Luke 4:1-13

Discussion Questions

1. Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. When journeying through a wilderness season, are we aware that God has placed us there purposefully? Are we trusting him to walk alongside and lead us through? Along the way, are we resting knowing that Jesus can fully sympathize with our struggles?
2. Are we looking to God alone as the source of our sustenance, significance and security, or are we settling for self-serving substitutes? What does our time in the wilderness disclose about the disposition of our hearts?
3. Temptation is often aimed at our weakest areas of vulnerability. How do we navigate through the struggle? What tools has God given us to help us fight, escape and ultimately overcome temptation?

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. We have extra copies. If you didn’t bring one with you, and you’d like one to follow along in the text, raise your hand up real high. This is a good day to follow along in the text. Somebody will drop one by your aisle if you need one. Just, again, raise your hand up real, real high. Got somebody coming up the middle as well in the back. I love it when we come to a passage like the one we’re going to study today. And up on the screen, you got the QR code. If you would like to grab the notes and quotes for the sermon in advance, you’re welcome to do that. You can see our passage is going to be Luke 4:1-13. Again, very practical passage, rich in Christological material.

We learned a lot about Jesus here, but also I think quite helpful to us in a very, very practical way talking about temptation in general as we look at the temptation of Christ. But temptation, I think if I were to ask you to raise your hands, how many of you know you were tempted in some way last week? Most of you would probably raise your hand. I don’t know. How many of you would say, “Yes, I was tempted this morning as I was kind of…” How about on the way to church? How about right now sitting right here? There are all kinds of little thoughts that might cross your mind about either a prayer or a song or a sermon or the person that’s sitting three rows up in front of you – in their hair, how it’s a little askew, or somebody’s voice and you thought to yourself, “Oh my goodness, really? That’s just…”

You’re making a joyful noise, but it’s not a skillful one. Here we are in Nashville, and we have all of these temptations. They abound everywhere. I don’t know about you, but it happens to me, and I’m grateful for a passage like this. It just turns the light on for us, and helps us to see some of what’s going on. I want to also thank our folk online who join us each and every week. Last week, we heard from, and I’m going to probably not pronounce these names of these cities and countries very well, but Agartala, Tripura, India, from Lagos Nigeria, from Imphal, Manipur, India, from Greensboro, North Carolina. We also have some folks from Silang, Cavite in the Philippines. So, so grateful for those folks being with us.

Before I read the text, let me offer up a prayer for illumination if you’ll join me in prayer: Heavenly Father, Your word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. Show us where we’re standing now and show us the way that You would have us go. You are God. We humble ourselves before You. Jesus, in You are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Open our eyes so that we may see the wisdom from Your Word. Holy Spirit, open our ears that we may receive instruction from You. Give us grace that we may hear and understand, and that in understanding, we may believe and receive. Then give us courage to obey and to walk in Your ways to the glory and honor of Your name. Amen and amen.

So, after identifying with sinners in His baptism as we studied last week, Pastor Matt led us through that from Luke, Chapter 3. Today, Jesus is going to go even further, and He’s going to show us how He identifies with sinners in their struggles with temptation. This is recorded in the three synoptic gospels which are Matthew, Mark and Luke. They record all three of them, the temptation of Christ. I think Matthew gives it 11 verses. Mark is a little shorter, maybe just two verses. Here in Luke, we’re going to get 13 verses on the subject of the temptation of Christ, and they all three say this right on the heels immediately.

Mark uses the word “immediately” 40 times, and he puts one of them right in there, right after the baptism where God the Father says, “This is My beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased.” Right after that happens, that wonderful, blessed event, Mark tells us “immediately” Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, and this is what we’re going to read about today. So, let me read Luke 4:1-13. You follow along in your Bible. We’re going to do some reading together. By the way, I’m going to put some things up on the screen today, and you’re going to be engaged and involved in this study today. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness.”

