Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): We're going to have you with us for this edition of Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Today, Stuart Briscoe is bringing a powerful and practical message called "Jesus Confronted the Evil One" from the series, What Did Jesus Do? Your generous support keeps broadcasts like this one today going out around the world, so you and others can experience life through the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth.

To thank you for your gift today, we'll send Stuart and Jill's powerful new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces. It's all about how you can live victoriously and win the battles against your spiritual enemy when you stand in Christ and the power of his Spirit. So call today to request your copy: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Listen now as Stuart begins today's message about how Jesus confronted the evil one.

Stuart Briscoe: We're going to look into Luke's Gospel, asking the question, what did Jesus do? Hopefully, in order that we'll not only see the wonder and the glory of his person, but we'll also see practical applications as far as our lives are concerned. Now, Jesus spent approximately 30 years in relative obscurity. We know very little about the childhood and the adolescence of Jesus. The information that we have is limited in the extreme.

We do know that when he was 30 years of age, he embarked on his public ministry. This was the normal time when, in that particular culture, a young man, if he was going into some kind of priestly ministry, would have a public ceremony in which he was initiated into the ministry. When Jesus was 30, he went to be baptized by John the Baptist in the desert. He did not go to be baptized because he needed to repent of his sins, for he was without sin.

He chose to be baptized, thereby demonstrating his solidarity with a sinful humanity, with whom he had come to identify and for whom he had come to bring blessing. In the baptism of John, he demonstrated his commitment to the Father's purposes and he identified solidarity with the fallen human race. Immediately he went away to pray. As would be customary in a situation like that, he went into the wilderness.

We're told that at the time of his baptism, two specific things happened. The first one was that the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form. The bodily form chosen for the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit was the form of a dove. The second thing that happened was that, in rather graphic terminology, we're told the heavens opened and a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

This was the Father speaking and giving his seal of approval on 30 years of private life. This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased; for 30 years, he has lived a private life that was exemplary. It's interesting to notice that approximately three years later, there would be a similar instance on the Mount of Transfiguration, when the heavens opened again and the voice from heaven said more or less the same thing: "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased."

Here, there is a statement of divine approval on the public ministry of Jesus, following the stamp of divine approval on the private life of Jesus. Jesus, baptized, anointed by the Spirit, affirmed by the Father, now begins to step out living in the fullness of the Spirit. Notice this expression; it's very important. To live in the fullness of the Spirit is something that Christians are expected to experience.

The Bible says in the Epistle to the Ephesians that we should not get drunk with wine, which leads to all kinds of behavior that's unacceptable, but instead we should be filled with the Spirit. This idea of being filled with the Spirit in opposition to being drunk with wine is pregnant with meaning. When a person is drunk, it means that they are captivated, motivated, and activated by alcohol, and their behavior demonstrates it.

When a person is filled with the Spirit, it means that they are captivated, motivated, and activated by the Holy Spirit, and their behavior demonstrates it. Jesus now is filled with the Spirit. That means completely submissive to the Father's will and in complete dependence on the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus embarks on his time of prayer in the wilderness.

Jesus, baptized, identifying with the solidarity of a fallen humanity, hears the affirmation from heaven, is anointed by the Spirit for service, and in the fullness of the Spirit, he's now led into the wilderness. When he arrives in the wilderness, he engages in 40 days of fasting and prayer. At the end of 40 days of fasting and prayer, in a bleak region of the world—I've seen what is traditionally called the Mount of the Temptation.

You can see it from the ruins of ancient Jericho. It is one of the most bleak, blisteringly hot, barren pieces of real estate that you'll find anywhere in the world. Forty days and nights spent in that place, fasting and praying, hungry, led by the Spirit, the devil confronts him. Or more accurately, Jesus confronts the devil. I want you to notice something very specific about this.

This temptation of Jesus was not accidental; this temptation of Jesus was totally intentional. He was led by the Spirit in the fullness of the Spirit into this temptation situation. It wasn't something awful that happened to him; it was something intentional into which he was led. The devil comes to him and says, "If thou art the Son of God, take this stone and turn it into bread."

It is a very reasonable suggestion. If you are the Son of God, take this stone and turn it into bread. Jesus, Son of Adam or fully human, now has legitimate appetites, he has legitimate means of satisfying them, and it is most appropriate that he should do so. You'll notice, therefore, the subtlety of the devil's approach to him. It is, "Look, why don't you do what needs to be done? The most important thing confronting you right now is the satisfaction of your human appetites. They are God-given, and the means of satisfying them is God-given. If you're the Son of God, you can certainly turn that stone into bread. Go for it and satisfy your deepest need."

Jesus responds by quoting from Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy, one of the books of Moses. He says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." What Jesus is pointing out here is that there's something more important than satisfying your own appetites. There's something more important than satisfying your own appetites.

You say, what in the world is that? If God created appetites and God created the means of satisfying them, what in the world could possibly be more important than the satisfaction by God's means of legitimate God-given appetites? The answer is: the thing that is more important than satisfying your personal appetites, your personal desires, your personal whims, your personal preferences, your personal caprices, is to know and do the will of God.

