Passing the Test (Part Two)

Passing the Test (Part Two) - Luke 4:1-13

Introduction & Review - The Main Point & Temptation One

We might as well admit it. We’re pretty good at failure. Sometimes minor, sometimes epic. Sometimes the consequences are small, sometimes catastrophic.

The Bible teaches us that ever since Adam and Eve’s first epic failure in the garden, when they chose to believe Satan’s manipulation rather than the perfect trustworthiness of their Creator God, every one of us has been born not only with the potential to follow suit, but we bear the guaranteed stamp of it. We’re going to bomb at life, at least at the way God designed for us to live. We’re so broken and confused because it’s in our nature to be so, and we’re completely helpless to rectify the problem.

But God [I love those two words…] But God hasn’t left us to our own devices, to just spiral out of control from bad to worse, destroying ourselves and our futures. No, in his justice God disciplined Adam and Eve, as it should be, in consistency with his perfect character. And even while we continue to suffer the consequences of their sin, and even more we are bound to suffer greater consequences for our own sin, God has been actively involved in human history. And at just the right moment in his perfect plan, God broke into history in a unique way through the God-Man Jesus Christ.

Luke, in his recounting of the Gospel, wants us to see clearly that God sent Jesus to be the second but successful Adam and the true Israel, keeping perfect faith and obedience to the Father, even under severe trial. This perfect righteousness qualifies him to be the representative of humanity that we need him to be, so that by his righteousness we might be made right with God. The perfectly Righteous One would sacrifice himself for our sins, so that through faith in him, he forgives our sin and grants us his righteousness before God. …for which God receives all the credit, which is just as it should be.

Luke makes clear that…

Jesus is the unique Son of God who is qualified to minister salvation.

In this section of Luke, Jesus is being proven as the righteous One of God, that even while Satan is tempting him over a period of 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus remains faithful. He is uniquely qualified for this mission the Father has given him to be the Savior of the world.

Satan’s first temptation of Jesus, which we covered last week, was like this: Since you’re the Son of God, use your power to feed yourself (be done with this hunger)… instead of waiting and trusting God’s provision and plan.

What’s interesting about the evident comparisons Luke is drawing attention to is that Adam had every possible need abundantly provided in the garden, and yet he failed. God gave Israel daily manna (and quail too), but they failed miserably in their grumbling faithlessness. Jesus ate nothing, yet He faithfully trusted the Father.

We must follow His example to take God at his word, trusting the Father’s plan and provision.

Have you perhaps been tempted in our current situation to be anxious about God’s provision and plan? I’ll say this as gently but honestly as I can: By doing so, are you not questioning God’s goodness and providential care for his people and his perfect plan for all of time and eternity?

As I was comforting someone close to me last week, this was the very thing that the Lord pressed upon my mind. God holds all of history in the palm of his hand. And if he has been sovereign and good in world history in circumstances far more bleak and difficult than our own, surely we can trust him in this!

My reason tells me that if China, where this coronavirus outbreak began, is opening things back up after the lockdown, then it’s reasonable to think that there is an end in sight for the rest of us and perhaps even a likelihood of economic recovery. But that is not ultimately where our confidence lies.

Our confidence lies in our God, and we trust him in the same way the Son trusted the Father. And we aren’t trusting in God because of any particular outcome that he might achieve, but rather our trust is in his goodness and in his plan and in his promises. So while we need bread and water to survive, we don’t trust in bread and water nor in our ability to get that sustenance; we trust in God, who is sovereign over our very lives.

So Jesus resisted doing it his own way in his own strength, not because he could not, but because he should not. That’s the example we aim to follow—having a right heart of dependence on God’s plan and provision… even as we work hard and aim to be wise.

Now let’s consider Satan’s next two temptations of Jesus.

Temptations Two & Three

(Textual note: When compared to the sequence in Matthew, Luke reversed the order of the 2nd and third temptations. As to which is chronological and the other thematic, we don’t know for sure, but most of us guess that Matthew’s is in chronological order, and that Luke’s is thematically ordered such that the temptation at the temple is mentioned last. Luke is inclined to emphasize temple occurrences.)

In your text in Luke then, the second temptation is to… (beginning at v. 5)

Temptation Two: Rule Faster by False Worship

- Satan offered for Jesus to skip the hard part (suffering) and get straight to the glory of being political ruler of the kingdoms of the earth.

- Of course, here we have a mixture of truth and error in Satan’s offer. While Satan does have a measure of authority in the world during this age (the Bible does speak of him as the “ruler/god of this world” and the “prince of the power of the air” - Jn 12:31, 2 Cor 4:3; Eph 2:2), that power has always been subject to God’s ultimate authority over everything. Satan cannot do anything unless God allows it.

So, Satan overstates his power and authority here. After all, he is also “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44).

