Turn back in your Bibles, if
you would, this morning to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4. And I'll read again just a few
verses of what has already been read,
beginning in verse 5. Then the devil taketh him up
into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple. That is, he takes Christ. And
surely he could not have done that had he not been allowed
to do that. And he saith unto him, If thou
be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall
give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written
again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Not only did Satan tempt the
Lord Jesus Christ on this occasion, But his children have done so
on many an occasion. And the amazing thing is that
they cloak this tempting God most often in the name of God. If you look back in Isaiah, Chapter 7, there is a man, a king by the
name of Ahaz. He is an idolatrous king, and he is faced as the king of
Judah with a number of enemies that are all around him. And yet, in great mercy, God
sends to him the prophet. And the prophet gives him this
message in verse 10. He says, Moreover, the Lord spake
again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God,
ask it either in the depth or in the height above." He has
a message from God through the prophet that tells of a coming
deliverance and all that will be involved. But to what God commands him
to do, look at his response. But Ahaz said, I will not ask neither will I tempt the Lord." In the face of what he has just
been told of the Lord, in the face of the Word of the Lord,
he does just exactly what he is not supposed to do, and he
cloaks his disobedience in this. He says, I wouldn't want to tempt
the Lord. And He is just one of many, and
I suppose that the greatest examples of this very thing is in the
Pharisees. Turn back to Matthew chapter
22. Matthew chapter 22 And look down in verse 15. Then went the Pharisees and took
counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. That is, these religious fundamentalists,
these moralists in Christ's day, they confronted him And they
sought by their questions and by what they said to entangle
him. And they sent out unto him their
disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that
thou art true. Now listen to this language. O Master, they call him. We know
that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man,
for thou regardest not the person of men." You can always beware
of what is to come when you have such lavish praise and such as
that poured on you because the real motive and the real question
is about to be revealed. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest
thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness. In Luke it says that he perceived
their craftiness. They were not seeking to get
information from Christ. They were not seeking to know
the Word of God that they might obey it themselves. They were
not trying to find out the way of God in any measure. How do we know that? Well, listen
to what He who is the truth said. But Jesus perceived their wickedness
and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Not only the devil, not only
a wicked king like Ahaz, but most especially all of these
religionists, these false religionists in the Pharisees, and all those
who were with them, such as the Herodians, they, in what they
said, using the very Word of God, They sought to tempt the
Lord, to try and to test and to entangle the Lord. Now, without a doubt, to tempt
the Lord would be, in one sense, to act presumptuously or to recklessly
do things and excuse them or the dangers of them based on
something that God said. To act foolishly, to act recklessly,
to do all of these things and excuse them or justify them by
something that God said. What did Satan say on this occasion? Well, he simply said, if you
look back with me in verse 6, if thou be the Son of Now, he's
going to question the Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
going to question the Deity of Christ using the very Word of
God. "'If thou be the Son of God,
cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels
charge concerning thee. and in their hands they shall
bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a
stone." But how does Christ respond to that? He says, it is written
again, or it is also written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. Everything is to be viewed, everything
is to be interpreted, and we know that which is really true
by all that God says. You see, it is not tempting God
to view the events of this world in the light of His sovereign
will, to acknowledge that what is going on is going on just
exactly according to His purpose. Nor is it to confess our ignorance
to confess our own ignorance to what is often going on, the
fact that we don't really know the exact details or things accomplished
in what's going on, but to acknowledge that it is He who works all things
after the counsel of His own will. That's not tempting God. That's trusting God. And not
only so, but it is not tempting God to remind men and to acknowledge
before men that we are not ourselves in control of these things. That's not fatalism. That's simply
believing what God has said, that He will do all His counsel
and His purpose shall stand, and nothing shall take place
in this world that He is not the first cause of. You see, it is not tempting God
to believe God, But believing is simply resting in what He
has said and walking and living by faith in His unchanging Word
and promises. We don't know, as the Lord's
people, everything that's going on. We don't have an answer so
as to know in everything what we are to do. But we know, we
know and we believe God that it shall be as He has said. And what I find in thinking about
this this week, and a gentleman brought this to my attention,
and so I've been kind of stewing on it all the week since Wednesday,
but what seems to be the case in Scripture and in our experience
is especially that in our day, those who use this expression
the most and charge others with it, most often are the most guilty
of it. The most guilty of tempting God. Because when you stop and think
about it, or rather, when you stop and look at the incidences
wherein it's mentioned in Scripture, Beneath the guise or the disguise
