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Vidalia Georgia
Matthew Chapter Four Study Aide Elder Joe Nettles
Part one Old Geraldine on the “Flip Wilson Show” had a catch phrase that I’ve heard repeated outside of that context time and again…“the devil made me do it”. This idiom is usually utilized when someone has been guilty of some embarrassing sin, although all sin is embarrassing. But did the devil actually make you do it or did he just make it more tempting to your fallen nature already prone to sin? Let’s study Satan’s powers and tactics a bit. The knowledge of how he tempts, lies, and uses subtilty will serve as a useful foundation as we delve into this chapter. Satan’s character and “M.O.” (modus operandi) are manifested in this chapter plainly. Here he tempts Jesus Christ with various glorified pitfalls, yet to no avail. What about in our lives and experiences? Satan is referred to as “the tempter” in the 3rd verse of this chapter as well as in I Thessalonians 3:5. Satan’s expertise is in making sin more tempting to fallen flesh. The serpent didn’t force Eve to partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he just cast doubts before her as to the literal truth of God’s commandment given to Adam. “Yea, hath God said..?” is his calculated method of overthrowing the confidence that God’s children have in the facts of God’s nature, creation, justice, and salvation. If he can stir up doubtful questions in our minds such as “can God really exist with all this wickedness that I see all around me?” or “is God’s word really to be taken literally in regards to the creation seeing that the majority of the scientific community disregards it?”, then he can count himself successful. Questions were the preferred method of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees throughout the gospels to try to trap Christ in his own words. Satan’s method was so successful in the Garden that those doing his bidding have not forsaken it even to this present day. This is the reason we are repeatedly warned in scripture about questions. In I Timothy 1:4 “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith..” and in 6:4 , referring to false teachers, “He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings…”. See II Timothy 2:23 “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.”, and Titus 3:9 “But avoid foolish questions… for they are unprofitable and vain.” Notice in the above quoted verses that Timothy was warned against foolish and unlearned questions, not all questions. Perish the thought of a life in Christ lived without the asking of sincere questions for the purpose of gaining more knowledge about our God! The queen of Sheba is commended in scripture for traveling great distances to witness the beauties of the kingdom of God and to prove King Solomon with “hard questions” (I Kings 10:1). In James 1:5,6 we are instructed to ask of God if we lack wisdom. In other words, when we have questions we are not to hesitate to go to our Lord in prayer as a means of seeking the answers. To be ready to give an answer to those who question us of the hope that is within us is commanded in I Peter 3:15. Satan also wields lies and deceptions as primary devices in his wicked arsenal. Again, let’s return to the account in the Garden to see this exemplified. Satan directly refuted the holy words from the mouth of God. God let it be known without a shadow of a doubt that if they took of the fruit of that tree that they would surely die. The devil countered this with a lie, “Ye shall not surely die…”. Christ proclaims in John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Take note, though, that Satan is not your usual run-of-the-mill liar who just places a “not” in the statements of God and leaves it at that. He uses great subtilty along with his lies. He is referred to in the Garden as being more subtil than any beast of the field. Paul expressed to the Corinthian church in II Corinthians 11:3 that Satan beguiled Eve through his subtilty and would do the same for them if not resisted! To be subtil means to be cunning or crafty. Satan didn’t just insert the “not” into the middle of God’s holy commandment. He went on to pervert the truth and to present it according to his own wicked perspective. Verse 5 reads, “For God knoweth that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” This statement takes the truth of the situation and uses it as a misrepresentation, therefore making it a total lie! How? Just break down the statement and examine it using scriptural truths. First, the devil tells Eve (keep in mind that Adam was right there in her presence when Satan told her these lies, but he didn’t intervene wholly to his shame and eventual fall) that their eyes would be opened and that they would be as gods. This sounds appealing to flesh as evidenced by Eve’s response. To be as God, Wow! However, Satan didn’t tell them they would be God, but would be as gods (little g). That is exactly what transpired only not in the way that Satan presented it. Since the fall in Adam, man’s nature has considered himself god. Everything in our fallen nature is centered around “Me, me, me, me, me! My comfort, entertainment, honor, and wealth is all that matters and all that I’m concerned with!” This fallen, little-g-god nature is the source of all heathen idols and corrupt worship in this world. It demands all the honor and veneration that rightly belongs unto God alone. Truly, if it’s not overcome by the sovereign grace of Christ in the new birth, then all with solely the little-g-god nature at their death will suffer the woeful fate expressed in Jeremiah 10:11, “…The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens”. Satan ended his perverse statement of temptation with another misrepresentation, or lie, when he told Eve that she would know good and evil. Again, a very tempting proposition to man. It is plain that she perceived the tree that God had commanded them to refuse as “…a tree desired to make one wise…” To know as God does?! Wow! The statement hints of truth, but at its core is a vile lie. Adam and Eve already knew good. After all, they were created by God and it was said of his creation that “…it was very good…”. They had been blessed to be graced by God’s fellowship, to whatever extent that was. He had created the helpmeet and brought them together for the first marriage with God officiating, as it were. They were already familiar with the only One worthy to call good. But they were about to know more than they ever wanted to know. They were about to be filled with an intimate knowledge of evil. Oh, it chills the soul to contemplate how dreadful the fall and the evil it relayed to man’s inherent nature! Falling from goodness, uprightness, and innocence to a state of sin, corruption, and transgression was the result of that desired knowledge of evil. With this knowledge God is not intimate for in him is no darkness, only light. But thanks be to God he is intimately familiar with the cure, Jesus Christ our Lord! Be careful, children! Satan is not afraid to pervert the words of God to meet his own ends. We have unfortunately witnessed this throughout the history of the Lord’s church and is even rampant today! Satan receives great glee when scriptural teachings are twisted to the demise of God’s children’s peace and joy while they live here. In II Peter 3:16,17, Peter warns of the unstable and unlearned who wrest, or twist, the scriptures to their own destruction and, in avoiding them, avoid being led away with the error of the wicked. Further in this chapter study we will see how Satan brandishes scriptural knowledge to try to tempt the Lord. Paul warns in II Corinthians 11:14,15 that Satan is transformed into an angel of light and his ministers are transformed as ministers of righteousness. Knowing this, we should be the more diligent to learn more of God’s truths in his holy Bible so we will be prepared to resist the devil the more!
