The Second Temptation of Christ

All right, I get the pleasure of talking about the second temptation out of Matthew 4 verses 5 through 7. By way of introduction, something you'll see if you look at the word temptation throughout Scripture, you'll find that it's a Greek word that is variously translated. Sometimes it's the word temptation or tempt but it also gets translated in some versions of scripture as testing or trial. It's the same word behind it. It's kind of interesting don't you think that our temptations on the one hand are temptations and on the other hand they’re trials. I think that is exactly the way we need to see them in reality. It's like 2 sides of the same coin. There is that devilish side—I like to think of it as the tails side on my coin—where he's making his appeal always to your lower nature, the worst part of you. And he’s hoping that he can con you into falling, into failing, into rebelling against God in some measure. Ultimately, gratifying yourself at God's expense in some manner. But, on the other side of that coin God is there. God is in that situation with you and he's making his appeal to a higher nature: the divine nature that he has put in you. His desire of course, is that you endure that temptation, that you withstand that temptation. Because, the fruits, the spoils of that victory is character. It's the character of Christ that he's after. There's no shortcut to that. And, that's one of the reasons why temptations/tests/trials have to come into our life. They have a divine purpose that you can't overlook. I would just suggest that it will help us at times, in the midst of the situation when we feel it as an overwhelming temptation, just remember there's another side to this coin. God’s here with me trying to give me some character out of this.

So let's look at Matthew 4 beginning in verse 5 and pick up the account here:  

Then the devil took him [Jesus] up into the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down for it is written ‘He shall give his angels charge over you and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone’” but Jesus said to him, “it is written again [or also] ‘you shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

So, it's interesting when I see this.  In my Bible I have it underlined that the devil took him up to throw him down. That's kind of interesting isn't it? It tells you something about your adversary, that's just the kind of guy he is. He takes you up but it's always to throw you down.

Along with that, there is a lot you could say about the devil. I don't want to get off on a tangent on that but there is that devilish aspect in every temptation that you're dealing with. Notice in this passage, it really stands out to me how brazen he really is. He has no fear walking up to the Son of God and holding a conversation with him. He has no fear of taking him into the holy city as it's termed here in this passage. He has no qualms even about taking him to the temple in the holy city, the holiest place of the Holy City if you could say it that way. We need to keep that in mind sometimes. Don't think that you're going to get to the place where you're in this holy place where you won't be tempted.

<pull-quote>The only boundaries the Enemy observes as I read it out of the Book of Job, are the boundaries God puts on him.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

I mean I really thought that when I came here as a student--maybe not so much consciously--but I remember being frustrated that here I am months into this program and I'm still tempted by lust. And a very wise person just pointed out to me, "Well, did you think you would get past where Jesus got? Did you think that you would arrive in a place where you wouldn't be tempted anymore?" And, well yeah, I think maybe I did. But I was wrong, OK. So this let that be a lesson to us. Also, you notice it doesn't really matter where you are. I hear guys talk about it sometimes and I've experienced it myself, coming into this chapel on what we consider a holy hill Kentucky. Here is our sanctuary, our holiest place and there are guys who have struggled with lustful, or filthy thoughts anyway, right here in this room. Because that's the way the devil works. He's not deterred by any of those things. The only boundaries he observes as I read it out of the Book of Job, are the boundaries God puts on him.

So then, we see that he's taken Jesus up into this holy location, and what does he do with him there? He quotes Scripture to him! Isn't that an amazing thing? He quotes Scripture. In the 1st temptation Jesus defeated him, how? By quoting a very resourceful passage of Scripture that applied right to the specific situation he was dealing with. I've had conversations with guys at times and and I've asked them, "What verses do you use to battle your lustful temptations?" and you'll be amazed at the answers I get. I suggest that you make sure that you've picked a verse that applies to the temptation you're dealing with. That's what's meant to be conveyed here in these 3 accounts as well, that we need to choose the right weapon when we go at the enemy back with Scripture. So, he comes at Jesus with scripture and really he's essentially saying, "Look that worked for you and you won that round. So, let me try scripture and see what happens." And he comes out and says, "If you are the Son of God throw yourself down, for it is written 'He shall give his angels charge over you and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Right out of Psalm 91 verses 11&12. He left out one little phrase, but even the commentators generally agree that it's really insignificant. He did accurately quote this passage. That was kind of surprising to me the first time I looked that up. I remember years ago looking it up and thinking "I wonder what he distorted here. I wonder what he left out or somehow misquoted scripture." And, I was stunned in a way to discover that he actually quotes it rather accurately and he certainly conveyed the meaning of that passage accurately. But, there is a devilish twist in all of this, I guess I should point that out, because he didn't misquote it but he certainly is misapplying it. And that's just as bad and something we have to take note of for ourselves. And again, even within the last couple of weeks I've talked to guys who are doing this exact same thing; going around in circles over certain passages of Scripture that they're misapplying and totally refusing to acknowledge that the Word of God says a lot more than just this one little narrow chunk that they're stuck on. So let that be a lesson to some of us.  

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"If you are the Son of God" he says to him. The passage immediately preceding this encounter with temptation in the wilderness was his baptism. Where the heavens opened, and what did God say? "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Right? "This is my beloved son." The first words out of Satan's mouth, even on that 1st temptation: "If you are the Son of God." You see how he comes against the very nuggets of truth that God gives you? That's what he attacks. As soon as you receive it, he's after it. He contends against every bit of truth that God's trying to give you and tries to get you to doubt it or to let go of it.  

