The Real Battleground - Part Five
by Darryl Robbins
Thanks for joining us again. We
will continue to look at the intensity of spiritual warfare surrounding
the life of Jesus. In Part Three we covered some of the major aspects of
the intensive, behind the scenes warfare surrounding His conception and
birth. In this section we will be looking at the continued warfare Satan
launched against Jesus in an effort to de-rail the plan of God for man's
redemption, complete salvation, and glorification.
While desiring to give Satan no
credit or glory, we must be honest in our acknowledgment of one thing;
he sure is persistent. If he doesn't succeed in his evil purposes in one
way, he will regroup his forces and try to destroy in another way.
Do not take the power and deception
of the enemy lightly. He has been at his game of seduction and destruction
since the beginning of time. He knows you and your complete family genealogy,
naturally speaking. He probably knows more about your habits and inherent
weaknesses than you do. In your own strength and ability, you are no match
for him. The sooner we as believers submit our lives under the Lordship
of Jesus, the sooner we will gain significant victories in areas of our
lives that, to this point, have been struggles and disappointments.
.......God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw
nigh to you. (James 4: 6-8)
My ministry is a teaching ministry.
I have the responsibility before God to share as much sound, scriptural
information as He directs me to share. If my ministry is true and credible,
it will be easy for the church to gain some knowledge that will help them
along the road to spiritual maturity. The teaching ministry by it's very
nature is designed by God to pass on information that is founded in scriptural
soundness. Anointed teaching will present that information in a way that
makes it easy to grasp and understand.
The best way to keep Satan from
taking advantage of us is to not be ignorant of the devices he uses against
us. (2 Cor.2: 11). Good teaching provides
the information. Information treats ignorance like a dirty, worn out garment-----it
gets rid of it.
Then was Jesus led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (Matt. 4: 1) And
when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a
season. (Mk. 4: 13)
And when he was departed thence,
he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his
hand withered. And they asked him saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath
days? that they might accuse him. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth
thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like
as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him,
how they might destroy him. (Matt. 12: 9-10, 13, 14)
Before Jesus was led into the wilderness
to be tested, He had come to the Jordan River where John was baptizing.
Submitting Himself to John's baptism, we read that afterward the heavens
Opened and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending upon Him in the form
of a dove and lighting upon Him. Then, there came a voice from heaven which
said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The Gospel
of Mark records that the voice said,
"Thou art my beloved Son..........
Is there a problem or contradiction
in Matthew's account or Mark's? Not really. The people that were there
probably heard God say, "This is my beloved Son", whereas Mark probably
recorded what Jesus heard personally, "Thou art my beloved Son."
All four of the Gospel writers present
Jesus from a different viewpoint. Rather than contradict each other, they
compliment each other. Matthew presents Jesus as King. Mark pictures Him
as the suffering Servant. John, as the Son of God.
Luke, on the other hand, presents
Jesus, the man.
Matthew said that Jesus was "led
up into" the wilderness". (Matt 4:1)
Mark states that "immediately
the Spirit driveth Him into" the wilderness (Mk.1: 12)
The wording of Mark in this instance is very descriptive in that it alludes to the
quickness that a true servant would have in obeying a command or desire
if His Master. The reference to being "driven" further points to Mark's
attempt at presenting Jesus as a suffering Servant. The term "driveth",
is in direct reference to a beast of service, particularly the ox.
Which brings us back to Luke again.
Now this is interesting. Luke tells us about Jesus being baptized by John,
as does Matthew and Mark. He also tells us about the heavens opening, the
Spirit descending, and the voice from heaven, as does Matthew and Mark.
But now, watch this. Both Matthew and Mark go immediately from the scene
at Jordon and take us into the account of the wilderness temptation.
Luke, by contrast, finishes the
Jordon account, and then low and behold, stops everything to tell us how
old Jesus was in natural years and then gives us a complete rundown of
His natural family tree, limb by limb, starting with Joseph and going all
the way back to Adam!
Now why would he do that? Maybe
no one else would even notice something like that. Even if they noticed,
it probably wouldn't mean much to them. But when I first saw it I knew
it meant something. I needed to know why he did that. Then I saw it. It
was simple, yet profound.
Luke wanted to make sure that everybody
knew that Jesus was a man. In fact, it seems as though he went to great
links to make his case.
Which brings us to another question.
Why did Luke stressed the point so strongly that Jesus was a man?
Since we're into questions let me
ask another one. Why in the world would Luke start his account of the wilderness
temptation of Jesus with these words;
"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost"..........
"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost"..........
"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost"..........
Can you see it? Do you see what
religious thinking has done to us down through the years. Traditional teaching
and religion won't hardly even allow us to think in terms of the humanity
of Jesus or to even give consideration or thought to the fact that as a
man, Jesus had to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do the work that he
had to do in the earth.
I can remember as a child in Sunday
school seeing the little cut-out of Jesus standing in the water with His
hands folded and a dove flying down on Him. Sometimes they would place
the cut-out on the flannel board and they would tell us how that God spoke
out of heaven and told Jesus that he was pleased with Him as His Son. Nothing
wrong with what we were told.
Sadly, the significance of the dove
descending and what that meant was never mentioned. Perhaps it was not
thought to be worth while or of any great importance.
Most Christians today can only see
a flannel board Jesus. When asked about the power of Jesus, and the miracles
of Jesus, and the love and compassion of Jesus for the hurting people that
He met, they will flat tell you that the only reason Jesus could do all
of the things He did that were out of the ordinary and miraculous in nature
was because He was God in the flesh or that He was the Son of God.
In essence, they are under the assumption,
wrongly I might add, that Jesus could do all those things because He somehow
retained His deity.
The sad part about all of that is
this: It's not true. The fact is He laid His deity, His equality with God
totally aside and was made in the likeness of men and walked as a man in
the earth. (Philippians 2: 6-8) Laying deity aside, in humility He submitted
Himself to God, and as a man was filled with the Holy Ghost in order to
have the anointing and power to minister to the people He met.
He set the example for every one
who would become a son or daughter through the new birth.
When you repent and accept Jesus
into your life by faith, you become a new creature in Christ, the Holy
Spirit indwells you, giving you etenal life. That's a fact.
But He also wants to anoint you,
fill you, baptize you in His Spirit to give you power to witness and mature
as a believer.
Religion and false teaching has
brought many honest-to-goodness sincere Christian believers to the place
that they think once you're saved and born again, that's all there is to
it. Some will go so far as to tell you that the baptism of the Holy Spirit
as a separate, distinct work apart from the new birth experience is a work
of the Devil.
Amazing isn't it.
We will be doing a complete, in-depth
teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit a little later on. Watch for
it.
Join us for Part Six. We will try
to conclude the behind the scene warfare that Jesus encountered in His
ministry, trial and death. Stay with us.
The Real Battleground - Part Six
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