Part two Having expounded upon the devices and character of Satan, I find it necessary now to spend a little time teaching the scriptural concept of God’s providential utilization of wickedness. Without a proper understanding of both the aforementioned concepts, I fear chapter four (as well as multiple other Bible passages) can never be properly understood. First and foremost we must firmly stand upon the bedrock truth that God is entirely holy and without any taint of sin in himself! I fear that people may jump to improper and unintended conclusions when I use the term “providential utilization of wickedness”. Some may errantly conclude that I’m teaching that God is the cause of wickedness, sin, and confusion in this world and in the lives and experiences of mankind. They may jump to the conclusion that I propose God as the cause of all the wicked acts, thoughts, and motives of men. They may think I teach that God created Satan to the ends of corruption and wickedness in this world. These conclusions could not be any farther from the truth. Then, preacher, what can it mean? It is a way of expressing a clearly taught scriptural concept , that God, seeing and knowing all that ever has or ever will happen, utilizes the wicked acts of men in his divine plan of purpose when he so chooses to do so without bearing any guilt, taint, or responsibility for those actions. When God does choose to providentially intervene in this fashion, it always results in the overthrow of the wicked intentions of those responsible to the glory of God and the good of his children. Frequently used to exemplify this truth is the tale of the flood waters and the farmer. Imagine torrential floods coming down on the farm. The farmer didn’t make the rain, cause it to fall, nor is he responsible for the detrimental effects it can have on the crops. However, he can channel the waters wherever he so chooses for it to go by means of masterfully built pipes, ravines, and reservoirs. These channels don’t change the potential destructive power of the rain or the falling of the rain, but they do make all the difference in the end results of the rain! As a result the deluge that would have been to the detriment of the crops winds up being diverted and utilized by the farmer for the good of the crops. What a farmer he is! God is in no way responsible for evil, sin, wickedness, lies, deceit, malice, envy, backbiting, murder, or any other of the sundry transgressions of man. God did not cause Satan’s rebellion, Adam’s disobedience, or our sinfulness. But, praise his wonderful name, he has known of it all since before the world began and before any of the corruption transpired. Acts 15:18 tells us, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Again, this is beautifully described in Psalm 33:11-15 when the psalmist declares by God’s inspiration, “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations…The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth…he considereth all their works.” No doubts, no worries, no mystery. God is on the ball keeping up with every action, motive, thought, or device of his children as well as the wicked. He knows every situation that he is going to providentially intervene in before it takes place and has even known it before the world began! Despite man’s most earnest and well-laid plans God has the power and omniscience (means he knows all) to prearrange the surrounding circumstances to turn those plans’ results into whatever end he chooses. I would not venture to propose that God is performing this behind the scenes in every circumstance as I personally believe this stance assumes more than the Bible reveals. I don’t at all doubt that God has the power to turn every circumstance, action, motive, and tragedy to his glory and to our eventual good, but I haven’t found that taught in scripture. Just because he has the power to do something does not mean that we should automatically assume he’ll perform said action. God has the power to save the devil, but that doesn’t mean he’ll do it. God has the power to make me sprout wings (wouldn’t that be pretty cool?), but I shouldn’t look for it to happen. By the same token, we should try to be very careful not to venture past the point where the Bible stops. I’m afraid some have assumed that because the Bible gives us clear examples of times when God has providentially overruled evil for good that we have precedent to now broadly proclaim his behind-the-scenes manipulation of every tragic, sinful, wicked occurrence to his glory and to our good. This line of reasoning can’t just stop at those transgressions of others against us, but would also of necessity include all our personal individual wicked thoughts, lusts, motives, and actions! Am I ready and willing to admit that God is utilizing all of my lusts, thoughts, and words to my good, others’ good, and his exalted glory? Not on your life! Also, please don’t think that I or any other minister worth his salt would dare advocate that God’s purposes are ever frustrated by man’s sins. Will the wicked ever “get one over on God”? Not a chance. Whatever goes on in this life, whether righteous or wicked, only plays out because God suffers, or permits, it to go on. There is no power at work in this world that is not allowed to exercise by God’s decree. He has dominion to start what he wants started and to stop what he wants stopped. He is sovereign, answers to no