So, He is being led by the Holy Spirit. He didn’t get lost. The Holy Spirit took Him into the wilderness. Mark uses a stronger word, says that the Holy Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. This was important. This was something Jesus must do, and the entire Trinity was in on this together. This was important. Well, for 40 days, while tempted by the devil, Jesus ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, the doctor, Luke, tells us He became hungry. After 40 days of not eating, if you were talking about me, it would say, “And he became dead.” I’m not the guy you want to be around when I miss just one meal.

I don’t know how many of you are people that fast regularly. That’s all I could say. I mean, I’ve known one person in my life. My dear father-in-law worked as chief of staff at an organization. It’s now called CRU. Used to be called Campus Crusade for Christ. He worked directly for Dr. Bill Bright for a number of years as his chief of staff. Dr. Bright actually fasted for 40 days. I was like, “Whoa, man, that’s just awesome.” You read about people doing these kinds of things, and you maybe even meet one or two along the way. Now, maybe you’re here today, and you’ve done that. Again, I salute you. That’s a wonderful thing. Jesus didn’t just go on a diet for 40 days.

He was led by the Spirit to go out into the wilderness, which isn’t a place of abundance. There, he’s going to be tempted by the devil, and he’s hungry. Dr. Luke would know what happens to the human body after 40 days. You can presume that He drank water. You can also presume that He ate nothing for those 40 days. The devil comes along, verse three, and says to Him, “If…” It’s “EI” in the Greek. It could be translated “since.” Some of your English translations may say that. It’s “I” in the Greek. So, either way though, I think it means the same thing.

“If you are the son of God, or since you are the Son of God,” in other words calling the statement God the Father had made, calling that into question, right? “Tell this stone to become bread.” In other words, prove You are the Son of God, the one who created everything out of nothing. Jesus who was present according to John, Chapter one, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” at the creation event. The Holy Spirit was there as well. We’re told in the Book of Genesis, so the Trinity all present at the creation event. Jesus, I can easily say this with great confidence.

On that day in the wilderness after 40 days of not eating anything, and Satan, devil showing up and saying, “Turn this stone into bread,” Jesus could have turned the whole mountain into a croissant. He created everything out of nothing. You understand? So, every other miracle is lesser. So, that stone could have become cranberry walnut, my favorite. That stone over there might’ve become sourdough, and that stone over there… You pick. It all could have been warm and ready. He had the power. No question, He had the power, but the devil comes along and says, “Even though…”

I mean, I’ll put a little paraphrase on this, “But even though it’s the Holy Spirit that led you out here to this fast for 40 days where You can be prepared for Your public ministry by really dialing in prayer to God the father, stop doing that, and take for Yourself what You want, what Your body is just craving.” Jesus answered him and said this, “It is written, man shall not live on bread alone.” This was from Deuteronomy 8:3. Matter of fact, all of Jesus’ responses here, there are three temptations. All of these will be drawn from the book of Deuteronomy. That’s really interesting to me, which describes the ancient Israelites’ journey through the wilderness on their way to the promised land and all that happened there.

So, there’s Jesus in the wilderness, and he’s probably been rehearsing in his mind the entire book of Deuteronomy and has ready access to it. So, He quotes from it in His response to this temptation. He then, Satan the devil, led Him, Jesus, up to and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. How’s that possible? Well, good grief, you guys. We can do that on the internet right now. So, the one who created everything out of nothing in the heavenly realm certainly has capacities and possibilities of seeing everything at once. How did the devil come to be able to show Jesus all of that? The answer is I don’t know the answer. I really don’t know the exact methods and means of Satan or the devil.

I just know he’s strategic. I just know he’s clever. I just know he operates in the spiritual realm as well as in the natural physical world that we live in. So, somehow or another, he flashes in front of Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in this particular moment. By the way, Matthew’s gospel swaps out the sequence. So here, this is the second temptation in Matthew’s, it’s the third temptation. Here’s these domains. “Here’s their glory,” the devil says to Jesus, “and it’s all been handed over to me.” In other words, he received it from some other source. He doesn’t say what that source was, and I’m not really convinced he’s correct here at all.

