Study on Eph. 6:10
Let's take Jesus' first real encounter with the devil found in Matthew chapter 4. Just previous to this, Jesus was baptized by John. God's voice was heard declaring Jesus to be His beloved Son.
Forget about how you've heard this preached and think about what just happened. John baptized Jesus. While everybody was watching, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove. Then this voice came out of heaven and said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
After that fantastic introduction, Jesus had the perfect opportunity to preach to the people. And why not? After what they saw and heard, everybody's attention was focused on Him. It was the right time for a short, fiery sermon and to heal several people. Jesus' ministry would have gotten off to a great start. But, it didn't.
Matt. 4:1 says that Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. What was God thinking? He had everybody's attention. He had everybody's curiosity. He had just introduced the Messiah.....the long awaited Messiah. Why didn't God tell His Son to do some Messiah stuff?
First of all, let's deal with Jesus' obedience. Even though he was standing right in the middle of a great opportunity to show the world what He was made of, Jesus never lost sight of Who made Him.
Did you catch the relationship between made and made? If not read it again until you do.
Let me make this point perfectly clear. Most preachers, me included, would have taken this opportunity to show everybody within hearing distance just what we were made of. We would have preached boisterously, sang like an angel or prayed as fervently as we could.
But Jesus paid more attention to the Father. He had been created by the Father's will. He was baptized because of the Father's will. (After all, Jesus had never sinned and didn't need to be baptized.) It was His Father's will to honor His Beloved Son in that spectacular manner. But then He told Jesus to go into the wilderness and wait to be tempted of the devil.
If you're a pastor, minister, teacher, worship leader or whatever, do you hold that position or does that position hold you? If God clearly told you to step down from that position would you have the guts to do it? And you know that it would take guts, don't you? If you are going to be strong in the Lord according to Eph. 6, you'd better believe that somewhere in your relationship with Jesus Christ, He's going to require you to step down. Will He force you to do it? No, because, just like salvation, it's your choice. However, later on down the road, you will meet some circumstance that would make you wish you had used more guts than your over inflated ego.
What made Jesus so eager to go into the wilderness instead of preach to them? When the Spirit told him to go into the wilderness to face the devil, Jesus probably jumped at the chance to come face-to-face with His long-time adversary. He knew it was God's will because He knew God's voice. He was happy to do it because being obedient to His Father brought Him great joy.
Let's get to this point. Jesus had waited for ages to finally be able to have a confrontation with the devil as a Holy Spirit filled child of God. The devil had stolen the authority over the earth from a blessed earthly man. It was time for a God man to set the stage for all of those who would follow in His footsteps. The best way to start His ministry was to have a one-on-one with the devil and set the record straight.
How about you? When satan rears his ugly head, do you run and scream in tears? Do you hate for the day of conflict to come? Do you look for some way around it? Do you cry and cry until it leaves?
Before I can go any further with this lesson, you need to make up your mind. Are you going to be as strong as Jesus and be eager to face down the enemy of the universe? Or, are you going to continue to weasel your way around the throne of grace and hope Jesus answers your unspoken request?
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