I shall read from the fourth chapter of the book
of Matthew and refresh your memory regarding
the temptations of Jesus. There were three. We
have already discussed the first. We are now
beginning the second. And at a later time, we
will discuss the third of these three temptations.
Then Jesus was led up of the Spirit. into the
wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And believe
me, these temptations were very real. And remember
again, if it had been impossible for Jesus to
have yielded to any one of these three temptations,
then these temptations would have been a farce,
a mockery. The fact remains that Jesus, in the
wilderness, could have yielded to any one of
these three, or he might have yielded to all
three of the temptations. But had he yielded
to even one of the three, he could not have been
in the position where his blood, his shed blood,
would have made Atonement for our soul. In the
wilderness, he was as much man as though he were
not God. He was your representative. He was my
representative. He was the representative of
man. In the wilderness, as he was being tempted
of Satan. That's the reason the scripture could
say he was... tempted in all points, even as
you had been tempted, as I had been tempted.
And yet he came forth sinless, victorious through
the power of the Spirit. And when he had fasted
forty days and forty nights, he was afterward
and hung. And when the tempter came to him, he
said, If thou be the Son of God, command that
these stones be made bread. But he answered and
said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. That was the first temptation.
Now the second. Then the devil taketh him up
into the holy city. and setteth him on a pinnacle
of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be
the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is
written, He shall give his angels charge concerning
thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee
up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone. jesus said unto him it is written again
thou shalt not tempt the lord thy god pause just
a minute i have just read you a portion of the
word of god as found in the fourth chapter of
matthew there is no definite data for determining
the length of time between these two attacks.
I cannot tell you definitely whether it was a
matter of hours, because there's no way to determine
the length of time between the first and the
second temptation. In all probability, they followed
each other in quick succession. This seems to
be suggested by the word with which Matthew introduces
the account of the second attack. Because it
begins by saying, In other words, immediately
following his first temptation, his first attack
on Jesus, and seeing that he was defeated in
the first temptation, he immediately taketh him
into the holy city. Then the scripture says,
the devil taketh him into the holy city. So this
would suggest that it was immediately. He had
attempted the overthrow of obedience through
an attack upon the physical nature. We saw that
in the first attack. In renewing the attack,
He no longer appeals to the element of weakness
created by hunger, but to that which was the
very strength of spiritual life, namely, the
Master's trust in God, the Son's trust in the
Heavenly Father. Oh, to me, that... is the slimiest,
the dirtiest, the smallest thing the devil could
have done. In this, his second attack upon Jesus,
he attacked the very strength of spiritual life.
She tried to attack the simple trust that Jesus
had in Almighty God. For remember, it's our trust,
our faith in God that is the very foundation
for everything else. That's our strength. That
is man's strength. spiritual strengths. That's
our stronghold. That's our foundation. Now follow
the order of the attack. Watch it. In this renewal
of temptation, the enemy passes to that which
lies behind the citadel already unsuccessfully
assailed. Having Never to seduce Jesus from his
position of unswavering loyalty to the will of
God, he now flings all the force of his subtle
art against that which was the strength of his
abiding in the will of God. In other words, he
has perfect confidence in God. Jesus had absolute
confidence in God. He had a perfect confidence
in his heavenly Father. He came to earth with
perfect confidence in his father. He had lived
those years of his life here on earth with perfect
confidence in his father. There could be no question
that the element of strength in Christ's steadfastness
in the will of God was that of his absolute confidence
in his father. His quiet and perfect trust. It
was this trust which made him deliberately choose
to suffer hunger, which lay within the divine
will, rather than to satisfy that necessity of
his life by yielding to his own... deity and
his own power to turn those stones into bread.
