We'll be reading from verse 1 to 13, Luke chapter 4 from 1 to 13, turning temptations into triumphs. Let's hear the word of the living God. Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days he ate nothing, and afterwards, when it had ended, he was hungry. And the devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. But Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Then the devil took him to a high mountain, and showing him all the kingdoms of the world, in a moment of time, the devil said to him, all this authority I will give you, and their glory, for this has been delivered to me, and I can give it to whomsoever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all this will be yours. And Jesus answered and said to him, get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Then he brought him to Jerusalem, sat him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, He shall give you his angels' charge over you, to keep you. And in their hands they shall be, lest you dash your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered and said to him, It has been written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. This is the Word of God from Luke chapter 4, verse 1 to 13. So, after the dove at the baptism came the devil in the wilderness. When you have the approval of God, you can expect the assault of the devil. Immediately before this time of fasting and tempting the wilderness, a Lord had been baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit came down upon him like a dove. And the words of the Father were spoken from heaven. This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. This is a high point. It's almost inevitable after any kind of high point, you'll have a low point. Examples abound that after some of the greatest achievements, like Moses, after successfully delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt, experienced the depths of depression. Elijah, after a victorious battle against the false prophets on Mount Carmel, went into depression. He didn't even want to live, he was almost suicidal. He said, take my life from me, Lord. Elijah is in such dark depression, he's just had his greatest victory. He didn't have any will to live. It's not unusual that after a great victory, there's a great counterattack. After depression, after victories, you have depression. There are dangers in victories. There are opportunities in defeat. Napoleon once said, a good general should not be unduly elated by victory, nor unduly depressed by defeat. This is because after every victory, you must be alert. The enemy will be planning a counterattack. Similarly, after any defeat, you've got an opportunity. The enemy is looting, celebrating, feasting, probably getting drunk. This is your chance to counterattack. And it's natural that what goes up must come down. And when you're climbing up a mountain, you know that after every peak, there's another valley, and so on. Now we see in the temptation in Luke chapter 4, that no one is exempt from temptation. Not even the Lord Jesus was exempt from temptation. If anybody thought that as a Christian I will avoid temptation, that's foolish. Not even Lord Jesus could be exempt from such temptation. We read in Hebrews, he was tempted in every way, like as we are, yet was without sin. This reminds us of the teaching of scripture that temptation is not sin in and of itself. Giving in to temptation is sin. Martin Luther famously said, you can't be blamed for birds flying over your head, but you are to blame if you let the birds make a nest in your hair. And so to have a bad thought pass through your mind that temptation is not sin in and of itself, but to entertain it, to examine it from different sides, to consider it, that is the sin. A temptation on evil isn't the problem if you kick it immediately out. But if you open the door, welcome it in, let the temptation sit down, then it's past temptation, it's now becoming sin. The experience that Jesus went through should humble us. We often feel defiled and disappointed in ourselves, that we could even be tempted in any way. How could we even think of it? And we are disgusted with ourselves sometimes when temptations come to our mind. But we live in a fallen world with so many triggers and so many temptations all around us, even on billboards. And so in Luke 4 we read an example of how the Lord handled temptation. And that can help us, and can empower us, and can inspire us. When you have the approval of God, expect the assault of the enemy. In the wilderness you can see a collision between the Lord Jesus and the devil. The collision is good. The collusion would be bad. We should not collude or compromise with the devil. But to have a conflict with him is not a problem. Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness. You can be led into a time of temptation. We do pray, lead us not into temptation. Now God does not tempt anyone, but God may test us. Now the point of a test is that you pass. The point of a temptation is to make you fall. A good teacher or coach may give you a test because they want you to succeed, because they want you to pass, but it's your enemies that give you a temptation because they want you to fall. So God might allow tests to come our way, but it's the devil who brings us temptations. And no one is tempted from God. Our own evil thoughts might tempt us, but no temptation comes from God. God cannot be tempted. He tempts no one. Being led by the Holy Spirit does not mean you should expect a clear road without any bumps, thorns, obstacles, dangers, or temptations on the way. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit. into the wilderness, where he was tempted for 40 days. I mean, four hours is miserable, but 40 days. And during those 40 days, he ate nothing. He was on a full fast. I don't know how many people can survive a 40-day fast, let alone in a hot environment in the wilderness, in a desert, where shade would have been very hard to find. He might have found a cave. He might have found some shade under a tree. But there couldn't have been much shade in that wilderness. The Lord must have been very physically strong, very emotionally strong, very mentally strong to survive a fast in the desert heat for 40 days. Being tempted for 40 days by the devil, he ate nothing. He was hungry. That's got to be an understatement. As in the Garden of Eden, hath God said, Satan is the first fact-checker. Notice, fact-checkers didn't exist until the truth started to get out. The Pharisees were also fact-checkers. They were absolutely certain Jesus could not be the Messiah. When Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the fact-checkers of the Pharisees would have said, fake news. They condemned and betrayed Jesus to be condemned because they rejected his statements as false. They knew better. They were the religious leaders. How could they not know better? They not only doubted, they discounted the teachings of Jesus. They ignored his miracles. Regardless of whatever Jesus did, he could heal the sick, he could raise the dead, calm the storm, walk on water, feed thousands of people with a handful of food. He could raise Lazarus from dead. None of this mattered. They had already determined he was not the Messiah, even though he fulfilled all the prophecies. But the Pharisees chose not to believe. So Satan starts off with this, if you are the son of God. Well he knew very well that Jesus is the son of God, but to try and put doubts in his mind. Satan does not need to prove anything, he just needs to create a bit of doubt, and that's the way the world works too. They create doubt. Maybe evolution is true. Perhaps this, perhaps that. And so all kinds of doubts are put there. If you're the son of God, command the stones to become bread. Well, what's so bad about that? You're hungry, you're starving in the wilderness, you've got the power, why not turn stones into bread? Is that that bad? Well, elevating legitimate desires above the will of God is. So there's nothing wrong with wanting to eat. Of course, gluttony is a sin, but if God has led you into a fast, then eating would be wrong at that time. So, if God's will is fasting, then a legitimate desire like hunger needs to be suppressed. What is wrong with satisfying your hunger? There's nothing wrong with satisfying hunger, but God has a prior claim. He may have a higher purpose. Other reasons. There are legitimate desires that can be distorted into sin. Hunger can easily become gluttony. Drink can produce drunkards. Where there's natural affection that could lead to marriage, it could deteriorate into lust, fornication, adultery, perversion. There may be a legitimate desire, but it can be taken to an extreme, or it may be used in the wrong time, wrong sequence. We need to have caution and self-preservation. But if it becomes a cowardice or desertion from duty, well, that is evil. Cowards at the very top of God's list in Revelation 21 verse 8. Of those who will be condemned for all eternity in the lake of fire. Cowards. The first in the list of eight categories of people who will be condemned for eternity. Self-preservation is good. Cowardice is evil. Hunger is legitimate, but not for the Lord to use His power in an illegitimate way. The Lord did nothing except what the Father commanded Him. He had the power, but He waited for the authority. The Lord on earth was fully man, and He was fully God. Bearing this in mind, this is not the second person of the Trinity being tempted. This is the Son of Man being tempted. The humanity of Christ was what was being tempted. He is tempted in every way such as we are. What help could that be to you or I if the Son of God is able to resist temptation? Of course God can resist temptation, but for the Son of Man, for the human part of Jesus, to resist temptation is a great encouragement to us. Because the fact that God can resist temptation, we can say, well, yes, obviously. But the Lord in his humanity being tempted, that gives encouragement to us, because if he could do it as a man, then we can resist temptation too, especially using the same way he's teaching us. So when you imagine the humanity of Christ being tempted, he's able to resist it as fully human with the same grace that's available to you and I. As sons and daughters of the King, as born again Christians, we can also resist as Jesus did in the wilderness. This is not just us