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I do believe, brethren, that my own exercises would be to go on with Luke 4IN as much as we are in a day in which the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is attacked so much and his deity is lowered and he was a good man, but he wasn't God manifest in the flesh. The distinction between sin and sins and so much that we have in this 4th chapter.
I think in connection with the Lord Jesus, my own exercises would be to go ahead with a fourth of Luke. May I ask which chapter was it in Philippians that you had in mind?
Well, would it be wrong, brethren, to in reading the portion, to also read the third chapter of Philippians, just to have at least the thought before us and it will connect, I'm sure, with what we have in our passage. Would that be all right? Yes, I thought of Philippians 3IN connection with some remarks in this chat, go on with our 4th chapter of Luke, but then we will read.
Also, that one chapter, Luke's Gospel, chapter 4.
And verse one and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan.
And was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Being 40 days tempted of the devil, and in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended he afterward hungered.
And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread.
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them.
For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve.
And he brought him to Jerusalem.
And set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence.
What is written He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee.
And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone.
And Jesus answering, said unto him.
It is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.
And there was a theme of him through all the region roundabout.
They taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
And stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of Isaiah. When he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.
And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fashioned on him.
He began to say unto them, This day, is this scripture fulfilled in your ears?
And all bearing witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?
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And he said unto them, He will surely say unto me this proverb.
Physician, heal thyself.
Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of virtues. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land, but under none of them was a license. They even disrupt a city of Sidon and a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elijah Elias the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving, naming the Syrian.
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things were filled with wrath, and Rosa and thrust him out of the city, and led him into their brow of the hill were on their city was built.
And that they might cast him down headlong. But He, passing through the midst of them, went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at His doctrine, or his word was with power.
Philippians 3. Philippians chapter 3, verse one. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.
Write the same things to you. To me, indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Be aware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision.
For we are the circumcision which worship God and Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, any other man thinketh that he has, whereof he might trust in the flesh. I more circumcise the 8th day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee.
Concerning zeal persecuting the Church.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ.
Gate doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
For whom I've suffered the loss of all things, And do count them but tongue, that I may win Christ.
And be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the dead.
As though I had already attained either were already perfect. But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth into those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the cries of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore as many as be perfect. Be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Swear to we have already attained. Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk as you have heard, as you have us for an example for many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping.
That they are enemies of the cross of Christ.
Whose end is destruction, Whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame? Who mind earthly things?
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For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those shall change our vile body, that it might be fashion blackened to His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.
Would help in connecting their thoughts, you know?
When someone waves a tapestry, they always have the solid.
Threads of the War.
As some have spoken of in speaking proverbially as the silver threads, those are the basic principles in Scripture. And the loom supplies the wolf to make the garment. Now this is true as we read Scripture.
That's why it's difficult for a young person to say, well, I'm going to now, I'm going to get a hold of a certain book, but you can't do that.
It all fits together. It's woven together, but still it's woven on certain basic principles that run all the way through the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. And I think we find the beginning of those principles.
In Genesis, which is very important for young people especially to lay hold of.
Now, the character of the book of Philippians, in a sense, is far more advanced than what we have in the Gospels. In some ways, the apostle is near the end of his journey through grace. He's been given to walk in the truths presented to us in the Gospels. In measure, he has learned some things. He speaks up.
Principles, basic principles. And in this book of Philippians, he's not bringing new doctrine.
He is giving, but giving us what is normal in Christianity.
For him it was present.
For others that was preaching the gospel.
For others, that was seeking the grace to correct their ways lest they be an offense to their brethren.
To others it was giving themselves entirely in a gracious way to help others so that the gospel might go on normal Christianity.
And so that the one of the main themes we have in this book, in this third chapter that our brothers suggested is one thing. Now there are five one things in Scripture that go together. We won't speak of them, but in this chapter that was read to us, it's a one thing I do.
He presses to the mark for the prize.
Of the like calling of God, or the calling of God on high in Christ Jesus. There's one thing before the apostle.
And this is a tremendous thing for us to discover this morning in Philippians before we go to our chapter in in Luke, and that is to have a single.
I I know. I think you'll know what I mean when I say that today we are distracted on every hand by what the world presents.
But the Christian has the privilege of writing it all off.
