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Nick was a young man, a new homeowner, who purchased his first lawn mower, which came neatly boxed with a detailed set of instructions on how to assemble the lawnmower, and with operating instructions. Nick was excited with great anticipation. He couldn't wait to get out and feel the pride of a well manicured lawn. He opened the box in his garage, took out all the components, and proceeded with the assembly. After what seemed like hours, he started to grow impatient. He felt inept. He couldn't follow the instructions. His enthusiasm turned into frustration. What was wrong with him? His neighbor, Jack, happened to be walking by his garage and greeted him, saying, hey, Nick, how's it going?

Nick replied, well, not that great. I'm trying to put this lawnmower together and I can't make any sense of it.

Let me take a look, said Jack.

I know what's wrong, I know what's going on here. This is the wrong instruction manual. Yours is a battery operated lawnmower. You plug it in at night, it's ready to go whenever you're ready to use it. This instruction manual is for a gas powered lawnmower. I can't believe they messed up the instructions.

Thanks, Jack. I feel like an idiot.

Not your fault.

Well, this is why the following fundamentals are so critical. The application of these fundamentals will enable you to have a very meaningful and productive relationship with God. God gave instructions to Adam in the garden of Eden that are not applicable to us. He gave instructions to Noah, which are not for us, or we'd all be building an ark in our backyard. He gave instructions to Abraham, which are not instructions for us, or we would all be heading to the top of a mountain to offer our son as a burnt offering to God. God's instructions are to the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, as they were freed from Egyptian slavery with great power and miracles, and then were given the Ten Commandments and the hundreds of other laws were for them at that time under those circumstances. And it is clear from the direct statements given by God in his word that these are not instructions for us today.

God's instructions throughout Israel's history, through the judges and the prophets are not instructions to us. Christ's instructions to the twelve apostles and to the Jewish people during his time on earth as he prepared them for the coming seven years of tribulation and then life in his earthly kingdom are not instructions to us now. Make no mistake about it, all scripture is for us, but not all scripture is to us and about us. The apostle Paul says this in Romans 15:4, as we look at other scriptures not written by him. He said, for whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.

There are in those scriptures infinite truths revealing God's attributes, His character, His dealing with human beings, His faithfulness in always keeping His promises, so that we're filled with complete assurance that what God has promised us, he will in fact, deliver to us everything that's covered here in God's word. You can learn from it. And I urge you, for your benefit and for the glory of God, to follow the example of those in Berea as described in Acts chapter 17 and verse eleven. This is what Paul says of them. He says, these people, these were more noble than those that were in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Imagine, they did not accept what Paul taught them just because he said it. They had to confirm the accuracy of his teaching by searching the word of God. It is the word of God that is our authority. And you must be personally convinced by the word of God, not by any human teacher or human leader like Nick.

You may put out a significant amount of effort trying to live the Christian life with complete sincerity. And at the end of the day, or even at the end of a lifetime, much of it might be wasted, unproductive, and not approved of God. And so we're looking at the greatest book in the world. The Bible is God's word. It can be understood and applied if studied the way God intended for us to study it.

We derive the profit that God put in it, if we discover how God divides his word. For context, I'd like for us to consider that there are two primary battles in the world that we're all engaged in, consciously or unconsciously. First of all, the battle for the human soul, and secondly, the battle for the truth of God. And you will see that both of them focus on the word of God.

The battle for the human soul was launched at the beginning of time in the garden of Eden. God graciously placed Adam and Eve in the garden, providing everything they needed to live a fulfilled and God pleasing life. They were able to eat from every tree except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God wanted them to learn good and evil from Him, not by experiencing it themselves. So, as we will see later as we go in the book of Genesis, Satan approached Eve, deceived her and tricked her. She ate and then gave to her husband Adam to eat, and he succumbed.

God had warned Adam that if he ate from that tree, he would die spiritually, immediately and physically, ultimately. And thus the battle for the human soul was lost. At that point, however, God immediately made a provision for Adam and Eve to be reconciled to God. To this day, the battle for the human soul continues as we saw in the last fundamental. God made the ultimate sacrifice by sending his beloved son to suffer and die for us.

But Satan is still active. He's active as ever today, doing all he can to keep man from being reconciled to God. We'll look at II Corinthians, chapter four, verses three and four. It says, but if our gospel is hidden, listen carefully. It is hidden to them that are lost. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, who came to be savior of the world.

If it's hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of those that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. So Satan, the great deceiver and liar, keeps people from trusting Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. He has no problem at all, if you try your best to please God through your own efforts, or if you remain active in religious activity or even give mental assent to what Christ did for you on the cross, just add some works to that. Add whatever you choose and you poison the well.

Remember, it's not Christ plus something. It's Christ alone, completely apart from our works, as we read in Romans chapter four, verse five and other passages of scripture. Be aware of this, that the battle for the human soul is so focused and intense, because the only way to win that battle, the battle for the human soul, is through the word of God. Romans chapter ten, verse 17, says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The battle for the human soul, it is in Christ alone and completely apart from works. And Satan will keep us blinded to that fact, as we saw in Romans chapter ten, verse 17.

The second battle I want us to look at again, it's focused on the word of God, which is the subject of our study, is the battle for the truth of God. We'll go back to the book of Genesis. Genesis, chapter two. Right from the beginning of time, the truth of God has been denied.

It's been challenged, it's been ignored, it has been altered, and it continues to this day, much to our damage and demise. In Genesis, chapter two, verses 16 and 17, it says, and the Lord God commanded the man, saying, (this is in the garden of Eden) of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For the day you eat of it, you will surely die.

