EXODUS EXPERIENCE: TEMPTATION NO. 2

Mike Blume
March 30, 2005

Scripture Text: Matthew 4:5-7 KJV  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,  (6)  And 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.   Message: This temptation was more tempting than the first. Satan used more cunning. He appealed to the deeper part of Christ's humanity. The soul. He first appealed to the fleshly body of Christ. Jesus retaliated. We must remember to rebuke the enemy after we recognize him. Most do not even recognize him, though. Jesus said, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Satan will not take you atop the pinnacle of the temple and tempt you to jump off. So what can WE learn from this? We must refer to the scripture Jesus quoted to find out. Deuteronomy 6:16 KJV  Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. Read the first few verses to get the background. Deuteronomy 6:1-2 KJV  Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:  (2)  That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Once again Jesus referred to a scripture dealing with the Israelites in the same wilderness he was in. "DO THEM IN THE LAND WHITHER YE GO." This was a warning to the Jews. They must beware of some things. We must not let such warnings slip by our attention. Mix the Word with Faith! Freedom indeed! When God promised Israel freedom, He meant freedom in the extremist sense. From slavery to dominion. To Ruling in their own land. Compare this to our salvation. "DO THEM" The commands of God are not given for us to merely hear them. DO what you read in the Word. James 1:21-27 KJV  Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.  (22)  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  (23)  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  (24)  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  (25)  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.  (26)  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.  (27)  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Actions speak louder than words. Keep in mind that is was for the people's good that they keep these commands from God. "IN THE LAND" There was a REST ahead of them. A goal. And our Goal is similar. They were, therefore, not in the land ye, but still on their way. They were in the wilderness. Time to hear and heed the word was in the wilderness. Israel must learn these words in the wilderness before they enter Canaan. Or else God would not take them into Canaan. "WHITHER YE GO" Jesus was in the wilderness also. We are going to a specific goal, too, into God's perfect will. TEMPTING GOD Jesus did not tell the devil that the devil must not tempt God. This is commonly mistaken to be words instructing the devil. Jesus was tempted, and many think Jesus told the devil to stop tempting Him. Jesus actually meant, "I am commanded not to tempt divinity.  I will not heed your words to cause me to tempt the Father.  No man dare tempt God, and I will not either.  Through my knowledge of scripture, I recognize your tactic and understand what will happen to me if I yield.  I have learned from the mistakes of the past in the Word of God." Jesus reminded Himself He was in the same situation Israel was in. He again used scripture to defeat this lie. We must fight the devil to keep our relationship with God true, as well. We cannot allow anything to come between us and God. AT MASSAH Let us refer to the event Moses referred to. 'YE SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD, AS YE DID AT MASSAH." Exodus 17:1-2 KJV  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.  (2)  Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? Picture this. "Give us water that we may drink." There was no water at all. The people were thirsty. There was no natural way to help them. So they were actually telling Moses to perform a miracle to create water. What was the problem with their request? Why do we read they tempted God? Note Moses' response: "Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?" But when we read their words, they told Moses to do it, and not God. However, Moses was God's servant. They offended the GOD OF MOSES. With that rebuke, Moses ended the conversation. But we read: Exodus 17:3 KJV  And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? After Moses warned them, they continued to murmur. Moses then sought God and God told him to strike a rock. Exodus 17:7 KJV  And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? THE INTENT BENEATH OUR COVER-UP We do not read of the people saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" We only read a complaint to Moses. "Wherefore is this that THOU (Moses) hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us..." But they might as well have blamed God with their mouths. They knew water could only come by a miracle from God. "Give us water that we may drink." Moses knew they insinuated God failed them. "Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?" God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. Never cover up before God. Do not stick your head in the sand and ignore the fact that God knows what we are thinking. TO TEMPT GOD To really appreciate the weight of the temptation we must find out what MASSAH and MERIBAH mean as names. MASSAH: means "A TESTING" MERIBAH: means A QUARREL OR STRIFE" derived from the thought of holding a controversy with someone. Imagine having a controversy with God! What does TEMPTING GOD mean? We must never tempt Him. Let us learn what it is so we know what not to do! TEMPT in this passage means TO TEST OR PROVE, Israel TESTED to see if God was still leading them. Though they directed their complaint to Moses, their hearts wanted ot see a miracle from God. "Give us water, Moses!" Satan asked Jesus to prove to Himself He was God's Son. "Is God leading you?" "Check to make sure you're God's Son." This puts doubt in our hearts. We must remain confident we are His sons. True faith makes you forget about physical circumstances to prove the truth of God's invisible presence and leading. It is easy to resort back to relying upon the physical. It is a sigh of relief to the flesh to throw away all walking by faith and stop to require physical proof. That is why it's a temptation. Our flesh WANTS it. In effect, satan said, "You're not God's Son.  