And having a single.
Eye. The only way to do that is to have one pure object. That's what the apostle has before him in Philippians as he presses to the mark for the prize. It's Jesus, but it's not Jesus simply.
In his experience down here, because it's Jesus at the end of the road when he sees him in all the effulgence of his glory.
All the glory that attaches to him as the glorified Christ, that's the object of the apostles heart. He wants to be like Him in every way, even if he passed a pass through death, so he can be like Him in resurrection. He wants to be just like Him now with those thoughts in mind, and they are elevated thoughts.
Warning of minding earthly things comes in at the end of the chapter, and then of how the the Lord Jesus has that tremendous power to raise us out from among the dead like He was raised out to give us bodies of glory like His own.
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But in going back to the 4th chapter of Luke.
The Spirit of God occupies us now with that object that the apostle Paul.
Shall we say in a more advanced understanding?
Is occupied with and nothing else.
He has just Christ before him here. We're learning in in Luke.
Different ways in which that gold shines out of all the perfection of the man Christ Jesus down here, no matter how how he's tested, and that only outwardly there was no possibility of touching anything else.
He was pure within and without, but for us to see that as he was touched outwardly, it only made the gold shine brighter.
Because he could not be tempted with evil. And so the enemy may try as he will, but it only shows us, and it shows us how.
In all simplicity, so that a little child could understand, the Lord meets the enemy at every turn with the pure word of God.
May I just suggest that in Luke's Gospel this may have been mentioned before, but we have it in the order in which the temptations reach man.
Not a king like in Matthew, but just man down here, just the way the temptation will reach me each day and possibly you. The way the enemy attacks because he has a method.
We get that order here, and also we get the order of our blessed Savior, of how He meets that attack of the enemy in all simplicity and dependence.
By the word of God.
Not displaying a great deal of knowledge, although he had it, but in simplicity, meeting the enemy and turning him aside. In the third chapter we've seen the perfect man anointed with the Holy Ghost.
And he's at the age of 30. That was the age of Levitical service. And before the blessed Lord goes out on that service, he is fully tested to show that there was nothing in him that Satan could reach. There was nothing in him to which that which would respond to Satan. As we remarked yesterday, the Lord had two enemies.
The world and the devil We have 3 The world, the devil and we got the flesh in us.
And it's important to see in this temptation that the Lord was not tempted to see whether He would sin, but to prove that he could not sin. Now I mention that because that's a doctrine that goes about. I remember a dear man I did business with in Honolulu. He was a Pentecostal minister and he was a dear man. I believe he was the Lords, but he had the mistaken thought, and it's a bad thought too.
That the Lord was tempted to see whether he would sin or not, and he could have sinned, but he didn't.
Now that is a surrender of the Lords impeccable nature to say that he could ascend and did not. The proof that the test proved that he could not send. And let's get hold of that. We've got the perfect sinless man exposed to the temptation in the wilderness and coming out pure gold.
And he said the break with Judaism came morally at the cross.
Historically in 70AD and doctrinally in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
In which there's that call, you know, in Hebrews. Let us go forth unto him without the camp. It's a statement that he made, and I think it's very commendable. And so Judaism did come to an end. But Judaism was originally established of God, was it not? And with all of those ordinances and ceremonies, they were of God. But they were the types and the shadows, weren't they?
Couched underneath of those forms and ceremonies.
In the Old Testament there are lovely lessons and pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we think now and speaking especially for some of the young, somebody says don't forget now that there are a lot of young people here and try to make things a little simple. Well, in the Old Testament then you will remember that when the children of Israel.
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Came through the wilderness. God gave them food. That food was manna. Manna that came down in Exodus 16.
Later on in, I think it's Joshua chapter 5, they went into the land, they crossed Jordan, they went into the land and the manna ceased and they began to eat all the old corn of the land. Now, as we say, these are lovely pictures now, but the whole truth of Christianity has come out. The Lord Jesus Christ has been crucified, He's risen, the word of God is completed, and we look back and we find out that this presents.
A2 fold way in which we as believers enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ as the old corn of the land and as the Manor. The manna ceased for the children of Israel. They ate the old corn of the land. But dear ones, you and I, as believers, all the way through this wilderness journey, we need both.
