Do not Live by One Scripture, but by the Whole of Scripture
Do not Live by One Scripture, but by the Whole of Scripture
Zac Poonen | 22nd?December 2024
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When the devil sees that you have learned to respect God's word, he will try to twist God's word to make it mean something it did not mean at all. He will misquote God's word and take God's word out of context. He even did this with Jesus!?
In Matthew 4:6, he said, “If You are the Son of God, why don't You just throw Yourself down from the top of the temple and claim the promise of God?” He even quoted Psalm 91, “He will give his angels charge concerning you; in their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”?
This teaches us that Satan can even quote God's word to you to get you to sin.
This temptation is related to the first temptation. The first time, Satan told Jesus to turn the stones into bread, and Jesus said, “Hey, man does not live by bread alone; he lives by every word of God.” Satan caught on to that and said, “Every word of God, huh? Okay, here is the word of God: 'He will give His angels charge over you and your foot will not strike against a stone.' So why not jump off from the temple?”?
As I said, when the devil sees that you have learned to respect God's word, the next thing he will try to do is to twist God's word to make it mean something it did not mean at all. He will misquote God's word and take God's word out of context. I can think of numerous Christians I have met in my life who have quoted a Scripture from here or there completely out of context, to satisfy their own desire. It is very easy to go to Scripture and find a verse to do what you want to do. There are so many people who go to Scripture and find a verse that justifies exactly what they want to do.
“When you put both Scriptures together, then you get the truth. That's why it is important to study the Scriptures to hear what God is saying to you.”
When we realize the importance of receiving God's word, and read Scripture regularly, we need to remember from this temptation that Satan can come and misquote Scripture. That is why it is important for us to study the Scriptures in its context, and why it is important to study the whole of Scripture by “every word of God,” as Jesus said, not just by one Scripture. We cannot live by one Scripture (for example, “man shall live by every word of God”), and that is why it is important to know the whole of Scripture. That is why it is important to study it. If you are young, it is good to go and seek counsel from godly older men who know the word of God whenever you are thinking of understanding what Scripture says on a particular subject. It is very easy. I have come across too many people who have deceived themselves by seeking to live by only one particular Scripture, and not the whole of Scripture.
Let me use a humorous illustration to highlight this point: Consider a young man who is very much in love with a girl called Grace. He wants to find the will of God, or at least he thinks he does, but he is already very much in love with this girl. The truth is, he wants to marry her, and he just wants God's approval. So one day he reads 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you," and he's convinced. “Ah, God has spoken to me, Grace is the girl for me,” he says to himself. He is just satisfying his own desire. Now consider another young man whose parents have suggested some girl called Grace to him. He does not like her at all, and he has no interest, so he tells his parents “I will have to find God's will.” He reads the same verse, 2 Corinthians 12:9, “"My grace is sufficient for you.” He goes to his parents and says, “God has told me that His grace is sufficient for me. I do not want this girl called Grace, God's grace is enough for me.” You can see how, from the same verse, these two young men get two different answers to satisfy their own lusts. What they want to do, they try to put into God's word. That is one example of how the devil can take a Scripture and quote that to you. If he tried it with Jesus, don't you think he will try it with you?
What was Jesus' reply to the devil? It is very interesting to see that, when the devil said in Matthew 4:6, “It is written,” Jesus replied in Matthew 4:7, saying, “Again it is written.” Or, “On the other hand, it is written like this.” That's what He meant by, “again it is written.” This teaches us that the whole truth is not found only in “it is written” but in “it is written, and again it is written.”?
When you put both Scriptures together, then you get the truth. That is why it is important to study the Scriptures to hear what God is saying to you. Otherwise, you can take one verse of Scripture and go completely astray.?