one, and seeks no one’s counsel. He is under absolutely no obligation to ever intervene in the affairs of this time-world, but thanks be to him that he chooses to do so to our preservation and well-being. Psalm 76:10 proclaims, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” Now, having said all this, we also don’t want to fall into the trap of denying that God has and does foresee the wicked works of men and the devil and intervenes at times of his choosing to give “beauty for ashes”, so to speak. Notice, please, the above quoted verse from Psalm 76:10. It seems to me to be telling us at least three very important things: 1) God can and does utilize the wrath of man to his praise, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee…”; 2) God does restrain the wrath of man, otherwise we all would have been consumed by now by the wicked, “…the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain“; and 3) there is a stated difference between the wrath that he restrains and that which is to his praise, hence, “the remainder”. Copious amounts could be written on each of these three points, but the most germane to this chapter discussion is, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee…” Where in scripture is this shown? Let’s look at a few examples to drive the point home. First, let’s consider our text under consideration. In Matthew 4:1 we read that Jesus was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. It says what it means and means what it says. Jesus was led of the Spirit of God for a distinct purpose - to suffer temptations being thrown at him by the wicked devil himself! You see, Satan believed that if he could affect Jesus’ faithfulness, steadfastness, and purity just one iota then he would be unfit to serve as the atonement for God’s elect. His plan was to get at Jesus however he could. But, praise to the Father, God knew the devil’s intentions and devices before the world even was formed! God didn’t cause the devil to tempt Jesus, he just knew that he would. Therefore, Jesus was led of the Spirit into that wilderness to give the devil the opportunity he so wickedly craved. Satan threw temptation after temptation at Christ. His intent was to ruin Christ. But, to the contrary, God used this futile endeavor of the Tempter to verify and qualify Jesus as the undisputed winner over him and his devices! Though the devil’s intent was to discredit, God utilized this to proclaim to believers throughout all ages that “we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”! Yes, because of God’s special providence in overruling evil for good in this episode, all his beloved children can have confidence that he who “ever liveth to make intercession for them” understands the various temptations that they encounter daily and is the help they need. Remember, we are dealing specifically with God’s power to utilize the wickedness of others (obviously there is no wickedness in God) in his plan of purpose to the overthrow of those wicked actions. I also don’t want you to think that this is God’s only means of providence, just the one that we are dealing with in regard to this chapter. The Lord of Lords who spoke this world into existence can simply purpose a deliverance and it will come to pass. He can make the ground open and swallow his enemies, send an angel to slay 185,000 Assyrians, rain down manna from the heavens to feed the hungry, cause the blowing of trumpets to bring down walls, make the Sun stand still in the skies, rain fire and brimstone on decadent cities, feed his servants via ravens, or simply stir the soul of one person to do good unto another. Not to mention God’s “ordinary providence” of food, raiment, rain, sunlight, air, etc. The list could go on and on. The consideration of God’s providential means is endless. This article expounds upon only one of his means and poorly at that! Next, let’s consider a very familiar case, the experiences of Joseph in Genesis chapters 37-50. In considering his list of experiences, let’s compare the objective perception of those misfortunes that befell him with God’s end purpose.
1) Joseph’s brothers and even his parents perceived him as impertinent after learning of the dreams he had received of God revealing their coming obeisance unto him. Their reactions sprang from pride and envy which is of the flesh, not caused by God. Our perception - grievous misfortune. 2) The other sons of Israel grew to hate Joseph. Again, this sprang from envy which is of the flesh, not caused by God. Our perception - grievous misfortune. 3) His brothers threw him into a pit and eventually sold him to Ishmaelite traders as a slave. This was a result of malice against him. Not caused by God. Our perception - grievous misfortune. 4) Joseph was sold to Potiphar whose wife threw herself at him. Joseph did the right thing and fled her advances causing her to lie against him to his imprisonment. These actions were a result of fleshly lust, pride, and deceit. God didn’t cause these iniquities. Our perception - grievous misfortune. 5) Joseph did Pharaoh’s butler a good service in interpreting his dream revealing his pardon from death. The butler promised to remember Joseph to Pharaoh for his release. The butler didn’t keep his word and Joseph remained in the jail at Pharaoh’s disposal. Fleshly infidelity and incontinence caused this. God was not the cause nor to be blamed. Our perception - grievous misfortune.
