We're glad you're joining us for A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. Get more encouraging audio content when you subscribe to Pastor Greg's Daily Devos.
Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. That's why you want to hang around godly people and godly places and do godly things, because the best defense is a good offense. Drivers have told their car insurance companies some doozies. Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.
My car was legally parked as it packed into another vehicle. As I approached an intersection, a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. It's similar to the way we try to rationalize our sin before God. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us understand temptation. Now here's what we're going to look at in the verses before us here in Luke 4. We're going to look at six things about temptation. Number one, we're going to look at where temptation comes from. Where temptation comes from. Number two, we're going to look at when temptation comes. When temptation comes. Number three, how does temptation come? How does temptation come? Number four, who does temptation come to? Who does it come to? Five, where is the best place to be when it comes? And lastly, number six, what is the primary weapon we should use to resist it? How does that sound?
Okay, you ready? Okay, let's read Luke 4 and we're going to read verses 1 to 13. Now Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness being tempted for 40 days by the devil.
And in those days he ate nothing and afterwards when they had ended he was hungry. And the devil said to him, if, and by the way this could be translated since, so it wasn't a question of if Jesus was the Son of God. Satan was effectively affirming it.
It could be translated since. Since you are the Son of God, says the devil, why don't you command the stone to become bread? Jesus answered him saying, it is written, underline that phrase, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Then the devil took him up to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said, all this authority I will give to you and their glory for this has been delivered to me and I can give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if you will worship before me all of this will be yours. Jesus answered and said, get behind me Satan for it is written, underline that phrase again, you shall worship the Lord God and him only shall you serve. Then Satan brought him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said, since you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here for it is written. Notice the devil's quote in Scripture now.
For it is written, he will give his angels charge over you to keep you and in your hands he will bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone. Jesus answered and said, it has been said you shall not tempt the Lord your God. Now when the devil had ended every temptation he departed from him until an opportune time.
Ok so let's deal with issue number one. Where does temptation come from? Where does it come from? Well we play a key role in our own temptation. Satan needs our cooperation in this area where there is no desire on our part. There is no temptation.
Ok when does temptation generally come? After times of great blessing. Often after times of great blessing and this surprises us. A lot of people don't even go to church on Sunday. But you guys you take time out to come here and open God's Word and you know that is a wonderful thing. Or maybe you go to a great conference or retreat or you have a great time of worship and you are saying this is so fantastic and it shocks you when you walk out of church and you don't even have to get outside of church.
Guess what? Satan can tempt us in church. I wish we could keep him out of here.
But we can't. He is the prince of the power of the air. And you know maybe you are even in worship. Oh Lord you are so glorious.
You are so wonderful. And suddenly seemingly out of nowhere but like a flaming missile from hell this wicked strange crazy thought comes to you. Just right there. I can't believe I am thinking this. First of all you didn't necessarily come up with that. I mean maybe you are twisted and you did.
I don't know. But really seriously sometimes you weren't thinking about anything like that. You literally were thinking of the glory of God.
You literally were taking in the Word of God. And this thing just came out of nowhere. You know what I am talking about? And now you are feeling bad because you had this thought. Oh can anyone see this thing?
It is like just right there. So embarrassed. Ok. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't do anything wrong.
You don't have to apologize. Now if you process it and make it your own you do. But you could just say this is from the devil. Get out of here.
Forget this. I resist this. I rebuke this and turn away from it. But it will often come after times of great blessing.
Point number four. How does temptation come? In most cases it comes through the doorway of our mind. In most cases it comes through the doorway of our mind. Second Corinthians 11 three says, I am afraid as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Your minds. When those flaming arrows and ungodly thoughts come we need to have our guard up because 2 Corinthians 10 four says, We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. Listen to this.
We capture these rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. No. I am not going to be filled with worry right now. Worry.
Take a hike. No. I am going to pray instead. No. I am not going to give in to fear right now.
I am going to trust in what God says in his word. No. I am not going to give in to lust right now. I reject that thought. No. I am not going to give in to bitterness right now. I am going to forgive that person.
No. You draw the line right there. Right here in the mind.
Command central. And you say get behind me Satan. I have told you that story before. That woman that liked to buy clothes.
