Clean Transcript

The Sin Of Tempting God

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• All right. Wow, let's open our Bibles today then to the book of Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5, and we're going to read the first 11 verses, and the title of the message is "The Sin of Tempting God." So look, if you would, Acts 5 in verse 1: "But a certain man named Ananias and Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost."

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• "And great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. Peter answered unto her, Tell me, whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things."

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• So let me begin by asking several questions. Have you ever tempted God? Are you now tempting God? Do you perceive the consequences of tempting God? And the truth is that each of us has tempted God in one way or another. We have sinned, we've erred, we have certainly committed iniquity, we've transgressed His law, and yet He has spared us in His grace and His mercy. And we need, in light of this, simply to not only confess but acknowledge our sins to Him, while at the same time acknowledging and confessing His great mercy and His great grace to us as well.

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• Now, if you're not really familiar with what it means to tempt God, well, I hope after this lesson that your ignorance will be blown away and certainly you cannot use ignorance as an excuse. And the truth of the matter is you could not use ignorance as an excuse anyhow because each of us is responsible to read and to study and to hear and listen and learn and apply. So clearly there is a grievous, grievous sin in tempting God. Once you realize the grievousness of this sin and once you realize how that each of us, basically, has tempted God in times past.

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• Then it ought to motivate you to quote Lamentations 3:22 and 23 more frequently. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Because thy compassions, they fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness." And certainly, the only reason we're alive today is because of God's mercies and compassions last night. One of the problems that you and I have with—and especially specific sins—is that our understanding is rather limited.

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• I often say that sometimes we are like the Pharisees. Instead of taking what has been revealed in the Scriptures, we just take what we understand or what we think. And usually when someone talks about tempting God, the only thing that comes to their mind is someone being so stupid as to climb the Empire State Building and then jump off and as they were falling down hollering, "God, catch me before I hit the concrete below," which certainly tempting God that is for sure, but that is the height of stupidity as well. But there are many other ways that we can tempt God and of course each one is grievous and sinful and wicked.

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• When you look in Acts chapter 5 you have Ananias and Sapphira who also tempted God and they tempted Him in a very unusual way. So to understand Acts chapter 5 you need to get the background and so let's look in Acts chapter 4 beginning there in verse 32 and then I'm going to make some comments on it. We'll read down through verse 37. So Acts 4 verse 32, "Now the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul."

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• "Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all things common."

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• Now, let me mention something here. This is not—and I'll point it out—this is not socialism. This is not communism. It's just simply people taking care of themselves. When Alice and I were in the university many, many years ago, we had good friends from our own church who were in the university at the same time. And it was just a standard operating procedure: when we had food and when we had plenty, they had it also because we shared. And there were times when we didn't have anything but they had plenty and so they shared. It is just very simple.

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• And so this is what it is talking about here. So notice verse 33, "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet."

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• "And distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having lands, sold it, brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet." So let me say this again. This was not socialism. It certainly was not communism. No, no one was forced to sell the land.

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• I'm going to point this out just momentarily. But here's what you have to remember. When you look at Acts chapter 2, in the beginning of that chapter, there were 120 disciples in the upper room. Then there was the day of Pentecost. And on the day of Pentecost, there were 3,000 that were added to the 120. Now, if you look in Acts chapter 4 and verse 4, look what the Bible says here. This is not counting the 3,000. "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed and the number of the men was about 5,000." So now we've got 8,000, we're talking about men, not including women and the children. So there could have been by the time you look at Acts chapter 4 and 5 there could have been 10,000-20,000 believers. When you get to Acts chapter 6 you have the widows there that are being taken care of. And the Grecian women, the Grecian widows were complaining that they were being neglected in the daily ministration and so there were Hebrew widows, there were Grecian widows and so the apostles said, "It is not meet then that we leave the Word of God and serve tables. Look you out among you seven men full

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• of faith and the Holy Ghost, whom we may appoint over this business, and we'll give ourselves to prayer in the ministry of the word." So by the time you get to Acts chapter 6 here is a full-scale ministry going on just taking care of the widow women and so obviously there was a lot of money that was needed and certainly involved as well. Now here's what happened and I want to call your attention to the fact that verse 34 the Bible says in Acts 4, "Neither was any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles' feet." In other words they were then distributing to those folks who had need. Now if you look in verse 36, here's a special individual: "And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted, the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet."