What terrible “luck” fell on Joseph! How could a righteous God allow such atrocities to befall one who always behaved himself righteously?! His sufferings seem pointless and endless! Have we ever had this notion in regards to our misfortunes? It serves to disrupt our faith and burden us beyond compare to believe that no good could come from our fiery trials. However, inspired scripture reveals for us that even though all seemed ashes in Joseph’s case, God was to make it beauty! God utilized the actions of men and devils (whose intentions were to Joseph’s destruction) to ascend Joseph to second-in-command over the most powerful nation extant in that day and preserved the lineage of Jesus. How? It was vital for Joseph to be at Pharaoh’s disposal at that time because God sent him dreams that only Joseph could interpret. He did and was made governor. Because Joseph came to such a heady position, he was able to save the land of Egypt from starvation through his talents. Resulting from this was the salvation of the entire nation of Israel from which the Promised One had to be born. While the devil was, I’m sure, exultant over the misfortunes of Joseph as they transpired to his initial satisfaction, he didn’t realize that God was sure to have the last laugh! God in his infinite wisdom simply suffered the base and wicked actions of men and devils to transpire and, in the end, trod them as stepping stones to victory! How humiliating to Satan to have his every turn result in his nemesis’ triumph. God’s perception - victory! How could you not love the thought of it! That God utilized this means of providence is plainly attested to by Joseph’s own words. In Genesis 45:5 Joseph comforts his brothers with these words, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” How did God send Joseph? By what means? God got Joseph to Egypt by suffering a wicked act to transpire in the selling of Joseph to the traders. Again, in verses 7 and 8, “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God…”. In 50:20 he again stressed the point when reassuring his brethren after Israel’s death, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good…”. When Joseph says that “God meant it unto good”, what is the antecedent of the pronoun it? Obviously it is the “ye thought evil against me” from the previous statement. God successfully brought forth a righteous resolution from manifold evil intents. Finally, let’s briefly look at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Did God cause men to hate Jesus? Absolutely not. Did God cause Judas to betray Jesus? No, his evil heart and greed led him to that shameful act. Did God cause men to run Jesus through a kangaroo court and declare him worthy of the most horrendous death conceived by bloodthirsty men? No. Is God responsible for the nails driven through his hands and feet or the crown of thorns furrowed into his precious brow? No, not at all. Did God cause those tormentors to savage his Son’s body past the point that would have brought death to any man not divine? No, no, no. Despite God’s innocence in these actions he was not at all ignorant that they would come to pass. For proof turn to Acts and consider the statements made of the apostles concerning the death of Jesus. Peter preached to the Jews at the feast of Pentecost who were at best complicit in the execution of Christ that “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain..”. The triune God has from the foundation of the world known what the response of both Jew and Roman alike would be to the advent of the meek and lowly Lamb. His humble manner and his message of sovereignty and divinity provoked malice and murder in the Jews. The Romans desired to keep the Jewish population placated by relenting to their demands for Jesus’ extermination. God knew this and delivered Jesus into their grasp. In Acts 3:17,18 Peter again declared “And, now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled”. What is the “it” in this verse referring to? Certainly, the crucifixion of Jesus which they had carried out. Now, what are the “those things” that Christ suffered that had to be fulfilled and was spoken of by the prophets of old? The “those things” and the “it” refer to the same thing, the crucifixion. What those wicked men carried out to the delight of the devil was exactly the way it had to happen! Proving the same point is the prayer of the disciples in one accord in Acts 4:26-28, “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” What did they do? They did whatsoever God’s hand and counsel predetermined to be done. God didn’t determine to make the men wicked enough to do those vile deeds. What he did determine, however, was that those wicked deeds would be utilized and incorporated into his plan of purpose to bring about a righteous end, the redemption of his people and abject humiliation of Satan! Many have tried to explain away this aspect of providence by denying that the blood that was shed from the wounds inflicted by men had anything to do with our eternal redemption. I have heard theories proposed that claim our hope lies in blood that was brought forth of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. They have pointed to Luke 22:44 , “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Well, I might would accept that theory as fact except that, no matter how you break that verse down, you can’t change the fact that it is plainly identified as sweat! That verse just relays to us the agony and dread that Jesus experienced with his crucifixion looming. He sweated so profusely that it formed into large “buckshot” drops before falling to the ground. Others have claimed that Jesus’ heart ruptured of his own volition and he poured out internal hemorrhaging as our atonement. This theory would reduce the type of the atonement to confusion as that blood was shed at the hands of a man and not donated. Isaac as the type of Christ on Mt. Moriah wasn’t biting his own tongue to cause bleeding or giving to the Red Cross blood drive, but was about to be violently wounded as a sacrifice. The ram took his place and suffered the death of the blade. God certainly could have caused the goat on the Day of Atonement to have collapsed in a bruised exsanguinated heap but he never did. That blood had to come forth and be seen and handled! In Matthew 26:28 and also Mark 14:24 Christ plainly stated that the blood for the remission of his elect’s sins was shed. That term shed (or other like terms such as shedder or sheddeth) is used in the Bible 55 times. The Hebrew term is “shaphak” meaning (from Strong’s Concordance) “to spill forth, to expend, sprawl out, gush out, pour out..”. The rendering from the Greek “ekcheo or ekchuno” is defined as “to pour forth, gush out, run greedily out, shed (abroad, forth), spill”. There should be no mystery that this redemptive bleeding of the Christ was out, forth, and abroad as opposed to internal or inward. Besides the definition, just look at how it is used in scripture when referring to blood or to violent acts. Every single time it is used it always refers to a violent act inflicted upon one by another. If my internal organs tonight started to spontaneously hemorrhage, it would not be proper to apply the term shed to that bleeding as it was not inflicted upon me by another. A dandy scriptural example to prove both points that shed refers to bleeding that is primarily visible as well as inflicted by another is found in II Samuel 20:10, “But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab’s hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground…” Besides all these proofs, I resent both theories explaining away the blood drawn by the executioners as they blatantly deny multiple scriptures that point irrefutably to the cross! I read nothing of “the blood of the garden shed for many for the remission of sins”. And to point to Psalm 22:14 where it says “my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels” and attempt to make that the proof text of internal blood redemption is at best straining and at worst disingenuous. Consider these :
1) I Corinthians 2:2 “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Paul’s expression to the Corinthians of the heart of the gospel that he preached conspicuously included the cross.
