The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He came to be a redeemer.

Guest (Male): Temptation is something we all face, but Jesus showed us how to overcome it. Today, Pastor Jack Morris takes us into the wilderness, where Jesus confronted the enemy and demonstrates the power of God's Word.

Pastor Jack Morris: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Again, it is a curious thing. I don't even pretend to understand how God works all the time. Sometimes I think I understand, sometimes I'm sure I don't understand, but all the time I know that I have to walk by faith, not by my understanding, but by faith. After the approval of heaven comes the assault of hell. After the dove, the devil.

Now, look at number one, point A: The Tempter. Look at number one, two words: Satan's Origin and Downfall. Write down the word origin and downfall. Let me tell you a little bit about this devil. It says, "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." Who is this devil? Where did he come from? What is his business?

The Scripture tells us a little bit about him. He was created by God. The devil, sometimes referred to as Satan, was created by God. Whenever God created the angelic host, Satan was created. There came a time in Satan's existence that he looked at himself and his beauty, and he observed his power. He was lifted up with pride, and he got it in his head that he could be like God. He tried to dethrone God and become God. Who does he think he is? I'm as great, I'm as smart, I'm as beautiful. Who does he think he is? I can be God. Why does he have to be God? I'll be God.

I'm going to read this to you out of the Scripture in just a moment. He marched his forces against God, not realizing the Almightiness of the Almighty. He didn't realize the Almightiness of the Almighty, and he literally tries to dethrone God and he moves against God, only to be cast out of heaven itself. Turn with me into the Scripture. I'm going to turn to Isaiah chapter 14. We're going to look at this devil who tempted Jesus, at this devil who tempts you and causes your life, if he can, to be miserable and out of Christ.

Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12. "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn." That is the phrase that describes Satan. "O morning star." In the Hebrew, that phrase is brought over into the Latin Vulgate, which then is translated "Lucifer." That is where we get the name Lucifer. Morning star in Hebrew is translated Lucifer in the Latin Vulgate.

How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, or O morning star, son of the dawn? You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations. You said in your heart, listen to him talk to himself now, "I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will," notice three "I wills." I will, I will, I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

Notice again, "I will ascend above the tops of the cloud. I will make myself like the Most High. I will do all of this." But look at verse 15. "Oh, you will, will you? This is what will happen to you. You will be brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit." That is what will happen to you, and that is exactly what happened.

In Luke chapter 10, Jesus said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fallen from heaven." He moved his forces, Satan did, against God and the forces of that which is holy and pure. God cast him out, and Jesus saw him fall. How the devil ever got it into his head that he could move against God and dethrone God, I'll never know. But it did happen, and we do know what happened to him. He was cast out of heaven.

Now, number two under point A, we're going to look at Satan's Mission. Write down the word mission. Satan's scheme has always been to dethrone God and overthrow God, embarrass God and make God as nothing. When Satan was cast out of heaven, do you think he learned his lesson? Oh, no. His hatred of God perhaps even became more intense because when God did something beautiful on earth—and I don't know why God chose earth of all of the planets of the universe, it was earth that God chose to confine Satan. Satan is confined to this earth. Here is where he does his diabolical deeds.

Satan was cast down to earth. God comes to earth. He is going to do something beautiful. He makes Adam and Eve and then He makes a beautiful paradise. Everywhere God is, there is beauty. Everything God touches is beautiful. Whatever God touches and wherever God is, you can be sure that slithering serpent is going to come in and try to dethrone God.

He tried to dethrone God in heaven, and when God builds a kingdom on earth, he moves against that kingdom, which is the church, to dethrone the church. If you enthrone Jesus on your heart, he will then move against you. He wants Jesus out of your life, out of heaven. He hates Jesus. He knows his time is short. He knows what his end will be, but he will be as diabolical in the meantime as he possibly can be.

I want you to know that you are a child of God, that he cannot touch you, that you are safe and secure in Him. Your name is written in the Book of Life, and the devil cannot destroy you. With all of his power, he cannot do that. I want you to know that upfront. I don't want you to start getting afraid of the devil. Just love God with all your heart because you are God's child and God is going to take care of you.

Now, I want you to say, "God's going to take care of me." Say it. "I'm a child of God." Now, you need to continue to affirm that until that truth becomes part of your thinking and becomes part of your very life. Satan moved against God to dethrone God in heaven. Now he moves against God to dethrone God in the Garden of Eden. He could not have done anything in Eden, listen to me, he could not have done a thing in Eden if Adam and Eve had not given him the privilege to do it.

Adam and Eve had more power. They could have said no to Satan and they could have said, "Get your slithering self out of here," and he would have had to have gone. But he comes with his sly, logical... I mean, the devil is not a stupid fool. You have to give him that much respect. He can even quote Scripture. We're going to find that out in just a moment.

