WHEN TEMPTATION KNOCKS AT YOUR DOOR! Luke
4:1-13
Introduction: Let me start with
a children’s story. Toad baked some cookies. "These cookies smell very
good," said Toad. He ate one. "And they taste even better," he
said. Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog,
Frog," cried Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made." Frog
ate one of the cookies, "These are the best cookies I have ever
eaten!" said Frog. Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another.
"You know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we
should stop eating. We will soon be sick."
"You
are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will
stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie.
There were many cookies left in the bowl. "Frog," said Toad,
"let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and
Toad ate one very last cookie. "We must stop eating!" cried Toad as
he ate another. "Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we
need willpower." "What is willpower?" asked Toad.
"Willpower
is trying hard not to do something you really want to do," said Frog. "You
mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asked Toad. "Right,"
said Frog. Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said. "Now
we will not eat any more cookies." "But we can open the box," said
Toad. "That is true," said frog. Frog tied some string around the
box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more
cookies." "But we can cut the string and open the box." said
Toad. "That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up
on a high shelf.
"There,"
said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies." "But we can
climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and
open the box," said Toad. "That is true," said Frog. Frog
climbed the ladder and took the box down from the shelf. He cut the string and
opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice.
"Hey,
birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all
the cookies in their beaks and flew away. "Now we have no more cookies to
eat," said Toad sadly. "Not even one." "Yes," said
Frog, "but we have lots and lots of willpower." "You may keep it
all, Frog," said Toad. "I am going home now to bake a cake."
How
many of us can identify with “Toad & Frog’s” struggle over eating cookies?
We all tried to overcome certain temptations and have failed miserably so we
stopped trying. The truth about temptation is that, it is part of our everyday
Christian life. It doesn’t spare anyone. Jesus Christ, and many great saints of
God were not exempt; neither are we. We have been tempted in the past, and
maybe we are being tempted now, and we will be tempted in the future.
To
overcome temptation, we need more than just will power. We are on a journey to discover
precious truths from the orderly account of the Gospel of Luke. Last week we
learned about Jesus’ birth, his dedication in the temple and how an age-old
prophet named Simeon had his unforgettable moment when he beheld baby Jesus in
his arms.
Today
we will learn how Jesus was tempted before he entered into his public ministry
and how we can withstand when temptation knocks at our door the next time. In the passage we read the author highlights
a great confrontation between Jesus the creator and the savior of the world and
Satan the deceiver and disrupter of God’s cosmic plan of salvation. The devil
brings about a threefold temptation to divert Jesus Messianic Mission.
I.
THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
Vs
1-2, “Then
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by
the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.
Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.” With varying details
Matthew, Mark and Luke all three gospel writers highlight the temptation of
Jesus before the start of His public ministry.
The
Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for 40 days.
This tells me that God the Holy Spirit at times leads us into places where we
might be tempted by the devil, though not many of us merit such direct
confrontation with Satan himself. Here Jesus
was brought directly before Satan to face whatever he would throw at him.
Satan
used three doors to tempt Jesus and they are: the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye and the pride of life. Before we deal with them separately let’s
look at the word “temptation.” In Greek it means: To try, to tempt, or to prove
someone as evil by soliciting him or her to sin.
A) The
lust of the flesh: Vs 3-4 “Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of
God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The
Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.” By this time Jesus had
been fasting for 40 days, and hadn’t eaten anything during that time. When
Jesus’ hunger was greatest and his resistance lowest, the tempter comes and
says, “if you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
It is interesting to note why Satan
chose “food” to tempt Jesus? For the obvious reason, Jesus hadn’t eaten food
for forty days so naturally food was what Jesus’ greatest need at that point. When
Jesus was starving for food, he suggests that he would use his power as the Son
of God and turn some stones into bread and satisfy his hunger. Logically sounds
good, right?
In
his notes Pat suggests, “Make yourself bread by your power of the Holy Spirit.
This power is equated with privilege. Use your position to take care of
yourself. The temptation is to believe that being son of God confers the right
to act on privilege for self.” If Jesus was tempted to use his power to gratify
his selfish needs, we too can be tempted to use the power of our position for
selfish purposes. We see this abuse of power happening all the time
How
did Jesus handle this temptation? Though
he was starving for food, and had the power to turn stones into bread he did
not fall for the devil’s tactics. He counters the attack by quoting what was
written in the scripture, Deuteronomy 8:3, “People do not live by bread alone.”
B. The Lust of the Eye: Vs 5-7 “Then the devil
took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,”
the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give
it all to you if you will worship me.” Here we move immediately from the
mundane of daily bread to a visionary spectacle. He took Jesus to a high point
and in a second showed him the splendor and the glory of the kingdoms of the
world.