We need both, and as we read the Gospels, as we have this portion before us, we are enjoying the manner. We're enjoying the Lord Jesus Christ in his humiliation, in his walk here below, and also we need Christ in resurrection.
Ascended in glory up on high the truth of the epistles. We need both for our pathway to thank God we have them. And so we enjoy both things, the the manner and the old corner of the land. And one other thing before I I stop right now, I look over and I see you, brother Albert. And I remember one comment that you made one time. It really cheered my heart. I'd like to pass it on just now.
And Speaking of some of these Old Testament types and shadows.
And how we see the Lord Jesus Christ in all of them. For example, in Leviticus, those first chapters, there's the burnt offering, there's the meal offering, there's the peace offering, and there's the sin and the trespass offering. They all speak to us of the Lord Jesus Christ in some aspect of his death on the cross of Calvary.
And mentioning that first the burnt offering and how that all went up for the eye of God. And you remember that it could be a bullet that was offered, or it could be a sheep or a goat. And then we get to the end of that chapter and it could be a little turtle down, just a turtle down.
With the crop and the feathers taken away. And there on that big grated altar, all there is in the center of it is a little turtle dog.
And brother remark, and we would pass it on. There are ones, there are gifts in the assembly. We thank God for them. But when we come to prayer meeting for the remembrance, it isn't a question of gift. It's a question of state of soul. It's a question of our enjoying the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and coming with our baskets full. And so dear young people, the young brothers.
In the assembly, if the Lord by His Spirit would move upon your heart to give out that turtle dove offering, don't hold back. Don't hold back because even with that, it says it shall be accepted. God accepts even the feeblest accents of praise and Thanksgiving for His beloved Son.
Passes through.
Temptations, and even though the Lord gives power over them.
There still is a sense with most of us of our.
Deep inadequacy and and how?
Slowly are to really honor the Lord down here in our ways.
The Spirit of God lifts us as we read this first verse and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost.
Full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Now this is said of John in the 4th chapter of Revelation.
And he represents the church.
The heavens are open. The door is open in heaven, I should say, and there we see John.
Phil with the Spirit.
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It makes me think of that day, brethren, that's coming, when we'll hear the shout.
And no matter what state you and I are in as believers, this moment.
How cold we are, and it must be so.
Will be filled with the Spirit at that moment. Now we have the Spirit indwelling us.
Every believer has the youngest here as the spirit indwelling.
We may be punching or grieving the Spirit, but the Spirit is indwelling.
But here we find one who was filled with the Spirit, the Lord Jesus Himself, after the temptations.
And besides.
Was led by the Spirit.
I shouldn't have said after the temptations, I should have said after the experience of the previous chapter where the baptism and the prayers, then he's led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Who? Who likes to be LED into?
A wilderness in the sense that we have here who likes to be LED into such a thing. And the soul would cry out and lead me not into temptation. But the Spirit of God had a reason for leading the Lord Jesus into this position, because we have set before us here just contrary to what men teach about the person of Christ and the temptations.
We have that which sets before us, a perfect man in every way. Not only that, but he now is meeting.
1 Who had control?
Of souls.
And he is going to deliver those goods.
He's going to set them free, He's going to take control of the enemy. He's going to enter his house and deliver his goods.
He's going to show superior a man, the man Christ Jesus, and he's going to show it by his answer to Satan with not one thing from himself, everything, independence upon God and actually answering by the word of God.
One argument, not one statement beyond what's written. Simply answering from scripture. And may I suggest that for the encouragement of the youngest ones here?
Some who may know one or two scriptures they learned at Sunday school.
Let me tell you something.
Those two scriptures you know are sufficient.
To meet Satan with the Lord Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy.
From two different places, but two of the quotations I believe were from the same chapter.
He didn't go into a lengthy discussion with Satan.
He simply takes the word of God because.
He knew and what we, I trust, are beginning to learn a little bit of that the Word of God and the Word of God alone is sufficient and nothing needs to be added when we meet Satan. It's sufficient. It's sufficient to meet Satan with. And if we are in communion and we have two verses and that's all we know.
It's sufficient to meet Satan that because it's on the basis of dependence.
And the Lord Jesus sets before us the example not only of obedience, but of complete dependence upon God in everything that he did, every move that he made, and every word that he said was in complete dependence upon God.
