2025 May 11 Matthew 4:5-11 "You Shall Not Put the Lord Your God to the Test"
We love you very much. You are a priority here and we pray for you all the time and you're on our minds and hearts all the time. We pray for the Lord's blessings upon you. We rejoice for our brothers and sisters in Pakistan and India that the conflict is apparently coming to an end between your two countries.
We've fervently been praying for peace between your two nations and trust that that will be resolved. So we're certainly praying for you folks in your country. And thank you all for joining us. for our journey through the gospel according to Matthew. We're in chapter 4. We have begun the duel in the desert.
Jesus' duel or battle, temptation, call it what you will, in the desert and now Jerusalem. One of his most important conquests in his mission in this world. Some of the most important events which have ever occurred in all of history.
And as stated last week, our hopes for anything and everything. Our salvation and all it means and brings hangs upon this duel between the Son of God and the evil one in this world 20 centuries ago. For those of you who may not have heard last week's message, I refer you to it in which we began the chapter. And for any of you folks, if you need to catch up, we'll just go back and watch last week's message. Today we will move from the desert of Judea.
into the city of Jerusalem for the next part of this battle, this duel, this temptation. So, to re-familiarize ourselves with the text, would you all stand? That is, you folks here gathered in person. Stand, please, to honor the reading of the Word of the Lord, Matthew chapter 4. Today we'll read verses 5 to 11. Then the devil took him into the holy city, and he had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple.
And he said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will give his angels charge concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you 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 of the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
Then the devil left him. And behold, angels came and began to minister to him. These are the words of the Lord. Thanks be to God for them.
Thank you, folks. You may be seated. Sovereign Lord God, our Heavenly Father, ruler of heaven and earth, we thank you for creating us and redeeming us to know you, enjoy you, and glorify you forever. Thank you for these, the greatest events in all of history, until our Lord Jesus return in his second advent.
out Thank you that you sent the divine son into humanity upon himself. So as the perfect God-man, he will defeat our worst enemy, this world's worst enemy, the fallen archangel and the demons who followed him and will follow him into judgment. Thank you that when all the rest of humanity failed, Jesus, the God-man, won and thereby can repair our lost fortunes. our broken hopes, and can usher in a new creation, that Jesus came to win our salvation and the restoration of the created order itself. Thank you for his victory in the desert and Jerusalem and on that high mountain in Roman Palestine.
That we have hope. Because Jesus won, we can win. Because Jesus won, we can win. Because Jesus won, we have eternal hope in you. Bless this, the humble proclamation of your word.
May it satisfy your plan for it. And open the spiritual eyes and ears of those watching and listening whenever they may do so, that they may receive the truth of this great event, what it means, apply its truth to their life, submit to the truth of this event, believe in Jesus, and have life in his name. Bless all of our church members, those present and those absent, and our family members as well, O sovereign God. And we pray for good Christian mothers everywhere. Fill them with your spirit and your word and your peace and your joy this day.
May the meditations of all of our hearts and the words of my mouth be pleasing to you, O Lord, our God, our rock, our redeemer, you who are our only hope and more than hope enough for one and all. In the name of Messiah Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Very well, now back to the battle between Christ our Savior and our worst enemy, the evil one in the desert. We move on to the capital city of Jerusalem, the spiritual center of the Jewish people in verse 5. Then the devil took him into the holy city, and he had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. Those of you with your English Standard Version study Bible, I refer you to the study Bible note of verse 5. The holy city is, of course, Jerusalem itself. So we've somehow gone from the middle of the Judean desert far to the south, and we'll make our way into Jerusalem, to the worship center of the temple itself.
and on the very pinnacle of the temple. According to this note, and I'll give you a visual here in a moment, and give you a little further explanation, the pinnacle of the temple is probably the southeast corner of the temple area, or the structure which is the temple complex. The top of it, which was called the Royal Stoa, or the Royal Pavilion, the top of it was said to be some 300 feet above the floor of the Kidron Valley. And of course, those of you who have the ESV Study Bible can refer to those wonderful pictures, those visuals that they give you in the Study Bible, and Bernie and I will give you a few here today.
