Matthew-010

 

Today, we continue to study deeper into the meaning of the temptation. Last week, I pointed out that the temptation of the Lord Jesus came immediately after his baptism, or upon his being anointed with the Spirit of God. So we begin to see the plan of Satan’s attack. What we saw last week is that the approach that Satan uses to reach our hearts is through the flesh, appealing to our needs and desires. Some of these appeals are perfectly legitimate, which he distorts into means that can ensure our ruin.

Today, we need to look at the remaining two principles which he uses to attack us. Now, I must tell you very frankly, that the whole account of the temptation is very, very deep. What we are doing in these expositions is no more than taking out these three funda­mental principles to look at. There are depths of meaning in the temptation which we won’t be able to reach today. So I don’t want anyone to think that by the time we have studied the temptation, we have understood everything. No, we are only dealing with three basic principles, but there are still great depths which you will be able to understand better as you continue to mature in the Christian life to handle “strong meat” (Heb. 5:12).

We looked at Luke 4:1-4 last week, and today, we will read from Luke 4:5-13:

The picture here is vivid, just as Satan emerged in the Old Testament, in the Garden of Eden, to indirectly tempt the first man, Adam through Eve, he now emerges in the New Testament, in the wilder­ness, to tempt the new man, the last Adam, Jesus. The outcome of these three temptations is total triumph for Jesus Christ, who always does his God and Father’s will, and “became a life-giving spirit” to whosoever wills to be in him (cf. 1 Cor. 15:45).

Here in Luke 4:8, the Lord Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13 to rebut Satan’s second temptation. Then Satan thinks, “Well, you have quoted to me, “It is written” twice (Lk. 4: 4, 8), so I’m going to quote “It is written” in my third temptation, and Satan quotes very accurately from Psalm 91:11-12. In reply in v. 12, the Lord Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16.

 

Temptation 1: Put your legitimate physical needs and desires above the spiritual

Here are some very important principles that we must understand, especially for those of you who have been recently baptized. You are now engaged in spiritual warfare. You must understand the tactics of the enemy, and these tactics are very subtle and very clever indeed! The first one that we looked at last week is crude; it is simply an appeal to your legitimate physical needs and desires. But as Satan goes on, he refines his approach. If the first attack does not succeed, he will find another way, and he has many means at his disposal.

 

In temptation, Satan’s suggestion is: Just do your own thing!

Although Satan doesn’t put it in so many words, his basic suggestion is simply this: “Never mind what God did or did not say, just do your own thing! Who cares what God says? Whether God says it or not doesn’t matter. You must think about Number 1, yourself! The ego is what matters. Look after yourself. Maybe God doesn’t always look after you.”

Therefore, we have this saying: “God takes care of those who take care of themselves.” Never is there a more satanic statement than that hatched out of hell. It sounds very reasonable, doesn’t it? You don’t expect God to look after you if you don’t look after yourself! How do you get around that logic? We have already been indoctrinated by this saying, “God looks after those who look after themselves.” It certainly makes good sense. That is exactly what Satan thinks is very good sense.

Look at the fellow who serves God; he doesn’t look after himself, but gives up his job and follows in the steps of Christ. You will say, “You don’t look after yourself. You don’t take your own interests to heart. If you don’t look after yourself, how do you expect God to look after you?” The strangest thing is that I have heard Christians quoting this statement as though it was self-evident common sense that every Christian should understand. Oh, it is common sense to the natural man. After all, he looks after himself, and God is also going to look after him, so that is wonderful! What else do you need? The whole point of being a Christian is not only that you look after yourself, but you can also get God to look after you. This is a man-centered world in which God is there to look after you. God is there to serve you, not you to serve God. Who wants to believe in God if God is not going to be there to look after you? I want to do my thing and ask God to help me get it done too. Better than that you cannot get! That is what Tozer used to call “double insurance.” Being a Christian is to be doubly insured. You save yourself and God saves you. That is perfect logic according to the natural man.

After all, why do you want to be a Christian? It’s so that you can have God do something for you! Whether you do anything for God or not is irrelevant. Who worries about that? Maybe in your spare time you might think of doing something for God. But in the meantime, God is there to do everything for you. That is what I call “the man-centered religion of Satan.” So if you ever hear anyone quoting you this statement that “God takes care of those who take care of them­selves,” you’d better tell him that that was something that came straight out of the mouth of Satan. What that person is saying is: “Why do you worry about what God said? Just do your own thing, and God will also take care of you when you do your own thing to take care of yourself.” That is just right! I have seen so many Christians swallow this statement lock, stock and barrel, because they did not have the spiritual insight and discernment to see through the satanic logic of this whole statement.

 

Temptation 2 -- Take the easier road. Make it easier for yourself

If you look after yourself, what would you do in case of problem or conflict? The answer is very simple: Choose the easiest way out – the path of least resistance! If you have your own interest at heart, you are not going to make things hard for yourself, are you? You will choose the path of least resistance, take the easy road. Don’t take the narrow road that is difficult. Take the broad road where there is no resistance. Join the crowd! Who wants to be one against many? That is the hard road. So in the second principle of temptation in Luke 4:5, Satan is tempting Jesus to take the easier road.

Let me fill in the background of this for you so that you understand the picture a bit more. Verse 5 says, the devil led Jesus up to a high place, “and showed him all the kingdoms of this world.” The kingdoms are not just nations; they are the powers, the authorities of this world. He did not take him on a guided tour. This was not say, a holiday trip to Europe for tourists. Typically, they come back and say, “I have gone through 8 countries in Europe in 12 days.” Some of them go through 12 countries in 12 days.

