Confronting the Prince of Darkness - Part B

Immediate gratification often brings eventual dissatisfaction. But also delayed satisfaction, waiting for God in His own time to give you what He knows is best will bring both immediate and eventual satisfaction.

Immediate because you know you're pleasing God, eventual because you have what you asked Him for and waited for. Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Skip wraps up his message, Confronting the Prince of Darkness, warning you against immediate gratification and challenging you to wait on God's timing. We share these messages to help you connect to God through His Word and grow in your relationship with Him through intentional study of Scripture.

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That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Okay, we're in Luke chapter four as Skip begins today's lesson. The Wiest translation of the New Testament, Kenneth Wiest, a Greek scholar, said, in view of the fact that you are the Son of God. Satan is not questioning the identity of Jesus. By the way, the devil never questioned the deity of Christ, ever.

No demon had ever questioned the deity of Christ. In fact, in this chapter, chapter four, verse 34, the demons say, let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth?

Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Every demon in hell knows exactly who Jesus is, that He is God in human flesh. Satan never questions the deity of Christ.

Only liberals do. Only liberal theologians do that. Satan knows better. So, when Satan says, command these stones, be made bread, it's not a slam on Jesus' identity. Satan is questioning God the Father's provision, His love. It's a slam on His love. Hey, since you're the Son of God, why didn't your Father feed you?

Why would He let you stay out in this God-forsaken desert without any food for this long of time? Where is the love? Again, chapter three, verse 22, God the Father says, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Where's the love? And so, Satan suggests that Jesus used His own prerogative, His own power, to provide for Himself what the Father did not provide for Him. It's sort of like the Garden of Eden. Same tactic in the Garden of Eden, right? All the trees that are in the garden, and Satan comes along and says, why don't you eat it? Well, we can't eat of these trees. We can eat of all of them, except one.

It's in the middle of the garden. God said, don't eat that. The devil goes, has God really said that? He said, no, He doesn't. God really said that?

The suggestion is, what kind of a God of love would not allow you to have fruit in the garden He put you in? Why would He withhold that from you? And so, you know what that's like in a difficult time. You've had that feeling.

You might have heard that little whisper. You're a child of God, and this is how God treats His kids. And so, how does Jesus answer that? Verse 4, He said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. He's not suggesting you don't need food or bread.

He's simply saying you need it, but that's not all you need. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. What sustains life isn't just physical food, but spiritual food. We found this out in the pandemic, didn't we?

We found out when people were locked out and locked down, and we were isolated and restricted, how that wreaked havoc on the mental health of people all over the world, and the spiritual vibrancy of God's people, missing the mutual encouragement that the Bible says we all must have. Man shall not live by bread alone. We need bread for the body, but we also need food for the soul, because the soul is the only part that is eternal. Well, we're out busy protecting our body, not realizing it's gonna die.

Our soul will live forever. That needs to be taken care of. So, two words, tactical, vulnerable. Let me give you a third word adjective to describe temptation, practical. Satan is a pragmatist. He's very pragmatist. He's very, very logical.

Practical. So, in verse 5, the devil, taking him on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Now, get this. The devil said to him, all this authority I will give you and their glory, for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. What's interesting about this is Jesus never rebutted Satan. He never said, uh-uh.

That's not true. It hasn't been delivered to you. You know why? He knew it had been delivered to him. He knew that in the Garden of Eden, God gave the earth to mankind. Mankind gave it over to Satan when he followed his suggestion. And that's why Satan is called the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the one who works in the children of disobedience, and that's why redemption was necessary. So, Satan said, it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Okay, Satan is suggesting that Jesus take a shortcut. The devil knew why Jesus had come. The devil knew that God the Father had promised Jesus the kingdoms of this world. Listen to this, Psalm 2, a messianic psalm. God the Father says to God the Son, ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and all the ends of the earth for your possession. So, Satan gets Jesus to question God's plan and says, ask me for it instead.

I'll give it to you. You don't have to go the way of the cross. You don't have to go the way of suffering. You don't have to become the suffering servant of Isaiah chapter 53.

I know why you're here. I get it, but I'll give you a shortcut. If you will just indulge me for a moment of time and worship me, it's what he's always wanted, his day in the sun. If you just worship me, I'll give it to you. You don't have to die and redeem it.

I will give it to you, for it has been delivered to me. Now, you know that if you've had any dealings at all in temptation and with the devil, you know how the devil plays the if only game. If only God would let you do this. If only you would get what you want. If only you had what you deserved, then you'd be happy. God is holding back from you, and God's way is painful. So, have it now.

I'll give it to you. I read an article some years ago. It so baffled me that I cut it out of the newspaper because I just thought, I just got to look at this.

This is how some people think. It was a teenager in Los Angeles being interviewed by a news outlet, and this kid said he was a Satan worshiper. The news reporter said, why do you worship the devil? The kid said, I think of the devil as a cool dude. That sentence sort of arrested me because there's a lot of things I think about the devil.

