Luke 4:1- 13 – The Devil Didn’t Make Him Do it!
“The Devil Made me do it!!!” How many of us have ever used this excuse, even in jest, when we are caught doing something we know we shouldn’t. It is a nice convenient excuse isn’t it, but there is one problem!!! The Devil can’t make you or I do things unless we surrender ourselves to him. Today
The Devil, is often pictured as a little red mischief maker with horns and a pitch fork, but this character doesn’t exist except in comic books. The Devil or Satan as portrayed in Scripture is very real. Some of the things we know about him is …
o That he was once the chief of God’s Angels, but sought to lead a rebellion against God - Ezek28:12-19
o He now resides on Earth (Eph 2:2) and rules over it (Jn 14:30)
o He is a thief (Matt 13:19), a murderer (Jn 8:44), a liar (Jn 8:44), a deceiver (Rev 12:9)
o He seeks to devour people (1 Pet 5:8), blind us to the truth (2 Cor 4:4) and destroy us (1 Cor 5:5)
o He is very clever, but he is not all-powerful, all-knowing or omni-present.
The problem is you see, that Satan, knows all our weaknesses and guess what – he targets those areas. Satan’s temptations always hit us where we are weak and we can not stop that. He is a strong warrior and as such he will always aim for our soft spot. But even though this happens, Satan can still only suggest things to us, it is our choice whether we act or not. Satan will attack you where you are weak, but the choice to sin is yours.
Today I want to talk about Jesus’s experiences with Satan. And while Hebrews 4: 15 says that Jesus was tempted in every way that we were, it goes onto say that even so, he didn’t sin. You see the Devil didn’t make Him do it and likewise the Devil doesn’t make us do it. Even though Satan attacks us where we are weak, but the choice to sin is ours.
Open your bibles up this morning with me to Luke 4:1 Read Luke 4:1-13
Background
These events take place immediately after Jesus’ Baptism. A bit of revision – Why did Jesus need to be Baptised? to Identify with those he was going to save, to Exemplify an obedient life and to Be Annointed to his ministry of Messiah.
We read in vs 1 of chapter 4 that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the desert and there he was tempted by the desert for 40 days. There are 4 things worthy of note in this verse by way of introduction.
1) Firstly, God prepared Jesus for the battle that he was going to face. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and didn’t need anything more than that. God likewise prepares us for what we need to face in life.
2) Second thing to note here was that it was God’s will that Jesus face off against Satan, so Jesus was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit. You can almost imagine God proudly leading his champion out into the desert to do battle with his arch enemy – the Devil.
The word that is translated “tempt” literally means to test or try. There are a number of different ways this same word is used in the Bible. Firstly, it is used of Satan’s tempting people to do evil. God can’t tempt people to do evil (Jas 1:13) so if we are being tempted in this way, we can be sure it is from Satan. Secondly people can try or test God. Israel did this in the desert wanderings (Deut 6:16). Thirdly, there is God testing or trying his people. In this passage we have God sending Jesus into the desert to be tried to see if he’s got what it takes to be the Messiah. And the thing that God uses to test Jesus’s responses is Satan. God allows Satan to tempt Jesus. You see, Satan, is ultimately under God’s control. It’s as if God has a rope around his neck. He can only go as far as God’s rope allows him to.
3) The Third thing of note here is that the temptation lasted 40 days. It was a time of intense testing. Satan was hounding Him probably day and night and we only have a fraction of it recorded here. So don’t think that these 3 temptations were the only times Satan attacked. No, Satan’s attacks were constant and were aimed at Jesus’ weak spots, but you guessed it, it was choice to sin was Jesus’.
4) The Fourth thing of note is where the temptations occurred. It was in the desert. There was no food here and no support for Jesus. He was facing Satan’s temptations on his own and by the end of the 40 days, he was facing the temptations in a body that was physically weak but likely also emotionally weak. His only sustenance was from the Spirit who indwelt Him.
Now let’s spend some time now have a closer look at the 3 temptations recorded here.
Temptation 1 – About Personal Pleasure
The end of vs 2 says that Jesus didn’t eat anything during these 40 days and so was hungry. This is probably a slight understatement. I use the word hungry when I’ve missed 1 meal. If I was to miss 120 meals in a row, and I were writing this, I’d probably use a different word – probably something like starving or near death. And this point of physical need just so happens to be Jesus’ first weak spot so guess where Satan aims his attacks – but remember, Satan will attack you where you are weak, but the choice to sin is yours.
Vs 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Satan was no doubt there at Jesus’ baptism – just watching carefully. He would have heard God’s declaration in 3:22 “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” In this first temptation, Satan may have been casting some doubt on Jesus’ Sonship in this statement. Saying in effect … “Prove you are God’s Son, by turning this stone into bread.” But when we look at Jesus’ response it is more likely here that Satan wasn’t questioning his Sonship. Rather the temptation was more subtle. He was saying in effect … “Jesus, we both know you are God’s Son, so why don’t you use your powers and turn this stone into bread and satisfy your hunger.”
What is wrong with this. Jesus was literally starving and unlike Elijah when he spent 40 days in the wilderness. There was no ravens or angels coming down to minister to Him. Had God forgotten Him? Of course not. Well maybe he just wanted Jesus to use his own powers to fend for Himself and provide for His own needs. There was nothing wrong with bread – it was a staple food needed to survive.
There was nothing wrong with wanting bread, the temptation here was for Jesus to act independently of God and His plan. For Him to act himself would mean that he wasn’t depending fully on God for all His needs. And in acting himself, He would be disobeying God’s will. Sure, He had the power to provide for all His needs, but that wasn’t what His power was to be used for. Jesus’ miracles always accompanied His teaching and were used to prove that what He was saying was true. To perform miracles for His own needs, no matter how valid, had no benefit and would amount to sin for Him.