Imagine trying to see Germany in one day! Of course, you can do it. I have driven through Germany in one day. You leave from one end in the morning and go out through the other end at night. It’s very exhausting, but it can be done. So you can say, “I travelled from north Germany right down to south Germany all in 12 hours!” Of course, you didn’t see very much in those 12 hours, but if you travel like this, at least you can say that you have been all through Europe, and how many countries you have been through.

This is not what Satan was doing for Jesus. He was not giving him a guided tour through all the countries of the world. No, what he was doing was, at the end of verse 5, “he showed him the kingdoms of this world in a moment of time.” Notice these words, “in a moment of time.” That means to say in one flash; it is all in a vision. It is a vision that we are dealing with here. We are not talking about a guided tour.

Notice this: Satan can give you some pretty good spiritual experi­ences too. He can take you up into a high place and give you some spiritual experience – a vision! And what a vision of the glories of the world! Those of you who are baptized, beware of spiritual visions that come from Satan. Perhaps you are not experienced in spiritual warfare, but don’t think that every mountain-top experience comes from God. It’s not necessarily so. By the way, in the parallel passage, Matthew 4:8 says Satan took Jesus “to a very high mountain,” that is, he took Jesus into a spiritual mountain-top experience.

 

Beware of spiritual mountain-top experiences: speaking in tongues, exhilarating healings

I am worried about some of these mountain-top experiences that people have at conferences. It worries me when I see that these people have faded out in one week; they are depressed. When a spiritual experience depresses you after a time, it’s not very likely to be from God. The only reason Satan lifts you up is because he wants to bash you down. In other words, approach every spiritual experience with caution, especially those which offer you instant uplifting.

I am particularly worried of people who look for the experience of tongues. I have often said that I have nothing against tongues, but it worries me when they look for tongues not because they want to be able to serve God better, but because they want to have a reassuring, uplifting, spiritual experience. People who are just looking for a spiritual uplift will get one from Satan. Satan will take you up! Be careful! Watch out for these experiences, or the exhilaration of some healing meeting! I have nothing against healing. As I have shared with you, God has also used me in healing in some small ways. But beware when all you are looking for is a spiritual uplift. It’s very dangerous! Satan is very ready to provide you with that. And you will have trouble knowing which is a genuine experience and which is not. Not all tongues are from God! Neither are all healings from God! Beware of these!

So he gives Jesus a vision of the kingdoms of this world. Beware of visions! Not all visions are from God either. Some are but some are not. It’s wonderful to have a vision that is from God. But when you have a vision from God, it is a vision of God’s glory, not the glories of the world. So look into the substance of a vision. Is it a boost to your flesh when you get an uplift? Or is it a boost to your spiritual communion with God? There is a big difference between the two. Can you tell the difference? If you get emotionally excited, this vision is not from God. But if you are spiritually lifted up, you will find that you don’t get excited; there is a great calmness. That is the sure sign of a spiritual lifting up. It is not an excitement of the flesh.

 

Satan is master at playing on emotions

Beware of big meetings that use mass choirs and music to play on your emotions. The reason why we don’t use these techniques, although we know how to, is because we know that it produces satanic, not spiritual results. It is very easy to get carried away in a mass meeting. Every psychologist knows the effect of the masses on you! It is very easy to create an emotional effect, but any wise preacher refuses to use that because he knows that if you lift a person up with the flesh, he will fall spiritually. A spiritual uplifting does not require this kind of playing upon the emotions. When the Spirit of God lifts you up, there is a deep inner peace, not an excite­ment or a sudden weeping and shivering. I have seen people weep and shiver and be in a terrible, emotional state. That is emotion! That is not necessarily from God. But when the Spirit of God convicts you, the convicting is spiritual. There is quietness, brokenness, a quiet weeping that has nothing to do with chattering teeth, being overly emotional and excited. Distinguish carefully between the flesh and the Spirit, between the world and God. When God works, it is very different. The vision that Isaiah saw is a vision of God, not some glories of the world that draws your heart after the world.

Understand these principles so that you know how to discern between the one and the other. If you go to a big meeting (and it is not to say that all big meetings are wrong), be on your guard that no one works you up emotionally with big choirs and moving music, because they are playing on your emotions and we don’t want that. Rather, press very close to God. Quiet your spirit before him, so that you are not carried away into the wrong thing.

I lived under the Communists for seven years, and they understand how to manipulate masses better than anyone else. I used to carry the flag. Wow! Have you ever seen a mass of a million people on the march? It’s very impressive! Very exciting! If you get one person to shout slogans, soon, you will have the whole crowd going out of their minds. Afterwards, when they go home, they will wonder, “What was I doing that for?” The reason simply is, everyone else was yelling their heads off. Just get one person to start, and soon it would spread through the crowd. Satan is the master of playing on your emotions. Beware of this.

I am grieved to see Christians using the same technique, thinking that they can serve God in this way. You do not serve God by using satanic or worldly techniques. You get the opposite effect. The result of these mass meetings is an enormous fallout rate at the end. People who make decisions just do not stick to those decisions. Every statistician knows that over 80% fall out within the first year. Is that the kind of results you want? The large number of people who made decisions is very impressive on a sheet of paper. My question is, how many will last after one year? And how many will be left after five years? So, understand spiritual warfare. Understand the techniques of the enemy. Understand that Satan knows how to use your flesh, and don’t go for cheap spiritual experiences.

