“Facing the Battle of Temptation”

Good Morning, would you turn in your Bible with me to Luke Chapter 4. Today we are going to look at the famous passage of the temptation of Christ. The title of our message today is, “Facing the Battle of Temptation.”

Luke 4:1–13 ESV

1 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.

Throughout the Bible we have seen many folks who were put to the test. Abraham was called by God to offer up his only son as a sacrifice. In the book of Job, the man Job found out what misery was all about and yet he passed the test. Some of you are dealing with a test of your own today. But I would argue that what Jesus went through was more of a Battle. The devil came against Jesus with temptation after temptation, trying to do everything that he could to make Christ sin and change the plans of the redemption of God’s people. But Jesus stood firm in the midst of this temptation battle. Jesus defeated Satan demonstrating to you and I that He had the power to destroy the works of the devil. How do we know this? John explains it to us in 1 John chapter 3.

1 John 3:8 ESV

8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

This is why Jesus came to earth church. However, some of you today are living in such a way that you have not realized that Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil in your life. So, I want you to understand this morning just how vital this battle was church. Christ’s victory over the Devil in the wilderness truly laid out the groundwork for all the other mighty victories that Christ won. Jesus won the victory in the Garden. Jesus won the victory on the cross. And Jesus won the victory over the grave. Without the victory over the devil’s temptations out in the wilderness, his life and ministry would not have been complete. If he was not able to defeat Satan, Christ would not be able to redeem sinners like you and I. So, this Battle was of upmost importance church. You need to know this today.

But why is this such a big deal you might ask? We are sinners and we need a righteous, perfect, sinless Savior to deliver us from our sin. This sin problem goes all the way back to the first Adam. Adam was tempted like Jesus and because Adam failed the test and gave into Satan’s temptation we now need a Second Adam. And down through the history of the Bible God’s people time and time again gave into the temptations of Satan and worshiped other gods than the one true God. This is why we so desperately needed a new and better Adam, God’s true Son and the true Israel, Jesus, who could take away our sins. Just as Adam had his garden of temptation, Jesus faced His battle of temptation out in the wilderness. As the Lord’s battle with Satan begins, I want to give you 3 major scenes about this battle that we must consider.

1. Prepared for Battle!

Luke 4:1–2 ESV

Luke tells us here that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. The word “full” here means to be saturated or to be permeated thoroughly. There of course were many people that we know of who were full of the Holy Spirit. We have already seen how John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost many believers were filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen the first martyr of the faith was full of the Holy Spirit, and even the Apostle Paul after his conversion was filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is how we are to live church as Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18 tells us. Are you living under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit? Jesus lived his entire life totally filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit. He in his humanity yielded to the Spirit’s control having voluntarily set aside the use of his divine attributes. By submitting to the Holy Spirit Jesus was able to do His Father’s will. And it was the will of God that Jesus face and defeat the Devil. In preparing for battle Jesus was not only full of the Spirit, but He was also led by the Spirit. Christian let me speak to you for just a moment. The only way that we as believers can win the battle over the temptations of sin is being filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit. You can not win the battle on your own, or in your own strength and will power. Jesus was prepared for battle because he was controlled by the Spirit and had fully yielded to Him. So if you are here today and are resisting the Holy Spirit. You have not yet fully yielded to Him leading your life.

Now for the first time in Luke’s gospel we begin to see how serious this battle truly was, because Luke introduces us to what real evil looks like by introducing us to the devil. Here is what we know about the devil and the seriousness of this battle that we all face.

-Satan is a slanderer.

-Satan is the adversary. He is against you.

-John tells us that Satan is a liar and a murderer. The Lord’s words here mean that when Satan tempted Adam and Eve to sin and they did, he took away their spiritual life because now they were both sinners, and both sin and death entered the world.

John 8:44 ESV

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

-He is a snake. (Genesis 3:1)

-He is an evil one. (John 17:15)

-Satan is a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

In other words Satan is going to do everything he can to tempt you, deceive you, lie to you, and murder you. We must be prepared for battle by yielding to the Holy Spirit and putting on the armor of Christ. Let me ask you today, are you prepared for battle? Don’t be caught off guard when you are tempted and find yourself in an all out battle with Satan. Be Prepared!!!

2. In the Midst of the Battle!

We now come to the second scene where we are in the middle of the battle and find that Satan comes to Christ in 3 different ways. Let’s look at the first part.