Now, this photograph here is a really wonderful, beautiful scale model of first century Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and the Apostles. And it's got, it is got some age. on it, but to this day, even in spite of all the archaeological work and evidence that's been done since the building of this model, it is still found to be very, very accurate.
I believe it's on the grounds of the Holy Land Hotel there in Jerusalem. But this right here... here is that south in the foreground there you are looking you're facing pardon me i'll move out of the way for charles and matthew here in a bit um you are looking at the southeast corner of the temple complex and this building up top the the roof structure the elaborate roof structure was called the royal pavilion or the royal stoa it was ornate large obviously a very beautiful building and it basically forms the entire south wall there of the temple complex. And at the foot of the roofed area, there was a large pavilion or platform area where you could stand there, where people could stand there and walk. Now, obviously, you see, according to that model, there's quite a drop there.
That is believed to be the place where Satan and Jesus were standing and the challenge came. Throw yourself down. Force the Father to show a spectacular miracle, a sensational miracle, to send holy angels to keep you from falling and killing yourself, because He's promised to do so in Scripture. And after all, you're the very Son of God.
And after all, look what would happen if you performed such a spectacular miracle here in the teeming thousands, hundreds of thousands in the city, and here at the Worship Center of Jerusalem. It would be wonderful. It would be great, wouldn't it? Well you see there if you were to drop over the edge of that wall, that southeast corner, there was a pavement that was down below there. You probably can't see it in the picture and I don't think that in the model here they actually had that pavement constructed.
But there was a pavement that went around the corner there and that was at least a 150 foot drop to that pavement ledge. But if an object or a person fell off of that corner that pinnacle of the temple and you missed the pavement, which you very well would, some scholars believe it's a 300 or over 300 foot drop to the floor of the Kidron Valley where the Kidron Brook ran through. And it's rocky.
It's stony. There's outcrops there. A person who would fall from such a height, obviously it's death. It would totally destroy your body. And this is what Satan is challenging the God-man or Lord Jesus to do.
And that's the very place where he has him do it, or tempts him to do it. And isn't it interesting? Of all the places where he could have leveled this challenge at Jesus, to test the Father's will or the Father's desire or the Father's promise to protect him, to protect the people of God, that's the scripture he's quoting. A promise of God to protect his people.
Isn't it interesting that he takes him there? He takes him to the capital city. He takes him to the temple itself, the temple complex, the worship center of all the faithful, the Old Covenant people, whom Jesus came to save, being their Messiah. He takes him to church, to the spiritual and religious center of the Old Covenant people of God, and there...
Temps or challenges Jesus to make this happen? Think about that. There's a lot of things that arise from that. A lot of conclusions you can make.
A lot of questions arise as well. So, the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, which I have described for you. Oh, by the way, let's have the other picture. This is in your ESV study Bible.
And I won't have to give you much of a description, as I already have, but you see, if you look at this visual, and again, it's in your ESV study Bible, make use of it, in the far left lower corner, or I'm sorry. right corner, right lower corner. That's the pinnacle of the temple. And this picture does have the pavement there. So the royal stow is the roofed area above.
You see a platform, that platform at the corner of that platform, that is where Jesus is standing with Satan, so we believe. And if you were to fall off to that pavement, 150 foot drop. Miss the pavement, 300 foot drop. There they are. The reason why I want to describe this to you is because it's not a story.
It's not a parable. It's not a metaphor. It's not myth.
It's not legend. It's factual, actual, real space, real time history in the first century AD. So I want to take you to these places.
and show you what this was, what this was like, and where this precisely, where this took place, and how. So, stand or stood on the highest point of the temple, the royal stoa, the portico overlooking the valley, called the pinnacle or the highest point. By the way, let me give you something really touching and poignant. I didn't know if I was going to do this, but I think I will. We don't know for sure, because this is tradition, and sometimes...
