WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.459 Here we are again in that second temptation of 00:00:05.459 --> 00:00:12.000 Jesus. I dare say that you have thought more 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.820 about these temptations of Jesus and what the 00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:19.719 temptations really were than you have ever thought 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:23.760 about them during your entire lifetime. And you're 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.350 realizing now for the very first time that The 00:00:28.350 --> 00:00:34.270 enemy was so subtle in his attack. He was so 00:00:34.270 --> 00:00:46.890 subtle in tempting Jesus that the real sin could 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:51.750 not be seen on the surface. And do you want to 00:00:51.750 --> 00:00:58.140 know something? He is still that subtle. in his 00:00:58.140 --> 00:01:03.399 temptations in your life and in mine something 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:08.799 that seems so innocent in itself on the surface 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:13.579 we see no sin in it whatsoever it almost looks 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:20.739 reasonable and yet the old boy is so cunning 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:26.840 he is so subtle that it isn't long before we 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:33.159 find out he's got us trapped. And it's just like 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:37.140 that. He has the same personality he has always 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:43.219 had. He has the same bag of tricks that he has 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:50.659 always has. He has no new tricks. It's the same 00:01:50.659 --> 00:01:59.500 old bag of tricks. So watch them. All right. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.040 Now, I'm going to begin exactly where I left 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:05.480 off when I left your home. And I'm going to talk 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:07.900 hard and fast in this little heart -to -heart 00:02:07.900 --> 00:02:11.539 talk because I want to finish up in this, the 00:02:11.539 --> 00:02:15.460 second of the temptations of Jesus. Then in our 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:18.120 next heart -to -heart talk, we'll begin with 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:22.400 the third of the three temptations. Let me just 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:24.939 read again from the fourth chapter of Matthew, 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:29.620 the fifth verse. Then the devil taketh him up 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:33.280 into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.039 of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.919 the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is 00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:44.699 written, he shall give his angels charge concerning 00:02:44.699 --> 00:02:48.439 thee and in their hands they shall bear thee 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:51.280 up lest at any time thou shalt dash thy foot 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:57.080 against a stone and jesus said unto him it is 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:05.840 written again thou shalt not tempt the lord thy 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:19.780 god In was the temptation in this, the second 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:25.419 of the enemy's attacks on Jesus. It was the sin 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:31.500 of presumption. And I want to remind you again, 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:33.460 if you forget everything else that I might say 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:38.080 in the next 30 minutes, remember, precious Christian, 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:47.740 there's a mighty... between trust and presumption, 00:03:47.819 --> 00:03:57.099 between faith and presumption. Presumption can 00:03:57.099 --> 00:04:05.780 be sin, and presumption and trust are two different 00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:11.120 things. Turn now to consider the victory of Jesus. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:15.780 And in doing so, note first of all the weapon 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:22.040 that Jesus used. The enemy was challenging Jesus 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:26.879 to jump from the pinnacle of the temple in the 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:32.139 city of Jerusalem before the whole world to prove 00:04:32.139 --> 00:04:41.240 his trust in Almighty God. jesus yielded to the 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:48.860 subtleness of satan had jesus jumped as satan 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:53.100 was challenging him to do he would have committed 00:04:53.100 --> 00:05:00.579 the sin of presumption the devil even quoted 00:05:00.579 --> 00:05:04.360 him scripture in making his challenge why he 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:07.769 said nothing will happen to you for it It is 00:05:07.769 --> 00:05:11.470 written, according to scripture, he shall give 00:05:11.470 --> 00:05:16.970 his angels charge concerning thee. On their hands 00:05:16.970 --> 00:05:19.230 they shall bear thee up. You won't get hurt. 00:05:19.629 --> 00:05:27.250 Go on. Prove your trust. Prove your faith. Jump. 