He’s not really Lord or sovereign at all. He says, “I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You worship before me or if You worship me, it will all be Yours,” is what he says to Jesus, the one who created all of those worlds and kingdoms. Oh my, Jesus answered and said to him, quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13, “It’s written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” So, then the devil leads Jesus to Jerusalem, sets Him up on the pinnacle of the temple, and he says to Him, “If You are [or since you are] the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here. For it is written…” now, the devil’s going to quote the Bible.

He draws from Psalm 91, well-known as a psalm that offers promise and hope to people who are under duress. As a matter of fact, I highly recommend you read Psalm 91 if you have any sense of duress or any sense of struggle in your life at all. It is rich in the promises of God. It’s so beautiful. It’s so amazing. So, the devil quotes a selection from it. He says, “He will give His angels charge concerning you to guard you. On their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.” So now, he says basically to Jesus, “Throw yourself down off the pinnacle of this temple.” In that day, by the way, that would’ve been about a 400, 450-foot drop.

Those of you who have been over there and seen the Temple Mount, this is on that corner, right over the Kidron Valley. He would’ve dropped about 400 feet at the time that this is all happening. So, here’s the devil teaching us all how to proof text a verse of Scripture. Just lift it out of context, and just use it however you want to do it. Listen, we do that all the time in our own day and time. We have created an entire industry of people who just lift a verse out of context, put it on a wood plaque, etch it on there, and sell millions of them, and or embroider it or whatever. If it says what tickles the ears in the moment. Listen, the promises of God are yes and amen.

I’m there, but every single verse of Scripture doesn’t apply to every single situation that I’m going through or you’re going through. I know the Lord has plans for me. I know Jeremiah 29 is a powerful verse there. Jeremiah 29:11, I believe it is, but I’m also aware of the fact that Jeremiah, the prophet, the weeping prophet, was speaking to some people who were in exile. And there’s a real-world application for those people, and the hope that that verse brings is really important to them. That’s why God inspired Jeremiah to say it. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t have also by extension other applications. That’s true.

But here in this particular moment when Jesus has been led into the wilderness to fast for these 40 days, and the devil’s just saying, “Hey, shut that all down. Take for Yourself what You want. Give me what I want: worship. As a matter of fact, let’s test whether or not God really loves You, whether or not God’s really, Psalm 91, watching over You and ready to protect You in distress, Psalm 91.” The devil understood Psalm 91. I’ve heard a bunch of commentators. I’ve read a bunch of commentators. I heard a bunch of preachers who would say that when they read the Temptation of Christ, they would say, “You know what? The devil actually knows the Bible better than a lot of saints do.”

He actually picked this Psalm because of what it says, and then he just lifts it out and puts it in this context, forgetting about the fact that Jesus had been led into the wilderness to fast, to pray, to draw closer to God, His father, and to pray Himself for the ministry and for the cross and for the resurrection. So, when it all looks like it’s all over, it ain’t over until God says it’s over. So, here’s the devil saying “He will give His angels charge concerning You on their hands. They’ll bear You up lest You strike Your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered and said to him, quoting from Deuteronomy yet one more time, Deuteronomy 6:16, “It is said, [and this is a greater principle] you shall not force a test or tempt the Lord your God.”

So, a higher, more important principle supersedes this other one, and in this particular moment, the principle of being faithful to what God had called Him to, that is 40 days of fasting, being out there, being in the preparation for His ministry. The devil isn’t the one that’s going to stop that call and get Jesus to obey him and worship him. So, verse 13 wraps it up. I love the way Luke does these little summaries. “When the devil had finished every temptation…” By the way, he’s 40 days there, right? He’s led out into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. I don’t think there were just three temptations. I just think we heard about three temptations.

