[0:46]Glory to Jesus. All glory to Jesus.
[0:57]Today's first Sunday of Lent. And in every first Sunday of Lent, we are presented with the story of the temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ by the devil. So today, we shall very much be looking at how to overcome temptations, or how to overcome the devil, or how to share in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, whichever one is convenient for you. You can take. Now, so many interpretations have been given to these temptations and they are very elastic in accommodating circumstantial applications, so to say. All the synoptic Gospels record the temptation of the Lord Jesus, but in different order. So what comes second might be third in Mark or second in Luke and stuff like that, but all of them have basically the same meaning and structure. Now the first thing you need to know is that temptation is real. And temptation can happen to anybody. So, if Jesus was tempted, how much more you and I? It doesn't matter your level of spirituality. The devil does not respect your level of spirituality. Remember, the Bible says Jesus has been fasting for how many days? 40 days. So at that point he's supposed to be at the height of spiritual elevation, yet that was when the devil came. So sometimes we might be tempted to think that when you are so holy or so close to God, then temptation will run away. No. Temptation will come. What holiness and closeness to God helps you do is to overcome temptation, not to stop them. So help me tell somebody, you can be tempted. At any point. Even in church here people get tempted, three of us? Uh-huh. So the devil can come at any point and to to tempt you. Then James chapter 1 James chapter 1 verses 13 and 14 says, Never, when you are being put to the test or tempted, say God is tempting me. God cannot be tempted by evil, and he does not put anybody to the test. God cannot be tempted by evil and he does not put anybody to test. So God is never the source of temptation. It is the devil that tempts. So the question is, how exactly does the devil make us fall into sin? I remember the story of a woman who went to the priest, her parish priest to report her husband. Her husband was constantly falling into drunkenness and stuff like that, so she tried all she could to stop him, it wasn't working. And she was frustrated so she went to the priest and reported the husband to the priest. And the priest sent for the husband who came and they began to chat. And the priest tried to, you know, talk to him about seeing the bad side of drinking. And the father started by saying, Ogah, you know that alcohol is bad, alcohol is not good. And the man said to father, Father, if alcohol is bad, why did Jesus turn water into wine? So Father lost in that argument. And then father quickly regrouped his thought and said, okay, no, no, alcohol is not necessary bad, but getting drunk is bad. Stop getting drunk. It takes a toll on your finance, on your health, on your marriage and everything. At that point, the man became sober and father felt that he was now winning the argument, he was about to convert a sinner. So at the end, the man now said to the priest, but Father, it is not my fault. It is not my fault that I get drunk. And father said whose fault? The man say it is the devil. Father said to him, well, whenever the devil comes to tempt you, tell him, Get behind me, Satan. And the man said to father, Father, that is where the problem comes from now. Every time I tell the devil get behind me Satan, he will go behind me and push me into the bar.
[5:39]Does the devil push us? Does he force us?
[5:47]Beginning from Genesis 3, have you seen anywhere the Bible says the devil pushed somebody? In other words, the devil does not force you. There was a time I taught you about freedom and power. And I said, what has influence over you is not necessarily what is more powerful than you. Rather, what is more powerful than is what has influence over you. As a spirit, the devil is more powerful than any of us. But that is not what gives him edge over us because with all his powers, you have been given authority and power over him. So the devil cannot force you. What the devil does is temptation is not by force. And that's why we must know the tricks that he uses, so he does not go behind you to push you. No, he dangles a cold, sweating bottle of beer. And for a man who likes alcohol, once he sees a cold sweating bottle of beer, my brother, my sister, in fact, only the drawing alone does a lot of things to his brain. That is called seduction. Temptation is seduction. Temptation is seduction. And listen, the devil cannot tempt you with what you are incapable of doing. What you cannot do, he cannot tempt you with it. If a man is blind, the devil cannot tempt him with the lust of the eyes. If a man is blind, a scantily dressed woman cannot tempt him because he's incapable of what, seeing. He cannot tempt you with what you can't do. He can only tempt you with what you can do. So watch your strength and your capacities, your abilities, your capabilities. Those are the areas the devil is coming. Those are the areas the devil will come. Those who have something to show, those who have something that makes them special, maybe physical strength or intellectual capacity, or stunning beauty or, you know, captivating physique, they can be tempted with pride. They can be tempted with pride. Somebody who is huge, heavily built, he can be tempted with aggression. But somebody who is weak, small, no physical strength, the devil cannot tempt you with aggression. Who you want fight? They will break you into pieces. So he will only tempt you with what you are what? Capable of doing. Or where you have strength, what your strength, that's why most people who are proud, they have something, either they are rich or they are intelligent, they are handsome or beautiful or occupy positions of power and stuff like that. They can be tempted. With what you can do, what you empower to do. Another way you can be tempted is your appetite, your cravings, your desires. Everybody say desire. Your what? Your desire, your appetite. Those things you have some affection for. And so James chapter 1, the same James chapter 1 verse 14 says, Everyone is put to temptation by being attracted and seduced by that person's own wrong desire. Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin reaches full growth, it gives birth to death. Watch your desires, your appetites, the things you crave.