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:32.449 He'll be right there with his angels. They'll 00:05:32.449 --> 00:05:35.930 catch you. Lest happily thou dash thy foot against 00:05:35.930 --> 00:05:41.089 a stone. It would be like a man jumping off of 00:05:41.089 --> 00:05:45.290 the bridge and saying, I'm going to prove the 00:05:45.290 --> 00:05:48.209 word of God. I'm going to prove my trust. I'll 00:05:48.209 --> 00:05:53.709 prove my faith. I'll jump off the bridge. Because 00:05:53.709 --> 00:05:57.189 the word of God says he shall give his angels 00:05:57.189 --> 00:06:02.769 charge over thee. On their hands they shall bear 00:06:02.769 --> 00:06:05.930 thee up. Lest haply thou dash thy foot against 00:06:05.930 --> 00:06:11.319 the stone. To prove... trust in God, I'll jump 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:16.339 off the bridge. Do you want to know what'll happen? 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:24.519 The old boy will drown. Why? It was not trust. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:34.600 It was not faith. It was presumption. Yeah? The 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:40.029 enemy quoted scripture. Now, in the first temptation, 00:06:40.370 --> 00:06:46.470 in answering the enemy, Jesus was the one who 00:06:46.470 --> 00:06:50.970 quoted the Scripture. Jesus answered by saying, 00:06:51.089 --> 00:06:57.230 It is written. In the second temptation, after 00:06:57.230 --> 00:07:00.170 the devil quoted the Scripture, and in the second 00:07:00.170 --> 00:07:03.110 temptation, the devil was the first to quote 00:07:03.110 --> 00:07:06.540 the Scripture, Jesus answered. answered the enemy 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:12.879 by saying, Again it is written. And in the use 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:16.459 of the word again, we have a revelation of our 00:07:16.459 --> 00:07:21.620 Lord's perfect mastery of the weapon. In comparison 00:07:21.620 --> 00:07:26.379 with Christ, I repeat again, the devil was certainly 00:07:26.379 --> 00:07:30.800 a poor swordsman. All the devil can make such 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.579 a fool of himself when he starts using the sword 00:07:34.579 --> 00:07:41.300 of the Spirit. It would seem as though with quiet 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:46.279 and yet mighty movement of his strong arm, Jesus 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:52.319 just wrested the sword right from the hand of 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:57.379 Satan. And the force of that wonderful word again. 00:07:59.110 --> 00:08:02.810 lies in the fact that it is an answer to Satan's, 00:08:02.930 --> 00:08:09.050 it is written. Jesus did not deny the correctness 00:08:09.050 --> 00:08:13.329 of the satanic question, no ma 'am. But he replies 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:18.949 to it by saying, again, it is written. That is 00:08:18.949 --> 00:08:23.850 to say, there must be proper use made of the 00:08:23.850 --> 00:08:30.009 words of God. You must use God's words properly. 00:08:30.129 --> 00:08:34.690 Be careful how you use the scripture. Be careful 00:08:34.690 --> 00:08:40.929 what use you make of the word of God. No one 00:08:40.929 --> 00:08:46.690 statement, rested from its context, is a sufficient 00:08:46.690 --> 00:08:54.149 warrant for actions on anyone's part. Careful 00:08:54.149 --> 00:09:00.149 how you use the scripture. It is written. You 00:09:00.149 --> 00:09:03.230 may point your finger to the certain portion 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:08.169 of the word of God. And say here it is. But be 00:09:08.169 --> 00:09:13.149 careful regarding the meaning. Or the context. 00:09:15.490 --> 00:09:19.610 Regarding that portion of the word of God. The 00:09:19.610 --> 00:09:22.870 devil quoted the scripture. But he had taken 00:09:22.870 --> 00:09:30.009 it. out of its context, had twisted its meaning. 00:09:31.570 --> 00:09:34.149 That's the reason Jesus quickly comes back and 00:09:34.149 --> 00:09:42.169 says, Again it is written. And for the proper 00:09:42.169 --> 00:09:48.070 definition of life, no one isolated text is sufficient. 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:51.779 It is absolutely necessary that there should 00:09:51.779 --> 00:09:55.799 be acquaintance with the whole scheme of the 00:09:55.799 --> 00:10:01.799 divine will of God and the true balance and proportion 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:10.120 of life. You must keep the scripture in its context. 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:16.059 There must be a perfect balance for the use of 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:20.730 that scripture. before you can claim it for a 00:10:20.730 --> 00:10:24.870 certain purpose. That's the reason we have so 00:10:24.870 --> 00:10:28.950 many false doctrines today. And practically every 00:10:28.950 --> 00:10:34.110 religious organization is based upon some scripture. 