Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
Crazy devil! Offering to Jesus what wasn't his to give. Besides, Jesus would receive all the kingdoms of the world in good time at the right time. Rev 11:15 The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
That's just the way old Slew Foot is. He makes offers on which he can't deliver. Oh, but those offers can sure look great at the time. Did you notice that the devil was able to show the Lord all the kingdoms of the world in just a moment of time? Awesome advertising!
What he doesn't bother to show us when he does his best work is all the implications if we say "yes" to his offer. We don't see the back side of the billboard. All we see is the beautiful people, scantily clad, puffing on a cigarette or downing a refreshing brewski. Oh, the fun that billboard portrays. But if we could see the backside of the ad, we would see that beautiful individual shriveled up in an 80 pound body, hacking his/her guts out, dying of lung cancer or liver disease, way before their time. Have you ever seen someone breathing through a hole in their throat? Have you ever witnessed the black bile coughed up by a lung cancer patient? Have you stayed by the bedside of a delirious soul whose body is ravaged by disease caused by partaking in the devil’s ads?
Had Jesus took the devil up on his offer,
1. He could not have qualified as Savior. He would not have been Heaven's spotless Lamb had He given in to sin.
2. You and I would face a well-deserved, Christless eternity in hell because there would be no payment for our sins.
3. Jesus' teachings would be null and void. They would carry no more weight than the teachings of Mohammed, Buddha, Hitler, Charlie Manson or Joseph Smith. The Golden Rule would be tarnished. The Sermon on the Mount wouldn't amount to a molehill. His promises would be worthless.
4. There was no plan B or C or D. Redemption through Jesus was our only hope. Jesus was fully God and yet completely man. He was subject to such infirmities and temptations as we face, such as hunger, weariness, sickness, vanity and pride. Had He given in to the temptations which accompany human frailty, we would all have been doomed.
But, in that one moment of time, when Jesus was able to view Satan's billboard, He also did the right thing, used the Word to combat the half-truths of the enemy and rejected temptation.
My friend, there is no doubt that you will have a moment of time today in which an imp of hell will lie to you. It will make a promise to you it cannot keep. It will offer pleasure, but it will be fleeting. It will extend fortune, but it will vanish in smoke. It will promise fame, but that too will go up in a puff of smoke. If you believe the lie told to you, you will be left in a heap, suffering the consequence of disobeying God. Those same imps will ROTFLOL at you because you were foolish enough to fall for their tricks.
One moment of time, what will you do? Whom will you believe?
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