The Temptation of Christ (Part 4)

In this particular series we've been looking at, we examined the second temptation that Jesus Christ experienced in the wilderness, which is recorded for us in Luke 4. And we recognize, as we kind of looked at these in succession, coming fresh off the temptation for Christ to turn the stones of the wilderness of Judea to bread and his hunger, Satan moves to the next temptation. Which, in this case, as we discussed last week, was an offer of power and rulership over the kingdoms of the world in that moment. Now, as the god of this world, it was authority which Satan possessed, and ultimately was his authority to give. And as we talked about last week, the offer of power and authority that was provided was a two-fold offer. Christ would not only have the authority and control over the kingdoms of this world, but he would also have control over his own narrative. He would have a degree of personal autonomy, so to speak, and an opportunity to decide whether he would follow the plan which God had set forth in him being our Passover lamb and dying for our sins, or whether or not he would ultimately forge his own path. Now, that autonomy, as we saw and we talked about last Sabbath, it came with a catch.

Christ would need to bow before Satan and worship him, and we see Christ's response, his response in Deuteronomy 6 as well as Deuteronomy 10, which were two passages that discussed Israel's challenges kind of during their time in the wilderness. He said to Satan, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

Now, one of the concepts that we've been coming back to throughout this particular series is that Christ's 40 days of trial in the wilderness is analogous to the 40 years which Israel spent in the wilderness. And with Christ's example for us illustrating these temptations, these trials, they can be overcome with the help of God's Spirit. Now, something we recognize that was not available to the vast majority of the Israelites in the wilderness. God poured his Spirit out upon the leaders of the congregation. He poured it out upon the 70 elders. He poured it out upon the prophets. But the Spirit of God was not available to the vast majority of Israelites at that time. And so we see their response. We see their response in very human ways to the things that they were provided and the things that were brought before them. We looked at their example as they went through history and how throughout the wilderness wanderings Israel continually came back to the idols that they were so accustomed to. From the first instance we see coming out of Egypt with the golden calf to ultimately the lure of the worship of Baal-Pior to the gods and goddesses of the Canaanite lands that they eventually entered, idolatry became a significant part of Israel's story. We talked too about how power and authority, they're challenging issues to wrap our mind around. They can be sensitive, they can be a challenging subject because as humans, quite frankly, we don't like to be told what to do. As Americans, that concept is simply anathema. I mean, that is just absolutely foreign to us that we must be subjected to the instructions of someone else.

And we looked at some of the studies that talked about individuals' desire for autonomy. We talked about how the root when it comes to the desire for authority and power, it was less in control of others, or it was less for the control of others, and more so for the control of one's own self.

An individual person's ability to dictate their own path forward, to have the pen in their hands, so to speak, and to be writing their own story without the influence of outside factors.

So what's the big deal, right? Why is that such an issue?

Because that desire for personal autonomy, as we discussed, that unwillingness to submit oneself to any other authority but yourself, can have major repercussions when we're in a relationship that requires commanded submission.

When we're in a relationship where God expects our submission to a certain authority that He has ordained. And it is in those places where this question, quite honestly, becomes spiritually critical.

In that place where you have an intersection between power and authority and our Christianity.

Romans 13, Ephesians 5, Hebrews 13, 1 Peter 2, Titus 3, all of these passages illustrate that this submission, one to another, is critical.

Talks about husbands and wives submitting one to another, children submitting to parents, citizens to their governing officials, brethren to those in roles of leadership. And often, in certain circumstances, at least scripturally, where the person giving the command is godly or not, provided the command itself is not against the law of God.

God did not command rebellion against authority at this time. Christ did not overthrow Rome. His followers did not organize an armed resistance.

That was the desire of the zealots at that point in time, but not something that Christ endorsed.

We recognize that there is a time coming in which that will be the case, but that that will be led by Christ, not by any one of us drawing our swords and charging across the battlefield to start the process.

Until then, we have His commands regarding our intersection with these things. It's not easy stuff. And going forward, brethren, quite honestly, it's not going to get any easier.

You know, this, what we referenced last time and what we looked at in the last message, these things are written repeatedly in our Bible by men who were inspired by God, living in incredibly stressful times, and trying to show us, down through the ages and down through time, the proper intersection of these things.

