before him.

If he had not fought and worn this battle, then

three years later, when his body was crying out in

pain to be freed from the nails, realized he would

have actually just stepped off the cross and not fulfill

what he was called and purpose to do. How many

of y'all can imagine yourselves being nail to the cross.

I don't think it's humanly possible. But yet Jesus, as

the son of Man, had to go through this first

challenge and this first test in denying his flesh to

a certain extent.

You see, if Jesus had once allowed.

Physical desire to have priority over the world of God,

then he could not have stood on the cross, which

we know he did eventually, because he went on and

he remained obedient to the very end.

Amen.

And so we know what the devil was trying to do.

He was trying to break this. He was trying so high,

so hard to get Jesus to fall. Right at this

first hurdle, Jesus went right back to the experience of

Israel No in the wilderness, when they were hungry and

without food.

You don't read the account. I think it's in Deuteronomy.

You read the account.

No, God said you leave Egypt and go to the

Promised Land. It's a short journey, actually, I know, maybe

two million people. It might have taken a few months,

but actually I can't remember the exact distance. It's probably

about ten or eleven kilometers or something. That is quite

a short distance actually from where they were in Egypt.

To the Promised land. But they were hungry. They were wondering,

they were without food, and God actually allowed the hunger

to see if Israel were actually put obedience first.

Did they put obedience first?

No?

What did they talk about?

Their entire conversation back then was about garlic and about

onions and about ingredients. Actually, they were yearning and they

were longing for the things that they used to eat

in Egypt.

They were saying that why do you bring us out?

It was basically their bodily desires, their physical desires, that

was constantly pulling them back and pulling them away from

God's will. We are all physical creatures, and our physical

needs are overpowering by God says, Will you remain obedient

to me? When your body is crying out for some relief?

Will you still do my will? Is the question that

we have to ask ourselves. And that's why fasting is

not something that is assumed in the scriptures. The scriptures

doesn't say if you fast, It always says when you fast.

That means us believers, we must always fast and pray,

because that is one of the ways in which we

prepare ourselves and we train ourselves to deny our flesh

and deny the things that can take us away from God,

the things that will because you will go through different challenges,

when your body is broken, when you're not well, when

you're sick, can you still praise God?

Are you able to do what job did? The Lord bless.

And the Lord takes away, but I will still bless

his holy name. The Lord can give, and the Lord

can take away. The Lord can take away your health,

but yet you can still bless his name. Are we

able to do that? It's the question that we have

to ask ourselves. I know I'm speaking to myself as well,

because it's challenging, and we will see. I've seen many

people who have denounced God whenever they go through a

trying time, a challenging time, when things are taken away

from them, that's when it's like I can't, I can't

do this anymore. Jesus had to go through this being tempted.

It was so tempting he could do it. Actually, he

could just turn the stones into braid. You know, even

though we have enough food to either. The truth is

we are all going to die one day, and that

is why we cannot live by bread alone.

That's what the.

Scripture actually means, you know, that's the teaching right here,

right now, and so we need to be able to

learn this and learn from this situation. Jesus had been

led into the wilderness deliberately to take him away from food,

to teach him the true hunger, that man does not

live by braid alone.

Amen.

And Jesus knew that God the Father was testing him

and that obedience was more important than anything else. It

was more important than a square meal. And what a

battle it was, and we praise God that he won

this battle. Amen. Let's look at the second temptation that

is mentioned here. From the pool of the flesh, the

body setting now turns to something a bit more subtle,

and he is poorly is basically the pool of the world,

the pool of power. He said, the devil is claiming

that he could give Jesus power and wealth. And the

truth is, the devil can do that. He's the prince

of this earth, and he can give you power and wealth. No,

if you really want power and wealth, I would say this,

don't come to Jesus, because he never offered power and wealth.

Nowhere in scripture do you see Jesus have power.

Here, have all the money in the world. The devil can.

Offer us that, can Jesus prosper us, Yes, he can.

But is that what he put and placed in front

of us on offer. The answer is no. If you

go to the devil, he will give you power and wealth,

but he will usually give it in his terms, and

those terms are usually not very good terms. At the

end of the day, you will tend to lose more

than to gain. That's the reality of it. And so

in the second temptation, Jesus is being shown all that

he wanted. And that is why it was such an

awful temptation, you see, because Jesus had come from heaven

to have all the kingdoms of the world. The Bible

says that is what he had come to do. That's

why it says, your kingdom come, your will be done.

