It Is Written

Devotion

3-26-10

It Is Written

 

Oh boy I am excited to share with you what the Lord is showing us in Luke 4 when He was faced with the temptations of the devil.  It is exciting to know that our Savior and Lord, God Himself faced the same temptations you and I face every day and the way He commanded the enemy to depart is so powerful for us to learn.  So let’s get right to it.

Take a look at Luke 4 again today.  Let’s start with verse three.  I am going to type the entire scripture out for you today because as I do I want to highlight what the Lord is teaching us.

Luke 4:3-13

3-4 “And the devil said to Him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread’ and Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

Notice that before Jesus quoted scripture He said, “It is written.” Why do you think He did this? It is important to understand that Satan knows who Jesus is and is doing everything he can to cause Him to stumble because he wants to deny the power of God and His word. So Jesus is reminding Satan that he knows the written words of God and he can not stand against them. He is showing him that the written, and now spoken, word of God gives Him power to overcome him. Yet, watch what Satan does.

 

5-7And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”  Here Satan is telling Jesus that he is more powerful than Him because he was given the domain of the earth by God when He cast him out of heaven as a fallen angel. He thinks he has the power of the earth and can tell Jesus he is the one who chooses the ruler of the earth. But once again Jesus is going to remind him of where the real truth comes from, the scriptures.

 8. Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Jesus once again reminds Satan that God has the power to give someone domain over the earth and that He alone is worthy to be worshiped. Satan cannot fight the truth of the Word. Yet he tries one more time to tempt Jesus with his lies.

 

9-11 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” OK, pay special attention to what Satan did here.  He not only tempted Jesus but he tempted Him with scripture. Now he has taken the very words Jesus spoke, ‘It is written,’ and trying to use them against Jesus and make Him look wrong and stumble.  How many times do we see this in our lives? Someone will use scripture to try and prove to you that you are wrong in what you are saying or doing as a Christian.  For example: One of the scriptures used all the time is, “Do not judge least you be judged.”  People (both believers and unbelievers) who don’t want to change their ways will use this verse as a means of trying to say that we are being self-righteous and judgmental.  But is that the truth? It is very important to understand, not only the scriptures thrown at us, but also the scriptures we need to speak which will reveal the real truth of what God says about judging.  I will explain more about that in just a minute. First look at what Jesus says to Satan when he uses the scriptures wrongly.

12. And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

We must be careful not to do what Satan did in questioning Jesus.  We must not misuse the scriptures to meet our needs and desires and not care if we are using the scriptures correctly.        2 Timothy 2:15  “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

 

Now let me ask you a question. Do you know what the Word says about judging?

Have you ever made the statement, Do not judge least you be judged, to any one?

Do you know how to respond to someone who uses that scripture on you?

 

First we must know, memorize scripture so we can recall it. 

Next we must pray for discernment so we can recognize when the enemy is tempting us with misusing the word of God.

Third, we must be willing to speak the word and allow the Lord to use us to fight the good fight of faith before the enemy to make him flee.

Here is the scripture I use when someone uses the “do not judge” verse on me.

John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” 

So when someone tells me I am judging them because I tell them Jesus is the only way to heaven I can recall the scripture that tells me I am not the one who makes this judgment.  It has already been judged by God according to God’s word.

Note: the “do not judge” verse is Matthew 7:1 and the judgment being talked about here is when we think we are better than someone else.  That is as simple as I can put it.  We all make mistakes in our Christian walk and the Lord is telling us to be careful not to be too hand on one another’s faults because we have faults too and however we treat others concerning their faults we will be treated in return.  He wants us to show one another mercy through this verse.

 

Do you see now why it is so important to know the word of God and to rightly divide it? We can be guilty of misusing God’s word if we are not grounded in its Truth and seek the Holy Spirit’s understanding.  Some things in the Bible have been prejudged by God and there is no altering them whatsoever. But, there are other things in the Bible, God gives us freedom in and wants us to be merciful to one another about them.  However, if we do not study the Word we will not be able to know the difference.  But when we do know the Word and are able to recall it and use it in those moments of temptation, then my dear sisters and brothers we will receive the power of God and the enemy will leave us for a while and we will be ready the next time he returns to tempt us again.

 

13. When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

 

God has provided each of us, His children, a way to make the enemy run, He has given us the power of His word. He proved it worked for Him and it will work for us, He says it in His word, for it is written.