#085 "Disarming Satan: The Second Wilderness Lie" (Matthew 4:6)

“And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,” and “on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”’” (Matthew 4:6)

Satan quotes Scripture in Matthew 4:6 — but he leaves something out. In this episode, host Kate unpacks the second temptation of Jesus and reveals why that omission matters more than you think. This isn’t just a wilderness moment — it’s part of a much larger, ancient family conflict that stretches back to Genesis.

You’ll learn: How Satan twists Scripture through subtle omission, Why walking in the will of God is the safest place you can be, How to grow in discernment in a world full of half-truths, Why the enemy has no claim on those who belong to Christ

If you’ve ever wondered how to stand firm when Scripture is misused or misapplied, this episode will strengthen your confidence and sharpen your spiritual discernment. There is safety in the Word and will of God.

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Transcript

Setting The Stakes: Context Matters

Kate 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're listening to the Abidible Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in him through his word yourself. Imagine knowing nothing about Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader, like literally being completely ignorant about the history of their relationship and their conflict. I mean, maybe you are, maybe you're not a Star Wars person at all. But either way, with that lack of backstory, picture sitting down in front of a TV to watch the I am your father scene. The cinematic power of that moment and what follows would be completely lost on you. You'd miss the fact that the shocking climax of the movie just went from good versus evil to a personal intergenerational conflict. Why would you miss it? Because you lacked context. If we just jump into Matthew 4, 6 today without a bit more context, the same thing will happen to us. Even with the work that we've already done so far to get to verse 6, there is more to this story that we must understand. The profound sacrifice that Darth Vader makes after revealing to Luke that he is his father would be lost on the viewer lacking context. And in the same way, the reason for the attack that Satan now makes on Jesus would be lost on us if we don't tease out more of this backstory. This is about so much more than good versus evil. This too is a personal, intergenerational family conflict. But this one goes way further back than 1980. If we were sat down in front of a TV and someone just hit the play button, sure, we'd see Jesus standing on the highest point of the temple in the holy city of Jerusalem. And we would perceive that some sort of spiritual attack was taking place, that the devil now standing beside Jesus is trying to tempt him to do something, something perhaps disobedient and dangerous. But there is so much more to this story that we must know, because this story is about God's family. And if we're adopted into the family, then this is our family story too. Hey, if you're a big fan of the Abidible Podcast and are feeling extra generous, check out the link in the show description to learn more about supporting this ministry with a one-time donation or for just a few dollars a month. Alright, so in today's verse, we're going to see what Satan has to say to Jesus as he stands atop the pinnacle of the temple in the holy city of Jerusalem. As we saw previously in episode 84, this is a place Satan chose very deliberately. Last week we focused on the history of Jerusalem and the temples of God that stood in this holy city on the holy mountain of God. This week we're going to focus on more of the history between Satan and God. If you're like me, some of this information may be brand new to you. Your mind, mine explode. Mine kind of did. Here's our verse for today. We're in Matthew 4, 6, which says, And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. I'd never really considered this, but under his silky, slimy, smooth whisper, beneath this series of assaults on Jesus, Satan is in full-blown panic mode. What he has been trying to subvert and pervert and prevent and destroy since the Garden, since the beginning of God's creation, the very prophecy he's been trying to undo, you know, the one that God made that would be Satan's demise, it's about to come true. The proto-evangelium or the first promise of the gospel in Genesis 3.15 says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. The devil's time is not just short, it's running out literally right before his eyes. The one who will fulfill this prophecy is standing in front of him on the pinnacle of the temple. This, as I've already said in this series, quoting Matthew Henry, is this great duel foretold in Genesis 3. As punishment for Satan's rebellion in the garden, God said, I will put enmity between the offspring of Eve, that's Jesus, and Satan's offspring. Those are demons. Satan will strike at Jesus' heel, but Jesus will crush Satan's head. Satan was present when God spoke this curse over him. He personally heard God make the first gospel prophecy. He knows God made a plan in that moment to set everything right. This was no game of telephone, no snail mail delivery. Satan was there. He heard it for himself. He knows and has always known what's coming. But in his ongoing, inconceivable arrogance, knowing hasn't stopped him from trying to destroy God's plan. In fact, he's been hard at work all along, never missing a day, never missing a beat. His work is the unseen battle that we are continuing to unveil in this series. Yes, there is much more to the backstory between Satan and Jesus, more than most Christians even realize. And our ignorance is something that I think Satan uses to his advantage. So we're going to remove some more of that advantage today. Know thy enemy. First, we must realize that old wounds and