Luke 4:1-13 - The Temptation of Jesus

Introduction

When we think of temptation, so what may come to mind first off is the story of Adam and Eve

- And what happened with them in the garden of eden?

We know they were tempted, not by a demon but the devil himself, appeared

And so Adam and Eve fell into the Devil’s snares, and gave into temptation and brought sin upon mankind

This morning so for us Christians their is one thing very obvious in this life on earth; the devil and his demons (and our flesh) love to tempt us to sin and disobey God.

And lets be real, it if often feels deeply defeating when we do fall or give into temptation.

Even as I say that a specific instance might Come in to your mind…

James 1:15 “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

Temptation leads to sin and sin brings forth death, and the devil is out to steal, kill and destroy

Like this week Gracie and I had found out from Ezra that satan is telling to disobey God

But this temptation for the life of a Christian is not something we are alone in though

Or something we’ve been left to on our own strength and will power.

No.

1 Peter 5:9 “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” (Suffering could mean in this since strong temptations they too are facing…)

But it goes even further than just the brotherhood of the faith, but it comes down to who are faith and trust is in.

This morning let us draw our eyes to the Word of God, to read of the recently baptized, and commissioned Jesus who was led by the Spirit to the wilderness to be temped by the devil.

Please Stand

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.

Pray

Luke 4:1-2 “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.”

Jesus just being baptized so we see He was “full of the Holy Spirit”

“full” meaning completely full of the…

“Holy Spirit” - that special authority which rested upon and empowered the Lord Jesus after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him at baptism

And so Jesus…

“…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.”

So right after his baptism comes temptation for Jesus; So it is safe to say the battle is on!

And the trial/battle would go on for 40 days in the wilderness.

Trial - just being in the wilderness with nothing, to eat (how difficult this must of been)

And the trial turning into the battle on the 40th day In the wilderness for Jesus.

We know Jesus was hungry as it had been 40 days since he ate anything , so it goes to say his body was fairly week but He never batted an eye To the battle ahead.

And so the devil knew this and; after the forty days the Devil was waiting to tempt Jesus To death.

This point I am about to make is not the point of the sermon; but it is wise to be said:

As soon as Jesus calls us to follow Him with our life; there is one right behind us, the devil

For me in my apartment in College station before I got to the Baptistry in Forest Grove Texas; so the battle was on!

See the devil is crafty, as he knew Adam and Eve’s weaknesses; so the enemy knows ours as well and he’s good at dealing us the worst hand in our weakest moments in our flesh.

You will not outsmart Him; you are not more crafty than him, that is why from this text we will see whom we are to turn too.

Luke 4:3 “The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.””

The devil and Jesus are now talking to one another, and the devil says…

“if you are the Son of God…”

The devil wanting Jesus to prove to Him that He is the Son of God

But Jesus has nothing to prove to anyone; let it be said

And what does the devil want Him to do?

“…command this stone to become bread…”

So the devil is commanding Jesus to do this miracle to prove Himself as the Son of God

Just the language here from the devil; that he is using is out of line!

But why would the devil want Jesus to do this thing? This miracle?

Because the devil knows He is hungry; and has not eaten in forty days and He feels He can trick Jesus into providing for Himself and Him not relying on His Father to provide.

Becuase lets be real, did Jesus have the whole ability to make stones into bread so he could feast? Yes; but he didn’t!

Even though He could He didn’t

And if did turn the stone into bread even more so it would mean Jesus the Son of God would be obeying the will of the devil to provide for Himself and not relying on His Father’s will and providence for His life.

And so Jesus “answers him back…”

Luke 4:4 “And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ””

Or as Matthew says it “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

R.C. Sproul “though bread would taste good, I live not only by bread but by every word that comes from the mouth of My Father, so I won’t turn those stones to bread to satisfy My physical hunger.”

My Father in heaven did not say that; so I’m not going to believe this as Truth; and I know who you are!

And while the Son of God was hungry physically in the wildernss; let it be said the source of all truth and knowledge, Christ our Lord has remained full and without any need of even a drink of water; or a bite of food To be full in a sense of Him being all things!