If you were, then make sure of it!" Cunningly, the devil gets people to doubt by demanding these things. And such thoughts are made to sound like OUR OWN THOUGHTS. Jesus was indeed tempted with thoughts. Thoughts are the devil's biggest weapons. He is a liar and liars LIE. TWISTING SCRIPTURE The devil heard Jesus quote scripture the first time, so he endeavoured to do it as well, and throw Jesus off. The devil quoted Psalm 91:11-12. Satan sought to get Jesus to prove He was God's Son and in God's care by putting himself into a situation where angels would have to bear him up and save him. We are not to put ourselves in situations to purposely endanger our lives to see if God will care for us. Faith says we KNOW angels will be there to help us since we KNOW God cares for us, SHOULD WE ACCIDENTALLY FALL INTO TROUBLE. We need not prove it, if we have faith in it. Had the Jews asked for water in faith, knowing He cared for them, He would have happily provided it. Instead they demanded it to prove He was with them. What a subtle means of destroying Israel. Hebrews 11:6 KJV  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. SEEING IS BELIEVING? How does faith come? "faith cometh by hearing" Rom. 10:17. ..NOT SEEING. 2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) The world declares "Seeing is believing". The world fell for the same temptation satan gave Israel and Jesus. But God gave HIS WORD He would keep them safe. People, though, would rather see PROOF than depend on God's Word. No faith and no trust. Faith even goes so far as to believe a promise when the circumstances contradict the promise. God can change circumstances! THE THIRD DAY Exodus 5:1-3 KJV  And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.  (2)  And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.  (3)  And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. Israel left Egypt and entered the wilderness. After crossing the Red Sea and seeing Pharaoh's army drowned, we read: Exodus 15:22 KJV  So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. Instead of sacrificing to God in thanks and praise, after three days' journey the people SELFISHLY THOUGHT ONLY OF THEIR NEEDS. How selfish! Instead of pledging to sacrifice as they should have, they forgot all about God and thought only of themselves for the sake of THIRST! REMEMBERING GOD Many times God desires something of us. And the devil can sense it. The devil knew what it was like to follow God, for at one time he did, himself. The very day of sacrifice was the very day the devil tempted Israel to complain due to thirst. All to stop the jews from serving God with sacrifice. And the devil will TRY TO GET YOU to stop your sacrifice of your lives for God as well. He relies on tempting you to be selfish and to forget about God. All temptations are based upon selfish desire. We all have a "self". And that is what the devil resorts to in order to bring us down. It gets us to rob God of what He deserves. People get upset over THEIR TRADITIONS and THEIR feelings hurt, or THEIR families' put out. WHAT ABOUT GOD? It is easy to lose responsibility to God and His Kingdom when we are not in need. When the Jews had to escape Egypt, .it was easy to sacrifice the lamb's blood they put around their doorways. But when they travel three days into the wilderness to worship God in sacrifice of thanks, they forget all about that and concern themselves only with their own needs. It is most rude to not thank someone for their goodness. The third day sacrifice was a thanksgiving sacrifice. The first day was for salvation from slavery. Most only offer this sort of first day sacrifice when they are in trouble. And they never offer the third day PRAISE. Their physical desires overrule God's desires. Compare the number of times we seek God when we're in trouble, wit the number of times we seek Him out of pure thanks. If we cling to Him in the easy times, He will cling to us in the hard times. God does His part, when we promise if He helps us we will do our part, but we often never do our part, as though we responds calling God a "sucker". SACRIFICE Jesus saw the part of us all that we must deny in Himself. He taught us to deny self, for it is all satan can relate to and take advantage of. If we cut off that element he can relate to, what can satan do to hinder us? Are you in a trap? Every trap will catch you using your SELF life. Cut SELF off, and walk away from the trap. If your eye offends you, luck it out. This does not mean to physically cut out your eye, but to cut yourself off from the thing in your life that TEMPTS YOU. If you are tempted to drink, do not go walking into the bars and taverns! Cut that off from your life. We are to be living sacrifices (Ro 12:1). You must lose something in order to sacrifice. LOSE SELF. ME-FIRST needs to become GOD-FIRST. Desire to please God and not self. Satan appeals to the fleshly desires in order to get to our SELF element. Luke 22:42 KJV  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. WHO TESTED WHO? Psalms 106:11-14 KJV  And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.  (12)  Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.  (13)  They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:  (14)  But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. The Jews tempted God in the wilderness. But watch this: Psalms 81:7 KJV  Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. No wonder we read "SELAH". Selah means, PAUSE AND REFLECT UPON WHAT HAS BEEN SAID. God allowed them to enter a place where there was no water the very day they were to sacrifice to Him, and watch their reaction. Would they believe He still led them, although they had no physical proof of supplied water? Can we love God although we do not physically feel His presence? Do we fear circumstances that threaten our trust in His Word. Do we walk by sight or faith? Let us not tempt God and put ourselves into situations where we want to see God help us. Trust His word! He will  help you when you need it, but putting yourself in a dangerous position to see if He will help is not faith. Trusting that IF YOU ENTER TROUBLE HE WILL HELP, is faith! .