animosities are on full display in the words Satan chooses here in temptation number two. The phrase Son of God is a very loaded phrase. Additionally, Satan bringing up the role that angels play, particularly with God's elect, is no trivial coincidence. Again, there is family history here. I'm going to be sharing some insights from Joel Muttamale's new book, Unseen Battle. This book was sent to me by my sweet friend Beverly. I devoured it in two hours because, as always, there are no coincidences with God, and everything written in Joel's book connected to and confirmed things that I'd been independently studying in my research on Satan for this series. I'll link the book in the episode description for you if you're interested. So, first let's dive into this phrase, Son of God, that Satan now uses for the second time with Jesus, if you are the Son of God. As we understand this, we'll also then understand why Satan is bringing up angels. The Bible tells us that God has a family. We know that our triune God is Father, Son, and Spirit, three persons who are co-equal and co-eternal. They have always existed in perfect unity and love. But at the moment of creation, God expanded his family. We know that God created man in his image and that he refers to his human followers often as children. In the New Testament, those in Christ are adopted into the family and are referred to again as children or sons of God. Most of us are familiar with that concept. But I don't know if we realize that there is another component to God's family. God is spirit, and he also created what Mutamale calls a supernatural household made up of created spiritual beings known as angels. Behind the scenes, in the invisible spirit realm, there has been a cosmic conflict between dueling family members. Mutamale calls this the unseen battle and says the household of God has been broken and this presents a conflict. A battle is now being waged for the people within the household. Think about it. If it is the seed or descendant of Eve that will battle with the offspring of Satan, and if this human descendant will ultimately crush Satan himself, what do you think Satan is willing to try and do to destroy the family line that will produce the one who is meant to destroy him? What lengths will he go to in order to prevent this promised heir from ever being born? God says that he will put enmity between Satan's offspring and Eve's. We know Eve's offspring refers to Jesus, but who or what is Satan's offspring? I already kind of mentioned that it's demons, but we really should take a moment to figure this out. And we also ought to figure out when he fell from heaven, just to help get our timeline straight here in this important backstory of family conflict. God created everything, including angels. The Bible tells us that God made it all through Jesus and for Jesus. Listen to Colossians 1.16, particularly for the parts that might refer to angels. It says, For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. God made it all. And Genesis 131 tells us, and God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Very good means exceedingly good. At that moment in time, all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities, all created things were exactly as they were meant to be, exceedingly good. By the time we're introduced to the human family of God in the garden in Genesis, it's evident that angels have already been created because Satan is about to interact with Eve in the form of a serpent. The Bible doesn't tell us explicitly what day of creation God made the angels. There may be a clue in Exodus 20, 11, which says, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. God made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. On day one, God made the heavens. Here in Exodus, we're told that God made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six days. If the angels are the invisible, spiritual, created beings that are in heaven, then perhaps it's possible that angels were created on day one when heaven was created. Job 38:7 tells us that the morning stars sang together and all the, here's the term again, sons of God shouted for joy when God laid the foundation of the earth. So it seems fair to assume that the angels were already there if they're celebrating as God makes everything else. Regardless of which exact day angels were made, by the time Adam and Eve are introduced, a rebellion in heaven has already taken place. Remember, at the end of the sixth day of creation, everything was declared exceedingly good, so the rebellion couldn't have happened yet. But at some point after those six days, Satan, the anointed guardian cherub, has already been cast down for his rebellious sin of pride. We can be sure of that because he now roams the garden as a serpent, as what we're told is the craftiest beast of the field, in an attempt to recruit God's newest family members, humanity, into his rebellion and into this family conflict. As we've already briefly discussed in this series, we can read about the cause of Satan's rebellion in both Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. We learn that Satan said in his heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne on high, I will make myself like the most high. God describes Satan as the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Satan was created by God, placed personally by God in Eden, the holy mountain of God, and he was blameless in his ways. Until, God tells us, unrighteousness was found in Satan. Out of all the abundance God had blessed Satan with, he was still filled with violence against God and sinned. God says, Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. And so God says, I cast you to the ground, I turned you to ashes on the earth, all who know you are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end. Satan falls, and when he does, Revelation 12 tells us that he takes not one angel with him