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Yeah, that's my love, my love, my love. All right. Song of this. All right. All right. All right. All right. Another amazing year everyone. Welcome to the Fayetteville Morning Baptist Church. Great to see you here for our Sunday evening service. You can all please have a seat, grab a hidden note. To Song 219. My burden has rolled away. ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way, All the Way"] ["All the Way, All the Way"] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Yes, you can. Why? Because it's pre-made, right, it's ready to go, so if your chili includes salsa in it, it's kind of, it's a violation of the rules. It's got to be from scratch, that's what scratch means. As far as I understand it, I mean that's my interpretation of what I went over the books in subsection four of paragraph three line two of the FWBC Chili Cook Up guidelines, where it says, all chilies will be made from scratch. You know, from scratch means no pre-seasoned ingredients. Now, and then someone's like, well, what about a dried pepper? Well, a dried pepper is a raw ingredient, right? I don't expect you to make a pepper to then put into your, you know, because nobody can do that. You can grow a pepper, but you cannot make a pepper from scratch, can you? Right? So chili is not from scratch, or excuse me, salsa is not a from scratch ingredient. That's why you can just pop it open and put chips in it, right? Because it's pre-made to taste that way. So I apologize if I'm getting this information to you. Do you have a question? Yes, because those are individual ingredients. As long as they're not seasoned. Are they flavored? Is this a flavored tomato, flavored beans? Okay, it's just, yeah, because that'd be no different than you, all that someone did is boiled the beans for you, or whatever, or stewed the tomatoes. That's fine. It's the pre-seasoning that you have to look out for. Pre-seasoned ingredients. The law clearly states, I've been over the code, the chili cook-off code. It's right there in black and white. It's a book this thick. But anyway, so hopefully, I'm sorry if I'm getting that information to you a little late, but you know, the question came to me late this morning, so I didn't realize that that was even a question. Typically, if you have to ask, then you kinda already know the answer, right? But not always. So thank you for clarifying on the canned ingredients. So anybody else have any questions about the chili cook-off before you go home and make an invalidated chili at home? The church will have some pumpkin and apple pie, and some whipped cream to go. We'll have the spice cider, and I could pick up some flavored seltzer water, but I'm not gonna get a bunch of Cokes or anything like that. If you want like a sweet, high-crutose corn syrup in your drink, that's on you. Okay, no judgment here, all right? But I don't wanna spend church money on that poison. I'll drink it, I'll drink poison, but I'm gonna spend my own money on poison, you know? So yeah, we'll have, I believe someone's providing corn muffins already, and then we're gonna have the pies, some light refreshments, the cider, the bean dip, chips, a plenty of chips. I don't know that we decided to bring sour cream and stuff. I feel like if you feel like your chili needs sour cream, that's on you, okay? Because I don't think chili should need it. I like to put it in there, but we're trying to get the full effect. Should we get, who wants me to get sour cream and cheese? All right, I'll get it, too. All right, I digress. I'm open to being influenced, all right? Not like Aaron, I'm not gonna make you a golden calf, but I will get you sour cream, all right? I'll get a big tub of sour cream and a bag of shredded cheese. Does anyone have a particular blend? What do we get, Kobe? Do we get the cheddar? Cheddar, cheddar? That's the way. Always cheddar. When Mrs. Nunez tells you what cheese it is, that's what you get, all right, that's it. All right, so you get cheddar. Cheddar, if you want a different blend of cheese, it's on you, okay? I can't get every blend of cheese out there. But I can get you cheddar, and I can get you sour cream, and I will, all right? These are promises that I will follow through in. So just remember my record, okay? That I follow through on my campaign promises, all right? Anything else regarding the chili cook-off? This is kinda it, this is your last chance, okay? And MSG is still banned, all right, even though it's technically a raw ingredient. Monosodium glutamate, right? They say, hey, I was told, hey, that's a raw, I was told, I don't know that I believe this. I haven't taken time to Google it. They say that's a single ingredient, it's a raw ingredient, like salt, right? So why is it banned? Is that not the case? It's a chemical. So you're telling me it's made in a lab? I think so, it's not like salt or garlic. Right, okay. It's unnatural. Yeah, okay. It forces you to like it. It makes you like it. Well, no wonder some of you wanna use it. Yeah, good cooking shouldn't rely on it. It shouldn't eat it, okay? It shouldn't eat it. Well, you say, oh, but this fast food place uses it. Exactly, because it's one less step that they have to put in the process. You know, it's like, oh, we don't have to bother, you know, going through the trouble of actually making this taste good because we have this chemical, right? This chemical, this unnatural thing to just add to the, don't get me going, all right? So anything else? I like this. This is good, it's a good dialogue here regarding the chili cook-off. Okay, so who's gonna bring, who's, people are gonna bring some games? Yeah, well, I think we've got a few. I know Risk will be here, so okay. I was told that the Risk competition up in Tempe that they had last Saturday got kind of intense, okay? So just remember, folks, it's just a game, okay? At the end of the day. I'm all for people being competitive, all right? But let's not sow discord among brethren over a game. All right, so keep it sportsman-like, all right? Anyway, I'm glad it got intense, though, because, you know, at least to some degree, because there's nothing worse than playing with people who don't want to win, who don't really care, because it makes your victory, you know, so it just cheapens it, right? People aren't really trying. You like to see people get a little disappointed when they don't win, okay? But we don't want to go over the top, all right? Okay, portraits, that's gonna be Sunday, November 26th. That's coming up quick, so yeah, you got the date there. We don't know the deal. It's gonna be after the morning service. There's a soul winning opportunity to Hunter Creek on Saturday, November 4th, this Saturday, so that's about a three-hour drive from here, but you get up in the pines. It's up near the Muggion Rim, that area, Christopher Creek. The expectant ladies list is there, and then don't forget on the back, the FW missions conference, BC missions conference. This is coming up quick as well. November 8th through the 12th, so that's a Wednesday through a Sunday, and you've got a lot of great preachers, you're gonna be getting up there, preaching a lot of exciting sermons about the soul winning that has already been done, and trying to provoke us to go out and do some more in a lot of these same places. A lot of these guys went and they kind of, they're preaching about their scouting trips in hopes that we're gonna go back with a larger group, okay? So these are all worth, if you can't make it, make sure you tune in and at least catch these sermons, and then you've got a couple of events that are gonna be fun too. Of course, the risks board game tournament, and then alternatively, there's gonna be games and drinks at a nearby park, okay? And then you also have a roller skating night there on Friday, and we've ran out the facility, so that's ours, there's not gonna be a bunch of other people there, they're not gonna be playing a bunch of worldly music, so we have that to ourselves, and then lots of soul winning opportunities throughout the week. So if you can make it up, great, who thinks they can make it up at least for one service or one night, okay? I'm not trying to shame anybody if you can, I'm just trying to get an idea. So, and again, I'm not gonna have, we're not gonna have a midweek service down here, just because I don't wanna over church people that week, the only option really is to move it back to Tuesday, and that can be a lot, especially for people that wanna go up there and participate in that. There will be a more detailed itinerary handed out at the conference itself, that'll have addresses and things like that, so, and maybe a little bit more instruction. But that's gonna do it for announcements, let's go ahead and just quickly count up the soul winning, we'll go back to Friday, if anybody has anything from Friday, or Saturday, wasn't there a couple, Saturday? Two? And then anything from today? All right, we'll keep up the great work soul winning everybody, let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching. Side number 164, Praise Head Praise Head. ["Praise Head Praise Head"] ["Praise Head Praise Head"] ["Praise Head Praise Head"] ["Praise Head Praise Head"] ["Praise Head Praise Head"] Amen, at this time we'll pass you off at the plate, as the plate goes around. We'll put up our Bibles to Matthew chapter four. That's Matthew chapter four, as always, read the entire chapter. Please follow what's on there, there's plenty of links to us from Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four, beginning at verse one, the Bible reads, Then was Jesus led up into the spirit and into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, And man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that was seeded out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge to certainty, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written, Again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and show him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And he saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, saith it. But it is written, And thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came to minister unto him. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into the prison, he departed to gather them. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea-course of the borders of Zablon and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zablon, and the land of Naphtali, and by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, and the Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in the darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region in the shadow of death, light was sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fish as a man. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee, their father, many their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left their ship and their father, and followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching English synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manners of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from the capitalists, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. Brother Adam, can you pray for us? Well, Lord, and Father, just thank you for today, Lord God. I had an opportunity to be in church, Lord God. Just thank you for all you do. Give you the glory and honor, Lord God. And just thank you, Lord God. Thank you for your goodness and mercy, Lord God. I see you bless this young man who got saved today, Lord God. Just bless his life, Lord God. And just thank you, Lord God. Thank you for the opportunity to preach your word. I see you bless the rest of your service, Lord God, and feel the deacon with your spirit. And just give us a heart of understanding, Lord, in Jesus' holy name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. So we'll be right back there in Matthew chapter four, but I'm gonna continue on in the book of Mark, chapter number one. If you wanna go back very quickly to Mark, I'm just gonna look at a couple verses there, Mark. And of course we looked at this this morning and two weeks ago that Sunday morning. But if you look there in Mark chapter number one, in verse number 12, this is following the baptism, which is what we preached about this morning, Jesus' baptism. It says, after the baptism in verse 12, immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness 40 days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him. So, Mark very quickly sums up what some of the other gospels go into a little bit more detail over, and that is the topic of Jesus in the wilderness or Jesus' temptation, the temptation of Christ, okay? So again, there in Mark 12, you just get kind of a very general brief overview where it says that he's driven into the wilderness by the Spirit, he's there in the wilderness 40 days, so you get the timeframe, that he's tempted of Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him. So it's just this very quick, you know, general description of everything that took place. However, when you get into Mark four and Luke four, you start to get a little bit more detail about this temptation, about the things that took place out there, okay? So I wanna look at that tonight. If you look there and go back to Matthew, chapter number four, we'll look, first of all, what is described there in Mark chapter one, the fact that Jesus was tempted of Satan, right? So he's driven into the wilderness, he's there 40 days, and he's tempted of Satan. Again, very quick in Mark, but in Matthew four, we get a little bit more detail about this. It says in verse one, of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and he was, had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was offered word hungered, and when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. So, most of us are very familiar with the story as, you know, you have these three different temptations that Satan comes to and brings to Jesus, and tries to get him to, you know, basically sin. Now, I wanna also compare this with Luke chapter four, so keep something in Matthew four and go over to Luke chapter number four, Matthew four and Luke four. There are some very subtle differences here between Matthew four and Luke four. First of all, Matthew four, I believe, is telling us what happened in chronology, like the temptations are in order, whereas if you read it in Luke, some people might say, oh, that's a contradiction because it's not in the order in which Matthew tells it, okay? But Luke's not, the wording in Luke isn't trying to make it sound like it's in order, whereas in Matthew, you'll see that it is trying to tell it, it's describing it in a chronological order. You can tell that by the wording that it's using, okay? So, again, we're looking at Luke. I won't take the time to go through all of Matthew, we just read it, we'll come back in a minute, but what are the temptations there? It says, when the tempter came to him, he commanded and said, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread, right? So that's the first temptation. And of course, the second temptation in Matthew is where he takes him up to the pinnacle of the temple and he says, cast thyself down, right? Because he said, it's written that he shall give the angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest any time they dash thy foot against a stone, saying he's gonna keep him from physically harming himself. If he dashed his foot against a stone and were going to fall, that the angels would spare him because he has, obviously we understand the reasoning behind that because Christ has to fulfill the mission, the work that his father has given him to do to fulfill his redemptive work, right? Of redeeming man by dying on the cross. So if he's gonna fall over and throw himself off some pinnacle and die, obviously that's not gonna happen so the angels would intervene, right? So that's the second temptation. The first one is the bread, right? Make these stones into bread. The second one is where he's telling him to cast himself from the pinnacle. And then the last one is where he tells him to fall down and worship him and he will give him this power over the nations. So that's what we see and read in Matthew in that order, okay? Whereas Luke, it's not in that order, okay? Look at verse two being 40 days, Luke four verse two, 40 days tempted of the devil and those days he did eat nothing and when they were ended after where he'd hungered and the devil said unto him, if thou be the son of God, command that this stone that it be made bread. So there's that first temptation that is what Matthew starts out with. That's the first temptation, right? But if you notice there, it says in verse seven, we'll start in verse five. And the devil taking him up to an high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee and the glory of them for that is delivered unto me unto whomsoever oil I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. So that's the second temptation in Luke. But in Matthew, that's actually what comes third, okay? And then you see the third temptation in verse nine and he brought him up to Jerusalem, said I'm gonna pickle the temple and said, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from thence. That's the third in Luke, that's the second in Matthew. Okay, so it's a little bit out of order if you wanna call it that in Luke, it's not in the identical order. But notice in Matthew, the uses of these words, when, then, again, right? So in verse three in Matthew four, it says, and when the tempter came to him, and that was after he was in hungered. Verse two, it ends with afterward he was hungered and when the tempter came to him. And you get that same kind of timing in Luke as well. It says that afterward and hungered and the devil said unto him. So the devil's tempting him at the end of these 40 days, I believe, at the end of his fasting when he's at his weakest. So when the tempter came to him, he commanded to make these things stone. And it says in verse five, then the devil taketh him up to the holy city. In verse