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• Now undoubtedly these people who sold their possessions and brought the money and laid it down at the apostles' feet so that it might be distributed to those who had need, evidently they were praised and looked upon as being sacrificial and generous and gracious and kind. And certainly Barnabas would have been one of those individuals as well. He was also a Levite the Bible tells us. But you will remember later on it was Barnabas who was selected to go with the Apostle Paul. So Barnabas was probably a very unusual man and he was probably undoubtedly praised for his sacrifice. Now, when you understand that the apostles undoubtedly were recognizing Barnabas and maybe some of the others, now you can understand what is happening in Acts chapter 5 with Ananias and Sapphira because now they were now desirous of that praise, that recognition, and that admiration that was being heaped upon others. But at the same time they were also selfish and they were also very deceitful. So look at verse 1, "But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold the possession and kept back part of the price.

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• His wife also being privy to it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet." Now let me just point something out before I go any further. Evidently Ananias and Sapphira were very interested in the praise and the recognition of man. Our Lord made a tremendous statement in John 5 and verse 44. He said this: "How can you believe, who receive honor one from another, and seek not that honor that cometh from God only?" Now listen to what He said: "How can you believe that seek honor one from another?" In actuality, seeking the praise of man is an act of idolatry. Because what you're doing, you're estimating and valuing the praise of man more and higher than the praise and the recognition of God. And here's another interesting thought. When our Lord asked this question in John 5 in verse 44, He asked, "How then can you believe that seek honor one from another?" In other words, desiring, and wishing, and wanting, and longing for the praise of man actually makes faith impossible.

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• Because our Lord said, "How can you believe?" If that is your goal, if that is your purpose, if that is your desire, our Lord says it makes faith impossible. So when you look in Acts 5 verses 1 and 2, Ananias and Sapphira had this land and they sold this land and brought it and laid it at the feet of the apostles. Now if you will look at verse 37 of Acts chapter 4, here is what Barnabas did: "Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet." Now if you look at Acts 5 verse 2 you will see Ananias and Sapphira did the same thing: "kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet."

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• So the difference between the two is very simple. Barnabas just brought the total price, everything that he got he brought and laid it down. Ananias and Sapphira did not do that. They pretended that they were giving the whole thing, but they had already agreed together that this is what we are going to say, this is what we are going to do, but we are actually going to keep back a part of it for ourselves. So Barnabas gave all of it and received the praise and recognition and now they have given part of it and just simply want the praise and the recognition.

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• Now when they brought the money, if you look in verse 3, evidently the Holy Spirit of God opened the eyes of Peter, opened his understanding and let him know what was happening. Because Peter said to Ananias, "Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land?" So Peter is now accusing Ananias of lying not to him, not to the other apostles, but to the Holy Ghost. Now here's the interesting thing, and I want you to look at verse four, and I want you to understand it.

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• This is why I can tell you this is not communism. It is not socialism. Because Peter said in verse four, "Whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." So here's what Peter said: Ananias, the land that you possessed was yours.

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• You didn't have to sell it. And the very fact that you sold it, when you got the money from the sale of that land, it was yours too. You didn't have to give any of it. But what you have done, you have indicated that you've given all of it when you haven't. You haven't lied to men, but you have lied to God. Now I want you to watch what happened in verse 5: "And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost. And great fear came on all them that heard these things." So God just struck Ananias instantly. He literally killed him. Now the young men then came in and put him in a cloth, wound him up, carried him out, buried him. Look what happens in verse 7: "It was about the space of three hours after when his wife, Sapphira, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered her, Tell me, whether you sold the land for so much."