The opposite action, ultimately, you know, rebellion against these things is rebellion against the one who gave it. An unwillingness to come under any authority of any kind, but ourselves telling God that we know better. That's what Satan did.

And ultimately, what Satan was offering Christ, the chance to write his own story. And thankfully, Christ wasn't tempted to take this path.

Christ provided Satan with the necessary rebuttal. Let's go over to Luke 4, and we'll pick up where we left off last week in this account, Luke 4. And we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 8. Luke 4 and verse 8, we'll pick up the next temptation that we see here in the order that Luke has recorded for us. Luke 4 and verse 8, oops, pardon me as I hit the microphone with my Bible page.

Luke 4 and verse 8, I'm sorry, Luke 4 and verse 9. Let's do verse 9. Verse 8 is the last passage of what we looked at. Luke 4 and verse 9 says, Then he brought him to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. Verse 10, For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Now this is something for most of us that's kind of a challenge for us to understand because we don't necessarily have a great familiarity with the Temple Mount and its design. You know, First Temple was built by Solomon during the unified period of Israel, the unified kingdom. It was built on the slopes of Mount Moriah back in the 900s BC. And we can see from Scripture, we see what the instructions with regards to Solomon and all the work that went into producing it. You know, the stone was carved off-site so that it wasn't something where a sound of chisel could be heard on-site. It was an incredible structure. You know, it's covered in gold. It's, you know, just a beautiful, beautiful structure. We know that God's Shekinah glory dwelt in that temple among his people for a time. We know that that glory ultimately departed that temple in the events that are recorded in Ezekiel 10. That first temple was destroyed in 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar, and it was rebuilt about 60 years later or so by Zerubbabel during the time of Cyrus and the edict that Cyrus gave Ezra to begin rebuilding Jerusalem again in the kind of later 500s BC. Now that temple that was rebuilt was replaced ultimately by this giant edifice that Herod the Great built. Herod the Great was known as Herod the Builder, and he expanded that temple footprint significantly. We talked about this at the feast for those of you that were in bend, but Jerusalem is a city that's built on hills and valleys. You know, it's a city of hills and valleys, and one of those valleys, which is the central valley, kind of runs right down through the middle of the city between Mount Zion and Mount Moriah is the Tyropoeian Valley or the central valley, and it went right down the middle of the city at that point.

As part of the process of expanding the Temple Mount, Herod actually filled in the upper portion of that valley and then extended the Temple Mount over that big old valley that was down in the center of the city. So he built these huge high walls all the way around and then filled that center of the Temple Mount space with fill, with rubble and things to be able to extend the Temple Mount further into the upper city as part of this massive construction project in the years prior to the first century. But when he tried to expand the other side of the Temple, he ran into a very challenging situation. You've got the central valley on one side, but then on the opposite side, you've got the Kidron Valley. The Kidron Valley runs kind of down the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem, and it is a deep and narrow valley. And realistically, filling in that valley to try to expand the footprint further really wasn't a great option. And so as they built into and filled the Tirupallian Valley, they built upward along the edge of the Kidron Valley, this large wall that goes up until the Temple Mount filled, ultimately, 37 acres. And it filled those 37 acres at a height of about 377 feet above the lowest point of the city. So I mean, think about that for a second. It's a 37-acre mount, kind of this flat spot that was built. And then the height of that above the lowest portion of the city was about 377 feet. It was huge! Just massive edifice that Herod built. Now, a number of commentaries, when you ask, like, where exactly was Satan taking Christ here? A number of the commentaries point to a location in Jerusalem of the pinnacle, quote-unquote, as being the point at the temple where the royal portico and Solomon's porch intersect. And that's the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. That's one of the most believed locations of the pinnacle, quote-unquote, and that would be what a number of commentators and historians record. But that section doesn't tell the full story. Where the royal portico and Solomon's porch intersect along that cliffside of the Kidron Valley, during Christ's time, the distance from that spot to the bottom of the wall, and ultimately the bottom of the Kidron Valley, would have been almost 450 feet. So if this is the location, and there's, again, some theories as to other potential locations, but it seems likely this is the spot, it was a height of approximately 34 stories from the location where he was at this time. For perspective's sake, about two and a half times the height of the Oregon State Capitol building.

