The Temptation of Jesus

Sermon Introduction:

Last week we read through the genealogy and saw that Adam was considered God’s son. Adam failed in his calling and as such was to inherit death instead of life. Luke wants us to see that Jesus, the son of God, succeeds where Adam failed.

But he also has in his mind another son of God, Israel. Listen to this language in Exodus 4 the Lord said:

Exodus 4:22–23 ESV

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

And that’s exactly what happens. God rescues Israel out of the water, out of the Red Sea, out of the hands of the Egyptians and immediately places them in a wilderness. In the wilderness they are tested. Will they trust in the Lord’s provision? Will they worship and serve God alone? Will they ______? Will they succeed where Adam failed?

The answer would be no. They failed to trust the Lord. Israel failed it’s test in the wilderness. Now fast forward a few thousand years and you have Jesus, “who was supposed to be the son of Joseph”. Jesus who emerges out of the water’s of the Jordan in John’s Baptism, Jesus of whom a voice from heaven says, “this is my beloved Son”, this is Jesus is now thrust into the wilderness....will he succeed where both Adam and Israel had failed?

READ TEXT

Luke 4:1–13 ESV

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 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. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ” 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, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Scripture Introduction:

There is on direction that we could take this sermon. And I think we might be able to make some good and helpful points. And you’d find them practical. That direction would be to look at the temptation of Jesus as a model for how we are to combat the devil and withstand temptation. I think that’d make a fine sermon—but it’s also not Luke’s major point here.

Luke has a very specific aim and it’s connected with what we saw last week. He wants us to see that Jesus is the Son of God…the son of God who does not fail. Jesus the second Adam. Jesus the true Israel. That’s the main point of this passage. As we engage each of these temptations of Jesus we’ll see where he succeeds in the places we fail.

Again notice that Jesus is full of the Spirit and he leads him into the wilderness. And here after he hasn’t eaten anything for forty days the devil shows up to tempt him. Luke wants us to notice that it’s after 40 days and Jesus is hungry. I’d have you note that this is a much different situation than both Adam and Israel. For Adam he is living in paradise. For the Israelites they’ve just crossed the Red Sea and see the mighty hand of God. For Jesus he is at the very length of his humanity…stretched to the max.

And v3 now the devil begins by calling into question Jesus’ identity. “If you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Now this has a background. Numbers 11. The Israelites are in the wilderness they are hungry. And the people complain to God about their lack of food. 11:4, “now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “oh that we had meat to eat!” Even though they were slaves they had food.

“We remember the fish we at in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” Of course they were feeding them in the same way that a farmer will feed his animals to make them ready for the slaughter. And did you catch how they said, “that cost nothing”. Really? You are slaves and they are murdering your babies. Cost nothing? Seriously?

But it does sound like if they wanted food or drink they could have gotten it. So here is the picture that I want to give to you. You’ve got a family that is craving food. Perhaps they are craving some cucumbers and melons. So they cry out, “fill my cup!” They don’t care who fills it. They just care that it’s filled. They don’t care if it comes from the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Medes....The belly has no loyalty. So long as it is satisfied it doesn’t ask questions.

And so this is their mindset into the wilderness. But the Lord has so much more in store for the Israelites than just feeding them. He wants to father them. And because he wants to Father them he gives them manna.

Notice in your Bibles in Exodus 16:4 what the Lord says. “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.”

When you hear the word “test” don’t think of it the way that we think of a test in our day. When a teacher gives a student a test in our day it is so she’ll know how the student is doing. It’s for the teacher’s information. But this is not a test for God’s information. This is a test that will reveal where the Israelites are at. It will be a display of their heart. Do they want to be fathered or do they want to be fed.

And so God sends a bread-like substance that will be on the ground every morning but when the sun grows hot it will melt. And if you try to keep it for more than one day then it’s going to get maggots and start stinking. You only get enough for one day. This means that they’ll have to trust the Lord. Daily.

Have you ever seen that show Hoarders? People have their house filled with tons of junk. And I’ve got to be honest and say I have some hoarding tendencies. Nothing bad, but there are some things that I still have a hard time getting rid of.

It’s that same heart that is showing itself here in Exodus 16. God clearly tells them that if they try to hoard manna they will get a mouth full of worms and stank. But even though they are warned of the worm and stank deal, there are some people that try to keep the manna for tomorrow…because, hey can I really be sure that it will be there in the morning? And so some of them kept some manna around just in case.

You see the reason why God does this is because He wants the Israelites to know that He is a daily God. “His mercies are new every morning”. He also wants them to know that their relationship of faith and trust is also a daily necessity. Our God is an everyday God.

But Israel doesn’t want to be fathered. Israel just wants to be fed. And that’s really the question for Jesus here. Will he go outside the natural order to meet his needs? Will he momentarily suspend living life as a real human?

Now keep in mind for him to do this would be for him to engage in the exact same action of the rabble in Numbers 11. “I am hungry. I need food. I don’t care how I get it.”