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• He's asking a lawful, legitimate question. She said, "Yea, for so much." And of course at that point Peter knew that she also was lying and deceitful. Then Peter said unto her, "How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out." So here's a good question to ask: How did Peter know that God was going to kill Sapphira? And the answer is, because God had already killed Ananias for the same thing. And if God had killed Ananias, he knew that Sapphira was going to be killed as well.

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• Now, the whole point right here is the fact of their hypocrisy, the fact of their deceit. They were attempting to lie not to man, but to the Holy Ghost, or to God. In other words they were attempting, and testing, and challenging, and trying to prove as to whether or not God could detect their hypocrisy, their lie, and their deceitfulness. And the truth of the matter is there is no way in the world that anyone can deceive God.

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• Not only is God omniscient, He is all knowing, but the Bible says this in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal," now listen, "The Lord knoweth them that are His, and that everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." So obviously, clearly the Lord knows who belongs to Him and who does not belong to Him. And so it's impossible to deceive God. You cannot deceive God. But when we lie to God, according to Acts 5, we are tempting God. When we fail to keep our vows, when we fail to keep our word, we are tempting God. Now, I want you to listen to this passage.

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• You will find it in Ecclesiastes 5, verses 4-6. Listen to what the Bible says: "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it. For he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed. Better it is," now listen, "better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, neither say thou before the angel that it was an error. Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thy hands?" Now, what did he say? When you vow a vow before God, pay it. Fulfill your vow, whatever you tell God you're gonna do, don't lie to him. Don't try to deceive him. Don't try to pull the wool over his eyes. No, no, no. No, he said it's far better not even to vow than to vow and not pay. I've seen this hundreds of times. Some of you families have sick children in the hospital.

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• Oh, and they'll ask you to come and pray, and, "Oh, pastor, if God raises this child, I'm going to be in church. I will honor him." Yes, then they will for about a week or two weeks, and then they quit. So that's tempting God. That's lying to God is what it amounts to.

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• Now, let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 3. You might as well hold that passage because we will come back there in a little bit. But I want you to note this. Look in James chapter 3 and notice if you would please verses 13 and 14 and 15. James 3 verse 13: "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation," that is good conduct, "his works with meekness of wisdom." Now watch this closely.

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• "But if in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom that is lying, bitterness, envy, and strife, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." Now he says, if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. Have you ever stopped to think about what it is to lie against the truth? Well, let's see. In Deuteronomy 32 in verse 4, the sovereign God of heaven and earth is truth. Hmm. In John 14 verse 6, the Son of God is truth: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. Even there in Acts chapter 5, He's called the Spirit of the Lord. And Scriptures are called the Scriptures of truth. Isn't that interesting? So when he says, "Lie not against the truth," he says you better not lie against the Sovereign God, the Son of God, the Spirit of God, or the Scriptures of God, because any time we lie against those we are in essence tempting God.

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• Now, let me tell you something about the word tempt. The Greek word is the word peirazo. The word peirazo literally means to tempt, to try, to put to a test, or to put to a trial. And the interesting thing is it is used in the Bible in a good sense and also in a bad sense. In the good sense, when the word tempt or test is used, it refers to test or try someone for the purpose of ascertaining the quality or what one thinks or how he will behave in such and such a situation, such as trying one's faith, trying one's virtue, trying one's character. Not a fact that Joseph had a test when Potiphar's wife grabbed his coat and said, "Come lie with me," and he left the coat and ran out. Yeah, that was a test. But notice it can be used in a good sense and in a bad sense. The bad sense of the word peirazo is when one maliciously, craftily seeks to entice someone into sin and to seduce them into wickedness.

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• Now let me make a statement and I'm going to qualify this a little bit later. God has every right to test us, to try us, but we do not have any right to try to test or tempt God. We know that God tested Adam because in the Garden of Eden He told Adam, "Of all the trees in the garden thou mayest freely eat except this one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's mine. Don't touch it. Don't eat it. That's mine." And it was just simply a test. It could have been any tree, didn't have to be an apple tree, didn't have to be a fig tree or date. It could have been any tree that bore fruit. But the test was Adam.