And we as Christ followers; from Christ’s answer back to the devil, so it should make us aware, that this life we do not only eat and need physical food.

But as Christains we now filled with The Holy Spirit, have to be in God’s Word for our daily bread.

Matt 6:9-13 “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Ask yourself this morning, how is your time in God’s Word going?

Are you starving right now? Or are you already full before coming to Church because you greeted the dawn with mediation and prayer in the Word of God.

And as we continue to read so we see the devil is not done tempting Jesus our King.

Luke 4:5-6 “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.”

Luke 4:7 “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.””

So we see the devil is not done tempting Jesus, (and when is he ever really resting?)

And now he is tempting Jesus with what? “All the Kingdoms of the world.”

And we see the devil talked up these and “showed” Jesus these kingdoms and made them sound so much better than the heavenly kingdom Jesus knows of.

The devil mentioning he would “give all this authority and their glory…”

“IF you, (Jesus) then will worship me, it will all be yours”

Well what does the devil have to give that hasn’t first been given to Him or granted to Him by God the Father? Nothing!

But notice the words of Luke 4:6 Satan is not the ultimate authority in the world because in Luke 4:6 he admits this “to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been what? “Delivered to me”, by whom God! In His sovereignty, God considered it wise, as a part of his curse on the world after the fall of Adam and Eve to give the devil a huge power in this world.” Desiring God.

So the devil is temping Jesus to long for the tiniest kingdoms and authority; when Jesus knows whats up!

See if Jesus did ever worship and fall before the devil, he would of been found worshiping someone other than His Father which would be sinful (idolatry) - “though shall have no other god’s before me.”

But He did not bow, He did not let what He saw in the kingdoms and all their glory sawy Him form His Father’s Word.

Luke 4:8 “And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ””

Jesus directly answers and brings clarity to the devil that “he shall worship the Lord God and only Him shall you serve”

So who does the devil Worship? - The Lord God

And who does the devil serve? - The Lord God

From those two questions and seeing their answers; and What we are learning is Jesus is reminding the devil of his place! (Maybe thats what we need to do this morning as well)

So if anything can we start to see the devil; is not succeeding against Jesus in his schemes and temptations such as he did with Adam and Eve? Such as he does with us daily?

he is miserably failing at tempting Jesus!

See the devil is not in control; even though he is giving Jesus the appearance and facade that he thinks he is:

And the devil wants to be worshiped

See this is why he fell from heaven Luke 10:17-18 “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Their was a reason the devil fell form heaven, he wanted to be worshiped.

And now we read the devil was wanting to tempt Jesus in one more way….

Luke 4:9-11 “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.’ ””

So the devil takes Jesus to the pinnicale of the temple

400 cubits (600ft) up from the foundation of the temple with the valley of Kidron below

The devil wanting Jesus to really prove He is the Son of God but this time how ?

“IF…you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here (the pinnacle of the temple)

“Down” - Downwards, lower or under

The momentary picture would be IF Jesus did fall down into the valley of kidron; then the devil would be standing over him 600 ft above (not a picture God had in store)

And notice how crafty the devil is this time; he thinks he can use God’s Word against Jesus His Son.

The devil says…

“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 food against a stone.”

The devil is not lying; in a portion of what He is saying… as we know from Psalm 91:12 he is indeed referencing Scripture.

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

See here in this moment; the devil brings out a big power play; (or so he thinks he has, against Jesus)

He tries to use the Word of God against Jesus His Son (But Jesus who is the Word can not be found with error)

From this verse we can see the devil knows the Word of God Church; it’s what has bound Him from doing what He wants on His own will.

He knows his position and it is to be said “may we know the Word of God better than the devil at the end of our days”

See this time in this temptation, the devil is trying to get Jesus to jump from the temple; in a sense commit suicide, to take His own life only because the Father will raise Him up if He did.

But this was not the time where Jesus would die for the sins of man; OH but there will be a ressurection to follow you can guarantee that And the devil wont see it coming!

