Luke 4:[5] And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, [6] and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. [7] If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” [8] And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”[9] And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, [10] for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
[11] and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”[12] And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” [13] And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
The devil knows the Scriptures. Well, he has a good bit of it memorized. That’s a great lesson in itself. For all the memorizing of Scripture that we do, we need to remember that it is not the recalling of Scripture that is the mark of holiness. It is the imbibing of the memorized Scriptures into the heart and life by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In any case, Satan can use the Bible to serve his purposes. He does not use it properly of course but that’s where the the warning lies. If the father of lies can use the Bible to make it look like he is right then how careful do we need to be to make sure that we do not twist it to suit our own sinful desires and thoughts?
How much murder and mayhem and heresy have been believed and propagated and committed in the name of God because of faulty understandings of the Word of God? There is a clear link between the devil’s use of the Bible in his attempts to make Jesus sin, and Ephesians 4:14.
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Jesus does not fall prey to Satan’s devices with the Scriptures because He knew them and how they should be used. Jesus could not be duped into a false interpretation of the Word of God. If the church does not come to know the Bible and use it properly then it is going to fall hard, if it has not already done so.
How many believers are there who are described by Ephesians 4:14? How many could answer the attempts to make us sin through the use of the Bible with more accurate interpretations of the inspired texts? And saddest of all, how many believers simply do not care about doing the hard work necessary to come to an accurate understanding and application of the Word of God for their lives?
Far too many Christians use the Bible as a good luck charm, a how-to manual, a magic potion for telling the future, a justification for their own sins, a tool of oppression, and who knows what else? It is shameful.
Jesus used the Scriptures properly and the devil left Him until a more convenient time. There would never be such a time. Jesus would always be ready. Pastors are to study to be approved by God, unashamed workmen who handle the Word of God properly. This means that it can be handled inappropriately and we do not want to be numbered among those who do that. James 3:1 ought to ring in the ears of everyone who is called to teach in any way at all, the eternal truths of the Word of God.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness
The Bible is a rich treasure of counsel and teaching to us for our eternal good. It equips us for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17).
[16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
It is a wickedness to turn the Bible into something that destroys or takes us away from God. Let us ensure that we do not do that. Let us be Christlike in this – that we handle the Word of God in such a way that the devil leaves until a more convenient time.
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