Angelic Conflict part 244: The fight of the believer – Mat 4:1-11; Psa 91; 27:1-3; 32:6-7; Luk 10:18.
length: 82:27 - taught on Jan, 26 2014
Class Outline:
Title: Angelic Conflict part 244: The fight of the believer - MAT 4:1-11; Psa 91; 27:1-3; 32:6-7; LUK 10:18.
The temptation of Jesus:
The world is definitely engulfed in a war if the Son of God can be tempted by satan, whom He created.
MAT 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
MAT 4:2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
MAT 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
MAT 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
This involved the love of God and the will of God. "Since You are God's beloved Son, why doesn't Your Father feed You? Why does He put You into this terrible wilderness?"
If this is true then we would have to outside of the plan of God in order to obtain the sustenance that we need.
Yet the Lord has something at His disposal that no one else does and that is divine omnipotence: "Use Your divine powers to meet Your own needs."
When we put our physical needs ahead of our spiritual needs, we sin. When we allow circumstances to dictate our actions, instead of following God's will, we sin.
There is nothing wrong with physical needs but when they are top priority or put ahead of our spiritual needs then we sin and will continue in sin until that priority is reversed. No one can have two masters.
Jesus could have turned the stones into bread, but He would have been exercising His powers independently of the Father, and He came to obey the Father, JOH 5:30; 6:38.
The will of the Father is for Christ to operate in His humanity and not to use His deity and as such He becomes our Savior and high priest.
We do not possess deity and so if He used deity to solve his problems and defeat His foes, who would we look to for the way of victory in life?
Christ is the prototype of our very spiritual lives and if His field manual had the power of deity then we might as well just throw ours away. But He lived in the plan that the Father has given us. He used doctrine and the ministry of the Holy Spirit for His power. He faced the most intense, unjust, undeserved suffering of any man in history and never once lost His peace and contentment.
The use of His deity would be outside of the Father's plan for His life. He instead uses the word of God, which we all have available to us.
The Lord quoted DEU 8:3 to defeat Satan's first temptation. Feeding on and obeying God's Word is more important than consuming physical food. In fact, it is our food, JOH 4:32-34.
And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
Christ, the son of God, the God-Man uses the word of God to defeat His foe. Why would we look for any other solution?
But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." The disciples therefore were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.
MAT 4:5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
MAT 4:6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written,
'He will give His angels charge concerning You';
and
'On their hands they will bear You up,
Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'"
Symbolically, where He is standing is Zion, which represents victory, ascension, and session. So it is no wonder that satan took Him here rather than another place to jump. Also, it is public and many would see the miracle if He was delivered. But Christ would only perform miracles as the Father willed and this wasn't one of them, so if He jumped it would be testing the Father rather than obeying Him. Christ, after His mission was complete, ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of God forever. When He returns to the earth it won't be a fall, but a conquering victory and judgment upon those already judged. Ironically, satan would fall from heaven.
And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
And the rest of them:
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.
The second temptation was even more subtle. This time Satan also used the Word of God. "So You intend to live by the Scriptures," he implied. "Then let me quote You a verse of Scripture and see if You will obey it!" Satan took the Lord Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, probably 500 feet above the Kidron Valley. Satan then quoted from PSA 91:11-12 where God promised to care for His own. "If You really believe the Scriptures, then jump! Let's see if the Father cares for You!"
He conveniently left a part of the verse out and tempted Jesus with a wrong application, as if the Christ wouldn't know the correct application of the mind of Christ. However, this is always a temptation to the believer, not Christ's. Satan's ministers are constantly misapplying scripture, andor, taking it out of context.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
Lest you strike your foot against a stone.
A brief Psalm, reading the entire song gives the context easily =
God protects those who take refuge in Him. All things work together for good to those who love God.