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:39.049 They have to use some portion of the Word of 00:10:39.049 --> 00:10:45.370 God as their foundation. It is based on some 00:10:45.370 --> 00:10:49.840 part of the Word of God. But it's the easiest 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:59.100 thing in the world to use Scripture for a purpose 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:05.940 for which it was not intended. What infinite 00:11:05.940 --> 00:11:11.120 value there is in that word again. How excellent 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:13.940 a thing it would be if the whole Church of Christ 00:11:14.649 --> 00:11:20.129 had learned that no law of life may be based 00:11:20.129 --> 00:11:26.970 upon an isolated text. It is always necessary 00:11:26.970 --> 00:11:37.049 to discover the varied sides and meaning of the 00:11:37.049 --> 00:11:40.350 truth. Be careful how you use the scripture. 00:11:42.379 --> 00:11:48.659 Be very careful. Every false teacher who has 00:11:48.659 --> 00:11:54.240 ever divided the church has had an it is written 00:11:54.240 --> 00:12:00.960 on which to hang his doctrine. Every body of 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:05.600 believers that has ever been divided, it has 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:14.840 been divided on it is written. But be careful. 00:12:16.340 --> 00:12:20.720 Be careful how you use the scripture and for 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:27.080 what purpose. Again, I repeat, every false teacher 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:32.299 today uses scripture. Every division of church 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:38.100 has had as its basis for division, scripture. 00:12:42.740 --> 00:12:51.620 Watch it. Oh, many a Christian would have been 00:12:51.620 --> 00:13:00.620 saved from heartbreak, from weeping. Much reproach 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:06.259 could have been saved the church if only we had 00:13:06.259 --> 00:13:11.149 used the scriptures wisely and for the... purpose 00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:16.110 for which the word was given. To pass, however, 00:13:16.190 --> 00:13:21.549 to the actual scripture with which Christ resisted 00:13:21.549 --> 00:13:25.289 the attack, this is what he said, Thou shalt 00:13:25.289 --> 00:13:30.710 not make trial of the Lord thy God. It's been 00:13:30.710 --> 00:13:34.210 somewhat commonly understood that here Jesus 00:13:34.210 --> 00:13:36.389 was addressing himself to the devil as though 00:13:36.389 --> 00:13:41.470 he should say to him, Thou ought not. to make 00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:50.970 trial of me. But somehow it almost seems to miss 00:13:50.970 --> 00:13:55.450 the supreme value of the words. In these words, 00:13:55.490 --> 00:13:58.210 as in those with which he defeated the enemy 00:13:58.210 --> 00:14:02.250 in the first temptation, he was defining his 00:14:02.250 --> 00:14:07.809 own position. Thou shalt not make trial of the 00:14:07.809 --> 00:14:13.309 Lord thy God. was addressed to man and in this 00:14:13.309 --> 00:14:17.070 quotation the Lord gave his reason for refusing 00:14:17.070 --> 00:14:20.389 to cast himself from the wing of the temple. 00:14:22.029 --> 00:14:31.970 Right here, Jesus took his position. Right here, 00:14:32.009 --> 00:14:39.860 the Lord gave his reason for refusing. to cast 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:44.379 himself from the wing of the temple in Jerusalem. 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:53.720 Thou shalt not make trial. Thou shalt not make 00:14:53.720 --> 00:15:01.700 mockery of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not make 00:15:01.700 --> 00:15:11.779 mockery of my trust in my heavenly Father. It's 00:15:11.779 --> 00:15:16.259 something too sacred to front before the whole 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:24.940 world. It's something too sacred to publicize. 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:35.259 It's something between God and myself. And I 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:41.240 don't have to prove it. it is something that 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:49.080 is a living vital part of me oh that's marvellous 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:56.320 here then is the exposure of the deepest meaning 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:59.820 of this subtle attack what could be more excellent 00:15:59.820 --> 00:16:03.620 to all the outward seeming than that this perfect 00:16:03.620 --> 00:16:09.480 man should trust in god what more fitting than 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:13.279 that he should prove his trust by daring something, 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:20.759 by taking some great risk. In a sentence, the 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:27.120 master strips the whole hypocrisy and he reveals 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.679 the murderous intent. To have cast himself in 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:36.870 the wing of the temple, to have... cast himself 00:16:36.870 --> 00:16:41.769 down into the street in the very last and final 00:16:41.769 --> 00:16:47.909 analysis would have demonstrated not trust, but 00:16:47.909 --> 00:16:54.250 the lack of confidence. It is when we doubt a 00:16:54.250 --> 00:16:58.110 person that we make experiments to discover how 00:16:58.110 --> 00:17:02.009 far they're to be trusted. To make experiments 00:17:02.009 --> 00:17:05.940 of any kind with God is to reveal the fact that 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:12.920 