eight, again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. So that you kinda get the verbiage there in Matthew that it's chronological, because he's saying when he came to him, then this happened, again, meaning and after that. Whereas in Luke, he's just kinda, he's stating the facts, like these are the temptations that he faced, these are the details, they match Matthew, they're just not in the same order. And that's, don't ever let some atheist treat that like some aha moment, it's not. It's just a matter of reading comprehension, that's all it really is. Just that's the way that Luke chose to describe it. Matthew has it in that order. Mark just says he was tempted, it doesn't give us all the details. It'd be kinda like if I were to say, I went to the fair and I rode the teacups and the Ferris wheel and the bumper cars. Does that tell you what I did? Does that tell you what happened? Yeah, you'd say, hey, Deacon went to the fair and he rode the teacups, the Ferris wheel and the bumper cars. Does it tell you what order I did it in? Not necessarily. I didn't say, hey, I did these things, I rode these rides and here's the order that I rode them in. Isn't the order that I rode them in kinda useless information to you? You're like, that would be an interesting story if I knew what order you rode those rides in. I would care more. You wouldn't care any more or less. In fact, you probably want me to get the story over with quicker. It's like, this guy has given me a bunch of useless information. Say it snappy, make it quick. What'd you do there? What rides did you ride? Well, first, let me tell you the first ride I rode and then the second ride I rode. It wouldn't matter. So that's kinda the thing that's going on here with Luke. He's just telling us, hey, Jesus went out in the wilderness and he was tempted to the devil. Here's how the devil tempted him. Whereas in Matthew, you kinda get the verbiage where he's saying, this is the order in which it happened. Then the devil came to him. Again, this happened. So don't let anyone try to pull the wool over your eyes or cast, hopefully that's not gonna shake anyone's faith to begin with. There's always an answer. There's always an explanation. But the enemies of God, people that hate the Bible, they're always trying to find things and pick it apart. And they haven't succeeded yet. So people have been trying for hundreds of years to pick apart the King James Bible and point out the contradictions and they've failed repeatedly because it is the word of God, it's perfect. There are no contradictions. So the other thing I'll point out here is that Matthew and Luke, they show us that when Jesus is being tempted is at the, toward the end or at the end of these 40 days. That's 40 days of not eating. That's a lot of not eating. We go, it's been four hours and I'm starving, right? It's been four hours since I last ate and we feel like the devil's tempting us. Everything that crosses our path suddenly begins to look edible. But Jesus going 40 days obviously is a very extreme thing. That's not a fast I would ever recommend to anybody, going 40 days without eating. Obviously there's more, there's reasons why Jesus went through this. He was brought to that breaking point or that limit to be brought to that point of human weakness, right? To be tempted as much as is possible, right? That's kind of part of that, what's going on here. Really wouldn't mean anything if on day one, you know, the Satan shows up and says, oh, you haven't eaten for 24 hours. Turn these stones into bread. Oh no, you know, I'm not gonna tempt God. Man shall not live by bread alone. You know, it really wouldn't mean as much, right? Whereas 40 days later, that temptation has a little more impact. Anyone who's ever done any fasting knows that food starts to take on a whole nother meaning in your life. Like you will actually begin to obsess about it, right? If you go with several days without food, all of a sudden things that didn't sound so good start to sound good. And things that, you know, maybe sounded good start to sound really good, you know? You'll start to look at bone broth differently. You'll be eyeing sour cream in a whole new light, right? All of a sudden these things just take on, you know, you'll find yourself in the kitchen just staring at whatever's being prepared. Just the smelling of it is something to get out of it, right, just you're just thinking about food, right? Everyone's like, no, I don't have no idea what you're talking about. Right, but the point is this, is that, you know, that's why Jesus waited 40 days, this was a temptation for him. You know, this wasn't easy. And he has Satan himself coming to him and tempting him to do this. And it shows that Jesus is at his weakest. Now, what's the point of that? What's the point of Jesus being at this weak point in order to make this temptation and being tempted there? Well, it shows us the humanity of Christ, right? We have to understand that Jesus's ministry wasn't some cakewalk simply because he was God. You know, we see Jesus being wearied. Jesus goes through difficult things. That doesn't mean it was easy for him. You say, oh, of course Jesus could do all that. He's God, right? And obviously there's things that Jesus did and could do that are impossible for us because he is God. But don't, you know, don't get the wrong idea and think that everything that Jesus went through must have been easy because of the fact that he was God. Oh, 40 days, 40 nights, stuff. Yeah, pretty easy for the son of God. You know, if I was the son of God, I could do it too. You know, that's not true. You know, that's not the attitude we have. Obviously, he's very weak at this point. It shows us the humanity, right? And this is one of the great mysteries of Christ, of him coming and taking on, you know, a human form, of being man, the son of man, is that he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, as it says in Hebrews, right? That he is tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. And because of that, you know, we have a high priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He can relate. Like, there's nothing you go through in this life that Jesus can't relate to. You can't say, oh, you know, I went through this temptation, or I went through this trial, or I've had this sorrow in my life. God doesn't know anything about it. Well, I mean, I know God knows about it, but you know, he can't relate to me. He doesn't know what that's like. Yes, he does. You know, if we find ourselves even, you know, starving or going without food, even that, Jesus knows what that's like. He knows what it's like to be tempted of the devil, to have the flesh want to do something, and to, you know, violate scripture, or to, you know, to do something sinful. He knows what it's like to have that temptation. If we find ourselves, you know, tempted by the flesh, Jesus knows what that's like. He was tempted at all points. So he can't sit there and say, well, you know, God just doesn't know what I'm going through. Yes, he does. And not just in the sense that he can comprehend it, in the sense that he can actually sympathize and relate with us. He knows what it's like to have gone through these temptations. Obviously, he's not being tempted with, you know, necessarily sin itself, but he knows what it's like to go through battles with the flesh, okay? And, you know, that gives us a great hope. Like, he's tempted at all points, like as we are. That's what it says in Hebrews four, I'll just read to you. Yet without sin, what does that mean to us? He says in verse 16, let us therefore come boldly in a throne of grace. You know, if we're tempted with something, you know, the answer is to go to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You know, if we're going through some temptation, if we have some trial, that should drive us to the throne of God. It should compel us to go to God in prayer. We should go there boldly because God's not gonna say, what are you doing here? You know, or God's gonna say, I don't wanna hear that. God's not gonna jump down your throat. God knows what it's like to go through these things and he'll give us grace. He'll give us mercy. He'll give us help in our time of need. Let's move along here in the story. The first thing we see, and I'm gonna kind of focus on Matthew four and Luke four, if you wanna go back to Luke four, just because we're talking about the temptation of Christ, that's kind of the next thing that happens in Mark chapter one, but it doesn't give us a lot of the details. So we're looking at some of these parallel passages to kind of see what all took place in Mark. Mark tells us that he was driven into the wilderness. He was there 40 days, that he was tempted of Satan, right? So we're talking about the temptation of Christ, the devil tempting Jesus, right? First of all, we see just some, you know, the semantics surrounding the wording in Luke four and Matthew four, okay? And we see there's no contradiction there. It's just verbiage. But the other thing I wanna point out, and this is kind of more