No Sanity Required

Jesus' Authority Over Satan

Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters Season 5 Episode 44

Send us a text

Satan is the father of lies. He attacks us in our weakest moments and right after great victories in our lives. So, we need to be aware of Satan’s schemes and fight his lies by filling our minds with truth.

In this episode, Brody walks through Luke 4, when Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness. In this text Jesus shows us how to deal with temptation. Jesus has authority over Satan. Let’s fill our minds with the Word of God and be ready when moments of temptation come.

  • Luke 4
  • Luke 3
  • Romans 6
  • Psalm 119:11
  • Ezekiel 28
  • Romans 8:1
  • 1 Peter 5:8
  • Revelation 9:11
  • John 8:44
  • 1 Thessalonians 3:5





Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith.

Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

Speaker 1:

Welcome, welcome, welcome to no Sanity Required. In this week's episode I want to talk about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan. Satan came at Jesus and launched an all-out attack and we can learn some things from that for our own journey as we travel the road of Christian faith and as disciples of Jesus we can. We can know that if our master would be tempted and tested, then we will be tempted and tested. Tempted by the devil, tested by the spirit of God. At times a good testing. We'll get into the difference and, uh, and how we can. We don't have to shrink back or be afraid of that. We can know that when that difficult time comes, we will remain firm, we will stand strong.

Speaker 1:

I want to talk about Jesus's temptation and then compare that to Judas and his surrender. So it'll be a couple episodes here. We are dropping this episode a little late. Please bear with us. Through the summer the schedule's bonkers and so we'll get episodes up. They may not always be up on monday it's not uncommon for us to put one up on tuesday but, um, just bear with us, we'll. We'll keep the content rolling and excited to share it with you. So, uh, with that as an introduction. I want to tell you again welcome to no sanity required. Let's jump into it.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to no sanity required from Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. A podcast about the Bible culture and stories from around the globe.

Speaker 1:

The last couple of weeks we've really actually I think the last three episodes now, we have focused on just kind of introducing you to our staff and talked about staff training and SWO kickoff, and actually yesterday we kicked off week two of summer camp. It's the fourth week that our staff has been with us and we're studying and working through the authority of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. We're considering Christ in his authority, and that is something that I think is important for every Christian to believe in, something we want students to understand, and that is that Jesus is not uh, he's, he's not um, how do you? He's not just a pacifist who, um, is meek and mild, though he was the meekest and lowliest of kings, born in a manger, who humbled himself and became obedient to death on a cross, was treated as a common slave and criminal, was ultimately executed wrongly, but according to the plan of God. And so it could be easy and I think oftentimes even non-Christians, who consider Jesus as sort of this great example of what a peacemaker and peaceful person is, the way that people will consider Jesus, they may fail to see that Christ is who he says he is, and that is that he is God, he is the Son of man that Daniel saw in Daniel 7.

Speaker 1:

Daniel had a vision of the son of man and in that vision he saw the son of man, uh, literally being worshiped by angels. He saw the son of man in in the heavens, in the heavenlies, um, with the ancient of days, which is God, the father, and we'll actually take a peek at that, but but I'm getting ahead of myself. So let's just back up, let's let's set the stage for Luke, chapter four and the temptation of Jesus, as we're, as we're helping students understand the authority of Jesus. Uh, we're trying to do that this summer and this helps you, maybe, pray specifically. We're trying to do it through the lens, different aspects or different, different ways that that Jesus showed his authority over the created order, the world that he created, the universe that he holds in place, and so Monday night we look at the authority of Jesus over Satan.

Speaker 1:

This is important because the relationship of Jesus to Satan is one of conquest and submission. Jesus is the conquering king. Satan is the defeated foe. Jesus is the conquering king. Satan is the defeated foe. Jesus is the enthroned judge. Satan is the one who is being judged and condemned. Jesus is the one who has removed condemnation from those who confess him as Lord. Satan is the one who heaps lies and accusations against God's people. Jesus is the one who says and accusations against God's people. Jesus is the one who says I'm the way, the truth and the life. Satan is the one who tries to bring havoc and chaos and death. Jesus, being the truth, stands in opposition to Satan, over against Satan, who is the father of lies. But at no point should we ever make the mistake of thinking that Jesus and Satan are somehow counterparts, one representing good, the other representing evil, some people worshiping the one, others following the other.