of those who use this term most often is a clear principle. There is a common denominator
that links Ahaz, the devil, and the Pharisees, and every other
one found guilty of such, and it is the principle of Satan does not believe God in
the sense of believing Him unto salvation. Ahaz did not believe
God, although God sent a prophet to deliver the word to him personally. And the Pharisees did not believe
Christ although he, as God manifest in the flesh, spoke that truth
from his own lips. They believed not. You see, they all quote God. But it is a far cry from believing
God. Just because we can quote God
a little bit. As a matter of fact, many a soul
has died and went into eternity without God and perished with
the words of God on their lips. They can quote God, but they
do not believe God. And they do not understand what
God is really saying, and they cannot because they have not
been taught of God. They are in want of that work
of the Spirit of God, of whom it is said that He shall reveal
Christ in the people of God. And he shall take the things
of Christ, Christ Himself said, and show them unto them." They
have to be taught of God the Spirit. And He must give to us
life and faith and understanding to believe and see and receive
the message of what He said. Judas heard what Christ said,
but he did not know Him, and he did not believe Him. These
Pharisees and the devil, they were all able to come up with
something to justify what they were doing or saying, and they
did so from the Word of God, but they didn't love the truth. You see, the Pharisees were simply
religious play actors, but who could often quote great passages
of Scripture though they were themselves spiritually dead. They even wrote down portions
of Scripture, rolled them up on little pieces of paper, like
scrolls and tied them in their garments and wore them for everybody
to see. They justified how they mistreated
their parents and various others by using the Word of God. But they didn't know God. But the greatest example the
most deadly example of tempting the Lord God. Now, I can tell
you this. The most deadly example of tempting
the Lord God is not believing the gospel. That's a fact. There is no greater manifestation
There is no greater evidence of tempting God as not trusting
Christ alone as He is revealed in the Scriptures. Now, you can just mark that down. And in most cases where we see
this charge in the Bible, It is spoken against those who in
unbelief take the Word of God and rest it to their own destruction."
What did Satan do? He took the Word of God, and
he sought to tempt God, and he'll be destroyed forever. The Scriptures say Paul warns
us saying that his ministers, they likewise take the Word of
God and speak in the name of God. And both they and all who
believe what they teach, they're going to perish in an endless
destruction. And they do these things in the
face of the plain, clear teaching of either what God has said by
a prophet or what He has written in His Word. Now, when our Lord
speaks on this occasion and says what He says in response to the
devil's words, He sets His seal to the truthfulness and the harmony
of Scripture because He quotes something from the Word of God
that was said a long time before. Isn't that amazing? That the
Lord, in mercy and in order to show us the value of his written
Word, rather than just saying something new or something totally
different, he quotes the Old Testament Scriptures. And he
did that again and again and again. Why? Because that's what
men in the flesh are to believe. He knows far more than even that
which is written. But by His own example and by
His own command, He points us to the written revelation of
God. Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter
6. Deuteronomy chapter 6. And listen to what is being said
here. by Moses and the Lord through
Moses, look down in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 12. He says to these people, Then
beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out
of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, Thou shalt
fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods,
of the gods of the people which are round about thee. For the
Lord thy God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of
the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off
the face of the earth. Ye shall not tempt the Lord your
God." Now, what has he just been saying
and warning them now that they tempt not the Lord God? He's been warning them that as
they travel and live in this world, that of the great thing
they are to fear and beware of, it is idolatry. Do not worship the gods of the
people around you. If you do that, that is the height. The worship of a false god is
the height of tempting God. You breathe His air. You eat
His food. You enjoy His blessings in your
natural bodies. You even have His Word. Don't you tempt God by the worship
of another God? That's right. But you know here, he quotes
and he makes reference. You see, they were rebuked and
warned against idolatry. And idolatry being to worship
a false god is to tempt the true and living God. And they were
reminded themselves of a previous example. Turn back to Exodus 17. Exodus 17. And look down in Exodus
17, verse 1. And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and
pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to
drink." Well, there had just been no
food for them to eat either. They were out in this desert
wilderness. And they had been without food
to eat, and the Lord rained down manna from heaven." It's like
a little seed or a grain that fell on the ground during the
night, and when they got up the next morning, they gathered it
together, made bread, I suppose, and they lived. It just fell
out of the sky. Of course, the Scripture says,
our Lord says, that that manna was a type of himself. And now,
a little bit later, they've come down now to being in a place
where there's no water. What do they do? They disbelieve
God. They doubt God. They rebel against
Moses. They rebelled against that Word
that was spoken by Moses as the prophet of God, as the voice
of God. He is simply declaring to them
exactly what God had said, God never leaving them without protection
or without food, and He certainly would not do it without water. Wherefore, the people did chide