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• Will you submit to me? Will you follow what I tell you? Will you believe me or will you rebel and do what you think and what you want and what you desire? Of course, the Bible tells you in Genesis 22 and verse 1.

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• "Now, it came to pass that God did tempt Abraham." Now, when you hear the word tempt, most of the time we think of temptation as sin. The word just simply means to test or to try. In fact the Hebrew word there is nasah and it means to prove, to try, to assay, and to attempt. So God was just merely testing the faith of Abraham whether Abraham really believed Him and would really and truly trust Him. You remember He not only tested Adam, He not only tested Abraham. He tested Job. He tested David. And the fact of the matter is this.

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• He tests each of us. He tries our faith. He tries our character. He tries our virtue. Let me show you. Turn in your Bibles if you would hold Acts, but look in your Bibles to 1 Peter. Turn over if you are holding chapter 1. Then we are going to turn right back to James. But look in verse Peter chapter 1 and let's begin reading there with verse 4.

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• The Bible is telling us that we have an inheritance. He says, "To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you."

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• Now watch, "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be," here it is, "you are in heaviness through manifold temptations" or manifold tests or trials, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." So notice if you would, he talks about manifold temptations or testings. Then he talks about the trial of your faith. How do you try gold? You purge it. You purify it.

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• And this is exactly what he is talking about. The trials that we go through, the tests that we go through, the temptations that we go through, obviously each of us have already been tested and tempted, tried and probably shall be in the future as well. Now I want to point something else out. Go back to James chapter 3 if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 13. Here is another truth. Watch carefully. James 3 verse 13. No, it's not James 3 verse 13. I want—it's James 1. Yeah, James 1 verse 13. Look at it in James 1 verse 13.

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• "Let no man say when he is tempted," that is tempted to do evil, "I am tempted of God," why? "for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." In other words, God will test a man, but God never tempts a man to sin. He never tempts a man, tries to seduce him to get him to do something that's wicked and wrong. God cannot be tempted, neither tempteth he any man. Watch verse 14: "But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." So he said, if you want to know where your sin comes from, it comes from your own lust. You are tempted, you're drawn away into sin, you're enticed by your own lust, and when that lust is conceived it brings forth sin, and when sin is finished it brings forth death. So God says look, I do not tempt anyone in the sense of trying to seduce them to evil.

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• He will test our faith, He will test our character, He will try us, He will prove us, but He will not try to seduce us into sin. Now, I do want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Malachi, Malachi chapter 3, the last book in the Old Testament. And I want to clarify a statement that I made just a little bit earlier. I said that God has every right to test us, but we have no right to test God. Let me put it another way. God has every right to tempt us, but we have no right to tempt God. Okay. The only exception of that statement is this: We may test God—using the word tempt to understand it means to test or to prove—that we may only test or prove God by our obedience. No other way. So if you'll look in Malachi chapter 3 in verse 8, here it is: "Will a man rob God?" God says, "Yet you have robbed me, but you say, Wherein have we robbed thee?" The answer is, "In tithes and offerings." Now God says, because you've robbed me, look in verse 9, "You are cursed with a curse.

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• For you have robbed me, even this whole nation. You have not given me what I have demanded." Watch carefully. He says, "Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. Now here it is. And prove me, test me.

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• Now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts." Now here's what God says: Look, you've been thieving, you've been stealing, you've been robbing. That's wrong. That's wicked. That's contrary to what I've given you. Now, God said, if you want to prove me, you obey me, and when you obey me I'm going to pour you out such a blessing that you cannot receive. I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes. Your fruit will produce, your field will produce, your cattle will produce.

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• I will bless you. So the only way that we have any right to test God is only by obedience to His word. Now in Acts chapter 5, we saw that Ananias and Sapphira tempted God by lying to Him, by trying to deceive Him, by being hypocrites. But there are other ways in which we can tempt God. And I might add that one of those ways most of us probably really do not want to hear. And the reason we really do not want to hear it is because we're guilty. What is the way that I'm talking about? Stop and think about this, then I'm gonna show it to you from the scripture. Do you realize that when we complain and bellyache and whine and whimper and bad mouth, question God and His providence in our lives, we're tempting God? "Lord, why am I in this situation?