Speaker 1:

Jesus is Lord, period. That sentence ends after the word Lord. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, but he is also Lord of hell. He's Lord of life. He's Lord of death. Jesus is Satan's judge. Jesus is Satan's boss, he's his king. He's got his thumb on Satan's greasy little head. He's got his heel on Satan's head and he's and he's holding him down by the throat. Jesus is Lord and Satan submits to that. Now we know that during this time he's.

Speaker 1:

The scripture refers to Satan as the God of this age. He's the Prince in power of the air. He is. He is, without a doubt very effective in the way he deceives people. But the Lord has promised us that we don't have to fall to his lies or deceptions. The scripture says we can be aware of his schemes. Uh, the script. The scripture says that he's crafty, and because he's crafty we need to be aware of his schemes. But what Jesus is going to do, what Jesus is going to do in Luke four, he's going to show us how to deal with temptation, and I think it's safe to say that, um, jesus, jesus endured the greatest assault from, from Satan that anyone has ever endured. There's no doubt about it in my mind.

Speaker 1:

In Luke, chapter 4. It's a very difficult passage, it's a heavy passage, it's a passage that you have to wrestle with because of the implications of it, and so let's just get into it. Let me set the stage. The stage is Jesus has entered into adulthood, has spent the last few years working as a carpenter, doing construction work, and now he's about to kick off his public ministry at the cross. And then the crescendo of the worship of angels and the heavenly hosts over the, the exaltation of Jesus after his resurrection that all of heaven would rejoice. But he's going to begin that journey to the cross and Luke chapter. Uh, really, in Luke chapter three.

Speaker 1:

And what happens in Luke chapter three is Jesus in his adulthood goes to John, his cousin, and John baptizes Jesus. And when John baptizes Jesus, jesus comes up out of the water and the scripture says that there was a voice from heaven. It was the father. God speaks and he says this is my son, I'm proud of him, I'm pleased with him, I love him.

Speaker 1:

And so when Jesus comes up out of the baptism water, I think it's important for us to understand a few things about what's going on there, because it's kind of like, when you think of Jesus being baptized, it's easy to think well, why would Jesus be baptized? He doesn't need to be baptized. Well, I think there's a few things that we can think about. One he's baptized as an example to us. We would need to follow the lord in baptism. When we confess jesus is lord, we're then baptized. And roman six says we identify with jesus in his baptism. When we're baptized, we're being baptized into his death and we're being raised in his resurrection. It's a symbolic death, burial and resurrection. The water. It's just why you don't sprinkle, it's just why, as much as is possible, barring some physical limitation.

Speaker 1:

Baptism is, biblically, to be done by immersion. It's to be done by immersion, and so it's that representation of going into the waters, as if one would go into the grave, and then being raised with Christ. That's what baptism is. So when Jesus is baptized, first he's baptized as an example to us, and that's in Luke 3. And then he's baptized as a foreshadowing of his death and burial and resurrection. And then, third, he's baptized so that he might identify with sinners, and to me, that's the one that's so awesome. He might identify with sinners, and to me that's the one that's so awesome.

Speaker 1:

Jesus is identifying with sinners. In his baptism, he, he identifies with you and me, but can your? Whatever you failed at today, you know, maybe you lost your cool, maybe I, you know, I said a word I shouldn't have said. I got frustrated, I had a thought I shouldn't have. Jesus can identify with me even in my sin's never known sin, he's never participated in sin, but he identifies with sinners, and at the cross he actually felt the weight of my sin in a way that I don't even feel it, and so that's very powerful. So so those are the three things that stand out to me about the baptism of Jesus. He's, he's foreshadowing the cross, he's doing it as an example for us, and then he's identifying with sinners.

Speaker 1:

And then, when he comes up out of the water, you've got this moment where you know, we refer to the Father, son and the Holy Spirit as the Trinity. God exists in what we call three persons, three in one, and that's the Trinity. And at the Trinity you've got the Father speaking. Jesus is being baptized, so he's following in obedience. And then the heavens open and the father speaks. And the speaking of the father is that he says this is my son, my beloved son. I love him, I'm proud of him. Listen to him. You know it's like he's affirming that Jesus is at the transfiguration. He'll say again this is my son. Listen to him. You know it's like he's affirming that Jesus is at the transfiguration. He'll say again this is my son, listen to him. So you've got these interactions with the father.

Speaker 1:

Let me just read how Luke records it. In Luke, chapter three, a voice from heaven said you are my dearly loved son and you bring me great joy. That's in the NLT, new living translation. You bring me great joy. So the father has affirmed the son's obedience, he has spoken and he's affirmed the relationship to the son man. Just just, if you're a son or daughter of of of Christ, I mean of God in Christ Jesus, you have your sonship and what God says to Jesus there I love you, I'm pleased with you, you bring me great joy. God says that to you as well. He says it to you and me and I want you to know that. I want you to hear that. I want you, this this week, to think about that, because you may not, you may not have thought of that that God would say to you you bring me great joy, I love being your father, I love loving you and I and I want you to love me back.