Moreover,
he claimed that they were given to him, and he will give Jesus all the glory
and authority over them. But on one condition, if Jesus would worship him. From
the beginning Satan always wanted to be like God, and be worshipped by the
angels and the people. In order to reach his goal, he would go to any lengths
to deceive people from worshipping God. He comes to Jesus and offers to give
back the world, if he can simply bow down and worship him.
It
is interesting to note that Jesus did not refute Satan’s claim over the world,
but refused Satan’s offer of how he could reclaim the world back to God. The
devil was showing Jesus a simple and easy path of no suffering of the cross which
he came specifically to endure. Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not
to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The only way to reclaim the world back to God was by the way of the Cross
Satan
offered Jesus, earthly kingship over the world and the kingdoms by way of
worshipping him, whereas Jesus came to set up another kingdom the Kingdom of
God by offering himself as a living sacrifice. Jesus reminded Satan, who truly
deserves all our worship, Deuteronomy 6:13, “Worship the Lord your God and
serve him only.”
C.
The Pride of Life: Vs 9-11
On
both occasions Jesus was able to withstand temptation by quoting scripture.
Satan thought this time I will use scripture as a weapon too but he wrongly
quotes it. Vs 9-11, “The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the
highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw
yourself down from here. For it is written: “He will command his angels
concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so
that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Satan’s true nature was
coming into light here.
Again,
he challenges Jesus saying, “if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down
from here.” Satan used this phrase, “if you are the son of God,” twice. What
does it mean? It means, “since you are the son of God.” The devil is not
casting doubt on Jesus’ divine sonship, but is tempting him to use his
supernatural powers as the Son of God for his own end.
Thankfully,
just like the other two times, Jesus did not fall for this foolish trap of the
enemy. From his arsenal, he took the sword of the Sprit the Word of God and
attacked Satan saying, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deut 6:16)
Take
note of Vs 13, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, (ended every
temptation ESV) he left him until an opportune time.” This indicates that not
only these three temptations the devil used to tempt Jesus but may be more that
were not recorded here. And also, that was not the end of Satan’s temptations,
he had just left Jesus waiting for an opportune time. Satan continued them
throughout Jesus’ ministry, culminating at Gethsemane. But in all these
temptations we see Christ standing victoriously. He conquered sin, death and
the devil in the end.
II.
WHEN TEMPTATION KNOCKS AT OUR DOOR!
In the temptation of Jesus, we saw
the devil using three broad categories to tempt Jesus. Though these were unique
to Jesus, they are the main ways through which the devil tried to get at the
creation of God. He successfully tempted Eve in the garden of Eden. No matter
who we are, we all are susceptible to these and many other tactics of the
devil. What do we do when temptation knocks at our door? John gives a clue on
how to handle temptations. I John 2:15-17.
“Do
not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world,
you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a
craving for physical pleasure, a craving
for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.
These
are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading
away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases
God will live forever.” We all struggle in the area of food. There is nothing
wrong in eating food, but overeating is sin and it has an ugly name, GLUTTONY.
There is nothing wrong in desiring and wanting to have good things in life, but
craving for everything we see is sin it has a name; LUST. There is nothing
wrong in sharing how God has blessed you, but boasting about your achievements
and possessions is sin, and it also has a name; PRIDE.
The
devil could use, any and all of these three Gluttony, Lust and Pride and many
more to gain entry into our lives to reduce productivity, divert our passion for
the Lord, to rob our joy, health, relationships and in the end to kill us. That
is the very nature of Satan (John 10:10).
Our real problem is not in eating a
cookie, but lies in, “one more cookie.” The only way to overcome our craving
for, “one more cookie” is to be determined and say, “NO MORE.”
I
know it works for me when I say it and truly mean it, because it is a scriptural
principle. When the devil attacks us, God doesn’t’ expect us to fight back or
use our will power because he knows we are weak. But he does want us to appropriate the victory
that Jesus had already own at the cross. By God’s grace we can say to the
enemy, you came this far but no further. James 4:6-7, “God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble. “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you. Key to have victory over temptation is our submission to Christ and
resisting the temptation. Therefore, next time when the devil knocks at our
door with a temptation, remember he only knocks, but cannot push the door open.
In other words, he can only tempt us but cannot make us sin. Even when we give
into temptation and sin, as it reads in I John 1:9, “if we confess our sins to
him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
wickedness.” Jesus is gracious, and very sympathetic to our temptations. He too
was tempted in every which way, we are being tempted, yet remained sinless. He
is our advocate and He will fight on our behalf, so that together with Him we
are more than conquerors. Amen!