So two and a half times the height of the Oregon State Capitol building, or a 34-story building. Again, there's a couple other places that people argue about potential locations. Regardless of the location officially, we can assume it was an area of significant elevation such that one would die as a result of the fall. Satan, we see, quotes Psalm 91, quotes God's promise of protection to his people. Let's go ahead and turn there. Psalm 91, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 9 so we can see that promise.

Psalm 91, in verse 9, we'll see God's promise of protection. We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 9. The whole passage deals with the protection that God provides. Talks about how he's our refuge and he's our fortress. He's the one in whom we trust. Talks about how he will deliver his people from pestilence. That he will cover us all as a hen, covers our chicks, so we can hide and feel safe under his wings, so to speak.

Talks about how he will not fear the arrow that flies by day, the pestilence that walks in darkness, or the destruction that lays waste at noonday. Says a thousand shall fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. And this is the passage Satan goes to. Verse 9, this is where Satan picks it up in the passage.

Verse 9 of Psalm 91. It says, That's the passage there that Satan quoted, minus a couple of things. He mentioned, keep you in all your ways. He kind of left that out.

Verse 13, So Satan quotes an excerpt of Psalm 91 to Christ. Again, leaves out a couple of pieces. Realistically, Christ knows these words. He inspired them. Brethren, are these words true? Absolutely, they're true. These are God-breathed. These words are God-breathed. And yet, what we see Satan do is Satan tries to use them to attempt to get Christ to move outside of the boundaries.

In some ways, Satan is using them, in a sense, to try to encourage Christ to prove who he is.

To throw himself from the highest point of the temple in a very visible fashion. Forcing the angels to save him as God promised those who have made the Lord their refuge. Working a very visible, very miraculous sign.

Essentially, Satan says to Christ, don't be afraid. God is with you. Jump.

He says, in their hands, speaking of the angels, they will bear you up. No evil shall befall you.

Now, what is Christ's response? Christ's response, we see in verse 12. Christ's response in verse 12. Jesus answered and he said to him, again, Luke 4 in verse 12, It has been said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Title for the message today is The Temptation of Christ, part 4, and the subtitle is Tempting God. And in it, what I'd like to do is take the opportunity to examine this concept and try to consider what it means for us today, as we consider our own walk with God.

Christ told Satan, You shall not tempt the Lord your God. And like everything else that we've looked at in this series thus far, this particular phrase harkens back to a specific incident in Israel's history. And remember, keep in mind, once again, the folks that would hear this being told to them would recognize the passage that he quoted. They would recognize the incident. Those that were reading what the Gospel writers had written would recognize this specific incident and would know what was coming, would understand the context, and understand the connections.

Let's go to Deuteronomy 6, and we'll take a look at this particular instance. We'll take a look at this particular situation in Israel's history. Deuteronomy 6, and we'll see where Christ continues, essentially, after he left off, where we left off in the last message. If we would have kept going in the last message, in the spot where he quoted, that you should worship God, and in only him you shall serve, if you kept going a couple more passages, you'd get right to this spot where Christ quotes the next quote. Deuteronomy 6, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 16.

Deuteronomy 6 and verse 16 says, And we can keep going. We'll go ahead and leave it off there. If you'd like to continue reading from 20 down to 25, you certainly can. But in this particular passage in Deuteronomy 6, once again, Moses is recapping the story to the Israelites.

He's making a connection to events that occurred throughout the wilderness wanderings, and really bringing to their attention situations that occurred that they would remember, that they would have had told to them as time went on. And he specifically gets at them and tells them that they shall not tempt God how well like they did at Masah.

And then he says you need to diligently keep the commandments and testimonies and statutes of God, you know, kind of recapping some of what they experienced, doing what is right and good in the sight of God, that they might go in and possess the land which he promised them. But for us to fully understand the reference that Christ made here, we need to know what happened at Masah. Let's go ahead and turn over to Exodus 17. Exodus 17. And there's a number of places where this incident is referenced, you know, several different places that kind of help piece the story together a little bit.