He moves into the garden, he twists the word of God, he causes Adam and Eve to begin to think and to ponder what God had said. Adam then turns the kingdoms of this world over to the devil. We know he did that because in a moment, when I get to the temptations of Jesus, Jesus is offered by Satan the kingdoms of the world. Jesus did not say, "You don't own the kingdoms of the world." No, Jesus did not do that because Adam gave the kingdoms of the world and gave all that power to the devil.

The devil does not have any power until you give him power. When you start doubting and disbelieving and questioning and stop reading the Bible and stop going to church, you've turned power over to the devil. But I want you to know you have more control than you think you have. God has made you somebody wonderful, and the devil cannot get in there unless you allow him to get in there. Adam and Eve turned the power over to the devil. He took it, and later on, he offered it to Jesus. But thank God Jesus did not fall prey to the devil like Adam and Eve fell prey to it.

He tried to destroy and he did destroy Eden because Adam and Eve allowed him to destroy it. Jesus now is coming. He is the second man. Adam was the man that was to bring salvation, to bring redemption, to keep it here. He let it go. Jesus now is the second one. He is the second Adam. He is going to come and try to do what Adam turned over to the devil and failed to do.

Jesus comes. The devil moves against Jesus before He was born. While He was still being made in His mother's womb, Satan tried to discredit Jesus. Joseph was minded to put his wife away privately. He was going to discredit Jesus, ruin His name, ruin His testimony, ruin His influence by Him being born out of wedlock. He moved against Him. But God is greater. Say that, "God is greater."

God talked to Joseph and to Mary. It all worked out. But then after the birth of Jesus, then Herod tried to have Him killed. But still, God is greater. All during the life of Jesus, they were going to stone Him, going to kill Him. They could not do it until God's time came. And then one of those very curious, curious things happened. Satan filled the hearts and minds of the priests and the Romans with hate and with murder and had Jesus killed.

I do not know why Satan thought he was going to be able to do it again, but he attempted to do it again. He had Jesus killed. He had Jesus put into the tomb. He had the stone rolled in front. He dusted his hands. "And now I've got him. What I couldn't do to God in heaven, what I failed there, I have finally accomplished here. I have had God's Son killed. I have shut Him up. I have stopped Him. No more healing, no more teaching, no more feeding. He is done."

But God had something else in mind. God had another plan. On the third day, tell me what happened the third day? He arose again. The stone was rolled away. Jesus came forth victorious, triumphant. Jesus came forth. Jesus is always the winner. God is always the winner. And as you trust God, you too will be a winner. God wants you to be a winner. He wants Jesus to triumph in your life.

The third time Satan comes against Jesus is when he comes against you. The devil looks into your heart and he sees Jesus again on the throne. He tried to get God out of heaven, he tried to get God out of Eden, and now he is going to try to get God out of you. He does not like Jesus. He never has liked Jesus. He looks at you and sees Jesus, he does not like Jesus still. And that is when the trial comes. That is when the testing comes. That is when the temptation comes. Satan is against God and all that belongs to God.

You see, it says in 1 Peter chapter five, Satan like a roaring lion is walking about seeking whom he may devour. Did you hear that? Satan wants to eat you alive. He wants to eat you up. He really does, but he cannot. He hates you because you belong to God. He hates God in you, but he cannot harm you because you are in the Father's hand, and no one and no power can take you out of the Father's hand. You belong to the Lord.

He knows his time is short. He knows he has but a while to work and to destroy. God is a builder. God is a bringer together. God is a unifier. The devil is a teardown, a mixer, and a frustrator. He knows that his time is short, and he will then in that day, God's day, in God's time, be confined. There is no redemption for the devil. There is no salvation or redemption for the devil.

The devil cannot repent. The devil cannot be saved. The devil cannot turn back to God. Jesus died on the cross for humanity, lost humanity. God so loved the world, not the kingdoms of darkness, not Satan, not the created being. You see, Satan was in heaven as the bright and morning star with power only equal to God's power, but God's power was so far beyond and so superior.

He saw God. He was at that place where the Apostle Paul said, "I saw things when I was there and I heard things that I cannot even speak or articulate, it's so great and so wonderful." He had this great revelation of God. God is saying because of that great revelation and because of that holy relationship and because I created you with power next to mine, God will not give him another opportunity. He does not want another opportunity. He will not get another opportunity. Satan has sealed his doom forever. He knows he's sealed, and he wants to take as many into his cage as he possibly can take and to destroy. So his end has already been determined. He's a defeated foe.

We are going to look at the temptation now as it comes. I am going to read verses one and two. Now listen to this very carefully. You follow along if you like. "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." Look at the next three words in verse three: "The tempter came." He knows when to come, doesn't he?