in the rebellion, not two, but one third of all the angels. Revelation 5.11 hints at the number of angels that are still present in heaven, meaning those who remained faithful to God. John tells us he heard the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. Some translations put myriads of myriads as meaning 10,000 times 10,000, so that's at least a hundred million plus the thousands of thousands. Other translations believe the number to be hundreds of millions of angels. Generally speaking, we can safely say that the number of angels who remain in heaven, praising God, being loyal and faithful to him, is innumerable. And if that many remain, and one-third of the original number rebelled with Satan, we can also be certain that a massive, perhaps innumerable number were also cast down with him. Now here's the final puzzle piece that I want you to see in this backstory. Angels were created as members of God's spiritual household. They are God's family. We can be sure of this because the Bible tells us the loaded phrase that I mentioned earlier, son of God, that Satan uses for a second time in this wilderness temptation is a loaded phrase. In the Old Testament, the plural sons of God or Ben Ha Elohim refers to angels. Angels are called the sons of God. We saw it used in the verse I've already shared with you from Job 38:7, the one that tells us that the sons of God shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth. These are the angels. This term is also used in Job chapter 1 and chapter 2, where some sort of counsel of God is described as taking place. Both chapters in Job say that the sons of God presented themselves before God, and that Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. This is very interesting. What could be happening here? Psalm 82 may give us more information about this type of counsel. It says, God has taken his place in the divine counsel in the midst of the gods. Lowercase G, he holds judgment. Who are these lowercase g gods? Well, in the context of this psalm, we can see that God isn't happy with them. They've been unjust and have favored the wicked, and they walk in darkness and cause the foundations of the earth to shake. And then we get a really big clue about who they are in verse six, as God says to them, You are God's, sons of the most high, all of you. There it is again. Another very important place where we see Ben Elohim used is in Genesis 6. Remember how I asked, if the promised seed of Eve would crush the head of the serpent, what would the serpent be willing to do to stop that from happening? I'd never thought of this before. But would Satan be willing to try and corrupt human DNA? Would he want to try and destroy the offspring of Eve by perverting all flesh? The most bizarre story is told in Genesis 6 during the time of Noah. Of that time we're repeatedly told that all flesh was corrupt, so corrupt, in fact, that it warranted a global flood as judgment. What the heck happened between Adam and Eve eating and all flesh becoming corrupted? The sons of God were at work. Ben Ha Elohim, that's what. Genesis 6:1 says, When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the here it is, sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took for their wives any that they chose. On the surface, perhaps you like me always interpreted sons of God here to be mankind, like the sons of Adam or Seth. But this action, them taking and marrying the daughters of man, was so grievous to God that he changed the lifespan of man, shortening it dramatically. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh, his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. Previously, one chapter before, we just read about Adam living to nine hundred and thirty and his great, great, great, great grandson Methuselah, living to nine hundred and sixty-nine years. Now God cuts the days of man to a hundred and twenty years and then decides to have a global flood as judgment. What happened? Genesis six continues. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when who? The sons of God, Ben Ha Elohim, came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. What's going on? This is a supernatural, crazy family conflict here. Genesis 6 seems to be describing an unholy union that led to massive corruption of human flesh or DNA. It sure sounds like fallen angels, sons of God, Bencha Elohim, decided to mix with the daughters of man to corrupt what God created, humanity in his image, because it says that entirely new kinds of children were born. The product of these relationships were called Nephilim. The word Nephilim means fallen one and is derived from the root verb Nephil, which means to fall. While often associated with giants, this term actually signifies beings who have fallen, or in some interpretations, those who cause others to fall. The Nephilim are mentioned in Genesis 6.4 and in other places like Numbers 13.33 as the offspring of the sons of God, again, Bencha Elohim, and daughters of men. Right there in Genesis 6, we have God telling us that all flesh had been corrupted. Is this a story about Satan and his demons attempting to destroy the family line meant to carry his future adversary? Well, God preserves it anyway through the righteousness of one man, Noah. Crisis averted for a time. Remember, this unseen battle rages on. Mutamale points to three main family rebellions led by Satan and his demons that tell us a lot about this family conflict. We've now had the Garden Rebellion, the rebellion in the time of Noah, and there is a third rebellion that takes place at Babel. Instead of spreading out, multiplying, and inhabiting the earth as God commanded, mankind comes together in one spot on the plains of Shannar in a place called Babel. They decide that instead of glorifying God, they will glorify themselves and make a tower with its top in the heavens so that they might make a name for themselves. Sound familiar? Be like