I was going to when it says led by the Spirit, it says that only one of right here, this gospel I believe led by the Spirit. He was always that defendant man always all the way through and when we get to the end of the Gospel chapters 22 and 3.
We find him led by man.
Are sent by man mentioned six times. What was the end of that? Right up to Calvary. They led him to Calvary. Well, that was led by the Spirit too, bringing the two aspects of the cross before us. But here he begins his ministry as the second man.
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The first man is of the earth, earthy, the 2nd man.
The Lord out of heaven. And here He is led by the Spirit, always led by the Spirit, All His acts by the Spirit. What an example for us. What a perfect man. And the first thing necessary for the 2nd man was that he should be tested. And the 1St man?
Was of the earth earthy. He was tested in a paradise.
But where does the spirit lead this man, the 2nd man, the man out of heaven into the wilderness. That's what the world had become. The paradise was spoiled by the 1St man. The 2nd man comes to restore that which he took, not away, and he meets the enemy.
And he conquers them, He vandifishes them here. Oh, what a wonderful man this is. What an example for us to follow.
Isn't it right here that we fail so often in expressing our dependence upon God?
And I thought about that in connection with the Lord expressing his dependence upon his father not doing anything independently of the Father.
You know, our brother was speaking about these quotations from Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy has been spoken of as the book of Obedience.
Because in it we get precepts set forth. It's a second giving of the Law, but they're set forth in such a way.
To indicate that what God expects when they go into the land of Canaan is obedient.
Well, we know what happened. The children of Israel did get and did get into the land, but they were disobedient, They failed, they lost everything. But now we find the Lord Jesus in the land, and what is He? The obedient man.
And I was thinking about the remarks concerning his sinlessness.
There's a great emphasis put upon that in different ways.
Now in the very scripture.
The Lord Jesus Christ is pointed out to us as having gone through the heavens, and he's up on high.
And yet pointed out as the high priest and he's the great high priest, He's mentioned as great high priest. This was never applied to to anyone else, but he's the great high priest, the only high priest we have now, the only priest that we need. But he's pointed pointed out to us there in heaven.
And he's sympathizing with us. He's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And what's added in connection with that in verse 15 of Hebrews 4 is yet without sin.
Yet without sin, I was thinking, as remarks were being made about the sinlessness of his person.
And that he could not sin.
This lays a foundation for us that gives us confidence. If we had to believe that he could have seen even though he didn't sin.
That would show a weakness and it wouldn't present to us a solid foundation. And really, I might have doubts about coming to Him as the great High Priest to get grace and mercy to help me in the time of need. But when I look at the Lord Jesus Christ.
About whom it says here without sin.
And Peter says.
Who did no sin?
And another says John says in him was number sin.
Paul speaks of him as a sinless one. Peter speaks of him as the sinless 1 John speaks of him as the sinless one. What a testimony to that fact that he's sinless. He did not sin. In him is no sin. He's apart from sin.
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And yet he is a man. He is a man.
And it's it's spoken to my own soul.
That that one who is God.
Become man. He feels his dependence upon God, his Father.
And he's relying upon the Word of God, you know, obedience to that word.
All how that should speak to our poor hearts.
If we get the thoughts and perhaps its unconscious with us, we get to feeling independent of God our Father. Are we better than the Lord Jesus Christ?
Can we go on in independence of the Lord, when the Lord felt His dependence upon God?
Oh how that should speak to our hearts. And I feel this, that in this present day, all the forces of all the three enemies that are raid against us are raid against us to this end.
To get us to the place where we don't feel our dependence upon the Lord. Now this comes subtly. We get so occupied with things of earth, the pressures of life come in upon us, and we forget to look to the Lord.
I believe we have to be deeply exercised about this because I find it even in my own life, I can get so busy with even the things of the Lord. I forget to be busy with the Lord Himself. I forget to spend time in His presence.
All that we might learn, this lesson of dependence as we see it here, this lesson of obedience as we see it here in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think this was brought out in a special way. In the crossing of the Children of Israel one is mentioned.