[10:04]Anything that does not interest you, you hardly can, there are some men here that alcohol for where, is not a temptation to them. These bottles of beer you see, some men here, when you see some other men drunk, you're even wondering, are they not stupid, three of us? Uh-huh. You are wondering, how can somebody even go and put all that quantity of liquid in himself or herself and then the person no longer knows how to control it? You are just imagining how somebody can fall for this. The reason you are reasoning like that is because you have no appetite or cravings for beer. It's like Z-word. I can't imagine how anybody will be excited watching that channel.
[10:52]You know Z-word, ba? Do you know the way some women watch Z-word? Some can even miss mass because of Z-word. Temptation. And you as a man, I mean you are just wondering. I don't even know that those channels exist, it's only when my misses come and my friends come and they want to turn to this Z-word. What is that? You are a man, you are just imagine, how can your wife be so glued to television watching some people speaking nonsense English, falling in love and falling out of love, getting their hearts broken and getting their hearts mended? That thing can make your wife to miss cooking meal for you. And you are like, is she okay? That is the same way some women are wondering how a man, a full-grown man will sit down in his house, watch 22 other men, pursuing one round leather, one round something, the name of football, and when there is a go, the man will hey, hey, hey. So women are wondering at the foolishness of men. How can such thing even interest anybody?
[12:08]So your temptation will come from your appetite, your desires, your cravings, the things that have attraction for you. Your capabilities, then your desires. What you cannot do, what you have no thing for the devil, no, he's not going to disturb you there. So watch your areas of strength, watch your appetite. And so some theologians have tried to divide those three temptations into broad headings. The temptation to turn bread into, I mean, stones into bread is hedonism, hedonism, it's excessive love for, um, for the things you eat, sensual things, you know, things that, you know, feed your, uh, your sensual appetites and all of that. The other one is, um, egoism, which is pride. Egoism. He says, throw yourself, he will give his angels charge over, the arbitrary use of of of power, display of power. Then the last one is called materialism. If you worship me, I will give you the whole world. When you love material things, people can do anything, you know, to get them. So there are very different interpretations, but just take these broad principles I'm giving. You cannot be tempted on what you can't do. You cannot be tempted on what you cannot do. A eunuch can never be tempted sexually. A eunuch, a man who has, a man or a woman who has no sexual feelings, maybe by some biological problem or the other, he can never be tempted sexually, you can be tempted in other ways. Then your appetites, the things you have grown used to, liking and stuff like that, the devil will be waiting for you at all those points. So the first temptation of Jesus, change these stones into bread. And then Jesus replied by saying, man does not live on bread alone, but on what?
[15:28]On every word that comes from the mouth of God. In other words, sometimes you need to deny yourself bread, in order to feed of the spiritual one that comes from God.
[15:45]Deny yourself of physical things, deny yourself of natural things. Deny your body what it craves all of the time. So that your spirit can be enlivened. So another thing Jesus is saying is the fact that I have the power to do, does not mean I will do it for my own personal needs. I will not give myself what my body desires all of the time. That is one of the benefits of fasting, it is to discipline the body. As some people wrongly think that fasting is what makes your prayer work. No. The biggest factors in prayer is not fasting. The first and most important spiritual importance of fasting is to do what, discipline your body, the senses, your natural self. So one of the signs of spiritual maturity is that you can always find time or an occasion to deny yourself of those things your body crave. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Because the more you feel your appetite, the more it does what? It grows. And the more wider it becomes, I mean, the wider in nature it becomes. So, parents, don't give your children everything they want every time they want it. Don't give your children everything they want every time they want it.