I think there’s 40 days of one after another, after another, after another. Does it ever feel that way in your life? You have that repeated temptation that comes your way that you’re starting to think it’s strategic now, because you keep seeing the same thing. You keep being drawn to the same thing. You keep finding yourself irresistibly lashing out at people or whatever, and it’s just over and over and over again. 40 days, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. We get to read about three of them. He’s victorious in all three cases. He draws from the wisdom of God, the Word of God, a book that was all about the struggles of God’s people in the wilderness. He draws from that to defeat His enemy who is trying to tempt Him.

So, the devil had finished every temptation, so he departed from Jesus until an opportune time. When I read until an opportune time, I just went, “Let’s see how that goes for you too.” I mean, this is just amazing to me. Perhaps after devil dissolves into nothingness there, perhaps in Jesus’ weakened body, human mind, human body, everything, perhaps the words of His father echoed in His ears, “This is my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased.” So really, really powerful passage for me, and especially going through the whole week, and being aware of some of the things that we all go through.

Satan is recorded as speaking three times in Scripture. On the first occasion, I think it’s Genesis, Chapter 3, we find him going before humanity, and questioning God, “Has God really said?” Then the second time in Scripture we read of Satan speaking at all, it’s in the book of Job, where he goes before God, and he really questions humanity, this one named Job. “Hey God, the reason he’s so faithful to You is because he’s got a really cush life. You set him up. There’s no way he’s going to turn away from You.” So, Satan accuses God before man, “Has God really said,” and then accuses man before God, “Job’s not really righteous. You made it too easy for him.”

The third time Satan speaks, and the last time that Satan speaks recorded in Scripture, is when he tries to tempt the God-man, the perfect God-man, Jesus, fully God, fully human. He tries to tempt Him, and that’s it. The Lord pulls the leash back, and that’s the last time we hear him speaking. That doesn’t mean he isn’t busy. He’s busy today, he and his minions, but as for his words being recorded in Scripture, that’s all we get here when we study the temptation of Christ. It’s the last time. So, what’s the purpose of this text? What does it really do for us? How can we learn from it, or gain from it?

Well, it does serve to expose the sources and strategies of temptation. Now, I’m going to guess that there’s nobody in the room here that would say they’ve never been tempted. But if hypothetically there were someone in the world that were to say such a thing, and to say that there’s no such thing as the devil. That’s really cute and quaint that you think of that, but there really isn’t such a thing and that I’m never tempted. I tried to write out a few reasons why people think that they aren’t being tempted, and the only ones I could come up with were these four.

They’re not up on the screen, but I’m just going to give them to you. One, the devil is afraid of you, because you are more holy than Jesus. Is that anybody? I didn’t think so. Number two, the devil’s quite satisfied with your lack of spiritual vitality, and he’s quite happy to leave you alone. I’m not going to ask you to raise your hand. Number three, you are so morally deluded and unaware of your capacity for depravity that you’re just unaware. I’m not going to ask you to raise your hand there. Four is actually a possibility. You might be here in this day and time. It’s true. There are people that actually don’t believe in right or wrong. They don’t believe there’s such a thing as sin, offending a holy and righteous God, and more and more of those people as we go through the time and the season that we happen to be in right now.

The Apostle Paul knew that wasn’t true. As he wrote to the church at Ephesus, he said this,

“You once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, [that’s the devil we just read about] the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh.”
Ephesians 2:2–3

So, we who are believers and the church at Ephesus, a lot of folks who were believers, and Paul the Apostle is writing to them.

He’s reminding them of what it was like before they were believers, before they became Christians, a title which is used three times in the New Testament, but the title that Paul more often gives is “you who are in Christ, in Christ or in Him,” either one. If you take and count the number of times the Apostle Paul, the Apostle John, Apostle Peter, the number of times “in Christ” or “in him,” it’s close to 200 times. So, you believers who are here this morning or watching online, you’re not just Christians. It’s fine to call ourselves Christians. It means little Christs. We want to be like the one who saved us. That’s fine, but the New Testament language is more often about you living in Christ.