Speaker 1:

And there's a there's a great for for a lot of us. There's a great deal of. It's a lot of hurdle to get over. If you had a strained relationship with your earthly father, you know and and so even understanding what that means that God loves you and takes great joy. It can be a hurdle for you, but God does, and so he says that to Jesus.

Speaker 1:

So Jesus, in the power of those words and that affirmation from the Father, he goes up into the wilderness and it says in Luke 4, verse 1, jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. So not only was Jesus coming from the Jordan River straight away, went from his baptism and the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness From the Jordan River straight away, went from his baptism and the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness. We said that the voice of God was there at his baptism and God is a trinity. And so God the Father was speaking, god the Son was obeying, but the Scripture says also that the Holy Spirit was descending.

Speaker 1:

I think a lot of people think that he was a physical dove, because it says in some passages it says he descended like a dove. I think we missed the point. It's not like a dove flew down and lit on Jesus' head. You have a dove. I don't think there was like a dove perched on Jesus' shoulder or head. I think it's a metaphor, it's using an animal.

Speaker 1:

Think of a dove. A dove is peaceful, a dove is a symbol of peace. Dove birds are known as love birds, you know. And so it's this picture of the Holy spirit binding that moment in the love that exists between the father, son and the Holy spirit, the point being the presence of the Holy spirit was there. And then the very next thing the spirit does is leads Jesus into the wilderness. And it says in Luke four, verse two, where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. He ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. I just imagine how hungry he would have been, you know. So hungry Jesus is in a, in a very weakened physical state, and Satan comes to him. Then it says in verse three um, the devil said to him if you are the son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.

Speaker 1:

Mark tells us that Jesus was out there in the wilderness with nothing but the wild beasts, and people I've I've heard described this wilderness say that it's I mean it's. It's barren, it's just desolate and barren, horrible place to imagine spending six weeks. There's snakes and scorpions. My daughter lives where there's poisonous snakes. In South Sudan there's a lot of poisonous snakes and people die all the time from being bit. It's a scary thing that you constantly have to just put it in the hands of the Lord and give it over to the Lord. It's pretty scary. But imagine a wilderness full of snakes and scorpions and wild beasts and Jesus has just gone six weeks without food. No doubt he's drinking water, but he's in. He's not in a supernatural spiritual state, he's just. He's in the flesh, he's in the human flesh and so he's weak, he's weakened. It says he ate nothing and he became very hungry and then the devil came to him. And this is how. This is how Satan works, this is his tactics. He attacks Jesus and Jesus's weakest moment. I think Satan will attack in our weakest moment and I think he'll also attack right after a great moment of of victory. I think those are the two times If you want to think about. You know, paul telling the Corinthians. Um, by the way, I don't know if you can hear the drums in the background, but I am in the coop and the band is practicing and I think, uh, our listeners have just grown accustomed to background noise in these episodes, but anyway, that's what you're hearing here. My, my wife is wearing those drums out. Um, I actually love it so much, but, uh, but anyway, what I was saying is it.

Speaker 1:

And Paul tells the Corinthians that we need to be aware of Satan schemes. Be aware. And so here's two of his schemes when you are weak, he's going to attack, and when you are coming off the hills of victory, he's going to attack. I think that's the two. If you've, just if you just had a season of, of spiritual victory, I think it's easy for us to let our guards down, and Satan's watching for that. You know, um, and then, um, I think he attacks the week. I think he attacks children.

Speaker 1:

I think there's a reason that our society right now is, I think there's a lot of satanic, demonic activity. I think many of our political leaders, from our president right through his cabinet, right down to congressmen and women and senators and governors and people that are in powerful positions, that are pushing gender ideology on our sons and daughters, to try to confuse them. And they're not trying to create clarity, they're not trying to give them identity and affirmation, they're trying. It's it's confusion.

Speaker 1:

Satan is crazy. He's a God of chaos, and so his tactics are to attack the weak. And so he comes after Jesus in his weakest moment. He hadn't eaten in almost six weeks. It's like think about a little kid that you know that hadn't slept or ate and how. And he's hangry and kid, you know, we I mean we've created a word to describe, you know, extreme hunger, when you're in a bad mood or when you're at the point of exhaustion or whatever you know like that's how, that's, that's where Jesus is at. He's at a point of desperation. So Satan's strategic in his attack he attacks at that point of weakness. And then not only does he attack when Jesus is weak, but he attacks at the point of weakness.