 

Compromise: It is easier to honor Satan as king

Then in verses 6-7, Satan says to the Lord Jesus, “I will give you all this power and their splendor, for it has been handed over to me to give it to anyone I choose” What is the condition? “Let’s make it very easy. We will strike a bargain between us, okay? If you will worship me, it shall all be yours”

Let us think back a little bit. Satan is no fool. Don’t you think he knows why God sent Jesus into the world? He knows! 1 John 3:8b has told us very plainly, “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” The reasoning is quite simply like this: Satan says, “I know why you were sent. You have come to fight me, to destroy my power in the world. And you know that I’m not going to take this lying down. I’m going to fight, and you and I are going to get hurt in the process.”

We can imagine a discussion going on. All this is given to us in very condensed form in the temptation, and I told you there are depths that we will not fathom. But if you want to know what leads up to this statement, here is the reason: Satan knows what Jesus came for, and Jesus also knows why God sent him. “But for this purpose I have come to this hour,” the Lord Jesus says (Jo. 12:27b). What is the reason that he came? To destroy the works of the devil by laying down his life! So Satan is saying to Jesus, “Look, you and I know what all this is about, and both of us are going to suffer in the process. You are going to get hurt because I am going to fight. And I am going to get hurt because I know you have power. So let’s make a deal. It is in my power and I give it to you without a fight. Once I give it over to you, I don’t have it anymore. And the way I ask you to recognize that I had the authority up to this point, and you got it from me, is that you acknowledge my kingship. Pay me homage!”

Now it is very important to grasp these words, “If you, then, will worship me” in verse 7. Many people did not understand this point correctly. It would be ridiculous to expect Jesus to worship Satan, wouldn’t it? It would be ridiculous if you, even as a young Christian, worship Satan in the sense of him being “God.” That would not even be a term for discussion. It would be ridiculous to expect Jesus to worship Satan! Of course, Satan is not that stupid. He would never dream of tempting Jesus to worship him because Jesus would never do that! Even many nominal Christians would refuse to do that if they were put on the spot, let alone the Christ of God! This word translated as “worship” is not to worship Satan as God. Satan is not asking Jesus, “Treat me as God,” which Jesus would never do. All that Satan is asking here is, “Acknowledge me as the king of this world, and do me honor as the king. Worship me.”

In Matthew 2:2 for example, when the wise men, the magi, were said to worship the baby in the cradle, it is the same Greek word as in Luke 4:7 that is translated as “worship.” These wise men were said to worship the baby in Matthew 2:2. They did not worship the baby as God, they worshipped him as the king of the Jews; they did homage to him as king. That is the point of this word here. It is very important to understand this. So again, remember carefully: Satan does not ask you to do something that you would not dream of doing. Even as a weak Christian, you would not dream of worshipping Satan as God. Would you ever think of that? Certainly you would say, “That is out of the question!” No, he is only asking Jesus to honor him as king.

Jesus acknowledges that he is a king, but he is not going to worship him as king. He recognizes that he has kingly authority. For example, Jesus acknowledges that Satan has kingly power in Matthew 12:26, and that this kingly power stands in opposition to God’s kingly power, which is expressed in two verses further on in verse 28, “the kingdom of God has come upon you.” So Satan is a king in some sense. In fact, the Lord Jesus also speaks of Satan as “the ruler of this world,” or “the prince of this world” in John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11. “Prince” is used in the wide sense of the word in which a king is also a prince, a ruler. He acknowledges that Satan has power, that Satan does rule this world. Therefore, we realize that Satan is “ruler” of this world.

Now notice Satan’s further reasoning that seems at least fairly reasonable to him, a king. He is simply saying to Jesus, “You know and acknowledge that I am ruler of this world, so all I am asking you to do now is simply bow down before me to acknowledge that I am a king. That’s all I ask of you, and I’ll hand everything over to you. That makes it easy. You don’t have to go to the cross. You and I don’t have to fight. Do you want the kingdoms of this world? I’ll give them to you! Choose the easy road! It’s easier on you, easier on me, easier on everyone. And I am not asking for very much. I am just asking you to go a little bit further than recognizing that I am the ruler of this world – honor me as this.” You can recognize a person as king, but refuse to honor him. Satan is saying, “Just honor me as king, and I will give you all the kingdoms. From now on, I will sign myself out, all right? Because once the kingdoms are handed over to you, I won’t have them anymore. But I will be satisfied with the fact that you recognize that I had the right to give them to you, and that I gave them to you.”

Without looking at the many implications involved—and the reasoning gets deep and complicated in the spiritual battle as we go on—it is sufficient to recognize the simpler principle involved: Choose the easier way. A little bit of compromise is all it takes. This is a very dangerous maneuver. This attack is exceedingly subtle, and I have witnessed its repeated use on Christians. There are many, many ways you can apply this principle.

 

Example: Accepting financial help from opposing non-Christians

Take for example, I have seen people who are going to become Christians and live for God, or they want to go on to full-time service, and their parents can take one of two possibilities. The non-Christian family can take you on in straightforward confrontation, or they can take the soft approach not to object. This is usually the far more effective approach. They can say, “I don’t object. We are not going to quarrel. Let’s make a deal. You want to go to Bible College? I’ll pay for it! Just honor me as your financier, and I will pay for your studies in Bible College. How about that?” And I have seen Christians walk straight into the trap. They say, “Hey, my family doesn’t oppose me. They are even going to pay for me to go to Bible College. Hallelujah!” Don’t shout hallelujah too soon. You have walked straight into the trap. If you were wise, you would not have accepted one cent. But if you have accepted, then you are well in their grip. You are now going to owe even your theological training to the non-Christian, even if that non-Christian is family.