2) Ephesians 2:16 “And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby…” Clearly stated that reconciliation didn’t take place in just the context or setting of the cross, but by the cross!
3) Colossians 1:20 “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself…”. The phrase “of his cross” denotes that the cross was the instrument that brought forth the blood necessary for peace with God the Father.
4) Colossians 2:14 “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross…” How were we delivered from the curse of the law referred to here? By the suffering and death on the cross, of course. Here, the hope we have that the enmity of the law was taken away in the death of Christ, is expressed as being nailed to the cross! Should we dare seek to mitigate the blood that came forth as a result of those nails just because we may be a bit uncomfortable with the concept that God utilized their dastardly deed to such a holy end?
If we are to understand today that the wounds inflicted upon the Saviour on the cross carries no weight in redemption, then why would the inspired apostles leave us with so many scriptures to cause such confusion? Should we dare think that it was their intention to leave us straining for non-existent scriptural proof to defend these odd alternatives? Should we think that they were a bit careless in their writings and statements? There is no need to think that at all! God’s scripture is plenary and to be believed at the expense of any uncertainties or discomforts of our own. Yes, God’s word teaches that when he so chooses he can suffer even the wicked works of men and devils to meet his purposed ends. Why should we doubt? Nothing taught in the word convicts God of wrong-doing. He certainly has the power, knowledge, and sovereignty to perform his will to the defeat of evil. Elder David Pyles has asked, “What would you have God to do with sin?” He suffers it to go on anyway, so why shouldn’t he incorporate it to good ends when he so chooses? To do so manifests his unbreakable dominion over the affairs of this world as well as dominance over the architect of confusion, Satan himself! “Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar..”!
Part three The concepts of salvation by God’s grace are glorious and we should never spare to proclaim its sweet truth. It is often said, and rightly so, that Christ could have come to Earth without herald, discipleship, miracles, or establishing the visible church and saved us from our sins . We could have been the blessed recipients of salvation and not have known a thing of it till we were resurrected and taken up on the last day. However, I’m thankful that salvation in Christ comes with experience! These experienced comforts of the Lord are not our only experiences, though. We still live in this cold, hard world where the “prince of the power of the air” has great power to disrupt and destroy. Matthew four affords us great solace and strength in the midst of our trials and heartaches as we are taught and assured that Christ’s defenses are also ours. We read that Jesus was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and fasted forty days and nights. Notice that his temptation wasn’t set in a backdrop of comfort and ease, but unfolds during the midst of hardship. Satan flies the smoothest in the turbulence of our life experiences. It is ironic that the times we most meditate on the power of Satan and our defenses against him is when we are probably the most secure, being in church or among the brethren. It is especially during our weakest times of isolation, stress, and turmoil that we should turn to God’s word and apply the strength stored up for us there! We will see that to be Jesus’ response. Famished and athirst was the state of our Saviour. “Command that these stones be made bread” seems an easy enough task for the Creator of all that is. It seems just the right action in our rational minds to show his creative power and have food to eat all at the same time. How could it go wrong?! If Satan is involved, it is all wrong! This we should take heed to in every facet of our lives. What seems harmless as “kid’s stuff” to our minds is usually just the chink in the armor that Satan desires. He desires for you to bring movies, books, magazines, attitudes, and immodesties into your homes that to you seem “not that bad” or “just a little“. Just a little internet pornography has been just enough in the past to pull families apart. Just a few days of missing church for unwarranted reasons has been just enough to start a downward cascade of isolation and spiritual dearth. The broad way that leads to destruction in a believer’s life is paved with pretty yellow bricks engraved with “just a little” and “not that bad”! The one shot required to defeat this sinister device was one Bible verse, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”, pulled forward from Deuteronomy 8:3. Notice that Satan struck first at the physical frailty of Christ. It is unfortunate that so many become angry, doubting, or accusatory against God when faced with physical ailments. It is Satan’s joy to deprive one of God’s children of the spiritual strength they could have at times when they are already deprived of bodily soundness. He is so wicked and vile! Don’t forfeit your victory to such a deceiver! Forewarned is forearmed! God’s word time and again gives us divine warning. Brace yourself for it for it will come! The key of understanding is before us here. Do as Deuteronomy 8:3 tells you. Exercise yourself daily to take your focus away from physical desires and comforts that you may hone in on God’s exultant promises! Christ could have called legions of angels from heaven to overcome the adversary. He could have simply spoken a word and cast Satan down into the fiery torments. Christ could have chosen various and sundry successful weapons for he can do whatever it pleases him to do. But, praise his name, he chose what gathers dust on our bedside tables to defeat the serpent! What immense power we ignore in God’s word. To just crack the cover and pull apart unworn pages of the Bible at Easter or Christmas should cause overwhelming shame on our heads! Satan is, of course, the consummate expert at every device of confusion. One of the most destructive and grievous is the misuse, misquotation, and manipulation of scriptures which he wields in the next exchange with Christ. Peter warns us in II Peter 