Temptations of Jesus: Part 2 Kathryn Kuhlman Spiritual Warfare & 1 John 2:16

Well, sir, this is my second in a series of messages on the temptations of Jesus. Oh, bless you. And it was the very first time that you fully realized that you really hadn't stopped to consider what the temptations of Jesus really were. Sure, you've known all of these years that Jesus was tempted of Satan in the wilderness. But you had never really stopped to consider what those temptations were that Jesus suffered in the wilderness. One thing you knew, those temptations were real. One thing we agreed upon, in our last heart -to -heart talk together, was the fact that Jesus could have yielded to those temptations. Otherwise, the temptations in the wilderness would have been a farce. And I left you with the fact that when Jesus was here on earth, he was as much God as though he were not man. He was deity. He was divinity. He was the very son of the living God. But he was also as much man as though he were not God. Those temptations were real. As man, as one in the flesh. Jesus could have yielded to any one of those three temptations. Jesus was in that hour of temptation our representative. Know that. Whenever you stand face to face before a temptation, always know that Jesus has been in the wilderness, faced temptation and was man's representative and as surely as jesus one day came out of the wilderness not having yielded to temptation you too can come forth from any temptation as clean as victorious as Jesus did that day. All right. Very quickly now, I want you to consider some of the details of this portion of the Word of God as found in the fourth chapter of the book of Matthew. For I told you that we will use that scripture for our basis. The fourth chapter. Now... There is no detailed account of the 40 days spent in the wilderness prior to the temptation. None. Search the scriptures, if you will. You can find no account whatsoever as to how Jesus spent those 40 days. Luke says that he did eat nothing. Therefore, we know that Jesus did not have one morsel of food during the entire time that he was in the wilderness. Outside of that, we know nothing as to how the time was spent or what he did. There is a portion of this word that is most significant. For remember, up until now, we have not yet discovered what the temptation really was. What was the first temptation? We know that the enemy challenged Jesus to turn the stone into bread. But on the surface of that, I see no sin. Neither can you find sin in it. What was the object of the attack in this first temptation? Now the objective point does not appear on the surface. So cunning, so sly was the enemy that on the surface you can see no temptation whatsoever. But watch something. Let me read the very first words as recorded in the fourth chapter of Matthew. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted the devil. Those first words. Then was Jesus led up. The great significance in those words. Here's the secret. It was God's will that Jesus be led in the wilderness. It was in the perfect will of God that he fast 40 days and 40 nights. It was God's perfect will. It was the will of the Father that Jesus, as much man as though he were not God, taste not of bread, of food, for 40 days and 40 nights. When one speaks the will of God, sometimes I wonder how many of God's children really know what one is speaking of. Most of us live our lives exactly as we desire to live them. You talk about the will of God and few Christians even know what you're talking about. There is a place of consecration in the Lord where it is no longer just a matter of whether something is a sin or something is not a sin. There is a place. As a spiritual Christian that goes far beyond whether or not it is scriptural, there is a place of consecration where literally you seek the will of God. The will of God for my life may be absolutely different than God's will for your life. I am an individual. You are an individual. God's perfect will for me is one thing. God's perfect will for you is another. There is a place in Him where we are led of the Spirit. And we walk as the Spirit leads us. And in walking in the Spirit, we say we are... in god's perfect will and when we live that life in god's perfect will then nothing that comes into our life nothing can touch us but what he allows and he permits nothing is accidental and If we are living in God's perfect will, then he will carry out his own plan and his own purpose through these lives and ours. The secret of this entire thing is the fact that Jesus was led of the Spirit. Jesus was in God's perfect will. When he went into the wilderness and he knew he was in God's will, he was led of the Spirit. In the will of God, when he fasted those 40 days and those 40 nights, he ate nothing, absolutely nothing. Now watch. In the life of every Christian, wholly consecrated and devoted to God, there is that perfect will. interfere with his will, and you change the results, and you interfere with God's purpose. Pause a moment. The scripture said that Jesus was hungry. Lo, these many days of fasting, he was hungry. The circumstance of hunger was incidental, but not accidental. Know that. As I told you before, if you're in God's perfect will, let of the Spirit, nothing is accidental. Absolutely. The circumstance of hunger was incidental. but not accidental. It was a circumstance within his divine will. The hunger of