Cool dude doesn't come to mind, but I think the devil is a cool dude because he said God restricts you and doesn't give you what you want. The devil lets you have what you want. Satan says in effect to Jesus, what do you want?

I know what you want. You want to redeem people back to God. I'll give them to you.

I'll give them to you. So, let's see what Jesus says in verse six or verse seven. Therefore, if you worship me, worship before me, all will be yours. And Jesus answered and said to him, get behind me, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

In other words, no thanks. I'd rather wait for the promise of my Father. I know one day I'm going to rule the world, and I'm not going to depend on you to give that to me.

I'm going to depend on my Father in his own time. Get behind me, Satan. You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

You need to know something. There are no shortcuts to the Christian life. There's no shortcuts to spiritual maturity. There's no easy victory. There's no, just do this and do that, and awesomeness happens. There's no shortcuts. If Jesus, your Savior, had to hang on a tree before he could sit on his throne, don't expect easy street.

You follow him. Immediate gratification often brings eventual dissatisfaction. I've got to have it now.

I've got to have it now. Immediate gratification often brings eventual dissatisfaction, but also delayed satisfaction, waiting for God in his own time to give you what he knows is best, will bring both immediate and eventual satisfaction. Immediate because you know you're pleasing God, eventual because you have what you've asked him for and waited for.

So three words to describe it so far, tactical, vulnerable, practical. Let me give you a fourth adjective, sensational. The third temptation Satan suggests to Jesus is, let's put on a show.

Let's do something really sensational. Verse 9, then he brought him to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the Son of God, or since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. 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. Jesus answered and said to him, it has been said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.

You should know something. Alfred Edersheim, the Jewish scholar said, Jewish rabbis believe that when the Messiah came that he would stand on the roof of the temple. And the reason they thought this is because there's a scripture, Malachi chapter 3, like verse 1 and 2, it says that the Lord will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom I will send. And so because of that they thought, okay, so when the Messiah comes he's going to show up at the temple, probably on the roof of the temple. So perhaps with that in mind, Satan suggests jump off the temple. The pinnacle of the temple, by the way, was the tallest point from the roof of the temple down to the lowest spot called the Kidron Valley, 450, 460 feet. Several years ago I was in Jerusalem on the temple mount and you can stand on the remains of that pinnacle of the temple mount and look down.

There's this wide valley way down there. And I happened to have a Frisbee with me. And so I chucked, I knew I'd never get it back, but I chucked the Frisbee out into the Kidron Valley from the pinnacle of the temple just to watch it fly. I think I'd probably be shot if I tried that today. But anyway, it has nothing to do with this text.

Just thought I should let you know that I did that. Confess my sin once and for all. So the suggestion is that Jesus jump. But you notice that Satan alters his approach a little bit this time. This time, how does he tempt Jesus? What does he say to Jesus? Scripture. He quotes scripture this time. Jesus has been quoting scripture twice to Satan. So Satan pulls out a scripture of his own and it happens to be Psalm 91.

And he quotes it. It is written he will give his angels charge over you to keep you. That's Psalm 91. And in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone. That's the following verse.

But here's what you need to know. Satan left something out when he quoted scripture. He always does. So in Psalm 91, this is what it actually says in verse 11. He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways.

They shall bear you up in their hands lest you dash your foot against the stone. And then he also leaves the verse out right before that which is the context which says, because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the most high your habitation. So that's what Satan does when he quotes scripture.

He takes it out of context and only quotes certain things he wants to quote. Cults do this all the time. You can make the Bible say anything you want to.

And people do it all the time. Now it shouldn't surprise you that the devil quotes scripture. The devil knows the Bible inside and out, and that shouldn't surprise you. Did you know that the devil is a very shrewd theologian?

He's been trained in the world's best seminary, the very throne room of God itself. But again, it was a misquote. And the whole context suggests that a child of God in the will of God doing the ways of God are protected.

Satan quotes it out of context. So why the suggestion that he jump? I think the devil hoped that one of two things would happen if Jesus jumped off the pinnacle of the temple. Number one, he'd be killed by the fall.

And if he was killed by the fall, he couldn't be the atoning sacrifice according to Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. Or number two, he would by jumping force God the Father to rescue him, to deliver him, which means he will cease to be in submission to the timing and the will of the Father. So follow these three temptations. The first temptation, stone into bread, is to question God's provision. The second temptation, I'll give you the kingdoms of the world, is to question God's plan. The third temptation, jump off the temple, is to question God's protection.

His provision, his plan, his protection. Verse 12, Jesus answered him, it has been said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. In other words, you can't deliberately place yourself in temptation and then expect God to deliver you. If you go over the speed limit, while at the same time pray that God will keep you from getting a citation, duh, you don't walk into a bar and ask God to help you not drink, you get out of the bar. You don't feed on pornography and ask God to deliver you from lust. You don't walk into temptation saying, deliver us from evil.