God. That was Satan's lie to himself and his lie to Eve in the garden. What the people at Babel are trying to build stems from the evil intentions in their hearts, not to worship God, but to be like him by making a name for themselves, by being glory thieves. Mutamale says that in order to fully understand what happened at Babel, we need to read Deuteronomy 32, 8 through 9. I'll read it to you. When the most high gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the here it is again, sons of God, Ben Ha Elohim. But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob, his allotted heritage. In Genesis 11 at Babel, God confuses their language as a reset by dispersing the people over the whole face of the earth. This is when nations are born. But Deuteronomy 32 tells us that something else is happening in the unseen realm. Another divine council of sorts, this one resulting in family-household separation. Mutamale says the consequence of humanity's household disobedience and rebellion resulted not only in geographical separation, but in familiar separation. Deuteronomy 32 tells us that at the Babel event, Yahweh disinherited the nations and gave them over to the sons of God, establishing the boundaries of the nations. Deuteronomy 4.19 reinforces this understanding. Here we learn that Yahweh allotted the host of heaven, sons of God, to all the peoples under the whole heaven. The allotment and inheritance language of Deuteronomy 32 depicts Yahweh as the head of a household giving stewardship to the nations, to the trusted members of his divine council, the sons of God. This points us to Babel as the originating event for the formation of the subsequent Jew-Gentile division. From this point forward, the Gentile nations are disinherited and allotted to the sons of God. They are no longer Yahweh's portion among humanity. Yahweh's portion will now exclusively be the Jews, Israel, Jacob, through the line of his chosen person, Abraham. Only through the promise to Abraham will the disinherited nations, now given over to lesser divine beings for a time, have any hope of rejoining the household of God. All of this suggests that divine beings, angels, sons of God, Ben Ha Elohim, are each paired with a nation. This is where we get the Old Testament term, Matamale points out, of the gods of the nations. God gives the responsibility of stewarding the nations to the sons of God, and at some point they became corrupt even in this assignment, accepting the worship of humanity and abusing their authority by continually attempting to turn God's chosen people away from their God. A promise was made about the singular offspring of Abraham, a man who was actually called out of the land of Babel, as it will be through Abraham's seed that all the what? This is another prophetic Old Testament mention of Jesus. And so the fallen sons of God set in motion plans to turn away the hearts of the people, the offspring of Abraham, from their God, so that the promise might not be fulfilled. The sons of God are angels. They are part of the spiritual family of God. So remember that, as we now hear Satan whisper again for the second time, if you are the Son of God, that's rich coming from a fallen son of God, isn't it? This is laced with jealousy and animosity and memory. And let's not miss the other part of what Satan is doing here. He brings up angels saying he will command his angels concerning you. As the fallen angel, he now refers to those angels who didn't follow his mutinous rebellion. There is so much family history here. Satan, who continues to impersonate the family he used to be a part of, as he masquerades as an angel of light and as his demons, messengers of righteousness, now has the audacity to quote Psalm 91 to Jesus as he tempts him to sin egregiously against the Father. He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Those good guys, your good guys, they'll catch you. Throw yourself down and see. This brings us to a very concerning revelation. Satan knows Scripture. Jesus responded to Satan's first temptation with, It is written. So what does Satan now do in the second? He says, It is written, and proceeds to quote two Bible verses. Matthew Henry says, Is Satan so well versed in Scripture as to be able to quote it so readily? It seems he is. However, the discerning student of Scripture will recognize that something is amiss. Let's look at Psalm 91 together. I'll read these two verses for you, verbatim, and then I'll reread what Satan says to Jesus. Listen carefully and see if you can identify the difference. So here's the verse. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. And here's Satan's version again. He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. It's there. Did you catch it? What he left out? He omitted to guard you in all your ways. The actual verse says he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Note the strategy here. Spurgeon says, Satan borrowed our Lord's weapon and said, It is written, but he did not use the sword lawfully. It was not in the nature of the false fiend to quote correctly. He left out the necessary words in all thy ways. Thus he made the promise say what in truth it never suggested. By omitting part of the verse, Satan twists the entire verse. His is an error of omission with an attempt at misapplication. David Gusick says, we can trust that the devil has memorized the Bible himself and is an expert at quoting it out of its context to confuse and defeat those he tempts. Note that part of the strategy is in using scripture at all. And Satan is right in saying that God promises to command and charge his angels to care for his children. The word angel means one of that heavenly host of spirits that wait upon the monarch of the universe and are sent by him to earth to execute his purposes. Satan knows this. This idea of angels having charge over us is a beautiful one. It points to the care and power and love of our