1. The Battle of God’s Care and Love.

Luke 4:3–4 ESV

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.’ ”

It is not surprising for us to see that at the end of these 40 days of fasting that Jesus was hungry. I get hungry if I miss one meal. So, of course the devil selects this exact moment and opportunity to come against Jesus. If you are the Son of God command this stone to become bread. Just a quick note here that Satan questions the identity of Jesus and whether or not He was in fact the Son of God. After the Lord’s baptism this issue was settled once and for all when the audible voice of God the Father was heard, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” But nonetheless Satan tries to do everything he can to discredit Jesus. In order that Jesus is no longer tortured by hunger he tells Jesus to turn the stone into bread and take care of this hunger problem. The issue here was that Satan is tempting Jesus to doubt the Father’s love and care to sustain him. Satan wanted Jesus to take matters into his own hands and turn the stone into bread. Church what sustains us as believers is not food, but obedience to what God tells us in His Word. Notice the Lord’s response here. “Man shall not live by bread alone.” This is a direct quote from Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3. This is a picture of Moses reminding Israel of God’s tender care for them during the 40 years in their wilderness journey. This showed how the Lord had fed them with mana in order to teach them man does not live on bread alone but by everything that comes from God. So, what Jesus is saying here in his response is that it’s not the bread that will take care of him, but the sustaining power of His Father who is the source of His and man’s life and well being. Jesus has confidence in His Father’s care. Is that you today? Do you have confidence in the Father’s care for your life?

2. The Battle of God’s Power and Plans.

Luke 4:5–8 ESV

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.’ ”

Satan now comes to Christ and shows him all the kingdoms of the world. Satan’s goal here was too get Jesus to doubt the Father’s plan and His power over Satan. Scholars have debated whether Satan actually took Christ to a high position to show him all of these things, or that this was a vision of the many kingdoms of the world like Ezekiel and John both had very literal visions. I would just say we don’t know for sure. The point here however is that Satan wanted Christ to worship him and all would be His. Satan was liar because he was pretending to offer what was not his to give. Notice the Lord’s response, “It is written you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Jesus here is quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 13. What Satan has done here is exalted himself into the place of God, in order to bargain worship for power. The Lord’s response gets right to the heart of the matter. The only thing we are to worship is God alone. Let me ask you today what or who are you worshipping? Does God have all of your heart? If not call out to him and fully surrender your life to the Lord.

3. The Battle of Faith.

Luke 4:9–12 ESV

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.’ ”

This final temptation takes place in Jerusalem. Satan and Christ are on the pinnacle of the temple. This is literally the outer wall of the temple complex. It may have been on the edge of the roof of Herod’s royal portico that overlooked down into the Kedron Valley which would have been some 450 feet down below. Satan’s temptation once again is, “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here.” In other words, if you do this you will be able to prove your confidence in your Father’s protection for you. But what Satan is doing here as he quotes Psalm 91 is that he twists the truth and turns God’s Word into a reason not to actually trust God, but to test God. To presume that God would rescue Jesus if He jumped or that the angels would guard him. Notice the Lord’s response here, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Satan do not test the Lord. God is to be trusted, served, and even worshiped. But we are not to test God. May we trust in the wonderful provisions that the Lord has given to each and everyone of us and remember that God knows all that we need.

3. The Outcome of the Battle!

Luke 4:13 ESV

13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

What happens? Who won? What was the final outcome? The Lord’s victory was final over every temptation that Satan tried to throw at Him during this 40 day battle. Satan was defeated and then he was dismissed by our Lord. Luke tells us here in verse 13 that at the end of this battle Satan departed Jesus until an opportune time. We of course know that there were other times that Satan came against Jesus, like when Satan tempted Peter to tell Jesus not to go to the cross. (Jesus told Peter, “get behind me Satan”) And then we know of course that Satan would successfully tempt Judas to betray Christ. However, in this battle against Jesus my point here is that Satan loses. The Outcome of this battle and every battle as Jesus goes before us is that in the end Satan loses and is defeated. As believers today we must know that ultimately Satan has lost the battle.

Conclusion: You may be here today and say this was great Pastor. Thanks for helping me to see what Jesus went through, but what is the take away? How does this apply to my life today?

I want you for just a moment to think with me how Satan uses the same plans to try and tempt us as believers. Satan knows of course what you and I personally struggle with and our weak points, however Satan often will tempt us to lack trust in God’s love and care for us. There may come times where you have doubted that God has a plan for your life and even this world. Something else that I want to remind you of today is that often Satan will do everything he can to twist the truth of Scripture in order to deceive us. Satan has done his best to even take advantage of specific circumstances to come against us, like trials and battles. Satan came against Jesus when he was physically weak from lack of food and he will do the same to you and I when we are weak or in the midst of a battle. So, what are we to do when we too find ourselves struggling against temptation or in the middle of a trial???

-First, we must have a love for God and His Word and so we have some Biblical knowledge of what to do.

-Second, there should come a time in your life where because you have a love for God’s Word, you are commited to keep it or obey it. Are you obeying God and following Him or are you living in sin and serving the devil?

-Finally, trust in God’s love for you. Be reminded today that God loved you so much that He gave His one and only Son for you. When you understand the Father’s love it will help you to fully submit to His plan so you can resist the devil and he will flee from you as James chapter 4 and verse 7 tell us.

-Pray.

-Lead into Communion.

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