And now the battle for the truth of God begins. In Genesis, chapter three and verse one, Satan comes to Eve, challenging God's word to her and to Adam. He asks the question, has God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Planting seeds of doubt, he challenges Eve about the veracity of God's word. How dare he do that in verse two of chapter three of Genesis. Likely intimidated by this encounter, Eve responds. She says, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.

But wait. She leaves out the very important word in the Bible, which is freely, freely. God had said, of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat. That's important. There's an important message in God's emphasis, and the Bible has serious warnings about adding or removing from God's word.

But this is the subtlety of Satan at work in the battle for the truth of God. And so that's what Satan does. And then in verse three, Eve continues with her reply. God has said, she says, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. On the one hand, she took away what God said. She took away the word freely. And now she adds something to what God said. She quotes God as saying, you won't touch it or eat it. God never said, you shall not touch it lest you die.

God said that if you eat, you will surely die. Another word left out. Once again, we don't have the liberty to add anything to God's word or take anything away from it. Be sure of this, that God says what he means, and he means what he says. It gets worse as you continue.

In Genesis, chapter three, the next statements of Satan stem from his very nature of rebellion against God and the ultimate lie. In Genesis, chapter three, verse four, the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die. He is calling God a liar. He's calling Eve to the fact that she needs to realize that what God said is not true and it's not going to happen. And in verse five, he adds to that, after he has denied what God said, the consequences of sinning against God, he said, that's not going to happen because God knows that the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil.

In describing the details of Satan's fall in Isaiah, chapter 14, in essence, it says that he wanted to be like the most high. That's a term used in his creation of heaven and earth, Satan wanted to rise up and be like the most high. And here he says to Eve, she says, listen, you won't die. In fact, you will be as gods.

Let's get now to the encounter that Jesus had with Satan and how he fought the battle for the truth of God, as recorded in Matthew, chapter four, verses one through ten. There we have the Lord Jesus Christ having fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And here's what we read. And beginning with verse one, then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, I think there's a bit of humor here. He was hungry. Well, he was human. And after not eating, how quickly do you and I get hungry? Well, after 40 days, 40 nights, he was hungry.

So the one thing that his human body longed for was food. And when the tempter came, verse three, to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Here are stones. If you're the son of God and you have the power to create, why don't you just talk to these stones and they will become bread, and then you can eat and your human appetites and desires will be fulfilled. Sounds good.

After 40 days and 40 nights of not eating. But what did Jesus do? He answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. What does Jesus do? He fights the battle for the truth of God with the word of God, because the word of God in Ephesians chapter six is called the sword of the spirit.

It is the shield of faith. It is faith in what God has said and the Lord Jesus Christ, in his encounter with Satan here with the devil, he uses the word of God because he knows that that is the one weapon that will tear down the effects of what he's trying to do. It was more important for the Lord Jesus Christ to stand on Biblical ground, to stand on the word of God, than to succumb to his strong hunger. After 40 days and 40 nights of not eating, now the devil realizes what he's in for. He said, oh, Jesus is going to fight me with the word of God.

I know what I'll do. And he's a master of this. As we saw with Adam and Eve, he denies the word of God. He contradicts the word of God. He adds to the word of God. He takes away from the word of God. And he uses the word of God in order to try to get the Lord Jesus Christ to do his bidding, what he wanted to do.

And so in verse five, the devil takes him up into the holy city and he sets him on a pinnacle of the temple. And he says to him, notice that he keeps challenging who he is. In verse three, he said, if you are the son of God, once again, verse six, if you are the son of God, does Jesus need to prove to Satan on his terms that he's the son of God? Absolutely not. He says, if you're the son of God, cast yourself down.

And now the trick, for it is written using the word of God to try to get him to obey him. It is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning you, and in their hands they shall bear you out up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone, a promise and a provision that God makes in his word. But the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that this does not apply to this situation, in this circumstance. And so what does the Lord Jesus do? Once again, he said to him, it is written again, he takes the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And he quotes it to him and fights him with that. Jesus said unto him, it is written again, you shall not tempt or test the Lord your God.

And so he says, you will not test the Lord your God. For a third time. The devil takes him. He takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, top of the mountain. And Satan shows the Lord Jesus Christ all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of those kingdoms, the beauty, the greatness of those kingdoms. And he said to him, all these things, all of this will I give to you if you will fall down and worship me. That's what Satan has always sought, is the worship of man. In whatever way you can do it. Just stay away from God's truth as revealed in the word of God. And he takes them up to this mountain. He says, I'll give you all of the kingdoms of the world if you fall down and worship me. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to get the kingdoms of this world, but he's not going to get them from Satan. And on his terms. There's a process. There's events to go through. There's a sacrifice to go through. There's a kingdom to be had. So Jesus said unto him, after he said, fall down and worship me, Jesus said unto him, get thee hence, Satan. For it is written once again, using the word of God, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And so the Lord Jesus Christ makes clear that even though, and he doesn't argue, by the way, with Satan about the kingdoms of this world, he is called by the apostle Paul the God of this world, which he is. He's the prince of the power of the air, which he is. And so the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't argue with him as to who is in control, but he says to him, this is wrong.

And what he's doing is something we'll learn in the next lesson. The Lord Jesus Christ takes the word of God and rightly divides the word of truth. Rightly applies the right passages of scripture. And this encounter between Jesus and Satan proves one thing that sets the stage. You can be Biblical and be totally wrong.

And we do that every time we use a verse or passage in the Bible and misapply it. Every promise in the book is not for me. We must not ignore the context. If we do, we'll engage in using scripture as a pretext, which is to justify a course of action from scripture, that it's not God's plan or will. Or we'll use scripture as proof text, which is to take a verse in the Bible to prove a wrong belief or action. And that is what is going on in the word of God and in this world today.