[17:19]Learn to teach them self-denial. Because without this discipline, you can't all grow. Have you noticed that anytime you make up your mind to fast, anytime, if for instance, on Monday, make up your mind that you are going to fast on Tuesday, by 5:30 a.m. hunger will wake you up. You will become conscious of hunger. But on ordinary days, there are days you can go for 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, you are not even eating and you don't feel it. But the day you make up your mind that you are going to fast from 5:30. Your body is reminding you, there is something called breakfast. 10:00 will look like 5 p.m.. You'll be looking at, ah, it is still 10:00. Oh my God. That is the flesh rebelling. Craving for what it is used to, it is not used to going without food deliberately, it is used to having food pumped into it. That is to let you know that like Jesus said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Deny it all the same, that's how to grow. Then parents don't give your children, as you deny yourself, don't also give your children what they want all the time. Haba. You buy um, um, Superman toy for your child. The child watches um, Captain America and wants Captain America toy. You buy Captain America toy for the child.
[19:12]After watching Spider-Man, Rat-Man or Cockroach-Man will come, and the child will say Cockroach-Man, and you go and buy. There are some of you the toys in your homes now, can form another store. And you keep buying and buying and buying, what are you doing? You are spoiling those children. From that age, begin to teach them discipline, restraint. You have bought two for the child and he's looking for another one. Teach that child, how not to be a consumer. Tell the child, okay, this toy you are asking for, you can actually make it yourself. Go and bring two, say, you make this toy you are looking for. When the child successfully makes it, collect it from the child and say, I'm giving it to another child who does not have at all. Redirect. That's what Jesus did, he redirected himself to the word. From bread, he was giving bread as a temptation. He redirected his mind, man does not live on bread alone, but on what? On every word that comes from the mouth of God. Tame your desires, tame them, tame them. It is one of the ways we can, you know, come victorious against the devil. Do you know how many of us from the things we eat, the things we couldn't say no to. Do you know how many of us have eaten our destinies? Beginning from Adam and Eve. Was it not through eating? Uh-huh. All of us would have been in that garden now, everybody in his place, nothing like election rigging or APC or PDP. There'll be nothing like hospital or anything. Just, I will be in mine. There's even nothing like priesthood, who wants to go to confession for what? Everybody will just be naked, beautifully naked in their own parts of the garden. When you are hungry, you do what? You go and eat. But see what Adam and Eve has caused us because of what? Because of what? Because of what they will eat. Do you know how many girls have eaten away their destiny? If you don't tame ourselves, we'll be in trouble. So there are so many things to say on that, but watch your appetites, watch your appetites, your cravings. If you keep feeding them, they will keep growing. So in Nigeria, somebody was a local government chairman, he will steal, let's say, he was able to steal 10 million as a local government chairman. The person succeeds to become state governor, he steal billions. Now what will the person do? He will steal billions. After being a governor, the next thing the person wants to be is what? Senator. And if the person makes mistake and becomes a president, what happens? At what point do they stop stealing? Because the more you feed the appetite, the more it does what? You use drunkards for example. Look at somebody like me now, how many bottles of beer is enough? Two bottles of beer is it not are they not enough? When I drink two bottles, is that not enough for me? But you look at a drunkard as tiny as I am, you will swallow three, four, five, six, seven. He can again, 10, 11, 12. Some people drink 24 bottles at a sitting. It's not exaggeration. 24 bottles.
[22:59]The more you will feed the appetite, the more it does what? It grows. The same thing with womanizers and manizers, as the case maybe. So man does not live on bread alone, but on what? On every word that comes from the mouth of God. We must tame our appetite. The devil is waiting. He just waiting. Plug the apple and eat. It's sweet. You will get this, you will get that. And what those things promise, take every temptation offers you something. Every temptation the devil comes with, offers you something. But that thing that it is offering you, is not what you will get. It's not what you will get. A man that two bottles of liquid cannot satisfy, 24 will not. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. That thing that it offers you, you will not get it. You will never. And that's what every temptation does, tries to give us things that will give us satisfaction when it is only God that can satisfy us. The second temptation, he took him up and, and told him to, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said, if you worship me, I will give them to you. Something, getting what you want and desire through any means that is ungodly, that is not the will of God. That one is also very deep. Theologians will tell you that was the devil telling Jesus to take the shortcut. Take the shortcut. Jesus is to save us by the cross. So the devil is saying to him, see all the kingdoms of the world, they belong to me, all the people are mine. You actually came for them, uh, all you need to do is to worship me, I will give them to you, you don't need to suffer yourself. Jesus said, you shall worship only the Lord your God. Now, pay attention. The devil has given Jesus the shortest, quickest means to get in the whole world, powers and glory. But Jesus said, no, I will worship only the Lord my God. In other words, the devil is telling Jesus, you've been serving God for all these years, he has not given you this whole kingdom. He has not given you this whole glory. All you need to do is to worship me and I'll give them to you immediately. Meaning that worshipping God is not through it by battle. God does not give you what he gives you because you are worshipping him. So you cannot use worship as a beginning cheap to get something from God. It also means as Christians, you don't get everything you want or you ask for. Even Jesus did not get everything he asked for in prayer, Jesus. At the garden, he prayed, Lord, take away this crop from me. Did God answer him? Huh? No, God did not answer him. Worshipping God is not a bargaining chip. It is not a guarantee that you get everything you want or you desire. God has his way. My ways are not your ways, Isaiah 55. So Jesus said, no, even though I want to save them, but it's not this through your own way because this through your own way is going to, the end does not justify the means. Because if the means is bad, you will never get to that end. You will never get to the end. This one can be applied to so many things, replacing God with other things. You can call it idolatry. Idolatry comes in subtle means. Idolatry does not mean bowing before a statue, that one has faded, it no longer works. Idolatry means substituting God with anything, with anything, or acquiring anything against the will of God. The extreme forms of that include ritual killing. Those who kill other human beings to make money and all of that, and all of that. And I wonder why the devil has not given them the whole world since they started killing others. They have not met all the money they want to make. That's to let you know that the devil is a liar. Glory to Jesus. The last one, he said throw yourself down. And then the devil now quoted the scripture. For it is written, the devil quoted Psalm 91. And Jesus laughed and said, you have not started. It is also written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. At that point the devil left.
[28:09]Let me conclude by saying, if you want to overcome temptation or the devil, follow the steps of Jesus. So number one, know that the devil is the tempter, John 10:10 says the thief commeth but to kill to steal and to do what? To destroy. There is something he's looking to steal, or to kill or to destroy from every temptation he offers you. There is something. Don't take his word for it. He's a liar. Don't take his word for it. He's a liar. And then know what the devil is capable of doing and what he is not capable of doing. Know what he's capable of doing and what he is not capable of doing. These days many of us have been confused with what the devil is not even interested in and we have been hidden from what is interested in. For instance, you are poor and they said it is the devil. My dear brother, my dear sister, I have said it loud and clear before. The devil is not interested in making you poor. In fact, the devil will be happy to make you rich instantly. He'll be more interested in making you rich because it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to do what? Enter the kingdom of God. Rather the devil wants to make you, whether you are rich or poor, what he's interested is to get you out of the will of God. Pay attention on what the devil can do. The devil is not interested in making you not to marry or not to have child. He's not interested in all of this. I'm not even sure he has power over any Christian who has covered himself or herself to God, over all this. So stop fighting the devil where he does not exist. Fighting where he does not exist.
[30:07]Know what he can do, what he cannot do. Number two, live a sacramental life. Everybody say sacramental. You know the sacraments of the church, be faithful to them. Be faithful to them. It is one of the ways to overcome the devil and temptation. Take baptism for instance, Roman 6:7, when we are baptized, we are baptized into the death of Christ. And now that Christ has been raised, we are also alive with him. How can anybody threaten you with death? The devil cannot threaten you with death, you can't kill a dead man. The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. John chapter 6, Jesus says anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I do what? I live in him. When you live with that, there is an authority and power you have. And I have for the umpteenth time, you cannot be a Eucharistic Christian and you are still going for deliverance. Deliverance from what? Jesus lives in you, and another demon is living in you. How?
[31:28]Unless you deliberately went to the shrine and had a covenant with the devil and said, make me rich, then I will give you one part of my soul, the other part is for Jesus. You can't be a Eucharistic Christian and you are jumping up and down from one place to the other looking for deliverance. Whether it's in Catholic ministries or non-Catholic ministries, I don't care. Once you are a Eucharistic Christian, you try your best to live the Eucharistic life, to receive the communion in a worthy manner, you have no business with deliverance. You are already delivered. You cannot be possessed. You are unpossessible, whether it's in the dictionary or not, I don't care.
