Here we are again in that second temptation
of Jesus.
I dare say that you have thought more
about these temptations of Jesus and what the
temptations really were than you have ever thought
about them during your entire lifetime.
And you're realizing now for the very first
time that the enemy was so subtle in
his attack.
He was so subtle in tempting Jesus that
the real sin could not be seen on
the surface.
And do you want to know something?
He is still that subtle in his temptation
in your life and in mine.
Something that seems so innocent in itself.
On the surface, you see no sin in
it whatsoever.
It almost looks reasonable.
And yet the old boy is so cunning.
He is so subtle that it isn't long
before we find out he's got us trapped.
And it's just like that.
He has the same personality he has always
had.
He has the same bag of tricks.
He has no new tricks.
It's the same old bag of tricks.
So watch him.
All right.
Now I'm going to begin exactly where I
left off when I left your home.
And I'm going to talk hard and fast
in this little heart-to-heart talk because
I want to finish up in this, the
second of the temptations of Jesus.
Then in our next heart-to-heart talk
we'll begin with the third of the three
temptations.
Let me just read again from the fourth
chapter of Matthew, the fifth verse.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again,
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Wherein was the temptation in this, the second
of the enemy's attacks on Jesus?
It was the sin of presumption.
And I want to remind you again, if
you forget everything else that I might say
in the next 30 minutes, remember, precious Christian,
there's a mighty thin line between trust and
presumption, between faith and presumption.
Presumption can be sin.
And presumption and trust are two different things.
Turn now to consider the victory of Jesus.
And in doing so, look first of all
at the weapon that Jesus used.
The enemy was challenging Jesus to jump from
the pinnacle of the temple in the city
of Jerusalem, before the whole world, to prove
his trust in almighty God.
Had Jesus yielded to the stubbornness of Satan,
had Jesus jumped, as Satan was challenging him
to do, he would have committed the sin
of presumption.
The devil even quoted in Scripture in making
this challenge to him.
Why, he said, nothing will happen to you,
for it is written, quoting Scripture, he shall
give his angel charge concerning this.
On their horns they shall bear thee up.
You won't get hurt.
Go on.
Prove your trust.
Prove your faith.
Jump.
He'll be right there with his angel.
They'll catch you.
They'll happily now dash thy foot against the
stone.
It'll be like a man jumping off of
the bridge.
And saying, I'm going to prove the word
of God.
I'm going to prove my trust.
I'll prove my faith.
I'll jump off the bridge.
Because the word of God says, he shall
give his angel charge over thee.
On their hands they shall bear thee up.
They'll happily now dash thy foot against the
stone.
To prove my trust in God, I'll jump
off the bridge.
Do you want to know what will happen?
The oil boils round.
Why?
It was not trust.
It was not faith.
It was presumption.
Yes.
The enemy quoted Scripture.
Now in the first translation, in answering the
enemy, Jesus was the one who quoted the
Scripture.
Jesus answered by saying, It is written.
In the second translation, after the devil quoted
the Scripture, and in the second translation, the
devil was the first to quote the Scripture,
Jesus answered the enemy by saying, Again, it
is written.
And in the use of the word again,
we have a revelation of our Lord's perfect
mastery of the weapon.
In comparison with Christ, I repeat again, the
devil was certainly a poor swordsman.
Oh, the devil can make us a fool
of himself when he starts using the sword
of the Spirit.
It would seem as though with quiet and
yet mighty movement of his strong arm, Jesus
just wrested the sword right from the hand
of Satan.
And the force of that wonderful word, again,
lies in the fact that it is an
answer to Satan, It is written.
Jesus did not deny the correctness of the
Satanic question, no ma'am.
But he replies to it by saying, Again,
it is written.
That is to say, there must be proper
use made of the words of God.
You must use God's words properly.
Be careful how you use the Scripture.
Be careful what use you make of the
word of God.
No one statement, written from a context, is
a sufficient warrant for action on anyone's part.
Be careful how you use the Scripture.
It is written.
You may point your finger to the certain
person of the word of God and say,
here it is.
But be careful regarding the meaning.
Or the context.
Regarding that person of the word of God.
The devil quoted the Scripture, but he has
taken it out of its context.
Has twisted its meaning.
That's the reason Jesus quickly comes back and
says, Again, it is written.
And for the proper definition of life, no
one isolated text is sufficient.
It is absolutely necessary that there should be
acquaintance with the whole theme of the divine
will of God.
And the true balance and proportion of life.
You must keep the Scripture in its context.
There must be a perfect balance for the
use of that Scripture before you can claim
it for a certain purpose.
That's the reason we have so many false
doctrines today.
And practically every religious organization is based upon
some Scripture.
They have to use some portion of the
word of God as their foundation.
It is based on some part of the
word of God.
