In the Scripture, Adam, Israel and Jesus are all called the Son of God. Adam and Israel gave in to temptation and sinned against God, while Jesus remained faithful. Listen in to find out why that is so vitally important.
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Jesus’ Triumph Over Satan’s Temptations
Luke 4:1-13
The most popular way this passage is preached is to show how the Christian can overcome temptation. If we were to preach this text in that way, we could have three main points: 1) Overcome temptation by being full of the Holy Spirit; 2) Overcome temptation by being on guard at times of weakness; and 3) Overcome Temptation by Using the Word of God. In other words, that sermon would essentially be saying, “Be like Jesus. Do what Jesus did, and you will overcome temptation.” I have heard many sermons like that, and I’ve probably preached a few myself. That sermon would teach a number of true things. However, it would also entirely miss the point of this passage. The reason the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to include this passage in his gospel, was not to teach us how to overcome temptation, as important as that might be. The Holy Spirit has a much greater purpose in mind. He is wanting to exalt Jesus Christ, specifically in His triumph over Satan’s temptations.
If we keep in mind the larger context, I think it will become clear that this passage is really about 3 different sons and their struggle against the devil.
The first son is listed for us back in Luke 3:22, where the Father speaks from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Jesus is the first son of God listed in the larger context.
The second son is given to us in Luke 3:38, at the very end of Luke’s genealogy of Mary. There we read of Adam that he was “the son of God.” So in Luke 3 we find 2 sons of God – Jesus and Adam.
But that’s not all. There is a third son of God described here, but admittedly this one is harder to see than the first two. Exodus 4:22 says, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.” Not only is Jesus and Adam described as being the son of God, but Israel is as well. And there are some indications in this text, that Luke intends for us to consider not only Adam, but Israel as sons of God who have been tempted by the devil in the past. First, notice that every time Jesus responds to the devil, he does so by quoting from the book of Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:13; 6:16). The book of Deuteronomy is Moses reflecting on Israel’s experience in the wilderness, and how she failed when tempted. Second, the wording of Luke 4:1-2 is so close to Deut. 8:2, that Luke must have been deliberately drawing a parallel between them. Deut. 8:2 says, “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” In this passage, Israel was being led in the wilderness for 40 years to be tested. Jesus was led in the wilderness, not for 40 years, but for 40 days, being tested as well.
So, it appears that Luke has 3 sons in mind in this passage: Adam, Israel, and Jesus Christ. In July of 1956, my Mom and Dad were waiting for my oldest brother, Paul, to be born. I imagine that they were wondering whether they would have a son or not. If they had a son, what kind of son would he turn out to be. Would he be obedient or disobedient? Then, a year later, my Mom and Dad were expecting their second child, who turned out to be my brother Eric. Again, they would be wondering whether they would have a son or not. If they had a son, what kind of son would he turn out to be? Would he be obedient or disobedient? Would he be just like their first son, or would he be different? Then, 2 years later, in August of 1959 my Mom and Dad were expecting their third child – me! They were wondering if this child would be obedient or disobedient. They wondered whether he would be like their first two sons, or different from both of them.
Well, in Luke chapter 4, the question we should be asking is “What kind of Son is Jesus going to be? Will he be obedient or disobedient? Will he be just like the first 2 sons, Adam and Israel, or will be completely different?” Think of the story of the Bible as a play in 3 acts. In Act 1 we see Adam on the stage, created specially by God, without sin, placed in a perfect environment. What kind of son will he be? We watch in horror as Adam rejects God’s rule, listens to the devil, eats the forbidden fruit, and Paradise becomes a place of sin, and shame, and death. The in Act 2 we see Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. What kind of son will Israel be? Will Israel be just like Adam, the first son, or will Israel be different? Again, we watch as Israel murmurs and complains, and builds a golden calf, and worships it, and disobeys God. It’s clear that Israel is no different than Adam. Now, comes Act 3. Alone on the stage is Jesus Christ and the devil in the wilderness. The spotlight falls on Jesus. Will he be any different from Adam or Israel? Can He possibly stand where Adam fell? Can He possibly obey where Israel disobeyed? Will He be God’s obedient Son, or will He be just like Adam and Israel?
You need to understand that this encounter between Jesus and Satan was of the utmost importance. If Jesus loses this battle, we have no Savior, and all of us are doomed to everlasting hell. That’s how important this battle is.
This morning we are going to look at the three different temptations Jesus faced from the devil, and how he responded to each of them.