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• What am I going through this? Why am I going through this, Lord? If you love me, this would not be happening to me. I cannot understand, Lord, how you could ever put me in a position like this." Really? Let me show you. Turn in your Bibles if you would to the book of Exodus. Exodus 17. Look in Exodus 17 and here it is very plain. Exodus chapter 17 and let's look to begin with at verses 1 and 2. Exodus 17 verse 1: The Bible says, "And all the

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• congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord," so God ordered them there, "and pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?" Lord, I don't understand how you put us in a place where there's no water. You know, we have to drink water. What's going on, Lord?

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• How could you do this to us? Look in verse 7: "And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the chiding of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?" Oh, did you hear that? "Is the Lord among us or not?" Lord, if you really love me, you wouldn't be putting me in this situation. If you were really with me, Lord, I wouldn't be here. That is tempting God. That is challenging God. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16. I could multiply these, but you understand this. So look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16, because here it is stated very plainly. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16: "You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massah." So have you ever questioned the providence of God? Have you ever whined about the circumstances in which you find yourself? Have you ever mouthed the words, "I wonder if God loves me?" Have you ever wondered, "Is God really involved in this?

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• Is God really here? Why is all this happening?" In other words, what you're doing is you're challenging His love, His wisdom, His power, His direction. And what you're saying is, "Lord, I'm bound to know more than you. Because if it was left up to me I wouldn't be in this. I wouldn't do this." You know, in other words, it's a challenge. It's tempting God. It's placing and elevating yourself above God.

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• Now let me show you another one. Look in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 4. In Matthew chapter 4 you have the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm not going to go over all of these temptations. But I just want to show you one of them right away. Look in Matthew chapter 4 at verses 5 and 6. Matthew 4 verses 5 and 6: "Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, Jerusalem, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple.

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• And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou shalt dash thy foot against a stone." Now the temptation here was a temptation to presume upon the Father's power and protection. Temptation is to presume upon God and think that when you step outside of His promise that somehow He's going to protect you. Now I've said this before, I want to reiterate it: there's a vast difference between faith and foolishness. I can do something that's right and holy and godly and I can seek the Lord's protection and blessing and trust Him to give it. But if I get in my car and I'm driving down the busy interstate at a hundred and forty miles an hour and I start praying, "Now Lord, don't let me have a blowout. Lord, don't let anybody pull out in front of me," I kind of think that's tempting God.

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• Don't you think that? I mean, when you step outside of the promise, you step outside of the blessing. It's just that simple.

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• Now, let me point something else out before I give you a quote. When you look at Matthew chapter 4 and all of these temptations, when the tempter comes to Jesus Christ, he says, "If thou be the Son of God." OK. In the Greek, there are two different constructions. One is ei with the indicative, ei, a little preposition, ei with the indicative mode. And then there's ean with the subjunctive mode. Ean is always a question. Ei with the indicative is always a statement of fact. So literally in each one of these temptations, here's what the tempter is saying. It's ei with the indicative.

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• You have it there, don't you, Gary? It's ei with an indicative. He's literally saying, "Since thou art the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread. Since you're the Son of God, jump down from this pinnacle." In other words, you prove that you're the Son of God. Well, I know you are, but you prove it to everybody else. So here is this temptation.

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• Now I want you to listen to what Matthew Henry said. It is worth it just to listen to this paragraph just to get one sentence in it. Listen carefully. Matthew Henry said, "Satan tempted Christ to presume on His Father's power and protection in a point of safety. Nor are any extremes more dangerous than despair and presumption, especially in the affairs of our souls. Satan has no objection to holy places as the scene of the assaults.

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• Remember it took place on the Temple in Jerusalem. Let us not in any place be off our guard. The holy city is the place where he does, with the greatest advantage, tempt men to pride and presumption. All high places are slippery places. Advancements in the world make a man a mark for Satan to shoot his fiery arrows at. Is Satan so well-versed in Scripture to be able to quote it readily? He is. Now listen.

