The Three Temptations - Part 7
“Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on a turret (pinnacle, gable) of the temple sanctuary.
“And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
“Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, test thoroughly, or try exceedingly the Lord your God.”—Matthew 4:5-7 (AMPC)
This second temptation (in the order that Matthew writes it) is all about choosing to step away from God’s commands and His instructions and do what we want to do instead, not God’s way, but our way.
Ministers who fall to this temptation could very well sing along with Frank Sinatra, “I did it MY way!”
This second temptation would have led Jesus into sin because God had not directed Him to throw Himself down off of the temple for any reason. To do this, Jesus would have had to step away from what God had called Him to do in order to perform this act.
This temptation is also about seeking personal glory at the expense of God’s glory.
This act of throwing Himself off of the pinnacle of the temple to be miraculously rescued by angels would have accomplished nothing in God’s plan, but would have brought personal glory to Jesus.
We must not use what God has entrusted to us for our own personal agendas. Many people devote years of their lives to projects that seem good and may actually accomplish a lot of good things, but if these projects cause us to neglect God’s purposes for our lives, then the pursuit of these projects can become idolatry in the eyes of God.
We may be surprised on the Judgment Day to see many of our well-meaning pursuits burn up as wood, hay, and stubble, costing us eternal rewards. (See 1 Corinthians 3:12-15.) Giving in to the second temptation can carry eternal consequences.
Jesus responded to this temptation by quoting Scripture which exposed Satan’ ideas as sinful and contrary to God’s will.
“Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, test thoroughly, or try exceedingly the Lord your God.”—Matthew 4:7 (AMPC)
The verse that Jesus quoted to Satan is Deuteronomy 6:16. The next three verses in that passage reinforce what Jesus said in His response:
“You must carefully follow the Lord your God’s commands along with the laws and regulations he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight so that things will go well for you and so you will enter and take possession of the wonderful land that the Lord swore to your ancestors, and so the Lord will drive out all your enemies from before you, just as he promised.”—Deuteronomy 6:17-19 (CEB)
Taking Down a King
This is the temptation that took down King Saul.
Saul was given very clear instructions from God through the prophet Samuel.
“The Lord All-Powerful says: ‘When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the Amalekites tried to stop them from going to Canaan. I saw what the Amalekites did. Now go fight against the Amalekites. You must completely destroy the Amalekites and everything that belongs to them. Don’t let anything live; you must kill all the men and women and all of their children and little babies. You must kill all of their cattle and sheep and all of their camels and donkeys.’”—1 Samuel 15:2-3 (ERV)
But Saul did not do what God had clearly directed him to do. He decided to do things his own way, not God’s way. He disobeyed the clear instructions of God. Instead of killing the king of the Amalekites, Saul let him live. Saul also kept the best of the livestock, even though God had clearly instructed him to kill everything.
“Saul defeated the Amalekites. He fought them and chased them all the way from Havilah to Shur, at the border of Egypt. Agag was the king of the Amalekites. Saul captured Agag alive. Saul let Agag live, but he killed all the men in Agag’s army. Saul and the Israelite soldiers felt bad about destroying everything. So they let Agag live. They also kept the fat cattle, the best sheep, and the lambs. They kept everything that was worth keeping. They didn’t want to destroy those things. They destroyed only what was not worth keeping. ”—1 Samuel 15:7-9 (ERV)
This cost Saul the kingdom, not only for himself, but for his entire family line as well. Because his obedience was only partial, and he did not completely obey God’s instructions thoroughly, Saul lost his high calling in life.
“Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ‘I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.’ And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.”—1 Samuel 15:10-11 (NKJV)
Samuel got some insight into Saul’s motivation when he tried to find Saul the next day.
“Samuel got up early the next morning and went to meet Saul. But the people told Samuel, ‘Saul went to Carmel. He went there to set up a stone monument to honor himself.’”—1 Samuel 15:12 (ERV)
The battle with the Amalekites was not even Saul’s idea, but having secured an overwhelming victory, Saul took the credit for himself.
Pride is often at the root of disobedience to God. Instead of giving glory to God, Saul desired to focus the glory on himself.