But Exodus 17 is one of those locations. The word Masah itself in Hebrew means to try or to test. To try or test. And as a result of the events of this location, the area became known as Masah. Became known as one of the names of this particular area. But Exodus 17 seems to indicate that there may have been a couple of locations that are involved here, even though Exodus 17 seems to indicate that Masah may have been known by another name as well.

Maribah. There are other scriptural accounts that seem to indicate that those are two different places where a similar incident occurred. So Exodus 17, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1 here. Exodus 17 in verse 1 says, that comes into play when that occurs. And so we have a situation here where these individuals don't have water to drink.

It says, therefore, verse 2, the people contended with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. Moses kind of looking around for the water truck or maybe for the, you know, little five gallon water dispenser like, well, what do you want me to do? You know, I don't have any water. I'm thirsty, too. But he says, give us water. They said, give us water that we may drink.

And so Moses said to them, why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord? Verse 3, and the people thirsted there for water and they complained against Moses. So now, you know, it's Moses' fault why they don't have water. But it says, they complained against Moses and said, why is it that you have brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? Notice, I want you to go back for just a second. Why were they there in Rephidim? It says, all the congregation, verse 1 of Israel, all the congregation of the children of Israel, set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of the Lord.

It wasn't Moses' fault why they were in Rephidim. God commanded they go to this place. But they said to Moses, why is it you've brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses, verse 4, cried out to the Lord, saying, what shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. The Lord said to Moses, go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go.

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Orib, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Verse 7, notice, it says, so he called the name of the place Masah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not? Is the Lord among us or not? Now, the people of Israel struggled mightily as they wandered in the wilderness.

You know, we saw in the second series, and we kind of referenced it already, they desired meat. You know, they were sick of manna. They wanted meat. In this circumstance, you know, they have been wandering in the wilderness for a bit. They are thirsty. They want water, and they want it now. They desired the foods that they left behind in Egypt.

Here at Masah, the people contended with Moses over the water that they were desiring greatly. And the word, contended, here in Hebrew, it comes from the Hebrew, reb, reb, H7378, which means to strive or to contend. But some other translations put it to quarrel or to attack. This isn't a calm discussion. You know, this is not, you know, monocle in one eye and, uh, sorry, Mr. Moses, we need some water. This is like, give us water and give it to us now.

There was a quarrel, there was strife, there was contention, such that the place is named for the events of what happened.

It is named for the contention and the strife and the quarrel, which is there. In fact, maribah means quarrel. It means strife. It means contention. The area was named because of the events of what occurred. So Moses, in response to their anger and in response to their contention, he says, why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord? But we also see later that Moses writes, because they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not? So the question really comes into play. Does the tempting of God lie in the contention of Israel with Moses? Or does it lie in the demand they were making of God? Or of the question of whether or not God was with them during the process? Whether he was truly caring for them or not. Keelan Delich, who wrote a commentary on the Old Testament, they write, As there was no water to drink and refit him, says the people murmured against Moses, for having brought them out of Egypt to perish with thirst in the wilderness. This murmuring Moses called tempting God, and they said, in other words, or for example, unbelieving doubt in the gracious presence of the Lord to help them. In this, the people manifested not only their ingratitude to God, who had hitherto interposed so gloriously and miraculously in every time of distress or need, but their distrust in the guidance of God and the divine mission of Moses, and such impatience of unbelief as threatened to break out into open rebellion against Moses. So Keelan Delich talked about how the murmuring that was taking place that Moses referred to as tempting God was an unbelieving doubt in the graciousness of God, or the goodness of God, and his presence to be able to help them in the circumstances that they were dealing with. Expositors Bible Commentary writes the following, says, God's people tempt or test their Lord when they distrust his kindness and providential care of them and grumble against him or his leaders. So God's people, they said, tempt or test God when they distrust God's kindness, distrust his goodness, distrust his care of them and his providence that he provides for them, when they question his presence and his goodness in their life. It says when we consider the temptation that Christ faced in Luke 4, the temptation that Satan floated before Christ had little to do with grumbling against leadership, but it had everything to do with the question of whether God was with him or not. Satan asks Christ, does he protect you like he says he does? Prove it. Throw yourself from the pinnacle of the tower and see what happens. So in some ways, a distrust or a questioning of his goodness, of his providence, is integral to what Satan was floating before Christ. Expositor's Bible commentary, the same commentary, writes on Luke 4. They say more probably, the phrase of thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God is applied to Jesus, who thus refuses to tempt God in the second sense of the word. Not the first sense of the word, which is a grumbling against authority, but the second sense of the word, which is that he will not repeat the sin that Israel committed in the desert by putting God to the test. To do that would be to provoke God by making inappropriate demands for a divine sign to be used for display. They go on to say this request for a sign would actually be an act of unbelief masquerading as extraordinary faith. I want to read that again, that this request for a sign would actually be an act of unbelief masquerading as extraordinary faith. On the section that they write on Matthew 4, they write the following again, Expositor's Bible commentary.