God. Spurgeon says that angels have received commission from their Lord and ours to watch carefully over the interests of the faithful. The marching orders of the host of heaven are that they take special note of the people who dwell in God. Yes, God commands his angels concerning his people. Satan is correct. He's also correct that they are specifically commanded to bear us up in their hands so we don't strike our feet on a stone. Spurgeon says that God's own angels shall cheerfully become our servants, carrying us as nurses carry little children with careful love, so shall those glorious spirits bear up each individual believer. He continues, it is most desirable that we should not stumble. But as the way is rough, it is most gracious on the Lord's part to send his servants to bear us up above the loose pebbles. Satan is again correct. One of the ways God demonstrates his love for us is through the often unseen and unknown care of angels, or what Hebrews 1.14 calls the ministering spirits sent to serve the elect. Satan knows this. He received the same marching orders. But now, on the other side of things, we know Satan hates God, but also consider just how much he hates his former brothers who remained loyal to God. Matthew Henry says that the devil knows about the ministry of angels through personal experience, for he finds his attempts against them fruitless, and he frets and rages at it. Maybe the devil has a particular spit against this promise and perverted it because it often stood in his way and baffled his mischievous designs against the saints. Even though we weren't physically present to hear the tone or see what perhaps might be like metaphorical bald fists and gritted teeth upon the devil, certainly we can be sure that this scripture, Psalm 91, is quoted with an underlying tone of jealousy, hatred, and bitterness. He will command his angels concerning you, Jesus. That's what Satan got right, which again we must be aware is part of the snare. The devil uses scripture to try and get us to say, yeah, that sounds right. But, and this is an important but, the mistake Satan makes is in what he omits. His omission, as Spurgeon says, is meant to make the promise say what in truth it never suggested. Now you might be saying, I don't fully understand the error here. What problem lies in omitting the short phrase to guard you in all your ways? Couldn't it just be an honest mistake? Sure, it says he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways, but the devil got half of it right. Shouldn't we give him partial credit? No. The omission is a misquote. Wake up here. Satan doesn't make honest mistakes. There's no honesty in him. He is the father of lies, and there is no truth in him at all. When he speaks, he speaks out of his nature as a liar, and he has the Bible memorized. So this omission is an intentional misquote, and the purpose of the misquote is misapplication. To guard you in all your ways is a reference to walking in the will of God. The way in Scripture is often a metaphor for God's will. Yes, angels will keep you, but how? Henry says, in all thy ways, not otherwise. If we go out of our way, out of the way of our duty, we forfeit the promise and put ourselves out of God's protection. One commentator says, God had never promised nor ever given any protection of angels in sinful and forbidden ways. This text is wrongly applied in that it attempts to extend the promise of special care to the dangers that come as a result of our disobedience. When we step outside the will of God, we forfeit the promises and protection of God. And that is a very scary thought. If Jesus would have taken one foot and then his other foot off the pinnacle of the temple to throw himself down, would God have caught him? I don't know. The scripture that Satan tries to apply here as if it would be some protective parachute does not, in fact, guarantee that God would catch Christ. Satan is a liar. Jesus would potentially be on his own because throwing himself down would be direct disobedience and it would put himself outside the perfect will of God. And you're going to understand more of that in a second. Henry says, Scripture is abused when it is pressed to patronize sin. When we twist and misapply scripture through whatever you want to call it, omission, misquoting, misapplication, we do so to our own destruction. The promise of Psalm 91 is true and good in its full context. The poor use of it by Satan is ultimately a tempting encouragement to incorrectly presume upon God's divine care. For one not so well versed in scripture, this may have worked. Just think of what Satan was trying to do. Henry summarizes the promise Satan was trying to make through this temptation in this way. First, thou wilt be admired as under the special protection of heaven. When they see thee receive no hurt by a fall from such a precipice, they will say that thou art a God. Second, thou wilt be received as coming with a special commission from heaven. All Jerusalem will see and acknowledge not only that thou art more than a man, but that thou art that messenger, that angel of the covenant, that should suddenly come to the temple and from thence descend into the streets of the holy city, and thus the work of convincing the Jews will be cut short and soon done. That messenger, that angel of the covenant, what is Henry implying that Satan might be trying to do here? Well, because Satan knows scripture, he knows a prophecy from the book of Malachi. This comes from chapter 3, verse 1. The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming. I told you last week that this location was no coincidence, and neither was the timing. The people in Israel were waiting for their promised Messiah. Satan brought Jesus to the temple to try and draw Jesus into a snare. The created, fallen Son of God brings the true, co-eternal Son of God to the very location of the prophesied coming Messiah in order to try to