I have seen many Christians completely without discernment, unable to see through the device, walk straight into it and get wiped out. You never take something from the opposition without having to pay for it with massive interest. So, beware! In other words, notice that when Satan comes to you in a sympathetic manner, that is the most frightening thing. That really frightens me. I am not afraid of a head-on attack. What worries me is the soft manipulation. That really is scary because you fail to see through what is really behind it all.

The Enemy has tried using this on me quite a few times. In Liverpool, there was this lady who tried to confront me by force, and this is always a risky thing. When you confront a man of God, you will discover that God’s power is more than enough to deal with you. When she first came, she thought that she would crush me by sheer force, only to find herself getting crushed. When that failed, she changed the tactic and said, “Let’s be friends. We’re not going to fight anymore. I’m going to buy a church for you, all right? We have this building, and you can have it all.” The soft approach was what worried me.

I said, “What are the strings attached?”

“No strings,” she said.

I said, “Really no strings?”

“No strings whatsoever! The building is yours. You can have it.”

How would you like to have a church building handed to you? All you want on a plate! That attack worried me more than anything else. I prayed about it, and I said, “No, thanks. I don’t want a building.”

“But it’s free! No strings attached! We will get a lawyer and sign it over to you,” she said.

I said, “No, thanks.”

“Okay, you don’t want this building? How about another one? We’ve got another one.”

I said, “No, thanks. I don’t need a building.”

“No? You don’t like this building? We’ll pull it down, and you get the architect, you design the building, and I will build it for you.”

Satan has resources. This woman has a lot of resources – lots of money, lots of houses. What is one house out of 12 or 13? That’s nothing! To buy over a man of God with that price is cheap. Even 2 or 3 houses would be worth it. No deal!

Be careful with the soft approach. This is what Satan was doing here. He’s saying to the Lord Jesus, “Let’s not fight. I will give the kingdoms of this world to you.”

Very strangely enough, a year and a half ago when I went back to England, I saw this lady again on the street. I remember the shock on her face when she saw me. Do you know what she did? She thinks fast. She’s very clever! She had started up a rival meeting, which her son dissociated himself from, because he happens to be a very close friend of mine. He did not want to have anything to do with it. I saw how her face changed. No Hollywood actor could bring this off better. Suddenly and slowly, a smile came over her face and she said, “Oh, you’re back again! I’d like you to come and preach at my meeting.” And I said, “No, thanks very much.”

“What? I am inviting you to preach at my meeting. Don’t you want to preach the Word of God? Then preach at my meeting!”

I said, “No, thanks!” The reason is simply that if I preach at that meeting, she will be able to say, “Even he preached at my meeting.”

 

Counter-measure: “I serve no one else but God.”

Therefore, Satan will be able to say, “Even Jesus got all the kingdoms of the world from me. I am nothing anymore, but I will never forget that I gave them to him.” Can you see through the trick? The subtlety of Satan!

When Satan starts getting sympathetic, you’d really better start worrying. He said to Jesus, “Are you hungry, my friend? Oh, how God has neglected you! Well, never mind, you are the Son of God, his Christ! Just turn the stone into bread. God isn’t concerned about you. You are sitting here hungry and where is God right now? You see, I am sympathetic. I am concerned about your being hungry. Come on, let’s turn this stone into bread.” Oh, he is getting very sympathetic.

Then he says, “Well, let’s not fight. We are going to be friends, okay? I’m going to give you the kingdoms of the world, but I just need a very small favor in return! I ask that you just bow down before me for a moment, and you will have the kingdoms forever!” Oh, he is so sympathetic, so understanding! And he really knows his technique!

Notice how Jesus answered him in Luke 4:8,

Jesus is really saying, “Satan, you’ve got the principle wrong. The word “serve” here is synonymous to “worship.” You do not serve anyone but God.” Jesus answers with total commitment. Always remember this. That is why I have constantly stressed total com­mitment to you. He has proved his total commitment to the Father in the first instance, refusing to turn the stone into bread. Now he proves it again, saying, “Him only you shall serve, and no one else!” There isn’t going to be any compromise. Notice, Jesus does not deny that Satan is a king, but he says, “I serve no one else but God.”

 

Temptation 3: Serve God in your own way – with part of God’s Word, partisan zeal

We go on to the third principle of temptation. Satan said, “Do you want to serve God? Okay then, serve him, and serve him to your utmost capacity. How about let’s go to Jerusalem, and you stand on the pinnacle of the temple and jump down from there into the courts below? I’m thinking of a technique for you to come down from heaven to earth as the Savior of the world. You, the Son of God, the Messiah, are going to descend from heaven right down into the worshipping multitudes! The Second Coming takes place in the First Coming already! Now how’s that for a plan?”

When Satan starts getting sympathetic and suggesting plans of how to carry out your job, you’d better think very carefully. What is more, Satan knows the Bible. He can quote Scripture! And he is going to quote a wonderful psalm, Psalm 91, where God is spoken of as the Highest twice. Satan is now taking Jesus’ answer and turning it back on him, like a good swordsman, a good fighter, a good judo man, who knows how to use your strength against you. “Serve God only? He is the highest? Okay, let’s quote from Psalm 91.” The Psalm begins with: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High,” for which the Hebrew word means the highest, the supreme.

“You just said God is the only One you can serve; he is the supreme. We are all kings, but he is King of kings. Here is the plan of how to accomplish your purpose. if you jump down from the pinnacle of the temple, God said in Psalm 91:11-12,

You can prove the love and the glory of God, the Most High, whom you serve.” Notice his quotation is exact. A very good quotation! There’s nothing wrong with his quotation! So, what’s your objec­tion?