But, Jesus' response here is also very instructive. He knows the heart of God very well. That's kind of where I was going earlier when I was talking about misapplying the Word of God. It is true, we have to know the Word of God, and you have to know all of the Word of God. But, I want to say to you that it's even more than that. We have to know the heart of God. That's the real antidote for keeping us from misapplying scripture, when we know the heart of God. And that's one of the reasons why we have those mercy studies classes every Sunday night with you guys, because you have to know that God's will is mercy. You have to know his heart. You have to know God's character in a very full and rich way, because that's your real antidote for these kinds of things.  

<pull-quote>We have to know the heart of God. That's the real antidote for keeping us from misapplying scripture, when we know the heart of God.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

So, Jesus knows the heart of God very well and he has no problem recognizing that this temptation, even though it's based on Scripture, is a twisted, deformed appeal to pride. And he doesn't fall for it. He says "It is written again [or it's also written] you shall not tempt the Lord your God." I want to take a couple minutes and talk about this now from a biblical counseling perspective where we talk a lot about putting off and putting on. So, there's some putting off that needs to happen here and it's pretty clear. "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." The thing you need to put off is tempting God. Satan's appeal here is trying to get Jesus to accept this counterfeit of faith, this presumption. He's trying to push him over into presumption instead of faith in the Word of God, to use it as a reckless license instead of actually living on it as word of truth and faith. And, we have been guilty of using God's promises as licenses  to sin or or excuses for reckless sinful behaviors. I can remember driving to an adulterous relationship appointment and asking God to keep me safe while I'm driving the car, because it was a real fear of mine that that's how I would get exposed somehow.  

I just say that because that's the kind of thing that Satan was after here, to try and get us to to act presumptuously on the Word of God. Perhaps in your life it's more like asking him to bless your finances while you're freely spending on pornography. Or, asking God to give you a wife, or to restore your marriage if you were married, but all the while you're consuming everything He's giving you on your self life. Why would he give you one of his daughters in that circumstance? But that's the kind of thing we're like, "but God, your word says you won't withhold any good thing from us and He who finds a wife finds a good thing." I mean, I've heard all the arguments and they get trumped up and played in bold letters sometimes.  But when you're still consumed with self, why would he do any of those things?  

In the pulpit commentary about this verse it says:  

In this refusal of Christ are implicitly condemned all who run before they are sent, who thrust themselves into perils to which they are not called, all who would fain be reformers but whom God has not raised up and equipped for the work of reformation, and who therefore for the most part bring themselves and their cause together to shame, dishonor, and defeat with all those who presumptuously draw drafts on the faithfulness of God [write a check on the faithfulness of God] with no Scriptural warrant to justify them in believing that he will honor it.  

There's something even deeper I want to get at here. Because if we let Scripture interpret scripture, Jesus's reply came out of Deuteronomy 6:16. And if you look at that verse it's actually a reference back even further to Exodus chapter 17. This is what it means really Scripturally to tempt the Lord. It says out of Exodus,  

Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”  

So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?”  

And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  

You hear their attitude loud and clear right?  

So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”  

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”  

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel  So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”  

It's that phrase that I was after, "Is the Lord among us or not?" because I feel like that question is in our hearts more than we recognize. It may not have that exact wording to it but it's the question: "Is the Lord really here this morning in the service? Is the Lord really here at Pure Life Ministries? Is His power really here to set me free from addiction? Or, is he really able to help me in my daily battles with temptation? Is he really here? Is the Lord really in this place?" Think about the things that make you angry or anxious and you've probably often found yourself saying some version of "Is the Lord really in this? Is the Lord really in these difficult situations?". We have enough trouble sometimes convincing you that he's really in the job we sent you to, or the roommate we assigned you to. Could the lack of finances be the hand of God? You know that's another way this question gets asked in our hearts. "Does God really want me to suffer like this?"

And if we took it outside of the ministry, I think the most common version of that question that is being asked by professing Christians today is, "Is the Lord in this marriage?". You see the tempting of the Lord that's going on in our hearts when we say things like that now?

We're just like those Israelites. We're quick to murmur, quick to complain. And, even if we're willing to give God credit for the blessings in our life, we're still quick to think that he has nothing to do with the difficulties or the hardships or the testings or the trials of my life. You've got to get past that. There needs to be that putting on then. So you put off those kinds of questions, and what you need to put on in their place is some faith that God is in these things, that this is the hand of God. That's really the secret to biting your tongue instead of complaining, recognizing the hand of God in the situation, acknowledging the hand of God in it, knowing in your heart that everything that's happening in your life, in your circumstances has passed through his hands. I can tell you, I was telling someone this just earlier this week. I have literally been, you know I have a little chair where I do my prayer time in the mornings, and I have literally been writhing in that chair with tears running down my face in just complete turmoil and anguish inside. But, what brings me through days like that is that awareness that, "God you're in this." That's what I end up telling God, "This is you. You're doing this. You're in this. You meant for this. You saw all this. You planned this. You're allowing this for a good purpose in my life. And, I don't want to miss that just because I'm being a crybaby right now." You have to say things like that to Him. God is with us, that's one of his names, Emmanuel-God with us. He really is with us. Especially when you think he's not. And he's not merely with us, but he understands everything we're going through. He was tested and tempted in all points like we are, so that he could be our help in our time of need. Remember then, that that testing is to produce his character in you.  

<pull-quote>God is with us, that's one of his names, Emmanuel—God with us. He really is with us. Especially when you think he's not.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

I just want to close with the thought that this episode that I'm talking about here didn't end right here at the end of verse 7. I believe that this ends in Revelation 12:10. "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.'" Amen. Who is it that's going to get cast down? Not Jesus, Satan. His own words are going to come back on him. Praise God for that.