Who crossed over and was met one met this blessed man with a drawn sword in his hand. And so Josh Joshua goes up to him, thinking that he's a great general. Of course he was. He brought over a host of people with him and was very honored in that. But he's met with the drawn sword in the land and he goes up to him and.
Art Thou for us or for our adversaries? I just mentioned this because in the dealing with this question of the Person of Christ, we must forget His supremacy.
His Supreme Beloved in every sense of the word. So he says, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And the answer is very simple. It says Nay, as captain of the host of the Lord, and I come.
And Joshua falls on his face and worships the world to him was loose the shoe from off thy foot. For the place on which thou standest is holy ground. And Josh did so.
Now there's a lesson for us concerning the Lord Jesus. Beloved, the Lord Jesus is supreme in Canaan.
Lord Jesus is supreme in the assembly.
Lord Jesus desires to be supreme in your life and mine.
And this is something we slip over and forget.
Must occupy the 1St place.
So Joshua takes the show of his foot and he finds himself in the presence of the Lord himself. What an A revelation to Joshua. What a mercy he fell on his face or that sword could have chopped him down.
And he did so.
And he takes the shoes from off his feet as if the Lord would say to you and to say to Josh and say to you, you're a great soldier. God has used you in the little way. He, in fact, he's used you in a wonderful way. But you're only a soldier. You're just a poor old soldier. You're nobody but a soldier. And I've been in the army and there's nothing more disgraceful for a soldier to be without boots, bare feet.
A barefooted soldier is a disgraceful attitude for a soldier to be in barefooted, but he this is in the presence of the Lord.
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Yes, Christ is supreme, beloved, and in the chapter we're in now.
We must not forget that here is the man Christ Jesus Supreme. How it is written. The word of God settled here in as I read the 4th of chapter I just get down on my knees and say Lord Jesus your, thou art the supreme one here.
Tempted of the say of Satan.
Turn the stones into bread. Crouch yourself down from the high pinnacle. Anything. I'll give you all this if you worship me.
No, he could not be tempted. The sinless man, God's man, the Lord Jesus Christ himself supreme. Well, I just thought of them as we go along. Let us not forget, beloved, that Christ must be supreme.
In the assembly.
Must be supreme. He must take the place first place.
To use an illustration, I thought it was good. As to the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus, He spoke of a man with a gold ring. Another man says, so that's brass. Oh no, says the man, that's gold. Well, what are they going to do? Well, they go to the jeweler and he pours some acid on the ring and it comes out pure gold. Why? Because it was gold.
The acid only proved the acid couldn't turn it into brass, it had to bring it out as pure gold. Now we're not ignorant of Satans devices and Satan presented to the Lord Jesus the same temptations that He presented in the garden.
In principle, I say, in principle, I want to be guarded as to this. In principle. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Needless to say, it never got to that proportion in the Lord's soul, for there was nothing there to respond. But Satan presents the same temptations he took up Adam and Eve. We know that with the 1St man was tempted. He was in the garden, as our brother reminded us. But in Mark's Gospel we're told that the Lord was in the wilderness with a wild beasts.
Adam was there with a tame beast. Every circumstance was against Christ and Satan waited for the most, shall we say well in his estimate would be the weakest moment. Here is a man as a personal need for food. Haven't eaten for 40 days. This temptation went on for 40 days.
Three of them are singled out for our edification and help. But this was a constant temptation for 40 solid days. And at the end, that blessed man a hunger. And Satan says, now I've got it, he's not his weakest point. Every man will satisfy his own hunger. So he says, turn those stones into bread.
No, there's nothing wrong in turning the stones into bread in itself. What made it wrong would have been the dependent man would have been taking himself out of the Father's hand to supply his own knee, and at the same time he'd be obeying the voice of the enemy. Now that's what the what Satan wants to do those two things. He wants us to hear his voice and obeying him and he wants to take us away from.
Dependence upon God the Father upon Christ too.
About the leading of the Spirit, you know, we know of this movement which becomes more and more popular, spreading throughout Christendom, the leading of the Spirit, the charismatic movement, you know, speaking in tongues and all of this. And I think this year can be.
Applied to show how to answer and how to test.
The reality of whether it is indeed the Spirit of God who so leaves as they claim, because it has to be tested by the Word of God, the Spirit of God who inspired men of old to write to us the Scriptures, will never leave any of his own to act contrary to the scriptures.