In serving God, the principle of temptation is this: You can serve God and serve him in your own way. That is exactly what Jesus was being tempted to do. Beware of a zeal to serve God, but not according to God’s way. You would think that no one would make such an elementary mistake, but alas, serving God in your own way is precisely the kind of mistake that the majority of Christians make!

 

Example: “Why do I have to go to church to worship God?”

I have even heard Christians say, “Can’t I do it in this way?” That kind of answer already worries me. What do you mean, “Can’t I do it in this way? I can worship God at home. Why do I have to go to church? Isn’t God everywhere? Therefore, I can worship God at home.” It sounds reasonable. God is everywhere so he must be in your home, therefore, you can worship God at home. Who needs the church? Worship God, but worship him in your own way. Haven’t you heard that one very often: “I can serve God, but in this way”? The question is not whether you can or cannot serve God in another way. The question is: Is that God’s way? The reasoning is not whether you can do it. Of course, you can. Can Jesus jump off the pinnacle of the temple? Why not? Of course, he can. What is there to stop him from doing that? The question is: Is this God’s way?

 

Counter-measure: Know your Bible

This principle is very vital. Satan quotes Scripture and what he quotes is truly Scripture. It is quoted from one of the most precious passages in the Bible, but the question is, how do you use that passage in the Bible? That is the question. For a young Christian, it is not always easy to discern whether or not you are playing into Satan’s hands. It’s a question again of doing your own thing. Serve God, but in your own way! The reason why people fall into this trap is exactly as the Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:29,

Why do you go wrong? It’s because you don’t know the Scriptures!

Let me tell you how to counter this particular thrust from the devil whenever the devil quotes a verse to you. Have you ever noticed what every false sect does? Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Science, whatever they are, what do they do? They all quote the Bible to you. Perhaps their Bible is nicer than yours. It’s certainly nicer than mine. Mine doesn’t even have a gold edge; it is white-edged. They come to me with a gold-edged Bible, which costs about five times more than mine, and really quote their Bible.

It is so important to know the Scriptures. That is why in this church, we are concerned to train everyone in the Scriptures. “You do err,” the Lord Jesus said, “because you do not know the Scriptures.” You have not understood the meaning of the Scriptures. It worries me when people don’t take Bible study very seriously, or even don’t bother to worry about Bible study, because you are going to be open to attack if you don’t want to feed on the Word of God. “We live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God,” not some words (cf. Mt. 4:4). If you don’t do that, you will not survive as a Christian. So it’s important to know the whole Scripture.

When anyone quotes one verse of Scripture, or one passage of Scripture to you, one way to deal with this is always think whether there is another verse or another passage of Scripture which supple­ments that verse. In other words, what he quotes is Scripture, but is it the whole truth concerning that particular point? Or is it only some part of the truth?

 

Study the teaching of Jesus, not just one subject in the Scriptures

Take for example, in many churches, you will always hear the same subject being preached. It is the most common of errors, and you must not think this is not common. For example, a church that only preaches about how you should get saved has told you only one part of the truth. That is very dangerous. Satan has misguided the Church to a great extent along this line.

In Scotland, where I studied, we used to have a lot of gospel halls, and they always preached on salvation, on how to be saved. Sunday after Sunday, it was, “How to be saved?” I looked through the congregation and 98% of them are “saved,” in the sense that they are Christians. And I used to ask myself, “Who are they preaching to?” I didn’t see any non-Christians around. Perhaps the preacher doesn’t know any other message, so he keeps preaching on this subject. To speak about the blood of Jesus, about the cross is wonderful, but that is not the whole Scripture. You must know the whole Scripture.

Even as a young Christian, I noticed that wherever I went in the Protestant churches, I heard only the preaching of Paul. It is always Paul this and Paul that. Today, we are going to read Ephesians and tomorrow we are going to read Colossians. And I asked myself, “When is anyone ever going to tell me what Jesus said?” But no one seems to know or cares about what Jesus said. I began to get suspi­cious. After all, Paul wrote only one third of the New Testament. What is happening to the other two-thirds of the New Testament? No one seems to care. What did James say? Who worries? Or what did Jude say? Who cares? What did the Apostle Peter say? It doesn’t matter. So every Sunday, all I heard was Paul.

When you go to a bookshop, glance through the shelves, and you will see something very interesting. Notice the number of books that concern the Epistles of Paul. It’s Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul! What books are there on Jude? You will have a hard time finding a commentary on that. What books are there on the letters of Peter? Very little! And on the Lord Jesus’ teaching? Next to nothing! If you wanted to find one book on the kingdom of God, you wouldn’t even be able to find one. There’s absolutely nothing! I have been trying because I am doing a new study on the kingdom of God, but I cannot find anything.

In the evangelical world, the only person who has written a book on the kingdom of God is G. E. Ladd, who used to be a professor in Fuller Theological Seminary until he retired. Apart from him, no evangel­ical has written anything of any exegetical importance on the kingdom of God. The title, “Kingdom of God” is sometimes used without even understanding what it means. Ladd is the only serious study about the meaning of the kingdom of God among evangelicals, and it was published in the 1950’s. There are a number of books on the kingdom of God, but strangely enough, they are all studies by liberals, and very few of them are up-to-date. What is the reason for this? The latest one has just been published, but the one before that goes back to the 1970’s. I have searched for everything on the subject by liberals or evangelicals, and there is very little to find, whereas the books on Paul run into the thousands. You cannot find anything on what the Lord Jesus taught, especially on the subject of the kingdom of God, which was his central theme, because even Ladd’s book is out of print. This caused me to begin to think that something is not in order. It worries me that the central theme of Jesus’ teaching is not mentioned, and so you can’t even find a book on it, whereas there is a constant emphasis on one side of Scripture.