But Jesus responds differently. He DOES care how He gets it. The only thing that will satisfy is that which comes from the Father’s hand. Yes, he could change a stone into bread and meet his needs. But he’s going to rely on the Father to meet his needs. He’d rather be Fathered than fed. “Man shall not live by bread alone”. He quotes Dt. 8.

Deuteronomy 8:2–3 ESV

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

That was the lesson of the wilderness—dependence on the Lord. That’s what

Now it’s fitting for us to ask this question of our own hearts as well. So long as you are fed, do you really care whether or not you are fathered? Friends, crying out “Fill my cup” is much different than crying out “Fill my cup, Lord”. One is just crying out for a filled cup and you’ll take it from anybody’s hand. The other one is saying—I want the Lord to be my portion. Yes, I want a filled cup. But I won’t take it unless it comes from the hand of the Lord.

If we’re honest we are in the line of Adam and Israel here. Maybe not always since we’ve been redeemed. But at our core we’d rather be fed than fathered. This is why it’s such good news that Jesus accomplished this in our place.

Now the second temptation…verse 5. And what’s interesting is that Luke and Matthew have different orders here. I think that’s because Luke is wanting to end at the temple.

The second temptation the devil takes him up and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and says, “it’s all yours. I’ll give you the kingdom…only worship me.”

Now let’s think about what is going on here. This isn’t only a question of allegiance. It’s also a question of HOW the kingdom is to come about. Jesus as the Messiah, the son of God, is called to have authority over the nations. Just read Psalm 2.

Psalm 2:7–9 ESV

I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

And the son is to be glorified. So what Satan is offering here....and never mind that he is only telling a half truth, he’s offering promises he can’t keep…but nevermind that....what he’s offering here is for Jesus to fulfill his calling without suffering. He’s giving him the END that he’s supposed—glory, authority. BUT He’s giving it to Him by the wrong means.

I love how Russell Moore teases this out. He notes that:

What was at stake in the third temptation was the gospel. Think about the implications of this offer. If Jesus had accepted it, Satan would have surrendered his reign of terror. Jesus could have directed the kingdoms of the world however he wanted. No more babies would be miscarried. No more women would die in childbirth. Ended immediately would be all human slavery, all genocide, all disease, all poverty, all torture, and all ecological catastrophes. The rows and rows of crosses across the highway of the Roman Empire would suddenly be gone. There would never be a Nero or a Napoleon or a Hitler or a Stalin, or at least you would never hear the infamy of those names. There would be no world of divorce courts and abortion clinics and electric chairs and pornographic images. Whatever is troubling you right now would be gone, centuries before you were ever conceived. This sounds like paradise.

Well then why didn’t he take the offer? If Jesus came to be a king, if he came to be glorified, if he came to rescue....then why not take this offer. He would have had it all at his disposal without suffering?

He didn’t take the offer because he didn’t just come to be a king. He came to be the king whom the Father sets upon the throne. It’s not just to rule…it’s to rule as an image bearer of God.

This is the same thing that tripped up Adam. And it’s the same thing that tripped up Israel. You can see this with Israel so often in the time of the kings. God wants us to have this land....God wants us to have rest, rule, and relationship. This partnership with Egypt seems like a good strategy. This alliance with Assyria will help us. And God will support this. Because he wants us to thrive, he delights to give us a kingdom.

But there’s just a little twist there. It’s not A kingdom. It’s THE Kingdom. It’s God’s kingdom. That is what he delights to give. This is what He is about. And so Jesus in responding to this temptation goes back to the very basic…the very bedrock of the faith of the OT. “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

The path of God is marked with suffering but it ends in glory. There are other paths of ease and they might appear to end in glory. But we don’t take these. We don’t labor for our comfort. We don’t build our own little kingdoms and seek God’s stamp of approval. We worship and serve Him…we follow Him…even if it’s marked with suffering.

This moves us now to the third temptation of Jesus. Is this something only happening in Jesus’ mind or does he literally take him to the pinnacle of the temple? I’m inclined to believe he takes him to the pinnacle of the temple because of the nature of this temptation.

What’s going on here. “If you are the son of God...” That comes back again. If you are who you say you are…here is how to find out. Here is how to make it certain for you and for everybody else. Throw yourself down from here.

Because listen to this…oh, this is some good stuff Jesus, listen to this. God is bound to you. Psalm 91, Jesus. Let’s go there. He will command his angels…they won’t let you strike your foot against a stone.” He’s bound to rescue you…he cannot let his blessed Messiah die like this.

And can you think of the scene this will make? Everybody who sees this miraculous thing will know that you are the son of God. And you’ll know that you are the son of God. How easy is that? You don’t have to grapple with the difficulties and the complexities of faith. Eat of this fruit…I mean jump from this temple…and you’ll know…you’ll see. No question.