1. The Temptation To Act Independently of God (4:1-4)
Full of the Holy Spirit
This is very interesting to me. Verse 1 tells us that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and led around by the Spirit in the wilderness. Matthew says that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness (Mt. 4:1). Mark says that the Spirit impelled Jesus to go out into the wilderness (Mk. 1:12). God’s plan was that Jesus would face the devil head on, right at the beginning of His public ministry, and demonstrate from the very beginning that He was God’s obedient Son who would not listen to the temptations of the enemy. The devil didn’t come looking for Jesus at some point in His life when He was weak and vulnerable. No, Jesus went out into the wilderness at the leading of the Holy Spirit in order to engage the devil in head to head battle.
For Forty Days Being Tempted
Jesus was tempted for 40 solid days. Satan came at Him with every attack that he could muster. For 40 days in a row, Jesus was assaulted by Satan in his cunning and craftiness. However, at the end of the 40 days, Jesus became hungry. He had eaten nothing during those days. Experts say that after a person has been fasting for 40 days, the body can’t consume any more fat, and so it begins to consume its own organs. Jesus was dangerously close to starving to death. He became hungry. He was at a very weak and vulnerable state. That’s when Satan came with his big guns and tried to finish Him off with three big temptations.
Tell This Stone To Become Bread
The temptations Jesus faced were very different from the kind of temptations that we face. When was the last time the devil appeared to you and told you to just turn rocks into bread, or fall down and worship him, or throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple? As the Son of God, Jesus faced temptations of a different kind and degree that we will ever face.
But what was at the root of this first temptation – to turn stones to bread? I believe the root was the temptation for Jesus to act independently of His Father. Remember, that Jesus was in the wilderness in the first place because the Holy Spirit drove Him there. This was God’s perfect plan for His Son. Jesus said in John 5:19, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” Jesus had a very special and direct communication with God. God spoke to Him, and showed Him what He was doing, and Jesus worked together with God. Because Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, and led by the Spirit, I believe Jesus was doing exactly what God was telling Him to do. So, in obedience to His Father, Jesus went into the wilderness. While He was in the wilderness, there was nothing to eat, so Jesus simply did not eat for those 40 days, trusting that God, would provide food for Him, when it was time to eat again.
So, when Satan said, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread”, Satan was tempting Jesus to do something His Father had not told Him to do. God had told Him to go into the wilderness. God had not told Him to turn stones into bread. Even though Jesus had gone without food for 40 days, and was literally beginning to starve to death, He was trusting His Father to provide for Him in His own way and time. And so the Devil comes and puts the thought in Jesus’ mind that God doesn’t really love you. If God loved you, He wouldn’t have brought You out into this God-forsaken, desolate wilderness, to go without food for 40 days, and then never provide food for you. God seemed disinterested and indifferent to Jesus’ needs. He wasn’t providing food for His Son. The Devil’s suggestion could have seemed reasonable. “If God’s not going to provide for You, then You need to take care of Yourself!”
However, Jesus never did anything in His earthly life on His own initiative. He said that over and over in the Gospel of John. He did only those things He heard the Father saying, and saw the Father doing. Jesus lived in absolute, second by second dependence upon His Father.
How did Jesus respond to this temptation? He said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” In Matthew’s gospel, He adds, “but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” What’s Jesus saying? He’s saying that real life is not found in eating; it is found in hearing and doing God’s will. Jesus uses the Greek word “rhema” here – a specific word. Jesus is saying that man lives by receiving and doing every specific word that God gives him. Jesus could have turned some stones to bread and eaten, but that would not have been real life. Real life is to hear God and obey Him. The Devil was seeking to cause a breach in fellowship between Jesus and His Father, by getting Jesus to act independently of Him.
Adam’s Temptation
Adam faced the same temptation, didn’t he? Didn’t Even come to our first human parents, and seek to get them to act independently of God? Wasn’t that implied in his sly insinuation, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4-5). God’s holding out on you! God doesn’t have your best interests at heart. He doesn’t want any competition, so He’s not letting you eat from that one tree, because He doesn’t want you to be like Him, knowing good and evil. When Adam and Even ate the forbidden fruit, they were wanting to decide good and evil for themselves, instead of living in dependence on God for that knowledge. They were acting independently of God. That is one way of defining sin – acting independently of God.
Israel’s Temptation
Likewise, Israel faced the same temptation. God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, and through the wilderness on their way to the promised land. However, the people of Israel didn’t like how God was leading them. God was directing them to go into the land of Canaan and take possession of the land. However, the people lacked faith. Instead, they decided that they would appoint a leader, and all go back to Egypt. What were they doing? Seeking to act independently of God!
Adam was tempted to act independently of God and he failed. Israel was tempted to act independently of God and she failed. Jesus was tempted to act independently of God and He stood firm!
