And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:5-8)
We have all heard of the Temptations which Jesus withstood from Satan.
Please allow me some liberty in comparing this particular temptation to what is basically the same temptation being offered up to the people of the world today.
Notice that Jesus did not deny that Satin could actually deliver up the kingdoms of the world which were being promised. The world had actually been delivered to him as he stated; by Adam.
Jesus had every intention of having all the kingdoms of the world, and the power, and the glory. However, he would never bow the knee to Satin in order to have Satin give them to him; what he had every intention of doing, and would do, and did do, was to take them from him through his sacrificial death on the Cross, and by the shedding of his Blood.
The crucial point I would like to make is that Satin wanted him to take the easy road. “YOU CAN HAVE THE WORLD, WITHOUT THE CROSS.” This was the real temptation!! You can have the benefits which you are after, without having to die on a cross, by simply worshiping me.
This is also a prevalent temptation, which Satan still offers up today. He offers it to sinners and Saints. But let us talk about Saints for this Commentary.
Saints today are many times trying to get the benefits of salvation without going through the Cross of Christ.
Satan is telling them, just go to Church, be nice to everyone there, pay your tithes, do a few good deeds when you think of it. And the list could go on and on. Satan is basically telling people, be a good person, be kind, do the things you know you should, and you can go to heaven. In other words just bypass the Cross of Christ and you can still have the kingdom.
However, this time the kingdom is not his to give; he is lying. But there are, unfortunately, many people buying it. They are believing they can get the kingdom without going through the Cross.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, and follow me (Luke 9:23). When we take up Jesus Christ and the redemption which he purchased for us through his Cross; we are also taking up our Cross (Gal. 2:20, I am crucified with Christ, never the less I live [ Romans 6:6, Knowing this, that our old man is Crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed]). Without the Cross of Christ, we could in no way enter into the Kingdom of God.
One of Satan’s biggest deceptions is to cause people to believe that if they obey the Laws of God, then they can enter the Kingdom without the Cross. In other words, go ahead and do the Law: love your neighbor as best you can, don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal, don’t kill, and just do your best to do whatever you can that seems good. Now I know that some of you are saying, “Satan would never try to get people to do these things.” Why would he? I’ll tell you why. Because if he can get a person to believe that those things will get him into the Kingdom, then he has won. That’s right; if Satan can get anybody to believe that doing good things of any nature, will get them into heaven, then he has won.
And why? Simply because, Jesus Christ and the Blood he shed on the Cross (Romans 3:25, Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in His Blood, to declare His Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past) are the only way we can possibly inherit the Kingdom (this is the method Christ used to take the kingdoms of the world away from Satan [and this is the only way by which any man may enter into the Kingdom of God]).
Let me state for the record, I am not against doing good works in your service for God. If you are saved, you will want to Love your neighbor and do what the Lord wants you to do.
There are numerous places in the Word of God which speak of Believers loving their neighbor and fulfilling the deeds of the Law. However, there are also numerous scriptures which make it obvious that we are no longer under the Law. For instance, “For I through the Law am dead to the Law, that I might live unto God, Gal. 2:19. And Gal. 3:24-25, says, “Wherefore the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us onto Christ, that we might be justified by Faith. But after that Faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
So then, we see that what is of necessity is this: “We come to Christ by Faith in his atoning work on the Cross. And as we take up the Cross of Christ daily, the Holy Spirit will help us to fulfill the law which we could have in now wise fulfilled anyway without Christ.
It is simply not at all possible to do what Satan would like to have us to do i. e., receive the Kingdom by doing all the good works you can. One who is attempting to enter into the Kingdom of God in this way, simply put; will not enter in.