Imagine such a thing. And her husband was a real cheapskate too. So she said honey I am going down to the mall and I am just going to window shop. He says no you are not.
Because every time you go window shopping you buy something. Just don't go. She goes I won't buy anything honey. I promise. Now come on. You know our budget.
It is tight this month. Please don't buy. I will not buy anything.
I am just going to browse. So she went down to the mall and came back two hours later with a new dress. He says I told you not to buy anything. She said dear you don't know what happened.
What do you mean whatever. Here is what happened. I am walking by this store.
They had this cute outfit in the window. And I was interested. I did walk in. But I had no intention of buying it. And the sales person said here try it on.
I still wasn't going to buy it. And I put it on and honey the devil himself appeared in the dressing room. The devil appeared. What did he say. She said the devil said to me you look good in that outfit. The husband said that is crazy. You should have said get behind me Satan. She said I did.
And then he said hey it looks good from the back too. What else could I do but buy it. Number five where is the best place to be when temptation comes. Where is the best place to be. Answer. In the will of God. In the will of God. Where was Jesus at this point. He was in the will of God.
How do we know that. Well Jesus was always in the will of God actually. He said in John 8 29 I always do what pleases the Father. And I could never say that could you.
What an amazing thing to say that. I always do what pleases the Father. But you know what Jesus did. But remember He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
He was in God's will. See here is the thing that happens to us. We get out of God's will. We go to the wrong places.
We hang out with the wrong people. And then we are surprised when we do the wrong thing. So if you are hanging around ungodly people in ungodly places being tempted to do ungodly things. Don't be surprised when you give in to it. That is why you want to hang around godly people in godly places and do godly things.
Because the best defense is a good offense. So instead of standing around in places where you are vulnerable saying oh this is so hard. Man go hang out with God's people. Like being here this is a great place. Let's say you have a problem with alcohol. So you hang around in bars.
Why do you do that? They have great peanuts. Come on. When you are weak there don't hang out in a bar. I am trying to go on a diet but I love to hang around at Krispy Kreme donuts. I mean really come on.
So put yourself in a place of vulnerability. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here. You know my uncle Fred Jordan had one of the first Christian TV programs out there. It was called Church in the Home.
I remember watching it as a little boy when I was living with my grandparents. Well we have Church in the Home for you every weekend. It is called Harvest at Home and you can find it at Harvest.org. We have worship and a message from God's Word.
So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well today in one of the most requested messages of the year Pastor Greg is helping us learn from the way Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Good insights to help us resist our temptations. Now notice what the devil says to him. Here is the first of three temptations. Look at verse 3.
If you are the son of God or since you are the son of God, command the stone to become bread. Here is what the devil is saying. Hey Jesus.
I have been standing around the corner here. Notice that baptism. Heard what your father said.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Ok. If you are who you say you are, prove it. Turn a stone. Turn a rock into a loaf of bread.
Now why would that be tempted? Well if you hadn't eaten for 40 days you would be hungry too. I already told you about how hard it is for me to resist fresh bread. Jesus could have created fresh bread. Jesus could have materialized anything he wanted to eat at the moment.
But he did not do that. And so Jesus responds by saying it is written. Men shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. And he is showing us how to face temptation. Men shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. What Jesus was showing us when tempted, keep your priorities in order. Stand your ground and use the Word of God. You know the devil comes to us with the same temptation today. Really the bait in the first temptation was designed to hit him physically. It was effectively saying put your physical needs above your spiritual needs.
The devil still does that with us today. He said go ahead and enjoy this sin. You know it will be fun. You know play now. Pay later. You have needs. Enjoy the moment. Come on.
It will be great. But by saying men shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God's mouth. He is saying you have got to keep your life in the proper balance. There is nothing wrong with eating to live but you don't want to live to eat. There is nothing wrong with having stuff but you don't want stuff to have you.
There is nothing wrong with having relationships but you don't want a relationship with another person to become more important than your relationship with God. Right? When I was first going out with my wife-to-be Kathy, we were very young. And she says I said something to her maybe our first or second time out. She says Greg you turned to me and said if you ever get in the way of my relationship with God you are out of here. I said I said that? She said yes you did. I said man I was such a romantic wasn't I? What a great thing to say to a girl. She says actually it was a really great thing to say to me. I said why?
