A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: What did Jesus do when he was tempted by the devil? He quoted scripture. It's almost laughable that Satan, a created being, could lead God incarnate astray. But Pastor Greg Laurie points out Jesus responded how we should.

He's giving us a model. This is what you do when you're tempted: you quote the word of God. This is why you need to study the Bible. And then when you are tempted, you can pull out the appropriate scriptures to defend yourself.

Guest (Male): It's never a mistake to follow Jesus' example. In fact, it's implied in the definition of follower or disciple. We're walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to the dramatic moment when Jesus had a confrontation with the devil himself. It was the moment the Savior of our souls crossed paths with the accuser of the brethren. But Jesus chose to make it a teaching moment for all of us as believers who encounter the scourge of temptation.

Greg Laurie: Sometimes the question is asked: why do we have four Gospels? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Well, the answer is each Gospel has a different objective.

Let's start with Matthew. Matthew was written primarily to the Jewish person. There are many passages in Matthew that show how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies, how he was the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. It begins with a genealogy showing that Jesus is Messiah.

Now, Luke, in contrast, written by Dr. Luke, a physician by trade, is very poetic. We have some very unique passages in his Gospel that are not in any other Gospel. For instance, the story of the prodigal son and the beautiful Christmas story as Luke tells it is like no other. Luke was primarily showing the sympathetic ministry of Jesus.

Now John, he comes from a completely different perspective. He goes back to eternity and starts his Gospel with these words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And John was specifically written to convince a non-believer to believe. So where Matthew was written more to the Jewish mindset showing Jesus was the Messiah, John is written more to a secular mindset showing that Jesus is the Son of God.

And that brings us to the Gospel of Mark. It stands apart from the others. Unique to Mark is he does not record all that many sermons of Jesus. In fact, Mark focuses more on what Jesus did than he does on what Jesus said. It's a record of the achievements of Jesus, if you will, and it's action-packed from beginning to end. It's a short, concise book of sixteen chapters and, by the way, it's probably the first of the Gospels that was written.

So let's read some of this Gospel together. Grab your Bible or your phone or your tablet or wherever you have your Bible and read these words with me if you will. I'm in Mark chapter one, look at verse nine. "It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and he was baptized by John, and immediately coming from the water he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven which said: You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

Now look at this. "Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan for 40 days. He was out among the wild animals and the angels took care of him."

We all know what it's like to be tempted. We've all felt the presence of temptation, haven't we? Heard about a guy whose wife yelled from upstairs and asked her husband, "Honey, do you ever get a shooting pain across your body like someone's got a voodoo doll of you and they're stabbing it?" He said no, and then she yelled, "What about now?"

Now look, that's just a silly joke. Voodoo dolls aren't real, but Satan is and temptation is real as well. Question: where is the best place to be when you're being tempted? Here's the answer: in the will of God. Jesus was in the will of God. I mean, to the point, Jesus was always in the will of God.

Jesus said, "I always do the things that please my Father." He was never out of harmony with his Father. Let me correct that. There was one moment when Jesus was separated from the Father, and that is the moment when all the sin of the world was placed upon him as he died in our place as a substitution, our substitution. And he cried out those words: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

But apart from that moment, Jesus was always in sync, always in harmony with the Father, always doing the things that please the Father, and the Holy Spirit led him to this place that he was in. Now, here's the thing. The reason I bring this up is a lot of times when we're tempted, we're being tempted because we put ourselves in a place of vulnerability.

You put yourself in a place you should not be. You find yourself hanging out with the wrong people at the wrong time, about to do the wrong thing, and then you scratch your head and say: how did that happen? How did that happen? You set yourself up for the fall. Well, that's not what Jesus was doing. He was led by the Spirit.

Now he faced three temptations by the devil. And in effect, you and I will face these same three temptations in life. Here's the first one. Now I'm going over to Luke chapter four, who fills in some gaps for us that we don't have here in Mark's Gospel. In Luke chapter four, verse three, Satan says to Jesus: "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread."

Now, by the way, in the original language, a better translation would be "since" you are, not "if". So Satan was not challenging the deity of Christ; in a way, he was affirming it. So what he was saying is, since you're the Son of God, Jesus, and you've been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights and obviously you're on the very brink of starvation, why don't you tell that rock to turn into a piece of bread?