of an interesting point, at least I think, is that Satan here, and in one of his temptations kind of shows us who's in charge of this present world, okay? And it is Satan. Look at Luke chapter four, verse five. And the devil, taking him up unto a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. So how does he show him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time? Well, obviously, how does Satan come to somebody and show them anything? It's obviously, it's supernatural, okay? This is dealing with things that we don't understand that are beyond our comprehension. The Bible just says this is what happened, we have to just trust it. So he's showing all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them. Now notice what he says here. For that is delivered unto me, and to whosoever I will, I give it. He's saying, this isn't an empty promise. He's saying, I'll give it to you because I have that power, I have that authority. It's been given unto me to give it unto whosoever I will. I can install anybody in this position, right? If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. And we know, of course, Jesus said, rebuked him, said, get thee behind me, Satan. He's saying, you're gonna worship God only, all right? But people will read that and they'll ask themselves, is Satan telling the truth here? Because obviously he's a liar and the father of it, okay? Is Satan just lying to Jesus when he says, hey, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world, if you fall out and worship me. And then let's just say, Jesus did that, and then he's like, ha ha, gotcha. Tricked you, right, psych move. I don't believe that's the case. I believe Satan is telling the truth here. You say, well, Satan's a liar. Yeah, but he does tell the truth too, right? And I believe that Jesus, if you look first of all, you say prove it. Well, first of all, Jesus' refusal to do so is not necessarily a rebuttal of that fact. What fact? The fact that Satan has the ability to make that offer. Just because Satan refused it doesn't mean he's arguing whether or not that's true. Okay, it's not a rebuttal. Everyone follow? Because he just says, get thee behind me, and if it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Really, in Jesus' response, it sounds more like he's confirming that this is true. He's saying, get behind me, because I'm not gonna worship you. You should only worship God, right? That's what's commanded the scripture. He doesn't say, you're a liar, that's not true. God is the only one that's in control in this world. And obviously, we know that ultimately, God is the one that is in control of these worlds. But Satan is saying, it's been given unto me, who is it given unto him by, by God, to give it to whosoever he will. So first of all, Jesus refusing it is not necessarily a rebuttal of that fact, but if you look also at some other of these scriptures, you'll see that scripture actually corroborates this fact. It confirms this, okay? If you wanna go over to Revelation chapter number 20, I'll kind of move quickly through this point. Let me just read some other scriptures to you while you go to Revelation 20 to prove that the devil, I believe, was telling the truth here, when he said, hey, I can give this kingdom to whosoever I will. It's given unto me to put people in this position. The Bible says in Galatians chapter one, verse three, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. So he's delivering us from the evil world. What makes the world evil? There's sin in it and the fact that we battle against principalities and powers in high places, right? Second Corinthians 4, 14, in whom the God of this world hath blind to the minds of them which believe not, and that's a little g there. The God of this world, little g God, of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ through the image of God should shine unto them, right? So the Bible's saying that there is a God of this world. That's obviously a reference to Satan, okay? The Bible's calling him the God of this world. Ephesians 2, and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past you walked, according the course of this world, according the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So he's calling him the prince of the power of the air, right? So Satan obviously has some kind of, when it's saying the power of the air, it's kind of an interesting statement, like he has the ability maybe to just move very quickly, or, you know, I don't exactly, but one way I've heard it preached is think about all of the, I'm not saying this is what Ephesians means by it, but it's definitely a good application. Think about all the wicked things that are transmitted through the air. It's a lot of things, isn't it? Think of all the things that come over radio waves. You know, start there. Think of all the things that have been transmitted through the air via radio waves, all the rock music. Yes, your rock music, all the hip hop, all the gangster rap, all the worldly music that is teaching a philosophy, that is singing about ungodly things, about wicked things. Think about all the things that the music industry glorifies. It's ungodly, it's wicked, it's sinful. I mean, do I need to park it here for a minute and talk about it? This is getting quiet in here. Of course, it's always kind of quiet in here. You guys are just like always under conviction. It's like any minute when you just, you come in feeling guilty. Well, maybe you should. With a lot of things get transmitted, you know, over, you just radio waves alone. You know, he starts going through that radio dial. You know, you're gonna hear songs about drunkenness and fornication. You're gonna hear about blasphemy, you know, blasphemy, people using the Lord's name in vain. He truly is, you know, in one sense, that's how he's the prince of the power of the air, the power of the air to transmit these things. What's another thing that's transmitted through the air? How about Wi-Fi, right? That's all the filth that's coming through the internet these days. You know, and for the sake of children, I'll not go into it. You know, there's, we know that it's out there. All the pornography, all the, just all kinds of things, all the Wicked movies, all the things, you know, maybe even not what the world would consider pornography, but you know, what about, you know, just all the movies with adulterous relationships? You know, all the movies that are being, you know, is everything streaming now? Everything's streamed now. Like people don't even have DVD players anymore, right? They don't have, you know, cassette tapes or anything. That's not the popular thing. Everything's being downloaded and streamed over the air, right? You say, how does Satan attack us? How does Satan work against the world? Well, it's, the battle is in your mind. That's where it is, okay? And how does he influence our minds? Through things like music, like movies, you know, all kinds, you know, through media, right? That's how Satan gets to us. That's how he influences the world. I mean, just look at the way the world's gone. Look at the ideas that the world has about different things. Where did they get that? Hollywood, right? They've adopted these philosophies. Obviously other institutions, public education systems, institutions of higher learning, you know, media outlets, I understand that, but not a lot of people are, you know, paying attention to that stuff. Not everybody goes into institutions of higher learning, do they? A lot of people don't. A lot of people elect to not pursue that. So how do we end up where we are? A lot of the influence comes through the culture. It comes through the movies. It comes through television shows. It comes through the programming. They call it programming for a reason because it will program you, right? And you know, even in innocent things, and I'm not saying everything that you could take in, every bit of culture that you could consume, you know, a lot of, like another one, real sensitive topic, that if you want to make people mad real quick is to bring up professional sports, right? Is there anything inherently sinful about watching professional sports? No, there's nothing wrong with watching grown men play a child's game. That's what it is. There's nothing wrong with watching a bunch of, you know, long haired sketch pads, basically, run around a field or a basketball court, you know, and boast and think that they're just the greatest thing that's ever walked the face of the earth. They're all the goat, whatever, okay? There's nothing wrong with that necessarily. But what about all the other crap that they fit in there, you know, during the time out, during the commercial break? What about all that stuff? The stuff that just pops up? You know, and here's the thing, as soon as I get on that, everyone's like, oh, well, you know, what about social media? You know, well, that too. You know, you think if I don't, see, this is the problem when you start getting specific about sin is people start picking apart the things you don't mention, right? Whatever I don't