If you apply the test of scripture.
To this modern movement you will find that does not stand the test of scripture.
Abounds with.
Violations against the restrictions given by the Spirit of God and the instructions given by the Spirit of God.
As to the Spirit activity in the believer, so we find that it is not enough to stress the importance that we are led by the Spirit. The Spirit will lead always in keeping and in harmony with the Word of God.
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Near our town, and she had laundered a pamphlet by Sir Robert Anderson, and she when she returned it, she said, well.
If I'm led by the Spirit to speak publicly, I'll do it. So I asked her. I said the word of God says let the woman keep silence in the church. It's not permitted unto her to speak. Will the Spirit of God write that down in the book, in God's Word and then lead you to disobey it? There's the test, as you say, we if we lean over and try to lean only on the thought of the Spirit, we become fanatics.
If we try to just shoot the letter of the Word without any guidance of the Spirit, it's intellectualism.
We need both. We need the Spirit, and the Spirit will never lead me to do something that the Word of God condemns. That's an important principle, brother, those two things.
Are going to separately.
Acting separately.
Join both Christendom and Judaism and the worst apostasy that this world has ever known leading up to the based on the Antichrist, but they will not be combined.
They will be used separately and they'll come under a religious clothes and unless the two are used by the Spirit of God together, the Word of God and the Spirit of God teaching.
There will never be truth in the soul. Now we learn from scripture that.
Wisdom is a defense.
That's Ecclesiastes 7 and 12. Wisdom is a defense. That is, it's a protection.
As money as the defense, I'm quoting from J&D.
But the Excellency of knowledge is.
That wisdom giveth light to those that have it.
Now in Proverbs we learned that.
Understanding is the wellspring of life.
Now to apply that.
Supposing that I have gained a little knowledge from God's word, it won't do me any good till I get on my knees.
Because if I follow that path without dependence, I'm going to start using my reasoning powers.
And I'm going to get into trouble. So I drop in my knees and I say, Lord, what does this mean? And he will never fail to give us an answer. It may not be the answer we want, but at least it'll be one for our conscience.
And it's a defense. Wisdom is a defense as money is a defense.
But the Excellency of knowledge, and there is Excellency in it.
Because it's the beginning of wisdom, we're told in Proverbs.
Decency of knowledge. Is that wisdom.
Give us life to those that have the knowledge.
Now if you and I want to learn something of the things of God.
We'll have to read the Word of God now. That's all there's to it.
But if we go beyond and forget prayer, we're going to go straight because it's only that we're led by the Spirit of God, and that is through prayer.
That understanding comes.
And the result, we have discretion and prudence in our ways so that we can go through this evil world that the Lord Jesus is passing through here in this chapter that we're reading up.
Going through this evil world without being occupied with it.
Now the world is occupied with evil and the crooked ways of it, so they can get through it without getting hurt. But not the Christian.
The Christian were taught in Scripture is to be simple concerning evil.
Wise as to that which is good.
Now a teller, the bank is not all occupied with with bad money, He's occupied with good money. And when he when he gets a bad piece of money, he can detect it because it doesn't like the good. There was a young man that I talked to some time ago. Everything he wanted was get delving into things that were.
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Of the reasoning line of things.
And I warned them about it to stay with the scriptures. And he did for a while.
Having passed through some real deep trials, but finally he took it up.
And spread out in this reasoning line of things. And today he's way off.
His ruined his whole life and no testimony for Christ and no joy in his soul because he did not couple wisdom with knowledge, that is, he did not get on his knees. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
Who give us to all men liberally and uprateth not. Oh what a savior we have.
A devil in verse two and we've spoken a lot about the Lord Jesus here. It might call this to mind because again, we we have so much air and evil around us.
And they've made pictures of Satan, as with a, you know, big red suit, pitchfork, et cetera, and make quite a big joke of this thing. But we learn from the word of God, don't we, that this is not just an impersonal thing.
And in some theological circles even they have maintained that Satan is really the proclivity of the human heart, the evil tendencies that come from the evil heart. And can we see as we look at this chapter, if we took such a a concept, an idea, what that would suggest to us in this chapter that the Lord Jesus Christ had evil inside of him, if we accept that line of things.