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 4:1–13—Tested in the Wilderness

The world did not technically belong to the devil (Dan 4:32), who owned human hearts and societies only as a usurper. The most he could do would be to make Jesus the political, military sort of Messiah most Jewish people who expected a Messiah were anticipating.

And there’s a condition attached to Satan turning over rulership of all earthly kingdoms. [Read it in v. 7] By the way, we shouldn’t picture this as Satan simply saying that Jesus would only have to bow the knee to him once. What Satan suggests ultimately means Jesus would be renouncing his full allegiance to God and worshiping Satan.

- Jesus knows, however, that no matter what Satan promises, God alone is worthy of complete allegiance. He cannot give his devotion, his honor and respect, his obedience, to anyone or anything but the Father alone.

His response, as with his other quotations, comes from Deuteronomy: It is a restatement in his own words of the content of Deut 6:13.

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

How are we tempted this way? Are we not tempted by power and influence, to be important and successful and comfortable and stable? Even more, are we not tempted by a desire to skip to the end, to take matters into our own hands and help God accomplish (what we suppose) are his good purposes?

We must not serve the ends the world serves; we must worship and serve God alone. Our goal is not to be great and prominent by the world’s standards, but to follow the path our Heavenly Father has laid out for his people. Our goal is the glory of God, and to be told by our Master, well done.

In vv. 9-10, we have temptation three.

Temptation Three: Test God’s Protection

- Satan takes Jesus up to a high point on the temple, perhaps the corner overlooking the Kidron Valley, which afforded a drop of some 450 feet. - ‘Prove your trust in God by throwing yourself down from here so that the angels will save you.’

I confess, I’ve never been tempted to jump off a tall building to see if I’d survive or if God would save me… even though I am a bit of an adventurous risk taker.

When I was a kid growing up in the Amazon rainforest, we used to jump off short cliffs into the river. Once, after I jumped and landed in shallow water, but very fortunately not hurting myself by sliding to my bum, I coaxed my brother to do the same, claiming that the water was deeper than reality and he’d be fine. He broke his foot.

Satan is coaxing Jesus to jump, saying ‘oh, you’ll be fine. You’re the Son of God.’ And he adds another twist to his approach with this temptation:

Having been bested twice already with quotations from the word of God, Satan tries using the scriptures to suit his own purposes. His quote is accurate, but out of context… the point of Psalm 91:10-12 is about protection in events that befall you, not scenarios of danger that you create yourself to test the theory!

Psalm 91:10–12 ESV

no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

What does Satan hope to achieve here? Get Jesus to do things his own way rather than submitting to the Father’s plan and timing, even to trick Jesus into disobeying the Father. … which would disqualify him as Messiah. - Maybe Satan even hoped to kill him—cut his life short. He’ll jump and… die. - Jesus isn’t falling for it. (pun intended :-))

As before, He responds by quoting a Scripture that contradicts the lie in the temptation:

Deuteronomy 6:16 ESV

“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.

In the original context…

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 4:9–12

Moses referred back to a time when the people wondered whether God was really with them (Ex. 17:7).

Exodus 17:7 ESV

And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

“The Israelites put God to the test when they realized that God’s purposes and leading brought them into adversity, rather than ease and comfort. […] [They] put God to the test because they doubted God’s good will and good purposes for their lives. The Israelites put God to the test by resisting God’s leadership. And they put God to the test by insisting that God perform according to their expectations and demands.” (Deffinbaugh)

By contrast, Jesus knows that what the Father says, he will do. You don’t put him to the test by inventing ways for him to prove the he is who he says he is and does what he says he will do. He is God. God will always be consistent with his character and true to His word.

In verse 13 we learn that Satan departs for the time being, having been defeated by Christ’s obedient submission to the Father’s will. But he isn’t done. His methods are less direct until he shows up again more blatantly in Luke 22, where we see his insidious influence mounting in the days leading up to the cross. Satan never gives up, and even after the resurrection of Jesus, he never will give up until that final day when he is sentenced to everlasting confinement.

Satan’s defeat has been insured, but he is still at large. So we must be alert to his tactics.

Satan’s Tactics

From this sampling of Satan’s temptations of our Lord, we learn some things about our adversary and his methods. - (Bob Deffinbaugh) In the three challenges and solicitations of Satan […], we find [...] avenues by which Satan seeks to make inroads into our lives so as to devastate our spiritual walk with God through Christ. - 2 Cor. 2:11, in the context of a conversation about the importance of forgiving one another…

2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV

so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Another pastor and author has a list of some of the ways we see this in the text here in Luke 4: (Steve Cole)

SATAN HITS AT THE OPPORTUNE MOMENT.

Just as he does with Jesus here, Satan hopes to attack Christ’s church at a point of weakness and take advantage. Even though probably none of us will ever be tempted by Satan directly, and maybe not even by another fallen angel, Satan holds significant sway over world systems and religions. - So we often see the ugly effects of sin from the world and our own flesh at these ‘opportune moments.’