Jesus, therefore, was within the purpose of God for him. It was perfectly natural for Jesus to be hungry. Hunger was natural and therefore sinless. Jesus did not sin. Neither was the hunger a result of sin. It was natural. As man, he had not eaten. As man, not having eaten, he became hungry. But because he became hungry, it was not sin. There was nothing wrong with being hungry. The sense of hunger was perfectly sinless. But it was in the will of God that he fast and that he eat not. Lo, those many days. But for Jesus to have eaten would have caused him to be disobedient to the will of God. Do you see it? If now, this is what the enemy saw. This is how cunning the enemy was. Oh, don't you belittle the cunningness of Satan. Don't you for one split second ever belittle the shrewdness, the craftiness of Satan. Just reading this portion of the Word of God, you would never detect in Satan's smoothness just where in was a temptation. If now Jesus could be persuaded to minister to his physical needs, to satisfy his hunger, then his loyalty to the will of God would be destroyed. You see it? Satan attacked Jesus through the physical to try to get him to disobey God's will. Now, all sin, any temptation, any temptation that you might have in life can be put either to the lust of the flesh, The lust of the eye, the pride of life, or in other words, there's Satan, there's the world, and there's the flesh. And when it comes to the devil, I am not afraid of him. The old boy and I have had many a bout, believe me. I don't have to be defeated on a single score. And when it comes to the world, it holds no attraction for me whatsoever. But there is one thing that I am scared to death of, and that's the flesh. My weakness is in the physical. My weakest point is when it comes to the flesh. And it's just like that. I know where my weakness is. And if the devil's going to tempt me, he'll tempt me through the physical. Don't sit there and feel that you're strong and sit there and say, huh, she is some preacher. to admit that she is weak when it comes to the flesh. Be careful, sir. No man, no woman can boast of his power, his strength, when it comes to the physical. He who boasts most of his strength in the physical is the first to go down in defeat. Oh, no, sir. Watch it. The very first place where Satan tempted Jesus was in the physical, the flesh. It was God's will for Jesus to go into wilderness. It was God's will for Jesus not to touch food. but to fast lo those many days and many nights jesus knew he was in the will of god he had gone there in god's perfect will he became hungry which was perfectly natural being man he became hungry. Not that there was any sin in that hunger, but had he yielded to the flesh, had he yielded to his craving for food, he would have sinned against the will of God and gone contrary to God's will because it was God's will that he eat not. Satan knew it. And he knew that if he could persuade Jesus to minister to his physical needs to satisfy his hunger, then his loyalty to the will of God would have been destroyed and Jesus would have sinned. Do you see it? Mm -hmm. For Jesus to have eaten. would have caused him to be disobedient to the will of God. There is something I want you to see. Oh, to me this is... I hope the Holy Spirit is making this as real to your heart as he has made it real to my heart. Because if he does, he'll keep you on guard constantly. I believe that lo, these many years... When we have made the statement, I have been guilty of saying so myself, that when the enemy said to Jesus, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread, that he was challenging the deity and divinity of Jesus. No. You know, you can put emphasis. on just one word of a statement and you can change the entire meaning. I do not believe that Satan was challenging the deity and divinity of Jesus when he said, if thou be the son of God. If you put the emphasis on if, then it sounds like a challenge. But it wasn't. When they were in the wilderness standing face to face, Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus knew his power. Jesus knew that even though he was standing there, as much man as though he were not divinity, he also knew that he was divinity. Both knew. Why? Because just prior to that, read it, it's just prior to this fourth chapter, was that wonderful experience of Jesus coming out of the waters of baptism and God spoke from heaven, low voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And this incident happened just prior to Jesus being led into the wilderness. God had put his seal upon Jesus. He had said to the whole world, this is my beloved son. Therefore, the devil was not challenging the deity and divinity of Jesus, but instead he was saying to him, he was assenting to the fact that he was deity, that he was divinity, and he was saying to him, as deity, as divinity. having the power of divinity, then turn to those resources, turn to your power, take advantage of your deity, and turn those stones into bread. And they both knew he could have done it. The devil knew that Jesus could have turned those stones into bread. Jesus knew with just one word, with just one slip of his finger, with just a bat of an eyelash, he could have turned the stones into bread. They both knew it. The devil was saying, act independently of God's will. command that the stones be made red. Had Jesus done it, he would have acted contrary to the will of God. Amen.