Deuteronomy 6:16-17

But first off in the King James version of the Bible, the word tempted or test, as we see here in the New King James, is used 14 times throughout the Bible and 12 of those times it is directly used to show that someone or some people were testing the Lord or testing God. Now that is someone or a group of people who are testing God to see if He would in fact respond. So, Deuteronomy 6, verse 16, if you would turn there, is a really good example of this.

Moses was reminding the people that they ought not test God to see if He would in fact punish them because of their disobedience. Moses knew that 1 plus 2 equals 3, and if Israel attempted, or as it was translated here, tested God, He would punish them. Hopefully that makes sense. (I am sorry, bounced around a little bit there.) Now the other two times that the word tempt is used in the Old Testament is Genesis 22:1 and we just read that in regards to Abraham. And the other is in I Corinthians 7. So let us turn there and see this word tempt being used. As you can see, this one scripture took me on quite a bit of a journey.

Deuteronomy 6:12-18

Are you aware that the people of the land that God is talking about here called their major god "Baal," and that Baal means the same thing as our English word "lord"? They worshipped "the lord." Is that not similar to what we have here today where there is a play on a name? Those people in those churches call God "the Lord," but as we go along you're going to see very clearly it is not the same God with the same teaching, and is not the same Lord they are worshipping. So often, brethren, we are deceived by our eyes, and rather than rely in faith, trusting confidently the word of God, we instead rely upon what we think we see and perceive in the people.