In actual fact, sometimes it is God's intention that we should live hungry in the word of God rather than live satisfied doing the devil's work for him. Remember, it was in the fullness of the Spirit that he was led into this position of hunger. Let's get on to the second temptation. The devil then takes Jesus into a situation on a high mountain and he allows to pass before him in some incredible manner a vision of all the kingdoms of the world.

All the might of Rome, all the glories of Greece, all the wonders of Egypt. I suppose he brought him down in this miraculous instantaneous vision of grandeur and glory; he probably brought him all the way down through the great days of the French regimes, and he brought them through Portugal and Spain and the great days of the British Empire. The devil says to Jesus, "All these kingdoms of the world, they've been given to me. This is what I want you to do. You just bow down to me and I'll give them to you."

Jesus says, "No thanks. No thanks." Quoting from Deuteronomy, he says in actual fact, you're not the one we worship. The one we worship is the one from whom all real power comes, the one from whom all real prestige comes, the one in whom all true possessions are to be found.

Guest (Male): Stuart Briscoe is talking to you today from his series, What Did Jesus Do? here on Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. First, here's a note from a listener in England named V.J., who shares, "Thank you for your God-given teachings, a real inspiration. Lovely to know they contain the truth. God bless you, your families, and everyone else." Thanks so much, V.J.

That's the kind of blessing you can bring into people's lives through your gift of support today, as you help share God's word around the world so more people can experience life through Telling the Truth. When you give this month, we'd like to bless you with a copy of Stuart and Jill Briscoe's new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces.

Every day, you're locked in a battle with your spiritual enemy, one that threatens your spiritual, emotional, and relational well-being. But you're not alone, and you're not without help. In this powerful series, the Briscoes will show you straight from God's word how you can live victoriously each day. You'll gain confidence in knowing that you'll never be overpowered in your spiritual battles as you discover that the fight's not even fair when you have Christ and his Spirit.

Fighting Unseen Forces is our way of thanking you for your gift to help more people experience life through the teaching resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Listen now as Stuart talks to you more about how Jesus confronted the evil one.

Stuart Briscoe: Which leads us to the third temptation. The scene changes now to Jerusalem, what is called in some versions of our Bible the pinnacle of the temple, which is a little difficult because it didn't have a pinnacle. The word pinnacle actually means the wing of the temple, and we know that it was a place where there was a precipitous drop from it. It's not difficult to figure that out if you go to Jerusalem.

If you go to Jerusalem, the southeast corner of the Temple Mount has a precipitous drop of about 300 feet, and the temple was built on top of that. The devil takes Jesus up there, and he says, "I've been reading Psalm 91." What did you learn there? "Well, Psalm 91," says the devil, "has in it a promise that God will not allow you to dash your foot against the stone, but he will bear you up and he will look after you."

So this is what I suggest: why don't you prove it? Why don't you prove that God can be trusted? You say he can be trusted? Jump. I mean, nothing's going to happen. Just jump. Jesus answers by quoting—yeah, you've guessed—Deuteronomy. Guess where he'd been having his devotions? Have you ever had your devotions from Deuteronomy? You say, I'm not sure where it is; it's in your Old Testament on some very clean pages. Not the cleanest; they're in Leviticus.

Very close. Wonderful, wonderful book. He quotes from Deuteronomy, and this is what he says: "Don't put your God to the test. Don't put your God to the test." This is an interesting thing because the devil is coming and talking about trusting God, and Jesus says, you're not talking about trusting God, you're talking about testing God. What you need to understand about God is this: God is to be trusted, not tested.

It's we human beings who need to be tested, not trusted. But here's the problem: human beings don't like this principle. We want to reverse it, and we want to say to God, "God, please understand, if you are there and are capable of hearing me and are paying attention, under no circumstances am I prepared to give you the right to examine me. The thought of you judging me is a relic of medieval times. There is absolutely no way in which you can test me."

"If you're there and interested in me, all you need to do is trust me. Oh, by the way, God, I am not prepared to accept this idea that you are the judge of all the earth. I'm not prepared to accept this idea that there's a heaven and a hell. I wouldn't trust you with a heaven and a hell, God, and I am putting you to the test by evaluating you and judging you in this area." Do you see what happens?

We deny God the right to test us whilst reserving ourselves the right to test him. We deny God the right to judge us while we emphatically insist on the right to judge him. What arrogance. Adam fell on this one, and the children of Israel fell on this one, and so the devil tries it on Jesus. Jesus doesn't fall for it. He says, you don't put God to the test, you trust him.

You let God put you to the test because you've proven yourself totally untrustworthy. I look at life and I say to myself, is it possible that there are some people in our world today who would say things like this: "God, I have sexual appetites. You gave them to me. You gave them to me presumably in order that the human race might be propagated. Good idea. You also gave legitimate means whereby sexual appetites might be satisfied."

