The Triumphant Temptation: Jesus vs. The Devil in the Wilderness

Well, last week in verse 38 of Luke chapter 3, with the words that we heard,

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Adam, the son of God, lowercase s-o-n, remember, is still ringing in our ears this morning.

And Luke launches into his account of Jesus's temptation.

And three critical pieces of information come our way in verses 1 and 2 that we read earlier.

First, we're told about the involvement of the Holy Spirit in the proceedings.

Now, as we go to this next slide here, I believe I have this on here coming up.

We're told about the involvement of the Holy Spirit in the proceedings here.

And we have already seen that the Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism back

in verse 22 of chapter 3 last week.

And here in Luke chapter 4, verse 1, Luke actually summarizes the Spirit's ministry

Luke 4:1

of empowering and guiding Jesus by telling us that Jesus was what?

Full of the Holy Spirit and Jesus was led by the Spirit.

Literally the Greek text here this morning says he was led in the Spirit into his temptation.

I don't want us to miss that. In order to understand these events properly,

we got to remember that Jesus's trials here as everywhere in Luke are part of

God's plan and at his initiatives.

Now, it may seem like here Satan unleashed a surprise attack in these verses.

But in reality, I want you to see it is the Spirit who has led Jesus out into this conflict.

And the second important thing that I think we need to see is we're told plainly

in verse 2 that it was the devil who tempted Jesus.

It's important. We're not introduced to the devil or told anything about him.

Luke seems to assume that his readers will be familiar with him, right?

But as we read of the devil tempting here the Son of God personally and verbally.

Luke likely wants us to be thinking of the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

You remember back in Genesis chapter 3? We've been going back there a lot here

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

lately, where the devil appears in the form of a serpent and suggests that the

first humans distrust the word of who? the word of God.

And then the third critical piece of information introduced in the opening verses

here is the duration and location of these events.

The hungry son of God, where is he at according to verses one and two?

He's in the wilderness, right?

Immediately calls to the mind of the people of Israel here, the earlier God's

son, if you remember, lowercase s-o-n, wandering in the desert,

seemingly without adequate food supplies.

We look at that back in Exodus 16 and Numbers 13 and 14.

We read that the Israelite spies spent about 40 days in the land in light of

the Lord's promise to give them victory over the wicked inhabitants.

And so when the people rebelled by refusing to believe the Lord's promise all

the way back in Numbers chapter 14, verse 11, the Lord declared that they would

Numbers 14:11

what? that they would wander in the wilderness for how many years?

40 years. One year, basically, for each day the spies had been in the land.

Tells us that in verse 34 of that passage.

So I think it's highly significant, Eastwood, that here in Luke chapter 4,

Luke 4 · chapter mention

Jesus was hungry in the desert for how many days? 40 days.

So Luke chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, it helps us to understand what's at stake

Luke 4:1

at the temptation of Jesus.

Think about it a moment. Adam, the son of God, as we looked last week in verse

38, was tempted by Satan and chose not to obey the word of the Lord, right?

Israel was tested in the wilderness and descended into sinful grumbling and

disbelief of God's promises.

Now, the dramatic tension in this scene this morning, in this passage,

it's hard to overestimate, right?

Will the second Adam succeed where the first one failed?

Will the new Israel be faithful where the old one rebelled, right?

Will Satan be able to derail God's cosmic plan to make for himself a people

who will love him as holy sons and daughters?

You see, theologians actually debate whether or not Jesus was genuinely capable of sin.

After all, how could God incarnate give in to sinful temptation is their question.

While this is not the place this morning, I don't think, for an in-depth consideration

of that issue, theologians just love to debate this kind of stuff.

But it's probably helpful, I think, this morning that we remember to understand

something, that Jesus's temptation in light of Adam's, I think we need to look at it,

that would mean, if we're looking in light of Adam's, that would mean that Jesus

would have been able to sin as a human like Adam.

But because he was the son of God and was so powerfully as described in this

passage as led by the spirit,

he did not desire to sin, thus showing himself to be faithful where Adam was not.