But no, it's not true, and Satan is a real personality, a formidable foe, one that is arrayed against us to impede our progress as Christians. Going through this scene, I have the Bible open to Revelation 20 and verse 2. Here are some of the words spoken about this one.
He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him 1000 years. So he's called the dragon because he is a persecutor, violence characterizing serpent for the subtleties of the enemy. He's also called the devil, which is the slander.
The accuser of the Brethren.
He Satan because he's an adversary.
Now, just a word to our conscience.
Do we do the work of the enemy?
Can a child of God, one who's redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, has a new nature, the indwelling of the Spirit of God? Can he do the work of Satan?
Matthew the 16th chapter and Peter makes that marvelous confession doubt the Christ, the Son of the living God, thou art Peter upon this rock I will build my church. You know the scriptures and within just a very few, few short verses. What do we read? The Lord is announcing that he's going to the cross and die. And Peter lays a hold of the Lord and says not so Lord.
The Lord Jesus has to speak to one of his own.
And say, get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savers, not the things that be of God, but of men. And so, dear ones, if we are not walking in communion, if we are not being led by the Spirit of God, we can sow discord amongst the brethren. We can do the work of the enemy. That malice that's in our heart to that brother, that one we won't shake hands with.
Those evil thoughts that we have, the backbiting, the whispering against one another.
The work of the enemy to divide, that we might put our faces in the dust, realize his devices, and endeavor by the grace of God to judge these things, that the Lord might work and bring blessing in our lives and in the assembly. Indicated earlier about the order of the temptation.
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In Matthew I believe you got actually the chronological order there, and in Luke you get the third temptation for 2nd.
For the reason that Satan tempts here according to moral power. In Matthew he's presented as the Messiah, but here it's the Lord is in manhood, so he arranges it to the temptations are arranged in Luke so that you have the personal temptation. His need is a man.
And then the second temptation has to do with personal glory as Son of man. And the third is this personal acceptance as Messiah. Now you'll notice in verse eight, in the last time in the second temptation given here, it says get thee behind me, Satan.
I want to point out those words do not belong in Luke because if they did, you'd be faced with the Lord commanding Satan to go away and Satan still staying there. This is actually the last temptation and I suppose the translators felt they had to bring that in from Matthew. Now in Matthew, get thee behind me. Satan belongs there, or get the hence because this temptation is put last. I just mentioned that to show the accuracy of the Word of God. So here the 1St.
Satan uses here is a man that hasn't eaten for 40 days. Here is the man I'm going to trip up. And so at the end of the 40 days he says, if thou be the Son of God, now you know, this brings in the fact that Satan would like to bring those doubts into your mind and mine. Are we actually sons of God? Are we the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus? Is that our place?
If Satan can shake our confidence.
In the blessing God has given us, then he's got the he's got his way in. And so he brings in a an aspersion of doubt here to the blessed Lord, if thou be the Son of God. Oh, we see how the Lord withstood that by, as our brother remarked, he quotes from the book of Deuteronomy, the book of obedience. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
I have one other thought we read and I believe it's in Proverbs.
Or Ecclesiastes, a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Now when the temptation in the wilderness, the Lord, binds the strongman with a threefold cord, he resists the three temptations by the word of God. And so the Lord was then free to go about and spoil the strongman's goods. This is not the defeat of Satan.
The defeat of Satan is at the cross.
But this is the binding of him, so that the Lord later could send forth disciples who could spoil the devil's goods. He could send forth men in the devil's realm with power that Satan couldn't touch. But here's the key to it. The Lord binds Satan with a threefold court.
I hope as we read these instances of his temptation and his reaction.
That it will produce in our hearts a sense of praise and worship and Thanksgiving.
That this is my precious savior who's presented here.
In all the perfection of who he was. And that it will also be to us a lesson, I'm sure intended of God, that we may bow and worship this holy, sinless, spotless Son of God, our precious Savior.
But to notice that he met these temptations with the word of God.
To notice also that he was led of the Spirit, or as we read in Marks Gospel, he was driven of the Spirit. I believe, beloved brethren, and may I say especially the beloved young people, if there is an occasion in your life or mine when we, through our own choice, are found in the presence of such fierce temptations, can we count upon the Lord?