Tradition is history, sometimes it's not. But Christian tradition states that years and years later, in the first century A.D., when Jesus' half-brother James was leader of the Jerusalem church, not James the brother of John, but James, the author of the book of James in the New Testament, which was Jesus' half-brother, he became the leader of the Jerusalem church. And decades later, it is believed That an evil, uncontrollable crowd, such as demanded Jesus' blood, such as demanded Paul's blood, such as demanded Deacon Stephen's blood, demanded the blood of half-brother James. And where did they take him? They took him to the pinnacle of the temple and they threw him off to his death.
Killed him. Martyred him. Now what's the irony of that?
Jesus is tempted by Satan to throw himself off of there. And decades later, his half-brother James, leader of the Jerusalem church, is killed by being pushed or thrown from that height and so martyred. Interesting, isn't it?
I find that very touching. We don't know for sure if that's true. Very well may be. It's a very, very old, old tradition. The devil takes or takes along.
The Greek word is paralambanai or paralambanai. It literally means to take alongside, to take someone along. alongside you.
So after having been defeated in the midst of the Judean desert, Satan wishes to take Jesus alongside himself back into the civilization in the north of Judea to the city of Jerusalem, the capital itself. From the wilderness to the very heart of the temple grounds and complex at that, the very heart of Jerusalem's worship center. That answers your question Does Satan ever go to holy places or places that we consider to be sacred or worship centers or spiritual centers? Oh, yes, he does.
He does it all the time. He's doing it today. Somewhere in the world, all over the world. He and the angels who fell with him in rebellion against God, they hang out in churches all the time. They hang out in pagan temples all the time.
After all, pagan temples are their home territory. They're there every day, 24-7. snaring the souls of human beings. And they're in churches all over America, today, this very morning, this very hour, performing all sorts of evil things, causing trouble, havoc, mayhem. Causing so-called preachers to abandon the truth of the Word of God all over the place.
Turning heretics and apostates, we see it all over the place in America. Oh yes, he's there. And those who serve him are there. Be on your guard, brothers and sisters.
Be on your guard, Christian. Oh, he is there. He will show up. Hard at work.
In fact, he's been in the Jerusalem temple by this time for generations, turning it into the corrupt mess that Jesus will find it in. Remember what Jesus did in the temple once, if not twice? Making a whip out of ropes and driving corrupt criminals, for that's what they were, out of the temple?
Oh yes, Satan's there. Be on your guard. Is this literal or a vision of sorts?
Well, that's a very good question. Is this a purely supernatural experience? Is Jesus bodily still in the desert, but Satan somehow, they transport themselves in the spirit or the supernatural or the spiritual?
realm to Jerusalem? Or did Jesus literally physically walk out of the desert, walk all the way to Jerusalem into the temple complex and on that building? Well, there's the debate, but I'm convinced that Jesus physically was there.
Otherwise, why would the temptation of throw yourself down make any sense? He has to be physically there. It has to be a real, literal, physical danger to his body, to his physical life. So, did they supernaturally move?
After all, Jesus is the very Son of God. Satan is an angel. He doesn't have a body.
Did he visually manifest himself to Jesus? Probably not. He doesn't have to. Jesus is the very Son of God, the divine Son of God.
He knows the evil one is there. He knows where all spirit beings are. But it's kind of interesting.
We see all these pictures, these pictorial depictions of Satan and the temptation with Jesus. And for we mere mortal human beings, there's a visual given to you. Satan is visually or physically depicted in some way. But probably if we saw Jesus out there on the pinnacle of the temple or out there in the middle of the desert, he would just look like a man all alone. to our naked eye talking to himself.
Satan has no body. He's a spirit being, but he's there. And he is a real entity.