But it's the easiest thing in the world
to use Scripture for a purpose for which
it was not intended.
What infinite value there is in that word
again.
How excellent a thing it would be if
the whole church of Christ had learned that
no law of life may be based upon
an isolated text.
It is always necessary to discover the varied
sides and meanings of the truth.
Be careful how you use the Scripture.
Be very careful.
Every false teacher who has ever divided the
church has had an it is written on
which to hang his doctrine.
Every body of believers that has ever been
divided it has been divided on it is
written.
But be careful.
Be careful how you use the Scripture and
for what purpose.
Again I repeat, every false teacher today uses
Scripture.
Every division of church has had as it's
basis for division Scripture.
What hope many a Christian would have been
saved from heartbreak, from weeping.
Much reproach could have been saved the church
if only we had used the Scripture wisely
and for that purpose for which the word
was given.
To pass however to the actual Scripture with
which Christ resisted the attack.
This is what he said.
Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord
thy God.
It's been somewhat commonly understood that here Jesus
was addressing himself to the devil as though
he should say to him thou ought not
to make trial of me.
But somehow it almost seems to mix the
supreme value of the words.
In these words as in those with which
he defeated the enemy in the first temptation
he was defining his own position.
Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord
thy God was addressed to man and in
this quotation the Lord gave his reason for
receiving the task himself from the wing of
the temple.
Right here Jesus took his position.
Right here the Lord gave his reason for
refusing the task himself from the wing of
the temple in Jerusalem.
Thou shalt not make trial.
Thou shalt not make mockery of the Lord
thy God.
Thou shalt not make mockery of my trust
in my heavenly Father.
It's something too sacred to flaunt before the
whole world.
It's something too sacred to publicize.
It's something between God and myself and I
don't have to prove it.
It is something that is a living vital
part of me.
Oh, that's marvelous.
Here then is the exposure of the deepest
meaning of this subtle account.
What could be more extrajordy outward than that
this perfect man should trust in God.
What more sickening than that he should prove
his trust by doing something, by taking some
great risk.
In a sentence the Master strips the whole
hypocrisy and he reveals the murderous intent.
To have touched himself in the wing of
the temple, to have touched himself down into
the street, in the very last and final
analysis would have demonstrated not trust but the
lack of confidence.
It is when we doubt a person that
we make experiments to discover how far they
would be trusted.
To make experiments of any kind with God
is to reveal the fact that one is
not quite sure of him.
Trust never desires to tempt.
Trust never desires to...
One never trifles with trust and confidence.
Never.
If you do not have confidence, it's then
you have to do something to prove the
trust you have in someone.
Oh, sure.
The perfect trust just quietly abides in pure
confidence.
Oh, with what master skill this perfect gentleman
has revealed the strength and at the same
time the weakness of a satanic onslaught.
The true territory of trust is revealed by
the Lord's answer.
That territory is again the will of God.
In effect, the master declared that he could
trust God perfectly so long as he remained
within the sphere of his revealed will.
But that if he passed out of that
sphere, if he took himself out of the
will of God, then he had no right
to trust.
He could no longer trust the hand and
the protection and the power of any father.
But Jesus knew he had that confidence.
He knew that so long as he was
in the will of a father, he could
trust him completely.
He had that confidence.
What infinite value for all of us there
is in this unfolding of the true nature
of faith in our God.
The devil is saying, do something adventurous, do
something magnificent, do something out of the ordinary
and thus demonstrate your confidence.
Do something heroic and in so doing you
demonstrate your faith, your trust.
But the master is always replying, trust is
not evident by such action.
That would be to tempt God.
And to tempt Him is to reveal the
depth of trust.
Christ never makes experiments outside of the will
of God.
Never.
Jesus refusing to tempt God demonstrated his perfect
confidence in Him.
And that revealed for all time the fact
that man, so devoid of selfish interest as
to be willing not to appear heroic, that
in perfect confidence through Christ Jesus will come
so victorious.
In these two temptations, the twofold nature of
the Son of Man has been subjected to
the nearest weakness in the physical realm of
death.
Strength in the spiritual realm was a fact.
Physical weakness abiding in the will of God
proves stronger than the mightiest force of evil.
And spiritual strength, calmly content with what seemed
to be the commonplace of life was demonstrated
to be mightier than all the subtleness of
spiritual weakness.
Oh joy.
That is why, beloved, remember something.
We too can stand today in that glorious
portion, the Word of God that's given in
the Book of Romans.
Oh, there it is.
You and I are not only conquerors.
No, in all these things we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, I have that trust,
I have that confidence that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be
able to separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
That is our trust.
That is our sure confidence.
That is our faith.
And, beloved, I would stake my life on
the keeping power of our Heavenly Father.
That concludes this message.
We hope it has been a blessing to
you.
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