3:16, “..speaking in them of these things: in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” To “wrest” literally means to wrestle. When I was young I loved to torment my three sisters at every opportunity. One of my favorite means was to emulate the wrestlers’ moves that I saw on television. Naturally, the whole goal was to make them scream “Mercy!” or “Uncle!” in submission. In the same sense, “wresting” or wrestling the scriptures is to bend and contort the Holy Writ to convince poor deceived souls of an untruth. The elect of God have suffered and will suffer as a result of the heresies that have sprung from the efforts of scriptural contortionists such as Papists, Calvinists, Absoluters, Arminians, “hollow-loggers”, etc. After Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, he tempted him to cast himself down. He proceeded to quote from Psalm 91:11-12 intimating that, since the scriptures declare that angels would come and bear him up to safety, there would be no harm in doing what he suggested. However, Satan left out a few vital words from the passage. Psalm 91:11 reads, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Can you see the import of the omission? How foolish was Beelzebub to have thought it a possibility that Jesus would have walked contrary to the way of the Father! They are one and the same! Every step Christ took in the thirty-three and a half years he trod this earth was in perfect accord with his statement in John 8:29, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” I am a strong believer and advocate of the concepts of God’s determinate will and his permissive will. “Determinate will” alludes to those purposes of God that he will certainly bring to pass without any chance of variance. “Permissive will”, on the other hand, refers to ways which are in accord with his purpose that he has commanded us to walk in, but he suffers us to either obey unto reward or disobey unto chastisement. The elect are foreknown, elected, predestinated, regenerated, justified, preserved, and finally glorified by the determinate will of the Holy Trinity… no “ifs, ands , or buts” about it! No variableness nor shadow of turning! Their successful completion is as certain as God himself. However, it has pleased God to give us commands according to his permissive will also. Their successful completion is variable because, despite having the nature of Christ via the new birth, we still have an Adam nature about us too. It is incumbent upon us to willingly, actively obey these actions which are in accord with God’s permissive will. Matters such as church attendance, charitable giving, support of the church, graceful speech, rearing children, Bible reading, etc., are all within the scope of God’s permissive will. At times we succeed and feel edified. At times we fail miserably and experience condemnation of conscience. The psalmist bemoans his frailties of nature in Psalm 119:5, “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!” If his inspired understanding was that God had predetermined his obedience and disobedience per his determinate will, we certainly can’t tell it from this verse! Without doubt, Christ was and is in all his ways determinate and there was no contingency for him falling into Satan’s pit of temptation. However, it is imperative that we recognize Satan’s ready use of the device of scriptural manipulation! This account has been preserved for us as a divine encouragement to continue in the will (permissive) of God. It’s only when we walk according to that will that we can find peace and joy. At times church members move away from an area where the Primitive Baptist church is because they have received an offer for a “better” job elsewhere. Despite knowing that there is not one of our churches in the area where they plan to move, they figure it will be alright because “if God didn’t want us to move, he wouldn’t have sent us the job offer“. Oh, foolish one! Did it not ever occur to you that Satan has enough power to give job offers too? God’s word tells us that to be within his will, we will heed the truth from Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” One may reply, “Well, I just don’t see where I’ll ever get an opportunity like this again.” God’s word replies that to be living in his will is to “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not”(Jeremiah 33:3). Christ showed us plainly that “to keep thee in all thy ways” is not a promise that he takes lightly. Man’s desires for fleshly convenience despises that strait gate and narrow way. Our Adam nature would tempt us to omit those precious words also. Christ declared for us that this is not an acceptable option and his rebuttal from Deuteronomy 6:16, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” drove the nail into Satan’s second impudent attempt. Next we find Satan took Jesus into an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Imagine having the supernatural ability to do that. We must never forget that our adversary has great power at his disposal and is constantly seeking whom he may devour. We also must never use levity when speaking of Satan. He is no laughing matter! Sometimes well-meaning Christians will get bold and brash when speaking of Satan. They get so lifted up in the Savior’s truths that they will display a sort of braggadocio when speaking of the defeat of Satan in their lives. Some fall into the error of making Satan the brunt of jokes, practically painting him as a buffoon. We shouldn’t do this. Some may ask, “Why not? Isn’t he our enemy? Isn’t he defeated by our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ? Isn’t he going to be humiliated ultimately in the end and cast into the lake of fire? Why shouldn’t we laugh at him and brag on his defeat?” To answer these questions we simply need turn to the guide of every aspect of our lives, the Holy Bible. First we need to understand that though our Lord Jesus has ultimate dominion over all, in a sense we now dwell in Satan’s territory and need never forget it. Ephesians 2:2 refers to the devil as “the prince of the power of the air” and in John 12:31;14:30 Jesus calls him “the prince of this world”. That word “prince” as translated from the Greek “archon” means “a first (in rank or power), chief (ruler), magistrate, prince, ruler”. He is the master of sin in a sin-cursed earth filled with sinful beings. No wonder he is named as the prince of this