Temptation

Luke 4:1-13 ESV

The Temptation of Jesus

 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ⁵ And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶ and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
    and him only shall you serve.’”

⁹ And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰ for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to guard you,’

¹¹ and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

¹² And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Just before the temptation of Jesus takes place, Jesus was baptized by John the baptist. Jesus identified with us through baptism and through temptation. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 states, "For we do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." We face the same temptations Jesus did in chapter 4 of Luke. The difference is, many times we give in to those temptations and Jesus resisted them every time. There is a lot to learn in this section of scripture. Satan is on the prowl and he knows our weaknesses. But he can't make us do anything. He is not all powerful like our Lord Jesus is. 

Before we talk about the 3 temptations listed, notice verse 2 says "for forty days, being tempted by the devil." That verse makes it evident that for the entire 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness fasting that He was fighting off the temptations of the devil. In this chapter of Luke we are given only 3 specific temptations.

In verses 3-4 of Luke 4, Jesus faces temptation #1. Keep in mind here that Jesus has not eaten in almost 6 weeks. The temptation to use His divine power for His own purpose and feed His hungry belly must have been stronger than any temptation I have faced. Have you ever taken matters into your own hands and tried to provide for yourself instead of letting God do it?  John Hamby, a pastor from Arkansas,  said, "We regularly are tempted to go outside the confines of God’s will to satisfy our personal needs or desires. We often promote ourselves because we are sure that God will not do it. We scheme and we plan for our well-being, because we assume that God does not care or maybe does not know about our needs."

Jesus' response to this temptation was scripture. He not only knew the Word but He lived by it. What is the point in knowing the Bible if we do not model our lives after it? The Pharisees were known throughout the new testament for knowing the scriptures by heart. Yet their lives did not reflect the heart of God. If someone from your work is surprised to hear that you go to church or that your a christian, I believe, that's a problem and probably a good indicator that what you've read in the Bible your not living out. Jesus should literally be bursting out of us. If He isn't, maybe you need to ask yourself if you know Him at all. I'm not trying to ruffle anyone's feathers (although the truth of God does that a lot of times) or make you question your salvation but there was a time that I wasn't sure if I really knew Him at all. So I know what it's like to be in that place and the only way to fix it is to cry out to God, confess your sins, and by faith ask Him for forgiveness. Do not go another day questioning it. Too much is at stake for you not to be certain.

Temptation #2 is revealed in verses 5-8. The devil offers Jesus a kingdom. A kingdom that will be His minus the cross. If Jesus had fallen into any of these temptations, the results would have been catastrophic for us. But this one for me seems like the devil is testing Jesus' love for us more so than the others. Why suffer and die on a cross for the world when you can have a kingdom right here and now? The world is constantly putting it into our heads that we need to avoid sacrifice. We need to choose the easy path. We need to be comfortable. Why stayed married when the going gets tough? Just get divorced and find someone else. Why give till it hurts when that could be a brand new car payment? The result of the supposed "easy road" is that children all over the world are suffering because of a broken family. Americans particularly are in so much debt we are drowning in it. All for the latest and greatest and to keep up with the Jones'.  Praise God that Jesus chose to suffer and sacrifice himself for us. 

In verses 9-11 we read about temptation #3. Satan takes Jesus to the roof of the temple with a 450 foot drop and challenges Him using none other than scripture. My husband, David, has been really focusing on memorizing scripture recently. The other day he said to me, "If Satan knew scripture, shouldn't we?" Well, isn't that convicting and oh so true? The devil, using scripture, was tempting Jesus to put God to the test. These 40 days in the wilderness marks the beginning of Jesus' ministry. To start His ministry by dramatically jumping from the temple roof, where everyone would have seen it, would have been against the will of God. Immediately it would have been revealed to the people that Jesus was the Messiah. We all tempt God whether we want to call it that or not. 

Satan tried to distract Jesus from the mission He was sent to earth to complete and He tried to put a wedge between Jesus and God the father. Jesus defeated Satan every single time. In verse 13 it says that the devil departed from Jesus until "an opportune time." Satan continued throughout Jesus' ministry to tempt him. In the wilderness, Jesus resisted all of the devil's temptations. But that did not stop him. The devil is persistent and if you resist him once he will come at you from a different angle. It is impossible to fight the devil off without an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ that includes prayer and time in the Bible. We need to be so filled up with Christ that there is no room for Satan to distract us. 

So put on your armor (Ephesians 5:10-20) because there is a spiritual battle being waged and if you are abiding in Jesus, you are under attack by the enemy.