A real personal being. Very real. So did they spiritually move to Jerusalem? I don't know. That's a question that we'll have to answer.
have to ask our Lord himself. Perhaps the challenge was made in the desert. Jesus literally packed up, weak and weary as he was, walked into Jerusalem, climbed to the top of that building, and there met the evil one. for the next round of combat or for the next challenge. But this was a very real, actual event of critical importance.
Some people want to turn it into a metaphor or a parable. Oh no, do not do that. is a very real challenge, a very real personal event. So I believe this probably was physical, not just a vision, because let's use our common sense.
If the devil tempts Jesus to throw himself physically down from the high place of the temple, then presumably he couldn't have done this if it were a vision, right? It's very real. He really could have thrown himself down and been killed if he chose to do so.
Humanity as well as deity. Now remember, in the desert, the temptation was very real of turning stones to bread. It had to have been literal.
It had to have been physical. Why? Because Jesus' body was suffering greatly.
He was experiencing very real, extreme physical hunger. Again, how did they arrive there? I want to know that. I want to ask our Lord Jesus himself that one day. But I shouldn't be surprised if he walked in, climbed to the top of the building.
And there met the evil one, face to face again. You want me here? What do you want?
It's supposed to be my father's house. So it is. What now? Well, Satan will say...
You're in the spiritual center and the heart of the nation as well. You should be. Look at the tens of thousands of people here.
Have you ever wondered, perhaps it was at one of the religious festivals that they did this? When the maximum crowd will be packed in there. Now do this. They'll all see it.
They'll all fall down at your feet because of the spectacular supernatural miracle. If you just do what I suggest and force the Father's hand, after all, He has promised to save you. Wouldn't this be a wonderful spectacle in which to aid you in accomplishing your mission as Messiah, the great King, the great King of the Jews?
Hmm. So we can only speculate about exactly how they arrived. But suffice it to say, they're there together as the battle, the challenge, the temptation continues. Verse 6. And he said to him, if you are the Son of God, and I believe you could translate this as, since you are the Son of God, You know, I don't think Satan is challenging Jesus' basic identity. He knows Jesus' basic identity.
Jesus knows full well who he is, human and divine, the humanity taken into deity. Satan knows who he is. He's not challenging his deity like, I really don't believe you are the Son of God.
He knows full well who he is. He's saying something like this. Since you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, and I know you are, well, then do this.
Why don't you do this? Your status, your position, your power and authority? Well, exercise it, man!
Do this or do that, right? It's the same sort of reasoning that he comes at us and human beings all over the world with this or that temptation to snare our souls, to destroy us, to separate us from God, to bring us to judgment. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.
And interesting, he uses the Bible. Be on your guard, Christian. Be on your guard, brothers and sisters. He knows this, and I don't mean to be insulting. I'm here to teach you and to help you learn this and pour this into you and pour you into it.
But he probably knows it better than you do. You want to know this really, really well. Because when he uses it as a weapon against you, you are to counter him just as Jesus did. And use this rightfully, honestly, forthrightly, authentically as a weapon against him. Because he uses false teachers, especially here in America, to twist and pervert the word of God just as he twisted and perverted the word of God against Jesus.
Know this. Know this. It's not only food for your soul, it is a weapon to be used against evil. And the evil one, just as Jesus did.
After all, it is written, He will give His angels charge concerning you. And on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. So, it is written. According to the textual note in the ESV Study Bible, the devil's quotation is Psalm 91, and we will go there shortly.
The devil quotes Psalm 91, and his quotation of Psalm 91 is a blatant misuse of the Scripture in an effort to manipulate Jesus to do something wrong and therefore spoil his mission. Such a spectacular display as jumping from this great height unharmed would have gained Jesus an enthusiastic following. Oh, it most certainly would have. But it would not have followed the Father's messianic and redemptive plan of suffering and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus would be doing something selfishly for self-aggrandizement to gain himself cheap worldly glory instead of following the plan and will of the Father. Let's go to Psalm 91. We should go there. Let's see what the devil is trying to use as a weapon against the Christ. Psalm 91. By the way, go home and enjoy it today.