with Moses, and said, Give us water that
we may drink." They were blaming the messenger
because they did not want to hear the message, which is simply
the message of salvation, that everything that we must have
We are totally dependent on it from God Himself in grace. You get any bread for your soul,
it's going to have to come from heaven. And you get out any water
from God, that living, spiritual, life-giving water, it's going
to have to come, as they soon found out, through that One who
is the rock smitten by the rod of God. That rock was Christ,
and out of it poured that water. No, just tell us where to dig
a well. Just tell us what we can do to find some water. No, you're not going to find
it like that. You're not going to find it like that, because
what's represented here is the salvation of your soul, and every
aspect of it, from beginning to end, is in Christ. It's by the grace of God. It's
accomplished by God in Him, and you have to receive it without
any merit on your own part. They said, Give us water that
we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why
chide ye with me? wherefore do you tempt the Lord? Moses had been sent forth to
preach and to lead them. as an example of that salvation
that's in Christ, that's all of God, that's all of His free
grace, and that God accomplishes it in every aspect and saves
His people from all their sins and from all their needed deliverances, that everything comes from Him, and we are totally
in need of what He does in every point. And that's it. And that's all a preacher that
preaches the gospel does. We preach that salvation is of
the Lord. That righteousness and peace
and redemption and justification and every point and parcel of
salvation, every bit of it is of the Lord's grace. He said, why chide you with me? Because when you chide with me,
When you rebel against what God has clearly said, when you refuse
the way of grace that He has surely appointed, you tempt the
Lord. You tempt the Lord. And most oftentimes, it's done
using the very Word of God. Now, if I were to say that I'm going to go, let's say
I said I'm going to go up to New York City, and I'm going to climb up on
top of the Empire State Building. And I'm going to jump off. I'm just going to climb over
that wire that keeps people in, and I'm going to jump off." And
you say, well, that'd be so foolish to do. And I'd say, oh no, the
Bible says that the Lord will keep us from falling. You'd say, well, surely that's
to tempt the Lord. And you'd be right. But it wouldn't
even begin to compare to that person who at this present hour
is leaping out into an eternity without God and who shall surely
perish. It doesn't even compare to that
person who lives one minute in this world outside of trusting
Christ. It doesn't even compare to that
person who'd face another moment of existence in this present
world right now without fleeing to Christ. It doesn't even begin to compare
to that person who right now is trusting in their own works
and in their own righteousness or in some experience or something
like that, and not in Christ. You talk about tempting God. That's what all unbelief is. You see, what Satan said was
true. That's right. But it was not the truth. And
there's a big difference. You see, the Lord's people, those
who do just the opposite by His grace now, and do not tempt God,
but rather believe God, they believe the truth. Just because a man or a woman
knows a few true things, or could say to you in the light of your
confessing before them the fact that God does all things as He
will, they could say, well, you ought not tempt the Lord. Yet denying the very Christ. Not their Jesus. But in unbelief,
believing on one who's called Jesus, but he's what Paul said
is another Jesus, they tempt God in the highest
manner. You see, the truth is the whole
body of the written Word of God and is called the Word of the
truth. and no scripture is of any private
interpretation. It all stands together and every
part is to be interpreted in light of and by the whole. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. You ask individuals, well, do
you believe that people can tempt God? Oh, yes, I do. Well, let me ask you this. From
the same book, do you also believe that God chose a people in Christ
before the foundation of the world? Do you believe that God can be
tempted of men, but do you believe that in his salvation it is all
of free grace, or does man have a part in it? You see, the misapplication of
even one verse of Scripture is deadly. And we must, if we're
ever delivered By the Spirit of God, we must be enabled to
always fight such an abuse by the use of all Scripture. You see, the Hebrew word in the
Old Testament where we've been reading, the Hebrew word for
tent always has an ill meaning to it. And it simply means that men
try. You know how your children will
try your patience? Well, men try, and they seek
to prove in one bad sense the very power and the goodness and
the will of God. And the greatest example of this
is the rejection of Christ. as he says he is, as he declares
himself to be in this book. God, our Savior, the only one, the only righteousness,
the one mediator between God and men, the one way. And this unbelief is most often
displayed in a presumptuous assuming that God will somehow deal with
us in a miraculous way rather than Christ who is the way. Well, I know what the Bible says. I've read it. Let me tell you
what I believe. That's tempting God. A denial of that way that he
has established and set forth as the way that he has given
in grace. Actually, his way. Our way is tempting God. Going about to establish a righteousness
of our own, that's our way. That's to tempt God. To refuse
His command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's our
way. That's tempting God. And to imagine to the least degree, or for the
briefest moment, that we are anything of ourselves apart from
Christ, is to tempt God. Not only that, but to deny, to
refuse, and to ignore the means of grace that God has appointed
is to tempt God. To not hear His Gospel. To not read His Word. To ignore
and to refuse the very means that He has ordained. That's
to tempt God. You see, literally, this means,
thou shalt not go on still in tempting. That's what a life outside of
Christ is. A life apart from believing.
