Jesus and his disciples came many times face to face
with this type of temptation and ill-thought trial:
Matthew 16:1
“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and tempting him asked that he would show them a sign
from heaven.”
Matthew 19:3
“The Pharisees also came to him, tempting him, and saying to
him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?””
Matthew 22:18
“But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and
said, “Why do you tempt
me, you hypocrites?”
Matthew 22:35
”Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a
question, tempting him, and saying,”
Mark 8:11
“And the Pharisees came out, and began to
question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.
Mark 10:2
“And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce [his] wife?” tempting him.”
Mark 12:13-15
“And they send to him some of the Pharisees and
the Herodians, to catch him in his words. When
they had come, they said to him, Master, we know that you are true, and care
about no one; for you do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God
in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or
shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, Why do you tempt me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see
it.”
Luke 11:15-16
“But some of them said, “He casts out demons by
Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” And others, tempting him, sought of him a
sign from heaven.”
John 8:3-6
“And the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a
woman caught in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they said to
him, Master, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in
the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what do you say? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to
accuse him.”
Acts 20:19
“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind,
and with many tears and temptations, which
happened to me by the plotting of the Jews.”
1 Peter 4:12-13
“Beloved, do not think it strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened
to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’ssufferings,
that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”
As we see from these passages, a way through which the
devil tempts/tries the people of God is through other people and through
persecution and affliction for the Word of God. We will examine how to deal
with this type of temptation, later in this article. But first let’s see the
other forms a temptation may take.
The lusts of the flesh is another way through which
somebody can be tempted:
James 1:13-14
“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of
his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it
brings forth sin: and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
1 Timothy 6:9
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”
In this category the source of temptation is a man’s
own lusts i.e. desires of the old man that are followed through, as for example
the desire to be rich. Notice the definite in the above passages: these
passages do not say that when you are drawn away by your own lusts and enticed
you will perhaps fall into temptation. No! What they
say is that you will, definitely,
be tempted. Similarly they do not say that if you desire to be rich you may,
perhaps, fall into a snare. No! What they say is that you will, surely, fall into a snare, the
same snare that drowns men in destruction and perdition! As Paul also tells us:
Galatians 5:17
“For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are
contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
Romans 8:7
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it
is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”
The temptations of this category is something that we
decide to enter, drawn away and enticed by our flesh, the old man. The result?
Again let us keep the high volume of the Scripture: sin, destruction,
perdition, death. Following through with the desires of the old men is a very
serious matter with the most serious consequences. Let us not deceive
ourselves, thinking perhaps that because we are saved by grace this means that
we are now free to go ahead and follow the desires of the old man and somehow
escape the consequences. Galatians 6:7-8 tells us:
“Do
not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also
reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap
corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting
life.”
What should we do then? The Word is again very clear:
Romans 13:11-14
“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is
high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we
first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us
cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us
walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness
and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to [fulfill its] lusts.”
Ephesians 4:20-24
“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed
you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old
man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created
according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
“the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but
mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ”
And Proverbs 4:23
“Keep your heart with
all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”
In all these passages the main acting part is not God
but us. It is us that are called to put off the old man and put on the new. It
is us that are called to renew our mind and it is us that are called to guard
our heart with all diligence. Yes without God’s help there is not much that we
can do. But God’s help come to those who are willing to follow Him. Let us not
deceive ourselves that somehow we will be fruitful Christians, while at the
same time our hearts and minds go behind the lusts of the old man. This is not
possible! It is indeed black and white. It is either the one (God) or the other
(the world). A mixture will not work!
In Matthew 4:1-11 we find the devil speaking directly
to Jesus. But how did he do it? The answer is in the spirit, by “revelation”,
so to speak. I would like to devote some time to this category, as, due to the
ignorance that exists, we frequently see people attributing to God whatever
comes from the spiritual ground. But it is not like this. I used to believe
that since I’m a Christian the devil cannot speak to me. But he can – he did it
in the case of Jesus. If we decide to ignore this possibility and consider everything
that comes from the spiritual ground as coming from God, then we are opening a
door to the devil to drive us astray by giving us false information, which we
believe, because we think - since it so clearly comes from the spiritual ground
– that it comes from God. Empirically I have observed this happening when
people grave for something; they grave for something so much that when they
pray about it they can hear only the answer they want. In other words, they are
not neutral, wanting to do the will of God, whatever this will may be. In
contrast, they just want to get a confirmation for what they so much desire.
They are lusting for something, thus opening a door to the devil to give them
false “spiritual” information, which when followed will lead them to great
troubles. That’s why you have to judge what you receive as spiritual
information with the Word. Does what you have supposedly heard from the
spiritual ground align with the Word of God both in its content and in the way
it flows? If not, you should reject it without question. Sadly many brothers do
not check what they have supposedly heard from the spiritual ground to see
whether it squares with the Word. For example, I have seen people who say that
are Christians committing adultery, divorcing their Christian spouses and
marrying others (who also say that are Christians), and, as if all these were
not enough, they justify their actions by saying that allegedly God told them
to do so! Could God ever tell them to do something like this? NO! How do we
know it? Because such a guidance would be entirely opposite to the Word of God!
What truly happened, and the Word very clearly and plainly explains it, is that
they didn’t watch out and were drawn away by their own lust and enticed, thus
opening the door to the devil. If really somebody told them to act like this,
it was not God but the devil. The Word of God is therefore the measure against
which any information that comes from the spiritual ground should be measured
and evaluated. Jesus also did this when he used the Word of God to fight Satan
and his temptations. His answers were all starting with “it is written”.
Concerning the superiority of God’s Word against any
“revelation”, even if it comes in an extraordinary way, Paul was very clear:
Galatians 1:8
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed.”
Even if an angel from heaven - and obviously such an
angel would be a fallen angel, an angel of darkness, as exactly Satan is – came
down and started preaching to them a gospel different than the one Paul,
through revelation of Jesus Christ, received and preached to them, this angel
would be accursed. Getting information from the spiritual ground is not enough.
This information has to also come from the right source of the spiritual
ground. Else it is a temptation and an attack of devil. And to know to source
of the information, you have to evaluate it against the only valid measure: the measure of the Word of God.