"Now, Lord, I have sexual hungers here, but I don't particularly like the restrictions you put on whereby sexual appetites might be satisfied legitimately. So I'm going to ignore what you say about the legitimate satisfaction of sexual appetites and I am going to determine that the satisfaction of my sexual appetite is more important than what you say." Is it possible that anybody would live like that? You bet it is.

Is it conceivable that there could be some people who reserve the right to judge God without recognizing that in so doing, they are actually elevating themselves above God? Is it possible that somebody would have the audacity to test God and not trust him, without recognizing that in adopting that position, they are elevating themselves to a position of superiority over God?

So what would Jesus do? Jesus would make sure he was living in the fullness of the Spirit. He would make sure that his overriding concern was not to please himself and not to please everybody around him, but to please God. He would have the ability to discern evil in the fabric of the culture around him. Jesus would walk with us through life and he would say, "Son, you need to live in the fullness of the Spirit because if you're not filled with the Spirit, you're full of something else that is not helpful."

Secondly, you need to be thinking in terms of what it means to please God. Thirdly, you need to keep your wits about you and recognize evil when it appears, primarily in your own heart. And fourthly, you need to counter evil on the basis of transcendent truth, not cultural fashion. Notice how Jesus answered each temptation: "It is written. It is written."

There is something called transcendent truth which is far greater and infinitely more wonderful than any common fashion. The problem is this: very often, our responses are media-prompted and are based on this inane suggestion, everybody's doing it. Everybody isn't doing it, but even if they were, that doesn't mean to say it's right. Cultural fashions are not the way to counter evil; transcendent truth is.

Jesus would confront evil in the fullness of the Spirit, with a desire to please the Father, with the discernment to see the incursion of evil in the fabric of human society, not least in our own hearts. He would encourage us to ensure that we counter evil on the basis of transcendent truth rather than cultural fashion.

Guest (Male): Stuart Briscoe is talking to you today from his series, What Did Jesus Do? Jesus Confronted the Evil One. Stuart is right back to answer questions from today's message. Spiritual warfare is very real, and it's a war in which every Christian is engaged. The truth is, your spiritual enemy will stop at nothing to keep you from experiencing the abundant life God wants you to have in Christ.

The good news is that through Christ and the power of his Spirit, you're guaranteed victory. It's that encouragement that Stuart and Jill are excited to give you with their new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces. This powerful resource will encourage you with the comforting truth that you're not alone when it comes to spiritual warfare.

As you grow in God's word with this series, you'll gain clarity of purpose, courage for battle, and strength for each day. Fighting Unseen Forces is our way of thanking you for your gift to help more people around the world experience abundant life in Christ through the unchanging truth of God's word. Simply request your copy of the series when you call today and give a gift to help keep the ministry of Telling the Truth going around the world.

Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Here are some answers from Stuart to a couple of questions about his message today. Stuart, can you remember a time when you did what God wanted rather than satisfying your own desire?

Stuart Briscoe: I certainly can remember times when I did what God wanted rather than just doing what I wanted, but I don't want to give the impression that there was a stage in my life where I just did what I wanted to do and then I matured in a wonderful way and then entered into a whole new stage of my life where I just wanted to do what God wanted me to do.

I wouldn't say that there was a dramatic second conversion in this regard. What I experience is this: life is full of opportunities, it's full of temptations, it's full of incidents, some of which I respond to very well, others I respond to very poorly indeed. The issue really comes down to it as follows: when I am confronted with a situation, I can ask myself a question.

What is it that the Lord wants me to do here? Then there's another question: is that what I'm going to do, or am I just going to ignore what he wants me to do here and do what I want? So it's not a case of going from a stage of disobedience to a stage of obedience; it's a matter of one step at a time.

Guest (Male): What can we do that will make people aware that we are followers of Jesus and not just good people?

Stuart Briscoe: I love the saying of Jesus when he told his disciples, "Let your light shine so that men may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Obviously, Christians are people who are called to go around in society doing good, doing things that are helpful, things that are merciful, things that are gracious, things that other people don't want to do and therefore they don't do.

The problem is that people can observe this sort of thing and say, what a good person that is. How do we get from just doing good works so that people see that we're good people and demonstrating the fact we're followers of Jesus? Well, I think the answer to that question is in the quotation I just gave you: "Let your light shine before men so that men will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

Why would they make a connection between your good works and the Father in heaven? The only way they would make that connection is that you make it abundantly clear to them. In other words, there needs to be an articulation, there needs to be an explanation, there needs to be a statement of who God is in the life that you're living.

Guest (Male): Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, Stuart. We hope today's message encouraged you. Before we go, remember that when you give today to help keep Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one going out around the world, we'll send Stuart and Jill Briscoe's new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces, to help you discover how you can live victoriously each day, knowing that with Christ and his Spirit, you're never alone.

Call now to give and remember to request your copy of Fighting Unseen Forces with our thanks: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. You've been listening to Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Be sure to listen again next time for more truth straight from God's word. Experience life here on Telling the Truth.