was wrong. The appropriate attitude is trust and obedience. We consider these things, and as we kind of consider what is going on behind the scenes here, when we think about Israel's example that Christ referenced, instead of submitting themselves to the test, quote-unquote, that God was conducting for them to examine their hearts and how they would proceed as they faced these circumstances and these challenges, instead, they began to test the Lord and ultimately His graciousness and His care.

Let's go over to Psalm 95, Psalm 95, and we'll see an interpretation of this particular event by the Psalmist, Psalm 95, and we'll see beginning in verse 1 a reference to this event, a reference to this event again in Psalm 95, and kind of what was going on and what was happening in this particular section. The Psalm itself is titled, A Call to Worship and Obedience, and as you read through it, you'll hear the Psalm that's in our hymnal.

It says, O come, let us sing to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation, let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms, for the Lord is the great God and the great King above all gods, in His hand are the deep places of the earth, the heights of the hills are His also, the sea is His for He made it and His hands form the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

Now it goes on at the end part of verse 7 and going into 8, it starts to make this segue into this particular event that we're referencing here that Christ also referenced in His temptation in Luke 4. It says, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness. If you look at that word rebellion and look at that word trial, the writing of it in Hebrew is do not harden your hearts as in Meribah, as in the day of Masah in the wilderness.

So Psalm 95 is directly referencing these particular events directly. In fact, by name. When your fathers, verse 9, tested me, they tried me, though they saw my work, says they tried me, even though they saw my deeds, even though they saw my actions, even though they saw my work and my care for them, God says they put me to the test. Verse 10, for 40 years, I was grieved with that generation, where grieve there means disgusted, just, just, just disgusted with that generation, and said it's a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know my ways.

Verse 11, so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Here, referencing again the 40 years that they wandered in the wilderness, and ultimately referencing those that would not enter the Promised Land as a result of what occurred in the numerous times in which they tested God during their wanderings.

Now, at what point in Israel's history had they not received miraculous deliverance from God in their, in their experience? You know, Israel experienced miraculous deliverance prior to the wanderings that God opened the Red Sea they walked through on dry land. God intervened numerous times in their experience, albeit not necessarily in ways that they wanted, you know, they wanted a different food, they wanted water not later, but right now, you know, it wasn't in their timeline necessarily and it wasn't, you know, always what they wanted.

But this time, they demanded that God provide them with their desire and questioning really whether he was with them or not because they found themselves in this predicament. Of course, God was with them. He had been with them since they'd left Egypt. Should never have been in question. And that's kind of the point. It should never have been in question. You know, when we look at the temptation of Christ, it's outlined in Luke 4, the situation that he was tempted with, it doesn't have anything to do with the contention against Moses here by Israel.

That reference isn't referring to the rebelling against the authority of God's leadership. That's not the tempting that God is being, you know, is referencing in this example. The tempting to which Christ is referring in his callback to Israel's situation is the question of whether the Lord is with us or not, and the proof of it by miraculous sign. Satan told Christ, again, if God is with you, throw yourself down. Has he not promised you deliverance?

Has he not promised you protection? You don't need to worry about it. Just jump! It's fine! Now, there's certainly additional aspects of this with regards to proving himself as Messiah by miracle. You know, there's been some discussion in the commentaries regarding certain Jewish rabbis that taught that the Messiah would appear at the roof of the temple to get Israel's attention. You know, with Satan trying to get him to do that, hard to know for sure.

