Today we continue our study in the Word of God in the temptation. Last week I pointed out that the temptation of the Lord Jesus came immediately after his baptism, immediately upon his being anointed with the Spirit of God, and we began to see the plan of Satan's attack. The avenue of approach that Satan uses to reach us is through the flesh — through appealing to our needs and desires, including perfectly legitimate ones which he distorts into something that can ensure our ruin. Today we need to look at the remaining two principles he uses in order to attack us.
I must tell you, very frankly, that the temptation account is very, very deep, and what we are doing in these expositions is no more than taking out three fundamental principles to examine. There are depths of meaning in the temptation which we will not be able to reach today, and so I don't want anyone to think that by the time we have studied it we understand all there is to understand. As you go on in the Christian life and are able to handle strong meat, you will be able to understand better and better. Let us then read Luke chapter 4, verses 5 to 13.
"And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, 'To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.' And Jesus answered him, 'It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.' And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.' And Jesus answered him, 'It is said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.' And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time."
Now here are some very important principles that we must understand, especially for those of you recently baptized, for you are now engaged in spiritual warfare. Satan's tactics are very subtle and very clever. If the first attack does not succeed, he will find another way and another means, and he has many means at his disposal.
The fundamental approach, the basic idea that Satan uses, is quite simple. His basic suggestion — though he doesn't put it in so many words — is this: never mind what God did or did not say, just do your own thing. Who cares what God said? Think about yourself. The self is what matters. Maybe God doesn't always look after you. And so we have this saying: "God takes care of those who take care of themselves." Never was a more satanic statement hatched out of hell than that, and yet it sounds very reasonable. I have seen so many Christians totally without discernment swallowing this thing lock, stock and barrel, because they did not have the spiritual insight to see through the satanic logic of it.
Now, once we understand this general principle, we come to the first specific temptation in verse 5. Satan is tempting Jesus to take the easier road — the path of least resistance. He took him up to a high place and showed him the kingdoms of this world. And notice the words at the end of verse 5: "in a moment of time." This was not a guided tour; it was a vision. Satan can give you some pretty good spiritual experiences. He can take you up into a high place and give you a vision of the glories of the world. Beware of spiritual visions that come from Satan.
I say to those of you who are baptized and perhaps not experienced in spiritual warfare: don't think that every mountain-top experience comes from God. It doesn't necessarily. In one week's time after some conferences, I see that the person has faded out, reached a state of depression. When a spiritual experience depresses you after time, that worries me. Satan lifts you up just to bash you down — that is the only reason why he lifts you up. Approach every spiritual experience with caution, especially those that offer instant uplifting. People who are just looking for a lift will get one from Satan.
Beware of big meetings that use massed choirs and music to play upon your emotions. The reason why we know how to use these techniques but don't use them is because we know they produce results of the flesh, not of the Spirit. Every psychologist knows that the mass effect is very easy to create emotionally. Any wise preacher refuses to use that, because he knows that if you lift the person up with the flesh, he will fall spiritually. When the Spirit of God lifts you up, there is a deep inner peace — not an excitement, not sudden weeping and shivering, but quietness, brokenness, a quiet weeping. I lived under the communists for seven years, and if anyone understands how to manipulate masses, the communists know how to do it better than anybody. That is the strategy communists use very effectively, and I am grieved to see Christians using the same technique, thinking they can serve God this way.
In the next verse, Satan says to Jesus, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory — on one small condition: just bow down before me for a moment." Now let us think carefully. Satan is no fool. He knows why Jesus came into the world. Scripture in 1 John chapter 3 verse 8 tells us plainly: "The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil." Satan knows this, and so his reasoning is quite simply: you and I are going to get hurt in this fight — why not make a deal? I will give you the whole thing without a fight, on one small condition.