What must be agreed upon this morning is this.

First, I believe that Jesus' experience here of temptation was real, church,

or else it makes no sense if it was not real when the writer to Hebrews tells

us that we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our

weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way,

just as you and I are, yet he did not sin in Hebrews 4 15.

And secondly, that he has triumphed. Jesus has triumphed over temptation church

so that he can be our savior. Wow.

Well, that leads us to the first temptation. Here we go. Are you ready to go

on a little ride here? Temptation number one, stones into bread.

Now we just got through eating a meal this morning, right? But the first temptation

comes in the form of a suggestion that Jesus makes some bread for himself in

the wilderness in verse 3 of chapter 4.

Notice that the devil, y'all, he frames the challenge in light of Jesus's status as God's son.

You notice that? Look what he said to him. He said, if you are the son of God,

tell this stone to become bread.

The boys from heaven, if you remember that we looked at the other week had already

declared that Jesus was God's son in verse 22 of chapter three. Remember that?

And here the devil in this passage seems to be asking why God's son would have

to experience this kind of hunger.

After all, he possessed the power to make stones into bread if he wanted to.

And it does look back in verse 8 of chapter 3.

It talks about how God is able to raise up these stones, right?

But the nature of this temptation, it may not be immediately apparent to us

just on a surface look in this passage.

But presumably, though, it would not have been sinful for Jesus to use his powers

to feed himself. I mean, we would think, but as far as we know,

he was under no divine restriction, right? Against eating.

We also know that there was nothing inherently wrong with the making of miraculous bread.

Jesus did just that when he fed the multitudes, right? And we'll see that in

chapter nine. But what the devil, I want y'all to get this today.

What the devil seems to be getting at though here is not so much about food, is it?

It's about trust. Jesus had come in the flesh to identify with us,

right, with humanity, so that he could watch, so that he could save us.

And now the immortal Son of God had taken on flesh.

Think about it. With all of its limitations, he felt exhaustion.

He felt hunger and thirst.

And so what Satan was tempting him to do was something of a way out of all that.

Joel Green, the theologian, wrote this in his commentary. He said,

well, Jesus followed the leading of the Spirit and manifest unwavering trust

in God to supply his needs?

Or will he relieve his hunger by exercising his power apart from God?

The devil does not deny that he is God's son, he says, but he exploits this

status by urging Jesus to use his power in his own way to serve his own ends.

He thus reinterprets son of

God to mean the opposite of faithful obedience and agency on God's behalf.

That's in his book, The Gospel of Luke. But Jesus' response here helps us all

to understand, church, the nature of the temptation.

Look at this, his statement. What does he say in verse 4?

Man shall not live on bread alone or on bread alone. It's taken from Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3.

Deuteronomy 8:3

And in that passage, the Lord tells Israel that

he was both the one who caused them to hunger in the

wilderness and the one who provided with manna

to eat right the point of all this that we

read here's this is to teach you and me that man does not live on bread alone

but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord you see back in Genesis

3 there we go again back to Genesis Genesis 3 verses 1 through 7 Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:1–7

were tempted to satisfy their hunger and,

by disobeying the word of the Lord. And Israel, again, was tested in the desert

to see if they would trust the Lord to actually provide bread to relieve their hunger.

But where Adam failed, church, through disobedience and Israel failed through grumbling.

Guess what, church? This is so important.

Jesus conquered the devil's temptation by choosing what?

Faithfulness to God. Aren't you grateful? Aren't you grateful?

Well, that brings us to temptation number two.

It's the temptation, the authority and splendor of the world.

This second temptation is actually recorded in verses 5 through 7 that we read earlier.

In it, we see that the devil actually asserts his right to bestow the authority

and the splendor of the world's kingdoms to whomever he chooses.

He's the prince of the power of the air. And Luke gives no indication that we

should be skeptical of this claim at this time.

But Revelation, by the way, we're doing that study on Sunday night.

Revelation chapter 13, which we're getting close to, by the way,

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

makes clear that the systems and structures of this fallen world serve the purposes of the devil.