Speaker 1:

He says if you're the son of God, tell the stone to become a loaf of bread. And I just want to say this there's nothing sinful about eating food, you know. It's like well, what's so wrong about eating a loaf? Turning a stone into bread? Well, god, here's the point. The point is not that turning a stone into bread would be sinful in, you know, in and of itself it stone into bread would be sinful in, you know, in and of itself it's that God has not instructed Jesus to eat. The Holy spirit has led Jesus in this fast. God has has instructed his son to fast and then he will tell him when to break that fast. And so, uh, satan is tempting him with this thing that otherwise wouldn't be sinful, but done in Satan's terms, it is. This is how Satan works.

Speaker 1:

If you think of sex, or food, relationships or money, he takes things that God has given us a plan for and a design for and that God has said hey, this is good, food is good, money is good, sex is good. These things all have a very spiritual and fulfilling place in the life of a believer. But when we surrender that to the devil, now we got a problem, you know, now we got. Uh, now we surrender to the flesh. You know, sex is an extremely gratifying and spiritual thing between a man and a woman that love the Lord and are surrendering that part of their lives to Jesus. It's powerful, it's bonding. It's powerful, it's binding, it's beautiful, it's fulfilling, it's gratifying, it's pleasing.

Speaker 1:

But then Satan takes that and he perverts it, and so it becomes physically gratifying, emotionally destructive, sensually sexually appealing and pleasing in the moment, but consequential after the fact. So it becomes not what God intended it to be. So he takes something that's good. That's what Satan does, and then people get, I think, get derailed by that. They're like well, why is it wrong to have sex with this person that I love? Well, the problem's not sex, the problem is submission to Jesus, submission to God and his plan for our lives, you know. And so it's not time for Jesus to eat. God hasn't told him to eat. So Satan attacks at the point of Jesus's weakness.

Speaker 1:

Um, and this is it's interesting because this is what happened in the think about it, this is what happened in the garden. You know, in the garden, the first temp. Think of this. Here's a parallel. I heard RC Sproul talk about this Jesus is being tempted in the wilderness. The Garden of Eden was a type of wilderness. Adam and Eve were tempted in the garden.

Speaker 1:

But look at this comparison. The Bible says Adam is our first father and Jesus is the second Adam. So all of us are either represented by the first Adam or the second Adam. So think of it this way you stand before God as either a representative of, like, a descendant of, the first Adam or the second Adam. So the first Adam sinned and we sinned with him, the Bible teaches us. In his sin came condemnation and it spread to all people. Death spread to all people through. We sinned with him, the Bible teaches us. In his sin came condemnation and it spread to all people desperate, to all people through that sin. Romans five, 12 through 21. But in Jesus the second Adam came and he endured temptation.

Speaker 1:

So in the so, so, look at the parallel garden of Eden, genesis three, wilderness of temptation, Luke four in the garden, adam's belly was full. He had all he could ever want to eat. Man, don't you know the food adam was eating? Adam and eve were eating in that garden. It had to be just delicious, you know, had to be so tasty.

Speaker 1:

Um, I imagine the fruit was better than any fruit we've ever had. There's, uh, there's, I don't. We haven't done this in years. There's some strawberry farms around here and blueberries. We grow some blueberries at my house and when those things are perfectly ripe, I'm telling you, man, you can't get that, you can't get fruit like that at the grocery store. Maybe if you go to some hipster yuppity grocery store that imports organic something or other. But I'm telling you, man, man, that there's this local. We used to go to this local strawberry farm. We did this when I was growing up too, and then get the strawberries and then make jelly. My mom, you know, my, my aunts, little, did this. Uh, years ago. We used to go to this local in the andrews here strawberry farm and just make all kinds of good stuff so delicious, you know, um, imagine the best fruit you've ever had. Oh, I got it watermelon. Have you had? Have you ever had like the perfect watermelon? Because watermelon is one of those fruits that it can be amazing but can also be like, um, like, if it's not the perfect ripeness, then it's just not that great, it's good, it's okay. But imagine the sweetest, best of any fruit you've ever had.