[32:13]That is one of the ways to overcome the enemy. The sacrament of penance, reconciliation, be a struggling Christian. Be a struggling Christian. Make your effort. In Jonah chapter 3, the Bible said God saw their effort. Make genuine sincere effort to live a holy life, then when you fall into sin, the devil will be laughing unto you and saying, Nto, Nto, Nto, go to the priest and do confession. Immediately you do confession, you are cleansed. As you are coming, you'll be doing the devil, eh, eh, eh, eh, what can you do now? Be faithful to the sacraments, they will help you. Then thirdly and lastly, read your Bible. Tell your neighbor, read your Bible, read your Bible. Tell your neighbor, say, read your Bible, read your Bible, read your Bible. It is a shameful thing that a Christian is not at home with the scripture. You can as well say the difference between Adam and Eve and Jesus is the scripture. God told them something, they forgot or they didn't remember to use the word. But at every temptation the devil hold at Jesus, what did he do? He spoke the written word. He couldn't have if he did not read. So read the Bible, the scripture to know, knowledge is important. My people perish for what? For lack of knowledge. That is Hosea 4:6. Read to know, meditate to understand and believe to be empowered. Read the scripture to know, meditate on the scripture to understand and believe in it to be what? Powerful. Because understanding is very important. If you don't understand it, you can be confused. You see how Jesus was using the scripture. The devil now said, wow, let's go to the scripture. The last one, was it not the devil that quoted the scripture? He now said to Jesus, throw yourself down for it is written. Now if you don't understand the scripture, even the devil can use it to do what? To deceive you. That's why you must understand. Interpretation is important. Now this why it is important who you listen to. It is not everybody that carries the Bible and uses the microphone and says something that is right. People can use scripture to back up their evil action. Even the devil quoted the scripture. But wouldn't it be so embarrassing that even the devil knows how to quote scripture, even if it is wrongly, and yet a child of God does not know.
[35:09]Interpretation is important. He has given Jesus his own interpretation. Somebody says that the Bible of a false prophet robs faster than the gun of an armed robber. And that can only happen when you are bereft of the knowledge and interpretations of the scripture. Read it. Know where somebody is saying what God has not said.
[35:48]The scripture is subject to interpretation. Do you know that even Peter said that the letters of Paul sometimes can be confusing. Peter himself, I think in first Peter, he said even the letters of Paul, sometimes it's not easy to understand. That's to let you know that it's not everybody's interpretation you listen to. The church gave us the scripture, the church has the ultimate interpretation of what? Of what? Of scripture. Don't be like those who just listen anything anybody. People can use scripture. We have seen men of God who have used scripture to back up their flamboyant lifestyle, Abi? Uh-huh. When a pastor will arrange and a jet is bought for his birthday. You question him, he will tell you that Jesus rode on donkey. How does that interpret jet? But you know what is astonishing? People believe them. That is the way some of you believe whatever they tell you. There are some of you here who don't look into mirror at night because one man of God has told you that if you look into mirror at night, you will be possessed. Some of you don't sweep your houses at night because somebody has told you or use one scripture to say if you sweep your house in the night, you are sweeping away wealth. Uh-huh. they don't tell them before. There are some people here they don't sleep at night. They have told you what position to sleep. There are some people here, they don't sleep like this. They say if you sleep on your right hand side, you are sleeping away your destiny. Or they will tell you, don't sleep facing upward, when you sleep facing upward, demon will simply come and enter. Which ones?
[37:26]Somebody was in the habit of opening Bible. He will just open anywhere his eyes goes to. He will take whatever that place says. So he opened one day, and the Bible say, and Judas went out. He say, no, I don't like this one. Then he opened another one, and the Bible say, he went and hung himself. Oh, you go and hang yourself. Scripture is subject to what? Interpretation. But we can't interpret you what you do not know. Then you believe it. Once you believe it, you speak it. Jesus spoke it in the gospel. In the first reading, he talked about this is what you will say confession that you will make when you are bringing your first fruit. Then the second reading says, the word is in your mouth. If you confess with your lips, you speak it. Don't be ashamed to say it, it is the word of God. Speak it in your circumstances. Speak it to yourself to remind you, when you are afraid, you remember, the Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, no evil will I fear. You remember Psalm 27, The Lord is my light and my help, whom shall I fear? You speak it to yourself. You own it. Revelation 12:11 says they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. Second Corinthians 4:13 say they believe, therefore they spoke. We to we believe, therefore we are speaking. You speak the word. When temptation rises in your heart, look for a scripture that counters that and keep repeating it to yourself. Make it a habit. It works, it is the word of God. So my dear brothers, my dear sisters, today all of us are tempted in various ways in different shapes, but the the the good news is that we should be courageous, Jesus has overcome, and he has also given us the victory. So you too you can be victorious. Do not let the enemy to overcome you. The Bible says first John chapter 5:4, he says our victory over the world is our faith, and Romans 10:17, faith commeth by hearing, hearing the word of God. You remember that song that says,
[39:55]May he never defeat us in the name of Jesus the Lord. May we stand and profess our faith.