and trusting in Him alone, pleading His blood shed in the matter
of your sins, His righteousness imputed to you. That's what a
life apart from that is, nothing but tempting God. Christ said, it is written again. And to ignore and not believe
that which God has written is to tempt God, to not believe
on Christ, he says, is to die in our sins and face eternal
death. But there's always something
else too. You see, to tempt God is to end this unbelief, to deny
the grace of God, and put men under the bondage of the law. It is to replace His grace and
goodness in Christ with human work. It is to replace the free
gift of Christ, the gift of righteousness, the gift of eternal life with man's doings. Turn over to Acts 15. Acts 15, and look down. in verse 5. Now, this happened
during what you might say a meeting or a conference that was held
to settle some matters. Verse 5. It took place at Jerusalem. But there rose up certain of
the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was
needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law
of Moses. And the apostles and elders came
together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been
much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren,
you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe, and God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us. And he put
no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts
by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt ye
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? to ever in any measure, either
for ourselves or to teach it or to preach it or to require
it of others, that they go back to any aspect of a principle
of gaining favor from God by obedience to some legal precept, is to tempt God. Those who preach the grace of
God supposedly, while at the same time putting men and women
under the bondage of the law, they tempt God. That's right. Men tempt God. They deny Him
and ignore Him and set themselves against His holy judgment and
wrath when they deny and ignore what He says that they are. Nothing but sin. They do so when
they deny the very sovereignty of His grace. They do so when
they deny the one way in which He can be a just God and a Savior,
which is in Christ crucified. When they deny the one way we
can ever be righteous in His sight. And that's through the
righteousness of Christ imputed to us freely by His grace. You see, to not believe the gospel
is to ignore both His grace and His threats. And those who tempt God most
and who shall suffer eternally for it are those who deny the
gospel, who live without the true Christ, and died in a false hope. To refuse Christ as all our standing,
all our righteousness before God, and all our hope is to tempt
God. And may He deliver us from it. May He in grace deliver us from
wresting the Scriptures to our own destruction and therefore
rebelling against and rejecting His Son and the salvation which
He alone has fully accomplished. May He keep us from murmuring
against His purpose and chiding against His message and help us to kiss the Son,
lest He be angry." Let me read you what Paul wrote
to the Corinthians. And the amazing thing, he's talking
about that same occasion back there in Exodus also, just like
Moses was later on. Here's that same example. Talking
about that rock and how it was a picture of Christ. Verse 5
of I Corinthians 10, But with many of them God was not well
pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. It says that
whole generation that came out of Egypt, with the exception
of Joshua and Caleb, they died in the wilderness in unbelief. Now these things were our examples
to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also
lusted, neither be idolaters as were some of them, as it is
written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up
to play, neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed,
and fell in one day three and twenty thousand, neither let
us tempt Christ." You see, it's the same in every
age. They tempted Christ. They refused the very things
that pointed to Christ. As some of them also murmured,
ye as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. God keeps us from tempting Christ, which would be to trust any or
anything other than Him. And to know that although we don't know everything
for sure, We don't know who's right and
who's wrong about a lot of things. I'm fairly sure of this. If you
listen to the various news medias, there's no way you could know.
I don't know if it's dawned on
you or not, but somebody's lying. But we know Him. We know Him. who is all our salvation. And
we know if He has already taken care of such a matter as great
as that, He'll take care of all this other matter. So we don't want to tempt the
Lord, our God. And to rest in His care. That's
not fatalism. That's faith. To trust Him when
we don't know these things, that's not tempting God. That's believing
God. To do otherwise is to follow
such as Ahaz, and the devil himself, and the Pharisees, and all others
who will perish in hell for eternity. Father, this day we give you
thanks and praise for your great grace and mercy
to us in Christ. Keep us from that awful unbelief. Work in our hearts by your Spirit
to give us spiritual life and faith that we might look to Christ
as He is revealed in Scripture, and to trust Him as God our Savior in all things, at all times,
in all circumstances. We thank you. We pray you'd bless
your Word to our hearts. In Christ's name, Amen.