Speaker 1:

The garden of Eden went way beyond that and it was just so fulfilling. And then Adam and Eve, on full bellies. And they're not alone, they have each other. Adam and Eve had sexual fulfillment, emotional and relational fulfillment. They were, they were satisfied and gratified, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and they fell to Satan's schemes and temptations, jesus, when, when Satan comes to Jesus in the wilderness, jesus has an empty belly and he's alone, with no companionship, and yet he's going to withstand Satan to his face. It's just, it's to me it's kind of neat to to make that parallel. So, anyway, let's get. Let's look at these.

Speaker 1:

The devil's going to tempt Jesus three times. Um, the first one is there in verses three and four, where, where he tempts him to turn the bread um a stone, into bread. And then verse four, but Jesus told him no, the scriptures say people do not live by bread alone. Um, a lot of translations say it is written. It is written. That's Jesus's answer. Jesus quotes the word of God, he quotes the scripture. He trusts that the father will provide his needs, and the father had not given him bread to eat, so he would not accept something Satan provided as a means or source of fulfillment. He tempts him in his weakness. Jesus answers with thus saith the Lord, here's what is written, the word of God says. And so he attacks him back with the word of God. That's his defense. And then the second temptation is in verses five through eight. Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

Speaker 1:

Most of you are familiar with this story, by the way. I'll give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them. The devil said because they are mine, to give to anyone I please, and that's. You know, I've wrestled with that and questioned that Like, are they Satan's to give? Maybe? I mean, he's been given great power in this age. He has a great deal of influence, so maybe, but but ultimately, the authority is not his. I'll give it all to you if you will worship me.

Speaker 1:

There's the catch. Satan's like if you'll worship me, um, he's, he's. He's offering jesus power and dominion. But guess what jesus is? You know, I think, of those, those doxologies in romans and jew, that you know where it says like for those doxologies in Romans and Jude. That you know where it says like for from him and through him and to him, be all things, to God, be the glory forever and ever, jude says. You know, all majesty and authority and glory and dominion belong to Jesus. He has those things, but in this moment of weakness, satan's trying to deceive him and he's, he's offering Jesus power that he doesn't have the authority to give him. He's like. What he's saying is you don't have to go through the tortures of the cross, just receive your reward right here and right now. He's offering him a crown without the cross. That's what he's offering him.

Speaker 1:

And what does Jesus say? It is written. The scriptures say you must worship the Lord, your God and serve only him. It is written the scriptures say you must worship the lord your god and serve only him. And then the last, the last uh tactic, in verse nine the devil took him to jerusalem, to the highest point of the temple, and said if you're the son of god, jump off. For the scriptures say he will guard his angels to protect and guard you and they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone. So see, what satan does here is pretty tricky. He's like okay, the first two things I tempted Jesus with. Jesus responded with it is written. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to say it is written. He says for the scriptures say he'll order his angels to protect and guard you.

Speaker 1:

So he misquotes. What he does is he takes the scripture and he distorts it and tries to make it mean something that God never intended it to mean. Let me just say this this is how false teaching A lot of people will justify bad doctrine or life choices by distorting and twisting scripture to mean something God never intended it to mean. Um, like that, that's. That's a common thing. Man, like people, will justify their actions on. How many times I've seen someone leave their, a man leave his wife for a girlfriend, and he'll try to use scripture to distort what he's doing you know, or someone might say something like I remember a guy telling me one time man, I'm not into that, turn the other cheek stuff.

Speaker 1:

I'm like what are you even talking about? You know, and he was talking about when Jesus says if somebody strikes you on one cheek, turn the other cheek. But gosh, there's so much going on contextually there Just miss misquoting scripture and Jesus. I mean there are times where he would say, yeah, turn the other cheek, give him the other cheek. Like some people say that had to do with being excommunicated or something I don't know. But the point is it's easy.

Speaker 1:

Probably probably the biggest one in our day is the prosperity gospel, where people will try to basically say that, um, you know, jesus wants you to have money and be wealthy and have prosperity. That doesn't make sense. We'll we'll see that when we talk about Judas next week, where it's like I think one of the reasons Judas turned his back on Jesus and betrayed him was because he he thought he was following the conquering Messiah that was going to overthrow Rome man, he wanted to be part of that deal and then when he realized, wait, jesus is going to go, suffer and die as an executed criminal, cause Jesus kept telling them like when, when Judas finally betrays Jesus, it's on the heels of Jesus going. Now, I'm telling you, I'm going to die. They're going to kill me, I'm going to be, you know, I'm going to be crucified, I'll be executed. And and Judas didn't want the, the, he didn't want the, he didn't want to go through the cross to get to the crown, he wanted the crown without the cross. And so a lot of times people buy into a satanic lie about the prosperity gospel. I mean, I think Judas believed a prosperity gospel, just a thought.