We may all have natural desires to be recognized and appreciated for our accomplishments, but these desires cannot be allowed to be driving forces of our lives. If we do not conquer unhealthy desires for glory, fame, and recognition, we could easily fall to the second temptation, which could cause us to lose the high callings of God for our lives.
When Saul sees Samuel approaching him, he seems to know that he is in trouble, and he immediately speaks up to defend his actions. Samuel confronts Saul with the evidence of his disobedience.
“So Samuel went to Saul. Saul had just offered the first part of the things he took from the Amalekites as a burnt offering to the Lord.** **When Samuel came near to Saul, Saul greeted him and said, ‘The Lord bless you! I have obeyed the Lord’s commands.’
“But Samuel said, ‘Then what is that sound I hear? Why do I hear sheep and cattle?’”—1 Samuel 15:12-14 (ERV)
In response to this, Saul shifts the blame to the soldiers, just as Adam shifted the blame to Eve, and Eve shifted the blame to the serpent in Genesis chapter 3.
“Saul said, ‘The soldiers took them from the Amalekites. They saved the best sheep and cattle to burn as sacrifices to the Lord your God. But we destroyed everything else.’”—1 Samuel 15:15 (ERV)
Samuel stops Saul from trying to shift the blame, and he brings the focus back to the real issue of Saul’s disobedience. In response, Saul is still defiant and unrepentant.
“Samuel said to Saul, ‘Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord told me last night.’
“Saul answered, ‘Tell me what he said.’
“Samuel said, ‘In the past you didn’t think that you were important, but the Lord chose you to be the king. So you became the leader of the tribes of Israel. The Lord sent you on a special mission. He said, ‘Go and destroy all the Amalekites. They are evil people. Destroy them all! Fight them until they are completely finished.’ So why didn’t you listen to the Lord? You did what the Lord said is wrong because you wanted to keep what you took in battle.’
“Saul said, ‘But I did obey the Lord! I went where the Lord sent me. I destroyed all the Amalekites. I brought back only one—their king Agag. And the soldiers took the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’”—1 Samuel 15:16-21 (ERV)
Finally, Samuel gets to the heart of the issue and clearly lays out Saul’s offense of falling to the second temptation.
“But Samuel answered, ‘Which pleases the Lord more: burnt offerings and sacrifices or obeying his commands? It is better to obey the Lord than to offer sacrifices to him. It is better to listen to him than to offer the fat from rams.** **Refusing to obey is as bad as the sin of sorcery. Being stubborn and doing what you want is like the sin of worshiping idols.’”—1 Samuel 15:22-23 (ERV)
Consequences of falling to the second temptation can be severe and can cost us our high callings in God, as it did for Saul, preventing us from fulfilling our purposes in life.
“You have rejected the Lord’s command. For this reason, he now rejects you as king.”—1 Samuel 15:23 (ICB)
Because Saul had chosen to do things his own way, rather than obeying God’s instructions, the Spirit of the Lord left Saul (1 Samuel 16:14), and God stopped speaking to him.
“He prayed to the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him. God did not talk to Saul in dreams. God did not use the Urim to give him an answer, and God did not use prophets to speak to Saul.”—1 Samuel 28:6 (ERV)
Desperate, Saul finally went to a woman involved in occult practices to seek guidance, again compromising God’s standards in order to get what he wanted.
When Samuel appeared from the realm of the dead at the woman’s beckoning, he confirmed for the last time the consequences that Saul would suffer for falling to the second temptation.
“Samuel said, ‘The Lord left you and is now your enemy, so why are you asking me for advice? The Lord used me to tell you what he would do, and now he is doing what he said he would do. He is tearing the kingdom out of your hands and giving it to your neighbor, David. The Lord was angry with the Amalekites and told you to destroy them. But you did not obey him. That’s why the Lord is doing this to you today. The Lord will let the Philistines defeat you and the army of Israel today. Tomorrow, you and your sons will be here with me.’”—1 Samuel 28:16-19 (ERV)
Saul chose to do things his way, rather than God’s way.
It cost him everything.
