TEMPTED LIKE WE ARE

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 13, 2019 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: November 13, 2019 from Luke 4:1-13

Theme: Our Savior underwent temptation in the same ways that we are tempted.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

In Luke 3:23, the Gospel writer Luke told us, “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age …” And we expected that then we would go on to read of the stories of our Lord’s ministry. But instead, what we read was the genealogy of our Lord (Luke 3:24-38). That genealogy, as we saw, was important in establishing the true identity of our Savior to us. And now—after the genealogy—we might expect that we would now begin to read of our Lord’s actual teaching and preaching and miracle-working and atoning ministry in this world.

But before giving us the details of His ministry, there is still something more than the Holy Spirit wanted to establish to us about our Lord. It’s then that we read of our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness. Luke 4:1-13 tells us;

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, 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 shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’
and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time (Luke 4:1-13).

Why is this story important for us to know—even before we read of our Lord’s ministry? One reason is practical. It’s because our Lord has set an example for us of how to handle temptation. He Himself shows us by going through temptations Himself. But we cannot endure temptation and conquer it in our own power. So, there is an even greater reason for why this story is given to us—one that has to do with the sufficiency of His ministry for us as our compassionate High Priest. It’s because of what it says in Hebrews 2:17-18;

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18);

and also because of what it says in Hebrews 4:14-16;

Seeing then that 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 cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Our Savior has fully stepped into our troubles and trials—and even our temptations—with us; and experienced them for us. There is no temptation that we can undergo that our Lord does not fully understand—or is unable to bear up under with us—or has not already gained the victory for us if we will follow close to Him!

* * * * * * * * * *

There are great lessons for us to learn from our Lord’s experience. Note first …

1. THE TIMING OF THE TEMPTATIONS (vv. 1-2a).

Luke began by telling us, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil” (Luke 4:1-2a). Do you notice the word “then” that we find at the beginning? And do you see that this was after He returned “from the Jordan”? The event that just preceded this one was the baptism of our Lord in the Jordan River—when the Holy Spirit visibly came upon Him, and the voice of the heavenly Father was heard as it declared Him to be His beloved Son in whom He was well-pleased.

You might have thought that after such a remarkable, spiritually-outstanding event, \our Lord would from then on be free of all temptations—and that there would never be such a thing as difficult times of testing again. But not so. In fact, in Mark’s Gospel, we’re told that the time of testing and temptation came “immediately” after His baptism (Mark 1:12). We should never think that an exalted spiritual experience on earth could ever render us free from all temptations; because our Lord’s experience at the baptism didn’t result in Him being free from all temptation. Note also that this time of testing was not something that happened to our Lord apart from the Father’s will. The Holy Spirit—who had just descended upon Him at the baptism—had then filled Him and led Him into the time of temptation in the wilderness. And note further still that it wasn’t just that our Lord went out to a time of solitude in the wilderness for forty days—and then afterward was tempted. No! He was tempted by the devil throughout that forty-day period! We’re only told of just three experiences of temptation in this passage, but there must have been many that we’re not told about. When we consider also that this was occurring in the wilderness—a place of hardship and danger that the people of Israel always did their best to avoid; and that He spent this time in solitude—we can appreciate what a dreadful time this must have been.

There is significance in the fact that this was a forty-day period. There are lots of events in the Bible that are set are set apart for us by the number 40. There were forty days and nights of rain in the days of Noah. Moses was forty days and forty nights on the mountain when he received God’s law. The people of Israel wandered forty years in the wilderness before coming to the Promised Land. In the Bible, the number 40 often represents an important transition from one place of life to another for God’s people—an experience after which things are dramatically different. Our Lord was tested for forty days in the wilderness; and as a result, He became forever identified with us in our trials and temptations. He can forever sympathize with us as our High Priest because He was tested like us.

And then, note the lessons to be learned from …

2. THE NATURE OF THE TEMPTATIONS (vv. 2b-12).

The Bible teaches us that there are basically three areas in which the devil will seek to tempt us. As it says in 1 John 2:15-17;

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).

The enemy of our souls seeks to attack us on those three fronts: “the lust of the flesh” (our physical and sensual cravings), “the lust of the eyes” (our desire for the possession of material things), and “the pride of life” (the desire to be ‘greater’ in this world that God has called us to be). It was in these three same fronts that the serpent tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. He tempted her to disbelieve God’s word and to question His motives for her; and so, she looked upon the fruit that God had forbidden to her and “saw that the tree was good for food [the lust of the flesh], that it was pleasant to the eyes [the lust of the eyes], and a tree desirable to make one wise [the pride of life] (Genesis 3:6). If we examine the ways that we are tempted by the devil, we will find that each temptation falls into one of these three fronts of attack.

And it was on each of these three fronts that our Lord was tempted. He not only showed us that He Himself felt temptation in these areas; but also showed us how to resist the attacks of the enemy. Always, it is by complete trust in God’s word in dependency upon His power!

First, consider how our Lord was tempted with the lust of the flesh. We’re told in verse 2, “And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” For forty days, our Lord fasted in the wilderness and tasted no food. He did this as an act of devotion to the Father—no doubt being led by the Holy Spirit to do so. It’s understandable that He would be hungry; and it’s then—at that time of physical vulnerability—that the devil made his strike. “And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread” (v. 3). (The devil said, “if”; but of course he knew that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.)