Speaker 1:

So Satan, he twists scripture and he's like, he attempts to use scripture and it's twisted in a distorted way. It's, you know, and I'm trying to think of other examples, it might be, uh, when someone says, well, god won't, you know, I'm a sexual creature and God knows that I have sexual needs. And then they, you know, they, they give themselves sexual license to do what they want to do, because they say, well, this is just the way I'm made, or whatever you know. So Satan quotes scripture in a false sense of identifying Jesus as one. The one in Psalm 91 is what he quotes, where he's like hey, jump off this thing, man, and the angels will catch you. So what he's doing? He's tempting Jesus to perform a miracle and he's essentially promising that all the world would then know that Jesus was the Messiah. And so how does Jesus answer there? Well, jesus responded.

Speaker 1:

The scriptures also say you must not test the Lord, your God, and I think that's that, here's, here's, our big point. He speaks to Satan as his Lord and his God. Jesus has the authority that is greater than the authority Satan has been given. I mean, I love that scene, I mean that moment in the scene where Jesus was like I'm the Lord, your God, don't tempt me. He finally just puts him in his place, because after that it's just, the Satan left him and waited for, you know, to wait for the next opportunity that he that he might have, and so he leaves him.

Speaker 1:

So, uh, give me three thoughts on this. Um, first is Jesus suffered through these temptations as a human, so he was in human flesh and form. I think it's important to recognize the reason he identifies with us and our weaknesses Hebrews 2.18,. You know, he's able to aid those who suffer while being tempted because he himself suffered while being tempted. He comes to us in our own temptation, he stands with us, gives us the strength that we need to endure and I think that's so important and even to the point that I explained to our staff back during staff training.

Speaker 1:

You know, you take an Olympic power lifter that can snatch Let me see All right, so I've got this article here All the current Olympic weightlifting world records. Okay, so y'all bear with me, this is kilograms. Okay, so y'all bear with me, this is kilograms. So in the men, 55-kilogram division, which I think you basically double it to pounds and then some change. So 55 doubled is 110 pounds, and some change We'll call it 120 pounds. So 120 pounds, this dude snatched 135 kilograms, so almost triple his two and a half times his body weight. So dude snatched 135 kilograms, so almost triple his two and a half times his body weight. So he snatched if he weighed one, let's say he weighs 115. And he snatched 135, which would be like 285 to 300 pounds, something like that. That's crazy. Oh, it's nuts. Okay, hold on, let's see what the big boys, that's the little boys, that's the smallest guys hundred and 109 plus kilograms. So double that. So these guys weigh.

Speaker 1:

This guy weighs 240. These guys weigh 240 and up. So I don't know how much the up is. You know what I mean. But this dude, his name is Lasha Talakadazi. He's from Georgia, not the one in the south, the one by Russia and so he weighs more than 240. I don't know what he weighs. I'll tell you what. Let's back up to 109. These guys weigh exactly 240, 109 kilograms.

Speaker 1:

The snatch record holder is Yang Zai from China, yang Z, yang Z from China 200 kilograms. So he weighs 230-some pounds and he snatched 450 pounds. These guys are doing double their weight. So, anyway, I'm going down a rabbit hole. I apologize. Let me tell you the point I'm trying to make. The point I'm trying to make is these guys are and I didn't even go through the women's. That's the one that's crazy to me, how strong these ladies are. They make me look like a puny little wimp. But okay, so let's take that guy that can hold, that can snatch.

Speaker 1:

So snatch is where you pull the weight straight in one motion over your head and you catch it in like a squat position, but your arms are locked out up over your head. So some dude is doing that with 450 pounds. I couldn't even move that weight, you know it'd be. I mean, 450 pounds is a good deadlift, you know, for most people and these, this, this dude is, weighs less than half that and he's throwing that weight over his head. So if I said to you, um, do you know what 450 pounds feels like? You could can say, yeah, yeah, I do, I, you know, I deadlifted it. I, I was my PR on deadlift when I was 22 years old, you know, or when I was my strongest, or you know, or 52 and at my strongest deadlift pool, or whatever. Or you could say, well, I, I've picked up 450 pounds. I only got it about an inch off the ground. So I know what it feels like.

Speaker 1:

That dude that picked that up and held it over his head. He knows what it feels like way better than me or you, cause he has felt the full force of that pushing down against him. So when we say that Jesus knows what the weight of sin feels like, you can't say don't ever think. Jesus can't understand your sin and it, like you know well, he never sinned, so he doesn't know what it's like. He's God. Or you know, jesus, he never buckled under the weight of sin, he held up under it. He's the record holder, for you know he's undefeated against sin. All right, so there's that example. Sorry, it took me so long to get around. Get around it.