What’s wonderful and powerful about what we’ve sung this morning is that we’ve been reminded that not only is He our Savior, and not only is the judicial aspect of my salvation secure, but He’s also a fortress and a refuge for me as I walk through this world that is so dark and troubling sometimes. In other words, right now, it matters that I’m in Christ, and He is in me, especially as I walk through a world that is filled with temptations. I think here, what the Apostle Paul has in these couple of verses is he mentions the world, the flesh and the devil. They’re all three mentioned here. You used to follow the course of this world, used to follow the prince of the power of the air. That’s the devil. The spirit that is now working in sons of disobedience in whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh.

So, there, he has a little different order to it. We typically think of the sources of temptation being the world, the flesh and the devil. I think here back in our text in Luke 4, all three categories are represented – more on that in just a little bit. First, someone again might think it quaint that we talk about this person, the devil or demons. I love what C.S. Lewis says at the beginning, the opening, the preface to The Screwtape Letters. He says,

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive unhealthy interest in them. They are equally pleased by both errors, and they hail a materialist [that is somebody that doesn’t believe in the spiritual realm] or a magician [somebody who’s looking for devils under every rock] with the same delight.”
C. S. Lewis, preface to The Screwtape Letters

That’s just so brilliant of Lewis. This is one of the books he said was the hardest to write. By the way, we’ll be studying this. We’ve got a Sunday school class in the fall on the Screwtape Letters. I want to invite you to get a copy of that. This is a great book. You got to read it, 31 short letters of Lewis writing as a senior devil trying to train up a junior devil in how to tempt the patient. That would be us. We’re the patients, the ones the devils are trying very much to dissuade from our belief and our worship in God, the God who is really there. So, watch for that. We’ll have announcements coming up on that Sunday school class, but I want to make a few summary statements, and then ask you to read some Scripture out with me.

So please, if you will, sit up straight. I think this is real important. This will be very helpful for you as we look through these ancient scriptures today. First of all, the temptation of Christ was the devil’s attempt to entice Jesus to doubt the trustworthiness of God the Father, regarding sustenance, significance and security. Look, I know there are other categories of temptation. These are just three. This is just the way I would summarize these three temptations. Reading through the commentaries, you’ll find other wonderful Bible scholars that will come up with their own ways to summarize the three.

For me as I was reading this, it’s sustenance, daily bread. It’s significance. Look at all these kingdoms. You could have all this, and wait, there’s more, that kind of thing. You can be the one in charge. That lust for power and celebrity is so strong, man, and to have all of that. Then the security thing, which I think, again, we’re all, whether you know it or not, you’re very concerned about your own security in a lot of different categories. Sustenance, as I said earlier, I think Jesus could have turned all the stones into any kind of meal He wanted it to be. He could have turned the devil into a horned toad right then and there in the moment if He wanted to.

So, Jesus who, if you think back to the garden of Eden, He’s the greater Adam. Adam was tempted in the lush garden. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, barren wilderness. Adam in the lush garden failed, he and Eve both. Jesus in the harshest howling wilderness. Mark’s gospel tells us there were wild animals there as well. I don’t know whether they were a temptation to fear, because they might eat you, or whether it was a temptation to kill and eat. I’m not sure which, but Mark makes the point. The animals are there, right? But in either case, Jesus is not moved. He doesn’t fall to the temptation to provide for Himself in that particular moment.

Significance, the devil offered all the splendor, all the kingdoms of the world, the enticement to get Jesus to worship him and to depend on him instead of being focused on His Father and being prepared for His ministry. What would that be like for us in our own day and time? Sustenance, sometimes we all look at our bank accounts, and worry, “Is God going to take care of me? Is God got this?” He might get this wrong, is what the voice of my anxiety says. The voice of my anger says, “He got it wrong, and then I have to go back to Him, and confess my sin because I fell.” By the way, Jesus, here and all through his life, this one who knew no sin but became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.

He knew temptation like you and I never will ever know temptation. Why? Because we’ve fallen. He never did. So, He knows temptation at its highest level, most intense level, the temptation to fear, the temptation to assert oneself, the temptation to take the reins away from God, and try and be your own little God. Security, I don’t know if you’re a control freak or not. I imagine that there are a few in the room. We can be tempted in that category of significance or security as it relates to our emotional life, our relational life, our vocational life, our finances, our health.

