1 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; And ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ” Mt 4:3- 10 There are Satan’s “YOU” bombs. Last week we saw that Jesus overcame the power of egocentrism by continually returning the focus back to the Father. It is important to grasp what we are considering here. The tendency of the flesh is to consider very deeply the things that hurt us. With that is the choice to see and interpret things from a position other than self. Think about how reasonable and painful it would have been to Jesus if Satan could have captured Jesus in egocentric thoughts. “How can you believe that your Father loves you if He will let you starve to death in this desert? Would you ever do that to someone you love? He has ABANDONED you!” So let’s learn the genius of both egocentrism and theocentrism. Egocentrism, once entertained, has perhaps an inescapable power to capture the capacity for reason, deepen the commitment to the ego, and inflict enormous amounts of torture – which further enslaves its prey. Everybody, including God, experiences rejection. When you feel rejection, it is your choice, whether you will consider it more deeply, how you feel, what it costs you, how illegitimate it is, etc… or, to turn the focus to God and say, “Lord, You permitted this in my life for my good. Please show me Your purpose in it so that I can grow in faith, dependence and grace.” Theocentrism is the answer for everything that is wrong with us, and has the power to break every form of bondage, every gram of mental pain, regret, suffering and guilt. It delivers everything that is needed to live as a whole person, in absolute and complete satisfaction and peace. It has no regard for circumstances, history, choices, or anything else. Once you inject God into your issue, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS! THAT is what Jesus tapped, and it is available to you ALWAYS in every situation!

2 Think about the power of we are saying right now. Who among us is not carrying some guilt, regret, loss, hurt, sense of failure? Let me tell you that the Spirit of God only puts those elements on those who are still committed to the sinful causes that inspired them. If you have done things you regret, repented of the foolishness that convinced you to do it, and you still feel regret, that is Satan who is massaging that guilt and regret, NOT the Holy Spirit. In Christ, there is nothing but freedom!

3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; And ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’ ” Mt 4:3- 10 Jesus never allowed the enemy to even begin to make the issues of life about SELF! As soon as Satan made his suggestion, Jesus immediately returned the orientation of thought to the Father. Remember that becoming egocentric always precedes submission to any satanic nonsense. Now let’s look at the relationship between EGOCENTRISM and REASSIGNMENT of purpose. Remember, “REASSIGNMENT” is when we dismiss God’s purpose in creating something, own it as though we created it, and then REDEFINE its purpose according to our foolish flesh.

4 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; And ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Mt 4:3,6,8-9 What was God’s purpose concerning those stones? Well they certainly were not created by the Father to be bread! How do we know that? We know that because they were STONES – not bread. Satan was trying to get Jesus to focus on Himself through His hunger, and then redefine the purpose of those stones. What kind of issues like hunger does Satan use against you, to turn your focus to self? Some of the most common are: public image, personal value, accomplishments, blame, abuse, abandonment, etc. It is critical that we understand the strategy utilized in these things. A fish may legitimately complain that we hide a hook in food exploiting the needs of fish. We do it to bring them out of the water where they have the advantage over us. But what difference does the legitimacy of the complaint make for the fish if it is frying in the pan? There will NEVER, no matter how circumstances might seem, be a good reason to do something against the character and design of our Creator! THAT is biting on Satan’s hook that is wrapped in something we want. We can say we are starving, as Jesus was, but the most strenuous of circumstances NEVER legitimizes independence from God! Jesus believed this.

5 Let me give you a powerful, life changing axiom. The circumstances of life only have the power to hold a knife to your chest. YOU are the one who determines whether you will step back and sustain no damage, or lunge forward because it is WRONG to hold a knife to someone’s chest, and be wounded or killed. So let’s stop blaming those who hold knives to our chest. We are the ones who determine our own damage and loss, even if we try to blame the one who holds the knife.

6 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; And ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Mt 4:3,6,8-9 Under the direction of His Father, Jesus changed water into wine, but that is certainly not the case here. Jesus subordinated His will to the Father in the Garden. For Jesus to follow what Satan was goading Him to do with the stones, He would have had to REASSIGN the purpose for His whole earthly existence. He would have to put aside His humanity, as certainly as He laid aside the expression of His deity, and use the stones for His own independent will. To finish our point here, notice that as the Son of God, Jesus DID make those stones, and as their Creator, He had the right to reassign the purpose of those stones and eat them. But while He never stopped being the Son of God, that was NOT His purpose for coming to earth. He came to fulfill the will of the Father as a man, exactly like Adam was to live! Satan is very clever.

7 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; And ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’ ” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Mt 4:3,6,8-9 We should note that Satan keeps referring to Jesus as “the Son of God”, and tries to get Him to express Himself as the Son of God. What else is Jesus, in addition to being the Son of God? “Son of God” refers to Jesus divinity. He is also the “Son of man”, which refers to His humanity. While Jesus never stopped being God, He did lay aside all expression of His divinity and came as 100% man to live as a man, as Adam was to live, and to die for our sin as a man. Notice that Satan is NOT calling Him “Son of man”.

8 In fact, in the Bible, which phrase do you think we find more frequently, “Son of man” or “Son of God”? The phrase “Son of man” occurs 264 times. The phrase “Son of God” in reference to Jesus occurs only 134 times! Is there a point in that? The Father wants us to emphasize Jesus’ identification with man as the Link between fallen man and Holy God. Satan wants Jesus to forget His link with man and express His divinity.