It's a beautiful psalm. It's a magnificent psalm. And it's a psalm of the Lord's protection of His people, His redeemed people in this world. The devil is quoting verse 11 and 12. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. The devil quotes these verses in a ploy to get Jesus to seek a demonstration of the angel's care. The angels care for all the Jews to see, right?
He wants to force the Father's hand to send angels to rescue him in front of all of these people at the temple by throwing himself down from the height, from the height of the pinnacle, which would no doubt have won Jesus a great following. among the people, but Jesus denounces the idea as testing God or tempting God. It is certainly a willful misuse of the psalm passage, which does not encourage the faithful to put themselves in any unnecessary danger. What is the message of the psalm? Trust him.
Trust him obediently, for he will protect you and take care of you. You're not... to try to force God's hand in performing a miracle so that you can get some sort of glory or whatever from it in a sinful, selfish, or self-aggrandizing manner, such as Satan is suggesting.
So if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. What is this? You have to absolutely marvel at Satan's arrogance. It amazes me.
You know, we marvel at the arrogance of evil people in our own generation. And it is sickening. It's disgusting.
We marvel at it. Well, this is the originator of evil himself. This is God Almighty the Son.
The God-man, Jesus the Messiah, Son of God. Does the evil one understand everything about Jesus' incarnation? I wonder.
Satan doesn't have omniscience, only God does. I believe he does have an understanding of his identity. And he is giving this evil and blasphemous challenge to Jesus' face. The Son of God, God Himself in the flesh. And he knows where he's headed.
One of these centuries, one of these days, he will be condemned to hell by the judgment of God. But he's going to do everything he can to destroy the divine son's mission, thereby bringing out a permanent destruction and darkness in this world. Folks, that's the true nature of evil. And you see that even in evil people under the influence of Satan. If I can't rule over this, I'm going to destroy it anyway.
Even though it means my destruction and my judgment. I'm going to destroy it or destroy them or take it all down with me. That truly is the true nature of evil. It's a blasphemous challenge against God, as all challenges against God are blasphemous. And notice again that the devil acknowledges by way of the challenge.
Jesus' true and unique identity is Son of God. But there's something you've got to remember here. God the Son is now a human being, in human flesh, and Satan has had a great deal of success over the centuries in destroying human beings. Weak, sinful, fallen, flawed, physical human beings. So he presumes he may be able to do the same thing against this man that he's now challenging, in the flesh.
As he did the first Adam. and all the other centuries before. He wants to make a ruin of Jesus' mission in this world to get Jesus to do something selfishly against the divine will of the Father.
Now, I was marveling last week and this week. I'm going to go through this slow because there's lessons for us absolutely all over the place here. Because even though Jesus is the divine Son of God doing battle with Satan, There are so many things about this event and what happened.
that we can apply to ourselves. He wants to make a ruin of Jesus' mission in the world. He also wants to make a ruin of your mission in this world.
First of all, he wants to destroy your soul. And if you have received the new birth from above and you've fallen out of his hands that way, then he's going to do his best, he and his minions, to destroy your mission for the kingdom of Jesus in this world. Don't let him do that.
Let him do that. Jesus wouldn't let him destroy his mission in the world. Brothers and sisters, you don't let him destroy your mission given to you in this world.
Don't do anything whatsoever that is against the plan. will of our Father who is in heaven. Jesus would not disobey the will and plan of the Father in heaven and we are to do exactly the same thing. You know the will and plan of the Father in heaven. You have it.
It's called the Holy Bible. All 66 books of it. The devil tries to use Jesus' position and status as Son of God against Jesus. That's a status we don't have.
But be on your guard. He'll use anything that you have against you if he can. But it's interesting.
He tries to use Jesus' position, his power, his authority, his status as Messianic Son of God against him, against Jesus. Satan's challenge at first look and at first face value, as we say, it might seem to be ridiculous, but it's not. Now, if he was to take...