Let me stress to you that the teaching of the Lord Jesus is the only teaching that is complete. The whole counsel of God is in the teaching of Jesus. Nothing is missed out. Did you know that everything is there in its proper proportion? I have studied the Lord Jesus’ teaching for years and years, and I have discovered that there is perfect completeness in his teaching. Nothing is left out.

The apostle Paul, as I have mentioned to some of you before, is in fact a commentator on the Lord Jesus’ teaching. Everything he writes is a commentary on the teaching of Jesus. He assumes that you know what your Lord taught. In other words, in studying Paul, we are studying the commentary not the text, and if you don’t know the text, how will you have the means of understanding what is in the com­mentary? The result is imbalance and misinterpretation. Paul has nothing original at all. The more I studied Paul in relation to the Lord Jesus’ teaching, the more I began to realize that I can find everything Paul wrote on the Lord’s teaching. And it is very important to understand that there are teachings in the Lord’s teaching that you don’t necessarily find in Paul.

Now, I love Paul. Don’t get me wrong! I love the writings of Paul. He has a profoundness of spiritual insight that is unmatched. But among many people today, I suspect that the reason for studying Paul is not that. The reason is that they want to forever harp on only one aspect of Scriptural truth, although an important and very precious aspect namely, justification by faith. Again, don’t get me wrong. Justification by faith is as precious to me as it is to anyone. But it’s important to recognize that we must preach the whole counsel of God, in which justification by faith is only one part, and not a very big part. No wonder the whole Church becomes lopsided! That is exactly Satan’s strategy against the Church. His strategy did not work against the Lord Jesus, but it does work against the Church.

 

Love the whole Word of God

Beware of anyone who gets offended when you point out another Scripture that is contrary to the Scripture he pointed out. I will give you an illustration of this.

There was a meeting in London in my student days, and this dear brother was going on about justification by faith alone. First, observe the word “alone” is not in Scripture. Be careful of inserting a word that is not in Scripture. “Justification by faith alone” is absolutely nowhere to be found in Scripture! But this little word was inserted there. That disturbed me. I immediately quoted to him from James 2:24, the words of the apostle James, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” And do you know what? He was very, very annoyed.

I hope that you will love the whole Word of God and never pick and choose whatever you please. I beg of you to take the Word of God in its entirety, and don’t you dare, for your salvation’s sake, to pick and choose what you please, like so many Christians do! Paul never said “justification by faith alone.” Nowhere in Paul’s writing did he ever say that. There is no verse in the Bible to prove it.

However, what does Professor Jeremias do? He is a German professor with whom I communicated at various times, because I had questioned him on some of the things he had written. He wrote a book some years ago, called, The Central Message of the New Testament, presently out of print as well, in which he argues that although Paul never used the word “alone,” the word “alone” is nonetheless justified. If you start reasoning like this, you are in trouble! Never play around with the Word of God like this! Yes, we are justified by faith, but not “alone”! Anyone who knows the Word of God understands that true faith is never alone. Paul would have agreed with what James said 100%: “Therefore a man is not justified by faith alone, but by works that come from faith.”

Why I am citing this incident is that, if someone quotes to you the Word of God which complements the Word that you have said, and you start getting annoyed, you are in trouble. If I quote a verse of Scripture and someone quotes another verse of Scripture balancing out the truth, I should be most grateful to him that he has showed me something that I may have overlooked.

That is where Luther’s troubles began, when he began to criticize the Letter of James. Are you aware that he started the entire liberal tradition in Germany in this sense? Once you start criticizing the Scripture, why shouldn’t anyone else do it? That is what the Germans have been doing ever since the days of Luther. I don’t mean to be harsh with Luther, because I love Luther very much too. And anyone who has studied Luther’s life, as I have, cannot help but have a deep affection for him. However, he was not perfect. None of us are. He made a serious mistake, and that was a mistake! That started the whole liberal tradition in Germany. To this day, Germany has been a stronghold of liberalism more than any other country.

 

Satan wants you to see only part of the truth

I warn you on this point. Make sure that you study and understand the complete Word of God. Let no one emphasize one thing alone because if you do this, you will be in trouble. I have sought, by the grace of God, to teach everything that Jesus taught in all aspects in his ministry, whether it is justification or sanctification or glorifi­cation, whatever it is. There are great riches in God’s Word, and God forbid that we should narrow it down to one thing, as though only that was precious and nothing else. There are great riches in God’s Word! God’s truth is liberating in the fullness of its riches.

After I had been a Christian for many years, I began to wonder whether the Bible says anything else apart from justification because all I ever heard was justification. I began to wonder, “Does the Bible have anything else to say? Is that all the Bible speaks about?” But as I studied the riches of God’s Word, I began to see how vast the riches are, and what great vision is there! I asked, “Why have they left us all so poor, emphasizing only one thing?”

 

By loving partial truth, you will kill truth-lovers, yet think you are serving God

Beware of emphasizing only one aspect because you will be so misled that you are going to become bitter, you are going to become partisan, narrow-minded. One of these days, you are going to become one of those people that the Lord Jesus speaks about in John 16:2b, “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”

How can anyone be as misguided as these people that the Lord Jesus warns about in John 16:2? How can they still think that they are serving God by killing you? Have they never read the Bible? That is the whole problem. You will soon find that the people who emphasize only one doctrine are very impatient, very intolerant, very narrow-minded. When you point out the riches in James to the people who only emphasize “justification by faith alone”, they will soon become very impatient with you, and accuse you of this and that. In fact, the more they try to hound you in one way or another, the more they think they are doing God’s service. I have seen and I have experienced the un-loveliness of Christian conduct from this kind of people. They don’t want to know what the whole Scripture says, but only want to hold on to their doctrine. Anyone who departs so much as a fraction from their doctrine will be accused of being heretics and so on.