How deceptive the devil can be; and how he loves to twist God’s Word’s for his purposes and glory.

Hints why I have a deeply righteous anger for the prosperity gospel and false teachers who are after this mission for the gospel for there gain and their glory

But now we read of Jesus putting to silence the devil with his bold response…

Luke 4:12-13 “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.”

Ultiamlty Jesus makes it very clear; the devil needs to stop testing God!

But he says “not it is written this time; but now “it is said…”

And what happened after Jesus answered Him about killing himself?

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

As this says “every temptation.”

Let it be said their are many ways we can be tempted (and to the limit of temptation which Jesus faced in the wilderness so we know it was at least 3 major ones; that were recorded for us to know about.

But what we also know from the Bible is this

Heb 4:14-16 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Points:

From verse 1 Jesus was filled with what? “The Holy Spirit”

What marks and makes a Christian is that they have been born again by grace, through faith and been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Let this be clear; you can not, nor will not face temption and see VICOTRY on your own.

God was making something clear to us; why was Jesus given the Holy Spirit then sent into the wilderness?

He was showing us that with the tempations from the devil and his enemies; so we can not stand without the power of the Holy Spirit!

How will the enemy tempt us as He did Jesus?

He will tempt us to go against our Heavenly Father’s will!

For Jesus even though He had all the capability to make bread out of stones he didn’t; we can learn something from Jesus in this (the wilderness while it was not ideal and quite painful and trying; so God the Father had a purpose for God the Son to be there)

Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!”

We are to want to be about our Father’s will; for when we decide to do our own thing against His Word He will soon correct his children who have wondered Form His Will.

So why did I ask how is your time in God’s Word? Becuase it’s the only thing that reveals God’s revealed will to us

Rom 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

He will tempt us with what sounds promising and good; such as he did with Jesus with the kingdoms of the world and all their glory!

One specific way when spekaing of the devil taking Jesus up to see (with His eyes)

So what comes to mind for me is sexual immoral images; such things a pornography which is running rampant in our world (the enemy wants to promise you it has so much to offer you in the moment, but after it’s authority and glory fall short and leave us crippled in addiction)

If the face and moment of temptation the devil is going to make it look like his ways and his promises are fulfilling.

But it’s all a lie!

Be on guard with what your eyes do see as Christains; and don’t let their charm trance you into it’s trap.

Another one I want to speak to make people aware is this show called little demon. (On fox, Hulu and Disney +)

He will tempt us to take our own lives!

The enemy has come to “steal, kill and destroy.”

See referring to Adam and Even in the garden and how they fell into temptation and brought about sin in all of us.

So we can see from this text Jesus did Not ever Fall trap and victim To any of the devils temptations He threw at Him.

And so while temptation and falling into it over and over again is deeply exhausting and defeating

So what is the truth we need This morning?

Jesus has defeated the power of the devil, Hell, sin and Temptation Forever and once and for all!

How did Jesus do this?

By obeying His Father’s will - Not Turing stones into bread

Sacrificing all worldly pleasures - Not caving to the cravings this world has to offer

And He not giving his life for nothing; on a Temple Mount; but for His children on wooden cross where He said it is finished taking on all guilt, shame and sin and taking on our moments where we fall into temptation.

Jesus has the Victory & He lives in us!

“He fulfilled everything, defeated the devil so that the temptation and (outcome of the temptation) is not death for the ChristIan, but a light momentary affliction and trial we pass on through in this world, but the foundational thought and truth is this...

If Jesus has defeated sin then that means He has also won the victory for every Christian in every temptation they will ever face, though we are not going to flee every temptation; so Jesus has won the victory on our behalf.

Let it be heard loud and clear!

1 Cor 15:55 ““O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?””

If you are a child of God, then you wouldn’t ___________; but because I am a Child of God and the Son of God defeated you Satan you have no more power over me, your temptations, death; and the penalty of my sin are no longer something you have against me because Jesus WON THE VICTORY!