She says well I was kind of used to manipulating guys and getting them to do what I wanted them to do. And I thought well here is a guy that loves God so much he is going to just say it right up front and he loves God even more than he loves me. That is a guy I want to be with. So I thought ok. So there is a great line single people.
Keep it in mind. See some nights go hey how is it going? Hey if you get in the way of my relationship with God you are out of here. I don't even know you yet. Yeah well maybe I should use that line later.
I am not sure. I will get confused. So really he is putting the physical above the spiritual. Now this second temptation is really interesting. The bait in this second temptation was to avoid the cross. Which was the objective of Jesus. Why did Jesus come to planet earth? To give us the greatest teachings that have ever been given. That is not the primary reason.
To do mighty miracles and change people's lives. As wonderful as that was that was not the primary reason. To provide for us a great example of someone who loved God.
Well yeah he was that and much more of course. Actually the real reason. The primary reason Jesus came to this earth was to die for the sin of the planet.
That is his main objective. So all these other things as wonderful as they were were really secondary to the main goal of going to the cross and dying because there was no other way to satisfy the righteous demands of God. So here is what the devil says. Look at verse 5 of Luke 4. Then the devil taking him to a high mountain shows him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said, all of this authority is mine. And I can give it to you and their glory for it has been delivered to me and I will give it to whomever I wish.
Therefore if you will worship before me all will be yours. The devil is saying, this is my stuff and I can give it to you if I want to. Note Jesus did not refute the statement of Satan. And you want to know why he didn't refute it?
Because it was true. Because Satan is the god of this world. The Bible says Satan is the prince of the power of the air. He is the one that is effectively pulling a lot of strings right now on planet earth. Ultimately he is overruled by God who is sovereign and in control.
But the devil has a certain leeway on this planet. And he is saying, Jesus I know why you are here. I know you have come to die on a cross.
I get it and I am telling you what. I am going to make you an offer you cannot refuse. I will give it to you on a silver platter.
I will give you all this stuff. You came to redeem humanity to God. You came to buy back that which was lost in the garden of Eden. You are here to get the title deed of planet earth back.
I will give it to you. No cross. No suffering. No crucifixion.
No burying the sin of the world. All you have to do is just worship me. See that is all the devil has ever wanted. The top job. He wanted to be worshipped. And so here we see him saying, alright Jesus you can have it right now.
He still offers this to people today. I read an interesting poll done by USA Today among young people. And it revealed what today's young people really want more than anything else.
You want to know what it is? To be rich and famous. 81 percent of those that are 18 to 25 year old said they want to get rich and they want to be famous.
Get rich and be famous. 30 percent said their top goal was to help people who needed help. 22 percent said their goal was to be leaders in their community.
And 10 percent of today's young people said they wanted to become more spiritual. See it is a selfie generation isn't it? You know we all want to be a celebrity. We all want our own reality show. Even if it is not on TV. We will have it on Facebook.
We will have it on Instagram. We all want to be the center of attention. We all want to be the celebrity or whatever. I remember a quote by comedian Jim Carrey. I hope one day everyone will get rich and famous and have everything they ever dreamed of so they will know that is not the answer. I think he knows too because he is rich and famous.
But you see this is what people live for. And the devil is saying hey man I will give it to you. He will promise anything to anyone. Not that he delivers. Occasionally he does.
A lot of times it is just hey I got you where I want you. I am not even giving it to you now. But Jesus refuses the devil. Look at verse 6. Jesus answered and said to him get behind me Satan for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God. In him only shall you serve.
I want you to notice something. The devil didn't say serve me. He said worship me. He said if you will worship before me I will give you the kingdoms of the world. And Jesus said you shall worship the Lord your God in him only shall you serve. Why did Jesus add that? Answer. Because Jesus understood that a moment of worship can lead to a lifetime of service.
What does that mean? A moment of worship at the altar of sex can lead to a lifetime of regret. A moment of worship at the altar of drugs. And by the way I am so against the legalization of marijuana.
That is a current trend. So against it. And I could go on why I am against it.