Interesting. It's worth noting that Jesus never did a miracle for his own benefit. If Jesus had to get from point A to point B, he walked there like anybody else. If they had to walk from Galilee to Jerusalem, he could have airlifted himself over there if he wanted to, but he would walk with his disciples. Thus, Jesus was tired like we are, Jesus was sleepy like we are, Jesus was hungry when we are.

He could have done whatever he wanted. He could have been eating an In-N-Out burger—gone forward in time, grabbed that thing, eaten it—and the disciples would say: Lord, what is it that you're eating over there? And he could have said something like: "It is not for you to know these things. Just eat your fish and unleavened bread and I'll get back to you." Or he could have just met them in Jerusalem, just popped over there. But no, he put himself under the restraints of human frailty.

Now look, Jesus had a physical body. He was tempted and tested, but he did not have the inward vulnerability to fall. So he felt the presence of temptation, but being God, he didn't really have a sinful nature that would incline him to give into it. The Bible says he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. So yes, he had a body, yes, he bled like any man, he had tears like any man, but he was God walking among us, fully God and fully man.

There's never been a man that walked the earth like Jesus. So if this is the case, what is the point of him being tested? Here's the answer, ready for it? To show us how to face temptation. He's giving us a model. He's showing us what we should do when temptation comes our way.

"Hey, Jesus," says Satan, "Why don't you turn a rock into a piece of bread?" What does Christ say? He says: "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Now look, we face this temptation all the time. Here is the essence of what Satan was saying to Jesus: put the physical before the spiritual.

He'll come to us and say, "Hey look, man, you need to have a little fun. You can play now and pay later. Don't worry about the repercussions of sin. You'll be okay. You're the exception. God's okay with this. You can trust me," Satan says. That was the hissing of a snake, in case you missed it. Listen, the Bible says the devil is a liar and he is the father of lies. And sometimes people get their lives out of whack. They put physical things before spiritual things.

Look, there's nothing wrong with eating food. God has given us food to enjoy and to eat together. But there's a difference between eating to live and living to eat. Some people are obsessed by their appetite. They're obsessed by food, they're obsessed by things, they're obsessed by sensual things and they let those things become more important to them than God himself. So just put God in his rightful place in your life.

It's fine to have a career, but don't put your career above God. It's great to have a relationship, but don't put a relationship above God. So by saying man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God, Jesus is simply pointing out that we should have our spiritual priorities in order and put God first.

Guest (Male): I am calling in because this time last year my beautiful wife was dying from Alzheimer's. My wife was in hospice at home and every AM when I knew my wife was safe, I would start my day by riding my bicycle. I listened to Pastor Greg in the AM. Good way to start the day. One morning I forgot to turn on my radio, but suddenly the Holy Spirit prompted me to do so.

About one minute after I turned it on, I heard Greg telling about when his son Christopher died. He recounted that he was grateful so many people had blessed him with cards and well-wishes. But then he said one person wrote him with a comment that stopped him in his tracks.

The man said: Pastor Greg, your best days with Christopher lie ahead when you see him for all eternity. That became my testimony. Yes, I will see my wife again and my best days with her lie ahead. I can wait until it is my turn to see Jesus. Thank you.

Greg Laurie: Here's another thing that we don't want to miss in this. What did Jesus do when he was tempted by the devil? He quoted scripture. Now remember, Jesus was God. And being God he could have said: Satan, be banished. And Satan would have left. He had that authority and power over the devil. In fact, when he would encounter demons, the demons would say to him through the people they were possessing: "Don't send us to judgment before our time." They recognized the power and authority that Christ had. But he didn't do this.

He faced the devil as we should face the devil. First of all, we quote scripture. He's giving us a model. This is what you do when temptation comes your way. You quote the word of God. This is why you need to study the Bible. This is why you need to memorize the Bible. Over in Psalm 119:9 it says: "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word."

Psalm 119:11 says: "Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." Look, it's good to carry a Bible in your briefcase or in your purse or have a Bible app on your phone. But the best place to carry the word of God is in your heart. So don't just get it in your mind, get it in your heart. Commit it to memory and then when you are tempted, you can pull out the appropriate scriptures to defend yourself.