We can think to ourselves, “I will preserve this body.” I got to tell you, I’m almost 70 now, and what I’m learning of late is that gravity and the wrinkles win. I got some amens out here. That’s good. They always win, and it’s okay. It’s really okay, and it’s going to be okay. I’ll tell you why. The one who went way past the wilderness to the cross, He is making it okay. Why? He got up from the grave, and He’s the one we put our faith and our hope and our confidence in when we’re tempted to think, “Oh my gosh, this is it. It’s over. I can only do 22 pushups.” It’s not over. I mean, He’s got this. He’s got all of it.

No matter what’s changing in front of you, the wilderness doesn’t shape who we are as much as it reveals who we are. Here is what happened with Jesus in the wilderness. All of those questions “If you are the son of God,” no, the wilderness act and the temptations of the devil revealed that Jesus is the Son of God, that what God the Father had said at the baptism was indeed true, because He defeated the devil and all of his temptations. Again, these are just three categories that I’ve posted on the screen. You can think of many others I’m sure, but whenever we lose control of a situation or of ourselves, we may have stopped believing that God is the one we should look to for sustenance, for significance and for security.

I get it wrong when I think, “Oh, I did that. Look what I did or look at what I’m about to do. I’m about to… This week, I will conquer the world in some way.” No. No. No. I need to keep looking to the Lord Himself, turning to Him. Even if I think because, “Oh, I got a paycheck. I went and bought my meal. I went to this restaurant and had this food. I paid for…” You know what, if there were no God, you would not have had any of that. I know you did the work. I know you got your page. I get all of that, but God created gravity, and if He turns it off, you’re not going to be working next week. Neither am I.

He’s the one that’s actually numbered my heartbeats, my breaths. He’s the one that programmed my eyelids to blink 14,000 times on the average every day to keep my eyeballs wet so I can see clearly, and you as well. We look to Him, and we credit Him and praise Him and worship Him. He’s the one we go to for sustenance, significance and security. All right, so would you read with me? If you’re over 50 in the room, please read this with me. Keep watching and praying. You are here. I know you’re here. So, read loud.

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:41

Yes, our flesh gets weaker as we get older, but what’s so important is that we continue to be watchful.

This is one of those spiritual disciplines that we lost sight of because we said, “Oh, God’s just about giving you a big hug.” Yes, He’s your Father. Yes, He wants you to climb up in His lap. He loves you more than you could possibly imagine. So, He’s so delighted when you come running to Him. It’s true. That’s very true. But Jesus said to his disciples, “You keep watching. You keep praying that you don’t enter into temptation.” So, people, let’s learn that here today as we read about the temptation of Christ, that we’re to be watchful, that we’re to be prayerful, because there really is someone at work in the world seeking to distract us, to defeat us, to derail our faith.

If you’re here and you’re under 50, how about this one for you, guys?

“No temptation has overtaken you…”

[I know you’re here.]

“…but such as is common to man, and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you may be able to endure.”
1 Corinthians 10:13

The enemy of your souls is strategic. It can customize his plan to get you and all of your vulnerabilities. All the things you care the most about. He can actually push all of those things right into place, as if in your wilderness. Here’s Jesus, 40 days, no food. The best way to tempt Him? Food. And get Him to make it. I don’t know what it is in your life. Honestly, I don’t know.

Some of you, if you want to know what you’re worshiping, what you’re hanging your hat on, what you think is going to sustain you in life, and give you significance in life, and give you security in life, ask yourself what that might be. Ask yourself then, “How do I remain watchful and prayerful in that category of my life?” But these temptations that come our way, they’re common to man, and who’s faithful? God is faithful. Let’s turn to Him. He will provide either the strength we need to endure it or the escape path that we need. We keep going to Him. I hope this helps all of us understand the categories and the strategies that exist when it comes to temptation.