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• It is possible for a man to have his head full of scriptural notions, his mouth full of scriptural expressions, while his heart is full of bitter enmity to the God and to all of His goodness. Satan misquoted the words. If we go out of our way, out of the way of duty, we forfeit the promise and put ourselves outside of God's protection." Now the interesting thing is Satan quoted from Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12, and the scripture there says, "For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." So here our Lord was tempted as well. It was a temptation to sin against God. By the way, please understand something: Temptations are not always to get drunk or to be a whoremonger

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• or to be a murderer or to be a bank robber. There are all kinds of temptations to pride and self-righteousness and all kinds of things. Now let me show you something else. I want you to look in your Bible since you're in Matthew, turn to Matthew chapter 22 and let's look if you would please at verse 15 and we'll read through verse 21. Because I'm showing you the sin of tempting God.

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• This one may surprise you. Look at Matthew chapter 22 beginning there with verse 15. Here's a passage that everyone is familiar with. You'll also find this passage in Mark 12 and in Luke 20, but I'm not going to read those passages. It's just Matthew 22 beginning there with verse 15. Watch: "Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk." They wanted to ensnare him. Verse 16:

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• "And they sent out unto him their disciples with Herodians saying, Master, We know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth. Neither carest thou for any man, for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money."

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• "And they brought unto him a penny. And he said unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They said unto him, Caesar's. Then said he unto them, Render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's. When they heard these words, they marveled, and left him, and went their way."

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• Now, I want you to forget the tax issue for a moment. I want you to look at the context. Because these Pharisees and these Herodians came to Jesus Christ building him up. They were telling him, "Look, we know your character. We know that you're honest and we know that you're fearless and we know that you're faithful. You have no regard for any man and we know that you will tell

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• us the truth." And our Lord looked at him and said, "Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" Now, why were they hypocrites? Because they came to Jesus Christ asking him for an answer. And they ask him indicating, "Look, we just want the truth. We want our duty. We want to know what to do. Would you just tell us the truth so we can apply the truth and know what to do?" They were not interested in the truth. They could care less about the truth. All they were interested in was ensnaring Jesus Christ and turning Him over to the Romans. That's all. They could care less about truth. Do you realize when you pretend that you want truth and in reality you do not want it, you are tempting Christ.

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• You're testing him to see if he can discern your deceit and your hypocrisy. Believe me, I can tell you this. He can easily tell. He can easily discern it. I just was thinking just this week, and it dawned on me. I started preaching in the middle of May. You know, I don't even remember the day. I think it was the 15th. I'm not sure. But it was the middle of May 1965.

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• So that means I've preached now 56 years going on 57. Did you know out of those 56 years of preaching, I have no idea how many people I've counseled. I've had husbands and wives. I've had men. I've had businessmen. I've had all kinds of people come to me and say, "What do you think about this? What would you advise? What would your counsel be?" And I would say, "Well, let's see what the Bible says on this question."

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• And I would give them a biblical answer. And guess what? That was not what they wanted. They really did not want the truth. What they wanted was for me to put my stamp of approval upon what they had already determined to do. That's tempting God. It is pretending that you want truth when in reality you do not want truth. You look at the people that attend church on a weekly basis. You would think that they really wanted truth. But you begin to preach something that they don't like, or something that will upset them, or something they disagree with, and they'll get mad and leave. They don't really want truth. They could care less for truth. They want what they want, and they simply do not want the truth of God. Let me show you something else. Look in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 15.

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• You'll remember the council at Jerusalem when there were certain questions concerning some of the ceremonies and the rituals. And the Judaizers wanted to impose all of these rituals on the Gentiles that had been converted. And of course they had a whole council about this. So in Acts chapter 15 in verse 10, I want you to see what Peter said.

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• "Now, therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" He says, how in the world are you going to bind these disciples with rituals and ceremonies that actually have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ anyhow? Do you realize what the average modern church has done? They've discarded the law of God, and they've made up their own rules, their own regulations, their own laws and they bind the people with these rules and regulations and ceremonies in order to manipulate and control them. It's just that simple. And he says it is a form of tempting God.