But at its core, the question that is being asked is, does God protect and deliver you or not? And the answer to that question, I hope we all come to the conclusion of, is, of course he does. Of course he does!

So then, why would it have been inappropriate for Christ to throw himself off the pinnacle of the tower? Why was that a temptation? Why was that something that would not have been okay?

Because in that moment, with that action, he was forcing God's hand. He was testing God's goodness.

God's blessing. God's protection. Put it into a real-life example. If I choose to go skydiving without a parachute, I'm going to die. Could God save me? Sure, he could. Will he? Likely not.

Why? Because it was a reckless decision. It was a decision that exhibited an extreme lack of discernment and wisdom for me to turn around and jump out of a plane without a parachute.

Does God intercede in our lives, showing us mercy in the times when we should have had more sense? Yes, he does. Absolutely. And I am so thankful for that. I think all of us can think back to a time in our lives where we made a decision that went sideways, and thankfully, God was merciful. God did protect us, and God bailed us out in some way. But if I specifically enter into a decision with such an obvious lack of discernment, God may not bail me out.

We know from Galatians 6, God is not mocked. We reap what we sow. Now, the skydiving example is extreme, okay? It's an extreme example, but it's purposefully extreme because some people actually enjoy jumping out of planes, obviously with a parachute, but some individuals do enjoy that. And we might not for a moment consider jumping out of a plane without a parachute. However, we might absolutely consider doing it with a shoot. We might absolutely jump out of a plane with a shoot.

But in those situations, we take a dangerous situation and we mitigate that risk to the best of our ability so that we can still enjoy the joy of the descent without the sudden stop, so to speak, at the end. So how do we do that? Well, we triple check. We or we double check. We triple check the harnesses. A professional packs our shoot, right? Because there's a certain way that that should should go in. There's a safety shoot just in case that shoot goes wrong. There's a trained person who jumps with us until we reach a point where we know enough to do it ourselves in case something goes wrong. All of these things ensure that we don't take on significant additional risk as a result of lack of discernment or lack of skill. When we get into our car, we buckle our seat belt. When I come in for the night, I lock my car doors. I lock my front door.

If I'm not feeling well, I might consider making an appointment with my doctor to determine what's going on so it can be addressed. Is that fear or somehow a lack of faith? No. We would never accuse the guy packing our parachute of being afraid because he's taking the precautions necessary to mitigate the risk. These things are reasonable precautions to mitigate risk. So is it wrong for us to take those precautions? To lock our cars, front door at night? Does that mean that we're somehow fearful or somehow displaying a lack of trust in God? Everyone has varying levels of risk aversion. I'm not real good with ladders. I'm not real good with heights. Some of you may be, and I know some of you are. I'm not afraid of them in the traditional sense of the word. I'll go up them if I have to. I'm just not real sure of myself when I'm at the top of a ladder and it's wobbling back and forth while I'm at the top of it. I can do it if I have to, and I have, but more often than not, I avoid it if I'm able to just because I'm not as comfortable as I might be on the ground. With training, with time kind of consistently working at those heights, I can become a lot more comfortable with that and less risk averse and probably reach a point where I might be okay working regularly at that height despite the fact that I'm kind of not comfortable with it. For someone else right now that has the skill set that's done that, they may absolutely be comfortable with it. I see these guys working on roofs and they're jumping rafter, rafter, rafter, rafter up there and they're just as comfortable as can be. They may not have started out that way, but they are now. We may have others who never reach that point of comfort, even though they may be up there several different times and may determine, you know, this just isn't for me. Everyone has varying levels of risk aversion and what's comfortable for one may not be comfortable for another. Does that mean that that person is afraid? Does that mean that that person somehow doesn't exhibit faith as they should?