Frederick Dale Bruner so brilliantly said,

“The typical temptation of the young is lust. The middle-aged, it’s ambition. Of the elderly, bitterness.” He said, “Actually, all three drives are similar and related. Ambition, that’s a refined lust. Bitterness, it’s a disappointed lust.”
Frederick Dale Bruner

Let that sink in. Again, these will all be available to you on that TVC app or on the website, or you can grab the QR code later. Again, I hope this helps in a practical way. Secondly, and this is the last of the points I really want to make: The Temptation of Christ serves to teach us how to resist temptation. How did Jesus respond? With the Word, the written word, the promises of God, and He rightly divided the Word.

He didn’t just lift some passage out of context. He actually in the moment that He was in where He had been led by the Spirit to this place to focus and prepare for His ministry. That’s what we should do too, that same exact thing. We should learn to resist temptation from the Scripture. So, we turn to the Scripture. How about just the brothers in the room? Read with me. “How can a young man keep his way pure?” Brothers: “By keeping it according to Your Word.” By keeping it according to Your Word. There it is. How’s that for straight ahead? How can you, young or old, keep your way pure? By keeping it according to Your Word.

Sisters:

“Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
Ephesians 6:11

Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. There you go. So, we’re involved. This isn’t just God building this hedge around you, although He is my refuge and strength, Psalm 46. He is my refuge I can hide in, my safe place that I need when I’m just out of gas. I got nothing. I run to Him, but He’s also my refuge and strength. He’s both my defensive resource and my offensive resource, my strength to rise again, to run the race again today when I’m out of strength. That was my own. Temptation is going to come my way though, to tempt me to look elsewhere other than to God for sustenance, for significance, and for security.

It’s going to happen, and it’ll be custom. It’ll be aimed right at you. Martin Luther said,

“I can’t keep the birds from flying over my head, but I can prevent them from building a nest in my hair.”
Martin Luther

So as regards temptation, you’re not going to be able to avoid it. It’s everywhere, but you don’t have to let it build a nest in your hair. How you respond to it is what ultimately matters. I think Luther was right there. So, this temptation of Christ is important for us. Let’s all read this from Hebrews. This reminds us of what happens for you, for me, that Jesus had to undergo these temptations, and that Jesus was victorious against those temptations.

Read with me aloud,

“For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He’s able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”
Hebrews 2:18.

Again, if I ask you to raise your hand, if you’ve been tempted in your life, every hand should go up. So, He is able to help you. Why? Because He Himself has been tempted literally way past where you have been tempted, where I’ve been tempted, because He resisted and never fell to it. One more time, read with me:

“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.”
Hebrews 4:15

In other words, Jesus isn’t in Heaven sitting there going, “Thomas, you fool, you idiot. How could you fall to that yet another time?” No, I love that word “sympathize.” You see that word up there on the screen? Jesus, He’s gentle and lowly. His arms are open. His Arms are not… At the end of His arms is not a wagging a finger and rolling eyes. His arms are open wide, man. He bids you come to Him. He’s eager to forgive you. He’s already paid the price for our sins. We’ll close with this if we’re asking ourselves the question of, “What might we be able to do in regard to temptation?” Let’s read this from James, Chapter 4. Let’s all just read it aloud too. It’s one more time.

It’s good:

“But He gives a greater grace. Therefore, it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
James 4:6–10

Now, some of you are reading that list up there, and you’re going, “I like some of that. I’d like to leave some of that out though.”

Your joy is going to be turned into gloom. What’s all that about? Listen, let me put it back up on the screen now to just talk through it a second. Humble yourself. That’s really important. Submit to God. That’s massive. Get on your knees. We need to spend more time on our knees. No question. Resist the devil. I think you have a choice here. You can either stand, you can flee, you can run or you can fall. That we’re being told to resist the devil implies that we could actually do that by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the grace of God in our lives. Draw near to God. Get your mind and your heart into God’s Word.