- Have you noticed that if you struggle with being anxious, the current situation is giving you ample opportunity to sin? - Have you noticed that the close quarters at home is requiring lot of patience?

SATAN SUBTLY MIXES TRUTH AND ERROR IN AN ATTEMPT TO DECEIVE.

…making it extra critical that we know God’s truth from the Bible in order to do as Jesus does and contradict temptations lies with truth.

SATAN PROMISES PLEASURE, BUT HE DOESN’T MENTION THE INEVITABLE PAIN.

- Ugh, this is so much the case with sexual sin, for example.

- God’s wisdom, and His word, and especially He himself… is to be much more desired than anything this life has to offer!

SATAN TRIES TO GET US TO MEET LEGITIMATE NEEDS OR GOALS IN ILLEGITIMATE WAYS.

The panic of things shutting down and being told to stay home has created shortages in stores. We really all do need toilet paper and rice (or whatever other staple on your list). The selfishness of hoarding during this time is greatly disappointing, and I pray that Christians are not party to it. I believe God’s people should get what they normally need for a week or two and leave it at that so that others can have what they need.

To Satan’s tactics, and temptations from the world and our own flesh, what then is…

Our Response in Christ

Our survival as saints depends upon our knowing Satan and ourselves, and thereby putting on the “full armor of God” so as to be able to withstand his attacks: Eph 6:10-11

Ephesians 6:10–11 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

On your own, I encourage you to take the time, with this context of resisting temptation in mind, to consider carefully vv. 12-18 as Paul explains, and lists the various pieces of armor.

Here’s the bottom line: “When God is obeyed in compliance to the Spirit, Satan can be resisted. Nonetheless, one should note that the road of resisting temptation is not always the easiest or most obvious road to take; in fact, it often means self-denial.” (Bock, 368)

1. Draw near to God.

Relying on Christ’s strength in submission to the Spirit - In Jn 15 Jesus told his disciples, “abide in me”

John 15:4 ESV

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

- Prayer is literally the means of depending on God (and the evidence of your dependence on God)

2. Know Biblical truth.

- We are constantly being pulled toward self-reliance (dependence on self). - The world insists, “You got this, you can do it.” And our own minds are inclined to deceive us as we determine to buckle up and go after it in our own strength. But that subtle lie couldn’t be more wrong.

- Jesus tells us in the the next verse of the same chapter, John 15, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

The Apostle Paul too had learned that his confidence was not in himself but in Christ (cf. Php 3:4-9). He seems to have continually dealt with some difficulty or temptation that the Lord allowed Satan to plague him with, but this was his response:

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 ESV

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. Take wise steps to avoid temptation.

For those of you who know my Dad, Paul Griffis, you know that he likes to use horses in his counseling as a living metaphor to get people to think deeply about the situations they face in life. One example of this he has is called temptation alley, where he challenges an individual to lead a horse through a straight passage, but with temptations for the horse flanking him on either side—things like apples and grain and treats. Guess what inevitably happens!

4. Get accountability help.

Galatians 6:2 ESV

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Look, I’m not suggesting that you splash it around on everybody. But that you have some trustworthy confidants who not only practice wise discretion but who also admonish you faithfully. In other words, they don’t bash you for being a sinner (bc they know they fight sin too), but they also don’t belittle the seriousness of sinning, but encourage a fervent desire to be holy like our Heavenly Father.

Hebrews 3:13 ESV

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Conclusion: Whose righteousness are you relying on?

There’s ultimately only one way for us to pass the test of righteousness—through faith in Christ’s righteousness and sacrificial death on our behalf, and in his resurrection from the dead and exaltation as Lord of all. There is a grave danger of misplaced confidence — Here’s the thing. You can’t afford to get this wrong! - The Bible tells us that some will say to him at the judgment, “Lord, Lord.” But to those who don’t trust fully in the Father and do his will (which is to believe in Jesus and follow him), Jesus says, “I never knew you. Depart from me.” (cf. Matt. 7:21-23)

My kids trust me implicitly, and their trust is not misplaced. Of course, I am clearly a failure as a father sometimes, but that is not their overall experience with me. They have repeatedly received reassurance of my love and protection, and they have experienced consistency toward that end.

God is perfect and can ALWAYS be trusted. His ways are perfect and his provision is perfect. Our trust is NEVER misplaced in him—obedience to him will ALWAYS be the safest path for our own good and his ultimate glory.

To pass the current test of our faith, we rely wholly on God to be exactly who He says He is.

Our goal during this time of trial (and with all the temptations that we face) is to place our confidence only in Christ to restore us to the Father… And our confidence is in Christ to keep us, and to see us through to the end… whatever end he has planned for us.

PRAY