Should we get into the car without our seatbelt? Jump on a motorcycle without a helmet? Should we free-climb El Capitan without a harness and ropes? Some might argue, why not? If we're comfortable with our skill level, we should be able to take those risks and make those decisions for ourselves. Brethren, where do we draw the line? What is God's expectation of us? You know, over the past couple of years, I've begun to see more and more arguments that have been presented with regards to this idea of faith versus fear. And the ultimate conclusion is that anything that is not of faith is fear, and anything that is deemed fear, quote-unquote, is not faith. And in principle, I mean, when you first look at it, it's an accurate statement, but it doesn't tell the entire story. When you have a dichotomous system like that, or you have a dichotomous state which is either-or, then the conclusion is that if you are someone who chooses to take precautions of any kind, then you are fearful, and you're not exhibiting faith. The false dichotomy doesn't take a number of things into account, and one of those things is the issue of tempting God, or putting God in a place where we have forced His hand for our protection as a result of our unwillingness to use discernment and wisdom in the situation that we find ourselves in. You know, when we look at the example of Christ's third temptation, Christ was being tempted to prove God's providence in a very public, very miraculous fashion. In fact, in such a way that He was forcing the angels to manifest themselves and save Him on the way down. Again, in essence, Satan was tempting Him to force God's hand and to protect Him. God tells us in Psalm 34.8 to taste and see that the Lord is good. In Malachi 3 in verse 10, God tells us to test Him to see if He won't pour out such a blessing as we won't have room to receive it. So which is it? What's the difference? The difference, brethren, is that we are yielding ourselves to God's instruction in obedience, that we are trusting Him for the blessing that He promises. Does that mean that we'll always receive it?

Nope. Time and chance happen to us all. I could do everything right. I could get behind the wheel of my car. I could click my seat belt, drive the speed limit, maintain proper following distances. I could drive defensively, and someone could still come flying out of nowhere and T-bone me in an intersection. I could do everything right and still die in an automobile accident.

That doesn't mean that God's promise was a lie. It doesn't mean that I wasn't blessed. It doesn't mean that God forsook me or somehow I sinned. It means that time and chance occurred.

But what we want to be careful of, and this is the lesson, I believe, that is in this section on the Temptation of Christ. What we want to be careful of is putting God in a position where all of the responsibility for our care and well-being is solely on His shoulders.

God absolutely protects us, but we have personal responsibility. Another example, we can't spend our entire lifetime eating cake and donuts and drinking two liters of coke and expect to live to be three score and ten. You know, the joke, I can't remember which comedian it was, but I remember somebody at one point in time was asking a prayer and said something to the effect of, Lord, please bless this family-sized bag of Cheetos that I'm about to mow down, wash it down with a two liter of coke and help it be nourishing to my body.

That's not going to work for long. We have a responsibility to follow biblical principles, to live God's way. And God says that when you do, I will show you that it works.

He says, taste and see. But even in that, we're not guaranteed three score and ten.

Time and chance happens to us all. Satan tried to get Christ to test God's goodness.

He tried to get Christ to have God step in miraculously in a very powerful way in order to maintain his life.

And Christ's response to Satan was to point him back to the events in the wilderness that took place at Masah with the tempting of God by Israel, proving his presence in their life, even though God's presence was evident in so many ways. As we draw today's message to a close and we finish the final message here this next time around, brethren, I'm going to ask once again that you could invite you to take the opportunity to fast this coming week to seek God's will with regards to this particular thing in our own lives.

That each and every one of us can examine and consider where we may be abdicating our own personal responsibility, placing the onus of our protection solely on God or others, and to consider going forward how each of us may have a greater understanding of this intersection of faith and fear and personal responsibility and ultimately how that impacts us individually and as a church. And just again, as we pray about this and as we fast about this, that God might provide clarity, that God might help us to understand this more fully, and really help us to understand the applicability in our own lives as we look at these three things that Christ faced.

In the final message of this series, we'll go ahead and take the time to dig further into the applicability of these lessons, looking at how Christ continued to point us back to certain specific things in His temptation in the wilderness, the things that He experienced, and not only that, but the importance of His example throughout His ministry in our overcoming of these specific things, not just in this temptation, but in His life and His ministry and the example that He set for us. And we'll try to look at how He confronted some of these concepts in other aspects of His life and how ultimately each of us can learn from these examples to strengthen our walk with God and with one another. So we'll go ahead and draw it to a close here for today, but brethren, I hope that you have a spectacular remainder of your Sabbath, and I hope that you have a wonderful week.