I could talk about my own personal experiences. As a kid with it I could talk about what it did to people I knew. But there is no question that it is entry level gateway drug that leads to other things. And I just think that it is just a world of pain and a world of hurt to make this more accessible.
Especially to young people today. But you know you just start there. Hey man I am going to smoke the one joint. I am going to do this one time. I am going to look at the porn site one time. I am going to have this one little itty bitty affair. I am going to have the whatever. However you rationalize it. One act of worship if you will.
Turning away from God and bowing at this altar can lead to a lifetime of regret. Say just a little bite. You know I was in a Target the other day and I bought some animal crackers. Now you know what animal crackers are? They are actually cookies.
And I don't know what it is. I love animal crackers. I don't like them with frosting. I like them natural.
And the thing is there is something about them because they are subtly sweet. I will eat one and I will just eat another. And because they are smaller I will eat like you know 100. And so I got this giant thing in the shape of a bear. A big bear. It is really big in the middle because he is a fat bear. And I bought a big giant thing.
It was a good deal at Target. Of animal crackers for the grandkids. And the grandkids came over and I would give them a few. Here is three little animal crackers.
Here you go. Put them in a little plastic bag. Enjoy them. And then I would sit down in front of the TV. I would grab a few crackers.
Big handful. Put them on the thing. Eat them one at a time.
Go back again. Before I knew it that thing was like three quarters gone. And the grandkids didn't eat them. And Papa had gained a few pounds. And so I got rid of them. Because I couldn't resist them.
It is just those little bites that get you started. Pastor Greg Laurie with practical insight on how temptation affects us so strongly. And he has more to share as he wraps up one of the most requested messages of the past year here on A New Beginning. Well Pastor Greg as many of our listeners know our mission here at Harvest Ministries is to make disciples. We reach out as far as we can with the gospel. And then we help new believers get started in their walk with the Lord. And now we are making available the TV series called The Chosen. It is a great series. How can this resource help those who are new to the faith?
Well I think it strengthens us in what we believe. These are true stories that are in the Bible. They are the greatest stories ever told. But when they are dramatized. When you see them in cinematic form.
They can come to life for you in a way that maybe they didn't come to life for you reading them from the page. Of course I encourage everyone to read the Bible. But I appreciate any tool that is out there that will reinforce the great stories of scripture. And I can't think of anyone who has done a better job of this than Dallas Jenkins. Who is the producer and director of this new series on the life of Christ called The Chosen. It is a monstrous success. Millions and millions of people have watched it and are watching it. And I am very excited to announce that we are offering this month season one of The Chosen. You are going to want to sit down and watch this with your family.
And let me add this. What a great way to start an evangelistic conversation. Invite somebody over and have them watch an episode of The Chosen with you.
And then afterwards talk about Jesus. You will find this is a very engaging series. It is something that is going to actually be a blessing to you.
And I have to say it is very entertaining as well. So order your copy of The Chosen. I will send it to you for your gift of any size. Let me encourage you to be generous. Because we will take the resources that you send, the money you send. And use it to expand this ministry to reach more people. Look I have dedicated my life to teaching the Bible. To telling people about Jesus.
So this is a great resource to reinforce that. Help us to continue to bring the message of the gospel to our generation. So whatever you send will be put to good use. And we will rush you your copy of season one of The Chosen.
Yeah that is right. And your investment helps us reach literally all over the planet. In fact we received this note.
It said I am 16 years old from the United Kingdom. I have been listening to the New Beginning podcast for the past seven years. Since I was nine. I am so thankful for the content you put online. You have been a blessing to my friends and family. Well you know it is only through the investments of listeners that we can reach out like that. If you have been a partner with us, thank you so much. And if you can partner with us right now, we hope you will ask for a copy of season one of The Chosen. And time is running out.
We can only mention this a short time longer. You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or call us anytime around the clock at 1-800-821-3300. That is 1-800-821-3300. Well next time Pastor Greg has more insight for us on resisting temptation and standing against our spiritual adversary. Council from one of the year's most requested studies. Join us here on A New Beginning with Pastor and Bible Teacher, Greg Laurie. Or just go to harvest.org.
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