TEMPTATION’S ROAD
LUKE 4:1-13
Luke 4:1-13
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4 Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone.’"
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8 Jesus answered, "It is written: ’Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’"
9 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.
10 For it is written: "’He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"
12 Jesus answered, "It says: ’Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
(NIV)
Temptation always follows the same
ROAD!
James 1:14
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire,
he is dragged away and enticed. (NIV)
Satan’s Approach:
1) The Avenue - DESIRE
Desire is not necessarily a bad thing. To be passionate is important to the fulfilment of your dreams and plans. The word used here for "Lust" or "desire" means "close heat" or "intense heat". Satan’s approach to tempt us to sin follows the desire that is already active.
With Eve, it was a desire to be like God, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:1-6
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, ’You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’"
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.
5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
(NIV)
With Jesus, it was hunger.
Luke 4:1-2
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
(NIV)
By the way, here is one of the ways I am not like Jesus: After forty days, He was hungry! I am usually hungry in less than four hours!
The reason Satan approaches us throught he Avenue of Desire is because we beileve "This really MATTERS!"
2) The Appeal - DOUBT
Notice how Satan appealed to what mattered most to Jesus at this time.
Luke 4:3
3 The devil said to him, "IF you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
(NIV)
I don’t believe for a moment that Satan pointed out rough, jagged rocks! I believe that Satan showed Jesus rocks that looked like freshly baked loaves of bread and homemade yeast rolls! Notice the appeal: "IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD..." He uses that big word,"IF", to entice us to question what God has said.
Just 40 days previous to this, Jesus had heard God the Father say,
"You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." (Luke 3:22 NIV) For 40 days these words have rang in the ears of Jeus and sustained Him while He wandered in the wilderness. "You are My SON! I am well pleased with You!" Now with hunger welling up within, God’s still, small voice is drowned by Satan’s loud question, "If you are God’s Son..." Could Jesus turn these stones into bread? Wasn’t He hungry? Would anybody know if He did? Would anybody care?
When the appeal of doubt begins to settle in our mind, we travel down Temptation’s Road from "THIS REALLY MATTERS" around the bend to question, "DOES THIS REALLY MATTER?" And the battle begins to rage!
One evening, an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a "battle" that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between the two wolves inside us all.
"One is Evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
"The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
3) The Advance - DISBELIEF
Once we round the bend of DOUBT, the next step toward sin is DISBELIEF. In other words, we travel down Temptation’s Road from "THIS REALLY MATTERS!" to "DOES THIS REALLY MATTER?" to believing "THIS REALLY DOESN’T MATTER!" It is not very far to the dead end of Temptation’s Road - SIN! Sin is when we say yes to temptation and no to God! That’s when we give Satan...
4) The Advantage - DECISION
We Decide to sin! It doesn’t jump on us like measles or the flu! Sin is the result of a decision.
Escaping Temptation’s Pull:
1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
(NIV)
Where can we find a place to make a U-turn?
THE WORD OF GOD!
Show me a man or woman who has made a habit of neglecting the Word of God and I’ll show you someone who is enslaved to temptation! But show me someone who has hidden God’s Word in their heart, memorizing it and making sure they have it tucked away and I’ll show you someone who has victory!
David said it:
Psalm 119:11
11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
(NIV)
Jesus proved it: IT IS WRITTEN! With every step down this road of Temptation, Jesus put His foot down on the WORD OF GOD!
How about you?
