The Three Temptations of the Sons of God..

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The Lord Jesus was tested in three ways: using His God-given abilities for survival apart from hearing from God; agreeing to worship Satan in order to fulfill His desires; putting God to the test—not waiting for God to place Him in a better situation.

Every son of God is tested in the same manner.

(2/15/2009) This morning the burden was concerning the three temptations every son of God experiences. We are not fully in the image of God, nor are we resting in God’s Person and will, nor are we prepared for the fullness of ministry God has for us, until we successfully pass these three tests.

The very highest calling of every human being is to walk humbly with God. The central problem of the world from its beginning to the present is that of people seeking to conduct their own lives instead of walking humbly with God. We see the consequences in the world of today.

The recent "faith" and "prosperity" doctrines are institutionalized presumption, a putting of God to the test. They are the opposite of walking humbly with our God.

They reveal clearly that even Christian people do not understand that we are supposed to walk humbly with our God. The central issue involved in the three temptations of the sons of God is that of walking humbly with God. Are we seeking our survival and security apart from walking humbly with God?

Are we seeking to fulfill our desires apart from walking humbly with God?

Are we willing to break out of the difficult circumstances we are in apart from walking humbly with God? The central thesis of the Book of Hebrews has to do with the rest of God.

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9,10)

Our chief task as human beings is to endeavor to cease from our own works and enter the destiny that God has ordained for us from the beginning of the world. To not to do this is to prolong the rebellious nature with which we were born.

The result of the ambition of Adam and Eve to go ahead of what God had provided for them is six thousand years of insanity and agony, as is true today. But we never seem to learn. The history of the Christian churches is to a great extent one of the efforts of people to build the Kingdom of God apart from walking humbly with God; apart from waiting for Christ to tell us what to do at every point in our life of thinking, speaking, and acting.

It is true in our time. The denominations produce one plan after another to save as many people as possible. But the people they "save" do not always reveal in themselves the work of salvation, that is, change into the image of Christ and untroubled rest in the Person and will of God.

We as people seem to be unable to turn our thoughts, words, and actions over to God, leaning to live by every word that comes from His mouth. Yet this is the simplest and easiest way to live, in that we are free from having to think and guess our way through the confusions and frustrations we are faced with continually.

Jesus was hungry after fasting forty days in the wilderness. Notice that Satan was with Him during that time. May I inject the thought that the Lord was led into this situation by the Spirit of God. He was not attempting by His fasting to gain power with God, which sometimes is ventured in our day by spiritually ambitious people.

Satan tested Jesus by suggesting that He use His power to turn stone into bread. Satan did not suggest that Jesus walk humbly with God but that He use His power to satisfy His hunger.

So it is with each son of God. We are led by the Spirit into situations where our survival and security are at stake. Will we spend our time, strength, and other resources in order to insure our survival and security, or will we walk humbly with God, waiting for His word to us?

Human beings are made in such a way that food will not bring them the survival and security they need, the satisfaction they crave. Each one of us must learn to wait on the Lord for all that we do, for every word of God to us as an individual.

Recently there have been two wealthy individuals who have committed suicide because of the troubles in the world economy. How terrible to worship money to such an extent that if our god is removed from us we are willing to end our life!

Had these two men gone before the Lord and listened for His voice, He no doubt would have shown them how to survive their loss of money. But this is the end of those who do not learn to walk humbly with God. Hopefully we will learn from this.

The United States is experiencing a severe economic problem as I am writing. The underlying spiritual cause is the wrath of God because of abortion-on-demand. The material problem has to do with the greed of people who have not chosen to live by the words coming to them from God’s mouth. They have chosen instead to follow the advice of Satan, and the result is—and always shall be—chaos.

Our country is losing its position of leadership in the world because it is looking to material wealth for survival and security rather than walking humbly with God. When I say "walking humbly with God" I am not speaking primarily of any religion but of looking to God each moment in a very personal way.

The second test, that of fulfilling our desires by worshiping Satan, was applied to the Son of God and is applied to every other son of God. It has to do with indulging our sinful nature with all of its lusts and passions. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, the Book of First John informs us.

Satan knows well that Jesus is the Son of God and his Creator. Still he asks for worship. He knows that we who are disciples of Jesus are sons of God. Still he asks for our worship.

We are worshiping Satan when we yield to the lusts and passions of our flesh.

Since Jesus did not inherit a sinful nature, I doubt He was as troubled as we are by physical lusts; although the Bible says He was tempted in every way as we are.

My guess is that the main temptation of the Lord was the thought of governing the kingdoms of the world, which is His God-given inheritance. It may be true that the most severe temptations we ever will have are those which offer a shortcut to that which actually is our God-given inheritance.

The solution to this is patient waiting on God for the words that are coming to us from Him at every moment.

Righteous behavior coupled with contentment while we are patiently waiting on the Lord is a great treasure.

One of the severe tests of today has to do with sexual lust. We are surrounded with demons of lust, more so than ever before I think. Added to this is the willingness of the electronic media to capitalize on this desire, especially by using communication devices including social networking.

Some of the worst of the software is coming from Japan. I predict that the willingness of Japanese software engineers to acquire wealth by destroying the lives of young people by appealing to their lust for sexual experiences will bring the wrath of God on Japan, just as the wrath of God will come on America because of abortion-on-demand.

The third test may be the most subtle of the three. Satan brought Jesus to the highest point of the Temple and suggested He prove His Sonship by jumping off, quoting from Psalms to support his suggestion. Notice how it is that God permits Satan to put us in prison.

What is at issue here? It is the basis of all temptations. It has to do with personal ambition; with an unwillingness to be content where we have been placed; it is a willingness to forget all God has done for us and to challenge Him with our present distress; with not being willing to look to Him for deliverance from our problems and pains.

It gets at the root of walking humbly with God, with entering the destiny God has planned for us and not planning our own destiny and ways of attaining it.

Let us keep in mind that this is the original temptation. It began with Satan who was ambitious, not being willing to walk humbly with God. It continued with Adam and Eve, who were not willing to walk humbly with God but must launch out into something new.

We want revival power today. We are not content with the so-called "refreshings" of the last few years, which seem to have the smell of "flesh" about them. We long for the real stuff.

This is good. But God longs for people who will cease from their own attempts to lives their lives apart from Him and begin to look to Him for every thought they think; every word they speak; every action they take.

Such waiting on Christ (without lapsing into passivity), praying each day and reading our Bible, obeying what Christ tells us, ready to be used or not to be used, willing to give Him anything He asks for, is what our time is calling for desperately.

Will I be one such person? Will you?

You can hear the morning sermon at morning.http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening.http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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