mention now is like, I'm either condoning it or you're off the hook, right? This is how people think. I've been doing this for a little while, you know, this is how people think. Well, you know, he didn't mention my sin. You know, he didn't mention my, the platform that I use that is being broadcast over the air. Yeah, even the social media. You know, the ads that just pop up, the things that you're just scrolling along and then boom, there's just some ad in your face. It's like, whoa, I don't want to see that. You know, it's all out there, you know, and we should all try to temper that and keep that under control, okay? That's the prince of the power of the air. I mean, what else does he mean by that? You know, is it something to do with his ability, how he moves through the earth or, you know, it's an interesting title that's given to Satan, that he has this power over the air to manipulate it and to use it and to influence people's minds and to really just sway entire societies and steer people away from God, okay? I'm just making sure I felt like I said everything I need to say about that. I think I did. I'm sure I'll get more later. But you know, I believe that's another, these are just scriptures showing us that Jesus or that Satan is telling the truth when he tempts Jesus and says, it's given unto me to give this power to whosoever I will. The Bible's showing us that he's the God of this world, that he's the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Look at Revelation 20 where I had you turn, verse one. And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. So this is going into the millennial reign of Christ. Satan is gonna be bound and removed from the earth for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him. Notice this, that he should deceive the nations no more. So Satan has the ability to deceive the nations, right? And look, he's that old serpent. He's good at it. Satan has been deceiving nations for a very long time. He's really known how to just manipulate people, manipulate man, and to just steer things to his end. Even the good old US of A, it's an ungodly nation. We might have started out good. We might have started out with Christian principles. We might have started out with Christians maybe under the broader umbrella of Christianity, whatever stripe they were from, but they at least were decent, moral people that had respect for the word of God in the Bible. We might be have been founded on biblical principles, but we have wandered far from that path as a nation. And I don't think I need to take a lot of time tonight to convince anybody in this room of that. Anyone who has two eyes and two ears, even one of each really at this point, or just one of any of those can look around or listen to where we're at as a nation and see how far we've come. And that's kind of putting it in a positive light, how far we have descended is really what I should say into the cesspool of sin that is our modern society. And I'm sorry to be so negative, but it's just the truth. You know, it's a wicked nation, right? Why? Because Satan deceives the nations and we can see his hands all over this country and he's manipulated it and he's deceived people and steered them away. How does he do it? Well, prints the power of the air through the culture, through people's minds, through philosophy. Now notice verse seven, and when the thousand years were expired, millennial reign is over, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, he's gonna bring him back out of the bottomless pit and he shall go to deceive the nations where it's from the four quarters of the earth. So he's gonna be let loose in order to just do it all again. And you know what, he does it. He rallies mankind and actually tries to assault Christ in the new Jerusalem itself and is destroyed. But isn't that interesting? That after a thousand years of having Christ rule and reign on the earth, just after a short season of the devil being loosed, he instantly can just deceive the nations once more and turn them on Christ himself, who's been here literally on the earth ruling and reigning. It's been a thousand years of Christ reigning yet man is ready to just turn on a dime against the Lord. Satan has that power to deceive the nations. He's very good at it. He's that old serpent. So that's the first aspect that I wanna look at when it comes to Jesus in the wilderness here, his temptation, right? He's taken out 40 days and he's tempted. These temptations are interesting. What do we see? That Jesus is humanity, right? He is hungered. And we see that Satan rather has this power to give unto whoever's every will, this ability to reign and to govern, to rule, right? So keep that in mind during this election year. Isn't that what people always say though? Well, I gotta choose the lesser of two evils, right? Well, I'm just voting for the lesser of two evils. Well, how's voting for evil working out for you? I remember seeing, reading an article, it was satire. And it was saying, lesser of two evils be damned, I'm going all the way in. I'm gonna vote for the greatest evil I can. This election cycle, I will write in Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness. Who do you want for president? I say all in. Let's just, why lesser of two evils? Let's just vote in Satan himself. And what's the point of voting for evil at all? I know I'm kind of ranting and getting a little political about it, but people sometimes just don't think about the fact that who is really in charge of everything that's been going on in this world? I'm not saying that Satan just has an absolute stranglehold, that he makes every single move, but he is definitely steering the course of our nations and of the world. And the longer this goes on, the more adept he's become at it, the more effective he is. And you could call it a harebrained conspiracy theory or some far out wild-eyed idea, but I believe that the people that are the highest echelons of power and influence are in some way have, at least in some way, avowed allegiance to Satan. I don't think you get that high up. And you say, the president? Well, there might even be people that are higher up than that. The real people that are really in control and influencing this world are probably people we don't even know. A lot of these people are just put out there, they're just a facade, a facade of what's, oh, it's these certain government bodies that are controlling it. Obviously they do have some power, but who's really pulling the strings? The broader influence is probably by people and organizations that we don't even know that are quite literally Satanists. I believe that. And you can call that crazy, but you know what? I just read several passages in scripture that tell us that Satan has that power and ability. And when he's tempting Christ, he's saying, it's given unto me to give this power to whosoever I will. All the glory of these kingdoms. I don't think he's lying. I think he literally meant that. But we don't wanna get carried away with that stuff. It's a shame to speak of those things which are even done of them in secret. What they do in these secret societies, the stuff that they're into, I'd rather not know. And the few times I have started to delve into that a little bit and research that stuff, you walk away, it keeps you up at night and you feel sick to know that there's that kind of wickedness in the world even in the halls of our own government. And a lot of it's just playing right out there. It's as plain as the nose on your face. I mean, abortion, it's just like, that is satanic. The wholesale slaughter of the unborn, it's just the fingerprint of Satan himself, okay? And I don't wanna go on and on that. I wanna get through these two verses. I got a whole nother verse to get through tonight, all right? I'm feeling old IFB up here. Or I'm just covering two verses out of a chapter. But you know, hey, I think it's good. Slow down and look at these things. So he's out there in Mark. He's driven into the wilderness, it says in Mark 1. And he's there in the wilderness 40 days. He's tempted of Satan. What else does Mark show us? That he was with the wild beasts. Now that's an interesting detail that only Mark brings up when it comes to the temptation of Jesus when he's in the wilderness is that he was with the wild beasts, right? And you know, basically what he's talking about here I believe is wild or dangerous animals, right? I mean, it's not really noteworthy to bring up that he was just with wild animals, right? That's not really like, ooh, wow, you were out there with crickets or something, you know? Like the birds were there, right? Well, of course, you know, that's just kind of given. I believe he's out there with like dangerous animals because that's the way that phrase is often used in scripture, not always. But for example, in Leviticus, you go to Psalm 50, go to Psalm 50. In Leviticus it says, and if you walk contrary to me, this is the Lord speaking to the nation of Israel. He says, if you walk contrary to me and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. That's