2. The Temptation To Worship Something Other Than God (4:5-8)
The Devil’s second temptation was for Jesus to fall down and worship him. He promised to give Him all the kingdoms of the world if he would just worship him. Satan and Jesus, both must have known that there are Old Testament prophecies that the Messiah would inherit the kingdoms of this world. Ps. 2:8 says, “Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.” Daniel 7:13-14 says, “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.” So, all the kingdoms of this world had already been promised to Jesus Christ. However, the Devil is promising them to Jesus without Him having to go to the cross to purchase them. The Devil is tempting Jesus to enjoy possessing all the kingdoms of the world without any suffering, or pain. He’s offering Jesus a shortcut to the throne and crown.
If I might be allowed to read between the lines a little bit, Satan may have been saying something like, “Look Jesus, You’ve got nothing. You have only the clothes on your back. You’re out in this desolate wilderness. You’ve got no food, no possessions, and you’re all alone. And You are the Son of God, but you have nothing. Tell you what, I’ll give you the kingdoms. They have been promised to You. I’ll just make sure You get them right now. You won’t have to wait a minute longer. What do you say? All I’m asking is that You fall down before Me and worship. That’s it.”
And you know, this has been Satan’s desire all along. According to Isaiah 14, and Ezekiel 28, Satan was the anointed worship leading angel of heaven… until one day when he said “I will make myself like the Most High” (Is. 14:14). Satan wanted to be worshiped as God. And folks, he hasn’t changed one bit. He still wants to be worshiped. He most wants to be worshiped by the Son of God. If Satan could get the Son of God to worship him, that would be Satan’s ultimate high. That would be to make himself greater than even God Almighty. So, Satan in a lust for worship, proposes the ultimate deal to Jesus. Just worship Me, and I’ll make sure you have all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, without having to go to the cross to obtain them.
How did Jesus respond? Jesus quoted Deut. 6:13, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” Jesus immediately turned from that blasphemous suggestion and used God’s Word as a sword against this ugly attack of the evil one.
Adam’s Temptation
Adam and Eve were also tempted to worship something other than God. When Satan told them that God didn’t want them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil only because then they would be as God, they had a decision to make. They could surrender their will to God, and continue in dependence upon Him, or they could choose to act independently to God’s will. They chose the latter, and in so doing, became involved in will-worship. They exalted their own will above God’s, and in so doing worshiped themselves over God. In the word of Paul, they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.
Israel’s Temptation
Satan tempted Israel to worship something other than God over and over and over. You will recall, I trust, the golden calf incident? Idolatry was that sin that God hated above all else. It was ultimately the reason that God caused the Jews to be taken captive by a foreign power and deported to a foreign country where they became slaves for hundreds of years.
Adam was tempted to worship something other than God and he failed. Israel was tempted to worship something other than God and they failed. Jesus was tempted to worship something other than God and He stood firm.
3. The Temptation to Presume Upon God
In the final temptation, the Devil led Jesus to Jerusalem, and took him to the pinnacle of the temple, which was 450 feet above the rocky crags of the Kidron Valley below on the southeast end of the temple grounds, and said “Prove that you are the Son of God. Jump off! God won’t let you get hurt because the Scripture says that the angels will protect you.” In fact, according to tradition, James, the Lord’s brother, was thrown off this very temple to his death. So, the devil’s temptation was for the Lord to jump off the top of the temple, in order for God’s angels to come to His rescue and catch him and lower him gently to the ground. In so doing, the multitude that would be milling around the temple courts would see this, and have to acknowledge Him as God’s Son and Messiah.
In this third temptation, the Devil actual quoted Scripture to try to persuade Jesus that He should jump from the temple. He quoted Psalm 91:11-12. The Devil must have thought that surely Jesus would have to take this suggestion to jump from the temple, for after all, he has quoted Scripture to show that the angels would protect him from harm. It’s interesting that Satan did not read the next verse. The next verse of Scripture in Psalm 91 reads, “You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down”!
How does Jesus respond to this attack? He responds by quoting Deut. 6:16, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” You see, just because someone quotes Scripture to you doesn’t mean you should do whatever they tell you. One passage of Scripture needs to be balanced by the rest of Scripture. Jesus knew that. He knew that for Him to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple, would be putting the Lord God to the test. It would be forcing His hand, and making Him act. It is never right for us to try to manipulate God or force His hand so that He must come to our rescue.
