Mount of Temptation

We are to expose false religions and false doctrines with the truth of God's word.

Our best example is when Jesus faced Satan on the Mount of Temptation.

Every fiery dart the devil threw at Jesus, he defeated with the word of God.

Matthew chapter 4 verses 3 through 11.

Now, is the devil real? Yes, he is real.

Because why did Jesus have to go on the Mount of Temptation to overcome him? So we know this is true.

So what we have to do is have a balance and it has to be a healthy balance.

We mustn't frighten people, especially in churches, because I've been to churches where I've seen bad deliverance ministers shouting and screaming at people, doing no good at all.

WELL, FIRST OF ALL, THAT IS NOT THE JESUS OF THE BIBLE.

AND JESUS HAD NOTHING TO PROVE TO ANYBODY, RELIGION, AND EVEN IN THE MOUNT OF TEMPTATION.

THE DEVIL TRIED TO GET HIM TO PROVE THREE DIFFERENT TIMES WHO HE WAS.

AND HE DIDN'T FALL FOR IT.

He comes out of the water, opening, the heavens open up, Spirit descends upon him like a dove.

You hear the voice of God say, "This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." He goes up on the Mount of Temptation, 40 days.

Gets tempted by the Devil, overcomes the temptation.

He comes down with the power of the Spirit, right? Yes.

As the conversation turned to reminiscences of travel, one of the party, who by his dress and bearing showed himself no stranger to adventure, said quietly, "By the way, speaking of mountain climbing reminds me of the hardest ascent a friend of mine ever made.

He had climbed the Himalayas from Simla and the Alps from Chamounix, but the hardest climb of his life was up the almost perpendicular cliffs of the Quarantania Mountain." "Quarantania?" said a member of the party.

"I've heard of most of the famous mountains of the world, but I confess this one is new to me." "It would be strange if it were familiar," said the traveler, "for it is situated on the west bank of the River Jordan, quite outside the highways of travel even in the Holy Land.

Yet among those rough, lonely cliffs, almost on the other side of the world, my friend happened upon a nugget of American romance." Then, after a brief pause, "Yes, it was undoubtedly one of the toughest climbs ever undertaken by anyone," he said, as if to close the subject.

"We want to know all about the climb, how the nugget was discovered, and all the rest." Then, as the members of the group listened expectantly, the speaker continued, "This friend of mine was on his way up the Jordan by camel-back from the Dead Sea to Jericho.

After leaving the barren, salt-washed shores of the soulless ocean of Sodom, the valley of the sacred river, with its fresh waving meadows and graceful copses of shade, was welcome to the weary traveler.

From eight to twenty miles in width, the Jordan sweeps westward to Mount Hermon and the Sea of Galilee, flanked on the right by the grand hills of Moab and of Gilead, and on the left by a rugged range, of whose jutting cliffs Quarantania Mountain, overlooking the ancient city of Jericho, is the most prominent.

It was twilight when my friend reached the base of this towering peak, the very one where Christ is said to have fasted forty days and to have been tempted by the devil.

He even tried to do it with Jesus.

What did he tempt Jesus with on the Mount of Temptation? Does anybody remember? He tempted him with the Bible.

All three temptations, he used the Bible.

I mean, [laughs] it kinda cracks me up that he thought he could outsmart Jesus with the Bible.