one is not quite sure of him. Crust never desires 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:20.519 to tempt. Crust never desires to test. One never 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:28.559 trifles with crust and confidence. Never. If 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:35.329 you do not have confidence. It's then you have 00:17:35.329 --> 00:17:39.910 to do something to prove the trust you have in 00:17:39.910 --> 00:17:50.289 someone. Oh, sure. But perfect trust just quietly 00:17:50.289 --> 00:17:58.210 abides in sure confidence. All with what matched 00:17:58.210 --> 00:18:02.180 the skill of this perfect Son of man has revealed 00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:08.500 the strength and at the same time the weakness 00:18:08.500 --> 00:18:14.519 of the satanic onslaught. The true territory 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:19.500 of trust is revealed by the Lord's answer. That 00:18:19.500 --> 00:18:24.279 territory is again the will of God. In effect. 00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:27.559 The master declared that he could trust God perfectly 00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:31.980 so long as he remained within the sphere of his 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:37.460 revealed will. But that if he passed out of that 00:18:37.460 --> 00:18:42.900 sphere, if he took himself out of the will of 00:18:42.900 --> 00:18:48.400 God, then he had no right to trust. He could 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:53.400 no longer trust the hand. and the protection 00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:57.859 and the power of the Heavenly Father. But Jesus 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:02.380 knew. He had that confidence. He knew that so 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:08.559 long as he was in the will of the Father, he 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:14.980 could trust him completely. He had that confidence. 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:22.549 What infinite value for all of us there is. is 00:19:22.549 --> 00:19:27.190 in this unfolding of the true nature of faith 00:19:27.190 --> 00:19:33.089 in our God. The devil is saying, do something 00:19:33.089 --> 00:19:36.250 adventurous, do something magnificent, do something 00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:39.069 out of the ordinary, and thus demonstrate your 00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:45.170 confidence. Do something heroic. And in so doing, 00:19:45.170 --> 00:19:49.309 you'll demonstrate your faith, your trust. But 00:19:49.309 --> 00:19:56.980 the master is always replying, Trust is not evidenced 00:19:56.980 --> 00:20:04.299 by such action. That would be to tempt God. And 00:20:04.299 --> 00:20:09.779 to tempt Him is to reveal the depth of trust. 00:20:10.660 --> 00:20:17.180 Trust never makes experiments outside of the 00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:26.000 will of God. Never. Never. Jesus, refusing to 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:31.180 tempt God, demonstrated his perfect confidence 00:20:31.180 --> 00:20:36.279 in him, and thus revealed for all time the fact 00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:41.579 that man, so devoid of selfish interest as to 00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:54.549 be willing not to appear heroic, Christ Jesus 00:20:54.549 --> 00:21:04.670 will come forth victoriously. In these two temptations, 00:21:04.829 --> 00:21:11.150 the twofold nature of the Son of Man has been 00:21:11.150 --> 00:21:18.170 subjected to severest testing. Weakness in the 00:21:18.170 --> 00:21:22.009 physical realm was tested. Strength in the spiritual 00:21:22.009 --> 00:21:26.990 realm. was attacked. Physical witness abiding 00:21:26.990 --> 00:21:30.390 in the will of God proved stronger than the mightiest 00:21:30.390 --> 00:21:35.970 forces of evil. And spiritual strength, calmly 00:21:35.970 --> 00:21:40.150 content with what seemed to be the commonplace 00:21:40.150 --> 00:21:44.369 of life, was demonstrated to be mightier than 00:21:44.369 --> 00:21:50.809 all the subtleness of spiritual wickedness. Oh, 00:21:50.809 --> 00:21:56.190 sure. That is why, beloved, remember something. 00:21:57.049 --> 00:22:04.630 We too can stand today in that glorious portion 00:22:04.630 --> 00:22:08.430 of the word of God that's given in the book of 00:22:08.430 --> 00:22:15.529 Romans. Oh, there it is. You and I are not only 00:22:15.529 --> 00:22:23.440 conquerors, nay, in all these things. We are 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:31.519 more than conquerors through him that loved us. 00:22:32.420 --> 00:22:39.900 For I am persuaded I had that trust. I had that 00:22:39.900 --> 00:22:44.839 confidence that neither death, nor life, nor 00:22:44.839 --> 00:22:48.519 angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:54.349 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 00:22:54.349 --> 00:22:59.390 depth, nor any other creature shall be able to 00:22:59.390 --> 00:23:04.170 separate us from the love of God, which is in 00:23:04.170 --> 00:23:14.950 Christ Jesus our Lord. That is our trust. That 00:23:14.950 --> 00:23:26.490 is our sure confidence. That is our faith. And, 00:23:26.589 --> 00:23:33.509 beloved, I would stake my life on the keeping 00:23:33.509 --> 00:23:39.009 power of our Heavenly Father. Amen.