No one knows who wrote the psalm or if it refers to a particular event, like the exodus as some have presumed. All presumptions aside, verse one makes it clear that the protections listed apply to those who take refuge in the Lord and not in the world or themselves. This would apply to Israel or any believer who trusted in the Lord God, but would not exclude undeserved suffering when it is in the perfect timing of God. Nowhere is it indicated that this psalm is referring to the Messiah, although Christ is the antitype of Israel.
And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Out of Egypt did I call My Son."
As with the exodus, though for 40 years, Jesus now finds Himself in the wilderness for 40 days.
Though we have been studying evidence testing lately, we acknowledge that severe undeserved suffering is only a portion of the positive believer's life, while much of his life is spent in prosperity as one who has capacity for blessing from God as well as the capacity to handle the mosquitoes of life's problems.
PSA 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
PSA 91:2 I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!"
PSA 91:3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper, And from the deadly pestilence [plague or death].
The picture is of the believer as the little bird and satan as the trapper. Yet God is the mother bird who protects her chicks under her wings.
PSA 91:4 He will cover you with His pinions [wing tips], And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
"Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
That hovers over its young,
He spread His wings and caught them [Jacob and family],
He carried them on His pinions.
PSA 91:5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; [attacks by man]
They will attack, but you will not fear.
PSA 91:6 [You will not be afraid] Of the pestilence [plague or death] that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon [greater pestilence].
Sickness and plague may come, but you will not fear.
PSA 91:7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not approach you.
Though surrounded by the enemy or even in the midst of war, trust in the Lord will deliver you in His peace.
This doesn't mean that there won't be some loss or damage, or even death, but there will be a peace that surpasses understanding.
"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
PSA 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?
PSA 27:2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
PSA 27:3 Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.
PSA 32:6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him.
PSA 32:7 Thou art my hiding place;
Thou dost preserve me from trouble;
Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance.
PSA 91:8 You will only look on with your eyes, And see the recompense of the wicked.
Your contact with destruction will only be as a spectator.
PSA 91:9 For you have made the Lord, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
PSA 91:10 No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.
This is what occurred during the last plague of Egypt.
PSA 91:11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways.
PSA 91:12 They will bear you up in their hands, Lest you strike your foot against a stone.
This doesn't have to be a literal stone but a stone of stumbling or a stumbling block. I'm certainly not a bird and God is not an eagle.
Then you will walk in your way securely, [when you keep wisdom and discretion] And your foot will not stumble.
He will guard you in "all your ways" and not by foolishly testing God's faithfulness by forcing Him to produce a miracle to save you.
We tempt God when we put ourselves into circumstances that force Him to work miracles on our behalf. The diabetic who refuses to take insulin and argues, "Jesus will take care of me," is tempting the Lord.
After God has very publically displayed His love and faithfulness at Cavalry, Christians still put God to the test. They look for signs or coincidences or some kind of miracle. In confusion or perplexity they don't go to God in prayer and ask, but put the Bible on the window sill and want God to send a breeze to turn the pages to the answer. Christians have invented all kinds of rituals in the hope of moving God's hand to bless or using trinkets or talismans for luck. The legalist believes he has to appease God through action when God has been satisfied in Christ. Faith pleases God and not avoiding taboos.
Does God's faithfulness and power have to be tested?
And he named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?"
PSA 91:13 You will tread upon the lion [openly violent foe] and cobra [crafty hidden foe], The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
satan is referred to as both the roaring lion [openly violent foe] and the crafty serpent [hidden and subtle foe].
This could be a reference to the wilderness of the exodus.
He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.
PSA 91:14 "Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name [person].
PSA 91:15 "He will call upon Me [healthy prayer life], and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him.
PSA 91:16 "With a long life I will satisfy him [full life], And let him behold My salvation."
MAT 4:5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
MAT 4:6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written,
'He will give His angels charge concerning You';
and
'On their hands they will bear You up,
Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'"
MAT 4:7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand [again], it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. [EXO 17:7 - Israel had no water and complained bitterly]
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