So Jesus came to earth because he came to claim

all that belongs to him, and the devil says this, no,

I can give them to you if.

You just bow down and let me be your boss.

And at that moment, Satan does have control of the world.

At this very moment, he says, look, I'll give you

everything here on earth, isn't it fulfiling. What Jesus came

to do to take all the kingdoms. Such a temptation.

But you see the difference is this, Jesus wanted all

the kingdoms of the world, but he only wanted to

give them back to the Father. And there is only

one person that you are supposed to bow down to,

and not to Satan, definitely, And so that's why Jesus said,

I'm not going to have anything to do with Satan.

And thank god he also came through victorious. You see,

the result was later in his ministry when the devil

came back, Jesus was able to deal with the devil.

Remember the devil actually came through Simon Peter and offered

Jesus victory without the cross again. And what did Jesus

say to Simon Peter. He says, get behind me, Satan.

Remember Simon Peter. Peter was trying to say, no, please

don't go, Please don't go, Please don't go to the cross.

You don't have to die, you don't have to go

to the cross. They didn't want to let him go.

And then he says his get behind me, Satan. Hallelujah.

It's crazy when we think about it, but this is

what Jesus did for us.

And the next.

Temptation is to appeal true popularity. You see, the temple

is not very far away from the wilderness, and so

in the morning, the priest usually.

Goes up to the tower.

No, this high area, this pinnacle, and you can actually

be the first to witness the beautiful sun rising.

And this is where Jesus went to.

He went to the pinnacle and he stood at the top,

and then the devil stood there as well. And you know,

he says this to Jesus, Jesus, if you jump off,

I assure you there will be a crowd that will

witness you just floating down without smashing.

The earth into smatherings.

Can you imagine that you can have all of their

attention and they will definitely bow down to you. That

was what the devil was offering Jesus. He was basically saying,

why don't you just sensationalize the whole thing. Why do

things subtly. Let's just go for the kill.

Men.

If you start floating around, you know, you stud defying gravity.

That's going to be so awesome.

Basically, the devil was offering to be Jesus's public relations

officer right now, that was what he was doing. Amazing

publicity gimmick, right, can you see that? And what's worse,

do you notice that the devil uses scripture? That's how

subtle he is. Do you know that the devil knows

the scripture? Do you know that the devil studied the scriptures?

He reads them, he knows them, and he is always

ready to quote them out of context. And that's why

I always remind us it's very dangerous when we quote

scripture out of context, because if you study the text

that he quoted at this point, he missed out a

very important phrase the tolders, in fact, the promises of God.

This is the part way he says to protect his

children and bear them up lest they dash their foot

against the stone. You read it in the scripture is there,

But he missed out one line, and that line is

not The promises of God would only apply if they

are in line with God's will.

How you in line with God's will?

You actually see the reference of that scripture in Psalms

chapter ninety one. That is so important, right, you can't

just claim promises of God if you are not in

line with God's will. But the devil was just quoting scriptures,

was telling Jesus, go and do this, do this. It's

gonna be so awesome. Everyone's gonna bow before you. The

devil is using this text to say to Jesus, give

them what they want. They want to see miracles. Show

them miracles. They want to see something supernatural. Give them

something supernatural performing and they will believe. But I will

say this, don't you believe a single thing of this,

Because any miracles perform in front of our eyes.

What is the first thing that we will do?

We will doubt first, right, We're always thinking that this

person got something up his sleeve. We always think that

a something is not right. I'm sure there's an alternative explanation.

We've been trying to explain things away throughout our generation,

time and time again. That's the reality of who we are.

And so the devil was trying very hard. But we

thank God that Jesus managed to overcome this as well.

And now we are coming very close to answering the

question what was the devil trying to achieve in all this?

What was his intention? Why was he trying so hard

to temp Jesus well? What he was trying to achieve

is two things. Firstly, is the Lord Jesus's disobedience was

what he was trying to achieve, and therefore the next

thing is to achieve the destruction of Jesus. You see,

King Herod and Jesus' birth had this thought. Remember King Herod.

We read of King Herod during Christmas time all the time. Okay,

I'm the king of the Jews, and suddenly there's this

prophecy about our baby there's going to be born, and

he was He felt so threatened that this baby is

going to end up being the king of the Jews,

that will take over my position.

