The Temptation of Christ, Part 4
Trusting or Testing

Sermon from Matthew 4.5-7 on May 13, 2012

 

The Temptation of Christ Matthew 4.1-2 Round 2 – Trusting or Tempting?

Scripture: Matthew 4.1-7

Picture – Temple!

300 – 450 feet high.

 

Took Him … Set Him… Throw Yourself

The Devil might be able to take you to somewhere… The Devil might be able to set you onto something…But the Devil cannot make you jump! You have to throw yourself down!

The Devil can promote but can never push.  The Devil can say “jump” but cannot push you off the edge.

Jump to Safety – Not Destruction

The Devil’s temptation was not for Jesus to jump to destruction… but to safety!!  Why?

Prophecies & Promises

Promise – God won’t let your foot bruise.
Prophecy – God will allow your foot to bruise.

Genesis 3.15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring
and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Psalm 91.11-12
“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.”

Satan: “It Is Written”

After Jesus quotes the Bible in v.4 to defeat Satan in Round 1… The Devil wants to play that game too. “I know Bible verses too.”  Bad hermeneutics is one of the Devil’s favorite tools.

D.A. Carson:
“Even a correct quotation of Scripture can be misapplied.”

Two of Satan’s Greatest Temptations:

- Stealing the assurance of believers.
- Giving assurance to non-believers.

Ok, fine… You trust God.
Let’s find out if God is trustworthy.

Will God truly save you?  Does God really love you?   Let’s find out…

illustration – Deceiving into a Trap

What the worm is designed to do is entice the fish so that the fish can become food for the fisherman. It is an enticement.

No bear goes looking for a bear trap.  No mouse goes looking for a mousetrap.  What entices the mouse is cheese.  But cheese is set on the trap, and because of its lust for cheese, the mouse is deceived in not recognizing the trap.  Therefore, it is enticed or deceived or duped by something that is legitimate to create an opportunity for the destruction of the prey.

1.) The Devil Mis-Quoted Scripture

He quotes almost all of Psalm 91.11-12.

He leaves out: “in all your ways”. Why leave that part out?

“Omission of the clause…
alters the whole character of the quotation.”

It might remind Jesus of the “Way” that He should take.

2.) The Devil Mis-Used Scripture

Holy City – Pinnacle

Gain public attention through this spectacle rather than by a righteous life & message.

(Mal.3.1)

Super-Natural Bungee Jump! *** Toot your own horn! ***

Psalm 91 is not about deliberate jumping… but mistakenly stumbling.

2 Corinthians 11.14
“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

Proverbs. 22.3
“The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.”

illustration – Samantha’s birth – Psalm 91

God casts down so He may raise up. Satan raises up so he may cast down.

Keep yourself humble.

You don’t have to jump… just because you can!

God casts down so He may raise up. Satan raises up so he may cast down.

There is a difference between… Trusting God & Tempting God

The Devil twists the meaning of this verse.  He quotes a passage about trusting God and misuses it to justify testing God.

2 Peter 3.16
“There are some things in them (Paul’s letters) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

You cannot use 1 verse of Scripture for your cause… while completely ignoring another.

How to Spot a Trap

 

Quoting Scripture isn’t enough.  It is possible for a man to have his head full of Scripture notions… & his mouth full of Scripture expressions… while his heart is full of enmity toward God.

The Devil’s abusing of Scripture did not prevent Christ from using it.

(Deut.6.16)

Psalm 119.11

- Reading Scripture
- Memorizing Scripture
- Quoting Scripture

Is not enough… If they are not done with the aim & the result to love & follow Christ.

Revelation & illumination

To know of & to read of revelation is not enough. There must also be illumination!

Satan understands the revelation.  Its not enough to memorize God’s word… You must allow the revelation to culminate into illumination.

It has to go to the head and the heart!!
Allow God’s revelation to bring forth illumination!

That your mind will be renewed and your heart will be transformed!  We ought to be people who: Trust God… Not Test God!

If trouble comes… If you stumble… If you fall…

God will catch you!

Fall to Safety

Satan is tempting Christ: 

If you jump… God will catch you.   If you don’t… Hunger, Trouble, Cross.

Satan was offering Christ safety from the cross.  But Christ was more concerned for   our safety than for His own.   But Christ was more concerned for  the Father’s will than for His own.

O Sinner… If you’re looking for a safe place to fall… The † is the one safe place for sinners to run to! Because at the † the wrath of God fell there once and it will never fall there again!

Do not put God to the test… Trust Him today.