win the hearts and worship of the Jews, but in an easier way than the way the Father had set before him. One commentator says the temptation was for Jesus to demonstrate that he was Messiah by performing a sensational stunt. He could achieve glory without suffering. He could bypass the cross and reach the throne. But this action would be outside the will of God, which means it would be sin, which means that there would be no sinless Savior to crush the head of the serpent. Do you see how the unseen cosmic family battle rages? Satan, the great divider, has always gone after the children of God, after the ones made in his image, who carry the seed of promise and who all pointed to one seed of promise, Jesus. If he takes Jesus down, the plan is destroyed. Thank God. As we'll see next week, Jesus chooses the Father's will. We'll be right back after this message. I want to talk to you about the importance of knowing how to study God's Word on your own. I love serving you through this podcast, and I do believe that God blesses our time together by rooting both you and I in truth as we learn and process together. But I really want to caution you from relying too heavily on me or any Bible teacher. I want to lovingly call you into more depth than a five-minute devotional or a hurried scan of a passage without context. The devil wants us out of the word so he can do to you exactly what we see him trying to do here to Jesus. He wants to omit and misquote and misapply scripture so that he can trick you into stepping out of the way and will of God. To avoid this, you've got to know his word and have it hidden in your heart. I can't do that for you, and neither can any Bible teacher. So, this is my big sisterly advice, even if I'm your little sister in age, to check out our how to study the Bible course for yourself. These 20 lessons with videos and workbook activities lay the foundation for you knowing both the why and the how of abiding in God through his word yourself. All the information is linked in the show description for you. Go check it out. And now, back to the show. What we're seeing here today is that this conflict is a family conflict. Muttamali puts it this way: God is a good father who created good things. The jewel of his creation was humanity created in his likeness and image, who were enticed by a supernatural being, the serpent, rebelled and shattered the family of God. But God wouldn't sit by with his family in ruins. God was determined to have his family back, reunited and restored, all those who turned to him in repentance. The means of this restoration is Jesus, the unique and eternal Son of God. Remember the divine counsel we read about in Psalm 82? God gives his sentence for the rebellious fallen sons of God. They will be utterly destroyed. But the psalm ends with an interesting line. Verse 8 says, Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit the nations. Who is the judge of the earth who will inherit the nations? Christ, the true Son of God. God had a plan all along. You know what Jesus tells us about Himself? I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me, and he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. That's John 8, 28 and 29. You know what else he says in John 14, 30 and 31? I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Jesus tells us that there is not a single thing that he does on his own. Out of profound love for his father, Jesus always only ever does what the Father wills. He only ever walks in the way. In fact, he is the way. I understand that hearing about these temptations and tactics and ancient tricks of the devil can feel intimidating. You might be hearing all of this and starting to think, I don't have scripture memorized. I'm not Jesus. How am I supposed to overcome temptation like this? You know what Jesus also says in Luke 10, 18 to 20? I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. The ruler of this world has no claim on Jesus. And because we belong to Jesus, he has no claim on us. Jesus continues, Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all, not some, all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. How will nothing hurt you? Because he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Here's the big idea. Follow Jesus by walking in the way. Satan can't use scripture against you if you're abiding in the word. Ground can't be gained against you if you claim the ground for Christ using the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. By yourself, yeah, you won't know how. You aren't powerful enough on your own. You are susceptible to twisted scripture and omissions and revisions and misquotes and misapplications. But you know who isn't? The Spirit of the Living God, the Spirit of Christ who dwells in you as a seal and a promise. Jesus said it, he promised it, and therefore it has to be true that the Holy Spirit will bring to mind all. That God has taught you. So, how do you walk this out practically? We'll get into that a bit more next week as we see Jesus' answer to Satan here in temptation number two, and as we learn about Christ both knowing the whole counsel of God and how to rightly divide the word of God. But for now, I want to close with two things. One, don't be careless, and two, test the spirits. First, don't be careless. What do I mean by that? Did you notice that the Greek for throw in throw yourself down, what Satan told Jesus to do, means to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls. It's this idea of giving over to one's care, uncertain about the result. It's carelessness. If we are living careless lives, we are in so much danger. Satan wants you to be careless with your Bible study, careless with how you spend your time, careless with what you filter out and allow into your mind, your heart, and your home, careless about your witness as a follower of Christ and careless about the future. The opposite of living with carelessness is living with intention. And part of how we live with intention is by exercising discernment. Which brings me to my second exhortation for you today. Test the spirits. By the grace of God and with the help of the Holy Spirit, remain on high alert and be discerning. Know that the Bible talks about great deception that will be characteristic of the end times. We are in the end times. We have been, everybody has been since Christ left, but the birth pains and signs are getting stronger. 