Adam & Israel’s Temptations
Both Adam and the nation of Israel faced similar situations. Adam and Eve faced a situation where they would either obey God and refrain from eating the forbidden fruit, or eat it and presume on God’s grace that He would not fulfill His death threat. Well, they put God to the test, and God fulfilled His word of judgment. Israel faced a situation in which they would either obey God and worship God alone, or construct a golden calf and dance around it in an orgy and presume on God’s grace that He would not bring judgment. Well, we know what happened. God brought judgment. It is always a very dangerous thing to presume on the goodness and grace of God!
People do that all the time today. God has commanded all men everywhere to repent and turn to Him with faith in Jesus Christ, or face eternal judgment. However, I meet people everywhere who are presuming on the grace of God. They say, “Oh, I’ll be all right. God is a good and loving God. He’s too loving to send me to hell. After all, I’m basically a good person.” And so you have millions of nominal Christians, living in sin, presuming that everything will be OK in the end, because God is gracious and loving. Oh, my friend, don’t make that mistake!
Life Application
We need to understand that this encounter between Jesus and Satan, is no small, minor skirmish. It is a vital, decisive battle. This battle is like the fight between David and Goliath. They went head to head, toe to toe against each other, but not as private persons. David represented all the armies of Israel, and Goliath represented all the armies of the Philistines. If Goliath won the fight, all of Israel would become slaves to the Philistines. On the other hand, if David won the battle, all the Philistines would become the slaves of the Israelites. Likewise, Jesus Christ went into this battle on behalf of the people He represented – the chosen of God. If Jesus won, His obedience and righteousness would be put to their account. But if He lost, His people would forever remain in a state of sin and alienation from God. There is a difference between Christ’s Active and Passive obedience. Christ’s passive obedience was displayed at the cross where He bore our sins. But during His life, he displayed his active obedience, by repelling every temptation to sin, and living a life of perfect righteousness. And He did so, not for Himself, but for all He came to save.
Adam was tempted to sin through the devil, and so was Jesus. However, Adam was tempted in a beautiful garden, Paradise itself. Jesus was tempted in a howling desolate wilderness. Adam was tempted in a perfect environment. Jesus was tempted in a sin-cursed world. Adam was tempted to eat when he had a full stomach. Jesus was tempted when His body was beginning to starve to death. Adam was tempted when he was at peak strength. Jesus was tempted when he was weak and exhausted. Yet, Adam took the bait and fell in to temptation, while Jesus resisted the temptation and conquered Satan. The Bible says, “As through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Rom.5:19).
Now, let me ask you, who are you most like? Are you most like Adam and Israel, or Jesus? Have you taken the bait and sinned against God, or are you always perfectly obedient to the Father? We are all like Adam and Israel, aren’t we? We act independently of God, we worship something other than the true and living God, and we presume upon God. Thus, we stand before Him, in our selves, guilty and condemned, facing God’s eternal punishment. However, although you and I, and Adam and Israel have been unfaithful to God, Jesus remained faithful.
Folks, if you want to truly appreciate Jesus Christ, you must first see yourself as a failure. Maybe for some of you, to see yourself as a failure is the last thing that would ever cross your mind. You are talented, intelligent, attractive, successful, respectable people. Why is it important for you to see yourself as a failure? Because, unless you do, you will never see your need for a Savior! And if you never see your need for a Savior, you will never turn to Him in faith to save you, but will forever remain in your sins and be eternally condemned.
However, maybe for some of you, you don’t need to be told that you need to see yourself as a failure. You already do! Your failures, and sin and guilt follow you everywhere you go. You are painfully aware of how sinful you are. Well, if that is true of you, I have good news for you!
Jesus Christ, not only died for you, He lived for you! His righteous life was just as important as His substitutionary death. When you cast yourself on His mercy, He credits His righteous life to your account. No longer does God see you in all your sin. Rather, He sees you clothed in the righteous garments of Jesus Christ. God views you through the blood of Christ. Because you are united to Christ through faith, when God looks at you, He sees the righteousness of His Son. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see you like Adam or Israel in all your wretched failure. He sees you in Christ, with all of Jesus’ righteousness put to your account! I believe that is what the Holy Spirit wanted us to learn from this account in Luke’s gospel. Let’s pray.
Oh Lord, we thank you that although we have sinned, and are just like Adam and Israel, we have a Savior who never gave in to temptation, and never disobeyed. Lord we stand amazed that in spite of all our sin and guilt, the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ clothes us from head to toe. We are absolutely forgiven of all sins, and completely accepted in your sight, not because of any deeds of righteousness which we have done, by completely by what Christ has done on our behalf. Hallelujah, what a Savior! And now, Lord prepare our hearts to remember Him in the breaking of bread, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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