Resisting Temptation, Jesus Style

 Luke 4:1-15

Satan Tempts Jesus

(Matt. 4:1–11; Mark 1:12, 13)

1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

3 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."

4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"

5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 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. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."

8 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.'"

9 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. 10 For it is written:

He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,'
11 and,
'In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Jesus gave us the example of enduring temptation without sinning when He faced the devil himself in the wilderness.  He went from the high point of His baptism by John in the Jordan River and subsequent descending of God’s Holy Spirit resting on him in the physical form of a dove.  He entered the dry and barren desert and wandered around there as a low point.  This happened was when His human side was run down and vulnerable after fasting for over a month and the adversary vainly attempted to tempt our Lord with three alluring offers which many a man would have seriously considered or even taken him up on for personal gain and power as the fallen sin nature easily gravitates towards.  James tells us (James 1:14-15) that temptations begin with our own sinful desires residing in that nature already and are brought out when we are enticed by the allure of wants that contradict God’s word and will.  Yielding to these desires gives birth to sinful thoughts and actions that lead eventually to death when fully mature.  The divine Christ responded for our example to defend against such temptation stirred up by the adversary (and our own innate sinful desires) by relying on the written word of God as we find in the scriptures to guide as well as defend us.  First the devil attempted to allure Jesus the man with using supernatural ability to turn rocks into food to alleviate his pain of starvation, a type of forerunner to some today who use a prosperity message in place of the true gospel of faith that looks to and trusts God alone for our daily bread.  Our Lord answered divinely and manly by pointing out we live by God’s word alone and not by feeding our desires if they go against that word as quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3.  This passage points out how God’s people were humbled in their own wilderness journey to teach them to rely on Him for their daily bread of manna after first allowing them to feel intense hunger.  This was to teach them to be content and rely on the providence of their Heavenly Father instead of grumbling and complaining (Philippians 2:14, 1 Timothy 6:6).  The second temptation was offering political power and authority over others in exchange for worship of the fallen one in place of the only wise God (1 Timothy 1:17, Jude 1:25) who alone deserves all our worship.  Jesus answered with God’s commandment once more from Deuteronomy 6:13-14 in which we are warned against worship of any substitute god.  The third and final temptation was to misuse God’s word to tempt Him by putting Himself in harm’s way by jumping off a building and expecting God to catch Him and save His life.  There are some even today attempting such foolishness to make God protect them from harmful situations they run into which the Lord had not put into their path to travel.  Misquoting Psalm 91:11-12 to keep Him safe was to tempt God the Father and force Him to act out of the intended context of scripture as it was written.  How easy it is to justify what we want by misapplied scriptures ripped out of context to justify our rationalized but misguided actions!  Jesus provided the answer to such temptation by pointing to the intended meaning of God’s word summed up by, “You shall not tempt the LORD your God.”  This is the overriding lesson for us in any temptation from within or without, from the adversary or out of our own fallen nature.  We are not to tempt God by demanding He dance to our tune and confess our sin of lacking contentment and reliance on Him by faith in every adversity, remembering that God never tempts us but we are led by our own fallen desires into sin.  This then is resisting temptation Jesus style.  Jesus Himself left that arena and went to teach of the kingdom of God as we are commanded and entrusted with the gospel as we also endure temptations.