Faith Fellowship Church, PO Box 1586, Broken Arrow, OK 74013, Pastor Terry Dashner

“Careful not to tempt the Lord”

Jesus denounced Satan in the wilderness. Matthew 4: 7, “Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Why did Jesus make such a remark? Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and then led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan. The tempter came to test Jesus. The devil told Jesus that if he was truly the Son of God, He should command the stones to become bread.

The one thing the masses wanted was bread. They wanted Jesus to overthrow the gentile rulers (Rome) and give them miracle food to eat. After all, God had fed their ancestors with manna while they traveled through the wilderness. If Jesus was the Messiah, surely He would establish His Kingdom rule and give them daily bread too.

Jesus was the Messiah, but He came to His own the first time as a sacrificial lamb, not a ruling king. The first century Jews misunderstood this. Every time Jesus fed the multitudes with bread and fish the crowds clamored to make Him their king by force. Jesus would slip away from them. Jesus knew the will of the Father. The will of the Father for Jesus was to die for the masses, freeing them to live in victory over sin, sickness, and poverty. So, however strong the temptation was for Jesus to bypass His appointed death on the cross and rule from Jerusalem as a king, Jesus declared from the beginning that He would resist turning rocks into bread and that He would do the Father’s will.

Jesus answered the devil by saying, “…Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). In other words, there is more to living than eating bread. The higher life is in Christ, abundant life. The Word of God is the only thing that can satisfy a person’s emptiness. If we seek God first in life, He will make sure we have enough bread to eat everyday.

The temptation story continues with Satan provoking Jesus to do something He considered foolish and over-the-line. Satan took Him to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem and suggested that Jesus throw Himself down. Satan quoted some words from Psalm 91 how that God would dispatch His angels to catch Jesus before He hit the ground. Jesus told Satan that no one is to tempt the Lord God. This incident brings us to the topic of our study. What does it mean to “tempt” the Lord our God?

In regards to this question, I’m going to direct your attention to the Old Testament passage that Jesus was quoting. It is found in Deut 6:16, “Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.” (KJV) What happened at Massah?

Exod 17:1-7
1And 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.
2Wherefore 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?
3And 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?
4And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7And 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?
(KJV)

Three days had passed since Israel left Egypt. The people complained to Moses because the Egyptians were closing in on them. They cried to Moses that he had brought them into the wilderness only to be slaughtered by Pharaoh and his army. God was not happy with the Israelites, but He parted the Red Sea for them to show them His glory. After this event, we read about the events in Massah. This time their complaint was foolish. God had displayed His power over nature (parting the Red Sea) and over the Egyptians (drowned them in the closing of the Red Sea). Having seen His mighty display of power, still they “tempted” God by refusing to trust Him for their deliverance.

According to Deut 9:22-24, there were other times that Israel provoked or “tempted” God. God wanted them to remember these times so that future generations would not be so foolish to provoke God through unbelief.

Deut. 9: 22-24
22And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hatta'avah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.
23Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.
24Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
(KJV)

So we learn from these scriptures to “tempt” God is basically to be aware of God’s providence, and yet rebel against Him by not trusting Him for today’s provision. God is very serious about His people trusting Him for their every need, all the time. He’s looking for faith in the heart of His children. He wants you and me to trust Him for our deliverance in ever situation of life. He wants us to rely on Him always. The other side to this truth is this: Every time we receive blessings from God, those blessings are to help build our faith in Him so that we will always trust Him. But if we acknowledge God’s help and then stop trusting Him, we stand in danger of “tempting” God. This, my friend, is FOOLISH!

Jesus told the devil that it would be foolish for Him to provoke God by throwing Himself into a situation that was contrary to God’s way. God is not going to compromise His nature, His way of delivering us, by working as a genie-in-a-bottle. We can’t demand that God act foolishly in helping us. Wisdom can not entertain foolishness. They are opposed one to the other. God will deliver us by His WAY only. His Way is Jesus Christ. Jesus, God’s Only Son, is the only true Way of escaping sin, spiritual death, and destruction. Rejecting Jesus is not wise. It is foolish.

Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming soon! Pastor T.

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