Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Angelic Conflict. Part 42. False application of a true doctrine is a very subtle attack from the kingdom of darkness.
Friday, March 10, 2006
The first one is the temptation to rely on self rather than the ministry of Holy Spirit, MAT 4:1-4, LUK 4:1-4.
The second test that Satan put the Lord through was to test our Lord’s relationship to the plan of God for His life,
LUK 4:5-8, MAT 4:8-10.
a. “Avoid the purpose of the Father’s plan for the incarnation and by-pass the cross and I’ll promote you,” says Satan.
b. “Avoid the purpose of the Father’s plan for the Second Advent - take the crown or the kingdom now!”
The third and final test has to do with our Lord’s relationship to the word of God.
The first test had to do with our Lord’s relationship to the ministry of Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity.
The second test had to do with our Lord’s relationship to the plan of God the Father for His life, the first Person of the Trinity.
This third test has to do with our Lord’s relationship to the word of God, the second Person of the Trinity.
Pinnacle - noun pteurgion = the edge or the highest point on the temple. He took Him to the highest point, Herod’s porch, a 450 foot drop.
“If you will live by the Word of God then jump from this porch into the valley below,” Satan is now quoting PSA 91:11-12, with a false application - correct doctrine, false application!
False application of doctrine is always a distortion of scripture.
TLJC has already resisted the temptation to act independently of the Holy Spirit and the Father’s plan for the incarnation.
Satan now attacks scripture by “quoting” scripture - for the devil will distort the passage by removing it from its context and giving it a false application.
False application of a true doctrine is a very subtle attack from the kingdom of darkness.
Satan is using the scripture to tempt the humanity of Christ to act independently of the real meaning behind the scripture.
It is not part of the Father’s plan for the humanity of Christ to do an absurd and foolish thing!
God does not condone senseless and unreasonable action!
DEU 6:16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”
Satan quoted scripture that did not apply and thereby he distorted scripture.
Luk 5 - TLJC quoted scripture that did apply, and He made a correct and accurate application of that scripture.
Once again our Lord used scripture; the greatest power God has ever given is Bible doctrine!
Did TLJC say, “I bind you Satan, in my name”?
JAM 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
MAT 4:11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
Minister - diakoneo = to serve, to wait upon someone, to wait at a table and offer food and drink to the guests.
Point 1. Definition.
Point 2. The Existence of Rational Creatures, angels and humans.
Point 3. When and How the Angelic Conflict Began.
Point 4. The Two Categories of Fallen Angels Under the Command of Satan. There are operational angels and non-operational angels.
Point 5. Demon Attacks During the Church-age.
Point 6. The Satanic Plan for Offensive Action in Human History.
Point 7. The Courtroom Trial of the Angelic Conflict.
Point 8. The Strategic Victory of the Angelic Conflict.
Point 9. The Importance of the Hypostatic Union.
Point 10. The Pseudo Victory of Satan in the Original Fall of Man.
He had the power to strike down Satan and the fallen angels whom He had brought into existence through His creative act and and annihilate him or put him in prison.
The claims of Satan to equality with God and superiority in power had to have their complete trial.
God’s plan was for all the universe to see, once and for all, if it were possible for any creature whatsoever, of any rank, however exalted, to live for even a moment independent of God the Creator.
This trial, the angelic conflict, the invisible war, actually brings out a second will, namely the creature’s will over God’s will, and it takes place in time or human history!
EZE 28:15 “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created, Until unrighteousness was found in you.”
God revealed His hatred toward the sin of rebellion by putting an ice pack around the earth and confining Satan and all of his followers to the prison of planet earth, GEN 1:1-2, 2PE 3:6,
JOB 9:5-8, JER 4:23-25,
PSA 18:7-15!
It was a judgment which was fitting for Satan and his followers because it revealed at the same time the power of God and the impotence of Satan.
By the simple Word of God the heavens and the earth were brought down into judgment and chaos.
Anyone who thinks even for a moment that he can get along without God, that he can accomplish anything in his own power, is doomed to the sensation best described as “dust in the mouth.”
It began to dawn in his darkened mind the fact that his wisdom was not omniscience, that his power was not omnipotence, that he was a creature and had no ability to create.
He had carried with him a group of angels and demons who had been willing to accept his authority and his ways, and they would learn that all of them with their combined intelligence and power would be unable to put the chaotic world together again.
He had the appetite and desire to be like God, to act like God and to possess the universe, but there was nothing but a sense of emptiness, impotence because of inability!
Every man and woman who wishes to be independent of God should know that the path of any creature who cuts loose from a surrendered dependence upon God is in the path of Lucifer.
Emptiness, inability, frustration, dust: these are the portion of the man who walks his own way.
JER 49:20; JER 50:45, Therefore hear the plan of the Lord!
One of the main problems that God has to deal with in the human race is the fact that most individuals are so stubborn and rebellious toward God’s plan for their life.
Satan, who had claimed that he would be like the Possessor of heaven and earth, was to be revealed as the bragger and boaster who could not fulfill what he claimed to be!
We are not to think of a creature “perfect in all his ways” but rather “the dragon ... that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world,” REV 12:9.
The frustration and bitterness and jealousy in this depraved being called Satan grew into an ever-increasing hatred toward God, and it fed upon itself and he became worse and worse and more depraved!
The shining of light into the waste and desolate creation must have brought Satan to instant attention.
From the very first moment when God spoke the Word that brought light shining out of darkness, Satan was aware that God was about to do something that Satan did not really understand!
The divine command went forth and when the light pushed back the curtains of darkness, the stage, planet earth was seen to be empty.
Finally after six days of preparation, the new character stepped on the scene: it was homo sapien or man, a new creature made lower than the angels!
The very place which had been the scene of the challenge to the authority of the Most High God was to see His victorious vindication.
The day would come when God’s Son TLJC would bring His life on earth to a close and would say in Gethsemane -
JOH 17:4 “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.”
Out of the fall of Lucifer and the subsequent fall of man, through the redemption provided in Christ, God would bring a mighty company of believers, children, sons, whom He could raise to the very throne of heaven without the remotest possibility that any of them ever claim any power in his own right.
PHI 2:10-11 at the title of Jesus every knee of the heavens should bow, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, resulting in the glory of God the Father.