world. Like as a bacteria will thrive and grow when in the right medium, Satan feels right at home in his medium, the earth. His successes are great preying on the doubts and fears of God’s children. What wars he has ignited, blood he has shed, homes he has destroyed! No wonder he was high-headed and deluded enough to dare offer dominion to Christ himself while on that mountaintop (v. 9)! Considering the power he is allowed to exercise (and that, thankfully, restrained with a chain with only so much slack in it as shown in Revelation 20:1-3) we should maintain some measure of respect when speaking of our crafty enemy. Certainly not with reverence should we consider him, but certainly with understanding of his power and ability to tempt us greatly. This example was given us by Michael the archangel as recorded in Jude vv. 8,9, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” Even an entity as powerful and noble as Michael the archangel brought no railings or indignities before the adversary. He just simply stated the Lord’s truth and left it at that. Christ is the only one to defeat Satan, therefore we should humbly leave it in his able hands. Our attitude toward Satan should reflect what James taught, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Therein lies our victory! For the third time we see Satan rebuffed via scripture, this time from Deuteronomy 6:13, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” It is fitting that this should be quoted as instruction for us in this day and time. After being offered all the fame and fortune of the world by Satan, Christ simply evoked the worship of the Almighty. We should beware of this world and its dainties because invariably they will turn our gaze from the way of the throne to the ways of the throngs. We can not be too diligent in protecting our children, our churches, and ourselves from an overdose of this world. What is an overdose? It’s a dose sufficient enough to gradually make you lose consciousness, fall into deep sleep, and eventually die to your former state. Please be aware that just being in church whenever the doors are open will not automatically or dependably insulate you or your children from this world’s toxic effects. In my secular profession as a nurse we see oftentimes those who have taken an overdose of narcotics. These can drop the respiratory drive and blood pressure so that death is eminent if something is not done. The answer is a drug called Narcan. It blocks the narcotic from attaching to its receptors in the brain and can rapidly cause the patient to arouse. However, its effects are transient and the patient can soon slide back into his obtunded state. This is a fitting picture of our struggles in the gospel way versus the world’s effects. We cannot totally insulate ourselves from the world lest our role as a gospel witness come to naught. But at the same time we also cannot inundate ourselves with worldliness lest we become consumed by it. Worship of Christ in the church is our Narcan! We need it lest we lose focus and consciousness of the joys of our salvation. Its effects are also transient so we need a steady regimen of godly meditation and training. In addition, we also don’t need to overtax the beneficial effects of the cure by taking on more of the toxic drug! It amazes me sometimes how church-goers will allow their kids to run around with peers who have no respect for Christ. In goes another toxic dose. Parents allow their young to play with “Bratz” dolls and “Ouija boards” thinking no harm could come because they have them in church for an hour and a half on Sunday. In goes another toxic dose. They will allow them to attend rock or country music concerts because it’s what “all the kids their age are doing”, while not considering the scandalous dress, dancing, and lyrics that are being held up as glamorous and “cool”. In goes another toxic dose. Not long ago I was at one of our church’s meetings in another state and saw a young man brought there by his parents wearing an “AC/DC” concert shirt. That rock band upholds all that is ungodly in this world and he was advertising them at the assembling of the saints with his parents’ sanction. In went another toxic dose! Our nation is entranced by “American Idol” (does the Bible ever speak well of idols?). In goes another toxic dose! “Churches” around this world are taking lyrics supposedly extolling Christ and wrapping them in the worldly mediums of rock, rap, country, or club dance music and trying to justify its use in the worship services. In goes another toxic dose! Enough of these toxic doses bring on spiritual drowsiness and eventually spiritual darkness altogether. John warns us in I John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Notice he didn’t just list the lusts but also the pride. If we allow ourselves or our children to be taken up with the high-living, “party hearty”, popular lot of this world we do a grave disservice. Luke 16:15 states clearly, “..that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the site of God.“ These are the narcotics of this world. What, then, is the antagonist of this drug? What is our spiritual Narcan? John goes on to give us the formula in verse 17, “…but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” Worshipping Christ and walking in his will can and does save us. Filling our life experiences with Bible reading, church meetings, daily meditations of God’s goodness towards us, charitable works, gospel witnessing, visiting the afflicted, etc., will make all the difference. Instead of seeking out mud drags, rodeos, and softball games to fill every weekend, seek out an associational meeting to visit. Instead of staying in a motel, accept the gracious invitation to stay with the church members. Instead of making only resolutions to lose weight and exercise more, resolve to visit several Primitive Baptist churches this year that you’ve never been to before. Instead of inviting your friends to only go out and eat or to a movie, try inviting them to go to church with you. All of these are worshipful acts. All of these will resist the devil that he will flee from you, just as he did Christ that day! “Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him”. Every part of that verse sounds good to me. The devil left him. The angels came and ministered to him. Won’t they do the same for us when walking in the will of God? Praise God, yes, yes, yes!
