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
temptations in your life and in mine something
that seems so innocent in itself on the surface
we 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 that he has
always has. He has no new tricks. It's the same
old bag of tricks. So watch them. 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. 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 shalt dash thy foot
against a stone and jesus said unto him it is
written again thou shalt not tempt the lord thy
god In 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... 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, note first of all 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. jesus yielded to the
subtleness of satan had jesus jumped as satan
was challenging him to do he would have committed
the sin of presumption the devil even quoted
him scripture in making his challenge why he
said nothing will happen to you for it It is
written, according to scripture, he shall give
his angels charge concerning thee. On their hands
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 angels. They'll
catch you. Lest happily thou dash thy foot against
a stone. It would 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 angels
charge over thee. On their hands they shall bear
thee up. Lest haply thou dash thy foot against
the stone. To prove... trust in God, I'll jump
off the bridge. Do you want to know what'll happen?
The old boy will drown. Why? It was not trust.
It was not faith. It was presumption. Yeah? The
enemy quoted scripture. Now, in the first temptation,
in answering the enemy, Jesus was the one who
quoted the Scripture. Jesus answered by saying,
It is written. In the second temptation, after
the devil quoted the Scripture, and in the second
temptation, the devil was the first to quote
the Scripture, Jesus answered. 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. All the devil can make such
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's,
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, rested from its context, is a sufficient
warrant for actions on anyone's part. Careful
how you use the scripture. It is written. You
may point your finger to the certain portion
of the word of God. And say here it is. But be
careful regarding the meaning. Or the context.
Regarding that portion of the word of God. The
devil quoted the scripture. But he had taken
it. out of its context, had 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 scheme 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 meaning 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 its basis for division, scripture.
Watch it. Oh, 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 scriptures wisely and for the... 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 miss
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 refusing
to cast himself from the wing of the temple.
Right here, Jesus took his position. Right here,
the Lord gave his reason for refusing. to cast
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 front 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 marvellous
here then is the exposure of the deepest meaning
of this subtle attack what could be more excellent
to all the outward seeming than that this perfect
man should trust in god what more fitting than
that he should prove his trust by daring something,
by taking some great risk. In a sentence, the
master strips the whole hypocrisy and he reveals
the murderous intent. To have cast himself in
the wing of the temple, to have... cast 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're to be trusted. To make experiments
of any kind with God is to reveal the fact that
one is not quite sure of him. Crust never desires
to tempt. Crust never desires to test. One never
trifles with crust 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. But perfect trust just quietly
abides in sure confidence. All with what matched
the skill of this perfect Son of man has revealed
the strength and at the same time the weakness
of the 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 the Heavenly Father. But Jesus
knew. He had that confidence. He knew that so
long as he was in the will of the Father, he
could trust him completely. He had that confidence.
What infinite value for all of us there is. 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'll demonstrate your faith, your trust. But
the master is always replying, Trust is not evidenced
by such action. That would be to tempt God. And
to tempt Him is to reveal the depth of trust.
Trust never makes experiments outside of the
will of God. Never. Never. Jesus, refusing to
tempt God, demonstrated his perfect confidence
in him, and thus revealed for all time the fact
that man, so devoid of selfish interest as to
be willing not to appear heroic, Christ Jesus
will come forth victoriously. In these two temptations,
the twofold nature of the Son of Man has been
subjected to severest testing. Weakness in the
physical realm was tested. Strength in the spiritual
realm. was attacked. Physical witness abiding
in the will of God proved stronger than the mightiest
forces 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 wickedness. Oh,
sure. That is why, beloved, remember something.
We too can stand today in that glorious portion
of the word of God that's given in the book of
Romans. Oh, there it is. You and I are not only
conquerors, nay, in all these things. We are
more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded I had that trust. I had 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. Amen.