looking and saying, well of course he can do that. God can have all power. But as a human being, hungry, starving in the wilderness, to be able to resist in the weakest time, that gives encouragement to us. Notice sola scriptura. Scripture alone is the ultimate authority. This is the sword of the Spirit. Satan begins by questioning God's Word. This is how theological seminaries become theological cemeteries. The counter-attack is, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. If only our colleges would get done with all these fact-checkers who say, well, you know, this in the Bible is wrong, and so on. I remember even hearing that in college, having people saying, you know, the Bible says this, however. And then they tried to come up with some other nonsense. Lecturers like that should not be allowed to be in a Bible-believing denominations' college. The Scripture is the sword of the Spirit. It is the weapon of the Word. We are able to take God's Word and use it to defeat Satan. Greater is he who is in me than him who is in the world. Submit to God. Resist the devil. He will flee from us. We can be more than conquerors if God sees and loves us. Through our God we shall do valiantly. It is he who will tread down our enemies. And so we've got to have a scripture for every occasion. But even when Satan tempted Christ, he's using scripture. He's saying the scripture says this, but the Lord counteracts with scripture and context. The Lord uses, it is written again and again to defeat Satan. And that's another good reason for scripture memorization. To know the Word of God is to have the sword of the Spirit, the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. It is seed. It always produces what it's sent out to accomplish. It's like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces. The Word of God is like a fire that burns within our hearts. It is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. And light is always more powerful than darkness. So the Word of God is the weapon we need to use to resist and defeat temptation. This actual verse is what inspired our Bible before breakfast, scripture before supper principle, and our practice of reading scripture before lunch. It's an excellent principle when you're about to have physical bread, which we need for our body, to discipline the mental and spiritual food we need for our minds and for our soul. Yes, he has the power to turn rocks into bread, but this wasn't the time, this wasn't the place. God had a higher purpose at that moment and he was not going to let his desires, his appetite or his aspirations get in the way of the will of God. God's will, the Father's will is always higher and it's always more important. The purpose of fasting is to find more time for prayer and for reading of the Word. And that's why when a person says, you know, I'm fasting today. Yeah, but you're not fasting for the Word. Still, it should take part in the reading of God's Word. If you don't want to have lunch, that's something else. But none of us should ever have a good reason to avoid scripture reading or prayer. So the purpose of physical fasting is to humble us and to focus us. And the purpose of fasting is not to impress people. I've come across people who boast, you know, I fast every Friday or Friday is my fasting day or, you know, I've been fasting for 28 days. We had a guest here from Poland who was regaling us with stories of how long he fasts and how much he fasts and all that sort of thing. That's not the purpose. God reboots us for that. If you're fasting, people shouldn't even know you're fasting. And the purpose of fasting is not to impress other people like, you know, I'm a better Pharisee than the Pharisees. Things like that. We're not meant to walk around looking like we're suffering, being a spiritual martyr. That is fueled by pride. When we're fasting from food, it should be that we're indulging more in studying the Word of God. We're using the time we would have used eating to do more Bible study. We should be taking a double dose of the Word of God when we're fasting from food. Then the devil took him up to high mountains, showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, all this authority I will give you. and the glory for it has been delivered to me and I can give it to him if I wish. This suggests the devil has power to transport. When man sinned and gave in to the temptations of the devil, the devil took dominion over what had been entrusted to Adam and Eve. Read about Satan being the god of this world, about him deceiving the nations. Three times in the Revelation speaks of Satan deceiving the nations. So in Revelation, we read that God will send an angel who will remind Satan that he might deceive the nations no more. He's offering all his earthly glory to Jesus to be the king of all the kingdoms of the world, but he must worship Satan. This just gives you another example of how you can quote scripture, but it can be false because the scripture is also quoting Satan. So you have this, all this I will give you if you'll worship me, that's the words of Satan. That's in the Bible, but I've heard a person quoting that very verse in a cult and wealth prosperity