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Text: Matthew 4:8-11
The devil’s perspective
- …the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them…
- The devil framed the world in the way he wanted Jesus Christ to see it.
- Shown the glory.
- Not shown; he doesn’t take him to the graveyards or the hospitals. He doesn’t show him hell inside the earth or the lost sinners in hell.
- He shows him the great architecture – Skyscrapers and palaces, Taj Mahal, Palace of Versailles, Windsor Castle, Lake Garden Palace in India built on an island, Summer Palace in Beijing, the Biltmore Estate, Vanderbilt mansion, Great Pyramids of Egypt. All these things will I give thee…
- What’s bad about these? Nothing in themselves, until you hear the deal you have to make.
- You want that house? In luck, that house is for sale. All I need is 30 years of your life.
- He shows him enchanting entertainment – the Coliseum in Rome, fans cheering, Dallas stadium, fireworks, people laughing, the Super Bowl, the World Series, Hollywood movies glamour and beautiful people.
- Kids see baseball and say I want to play baseball. The world and the god of this world says that’s good because we have a spot for you. You can have fun and be a star and maybe make millions of dollars doing it someday!
- What’s wrong with baseball? Nothing, until you hear the deal. The devil says, I’m just going to need your Sundays.
- He shows him sizzling steak, BBQ, fresh seafood, black rich coffee, decadent chocolate, steaming buttery golden pies, finest French pastries, Baklava from the Ottoman Empire, and the best Cajun gumbo and creole.
- What’s wrong with that food? Nothing.
- I’m just going to need your health, your testimony, and you won’t have the energy to serve the Lord.
- He shows him an Aston Martin, a Testarossa, a Mustang, Chevy Silverado 3500 High Country, a Ford King Ranch Edition, Superduty, 2018 Ram 3500 Limited Tungsten Edition MegaCab.
- What’s wrong with those vehicles? Nothing is wrong with them.
- I’m just going to need 5 years of your life including your Wednesday nights and part of your marriage.
- He shows him boats and guns.
- He shows her furniture of Italian leather; Neiman Marcus.
- He shows her hand bags – Vera Bradley, and shoes, and clothes, Saks 5th Ave in New York.
- By the time the devil is done he’s got your Sundays, he’s got your Wednesdays, he’s got your paycheck, he’s got your children’s minds, he’s got your marriage, he’s got your health, he’s got your testimony, he’s got your spirit (angry, bitter, combative, contentious, accusatory, religious, and unclean). Nehemiah 5:4-5
- 1 Corinthians 10:20-21 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. (John 4:20-24 Jesus Christ told a Gentile woman she didn’t know what she was worshipping.)
- Even if you said I want to serve God from now on, you can’t. You’re shackled. Your very first move is not going to be to serve God, it’s going to be getting loosed from the shackles so you’ll be in a position to serve God. Nehemiah 5:1-5
- (Not trying to discourage, but this is the reality of devil worship. It’s not the Hollywood pentagrams and goat heads.) It’s enticement, enchantment, entertainment that ties your resources to this world so you are not free to serve the Living God.
- Ephesians 2:1-3
- Dead defined in 1 Timothy 5:5-6 as living in pleasure.
- Notice Moses in Hebrews 11:25
- Live according to the sensations of this world and you won’t be able to serve God if you wanted to. James 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
- Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Remember what the devil is up to
- 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
- The devil wants you tied up in his world so he can take what could be given to God for himself.
- Ezekiel 28:13-17 the devil looked at himself and looked at what he had and was very impressed with himself.
- The world believes physical attributes are credentials and power. This strongest, fastest, richest, and most beautiful people operate well in this world system. And if you accept those terms, you’ll be able to be a success in a dying world. For whatever that’s worth. They believe that because the god of this world believes that.
- The devil is after the worship that is due God.
- Isaiah 14:12-13 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
How does the devil accomplish his goal?
- 1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
- The devil needs to get the image in your mind.
- He usually doesn’t have to show us that much to get us to sacrifice to devils. A piece of property. A toy. A vehicle. A business. A boat. A gun. A handbag. A pair of shoes.
- Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. (Covetousness is idolatry – for those who say I don’t worship other gods, I just like things. Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry🙂
- Millions of people will sit on their couch, in a/c, running water, transportation, fridge with food, good plumbing, while a digital window tells them 24 hours a day about things they don’t have but need. Every 3 minutes you’re told about something you don’t have but will make your life better. Then you watch a TV show with people who look better than you, have more money than you, fornicate, murder, cuss, with other people who look better than you and have more money than you.
- The kids in front of screens all day, this generation will grow up to be the most covetous idolatrous generation this country has seen.
Victory over the devil
- Deuteronomy 6:13-15 the Lord quotes verse 13.
- Serve