He had perfect trust in his father, knowing that
it was in the will of father that he fasted those
40 days. Perhaps he didn't understand why. Perfect
trust does not have to see a foot ahead. Perfect
trust. does not demand an immediate answer. Perfect
trust does not have to see. That's what perfect
trust is. The enemy, having failed to persuade
him to turn aside from that pathway, now directed
his forces against the principle of strength,
which was the very secret of the previous...
triumph of Jesus. He thought to himself, if I
could just get him to deviate from that perfect
trust, if I can just sidetrack him just a little,
then I can cause him to sin. He will no longer
be the perfect Son of God. Too much emphasis
can hardly be laid on this thought that I'm giving
you just now. God's perfect man was perfectly
victorious. And he was completely victorious
because his trust in his father was so complete
that his... relation to the will of God was something
instantly beyond that of resignation or merely
a determination when it came to his submission.
We can only become perfectly and completely submitted
to one and to the will of that one when we have
perfect trust in that one. Know that. I can only
be completely submitted to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can only and I do only submit my will, my life
completely to him because I have perfect confidence
and perfect trust in him. It's like that. When
a child ceases to have perfect trust in a parent,
then that child will no longer submit their will
to that other parent. When you have lost the
confidence of your child. When you have lost
that perfect trust that that child has in you,
you've lost everything. Everything has been destroyed.
Here the enemy sees that Jesus has perfect trust
and perfect confidence in his Father. And he
says to himself, if I can destroy that, I've
got him. Oh, I'll tell you something. There it
is. There it is, beloved. He knew, Jesus knew,
that he was safer hungry, but hungry in the will
of God, than he could have been satisfied from
hunger outside the will of his Father. Oh, if
you and I could only get to that place, greatest
experiences of our life. This being the objective
point, now carefully mark the subtlety of the
approach of the evil one. I read the scripture
now. Then the devil taketh him into the holy
city, and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God,
cast thyself down, for it is written. Oh, oh,
look out. The devil begins quoting Scripture.
In the first temptation, he did not quote Scripture,
but Jesus refuted the attack. by saying it is
written. The devil in the second temptation has
become so cunning, so subtle, that he begins
by quoting scripture himself. That's the reason
I have said to you over and over again, Christians
are so gullible. Sometimes I think they're the
most gullible people in the world. They'll accept
anyone who goes around tooting a Bible. Christians
are so gullible. If somebody comes to your house,
and if they have a Bible under their arm, why
come right on in. Sure, we're so gullible. Sit
down. Do you want to know something? The devil
can quote Scripture better than the greatest
saint that ever lived. The devil knows the Scripture.
The devil can quote Scripture. And he can quote
it hard and fast. He had the audacity to literally
stand before the Son of God and quote Scripture.
And this is what he said. And it was Scripture.
It was the Word of God. Nothing had been taken
from. Nothing had been added to. It was exactly...
as the scripture itself had been given. For it
is written, here's the devil quoting, he shall
give his angels charge concerning thee. He keeps
right on. On their hands they shall bear thee
up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.
The devil is quoting scripture. And it was the
word of God. Pause a minute. The choosing of
the place is first evidence of how subtle the
foe really was. He took Jesus, the scripture
says, to the holy city. The holy city. and the
temple in the holy city, and in the temple, the
pinnacle. How largely the mind is often influenced
by surroundings. How you and I are very often
influenced by our surroundings. And the devil
knew, oh, he knew what that location meant to
Jesus. He knew this place meant everything in
the world to Jesus. Everything, for Jerusalem
was the very center of the deepest life of the
nation, and all the aspirations of the people
centered therein. The devout child of Abraham,
in whatever part of the earth he found himself,
turned his face towards the city as his heart
went out to... God in his prayers. And concerning
it, thousands would join the prayer of the sonnest
of old when he said, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her skill. And believe
me when I tell you that Jesus of Nazareth was
no exception to the rule. How he loved that city.
He came to it over and over again. He was very
sentimental. over the city of Jerusalem. The
devil knew it. That is why in his second temptation,
he took him to the spot where Jesus was most
sentimental. My goodness, life, I've just looked
up. I've got to leave you. And don't miss our
next heart -to -heart talk on the second temptation.
God bless you.