God gave you two legs like he gave Joseph who ran the other direction, go the other direction. So it has been said, you will not tempt the Lord your God. So we have four words that describe this temptation, technical, vulnerable, practical, sensational.

I'll give you a fifth and we'll close with this, seasonal. Temptations are seasonal. Just when you go, it's over, hallelujah.

Yeah, let's see what happens. Verse 13, now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Satan wasn't done.

This is just round one. Like the former governor of California, he'll be back. And he'll be back? He'll be back through Peter suggesting that Jesus not go to the cross, to which Jesus will reply, get behind me, Satan. He'll be back when he prompts Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. The Bible says, Satan entered him.

He'll be back in the Garden of Gethsemane when the soldiers arrest Christ and Jesus will say to them, this is your hour and the power of darkness. So when you successfully deal with the temptation that comes to you and you have the victory, awesome. You've learned a great lesson. You've made a great step.

You're making great strides, but just know Satan didn't go, okay, well, I'm done now. You're just too strong for me. He'll just get tactical all over again. He'll observe. He'll find vulnerabilities. He'll wait till you're weak.

He'll look for an opportune time. That's why Andrew Bonar said, let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle. So let me give you a quick three things to walk away with in fighting temptation.

Very simple to remember. All begin with an S. Stand your ground. Stand your ground. Stand your ground. It is time, if ever there was a time, for Christians to stand up and stand their ground.

It's right now. Stand your ground. The Bible says, submit therefore to God, James chapter 4, submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

It's a military term. Stand immovable. Resist.

So that's number one. Stand your ground. Number two, study your Bible. Study your Bible. Each temptation is met with a quote from Scripture. And it's not that Jesus is just going, I'm going to throw out a Scripture to the devil.

The idea is, I live my life under the submission to the principles of my Father. Stand your ground. Study your Bible. Children of God, there is a great danger in you not knowing the Bible.

We can't plead ignorance anymore. I don't know what it says. Find out what it says. Study your Bible. Read it. Jesus said to the religious leaders, you err not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. You open yourself up to temptation.

So stand your ground. Study your Bible. Third, stay near your God. Yes, he was tempted by the devil, but at the same time he was filled with the Spirit.

He was led by the Spirit. Stay close to God. Don't make God a once a week go to church thing. Make God a constant companion, your best friend.

Stay near to him. Jesus called it abide. Abide in me. I learned a principle long ago. I forget exactly who said this, but I wrote it down. Unless there is that which is above us, we will soon yield to that which is about us. If you don't have an authority that you stay close to, a companion that you draw near to, you will succumb to the value system of the world and all its messages and all its social media.

You'll think and act and do like them. So in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion is not sleeping tonight. Your enemy, your adversary, the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but he is no match for our lion tamer. He is no match for the lion of the tribe of Judah who has prevailed, as John said.

So stay close to him. That concludes today's message, as well as Skip Heitzig's series, Dark Room. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, we want to share about a resource that will give you a glimpse of what eternity will be like for believers and for unbelievers. Skip Heitzig has some straight talk about hell. The lake of fire is name of a place of eternal torment. You might call it the final hell.

The Bible calls it the second death. So hell is an actual place. There's a second fact I want you to notice, and that is hell is an intentional place.

This is critical information about the future of those who reject salvation through Jesus, but that does not need to be the destiny of any man or woman on earth. That's why we've assembled a special resource called the eternity package to give you confidence in your eternal home and an urgency to share Christ with those who don't believe. God created hell for a very specific reason. Verse 41, he will say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire. Here it is prepared for the devil and his angels.

God did not create hell as a place to punish people. The eternity package comes with seven of Pastor Skip's most powerful messages about eternity, covering topics like the truth about hell, what most people don't know about heaven, the second coming of Christ, and much more. You'll also receive his booklet, Hell No, Don't Go, about the glory of heaven and the torment of hell. This powerful new resource is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to support the broadcast ministry of Connect with Skip Heitzig. So get your copy of the eternity package on CD or as a digital download today, when you give a gift of $50 or more.

Give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer, or call 800-922-1888. Did you know that you can now connect with Pastor Skip and this ministry via text messaging? Simply text connect to 74759 to join the group. When you do, you'll receive a free digital booklet called, Are We Living in the Last Days? Get a glimpse into the last days and how you can be ready for them.

So text connect to 74759 today. Tomorrow, Skip kicks off a new series titled, Crash and Burn, with a message about the fall of Satan from heaven. Before Satan became the prince of darkness, he was the angel of light. He was the light bearer. He was son of the morning, some terrific angelic being dwelling in heaven. I've discovered over the years that people make many mistakes, but two significant equal but opposite mistakes regarding Satan. Mistake number one is that he doesn't exist at all. Mistake number two is they become obsessed with him. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.