Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Except for a few boat trips across the little Sea of Galilee and one very short ride on a donkey into Jerusalem, Jesus walked everywhere he went while he lived on earth. He never ventured afar to magnificent Greece or the mysterious Orient, never traveled to Rome, the capital of the world at that time. He never wielded an earthly weapon, never raised an army, never killed a man or plundered a city. Still, he overcame the world. He died as a glorious, undefeated Victor over this entire world and everything in it.
The apostle John taught us that "all that is in the world [is] the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1Jn. 2:16). Every sin that exists will fit into one of those three categories (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life), and that is all that this world has to offer, for "the whole world", John said, "lieth in wickedness." Every institution of earth, every government, every social order and custom, has its origin in sin and is cursed with death. All earthly governments will be destroyed, but the coming kingdom of Christ Jesus "shall stand forever".
Whenever anyone is tempted, he can only be tempted through one of these three fleshly things that make up the world. When the serpent tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, she fell into his trap and sinned because she followed after these three things. We are told that after the serpent left her, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [lust of the flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [lust of the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [pride of life], she took of the fruit" (Gen. 3:6). Eve did not overcome the world; she was overcome by the world, and when Adam followed her, all the human race was plunged into death and ruin.
By Adam's sin, we were all made slaves to the lust of the flesh and of the eye, and to the pride of life. The world became our master, and we had no means of escape. Then Jesus was sent to rescue us from the bondage of sin, and he quickly became engaged in the most ferocious warfare that history has ever known (although history textbooks ignore it). For forty long days, Jesus battled in the rugged wilderness both the crafty spirit of Satan and his own, weak flesh, with nothing but faith in God as his weapon. And when the desperate battle was over, Jesus had overcome the world and all that it had to offer. Satan was defeated.
Satan employed the lust of the flesh in his first attempt to conquer Jesus. He approached the fasting Savior with this suggestion: "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
But Jesus refused to be led by the lust of the flesh, as Eve had been. He would wait for his Father to lead him to turn stones into bread if that was to be done. He humbly responded to the Devil with words from the ancient prophet Moses, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
One of the three elements of the world resisted; one third of the world conquered.
Having been defeated in his first attack, the tenacious Enemy of righteousness next attempted to lure Jesus into doing his will instead of God's by leading him into the pathway of the pride of life. The Devil was given power by God to pick Jesus up and carry him through the air to the holy city of Jerusalem. There, perched upon the highest pinnacle of the temple, they both looked down upon people walking the city's crowded streets of stone. They were people beloved of God, but oblivious to the epic battle that was being waged at that very moment, far above them.
Said Satan to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this pinnacle and prove who you are to those people below. It is written in the Scriptures that angels are commanded to hold you up so that no harm comes to you."
But Jesus was determined to be led by the Spirit, not by the flesh's desire for fame. He would not abuse his Father's love and care for him. If God's people ever were to know and honor him, it would be because he did his Father's will, not his own or Satan's. He wanted God's people to know who he was because their salvation depended on it, but showing off in order to impress them was not his Father's way.
So, Jesus courageously and humbly refused the Devil's invitation to perform an astonishing trick for the people, saying, "It is also written, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.'"
Two of the three elements of the world resisted; two thirds of the world conquered.
Lastly, the Devil tried to find a way into Jesus' heart by using the lust of the eye. Again empowered by God to take Jesus up, he brought the patient Son of God to an exceedingly high mountain, where he showed him all the spectacular glories of the kingdoms of earth in a moment of time. "All these kingdoms and their magnificent glories have been given to me," said the Tempter. "I can give them to whomever I will, and I will give them to you if you will only fall down and worship me."
This blatant, blasphemous play for worship clearly provoked Jesus to anger, and he sternly rebuked the Devil with authority, again using words penned by Moses over a thousand years before: "Go away, Satan! for it is written, 'Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.'"
Satan did go away, as Jesus commanded him to do. He had no choice. Jesus had conquered both him and the world, "and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." All three elements of the world had been overcome. The warfare was finished.
Jesus conquered the whole world in forty days. My father told me that it took him forty years to accomplish the same victory. But whether forty days or forty years, each of us can overcome the world, and that is why Jesus told his disciples to "Be of good cheer." Because of Jesus' love for you, you can overcome the entire world, and you can do it on your knees at home, without traveling anywhere, for the world that must be conquered is the world of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.