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• Now, here's what I want you to see today. I want you to see that the sin of tempting God—it's not just simply a sin. It is a sin, that is for sure. Sin is wicked and awful in and of itself. There's no two ways about that. But when you begin to think in the sense that the sin of tempting God has to be something that is extremely blasphemous because we have no right to test him and to tempt him except by our obedience. And that's it. I want to show you something. I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10. This may surprise you. In 1 Corinthians 10, Apostle Paul is taking what happened to Israel in the Old Testament, especially during the wilderness wanderings, and he is applying that to the New Testament Church, to the Church of Corinth. And he's also applying it to each of us because the principles are the same. So let's just begin reading. In fact, let's read with verse 1 just so you can see this. He says, "Moreover, brethren,

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• I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea." That's the Red Sea. "Were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all did eat the same spiritual meat, did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness," all but two. Now watch.

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• "Now these things were our examples." In other words, what happened to them are examples for us. "Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters as some of them. As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Now here it is: Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of the serpents. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer." And now he says it again, "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples" or examples, "and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." So interestingly enough, he takes everything since that rock that followed them was Christ, he takes the fact of their lust, of their idolatry, of their fornication, of their murmuring, all of these things were tempting. He said, "Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted."

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• Now let me try to make a couple of applications and I want you to think first of all, all sin is tempting God. All sin is tempting God. Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love. Sin is an insult. It's a blasphemy. It's a contradiction of God. It challenges God to do His worst.

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• It is an abomination to Him. That's why it said in Jeremiah 44 and verse 4, "Oh, do not that abominable thing which I hate." God hates it intently, thoroughly and completely and there is not one thing in sin that is desirable to God in any way whatsoever. And any sin is a temptation, it's a testing of God because we're saying in essence, "I don't believe you can handle this. I don't think you're going to smite me. I don't think you're going to judge me." Here's the second thing: We're not to live by our feelings, our emotions, circumstances, situations or determinations. Most people, they live by their emotions. They live by their feelings. They live by their circumstances. They do not live by the principles of the Word of God. Do you remember that passage in Deuteronomy 8 in verse 3? Here's what God said, "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

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• So it's not our feelings that we're to live by. It's the Word of God. It's not circumstances. It's not emotions. It's the Word of God. Any attempt to deceive, test, try, provoke, challenge, and sin is tempting God. Do not tempt the Holy One of Israel. One last thought. Do you realize that those who are unsaved, who are unconverted, and unrepentant, are tempting God by rejecting His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and refusing His grace and His mercy? How are they doing? How are they tempting God? Because they're challenging Him. They're testing Him. Let me show you. One last passage.

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• Look in your Bibles to John chapter 5 verses 22 and 23. Watch this. John 5 verse 22 and 23. Here is an astounding truth. John 5 verse 22: "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Why has God the Father given all judgment to the Son? Here is why: "That all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which has sent him." Now let me tell you something. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. If we honor Jesus Christ, we honor the Father. If we dishonor Jesus Christ, we dishonor the Father. Hmm, you follow that? Jesus Christ is worthy of all power, all honor, all glory, all praise, all worship. And when an unrepentant, unconverted, unsaved individual refuses to bow to Jesus Christ, he is saying in essence to the Father, "Jesus Christ is not worthy of all praise, honor, worship, and glory, and I'm not going to give it to him." And he's tempting God to destroy him.

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• Wow. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." As Christians, we need to make sure that we don't whimper and complain in the circumstances in which God places us in. Sometimes we may not like those circumstances. Sometimes we may not agree with those circumstances, but if God providentially brought us into those circumstances, He did so for our good and His glory. And we need to bow our heads and submit and understand that "there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it." Whatever God puts on us, there's always a way out, and usually that way out is through submission and obedience. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

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• Father in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. Help us, Lord, to love thee, to live for thee, to honor thee. And help us, Lord, not to sin against thee by tempting thee. May we be more cognizant of this grievous sin and determine in our hearts and lives that we will not commit it by your infinite grace and mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, amen.

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• so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T21:10:38Z