Now, many people misunderstand the word "worship" here in verse 7. It would be ridiculous to expect Jesus to worship Satan as God — that would not even be a temptation worth discussing. What is being asked here is to pay him homage as king, to acknowledge him as king. This same Greek word is used in Matthew chapter 2 verse 2, where the wise men "worshipped" the baby — they were not treating him as God, but honouring him as the King of the Jews. So Satan is not asking Jesus to treat him as God; he is simply asking Jesus to honour him as the ruler of this world, which Jesus already acknowledges in John chapters 12, 14 and 16. He is saying: you already know I am ruler — just formally honour me as such, and I hand everything over to you without a fight.
This is a very dangerous manoeuvre, and I have seen it used on Christians again and again. Take the example of someone who wants to serve the Lord and go to Bible college. The family takes the soft approach: "I don't object — in fact, I'll pay for your Bible college training." I have seen Christians walk straight into that trap and say, "Hallelujah! My family doesn't oppose me; they're even going to pay for my training!" Don't shout hallelujah too soon. You have walked straight into the trap. If you were wise, you would not accept one cent. Because if you accept it, you are now indebted — you owe even your theological training to the opposition. You never take something from the enemy without having to pay for it with massive interest.
Beware, then, of the soft approach. That is what Satan was doing here. When Satan starts getting sympathetic, you really have to start worrying. Back in Liverpool, there was a lady who first tried to confront me by force. When that failed, she changed tactics completely: a slow smile came over her face. "We don't have to fight anymore," she said. "I'll give you a whole church building — no strings attached. You have it all." That attack worried me more than anything else. And I prayed about it and said, "No, thanks. I don't need a building." She offered another. Then offered to pull it down and build a new one to my design. Satan has resources. To buy over a man of God at that price is cheap. So you see, be careful of the soft approach.
Notice how Jesus answers in verse 8: "It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." He proves his total commitment to the Father — refusing to take the easy road, refusing to compromise. Him only shall he serve. No one else. There is not going to be any compromise. And so on to the next principle.
# Temptation After Baptism (Part B) — Serving God in Your Own Way, and the Danger of Partial Truth (Luke 4:9–13)
"Serve him, then — serve him to the utmost of your capacity. Here is a plan: go to Jerusalem, stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and jump down into the courts below. The Saviour of the world descending from above upon the worshipping multitudes — what a technique!" When Satan starts suggesting plans for how to carry out your calling, you had better think very carefully. And what is more, Satan knows the Bible. He is going to quote from one of the finest of the Psalms — Psalm 91, which begins, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High." Like a good swordsman, like a good judo man, he knows how to use your strength against you. You just said God only is supreme — then here is the plan. "Didn't God say, if you jump down from there, he will give his angels charge over you? You will not be hurt." And notice that his quotation is exact. Nothing wrong with this quotation.
So what is the objection? The principle involved is this: you can serve God, but serve him in your own way. That is exactly what Jesus is being tempted to do. Beware of a zeal that is going to serve God but not according to God's way. You would think nobody would make such an elementary mistake, but let me tell you that almost the majority of Christians make precisely that kind of mistake. "I can worship God at home — why do I have to go to church? Isn't God everywhere?" The question is not whether you can do it your way. Of course you can. Can Jesus jump off the pinnacle of the temple? Of course he can. The question is: is this God's way?
For a young Christian it is not always easy to discern whether you are playing into Satan's hands or not. When the devil quotes a verse to you — and every false sect, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Scientists, whatever they are, what do they do? They all quote the Bible to you. They come with a gold-edged Bible that costs five times what mine costs. This is why in this church we are concerned to train everyone in the scriptures. As the Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 22 verse 29, "You do err because you do not know the scripture nor the power of God." If you do not feed on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, you will not survive long as a Christian.
One way to deal with this is: when anyone quotes one verse of scripture to you, always think whether there is another verse or passage that supplements that verse. Ask yourself: is this the whole truth concerning this point, or only some part of the truth? For example, Satan has misguided the church to a great extent along this line. You will go to many a church and hear always the same passages being preached. I have noticed that wherever I went in Protestant churches, I heard only the preaching of Paul — Ephesians, Colossians, Paul this and Paul that. When is anybody going to tell me what Jesus said? Paul wrote only one third of the New Testament. What about the other two thirds?