I am very sorry to say that this happens a great deal among the Brethren, for example. The Brethren are forever accusing each other of being heretics, and there is no end of it. Why? It’s because the Brethren have this great weakness of often having no trained people to teach them. As a result of the lack of teaching, they become more and more narrowed into one small area of teaching. I love the Brethren very much. I say this by no means in bitterness or hostility, but they are bound to be stuck with only one area of teaching because of the lack of it. They can only pass on what they themselves learn. They cannot teach others what they have not learned. The result is that through lack of teaching, their minds get narrower and narrower. Soon, they are squabbling and calling each other “heretics” over the minutest matters that you don’t think are even worth arguing about. Never let this happen to you.

You can see how effective is Satan’s technique in simply exposing you to a partial truth, and getting you to serve God in your own way, although that was not your intention. It is because you have not got the whole truth but only part of it, so you are insisting on that little part that you only have so far.

This was the tragedy at Banff. They said to me, “You are not teaching our doctrine.” I make no apology for not teaching their doctrine. Is that a crime that I do not teach their doctrine? I preach the Word of God, not their doctrine. I am not here to preach Calvinism or the Reformed Doctrine, which is an alternative term for Calvinism. I am simply here to preach the Word of God in its entirety and its riches.

So bear this in mind when you study the Word of God, don’t just say, “Ah, this is the truth. I have discovered it!” Ask, “What is the other side of it?” Study especially those Scriptures that make you uncom­fortable, that disturb you. I make that my principle. I don’t want to study those Scriptures that I know so well, that comfort me so much, but I want to study in particular those Scriptures that disturb me, that I don’t seem to understand. I want to study those because perhaps there is something I have missed. And I want to be sure that I have not missed anything of God’s Word, because how can we live by every word that proceeds from his mouth when we have missed those words? Always make it a principle never to use the Bible just to comfort you. Let it make you uncomfortable. Be willing not to choose the easy road, and you won’t go wrong.

Notice how many Christians have fallen into this error! Go into a Pentecostal church and what do you hear? Tongues! Tongues! Tongues! You begin to wonder whether the Bible has said anything else except tongues. They somehow find tongues everywhere in the Bible. Certainly, there is tongues; certainly, this is a wonderful truth, but tongues is a very small part of the Bible. Yet, you would never realize this if you went to a Pentecostal church. You would wonder if there is anything else in the Bible besides tongues. As you visit each church, you will discover that there is a distinct emphasis unique to it, overshadowing everything else.

 

Jesus teaches God’s kingship – God is the center, not man

Jesus stuck to one thing – God’s kingdom, God’s rule. I want to emphasize what he emphasized and avoid the emphasis on what he did not prioritize. Jesus did not emphasize tongues so I am not going to emphasize tongues. I accept tongues but I don’t emphasize it. Jesus also preached about justification. It wasn’t the focal point of his preaching, but it played a significant role in his preaching. Justification in Jesus’ teaching was simply the path to the kingdom of God. For him, the kingdom was the central issue. But as I told you, you cannot find a book on the kingdom today. It’s strange! How Satan has gained his way! I intend to put that right if God enables me to do so. It is precisely for this reason that I keep on speaking about God’s kingship and lordship in Christ over everything.

 

In justification, man becomes the focus, not God

Remember this: When preaching justification, man becomes the focus, which is precisely what Satan wants. God is there to save you, to accomplish various tasks for you, to cleanse you, to sanctify you, to glorify you, and to handle everything for you. When justification becomes the central doctrine, man takes the center stage. However, when the kingship of God is emphasized, God becomes the focal point instead of man. It is crucial to recognize that by shifting our emphasis away from the true center, we have turned the whole gospel upside down and are heading towards disaster. We must return to what Jesus emphasized – God’s kingdom, God’s kingship.

 

Jesus’ replies to Satan come from Deuteronomy, which stresses God’s kingship

Notice this very particular thing too: All of Jesus’ replies to Satan come from one book. Have you ever noticed that? Every reply to Satan comes from the book of Deuteronomy, and that intrigued me. Why did he keep answering from Deuteronomy? I began to under­stand why when I studied Deuteronomy.

Do you know what is the characteristic of the book of Deuteronomy? The characteristic of the book of Deuteronomy is the kingship of God. It comes back to the same emphasis of Jesus’ whole teaching: the kingdom of God, the kingship of God. Satan tried to tempt the Lord Jesus to do his own thing, to go his own way, and Jesus’ reply was, “God is king.”

Let me illustrate this to you by statistics. The Hebrew word mitzvah, which means commandment, occurs 43 times in Deuteronomy. By comparison, in the other 4 books of the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible), you will find that this word, mitzvah, commandment, occurs once in Genesis, 4 times in Exodus, 10 times in Leviticus, 5 times in Numbers. Yet, it occurs 43 times in Deuteronomy! When you examine the words related to commandments and statutes, you will discover again that these terms always predominate in Deuteronomy. Furthermore, no other book in the Old Testament contains the word “commandment” with as much frequency as Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy stresses God’s law, God’s nomos. The word “deuteronomy” (deutero nomos) itself means a copy of God’s law. Deutero means second. It is a second declaration, a repetition on earth of God’s law in heaven. It is the book of law par excellence. And it is precisely this book which emphasizes God as king because his people are subject to his law. And there is nothing accidental about why the Lord Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy in the temptation. Given these circumstances, he knew which was the right place to quote from against the Enemy. The Lord Jesus delights in God’s law, like the Psalmist. The Psalmist says, “I delight in Thy law, O God.” Anyone who loves God loves his law.