You or I up to the pinnacle of that temple and said, throw yourself down. And I promise you a miracle will happen and nothing will happen to you. Well, we would say, oh, he's just trying to murder me.
No, I'm not going to do that. I mean, it sounds crazy, doesn't it? Going up to some place where it's a 300-foot drop to a creek bed below and say, jump off? Well, what's that about?
Why would you do that? It's ridiculous, is it? Is it with Jesus?
When I remember. If we were out there in the desert and a demon suggested to us, turn these stones into bread, well that's ridiculous. We can't turn stones into bread. We don't have that power. That's not really a temptation to us, but it's a temptation to somebody who really can do that now, isn't it?
Jesus could turn stones into bread. It's a temptation to him. It's a temptation to Jesus because... Jesus is the divine Son of God. If he threw himself off of there, probably by his own power he could keep himself from being killed.
But certainly by the power of the Father who is in heaven, who is one with the Son and mission with the Son, that there could be a spectacular miracle of angels and his life would be preserved, his body would be preserved, would be saved. That's a real temptation to Jesus. to do such a thing. It's not so ridiculous after all. Many would claim it makes no sense, but I hope that as I just explained to you, oh, with Jesus it does.
And now notice what the evil one does. He quotes scripture. He quotes the Bible.
Jesus defeated him by the word of God in the desert, and you and I are to use the word of God to defeat Satan wherever we encounter him. But now Satan does some biblical quoting of his own. The question is already answered.
The question is, does he do this sort of thing? Oh, you better believe he does. He does it all the time.
Every day. All over the world. All over America. In fact, I guarantee you, Thank you. If you could take yourself into a lot of so-called churches across America at this very hour, this very morning, you'd hear him doing it all over the place.
By way of false teachers under his influence. Be on your guard, brothers and sisters. Be on your guard, Christian. The devil does plenty of Bible quoting of his own.
And he poisons it, perverts it, twists it, misquotes it, misapplies it all the time. He will try to use God's word against Jesus, and he most certainly tries to use God's word against you and I and others in the 21st century. How perverse and evil is that? Yet the evil one does this all the time.
Every day. You see? Jesus using the truth of the word of God defeats Satan. Defeats evil and brings light into the world. And we are to do exactly the same.
Following Jesus' example. Jesus is the example par excellence, isn't he? But yet the devil would try to use scripture against us.
And against others. By misquoting it, perverting it, distorting it, twisting it, or just sometimes flat out denying its essential truth. And you'll find all of the above.
Now sometimes it's very subtle. This is why I beg of you, be a good student of the word. Because sometimes it's very subtle.
And it's very cunning. And you really have to listen close. And do your homework. sometimes it's a little more crass and a little more obvious. And then when evil really gets arrogant, such as we find in America, I'm sure it's all over the world, but I live in America, so I have to call out what's happening in America.
Sometimes it just gets to the point where they just flat out deny its essential truth that it clearly says. And we'll make up out of thin air or whole cloth, as we say, around a reason to reject it. One that you find nowadays is, oh, that was 3,000 years ago, but this is now. Oh, that was 2,000 years ago in a different world, in a different culture, but this is now, here in the 21st century, things are different. That is a lie.
It is a complete and total lie. What does Isaiah say? The grass withered, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Its essential, fundamental truth is exactly the same.
It does not change. That's one of the biggest lies you hear in America. Jesus... will authentically and honestly apply scripture.
He, of course, is its ultimate origin, source, and author. So, of course, he's going to interpret it wisely and well. He will honestly and accurately apply and use God's word.
The devil deliberately does the opposite. No. He will give his angels charge concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
So we may have misquoting it, but we also have what? Misapplying it. Misinterpreting it and misimplying it. it.
This of course is a psalm of God's protection of his people as I stated. But you see what Satan is doing? He's going to twist it into some sort of a perverse challenge.