one part of that curse. He's saying, if you disobey my law and walk contrary to me, then I'm gonna bring seven times more plagues upon you. He's gonna send disease and pestilence among the people, right? That's one curse that comes from a nation disobeying God, okay? The other one, verse 22, he said, I will also send wild beasts among you. So obviously, what are the wild beasts there? He's talking about man-eaters, dangerous animals that can inflict great bodily harm upon you, okay? Which shall rob you of your children and destroy your cattle and make you few in number and your weight in your high wall shall be desolate. He's saying, you won't be able to fortify yourself against them. And they're gonna destroy your livestock and they'll even take away your children and destroy them. They'll prey on the weak. These wild beasts, right? So he's talking about dangerous animals there. You know, and I told myself I wasn't gonna go off on this. But today, you say, well, how can we bring that into modern America? What way, you know, is God doing anything similar? Now, I'm not gonna say that this is necessarily the judgment of God. But you know, it seems to me like there has been an increase of wild beasts in our country. By wild beasts, I mean dangerous animals. And by dangerous animals, I mean pit bulls, okay? And I know this is a hobby horse of mine, but mount up, okay? Because it needs to be preached. You know, I just, I look into this and every time I look into it, I wish I hadn't because it's just, it's just horrifying. The number of fatalities and deaths that are on the rise in this country, just in the last decade or so, just since the 90s, since people started lifting bands on dangerous breeds, it's just skyrocketed, okay? And look, I'm not against anyone that's had a pit bull or anything like that. I'm not against necessarily even against pit bull orders if they realize what they have. What really gets under my skin are pit bull apologists, people that wanna sit there and apologize and basically treat me like I'm stupid, like the rest of us can't just look at the facts and see what's going on here, okay? And make excuses for these animals. They're dangerous, okay? And then you hear the stupidest arguments, and I know I'm going off, but I gotta get it off my chest. Let's say, well, you know chihuahuas bite people too. And look, you could Google, and I did this, you know, I went, okay, well, maybe there's some legitimacy to this, and I did Google chihuahua moles child or something like that, and I told a story about how one little kid had his lip bit severely, and his little lip was dangling, and I'm sure you could find where infants and young children are being mauled, okay? But young children and infants are so defenseless, like that's the only thing a chihuahua could maul. There's no grown man, there's no young child, an older child in here that's afraid of a chihuahua. Right, I mean, no one wants to get bit. And here's the thing, if you're gonna sit there and tell me, well, chihuahuas bite people too, should they be exterminated? Go ahead, go ahead, kill the chihuahuas too. Leave the pugs alone, but go ahead. You know, pugs are too blind and dumb to be able to bite anybody, right? They just blow snot on you, that's what they do. It's like Slimer, right, from that movie years ago, back in the 80s, I got slimed, right? But the, you know, people, well, what about chihuahuas? You know, well, you know, and I hate to get graphic, but, you know, I have yet to see a chihuahua peel the scalp off of a child. I have yet to see chihuahuas, or any other breed, for that matter, literally dismember an adult. I've yet to see stories about chihuahuas and other breeds breaking through fences, busting down doors, climbing over fences, tunneling under fences, and going to the neighbors, you know, going through the neighbor's door and killing the pet in there. Or attacking some passerby and killing them. You know, it's, you hear about it all the time. You just go Google it, go look at the stories, read it all the time. You know, join some of the Facebook groups I'm in, and it's just like a constant feed of just mauling after mauling, you know, and every time, every time some parent's child is mauled or killed by one of these family pets, they all say the same thing. Oh, they were so sweet and so cuddly and so nice, and it just seemed like they never would have hurt anybody. That's what they all say, okay? And look, you know, and I'm preaching this because I know that there's people out there that own pit bulls and have small children. And I'm not preaching it because I'm trying to make them mad or just upset them. I'm preaching it because I can't imagine, you know, the horror of, especially after hearing this and being told, look into it, and then not doing it and then have that happen. Imagine the guilt you would feel. You know, your child is permanently disfigured. Your child is dead. Your child lost an arm. Because, oh no, pit bulls aren't like that. Oh, these dogs that were literally bred for blood sport aren't like that. It's, oh, they're raised. It's genetics. It's genetics. It's in their genes. That's why sheep dogs, you can't train a chihuahua to be a sheep dog, can you? You can't train any other breed nearly as well as like, what's a good sheep dog, Karen? I'll give you permission to speak in the church. A border collie, right? There's certain dogs that are just, you know, genetically predisposed to be great shepherds, to work with that livestock. Because it's genetic. Obviously there's training, but you know, you can't train other breeds to do what they do. They just won't get it. They'll just look at you like, stupid, right? The Labrador, whatever. But, you know, pit bulls, you could say, it's the way they're brought up. It's the genes. It's the way they were bred, okay? Now imagine being someone who owned one and being told this, and having something like that happen to your child. Or imagine having your child be attacked by that animal and then despising and resenting you for the rest of their life. That's another possibility. You know, even if they survive and live with whatever permanent injuries, you know, go look at the stats, folks. I'm challenging you because the fact that, the fact is, when a pit bull bites, it's not like a chihuahua. So all dogs bite, but not all of them let go. All dogs bite, but not all of them let go. And pit bulls don't let go until the job's done, until hunks of flesh have been removed, until bones have been cracked, until deep tissue damage that is going to require plastic surgery, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars worth of surgery and screen grafts and everything else. I know I'm going off, but I gotta get it off my chest. You say, why? Because at my house, my neighbor was kind enough to get a pit bull. And it's literally from here to that wall from my door. And I have a wood fence, and every day I look out there and he's dug himself a little hole to sleep in, and now I've gotta go out there and put block underneath the fence to keep him from tunneling under the fence and trying to get in the backyard. You say, would that dog ever do that? Maybe not, but do I really wanna take the chance with a breed that is known to maul and dismember human beings? Why is this on the rise? Could you say, maybe that is a judgment from God. You ever think about that? Maybe that's why we live in a state where the federal government has overruled the local governments and says, you cannot ban breed-specific dogs other than wolf hybrids. That's the only dog that our local government in Tucson and Pima County has the right to ban. Do you hear me? I mean, the federal government, they do ban pit bulls from all of their housing because they know what they're dealing with. And there's other states like Colorado where they're banned. States like Washington, that was recently overturned where they have banned the ownership of these animals. You can't do it here because the federal government has stepped in and said, no, okay. Maybe that is a judgment from God to just let wild animals, dangerous animals come in amongst us and start to maim and devour. Or maybe it's just people being ignorant. I don't know. Anyway, now that I've pissed everybody off in the room, probably. This was something that he dealt to do. I gotta make an application. We got the wild animals. He's out there. Mark brings it up. He's with the wild animals. He's with dangerous creatures, right? So think about that. That's a miracle in and of itself, isn't it? That Jesus is out there with these wild animals and yet he walks away unscathed. Must not have been any pit bulls, no, I'm just kidding. I'm gonna keep bringing it back, right? But these animals didn't touch him and it's just, again, it testifies the deity of Christ, the protection of God, that although they were there, he was with them, they were not able to harm him. Look at Psalm 50. Are you there, verse 10? For every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine. God can even control these animals. So let me end on