What was this a temptation to do? It seems that it was a temptation to use the power and authority the Father had given to Him as His Son in a way that the Father had not commanded—and to perform a personal miracle to satisfy His hunger and to respond to the devil’s challenge. Did our Lord have the ability to do this? Yes; but He would not do so because He would not step outside of the will of His Father. And so, the Lord Jesus answered the devil’s temptation with a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3; “But Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’” (v. 4). (Note that in some ancient manuscripts of Luke’s Gospel, the words “but by every word of God” do not appear. But they do appear in the story as it is told to us in Matthew 4:4.)

So; our Lord gained victory over ‘the lust of the flesh’. And how? He did so by quoting God’s word back to the devil; and by remembering that we are commanded to live by obedience to God’s word rather than by the dictates of our fleshly appetites. We are not to be led by our feelings and sensual desires. Instead, we are to walk in obedience to God and in conformity to His word.

Second, consider how our Lord was tempted with the lust of the eyes. We’re told that—even while the Holy Spirit was with Him, our Lord was taken along by the devil. “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time” (v. 5). We can only understand this as a spiritual ‘vision’ of things. But it must have been a vision of true kingdoms. And just imagine what it must have been like to see—in just a moment’s time—all the spender and glory and majesty and wealth of all the greatest kingdoms of the world. What could compare with that experience? And after many long days in the wilderness; what a temptation it might have been to lay one’s hands on all of that luxury and power! “And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish” (v. 7). The devil was probably telling a portion of the truth here; because the Lord Jesus Himself had referred to him three times in the Gospel of John as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Perhaps he really could have made good on what he was saying (although as a liar and a deceiver). After all, this would not have been a real temptation to our Lord if it had not been a real possibility to have received all these kingdoms. And then came the most outrageous demand the devil could make: “Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours” (v. 7). Imagine! A mere creature daring to suggest that the Creator bow down and worship him!

And yet, in our Lords’ humanity, what a temptation this would be! How easy it would have been to do! Our Lord is destined to rule over this world as King of kings and Lord of lords; and here, all could be made His without Him ever having to suffer the cross. But no! We’re told that, once again—going back to Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20—our Lord quoted the word of God back to the devil. “And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’” (v. 8). (Again, the words “Get behind Me, Satan” do not appear in some of the ancient manuscripts of Luke’s Gospel; but they do appear in Matthew 4:10.)

So; our Lord gained victory over the temptation of ‘the lust of the eyes’. And how? He did it by quoting God’s word back at the devil; and by remembering who God’s word tells us that we were made to worship and serve only Him. All the glories of a new heaven and a new earth will one day be ours—but only by obedience to our heavenly Father.

And third, consider how our Lord was tempted by the pride of life. How exactly the devil did this is not told do us; but we’re told, “Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple …” (v. 9). This was an actual high point of the temple that was a dizzying height to look down from. Perhaps from that place, our Lord could see the crowds of Jewish people below. Once he placed our Lord there, then Satan offered the temptation; “and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone”’” (vv. 10-11). And look who’s quoting the Bible now! The devil is quoting from Psalm 91:11-12; and is setting the challenge to the Lord that if He jumped, the Father would send His angels to carry Him down; and everyone would see it all and be dazzled; and would glorify Him and worship Him. It would be dramatic and instant fame and glory.

And what a temptation this might have been! The Lord Jesus could have people worship Him as God’s Son without ever having to go to the cross. But again, the Lord said no. “And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘It has been said, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”’” (v. 12). Jesus answered the devil’s quote of Scripture by quoting more Scripture—this time from Deuteronomy 6:16. The devil quoted the truth—but he didn’t quote the whole truth. He didn’t compare Scripture with Scripture. Our Lord responded by stating the whole truth of Scripture—with no part missing.

So; our Lord gained victory over the ‘pride of life’. And now? It was by quoting God’s word back to the devil—bringing the whole truth into focus—and resisting the temptation to take a quick route to honor before men that would involved dishonor to His heavenly Father. He refused to put His Father’s promise to a self-serving test.

Now; finally notice …

3. THE VICTORY OVER THE TEMPTATIONS (v. 13).

The Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Our Lord did so; and the devil left—but only for a while. There’s an ominous tone to the words of verse 13; “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.” The next time, it seems, was when Peter sought to dissuade Him from the cross. Even then, Jesus said, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).

We should learn from this that we live in this world in the midst of a dangerous and sly enemy. We may be given victory over one temptation; but another is not far behind. We must keep on our guard until the day we are in the Lord’s presence—just as He also had to do. But let’s never get our eyes off Him. From all that we learn in this passage, we can clearly see that our Savior knows what it is like to be tempted by the devil. He felt the tests and trials of temptation—just as we do. And He has shown us, by His own example, how to resist the devil through turning to God’s word.

And let’s always remember that it is by His victory that we ourselves are made victorious. We must never try to resist apart from Him. Victory is ours by staying close to—and keeping dependent upon—Him who was victorious for us!

EA