And in order to receive this gift, however, the devil requires here in verse

7 that Jesus do what? He bows down and worships him.

Now, that temptation may not seem very subtle to us, like, you know, really?

But of course, Jesus isn't going to worship the devil. But a closer look here,

it reveals that this offer, y'all, it was a diabolic attempt to actually derail,

once again, the salvation that Jesus had come to accomplish on our behalf.

You see, in one sense, think about it today. The devil is actually offering

Jesus something that he's already been promised by his heavenly father.

He will one day surely receive all glory and authority in an eternal kingdom.

It already told us back then in chapter one, verses 32 and 33.

Something doubtlessly greater than whatever the devil could offer him.

But Jesus' crown, church, don't miss this today. Jesus' crown will be so very costly, will it not?

You see, Jesus' exaltation by his heavenly father will only come after he has,

and could say because he has what?

Because he has been crucified.

Philippians 2, verses 8 through 11 tells us this.

Philippians 2:8–11

In fact, in essence, just in a nutshell today, church, what the devil is offering

to Jesus is a crown without a cross.

The devil will share whatever limited authority and power that God has granted

to him, and Jesus can actually have it here without having to suffer.

Jesus is being offered a chance to take a kind of glory and authority for himself,

but without obeying who?

Without obeying his father or saving his people, and that's us.

And y'all, it's not exaggerating to say that our entire salvation church hangs

on Jesus's answer in Luke chapter four, verse eight.

Again, I want y'all to get this today. The parallels here between the temptation

of Jesus and Adam, they are striking, y'all.

Both had to choose between disobedience to God and the devil's offer of another path to glory.

Man, how many of us are faced with that too, right?

But whereas, church, obedience would have brought Adam incredible blessing, right?

Obedience would cost Jesus what? Unimaginable suffering.

You see, when Jesus actually rebuffs the devil, if you will,

and he reasserts his desire here to be obedient to the word of God,

this time quoting in Deuteronomy 6, verse 13, he is committing himself what?

Deuteronomy 6:13

But he is committing himself to the path to glory church that goes by the way of the cross.

And I'm thankful for that. I hope you are. I believe you are.

Well, that leads us to number three. We're getting near the end.

Number three, throw yourself down, right?

Throw yourself down. And the third temptation, Luke chapter four, verses nine through 11.

It seems that the devil has called on to Jesus's pattern. Did you notice?

If Jesus is going to defeat his attempts at temptation by what? Quoting the Bible.

Perhaps the way to trip him up is to use the Bible itself in the temptations.

So the devil takes him up to the highest point of the temple, right?

And that was located in the southeastern corner of the temple,

that temple complex at almost, I think it's around 33, 33 stories up above the Kidron Valley below.

And from there, he instructs Jesus to what? To throw himself down,

and he twists the promise of divine protection that's contained in Psalm 91,

Psalms 91:11

verses 11 and 12, as a justification for doing it.

And you can imagine, y'all, how such a daring feat there in that temptation

would have impacted Jesus's ministry, right?

I mean, if they saw him jump from the top of the temple, he would have immediately

been embraced by the crowds and held as the Messiah.

It would have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was with him to bless him and his ministry.

But guess what, church? Jesus was not sent to create sensation by spectacular stunts, right?

He didn't come to jump off this building to make somebody marvel and say,

oh, this has to be the Messiah.

He was sent by his father to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God,

it says in verse 43 there of Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

And ultimately what, church? To experience rejection by the crowds,

as we see in verse 28 through 30.

You see, he corrects the devil's misuse of scripture.

And I think there's a great Christian parody band called Apologetics.

And they have a song called, instead of Twisted Sister, Twisted Scripture,

right? And that's what the devil does here. He has a little twisted scripture.

His misuse of it reminded him that the word of God also instructed his people not to test the Lord.

And it's significant that Deuteronomy 6, verse 16, quoted by Jesus here,

Deuteronomy 6:16

refers back to an incident, by the way, that took place at Massa.