If you want to see this imbalance illustrated, go into a bookshop and glance along the shelves. The number of books on Paul's epistles runs into thousands, yet books on the Lord's teaching, on the kingdom of God, on the book of Jude, on James — next to nothing. I have been doing a new study on the kingdom of God and can find almost nothing in the evangelical world. The only evangelical who wrote anything of serious exegetical importance on the kingdom of God was G.E. Ladd, formerly of Fuller Seminary. The central theme of Jesus' teaching — the kingdom of God — is hardly mentioned. How Satan has gained his way. The teaching of the Lord Jesus is the only teaching that is complete; nothing is missed out, nothing is left out, everything is there in its proper emphasis. Paul, as I have mentioned before, is in fact a commentator on the Lord's teaching. If you don't understand the text, how will you understand the commentary?
Now, Satan's strategy against the church is precisely this: get them to emphasise only one aspect of scriptural truth. It did not work against the Lord Jesus, but it does work against the church. Beware of anyone who gets offended when you point out another scripture that balances the one he just quoted. There was a meeting in my student days in London where a dear brother was going on about "justification by faith alone." First, observe: the word "alone" is nowhere to be found in scripture. But this little word was inserted. I immediately quoted James chapter 2 to him — "therefore is a man not justified by faith alone" — and he was very, very annoyed. I hope that you will love the whole word of God and never pick and choose whatever you please. Paul never said "justification by faith alone." He never said that. True faith is never alone; faith without works is dead, as James says, and Paul would have agreed with that 100%.
Notice also that all of Jesus' quotations in reply to Satan come from one book — the book of Deuteronomy. That intrigued me. If Satan quoted from Psalms, the Lord Jesus still answered from Deuteronomy. Why? Because the characteristic of Deuteronomy is the kingship of God. The word "mitzvah" — commandment — occurs in Deuteronomy 43 times, compared to once in Genesis, four times in Exodus, ten in Leviticus, five in Numbers. Deuteronomy stresses God's law, God as king, because he gives his law to his people and they are subject to it. The very word "Deuteronomy" means a second declaration, an earthly copy of God's heavenly law. Jesus knew exactly which was the right book to quote under these circumstances — the book that most powerfully emphasises the kingship of God.
Anyone who loves God loves his law. Psalm 119 verse 47: "I delight in your law, O Lord." Psalm 119 verse 127: "Your law is more precious to me than gold, than fine gold." If you truly love God's word, live by everything that proceeds out of his mouth, then Satan will never be able to get you down.
So let us sum up as we close. The first principle Satan used today was tempting Jesus to take the easy road, to avoid the cross by receiving the kingdoms without a fight — and he uses this on Christians in many ways. The second principle is: devote yourself to only part of God's truth, serve God with zeal but partisan zeal. This partisan zeal has resulted in the most dreadful things in the history of the church — it is this that led to the Inquisition, where Christians tortured Christians to death in God's name, thinking they were doing God's service. The crusaders went forth and killed Muslims in God's name. Even in Calvin's Geneva they burned people at the stake. Oh, God help us — how Satan has misguided the church.
So I plead with you: understand the whole word of God. Study especially those parts that make you uncomfortable, those parts that don't seem to agree with your theology. Don't hide yourself behind your theology. I have had to change my thinking again and again when I studied the word of God. I used to prize one particular doctrine, only to find that the word of God blew my doctrine to pieces, and I said, "Okay, Lord — if that is the way it is, then so goes my doctrine. You tell me what you want me to believe." And finally, notice what Satan quotes: "He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you — on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone." Comforting words. Beware of comforting messages. When a message disturbs you, convicts you, cuts into your heart — thank God for it. But woe to those who go to church just to look for comfort. Those promises in Psalm 91 are addressed only to those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, who live in obedience to God, who recognise him as the Most High. The moment Jesus is not Lord in your life, the moment you try to jump off pinnacles to prove religious points, no angels will bear you up. But if you walk in the secret place of the Most High, fellowshipping with him, then when you stumble he will bear you up — because you are walking in his way, not your own way.