And then what he could do.

He ordered that every baby below a certain age, every

male born baby, be murdered. You see, when Jesus arrived

and was baptized and begin his ministry, the devil also

realized the same thing. There is not going to be

room for two of us, and there wasn't room for

two of them. That's the reality of it, the same

thing in our hearts. Do you think there's room in

this hut for two persons? The Devil and Jesus. You

can belong. Devil, you give me all the riches of

this world. Jesus, you give me salvation. You cannot follow

the devil and Jesus at the same time. And the

devil knew that his days were numbered, that he was

going to lose his power, that he was going to

lose his kingdoms. And his reaction was the same as Herod's.

How do I get rid of this person? Herod tried

to kill every baby boy under two years old. The

devil was more subtle. The devil knew that if Jesus

this obeyed his father, he would destroy himself. And do

you know that the devil was trying to kill Jesus

before he got to the cross and died on it.

And that is what he was fighting so hard for.

He was trying to destroy Jesus one way or another

and bring him under the curse of God, not the

blessing of God. But Jesus could claim every blessing of

God only because he was obedient to his father. I'm

going to invite the Bannam. I'm almost done. You see,

Jesus was the very first person ever to be able

to say no to the devil, whether it was the

power of the devil that was being offered to him,

whether it was the pleasure of the flesh that was

being offered to him, whether it was the popularity of

the world that was being offered to him. Jesus said no.

And the devil is so subtle, so powerful.

You see.

His main aim is to destroy you, and he will

do it by your disobedience. He's been doing it for ages.

This obedience he does not border. He's not bothered with

those who are not believers. Why should he be bothered

with people who don't believe? They are not a thread

to him. But the day you become a Christian is

the day that you end up on his list. Really,

and that's why he's going to tempt you. If if not,

why why do you think he is? But the day,

the day you choose to be what a baptized out

of obedience, is the day that he's going to target

you even more.

That's the truth.

And I don't want to sugarcoat this, but this is

the reality of it. That's why it's so what's the

big deal about temptations? Well, we need to be prepared

because it will come our way. His main aim is

to destroy us through disobedience. The devil will appeal through

the needs of your body. Ever experienced that the needs

of our body. Wow, I mean, I've been through it all.

It's tough, and so many things in this life is pleasurable.

Eating is pleasurable, Sex is pleasurable. Everything that we can

get to fulfill the desires of the flesh is pleasurable.

And so that's why the devil is. He appeals to

the needs of your body. He appeals through the opinions

of society around you. We feel so pressured sometimes there's

so many different opinions, and everyone is saying no, do

what is popular, do what is sexy. Do this because

it seems like the right thing to do. We've got

to be really careful. He appeals to you to the

incentives of power and wealth. Many of us get sucked

into this, and that's the reality of it. And you

will not be able to say no yourself. You know

how difficult it is to say no. And I can

tell you this. I'm someone who has lived in sin

many years. Every time I'm thinking, oh, I've overcome, I've overcome,

I've you know, all I have to do is stop

thinking about it. All I've got to do is just

avoid it. And then you fall back into it. I

fall back into it because the truth is, we can't

do this by ourselves.

We can't. It's impossible. Don't do it by yourselves.

But if you call on the name of Jesus, you

can be sure that the devil will run.

Amen. Call on the name of Jesus.

That's why the last part of the scripture says, resist

the devil and he will flee from you. That is

why we read at the end of the temptation period

the devil departed. This means the devil literally left Jesus

at this point, did not hang around. See, temptation is

not a constant in my life. Sometimes we always think

of my own temptations are a constant in my life.

I'm constantly tentered.

Well, it's there, and yes, the devil can come and go,

but he can't be with us all the time. But

yes he does send his agents, you know, especially in

times when we are on a high, when we have everything,

or at times when we are on our lowers of low,

when we are most vulnerable. That's when we've got to

be really careful. That's when we've got to constantly ask God, God,

I can't do this by myself. Your scripture says that

we can do even greater things that you have already done.

And the only way in which we can do it

is we need to receive the same power that you

receive and your baptism, and that is why scriptures tell

us it is Jesus who baptizes us.

In the Holy Spirit.

We need that, we need that, we need to carry

on resisting the forces of evil to have the victory

for Jesus.

Amen.

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