Here he was led to the Spirit, or as we quote, driven of a spirit.
And I believe, dear Saints of God, as we are surrounded by these fierce temptations, that if we walk with the Lord, if we follow the light and leading of the Word of God.
Perhaps we would not find ourselves in some of the temptations that we meet with. Are we there because we want some particular favor? Are we there because we feel there are material opportunities? If I am where I am because I believe the Lord wants me there, I can count on Him. If I am there because I want some prestige, some greater income, or whatever.
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I may find myself facing temptations.
And lacking in that which is needful to meet them. I say again, in as much as the Lord met these temptations with the Word of God, does it not suggest to us the absolute need of our being familiar with the Word of God? All beloved brethren, when I read in the book of Deuteronomy, from which he quotes such words as these.
Therefore thou shalt lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul. I shall find them upon my hand, that they may be as frontlets between mine eyes, and I shall teach them, my children.
Speaking of them, when thou sittest in my house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up. How much of the Word of God did they have to bring before their children? Not much. That's the book of Deuteronomy. What did the parents of those days bring before their children?
What was available of the Word of God?
Have our children been instructed in those things which we find, shall I say, in the five books of Moses? Oh, now, now, certain chapters there you wouldn't wish to read to your children. Why not? They were given a God, their God's wisdom, their God's protection. And I don't believe, my dearly beloved fathers and mothers, that you should ever come to a chapter in the word of God and say.
Are not going to read this chapter to my children. What did Timothy have read to him? His beloved mother and grandmother apparently had brought him up under the sound of the word of God. None of the New Testament was available. What was read to Timothy? The Old Testament, The stains of sin that were recorded there. I have no doubt all beloved brethren, surrounded as we are.
With that which is so dark, so difficult for our beloved children.
How thankful we ought to be that we have a holy book from which we can read for ourselves and for our children.
Butter and honey shall he eat, and he may know how to choose the good and refuse the evil. I remember how my father used to say that to us so often. Butter and honey both good, both wholesome.
Butter and honey shall he, that he may know how to choose the good and refuse the evil. This is a book of butter and honey. We can read this precious book. We can read it in the family.
And we can count on God to use the precious God-given wisdom of this book to guard our own footsteps in the face of fierce temptations and to guard our beloved families all. When we see this holy, perfect, precious Son of God facing these temptations, facing them with the Word of God, we have a pattern that I believe we should take to heart.
Let me read a verse in Joel in connection with your remarks. Brother, the third verse of Joel has impressed me much on what you are saying. Joel 13. There are four generations here in the family.
Tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children and their children and other generation 4 generations right down the line also says that the proverbs look man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children. God expects the blessing not only to go to our own children, but as in Timothy's case, you see he was.
Generation. There was his grandmother Lois and her faith, his mother Eunice, and there was a treasure left for children's children. And it's a wonderful thing to see the grace and blessing of God not only reach our own children who have been brought up under the Word, as our brother has been mentioning here. It pays evidence and it goes down to the third generation and brings them into a blessing. God has manifested that.
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They reverse the free again. The devil said unto him.
If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. Was the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God? Yes indeed. Could he command the stones to make them bread? Yes he could. This is the very one that brought all worlds into being, the very one that fed those multitudes perhaps over 2,000,000 for over 40 years.
In the wilderness.
The very one that was in this scene as man and open up the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, cleanse the lepers. I say. Could he have made the stones bread? Yes he could, but not at Satan suggestion.
He was the dependent and the obedient man as Isaiah the 50th chapter. He openeth my ear morning by morning to hear as they learn. And so one other verse. Now if thou be the Son of God. This is reiterated again in the 27th of Matthew at the end of the pathway of the Lord Jesus, when he's there on the cross, and they cry out if they'll be the Son of God.
Come down from the cross.
Could he have come down from the cross again?
Was there anything that he could not do as God eternal?
If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. I have one other passage in Nehemiah 6.
And here's the answer to my soul. Nehemiah 6.
And verse three when they sent to Nehemiah and said come down and meet us in the plain of Oh no, he answers in verse three and he says I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ in delighting to do the Father's will. He turned to deaf ear to their thoughts and jeers.
And in love to your soul and mine, He paid the debt on the cross of Calvary to redeem us to God.