1 Timothy 4:1 says, Now the Spirit expressly says that in the later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves, devoting themselves, devoting themselves. Are you listening? To deceitful spirits and teaching of demons. We must be alert. Is this not exceedingly relevant in our world today where all kinds of people like to get on platforms, both social platforms and physical platforms like the world's stage, and quote scripture, talk about God, and tell you what it means to be a Christian? And this is closing in. It's not just way out there with celebrities or politicians or well-known influencers. It's people on your Facebook wall and mine. It's friends you've known forever in the faith who are suddenly on Instagram taking hard lefts and sharing wildly confusing ideologies and upside-down theological interpretations. It's people you've served alongside for decades who are suddenly leaving the church because they've determined that the church no longer looks like Christ. And their new definition of Christianity comes from an amalgamation of words spoken by God knows who on X or TikTok. Test the spirits, friend. John 4 1 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. Paul says almost the exact same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5 21, but test everything. Hold fast to what is good. Proverbs 14, 15 is a little harsh, but it's a good word for us. It says, the simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps. Jesus gives us a little more help in how to walk this out. In Matthew 7, 15 through 16, he says, Beware of false prophets. Quick aside here. This means people who claim to know and speak the truth, but are in fact speaking falsehoods. Okay, that's what he means. So he says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Look at their fruit, friend. If someone claims to love God but continues in sin, they are what the Bible calls a liar, a false prophet. If someone says they believe in God but continues to live contrary to God and produce bad fruit, meaning they continue in sin, they are what Jesus calls a wolf in sheep's clothing. Paul says in Romans 16, 18, for such persons do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. He says it this way to Timothy evil people and imposters will go on from being bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. I can think of dozens of people on the world stage doing this right now. And you can see people doing it all over the internet, twisting and manipulating Scripture through omission and misquotes, misinterpreting it and misapplying it while acting as if they serve Jesus. I assure you, they do not. Servants of Jesus follow the words of Jesus. He said so himself. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Behind all of it, it's that ancient serpent, the accuser of the brethren, the god of this world, who knows scripture and who masquerades as an angel of light alongside his fallen comrades, the other Ben Ha Elohim, who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. And carelessness abounds. The church has put down the sword. In many ways, believers have grown lukewarm and indifferent. On top of that, great deception is here and more deception is on the way. Even a non-believer would say that they struggle to know what's real anymore. Praise God that we know what's true. Praise God for his word that anchors us in the storm. And praise God for the promise that while Satan can draw near and can whisper and tempt, he can never cast us down. His power is limited. He can persuade, but he cannot compel. God our Father says to him, Hitherto you can come, but no further. We are protected by the blood of Jesus, because Jesus waited to be lifted up on a cross instead of settling for a pinnacle. We are guarded by angels who are commanded by the great monarch of the universe to guard us in all our ways. We'll get it wrong. We'll step outside of God's will. But rest assured that when we do stumble and when we do strike our foot against a stone, the faithful Ben Ha Elohim are there to pick us back up, minister to us, and set our feet securely back on the way. There is safety in the will of God, friend. Follow Jesus. And if you do, you'll stay in his will and be guarded in all your ways. You know what I love most about how this episode turned out? Satan has been after me all week to stop me from getting this to you. What he intended for evil, this stupid temptation to try and tell Jesus how he ought to reveal himself as the Messiah, this counterfeit attempt to prove divinity, this mockery of the architect of the universe who had a master plan of redemption already in place, which also included the total destruction of the rebellious Ben-Ha Elohim. Yeah, what he meant for evil serves us for our good in the hands of our sovereign Father. A message that he attempted to use to cause division between us and our Father, between Jesus and His Father, instead turns into a call for perseverance. Do you even know what God has promised for those who endure to the end? Let's just look at the promises to the churches in Revelation. He says, You will eat from the tree of life. You will not be hurt by the second death. You will be given a white stone with a new name. You will reign with Christ on his throne. You will be given the morning star. You will be clothed in bright garments. Your name will be written on the book of life. You will be made a pillar in God's temple. You will participate