When Jesus was at his weakest physically, he had been fasting for forty days. I can hardly go four hours. I start munching after forty minutes. Forty days he was completely physically exhausted. Forty days without food. Then the devil came. The devil knows where he can get to you, where he can touch you, where you are the weakest, where he can move in. He knows you, he really does, and he is no stupid fool.

He came at Jesus after Jesus had fasted for forty days and he tried to talk to him and he put Jesus to the test. Okay, here is the first test. You have it in your outline: Basic Needs of Life. Put down the word basic. I am going to read verses three and four. "The tempter came to him and said, 'If you are the Son of God...'" Now, let me stop just a moment there.

The devil just heard heaven—saw heaven open, saw the dove come down, and heard the voice of God, "Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." He had just heard God say that Jesus is the Son, and then he turns around and says, "If you are the Son of God." You see how he works? He wants to stir your thinking, mix up your thinking, confuse your thinking. "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

I want you to read with me verse four, Jesus' answer to that proposition. Read it with me in unison. Jesus' answer: "It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." So the first temptation was in the area of the basic needs of life. What would have been wrong with Jesus turning the stones into bread? I mean, the man was hungry. He had already fasted and prayed, and he was hungry. What would have been wrong? Up here on the mountain, why don't you just turn the stones into bread, we'll have a picnic, you and me? We will just have a picnic up here. There is nothing wrong with that.

The only thing wrong there was that Jesus would have been going against God's will. He would have been using his own supernatural powers to bless himself. He did not come into this world to bless himself. He came into this world to die for us and to bless us. And Jesus would not use, thank God he was tempted, but he resisted the temptation to use his supernatural powers to bless himself. Friend, you are the object. You are the focus of his blessing. You are the one that he wants to bless. All the powers of heaven are to bless you. You have all heaven on your side. Jesus said, "I'll not use my powers to bless myself." His blessings would be saved for us.

In these basic needs of life, we work at our jobs to provide clothing and food and education and shelter, and so very often, that becomes the place—your job, the place where you take care of your basic needs—becomes the place of some of your greatest trial, some of your greatest temptation. And there's where he moved in on Jesus, on the very basic needs. But how did Jesus overcome? He took the sword of the Spirit. He unleashed it.

Now notice, look at the second test: Testing God by acting irresponsibly. Look at verses five and six. Look at verse five. "Then the devil took him..." You thought you won the victory? No, the devil doesn't give up very easily. He's coming back with another one. "Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple." And then what did he say? "If you're the Son of God, throw yourself down. He'll command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that if you strike your foot against a stone..."

What did Jesus say? Read verse seven. Jesus answered him, "It is also written." Now notice, Jesus did not say, "Well, if I could hear a voice from heaven again like I did when I was baptized." Jesus did not say, "I heard a voice from heaven." He said, "I'm talking about the written word. It is written. It is also written." Here it is written down. Use it like Jesus used it, and you will get the same kind of victory and you will put the devil to flight just like Jesus got the victory and put the devil to flight.

Now, acting irresponsibly. I have heard people say, "Well, I'm not going to take that blood transfusion. I'm just going to trust God." Go ahead and die. Do not go to the doctor. "I'm just going to wait, God answers prayer." And He does answer prayer, He does heal. He heals often through medicine. But do not go out there and get too brave and start acting foolishly.

We are going to look now at the last temptation. Look at verses eight and nine. Again, oh, here he comes again. You think, "When is he going to give me a break?" He just keeps coming. But God is not going to put more on you than you can bear. Did you hear that? He's not going to put more on you than you can bear.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said, "All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me." Now notice Jesus did not rebuke him and say, "That's a lie. You don't have the power to do that," because he did have the power. Adam gave it to him. Man was to rule the earth and have dominion over the earth, but he gave it all to the devil.

What did Jesus say? Read verse 10 with me. Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." The devil wanted to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world. He said, "Now if you'll take the kingdoms of the world, they'll be yours. You can do away with poverty. You could do away with injustice." This is what the devil was saying to Jesus.

The devil offered him a temporary solution to the world's woes, but men would have still died and gone to hell. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Satan in this situation, offering Jesus the kingdoms of the world, was offering him a political salvation. You can take political charge of the world. What Adam gave to me, I'll give to you, and you can straighten everything out. But he could have only straightened everything out temporarily for a lifetime.

But Jesus came... naturally he wants to—I hope you don't misunderstand me today. He wants to take care of the poor of the world. But just to put clothes on their back and food in their stomach and educate their minds, eventually they're going to die in their sins. You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He came to be a redeemer, not a political giant, not a political messiah. And that is what the devil tried to get him to do.

Guest (Male): When temptation comes, the victory is found in standing on God's Word, just as Jesus did. You can find more teachings like this at thehealingword.com, along with resources to strengthen your walk with Christ. And if you'd like to help us continue sharing God's truth, we invite you to partner with us through a donation. Next time, we'll see the powerful attraction of Jesus and why so many were drawn to follow Him.