I think Piper explains the relevance for this quite well:

Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Christ in Combat: Defense by the Spirit

These temptations are amazingly relevant for American Christianity. Satan skips over adultery, fornication, stealing, lying, murder—those temptations are too obvious. Those are the games that sub-devils play with weak saints. Jesus is no fall guy. When Satan means business with a strong saint, he sticks with religion and he makes the Bible his textbook. See if this doesn’t sound contemporary. “If you are a child of God, why are you living like a pauper? If you are a child of the king, why don’t you live like a prince? The children of the king don’t eat casseroles, they eat steak. The children of the king don’t drive second-hand clunkers, they drive new cars. The children of the king don’t shop at Rag Stock, they shop on the Mall. The children of the king don’t throw their lives away in Liberia or Cameroon or Ecuador or Japan, living on a shoestring, building no reserves. If you are a child of the king, claim your blessings. God has promised to send his angels to make you healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. Throw yourself into these blessings. The best testimony you can be to your status as an heir of God is to be wealthy and have the best of everything.”

The thing that Satan is attempting to keep Jesus from is suffering. He’s attempting in every single one of these to get Jesus to try to fulfill his role as the son of God through something other than the Cross. Will he grasp the kingdom with His own hands? Will the end justify the means?

There is more here that I’m wanting to study. Do you know what Satan quotes to Jesus? Psalm 91. And do you know what Psalm 91 is? It was part of the exorcistic liturgy for the Jewish people. That’s a nerdy way of saying that when a Jewish person was wrestling—feeling oppressed---battling the demonic…they’d quote Psalm 91. This means that Satan has heard this text numerous times. And now he’s trying to use it against Jesus.

That’s rich. And there is a ton there that I haven’t yet explored. But I believe one thing that is happening is that ultimately those prayers were not able to be effective. Why? Because the strong man—Satan—couldn’t be tied up without the suffering Servant. He held power so long as sin held sway.

The one thing that Satan couldn’t bear was a suffering Servant. One who was fully obedient to the Father. Even to the point of death…even death on a cross. Because what that death will do is strip him of all his power.

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

We’re going to see the devil reappear to tempt Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane. And it’s going to match these temptations here. Luke, in chapter 22, will have Jesus in agony sweating drops of blood. The gospel of Mark will record Jesus praying three times that this cup…the cup of God’s wrath, this cup of suffering…that this will pass from him.

It is here that he will experience our grief. It is here that he will experience stronger temptation than any of us, so that it is fitting to say that He was tempted in every way. And it is the view into the cup that causes Christ to pray, “if it is possible take this cup from me.” Can you hear Jesus’ prayer? Papa, you can do anything. Can you take this cup from me? Is it possible that we can redeem sinners and yet me not suffer estrangement from you? Is it possible to redeem them in any way other than me being the sin-bearer?

He appeals. Silence. He appeals a second time. Silence. He appeals a third time. Silence. Why silence? But there is no other way.

Now certainly, it would have been possible for God to have not poured out the cup of His wrath on Jesus. He would not have contradicted his nature had he chosen not to send his Son and left sinners to their just reward. But because God had purposed before the foundation of the world to save sinners, this then was not possible. As John Stott has said, “God’s purpose of love was to save sinners, and to save them righteously; but this would be impossible without the sin-bearing death of the Savior.”

There was a path to ruling, there was a path to a type of glory. Satan had already laid those out for Jesus. But there was NO path where he could rescue you and I without suffering in our place.

This is why I said at the beginning that even though you can maybe get a few helps on how to face temptation yourself ultimately what this text is about is that Jesus…and Jesus alone has withstood temptation and had conquered in our place.

He stood up where Adam failed. He stood up where Israel failed. He stood up where you and I have failed. And he’s conquered in our place. His record can become our record.

Do you want a tip for enduring temptation? It’s found in this. In being in union with Christ first and foremost…and having his record as yours…then you can do battle knowing that the enemy is a defeated enemy. Knowing that in Christ you already have victory!

We sang a few songs about the faithfulness of God to us this morning. And that hits me anew as I think about these temptations. Cause I’m in that. You are in that.

Turn this bread into stone. Let me give you the kingdom, Jesus. It won’t require suffering. Jump off the temple. You’ll be able to rule and reign and have glory. But what about Mike. What about ____?

You can give them all kinds of stuff. You can make their life happy. Healthy, wealthy, wise. But what about their relationship with the Father? What about their freedom from guilt? What about their joy? What about their peace? What about their rescue?

Now ultimately what has Jesus anchored is His love for the father and for the glory of God. But that’s also tied to His rescue of us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”…His love for the Father leads to His love and faithfulness for us.

I won’t take the deal Satan. Because I couldn’t glorify the Father and if I’m not faithful to the Father then I cannot rescue them. I’m going to stay faithful to them. I’m not going to sell them out. I’m not going to choose the path of least resistance. I’ll take the Father’s path…the hard path…the narrow path…the one that will lead me to death. And I’ll do it for them.

Great is your faithfulness, O God.