Speaker 1:

Number two Jesus endured temptation and defeated the devil because he was filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we have been given the same Holy Spirit. So in Romans, chapter 8, verse 11, the same spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead lives and dwells in the believer. So Jesus did this by the power of the Holy Spirit and we have the power of the Holy spirit. And then, number three temptation is fault Most effectively when we are filled with the word of God. We need God's truth in our hearts, we need God's word in our minds. Uh, the Bible says your word I've hidden in my heart so that I might not sin against you, at Psalm one, 1911. So God's word in my heart is what's going to give me the strength and the weaponry that I need to go against the devil. So there's the three things Jesus teaches us.

Speaker 1:

I think um in in that conquest. So there's, there's Jesus temptation in the wilderness by the devil. Now let me give you and this probably needs to be its own separate um podcast but shoot, we're rolling. We're not even 40 minutes into this thing. We're barely over half an hour into this thing. If that I don't even know, I can't. I don't have my uh, my readers, I don't know how far we and I don't know how it'll edit down anyway. So we're about a half an hour in right now, somewhere around in that ballpark.

Speaker 1:

So let's just dive into a quick overview of Satan and demons, because I think people often say, oh man, satan is getting me down, he's beating me up. Well, he is. He's a jerk and he comes after God's people. The Bible says he's the accuser of the brethren. I think he beats us up with our own sin. You know he accuses us of things he knows we're guilty of.

Speaker 1:

He's powerful, but let's recognize him for who he is and what his limitations are. He is a created being. He's not God's counterpart. He's created by God and he's under the authority of Jesus. He's just wreaking havoc on humanity whenever he can. He's destructive. He wants to do damage while he can. People give him way too much credit on one hand, and then, the other hand, some people just ignore that he's even real. He's real, but I'm sinful and I need to first take responsibility for my own sin. A lot of times my problem is me, not Satan. He doesn't get the blame for my sin. He's a tempter, but I'm a sinner. He's a tempter but I'm a sinner.

Speaker 1:

You read about him. The two passages that most people think really unpack who he is and glimpses of him in the heavenly realm Ezekiel 28, isaiah 14. What we learned there is that Satan led a rebellion of other angels against the throne of God and, as a result, he was cast out of heaven and condemned to hell. We're also I've mentioned this a couple weeks ago we're going to be doing an episode on hell coming up. So, for this period in history and time that we're in right now, his battlefield and his target is earth and humanity, because we're the image bearers of God.

Speaker 1:

If you're a human, he hates you, period. If you're a human that confesses Jesus is Lord, like this, jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord, jesus is Lord. Take that, satan. Jesus is Lord. Like this, jesus is Lord, jesus is Lord, jesus is Lord. Take that, satan. Jesus is Lord. You know, get a little charismatic on y'all, but I mean I love saying that because there's power in those words. But Satan hates me for that and he hates you for confessing it.

Speaker 1:

But even if you don't confess that Jesus, satan doesn't love any humans, because we're all image bearers of God. It's like here's here's a misconception that people that don't worship Jesus, people that are satanic and Satan worshipers, are people that are neither people that are atheists or agnostic or secular humanists or Muslims or whatever. They reject Jesus. Satan hates those people. He hates them because they're image bearers of God. He hates he's, he's filled with hatred. The Bible says he wants to rob, kill and destroy and he knows that one day he's going to be cast into hell. It's a place of torment, it's a place of suffering and it's created for Satan and his demons. So in the meantime he's going to take as many people with him as he can. If he didn't hate lost people, then why would he be trying to take them to hell with him? He hates everybody.

Speaker 1:

The Bible gives names for Satan. It's kind of helpful in understanding how he works. Each of these names that I'm going to read kind of it tells you within the name, kind of what it's conveying the accuser, the accuser. Revelation 12, 10,. Many people listen to the accusations of Satan, but we just got to remember that in Christ we're forgiven. Because it says he's the accuser of the brethren Romans eight. One says there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Speaker 1:

Next, he's the adversary. First, peter five, eight. He's the adversary. He's in opposition, against us and against our Lord and savior. The next one he's the destroyer. Revelation 9-11.

Speaker 1:

The word there is apollyon. It just means destroyer. He'll destroy as much as possible. God is the creator and is the ultimate creator. Satan is the destroyer. He'll use evil rulers, drugs, pornography, laziness, education, money, power, any other thing he can, whatever he can use to manipulate people to bring destruction. That's what he's going to use.