church. But of course he's quoting the words of Satan. So just because it's in the Bible doesn't mean it's God's word. The Bible includes Satan's words too, and such as in this case. To avoid the shame, and the being betrayed, and the scourging, and the trial, to avoid the cup of filth, and the sin of mankind, and the death on the cross, our Lord was being offered a way to the crown by passing the cross. And he refused it, because what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but if he loses his own soul? Get thee behind me, Satan. It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. So Satan brought Jesus to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, if you are the Son of God, the if again, throw yourself down from here. Now Satan knows Jesus is the Son of God, but he tries to introduce doubt at a time when the Lord is physically weak and exhausted. Satan does this with us. He comes at times when we are at our weakest, when we are tired, when we are sick, when we're hungry, when we're confused, when we're deserted by others, when things go wrong. The devil doesn't only attack you on your best day, when everything's going well, when you're surrounded by co-workers and fellow Christians who can help. He attacks you when you're at your weakest, when you're at your most vulnerable, when you're at your most tired. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from there, for it is written, he will give his angels charge of you to keep you. And into their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Now if Jesus jumped off the temple and an angel caught him and ushered him into the temple, what an entrance, what a triumphal entry. People could see Jesus defying the laws of gravity. There's an angel delivering him to the very steps of the temple. But instead of this way of pride and the easy way, Jesus chooses the difficult, long, and humble way, entering Jerusalem on a donkey. Not exactly a great white horse like a conqueror, but on a humble donkey. He's given a chance to take the shortcut. Don't worry about the sufferings and the words of John Newton's song, I ask the Lord. Satan tempts us. Don't worry about going through the cross, you can go straight to the crown, take the shortcut. I'm a child of the king, I demand my rights. And the Lord answers, no, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. So our Lord resists every temptation by quoting scripture, by putting the will of God ahead of what might be legitimate desires in another occasion. But it should interfere with the will of God now. These must be denied. Take up your cross, deny yourself, forsake the world, follow Christ. Taking up your cross was not having a nice ornament of a lapel pin or something like that, or a nice bumper sticker, something ornamental. Taking up your cross literally meant going to die. The cross was an instrument of torture and death, humiliation, a disgraceful criminal's death. Now when the devil had ended every temptation, so there were presumably other temptations aside from these three representative ones reported, 40 days he was tempted. We only read of three of the temptations in this passage. Continually tempted for 40 days we read. There must have been multiple temptations every day, more than what we've read about here. But this passage just speaks of three. Why? They deal with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The three categories of temptation, in a sense, combine them all. The lust of the flesh are the things you do with your body. Passions of the body, which can lead to drunkenness, laziness, greediness, gluttony, gossip, immorality, perversion. Things you do. and where we love sleep or food or drink more than the Word of God. The lust of the eyes deals with the things we see, what we want, must have, bigger, better, bigger, better phones, cars, computers, houses, possessions. I saw a bumper stick in America, the man who dies for the most toys wins. Well, when you die, these toys that you accumulate can't go with you to heaven. There's no U-Haul on a hearse. There's no pockets in a shroud. You can't take them with you. The only way you can have riches in heaven is to send them on ahead. and that's converting them into souls converted as sacrifices made. So basically, bear in mind when they say the soul, the one who dies to the most toys wins, that's not true. You can't take it with you. So unless you've laid up treasure in heaven, converted it, you don't win at all. The pride of life is dealing with your being, your person, your pride, your status, your fame, your fortune, your position, your face. Pride of place, pride of face, pride of race. There's all kinds of prides out there. But notice the middle letter of pride is I. The middle letter of lie is I. The middle letter of lucid is I. The middle letter of sin is I. The sinful self. Selfishness is at the heart of sin. Me, myself, and I, which is the heart of existentialism. It's the new trinity of the new world order. People worship me, myself, and I. Now for such temptations as was given to Jesus in the desert, Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He thought he could get what he needed with 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Esau