Part 4 Under the Mosaic Law dispensation, a Levite was not to enter into the Temple service as priest till he was thirty years old. A priest couldn’t serve if he was lame or otherwise deemed unfit under the Law’s demands for priesthood. Men who were not of the right lineage, the tribe of the Levites, were precluded from serving as priest. A priest first had to be anointed according to the law prior to his serving, otherwise he would have been a transgressor. Christ, being our law keeper, could not be a transgressor of God’s laws. He had priestly service to perform for his elect, therefore he of necessity had to keep all these precepts. We might consider it a bit foolish that Christ had to keep the law to the jot and tittle seeing as how he had conceived it and had delivered it unto men. Our thinking would be along this line, “He could have just done it his own way because he’s boss, after all.” What’s the big deal? Why didn’t Christ just decide to amend the Law through his actions? It becomes clearer to us when we consider that God’s law given to Moses is in perfect harmony with God’s holiness and essence. Romans 7:12 proclaims the nature of the law, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Why, then, would Christ not adhere to the law that is in perfect harmony with the perfection and holiness of himself, one person in the Holy Trinity? Psalm 85:10 expresses this truth beautifully, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” There can be no schism between truth and mercy! Nary a rift can exist separating peace from righteousness! Otherwise, we would stand as transgressors in the eyes of the Father. However, Christ became truth for us in his mercy and peace for us through his righteousness. There truly was no other option than that Christ be found in perfect obedience to the law. This he did. He was thirty years old when he began his service. He had been assailed by the temptations of Satan and emerged spotless declaring his fitness to serve as the eternal Priest representing the elect of God. Jesus was not born of the Levites, but it was prophesied in Psalm 110:4 and revealed in Hebrews 7 & 8 that he was of a superior priesthood that is actually the antetype pointed to by the Levitical priesthood. The fulfillment of the anointing took place when he emerged from the baptismal waters and the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove. Christ undeniably referred to this in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of site to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised..” All prerequisites fulfilled, now Christ set out to the work at hand. After leaving Nazareth following an attempt to murder him for preaching his own sovereignty (Luke 4:16-30), he set out to the lands of Zebulon and Nephthalim (two of the twelve tribes of Israel). These two tribes were included in the ten northern tribes who separated from Judah (the tribes of Benjamin and Judah) after the death of King Solomon. They had become very worldly and syncretistic (combining religions). The members of these tribes were well on their way to losing their identities altogether having withdrawn from the Law’s observances. Christ’s children among these tribes may have withdrawn from the obedient worship of the Lord, but he had far from cast them off forever. He purposely made a bee line there to reveal himself and to repeat the holy admonition, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Truly, “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”(v. 16). Notice, please, that the prophecy of the springing forth of light came connected with a message of necessary repentance! I pray that this point will flash into my mind the next time I am exhorted to repentance from the Bible or the pulpit. Repentance is not aimed at hurting tender feelings, but at bringing about the shine of Christ’s felt presence and fellowship! Next Christ went about calling servants. There is no doubt that Christ was/is God Almighty and could have supernaturally performed everything necessary himself. Despite this truth, he went almost immediately to call poor fishermen to his side and service. How wonderful a picture of fellowship this reveals. The glory of God is never dependent on the service of men, but it is gloriously displayed in their humble, obedient submission. Isn’t it overwhelming to consider that Christ loves to commune with us? Think about it. Us! Poor, worthless, fallen, guilty us! If the notion of it doesn’t swell our hearts to rupture, what can? Sitting before this keyboard today, I can’t help but dwell upon the fact that I’m so very weak, small, and helpless. The very beating of my heart and repetitive breaths of my lungs are graces that I take for granted. My children are playing in the back bedrooms having been formed in the womb, protected by providence, brought into our lives to fill the loneliness with overflowing love. All these and many, many more graces I don’t come near appreciating as I ought. How, then can I ever rightly appreciate and adore as I ought the far more glorious and humbling truth that Christ loves to commune with me! Me! No blessing could ever be so sweet to this sinner. Oh, that every joyful tear that streams forth from my eyes could cry praises aloud unto my Savior and great Friend! The hymn writer Benjamin Beddome expressed the Savior’s thoughts toward us when he wrote:
Did Christ o’er sinners weep, And shall our tears be dry? Let floods of penitential grief Burst forth from every eye.
The Son of God in tears Angels in wonder see; Be thou astonished O my soul! He shed those tears for thee.
Please consider the thoughts conveyed in Hebrews 2:11, “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” Knowing this, how can I possibly appreciate the blessed fact that Christ is not ashamed to call me brother? What condescension and grace upon such an unworthy character as I am! Knowing this, shouldn’t it give a renewed heart for worship every time we enter into the assembly of the saints? Poor sinner, what could be more assuring than to know that as we gather together to worship, the Lord God Almighty himself communes and sings praise with us! He verily “sticketh closer than a brother”! How highly it speaks for the humility of these blessed men that when they were commanded to follow they immediately laid aside familial and fiduciary obligations to simply follow in faith. Peter, Andrew, James, and John knew not what manner of amazing and sundry works they would be blessed to perform and witness. They just followed Jesus realizing it to be a grace. The words of Peter convey this in Luke 5:8, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Simon Peter rightly preached a sermon in these eleven words. He owned that Jesus is Lord. He owned that he was a fallen, sinful, unworthy character. He owned that he was unworthy to even be in Christ’s presence. I assure you today, church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that if we are found walking, talking, witnessing, working, and living in harmony with these three precepts, great things will happen in our lives and churches! They followed. They healed the sick, diseased, tormented, possessed, lunatic, and palsied. Greater healings are in store for us. Just follow!
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