Speaker 1:

Um, he's a deceiver revelation 12, nine. He'll lie and deceive as much as he can, bring as much destruction as possible. Uh, he's the father of lies. And John eight, 44 says he only speaks lies, that's all. And when he opens his mouth and talks, he's lying. He runs his mouth. He's lying. It's the father of lies. He's the tempter. First Thessalonians 3, 5.

Speaker 1:

We said he's not. He can't make me sin, but he's really good at tempting us to sin. And he's tempting Jesus goes back to what we're talking about. When Jesus is so hungry, he tempts. He's a murderer, john 8, 44. He'll murder and destroy marriages, relationships, worship, unborn children, gender, sexuality, societies, churches. He wants you destroyed. He wants death and destruction everywhere he goes. So he's called the murderer. In John 8, 44 he's called the evil one. Matthew 13, 19 and Matthew 13, 28 he's our sworn enemy. We're at war with him. He's called the enemy.

Speaker 1:

So each of these helps us understand a little bit about who Satan is and how he and his demons work. And again, paul tells us, second Corinthians two, 11, be aware of his scheme so we can fight against him. But let me, let me leave you with this confidential or confidence boosting hope. Let me tell you some things he can't do. He cannot know everything. He cannot know the future other than what God's revealed to him. He cannot know your thoughts and read your mind. He cannot defeat Jesus or the Holy Spirit who is in us. That's why the scripture says greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. He cannot control any realm of creation that the creator doesn't allow and ordain him to. So when we get to you know we, we, we dig into the scripture. You read a little further in that Luke four passage and you get down to I think it's in Luke four, um, but anyway, in in Mark's gospel and and and throughout Luke's gospel Matthew, mark, Luke and John.

Speaker 1:

When these demons will encounter Jesus, they'll oftentimes make a gospel declaration it's the craziest thing, like they'll say you know they'll recognize him. What do you have to do with us, jesus, the son of God? You know They'll recognize him I always think of. So here's one. It's down in Luke 4, 34. Go away. Why are you interfering with us, jesus of Nazareth? Have you? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy one of God. So they recognize him, man, they know, they know who he is. They make gospel Sometimes in demons a preach they will preach.

Speaker 1:

So just recognize him for who he is and and like like uh, we often like to quote GI Joe here Um, no one is half the battle and if you know, then you're ready to fight and you can withstand the wiles and the and the crafty attacks of the devil. So be ready for that. Okay, Okay, no, let me uh a couple of things to wrap up here. We uh again continue to ask you for your prayers as we work through camp man saw God move in awesome ways last week in week one, and now we're just getting ramped up here in week two. Ten weeks of this. It goes by fast. I wish it would go slower, but it goes fast. We're just seeing the Lord do awesome things, trusting him to do awesome things.

Speaker 1:

Tonight I'll be bringing the message and it'll be on. The Tuesday night message is a message of so Monday night we talk about Jesus' authority over Satan. Tuesday morning, this morning, the message was the calling of the first disciples. So Jesus has this, you know, jesus in his authority to call the disciples, and then tonight we'll be looking at jesus's power over sickness and illness. We'll be looking at him healing a leper and then the, the story where the guy they, his buddies let him down through the roof in the house, the paralytic um, jesus heals that guy. We'll be looking at his, his authority over physical order. Um, yeah, so just be in prayer for that.

Speaker 1:

We'll look at every aspect. Rob will do a message on Thursday morning Jesus walking on the water. I'll do Zacchaeus Thursday night and that will be looking at the effects of a person who's encountered the authority of Jesus and surrendered to it the way Zacchaeus does in conversion. Tuesday morning we look at the calling of the first disciples, and so two different facets of you know conversion and then following Jesus versus him actually calling the disciples to physically follow him. We'll look at the crucifixion. We'll look at the resurrection and exaltation of Christ.

Speaker 1:

So the authority of Jesus, that's what we're talking about. Praise the Lord, we serve a God who asks no man's permission, negotiates no terms of anything. He is Lord and King and at whatever our God ordains is right, and we can rest in and firmly rest on that, knowing that that's how firm a foundation that we, that we are fastened to and fixed on the solid rock of Christ Jesus. So thanks be to God for that. Praise the Lord for that. Pray for us. Lift us up this week and come see us soon. Hope you will. God bless you. We'll see you next week.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at SWOutfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources, and we'll see you next week on no Sanity Required.

People on this episode