sold his birthright for a plate of food. No wonder God loved Jacob and hated Esau. Esau had such a bad attitude. He despised his birthright. He despised what his parents had given him. He despised how God had placed him. He ignored all of what God had given him for a plate of food. So that's akin to the Lord being tempted to turn a stone to a loaf of bread. And so you can see Esau is a failure, Jesus is a success. Jesus turned his temptation into a triumph. Esau just gave in to temptation, no struggle. When you look at Luke 4, you can see an experience of temptation that should humble us. You see an example of how Jesus resisted temptation, how he turned temptation to triumph. This should inspire us, warn us, help us, empower us. You can be a victor, not a victim. Every temptation we give in to makes the next temptation harder to resist. Every temptation we resist makes the next temptation easier to resist. And so we read in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. But with a temptation, he'll make a way of escape so that you might be able to bear it. Sometimes God makes a way of escape. Now, he might make a way, but you've got to do the walking or running. In the case of Joseph, when he was being tempted by part of his wife, he fled, even leaving his robe behind in her hands. Potiphar's wife was a temptress, and after lots of harassment from Potiphar's wife, Joseph just fled. God knew his integrity, and Joseph made the stand. Joseph did the right thing, and yet he was taken into prison, and he got into even more trouble afterwards for doing the right thing. So Joseph said, how can I sin against my master like this? How can I sin against God? So God will give you the strength to resist, or the ability to flee from any temptation. And sometimes the best form of discretion is to flee. Making sure we are in a place of temptation is foolish. Making sure we avoid the temptation is the best. A person doesn't show his driving skill by seeing how close to the edge I can drive. He shows his skill in driving by how far away from the edge I can drive. We shouldn't always be just getting to the very edge and, you know, I can pull back or look how close to the edge of the cliff I can drive. That's foolish. So avoiding temptation is better than having to resist temptation. Making sure you're in the right place is the best. So, for example, if a person's problem is drink, the idea is to avoid places of drink. You don't go into a bar and say, I'm going to show my great strength as a Christian by resisting beer amongst the people and amongst the institution dedicated to getting you drunk. I mean, that's foolishness. Rather be safe than take these risks. How close can I live to the world and yet still be a Christian and make it to heaven is the wrong attitude. The goal should be how far from being worldly can I be and how holy can I be is more important than saying how worldly can I be and still get saved. How far from the world can I be as I resist and I make a stand? Hebrews 2 verse 18, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. Because our high priest is the Lord Jesus Christ, because he was tempted, he is able to help us. He understands temptation. We do not have a God, a savior, a redeemer, or a high priest. We cannot understand what it is to be tempted. That wouldn't be particularly helpful, would it? My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. James 1 verse 2. What is joyful about trials and temptations? How can you speak like, count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into various trials? Well, the suffering is temporary, but the glory is eternal. And you can just think how we will be stronger and better able to fight the good fight if If we know what it is to be like Pilgrim, who had to go through the valley of the shadow of death. He had to fight Apollyon. He had to climb hill difficulty. He was trapped by giant despair, in doubting castle. He escaped from Bypass Meadow. He got out of Vanity Fair. All these obstacles, which seemed previous and difficult at the time, can make you stronger. And at the end, Pilgrim is a soldier with full armor, and he's able to resist Apollyon, the devil, because of what he went through. And this included failures and defeats. So we should count all suffering actually joy. If you see a lion in the wild with scars across his face, you know the lion was stronger than whatever tried to kill him. knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, which is why we were taken through all kinds of obstacle courses and tough training in the army, because while it's exceedingly unpleasant at the time, later you look back and you think, well, I survived that, so I can survive this too. And you're encouraged. I went through so many hours of days of sleep at that time, I can make it now. And you can push yourself sometimes when you thought, I can't do it. I'm sure that works in running as well. that, okay, I did the comrades, I managed that hill before, I can manage this one, this isn't even as big as that one over there, approaching Pietermaritzburg. When you've gone through tough times, it does make you stronger to survive. And people who've gone through a plague, Ulrich Zwingli went through the plague in Zurich. He suffered from the plague. He thought he was going to die. And he came out of it not just physically stronger, but he came out of it spiritually on fire, and he launched the Reformation on the back of coming out of the plague hitting Zurich. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive a crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Medals are not given for avoiding battles. Medals are normally given because one has gone through a tough time in a battle and has actually sacrificed. And this reminds us of Judges chapter 2. God allowed the Gentiles surrounding the children of Israel that they might test them to see if his people really loved him. Sometimes the battles are a test, and pressures are a privilege. In the military, if you were given a hard assignment, it was a sign of great favour. It's an honour to be given a tough assignment. And you might say, well, I don't particularly like this assignment, but the hard assignments are given to someone who you know can handle it. cancer, a child with learning disabilities, to handle sickness and problems, imprisonment, torture, whatever it may be. God gives hard assignments to people that he trusts and that he is trying to build up to be stronger. We shouldn't be distracted, we shouldn't be discouraged, and we should not be derailed from God's purpose. Satan knows our weaknesses, and he knows what buttons to press, what triggers he can use to try and get us off the path, to derail us, to distract us, to depress us, to discourage us. We read in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11, lest Satan should take advantage of us. For we are not ignorant of his devices, and we should not be ignorant. Corrupt and conquer, confused, divide and conquer. Satan's got tactics he uses. We should recognize, ah, I'm being tempted by Satan. I'm not going to fall into that trap again. And you can't use that on me, Satan. I remember what happened last time, and so on. Satan deceived Eve by questioning God's Word. Satan deceived Eve by putting doubt into her mind. These are the tactics of Satan. But I fear, lest some are, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11 3. So we read in 1 Thessalonians 5. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter has tempted you, and our labor might have been in vain. Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians might give in to temptation, that his labor would be in vain. So he sent this message to encourage him to resist temptation. Our counterattack is to submit to God, to resist the devil, and to see him flee from us. Greater is Christ who is in us than him who is in the world. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We take up the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith, and we win the victory. But in 1 Timothy 6 we read, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. This is just another reason why it's so dangerous to be in a church that is health and wealth, prosperity-orientated church. Name it and claim it. Grab it and grab it. Name it, claim it, frame it. It's dangerous to have the aspiration to be rich. The scripture says, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation. They fall into a trap. They fall into a snare. And to many foolish and harmful desires. Now, we've got a good comedy in our video library, the Billy Graham Association film, Road to Redemption. It starts out with a person at work who's convinced that if she borrows money from the company and puts it on horse racing, since she has insider information, that she could double her money, get rich, pay back the original sum of money, and nobody would know. The end result is she loses everything, the nappier comes after, and chaos. You, therefore, beloved, know this beforehand. But where lest any of you fall from your own steadfastness, being led away from the error of the wicked? 2 Peter 3, 17. And that film really is an example of how temptation can just lead to absolute catastrophe, just a chain of disastrous events. And when I was on a mission to Siskiyou back in 1993 as a guest of Brigadier Gorzow, a chaplain from the Siskiyou Defence Force was driving me to another meeting. And on the way, he stopped and picked up a woman who was hitchhiking on the side of the road. And they were talking the whole time in Xhosa until we reached the place where she needed to be dropped off. And afterwards, he turned to me and said, that poor woman. And he began to relate the story. A relative had died. All the family relatives had given money together for organising the funeral, and of course the funeral feast and everything else that would be involved. She had this money, a vast amount of money, more than she'll ever handle in the rest of her life. On the way to pay for the funeral, do the arrangements, she passed by the casino in Siska, Siska the casino. And the thought came to, I could double this money and keep the other half for myself. I could quadruple the money. And she went in, I mean, I brought these big billboards, you could win a million. You could lose it too, and more. But she went in, she lost everything, every last bit. He came out, drew all