If this is true, well then do this. If this is true. But to do this right, the devil must distort the quote, misquote, change the scriptural quote to suit his vile purpose. You see how he works?
This is what he does. This is who he is. And allow me to add, this is what false teachers do.
This is also what challenging unbelievers do. Have you noticed, especially in our time in America, how many times you see the atheists, the agnostics, the leftists, the Marxists, all the rest, the unbelievers, And they think they're really going to pull one over on you by using the Bible to prove some sort of point of theirs that condemns Christianity or debunks Christianity in some ways. And most all of the time, they absolutely have no idea whatsoever what they're talking about.
They pull it out of context all the time, not understanding what it essentially means in the first place. Totally pulling it out of context. And like Satan himself, who is their master, they misquote it, they misapply it, they misinterpret it.
They don't know what they're talking about. You are to know exactly what you're talking about. What it means, why it's true. Just like Jesus knows why it's true, where it comes from, what it means. You're to do exactly the same thing in encountering Satan and others.
Who misused the word of God in such a fashion? So Satan, most of all, takes this truth quote from God's word out of context, misapplication. He does this all the time as well.
In fact, Dare I say it's a favorite attack. It's a favorite tactic. This is, of course, a favorite tactic of false teachers who are under the influence of Satan as well. Take a scriptural passage out of context so you can make it say or mean whatever you want. Great danger to this day.
One of the evil one's favorite tactics to this day. I guarantee you folks, if you pay close attention, you're going to see this and hear this almost on a daily basis. Take a scriptural passage out of its context, so therefore you can make it say or mean whatever you jolly well want. Not what it actually says and means in the Word of God.
Now, I know sometimes it may be tedious for you, but this is why I believe with all of my heart, the best way to study the Word of God, to teach it or to preach it, is to do so in expositional fashion, the way we do. Book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, sentence by sentence, word by word. So it keeps me honest and it keeps you honest. and you really are getting what this says. What?
it means in its context. We study this in a manner that we can't take it out of context and twist it and turn it into just whatever we jolly well want it to mean or do. Now, I know there's some really good topical preachers and topical sermons out there, but I shy away from that because you probably have too.
I certainly have heard topical sermons in which this is done. They'll lift a verse out of its context and use it as a proof text to prove some sort of point that it's not really about at all. That's what Satan does for heaven's sake.
Don't do that. It's dangerous. Dangerous. Satan takes this psalm totally out of its context to misapply it.
We only have a few minutes left. But I'm giving you some important things to think about today and in the following week. I know you've heard this story many times, but man, I hope already, hopefully, pray God, I've proven that there's a whole lot of lessons for us today by examining this event, what took place, what the evil one is trying to do, and how Jesus responds.
Folks, it is applicable and relevant to us. It really is. Jesus showed us the way to do battle with him to his face and beat him with the Bible, with the Word of God. And all of these temptations that he throws at Jesus, he'll throw a variation of it at you and basically all of humanity.
Misapply it. To suggest to Jesus to use it as an excuse, to use its truth, to use literally for a sinful, selfish, self-serving, self-glorifying act. Ah, there it is.
He'll want you to use this to do something selfish, self-worshipping, self-obsessed, self-centered. He'll want you to use this to turn it into something wrong. That instead of being all about God and the will of the Father and His plan for your life and His relationship with you, He'll want you to turn it into something that is not about God, but that's all about you.
Or that's all about Him. Self-worship. Self-glorification.
That's what He uses to condemn people to hell. We want to worship ourselves. Instead of God.
That's what condemns us to the judgment. That's what Satan wants to do. Keep you worshiping yourself instead of God. So you will, like he will be one day, condemned. To get Jesus to perform some sensational miracle, and you've got to admit it, It'd be pretty sensational.
Now Jesus did some technically sensational miracles. They were beautiful. They were wonderful. They were magnificent. But it was by what?