Watch the Holy Spirit speak to you. Draw near to God in prayer. Wait on the Lord. Be quick to confess your sins when you’ve fallen. Even beyond that, be quick to go to Him when you’re being tempted. “Lord, I know this isn’t You. Man, I got the strong urge to lash out at this person right now. Lord, I’m being smothered in despair of the world around me right now. I know that isn’t You. I know You don’t want me to be afraid right now. Lord, I know You don’t want me to try to manipulate the situation to my preferences right now. Lord, help me to trust You right now.” Being that honest with God is really, really important, and then yes, proper remorse.

“Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning.” That’s important too. We actually are given the antidote to our trying to sweep it all under the rug, or just deny that we’re sinners. The antidote is, “I can go before God. I’m going to confess my sins, and I already know what the outcome is.” He has said if I confess my sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive me, my sins, and further to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

Now, that’s moving from what Keller says is a fear-based repentance to a joy-based repentance. Fear-based is just going to lead you to shame, guilt, anger at everybody else, yourself included, self-loving, self-hatred. Joy-based repentance is going to lead you to loving God more, and actually hating the sin more, because you’re trusting God and what God has said. So, the temptation of Christ reminds us that temptation is universal. Temptation itself is not a sin. Temptation can be resisted or escaped, and that the grace of God in Christ removes all of our disgrace. You can’t outrun His grace. You can’t outrun His love for you.

I’ll close with this quote from N.T. Wright.

“The Christian discipline of fighting temptation is not about self-hatred or rejecting parts of our God-given humanity. It’s about celebrating God’s gift of full humanity, and like someone learning a musical instrument, discovering how to tune it, how to play it to its best possibility.”
N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone

Amen.

Lord, thank You for this passage. Thank You for going through what You did to identify with us in baptism as You did to identify with us even further in temptation, to be our victorious one. And as we walk with You, as we live in communion or union with Christ, to be able to lean on You, our champion, to trust in You. When we run out of strength ourselves, when we even run out of faith, that we can just turn to You, and say, “We are out of resources ourselves, but we lift up the empty hands of faith.” We ask you, Lord, to fill us with Your promises from your Word, Holy Spirit, to remind us of what is true, what You have promised to us. Don’t allow us to write our own little plastic promises from the Scripture, but to believe, to hope, to trust and have confidence in Jesus and His finished work on the cross and His glorious resurrection that we might rise, give thanks to You, and that thanks might look like something. It look like an increasing holiness, growing in the knowledge of the Gospel, and living it out in word and deed, all for the glory of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen and amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs:

“Victory in Jesus“ by Eugene Monroe Bartlett Sr.
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God“ by Martin Luther
“I Need Thee Every Hour“ by Annie Sherwood Hawks and Robert Lowry
“Here Is Love (Everlasting Praise)“ by William Reese, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell
“Victory Song of the Lamb (Christus Victor)“ by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell, Matt Papa, Bryan Fowler
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #200369

Call To Worship: At The Cross

Most merciful God, thank You for sending to us Your Son, Jesus. We remember this day His redeeming death, that we might stand forgiven at the cross. Thank You for sending to us Your Son, Jesus, to whom we belong, in life and in death. He bore our infirmities and carried our sorrows. Most holy God, thank You for sending to us Your Son, Jesus, who became sin for us and suffered the punishment due to us, that we might stand forgiven at the cross. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.

Confession:

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You this day, in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole hearts; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Grant to Your people pardon and peace, that in Your great mercy, we may be forgiven all our sins, and serve You with a quiet and contrite heart. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Classic Prayer: George Herbert, 1593–1633

Blessed be the God of heaven and earth, who only does wondrous things. We praise you! Bless your Word, wherever it is spoken today throughout the church. Make it a word of power and peace, to convert those who are not yet yours, and to confirm those who are. Bless your Word in this your own kingdom, which you have made a land of light, a storehouse of your treasures and mercies. Ride on Lord! Make your Word a swift word, passing from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the life. As the rain returns not empty, so may your Word accomplish that for which it is given. For your blessed Son’s sake.

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