If you remember, there the people of Israel tested the Lord.

By actually questioning whether he was with them in the wilderness or not.

That's all the way back in Exodus 17, verse 7.

Exodus 17:7

But now the new Israel is in the wilderness, being tempted to test the Lord

by forcing him to prove his care and presence.

Yet again, church, this is good news. We see that Jesus withstands, right?

He doesn't cave in here. He doesn't test the Lord to see if he can be trusted.

He trusts his heavenly father. He rests in that.

But then what happens here? We see, as we kind of wander out of this,

we see that until another opportunity comes, right?

The big picture in the temptation here is that that pitch battle between Satan

and the Son of God obviously has begun here in earnest, right?

The first round of the fight goes decisively to who? To Jesus, right?

And the devil retreats, if you will, with his tail metaphorically tucked between

his legs in verse 14 of chapter 4.

But on that ominous note, he hangs, that kind of hangs over all this,

the devil leaves Jesus again when?

Until an opportune time or a more opportune time.

There will be, church, another, other skirmishes in the war, right?

Not least of which come in the events that lead up to where?

To Calvary, to the cross. And there we're told, church, that explicitly that

the devil stands behind Judas's betrayal, and we're going to see this in chapter 22, verse 3 of Luke,

and Peter's denial of Christ in chapter 22, verse 31.

All along the way, his influence, his activity can also be easily detected in

the otherwise inexplicable mockery of the guards, even in chapter 22,

the anger of the Jewish leaders in chapter 23 that we'll see,

and also just that anger of the crowd in chapter 23 we'll see.

But it's an irony, church, that perhaps becomes too familiar to us to fully

appreciate sometimes, is that in that moment of defeat that Jesus delivers the

decisive blow to his enemy at the cross,

in that seemingly moment of defeat,

The battle that rages, I want y'all to see this today, the battle that rages

here in this passage in the desert in Luke chapter 4,

Luke 4 · chapter mention

will ultimately be one where? On the cross of Calvary.

And if Jesus had chosen that path to have a crown without a cross,

he would have been defeated, right?

You and I would not have the opportunity to be forgiven and be saved.

And it's there at Calvary, perhaps, that we see how this narrative here in this

passage connects with the daily lives that we live.

Too often, the temptation of Jesus' church is reduced to a quarry from which

we can kind of mine strategies of how to resist temptation for ourselves, right?

For example, y'all can probably follow this through the years and sermons you've heard and whatnot.

Jesus quoted the Bible when he was tempted, so we should do the same, right?

And so we should, but there is actually much more going on here than that approach admits.

See, Jesus did not stand in the desert primarily as our example.

He was there as our Savior. I don't want you to miss that today.

You see, this section of Luke shows us that Jesus is who? He is the Son of God,

the new Adam, the new Israel.

He stood in the desert church and was tempted in our place.

As my brother JD says, the gospel in four words is Jesus in my place.

And where the other sons of God would not trust the word of the Lord,

but gave in to this temptation.

You see, Jesus was faithful. I'm so thankful, y'all.

And by virtue of his faithfulness, church, his faithful life,

his sacrificial death, his people, that includes us if we know him,

are free from both the power and the penalty of sin. That ought to get you to shout amen.

I mean, woo, I am free. I'm set free.

Romans 6, verses 5 through 14, his victory in the desert, church, becomes our victory.

Romans 6:5–14

And so we are no longer, get this, we are no longer slaves to sin,

unable to resist temptation.

Look at this next slide here. We fight against the allure of sin by going to

Jesus in faith and prayer and knowing that the one who fought the tempter on

my behalf, on your behalf,

is with us to what?

To help us in our time of need.

Aren't you grateful today? Let me just say it this way.

He's been in our shoes. He's been in your shoes. He knows what it's like.

He knows what it's like to face the temptations you face. He knows what it's

like to feel the weakness.

He knows what it's like to feel the pain, the hunger, the rejection.

He knows what it's like. He's been in your shoes.

You have a high priest who knows, and yet he overcame those temptations in your place.