The divine will and plan of the Father in heaven with whom the Son is one in the power of the Spirit. Father, Son, and Spirit are one. These miracles done by way of the plan and will and the Father by Jesus were perfect according to divine will and plan.
But Satan is suggesting some sort of sensational, spectacular miracle. and it would have been but it's wrong because it's not being used in the right way for the right purposes according to the plan and will of the Father. He's trying to separate Jesus from his divine Father to get Jesus to do something in contradiction to the divine will and plan of the Father, just as he tries to get you and I to do something in contradiction to the divine plan and will of the Father. He wants Jesus to perform this sensational miracle or cause it to be formed. You see what he's doing?
Force God's hand. Force God's hand. Force the hand of your father.
He made this promise. Well, make him follow through with it. Blasphemy.
By the way, he suggests the same thing to you and to me, doesn't he? Well, if this is true, prove it. Hold him to it.
If he doesn't come through, then what? Well, he's a liar. The liar, the chief liar, the father of lies, insinuating to you that God is a liar. By not keeping his word, by not keeping his promises. You see how your enemy works?
How he works, how he thinks? What he wants to do to you? To get Jesus to perform this miracle in front of crowds at the temple, it would what? It would gain cheap, worldly glory for Himself. The kind of glory what?
Here it is. The kind of glory that Satan... Satan himself craves. I mean, Satan is not as spiritually powerful as what you and I think. Don't give him any power abilities that he doesn't really have.
But he and his demonic cohorts are are able to perform old things that probably in comparison to the power of God look like cheap parlor tricks of a cheap magician. But it's power, it's glory that should belong to God. This is what the evil spirit craves.
And this is what he's tempting Jesus with. Throw yourself down off of here and you'll get all the glory that the world can afford. The very kind of glory Satan craves. That sinful, self-serving human beings crave. Not The type of glory and approval that is given by God.
You see? After all, what a sensational act that that would be. Nobody could deny that.
But that sort of thing is totally contrary to the mission of God in and by way of Jesus. I only have a few minutes left and we'll resume here next week where we leave off at the temple. It would be a sensational act.
Oh my, wouldn't it? But that sort of thing is completely contrary to the mission of God and by way of Jesus. Jesus will receive glory over this world, over this universe. But not this way.
By the way, you and I aren't either. When Satan tempts, I know who's little old me and little old wherever that I live. Right?
But he'll tempt you with cheap worldly glory. He does every human being who is alive. In some way, shape, or form, wherever you are. Reject it utterly, completely, and entirely.
Just as Jesus did. And seek what? The glory and... and approval that comes from above, from God Almighty alone. Because that is the glory and approval that you really want.
That is the glory and approval that will never leave you, that will never fade, that you will have for eternity in the next world. Don't seek the glory of this world. It's passing away, as Brother John said.
Seek the glory from above. The glory that is given from the Father. That lasts forever. And the devil himself can't take that away from you. For Jesus to do such a thing as the evil one suggests, such a thing would be the way of Satan, would be the way of evil people, would be the way of a dark world that's on its way to the judgment of God.
Satan is saying, or suggesting in effect, so if you are indeed God's true unique Son, and you are, then show off your power. Show off your glory. Why this humility? What are you thinking? What are you doing?
You're going to accomplish your mission this way? I know the word of your Father. If the psalm says that God would protect those people of Israel, whom back then He called His sons, back then He called His children, as evil and wretched as they were, then how much more will He do for you?
The Son of God, if indeed or so indeed you are. If you are, prove it! Prove it to the world by an act of great power and great glory. Think of what could be done.
Doesn't he do that exact kind of thing to us and to people all over this world? So Satan takes an essential basic scriptural truth, a beautiful thing, God's protection of his own people. And he wishes to twist it and pervert it into a sinful, prideful, self-centered act.
He always does this. If he can get Jesus to do this, then he ruins Jesus' redemptive mission. And I close with this.
This is something of a cliffhanger now, isn't it? But we know what happens. Next week we'll come back and explain what happens. In great detail.