Beware of the Christian who does not like the law of God. He just wants to get saved, and expects God to fulfill his needs. He has no intention to do anything for God or submit to his law. If that is your feeling, you need to beware. You are on the wrong track. A genuine Christian has a deep love for God’s law. He truly loves it!

You see that in so many places in the Old Testament. In Psalm 119:47, the Psalmist says, “for I find my delight in your command­ments, which I love.” He delights in it with his whole heart. He says again later in verse 127, “Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.” He loves God’s law. Can you say that? If you can really love God’s Word and God’s law, live by everything that proceeds out of his mouth, then Satan will never be able to bring you down.

 

Partisan zeal results in persecution in the name of God

Serving God with partisan zeal, that is, devotion to only one part of his truth, is the most terrifying thing. It is this that has resulted in the most terrifying events in the history of the Church, for example, the Inquisition. Do you know the Inquisition? Read about it some time. It will make you weep when Christians tortured Christians to death in God’s name! They will kill you and think that they are doing God’s service. This is the partisan zeal, zeal in one’s misguided concept: “By all means serve God, but do it in your own narrow-minded way.” If you go along that road, then one day, you will be killing people in God’s name. That is certainly what Satan wants.

I am fearful to think about the future of the Church if we continue on our current path. Some of us may be killed, not by non-Christians, but by Christians. Remember the Inquisition, when Christians put Christians to death in God’s name. Even under Calvin’s Geneva, Protestants burned people to death thinking that they were doing God’s service! Such misguidedness makes me sick in my heart! The Crusaders went forth and killed the Muslims in God’s name, too. Oh, God help us! How Satan has misguided the Church!

So I plead with you, study the whole Word of God, especially those parts that make you uncomfortable, especially those parts that don’t seem to agree with your theology. Don’t hide yourself behind your theology! I love to look at those parts that I seem to disagree with. I have had to change my thinking repeatedly, when I study 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, “Yes, God, if that is the case, I’ll let go of my doctrine. You tell me what you want me to believe.” I don’t want to believe anything but what the Word of God says. And I want to know the whole of it, not some part of it. Make this your aim and you will not go wrong. Then, you will find that God is truly faithful.

 

The doctrine of “Once saved always saved” comes from Satan!

One closing point: Have you noticed the words that Satan quotes to the Lord Jesus here?

What comforting words! Beware of comforting messages. When a message makes you uncomfortable, convicts you, disturbs you, thank God for that kind of message! Woe to people who go to church just to look for comfort! Then religion becomes comparable to opium, and we don’t need opium. Currently, we have an ample supply of it. We do not need the Bible to become an LSD. People who attend church just to seek comfort are highly susceptible to Satan’s attack.

Thanks be to God for people who attend church and are willing to feel unsettled, as the Word of God has cut into their hearts, leaving them deeply convicted and under judgment. My record on comfort­ing people in preaching is not very good. I don’t intend to preach for the purpose of comforting people, because what the church needs today is not comfort but conviction.

However, Satan is always there to make up for the lack of this comforting. He said, “He will give his angels charge over you.” When Satan starts getting all sympathetic, you start worrying. The point I am getting at is: Do you see the logic of this quotation? It is this “Once saved, always saved” doctrine, which originates from Satan making a partial quotation of Psalm 91! Even if God did not tell you to jump off the pinnacle of this temple, but you jump off it, he is committed to see that no harm comes to you in any way. Do you see the reasoning? Have you ever noticed where the origin of this “Once Saved, Always Saved” doctrine comes from? It’s not in the Bible, but from Satan! Can you see how dangerous is this teaching? I would like you to really look and think about it. It is a doctrine which tells you that no matter what you do, what kind of Christian you are, you will be all right. God will bear you up with the care of his angels; he is committed to safeguard you to the end. I find it astonishing that people today lack the discernment to recognize the deceitful tactics of the devil. Such a doctrine does not come from God!

 

The promises of God are for the absolutely obedient

On the contrary, these words in Psalm 91 are addressed only to people who dwell in the secret place of the Most High. God promises such care to people who acknowledge him as the Most High, who live in absolute obedience to him. The moment he is not the Master of your life, the moment you do not dwell in the presence of the Most High, the moment you try to jump off pinnacles to prove certain religious points, you are simply not going to be borne up by any angel. You are going to be dashed to the ground. Make no mistake about it!

However, if you choose to walk in the presence of the Most High fellowshipping with him, always making him the Most High in your life, you can be sure that even if you trip over a stone or stumble over a cliff, he will uphold you, because you live in total devotion to him, and not do your own thing.

In other words, you can be definitely sure of your salvation as you walk in total obedience to God. I have great assurance of salvation. I don’t live in fear and dread. Why? It’s because by God’s grace, I ever seek that God will be the Most High in my life. I will dwell in his presence. But that assurance is not for those who don’t want to acknowledge him as king.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, let us summarize.

The first principle of Satan’s temptation is: “Put your legitimate physical, material needs and desires above the spiritual.”

The second principle of temptation is: Satan will tempt you in various ways to “Choose the easier road. Make things easier for yourself.”

And the third principle of temptation is: “Serve God in your own way. Devote yourself only to part of God’s Word. Serve him with partisan zeal.”