So the devil realizes that this first temptation is not working. Now he does something really strange, or it seems strange to us perhaps. He's giving Jesus a hack, if you will, a shortcut. He's effectively saying in this next temptation: look, Jesus, we both know why you're here. You're here to purchase back that which was lost in the Garden of Eden. And I'm going to make you a deal you cannot refuse. Bad Godfather imitation.

I'm going to give you what you want. I'll give it to you on a silver platter. All you have to do is give me the satisfaction of worshiping me for a moment. Look at Luke chapter four, verse five. The devil took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him: all this authority I will give to you and their glory. It's been delivered to me. And then the devil says: and I can give it to whomever I want. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all of this will be yours.

Notice Jesus did not refute it. Notice Jesus did not say: you're wrong, devil, you can't do that. And I'll tell you why he didn't say to the devil that he was wrong: because the devil was actually telling the truth in this instance. The Bible says that Satan—who by the way is a fallen angel, a very powerful fallen angelic being—is the God of this world, the Prince of the Power of the Air.

When our first parents Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden and fellowship with God was cut off, a curse came upon the world. It's effectively under the control of the devil. Jesus came from heaven on a rescue operation to planet earth to buy back that which was lost in the garden. The devil's saying: look, I'm going to make this easy for you, Jesus. No pain, no suffering, no crucifixion. I'll give it to you if you'll just worship me. See, Satan was telling Jesus to test the Lord, not trust the Lord.

But here's what Jesus did. He refused this offer. Look at verse eight of Luke chapter four. Jesus answered and said: "Get behind me, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." Heard the story of a woman that was going to go down to the mall and look at the new outfits that were coming out. And her husband said: no, I don't want you going to the mall. Every time you go, you buy something.

She said: no, I'm just going to browse. I won't buy anything. No, you always buy something. I don't want you to go, we can't afford it. I'm just going to look. He said: alright, look but don't buy anything. She said okay. So she comes home a few hours later with a brand new outfit. He goes: what? I asked you not to go buy an outfit. What happened? She says: well, I walked by the store. There was this cute outfit in the window on the mannequin. And so I walked in and asked if I could try it on. He goes: ah, I can't believe you did that. Well what happened? She said: the devil himself appeared and he came and appeared in the dressing room and said: you look great in that outfit.

And then the husband said: you should have said, "Get behind me, Satan." She said: I did. I said, "Get behind me, Satan." And then the devil said: "Hey, it looks good from the back too." Now but seriously, when the devil tempts you, you don't want to listen to him. You don't want to have extended conversations with him. You want to put him behind you and that's exactly what Jesus did.

Now we come to the last temptation of Christ, at least in the wilderness. And this is in Luke chapter four, verse nine. The devil brought Jesus to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the peak of the temple, and Satan said: if you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here. Notice the devil then says: for it is written, he will give his angels charge over you to keep you and in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. Wow, the devil's quoting the Bible.

Did you know the devil knows the Bible too? A story is told of the famous comedic actor W.C. Fields, who was known to be an alcoholic. And one day someone was surprised to see Fields actually reading from the Bible. Said: I can't believe that you, W.C. Fields, are reading the Bible. Why? And Fields responded: looking for loopholes. And that's what the devil's been doing for a long time—reading it, quoting it out of context, misusing it, looking for loopholes if you will.

Question: can temptation be resisted? Answer: YES, all caps. YES. In fact, God will not allow you to be tempted above your capacity to resist. Because First Corinthians 10:13 says: there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God who is faithful will not allow you to be tempted above your ability to resist. Listen, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. Think about it.

Think about the last time you were tempted. Was there a way out? Answer: of course there was. Sometimes it's as simple as walking out a door. Sometimes it's simple as hitting the off button. Sometimes it's as simple as terminating a conversation. There's always a way out and listen to this. Not only is there a way out, but there's a blessing attached to the man or woman that resists temptation. James 1:12 says: happy is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he'll receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

So if you're going through a trial right now, you're going through a time of testing or temptation, know this: you can get stronger through it instead of weaker. Let me conclude with this thought. We're talking about Jesus. We're talking about how Jesus began his public ministry. Why did Jesus come? Let me go back to what I said earlier.