this point. It's interesting. What do we see in this temptation, right? I mean, it's pretty intense when you think about it. It wasn't just Jesus out there being hungry. It wasn't just him fasting for 40 days. It's him in the wilderness with these wild animals. It's him in the wilderness, yes, fasting, but then also being tempted of Satan himself who has the power to give to whosoever he will the glories of this world, the glories of the kingdoms of this world. He has great temptation. I mean, have you ever faced a temptation like that? Probably not. We've all probably gone through temptations, but no one's ever come to me and said, hey, you wanna be supreme dictator or something like that of the world, or given some glory of some kingdom? Thank God. Who knows who amongst us can resist some of these greater temptations? The Bible says that God will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able. But Jesus went through this. Now, what I wanna point out here in Mark, how did Jesus come to be there? Because it tells us in Mark. How did Jesus come to be in the wilderness going through these great temptations and trials with these wild beasts? How did he come to be there? It says in Mark chapter one, verse 12, immediately, right after the baptism, the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. That's a very interesting word there. And I believe it was Luke, it says that he was led, or maybe it was Mark, or Matthew, one of the two where he was led into the wilderness. In Mark, it says he was driven into the wilderness. Now, a drive, it doesn't mean that he got, the spirit pulled up in a car, you know, like it was his Lyft or something, an Uber, a taxi, and said, hey, I gotta get you to the wilderness. Driving is like the sense that you would think of like a cattle drive, or you're forcing animals to a certain destination, or you're pushing them along, right? Or you're driving some, you know, I was driven to it. You know, they drove me mad. They, you know, they, I didn't choose to go there. I was driven there, right? You see how that word's being used? So Jesus is being driven to this place. It wasn't like he, it was an appointment that was on his calendar and he rushed off to be there. The spirit had to drive Jesus to this place. Meaning, you know, I believe this is not necessarily something that Jesus would have chosen for himself, okay? Now, obviously, he's without sin. He's going to obedient to God's will. We know that. But this and in other places, we see where Jesus was doing things that he would preferred who have not have done. Who signs up for this? Who signs up to go out in the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, to fast and go through these things, to be with these wild animals? Nobody. And again, it shows us the humanity of Christ. And it also shows us the obedience of Christ, okay? You know, God, he's driven by the spirit. And what I want to, the point I want to make is this, is that God will force us into situations we would not rather be in in our lives. We also will go through temptations and trials, okay? Sometimes I feel like I'm among the wild beasts, you know, at my house, right? But you know, literally, we will probably go through other temptations and trials in our lives. Look, you're going to go through things in life that God has ordained for you to go through. Living for the Lord. All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You will go through tribulation if you live for God. And no one signs up for that. No one says, yeah, persecution, sign me up. But we have to recognize the fact that that's part of the deal, right? That God will drive us or lead us into situations that we would not have chosen for ourselves. If we're going to follow God, we better just, you know, count the cost now of the fact that we're going to find ourselves in situations that are hard and difficult. We're going to go through temptations and trials as a result. How about just the fact that, you know, following Christ and living godly in Christ Jesus, that means you're going to mortify the members of your flesh. The Bible tells us to mortify the deeds of our body, right, to get the sin out. That right there, you're signing up for a battle. It's not like you just decide one day like, okay, I'm done, you know, living for the flesh. That's it. That's a battle you have to fight every single day of your life. That's never going to go away until you're dead or, you know, raptured, you know, when Christ returns. You know, so that's just one example, okay? That's just a given in the Christian life. But what about the fact that, you know, God might drive us to places or lead us to places that we would not have chosen for ourselves in our lives? You know, and it's hard for me to get specific because, you know, I don't know exactly what God's going to do in your life, okay? But I can get specific with the Lord. He was driven into the wilderness, right, and went through these things, and it was the spirit that drove him. It was God that, you know, that same sweet, you know, Holy Spirit that came down and bodily shaped like a dove only a few verses before is now driving him into the wilderness to go through this great temptation, a greater temptation than any man, woman has ever faced, ever, okay? And, you know, Christ goes through these things. You know, there's other examples. I know I gotta wrap it up because I went off too long on pit bulls again. It was a stupid use of my time, but it felt good. Make a good clip, right? Well, what about, you say, well, give us an example, right, well, how about in Matthew 23 or 26 where Jesus constrains the disciples to get into a ship while he himself goes apart to pray up in the mountain, right? And then immediately that ship, when it's in the sea, is driven with the winds and tossed. They're gonna sink. And then Jesus comes walking on the water and they think it's a spirit, you know the story. And then he says, you know, be not afraid, it's me. He reveals himself. And then Peter says, you know, if it be, you bid me to walk on the water, right? And Jesus is like, come on out, right? And then of course, we know the story. Peter steps out and begins to walk on the water. But when he saw the winds and waves boisterous, he began to doubt and sink and cried out, Lord, save me. And God saved him, like literally reached out his hand and lifted him up, like spared him from drowning, Let me ask you something, do you think Jesus was just ignorant of all that was gonna happen, that when he constrained his disciples to get in the ship, did he just forget to check the weather? Is that what happened? You know, he didn't turn on the NOAA broadcast on his AM radio. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about. There's no maritime community here, okay? Right, he didn't get the wave report, right? You know, how high the waves were gonna be, what winds, how many knots they were gonna be blowing. Right, he didn't get all that information, he just forgot. He knew very well that when he constrained them, constrained them, meaning he didn't ask nicely, he's like, get in the ship and go to the other side. It's like he's telling them to do it. He's driving them to do this. He knew full well that they were gonna run head into a storm, and then on top of that, he knew when Peter said, hey, can I come in the water, do you think that Jesus was surprised when Peter began to sink? He let that happen. He forced them into that situation. Look, following God, you're gonna find yourself in potentially maybe even physically perilous situations. You're gonna be driven into a wilderness, so to speak, in your own life. You're gonna have to go through things that are hard. But what we can never do is sit back and say, well, God must not know what it's like. No, he knows what it's like and all the more. We're the ones that are ignorant of what it's like to go through real temptation and trials and suffering on the level in which Christ went them through. We can never even fathom what that was like. Again, it kinda goes back to us saying earlier this morning is don't think that Jesus being tempted was easy, that he just got, well, maybe it was, I think I said it tonight, that it was just easy for him like, oh, that must have been easy, just telling the devil off. No, it was hard. And there's other proof of this. I gotta find it. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. When Jesus is in the garden, I think I just forgot to put it in here. Think about when Jesus went into the garden before the crucifixion. The Bible says that he began to become heavy. He took his disciples with him and he began to become heavy and very sorrowful, right? And then when he's in the garden before the crucifixion, what does he pray? Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. He's literally asking to not have to go through it, right? He's saying, so again, it's just another proof text that shows us that Jesus was forced to do things that the humanity of him didn't wanna do. He did things he didn't wanna do in obedience to God, okay? That's a great lesson for us. Jesus being driven in the wilderness and going through all this, we have to understand it's something he did not choose to do. He did not choose to obey, but it's not something that he would have signed up for or elected to do, like if he's given options. Do you wanna do this or not? You know, if it was an option to have not done it, if it be possible, let this pass for me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. That's the same attitude we have to have in our lives. Because we will be driven, God will lead us into perilous waters. Following God and serving him is going to make you uncomfortable. You're gonna go through hard things. But the great thing about it is that, if you would go to look for, and I'll wrap up there, is that if you do go through it, you get to see God work on your behalf. Because at the end of all that, the Bible says that the angels ministered unto him. You know, God leads us into danger, but danger is necessary for deliverance. Danger is necessary for deliverance. If we never put ourselves in these positions, if we never allow ourselves to be driven or led into these difficult things, then we never get the satisfaction of having gone through it. We never get to have the experience. We never get to have the hope. If you look there in Luke chapter four, it says in verse 13, and when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him, and notice, for a season. He's not done. He's gonna come back. It's interesting that it's for a season, okay? You know, that's the thing. We can't sit there and think, well, I got victory today, I'm good. You know, I crucified the flesh today. I got over this sin today. That's it, I'm done. Nope, the devil will come back. You know, the Bible will say, resist the devil and he will flee from you, right? Resist the devil and he will flee from you. That's a fact. If we resist God, or excuse me, resist the devil, he's gonna give up and say, you know what, this guy, every time I try, he just, he prays, he's memorizing scripture, he's quoting, he's doing what Jesus did. Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, right? And we quote scripture, we memorize things, and we crucify the flesh, and we go through our own temptations and our own lives, and we resist the devil, we resist the temptation to do wrong, the devil will flee. You know, the way I heard it is that the devil is gonna come along and he's got his little fishing lure and he's gonna cast that lure out in front of you and he's gonna see if you're gonna bite. And if you're gonna look at that lure and say, well, I know that's not something I wanna bite into. There's the hook. You know, I can see the line. I know where that's leading. I know who's at the end of that rod. Satan, right, this is a temptation. Well, he's only gonna try that lure a few times, but you know what, he might show up later with a different lure. He might show up with another, you know, temptation to try and say, well, let me see if this one works on him or let me see if this, maybe he's a little weaker now. Maybe try this one again, right? Resist the devil, he will flee from you, but you know what, that's not a one-time deal. That's something that you're gonna have to do repeatedly in your life, you know, and let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, right? Well, you know, I've already gotten over all these sins. I've already gotten, you know, I've already resisted all these temptations. I've gotten, you know, I've gotten away from these sinful habits. You know, that's a foolish way to think because that you're setting yourself up for a fall, okay? So it was for a season, but notice here, it says in Luke 4, he departed from for a season, verse 14, and Jesus returned and the power of the Spirit into Galilee. So yes, it was the Spirit that drove him, in Mark, and drove him into the wilderness and forced him into a place where he had to go through these things and Jesus had to become obedient, right? And he did, right? Jesus had to become obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross, okay? The Bible says in Philippians that being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus had to become obedient. He had to say, yes, I will go through these things. When he was driven to that place, a place that he would not have chosen for himself, he went through it. It was the Spirit that drove him there, but it was also, after he went through those things, it was that same Spirit that he came back in, right? He came back into the Galilee in the power of the Spirit. That's why we don't wanna quench the Spirit in our lives. We don't wanna grieve the Holy Spirit. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit, the Bible says. If we're saved and we're sealed by the Spirit of God, if we have eternal life under the day of our redemption, if he is the earnest of our inheritance, right? If we live in the Spirit, well, you know what? Let us also walk in it. Let us walk in the Spirit. Basically what he's saying there is, if you're saved, act like it, right? If you're on your way to heaven, start living like it, is what he's saying. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Jesus went in the wilderness, he was driven there, but he came back in the power of the Spirit in the Galilee and there went out of fame of him throughout all the region round about and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. So the Bible says in James 1, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Look, if we have to go through things in our lives, let's go through them. If we have to go through temptations and trials, we're gonna have to go through things that we would not have chosen for ourselves, go through them, resist the devil, you'll come out better on the other side. You'll have patience, experience, hope, you'll have the power of the Holy Spirit, right? Because you will have resisted the devil and he will flee, but only for a season. So that's just a few things we can learn about the temptation of Christ tonight when Jesus was driven in the wilderness. We see his humanity, the fact that he hungered, he was weak, at his weakest when this happened, and that Satan has great power to temptation. It's not a light thing that he went through. It wasn't just easy because he was God. He had to be driven there, just like he went through the cross, he became obedient even to the death of the cross. He sets an example for us in this. And we need to learn from this and understand there's things we're gonna have to go through in our lives that we would not have chosen for ourselves, but if we go through them, we're gonna come out the other side even better. We're gonna have the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the example of your son, Lord, and Lord, I pray to help us to glean many things from the word of God and Lord, help us to, Lord, be willing to go through whatever it is that you have for us in this life, whatever things we must face, wherever we're driven by the Spirit, wherever we're led, Lord, that we would go there, maybe not cheerfully, Lord, but obediently, and Lord, that we would be willing to obey the leading of your Spirit, and Lord, help us to not quench your Spirit, help us not grieve him, Lord, so that we can be led, and Lord, help us, like your son, to resist the devil, or to understand that we have a great, although he is powerful, Lord, although he is that old serpent, Lord, that he is very crafty, Lord, and Lord knows man well, Lord, that we have a powerful weapon against him in the word of God. Lord, that's what your son, that's what Jesus used when he was tempted, Lord, he used the word of God to resist the devil. Lord, help us to do the same, Lord, help us to be found reading the Bible, memorizing it, meditating it, and Lord, most of all, putting it into practice in our lives no matter where that might lead us. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song with you before we are dismissed this evening. Sir, it's the song number 146. It's the song number 146, a shelter in the time of story. ["Shelter in the Time of Story"] The new world of God, where ever we find a shelter in the time of story, Jesus, the Lord of all things, shelter in the time of story, through the whole things that are around me where I am, in the way that I am, in the way that I am, in the way that I am, shelter in the time of story, the shame that I make in my life, shelter in the time of story, Jesus, the Lord of all things, shelter in the time of story, Jesus, the Lord of all things, the shame that I make in my life, Jesus, the Lord of all things, shelter in the time of story, the shame that I make in my life, the shelter in the time of story, the shame that I make in my life, the shame that I make in my life, Jesus, the Lord of all things, the shame that I make in my life, the shame that I make in my life, Oh, Jesus is the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one. The one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one. The one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one, the one. The one, the one.