the other money he could, went and lost that too. I mean, the house always wins. By the way, Donald Trump taught his children never to gamble. You don't drink, you don't smoke, you don't gamble. Gambling's for chumps, not trumps. And as the sons were saying this, they said, but dad, don't you own some casinos? He said, yes, but the house always wins. Never be stupid enough to gamble. Gambling is foolish. You don't get the top of gambling. You might get the top of owning a gambling joint, but not the gambling itself. And you never engage in alcohol. So his children They were given a testimony. We weren't allowed to get any tattoos, body piercings, not allowed to smoke, not allowed to drink. And all of them, all the Trump children said they had to work on the heaviest equipment construction, that they might be the only billionaires' kids who knew how to operate tractors and bulldozers and heavy equipment, because that was required by the dads. Now, that's intelligent. Unfortunately, though, there are many, many, many foolish people who think that they can win by gambling. Only James Bond wins every time he gambles, everyone else loses. Now only in the movies can you get a guy always winning, and he's just got this click of the wrist and this ability to win at whatever gambling he's doing. And by the way, you notice Billy Graham, James Bond in the movies, he never gets AIDS, he never gets any sexually transmitted disease, even though he whores around. And none of the women that he's cavorting with ever get pregnant or ever get STDs either. Well, that can only happen in movies. It doesn't happen in real life. So, we read in James Bond verse 14, but each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And we ought to read in 2 Peter 2.18, for when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through those lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. We just read that before lunch. Great swelling words of emptiness. I mean, that's so descriptive. Temptation comes actually from the inside more than the outside. The devil knows how to trigger us. The sinful inclinations within us that respond to the devil's temptations is what causes the catastrophe. Our ability to resist or to give in to the temptation is also within us. We can destroy our lives. Because we are our own worst enemies. Or we can resist the temptation, turn the temptation to triumph, but keep walking on. We can do it because our Lord did it. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent to be providence won. In the confessions of a shopaholic movie, the shopaholic finds mannequins in a shop window, irresistible. She goes and compulsively buys whatever's on sale, until she learns to resist temptation and walk on by. And then the film ends with the mannequins applauding as she walks by the shop. But that's just so descriptive of how you've got to win over temptation. Luke 21, 34. Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life. And that day will come upon you unexpectedly, the day of crisis and catastrophe. Temptation is described as like a snare. A snare is a horrible thing, a trap, a leg-hold trap. Just imagine what that does to an animal's leg. When animals have been known to try to eat through their leg, to escape from a snare. That's how horrible these wire traps are, and leg-hold traps that bite into an animal's paw. Time and again you see good examples in the Bible of those who resist the temptation. Daniel being one. And then Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We need to have an attitude of, get thee behind me, Satan. For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only should you serve. And as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said, our God whom we serve is able to save us, and He will. But even if He doesn't save us, we still will not bow before Yahweh, nor will we serve your gods. That's the attitude we need to have. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, living sacrifices, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Instead of being slaves to sin, which is death, we need to be slaves to righteousness, which is life and freedom. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. We can turn our temptations into triumph by following what Jesus did in Luke chapter 4. Any questions? Any comments? Well, the devil's never, or the sub's never any scruples about lying. You can only outwit them in a sword fight if you know the context below, or the passage. So if he quotes scripture, you've got to be able to quote scripture in context. Any other observations? Comments? I was quoting in the context of that we need to be willing to die to self. Sometimes it may seem to be a legitimate desire, but it's not the right time, or God has a higher plan right now. So there's nothing wrong with satisfying your hunger, but in this particular case, taking up your cross means being willing to die to sin, die to self, die to the flesh, die to the world. So, yes, taking up your cross in this sense means, of course, ultimately, taking up your cross means that you're willing to die to sin, self, the world and the devil so that you can be born again. So we're willing to say no to sin and temptation.