Jesus came to buy back that which was lost in the Garden of Eden. What was lost? Our relationship with God. We're separated from God by our sin. But Jesus paid the price on the cross for each of us so we could come into this relationship with the Lord and you can come into a relationship with him right now. I've talked a little bit about the devil. Let me say something that might shock some of you: the devil is real. I think you probably know that. The devil is powerful. The devil is more powerful than you.

And if you're not a Christian, you have no protection against Satan. You say, well I'll just wear a cross. You think Satan cares if you wear a cross or not? Well, I'll wear garlic around my neck. Well, that might keep your friends away, but it won't keep Satan away. Well, I'll use some holy water. Ah, there's no such thing as holy water. What do you need? You need Jesus. The only thing that can protect you from the power of Satan is Christ himself.

Jesus died on the cross to destroy the works of Satan and you can be free, you can be changed. You know, maybe there's something you're doing right now that you're ashamed of, a lifestyle that you're trapped in, an addiction that has a stranglehold on you and you don't see any way out. Jesus can transform you. Jesus can forgive you. Jesus can give you a second chance.

Listen, the same Jesus that was born in that manger and was tempted by the devil in the wilderness and died on the cross also rose from the dead. And he stands right now at the door of your life and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door, he will come in. Would you like to have Christ living inside of you? Would you like to be free from the power of the devil? Would you like to find this meaning and purpose in life that can only be found in a relationship with God through Jesus?

If so, I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And I would ask you to pray this prayer after me if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want to be forgiven of your sin. Or listen, or if you want to make a recommitment to Christ because you've messed up like John Mark did earlier in his life. God gives second chances and third ones and fourth ones and on it goes.

So if you need Jesus in your life, if you want his forgiveness, if you want a certainty that you'll go to heaven when you die, or if you want to make a recommitment to him, why don't you pray this prayer with me right now. Just pray these words: Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. But I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Guest (Male): An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie with those making a change in their relationship with God today. And if you yourself have prayed with Pastor Greg and made a decision for the Lord, we'd like to help you get started in your new relationship with God.

We'd like to send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's perfect for someone who's new to the faith. It has hundreds of helps, including Cornerstones, a series of short articles on the basics of the Christian faith. And we'll send it your way without charge. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God.

Pastor Greg, we get a lot of joy out of opening the mailbag here at Harvest. And I have a letter here I wanted to read to you. It says: I began to listen to Harvest programming early after I returned from being a prodigal. I then found your daily message and listened each day to your recorded radio show, each day growing a bit more. One of the areas that I grew in was an understanding of being generous in my heart. I'm proud that after a few years of only being able to make a token donation occasionally, God has allowed me to become a Harvest partner. Although I know it's the Holy Spirit that led me there, I can see you cheering me on to build that relationship.

And it is such an encouraging thing for us to hear not only of the spiritual transformation that somebody will go through having listened to your teaching on a regular basis, but to see that play out in real life as their heart does become more generous.

Greg Laurie: You know, I think it's a very insightful letter because you can see that their faith is impacted every area of their life including their giving. I think it was Martin Luther who said: there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the mind, the conversion of the heart, and the conversion of the pocketbook. Or we might use the word wallet today. By the way, there's a digital version of the wallet called the Apple Wallet and so you can give in that way. It's a funny thing, I was noticing what the most popular gift for wives is to give to their husband and it was wallets, slim wallets because so many guys carry fat wallets around, right?

Well, why don't you share a little bit of that. It's usually not money that they're filled with though, it's just junk that we collect as guys, right? Because we don't schlep purses around. Some do, they call them man bags, but they're just purses. Most of us don't do it. But anyway, I'm going to ask you to be generous when you think of Harvest Ministries and invest in our mission to fulfill the Great Commission.

And what is that? It's to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, making disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things that we've heard from the Lord. So help us do that and thank you for your interest in this. And Dave, there's a great opportunity for people to become Harvest partners as the person who wrote that last letter that Dave you just read to us mentioned. Tell them what it means to be a Harvest partner.

Guest (Male): Yeah, Harvest partners are part of our inner circle of friends who feel so strongly about the importance of evangelism and discipleship that they invest in this ministry each month. The amount is up to them and we have some creative ways of saying thank you. So why not become a Harvest partner today? You can call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org.

Well next time, Pastor Greg helps us consider the amazing things that can happen when we allow God to work through us. We'll see scripture is replete with examples of ordinary people who did extraordinary things for the kingdom. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.