in the new Jerusalem, and you will have God's very name written on you. That is what Christ promises to the one who follows the will of God and stays in the way and conquers. What does Satan promise? I don't know. I've already forgotten. And that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidible podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review. Tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Abidible Plus women's membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and begin working on our next verse in this series, Matthew 4, 7, which can be found on pages 36 to 39 in your study workbook. You can also complete the recap section for what you've learned so far, and that can be found on pages 40 to 42. Ideally, you would have these sections done before you listen to the next episode, number 86. In that episode, we will see Jesus' answer to this second wilderness lie. Satan has twisted scripture to try and tempt Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple. What will Jesus say? Our verse next week again is Matthew 4:7, and it says, Jesus said to him, Again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. I'll pray for us and then close us out with our memory work for verse 6. Today's prayer is a little bit longer than normal because I really want to do battle for us in the spiritual realm on this topic. Father in heaven, you are the most high, the good and perfect Father who created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, and called them exceedingly good. You are not scrambling and you are not surprised. From the garden to the wilderness to the cross, you have always been unfolding a plan to restore your family. Lord, we confess that we so often walk into stories without understanding the backstory. We see a moment of temptation and forget the ancient, unseen war behind it. We hear a whisper and forget the promise that you made in the beginning, that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. Thank you that what feels confusing or chaotic to us has always been under your sovereign hand. Jesus, true and eternal Son of God. Thank you that when the tempter stood beside you and said, If you are the Son of God, you did not flinch. Thank you that you were not careless. Thank you that you did not throw yourself down to prove who you were. Thank you that you refused the shortcut. Thank you that you chose obedience over spectacle, the will of the Father over the applause of men, the cross over the pinnacle. Holy Spirit, make us like Christ. Guard us from carelessness. Guard us from living as though your promises apply outside of your will. Forgive us for the times that we have stepped out of the way, when we have presumed upon your grace or twisted scripture to suit our desires, or listened to half-truths that sounded right, but were fatally incomplete. Please give us discernment. Teach us to notice omissions. Train our ears to hear when something is missing. Help us love your word enough to know it in its fullness, not just in fragments. Keep us from being simple and from believing everything. Make us prudent and thoughtful. Make us people who test the spirits and hold fast to what is good. Father, we acknowledge that the enemy knows Scripture. He quotes it, he twists it, he uses it to tempt and to divide. Protect us from his schemes, protect us from deception in our feeds, on our stages, in our churches, and in our own hearts. When smooth talk and flattery attempt to lead us astray, please anchor us in truth. Jesus, thank you that the ruler of this world has no claim on you. And because we belong to you, he also has no claim on us. Thank you that you told us that you saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Thank you for the authority that you have given us in your name. And thank you that you command your angels concerning us to guard us in all our ways, and that even when we stumble, we are not abandoned. Lord, teach us what it looks like to walk in the way. Keep our feet in the will of God, keep our hearts aligned with your commandments. Help us to abide in your word so that Scripture cannot be used against us. Bring to mind what you have taught us. Hide your word in our hearts so that we might not sin against you. Forgive us for any areas where we have lukewarmness. Forgive us for places where we are indifferent or for when we've put down the sword of the Spirit. Rekindle in us, Lord, a holy urgency. Wake us up to the reality of the unseen battle, not so that we live in fear, but so that we live in faith, clothed in truth, steady and alert. Thank you that Satan can only persuade us, not compel us. Thank you that his power is limited. Thank you that he cannot cast us down. Thank you that there is safety in the will of God. And thank you again, Jesus, that you waited to be lifted up on a cross instead of settling for a pinnacle. Because you endured, we are protected by your blood. Because you conquered, we have promises that outshine every counterfeit offer of the enemy. Fix our eyes on what you promise to the one who conquers. Life, nearness, a new name, a place in your temple, a share in your reign. Make those promises weightier to us than any whisper of temporary glory. Father, what the enemy intends for evil in our lives, turn for good. Use every temptation to strengthen us and use every attack to deepen our dependence. Use every trial to anchor us more firmly in Christ. Keep us in your family, keep us in your will, keep us in your word. We choose to follow Jesus, and we trust you to guard us in all our ways. It's in the name of the true Son of God that we pray. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Matthew 4, 6, five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. And said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. And said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Matthew four six. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.