I think we can all relate to these sort of temptations. There are all sorts of cravings we have in life, and it is so easy for us to use our own resources to satisfy these personal desires. It is so easy for that person on a diet to secretly buy that ice cream after a hard day a work. That hidden, exciting affair is just the thing to satisfy the love craved spouse. A pornographic movie watched late at night in a motel room helps satisfy the need for intimacy. That shopping spree is used to distract us from our emotional fragility. Some of these things may not be wrong in themselves, others are, but by trying to satisfy our personal needs ourselves, we fail to live dependent upon God. We displace God from the throne in our lives and place little old me on the throne. This is sin.
Jesus’ answer to Satan addresses this temptation wonderfully. He quotes from Deut 8. Let me read Deut 8:1-4.
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
Just as the Israelites had to learn that it was more important for them to rely on God and trust Him to supply all their physical needs, we also need to remember that. When Satan targets our weaknesses, remember, that we need to choose to rely on God for all our needs. Satan will attack you where you are weak, but the choice to sin is yours.
Temptation 2 – About Power
Then Satan showed Jesus a vision of all the kingdoms of the world. He says (vs 6) “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. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
What was being offered here by Satan was totally legitimate and was actually the ultimate goal of all that Jesus was trying to achieve here on Earth. One day, Jesus would be given all authority over them and would rule as King. That was God’s ultimate plan, that all would submit to his Son. But for now … Satan sits on the throne, and he offers it up to Jesus if only He would bow down and worship Satan.
How tempting it would have been for Jesus to accept this offer. It would have meant he wouldn’t have to suffer, or struggle. There would be no sacrifice needs. Just one little compromise (to bow down for a brief moment) and the crown of power would be His. This was another area of weakness for Jesus. He didn’t like pain. None of us do, so if there was another way, it was worth some consideration. Satan again attacked at a point of weakness, but the choice to act one way or the other was Jesus’.
The temptation was to again step outside of God’s plan and seek the power through his own resources.
If you can begin to understand the consequences of what this choice would be, you can understand the cleverness of Satan’s attacks. If Christ had chosen to bow down in worship, he would have sinned and immediately disqualified himself from dying for us to pay the penalty for our sins. That would have happened with all the temptations too. But if Christ had chosen another route, other than death, there would be no blood shed and so no forgiveness for our sins and so no salvation. So although He would have received authority over all the kingdoms of the world, there would be no one in the kingdom to rule over. We would have all been judged and sentenced to Hell. Satan would have had a glorious victory.
The lure of power is a huge temptation for many people in work places and other relationships now a days - to compromise ever so slightly, or bend the rules or skip the procedures to please their boss or to achieve pleasing results. We reason, if we only keep on the boss’ good side, or if we only achieve good sales or good results, we’ll be rewarded handsomely, so it doesn’t matter if we bend the rules slightly. Our trip to the top will be that much quicker. Have you ever been tempted in this way? Maybe your motivation is not ambition, but it is to keep the peace, because you don’t like conflict.
Jesus’ response to this situation was again to quote God’s word (Deut 6:13). We can only worship one master and that is to be God. To worship Satan to achieve this Goal would have been freeing the world from the demonic grasp, only to become captive to the prince of demons. Who do you serve? Ambition? Popularity? Fortune? Or do you serve and worship God alone? Satan will attack you where you are weak, but the choice to sin is yours. What is your choice today?
Temptation 3 – About His Relationship with God
The last temptation recorded here is about Jesus’ relationship with God. Satan takes him up to the highest point of the temple and suggests to him that he test God by jumping off. If he were really God’s Son, God would save Him. He quotes from Ps 91:11-12, but quotes it out of context. The Psalm is all about God’s protection of his people Israel who are surrounded by evil and oppression. It is not about God’s promised protection of his Messiah.
Satan, reasons, that if God really loved Jesus as a Son, he would not let any harm befall him. Jesus could jump and force God’s hand to dispel any doubt about his relationship with God. If he was God’s son, God would save him, because that is what good fathers do. But believing this lie had disastrous ramifications. God didn’t promise to save Jesus from injury, pain or death. In fact, God sent Jesus to die. If Jesus was to rationalize that his sonship, offered him protection in all circumstances, it would be logical for him to doubt that the cross was God’s will. God as a loving father wouldn’t want him to die, that’s ludicrous. And so, God’s plan of salvation would be in jeopardy.
Satan is a master at causing us to doubt our relationship with our own heavenly Father. And for some of you here today, this is a major area of weakness. For some of you, you doubt that God could love you enough to forgive your past sins. For others, you are doubting that Jesus lives in you because you don’t feel any power and don’t see any fruit. For others, you are doubting that God has a perfect plan for you because you can’t see that he cares for you here and now. Just like with Jesus, Satan will aim for your weak spot and raise doubts about the love, concern and plans of your Father.
But listen to the response of Jesus. Where Satan misquotes God’s word, Jesus quotes it reliably. He says don’t put God to the test. Trust Him, because He is trustworthy. Trust Him, because He knows what He is doing. Trust Him, because He loves you, but more than that, he wants the best for you.
I wonder where Satan is firing his Arrows tonight. If you are a threat to him, he will come after you will all the fire power he has. And you can be sure that Satan will always attack you where you are weakest, BUT the choice to sin is always yours. We can not prevent Satan’s attacks, but we can take some lessons out of Jesus’ self defense handbook. Know God’s word, be ready for Satan’s Attacks and make wise choices that don’t lead to sin. Be sure that Satan’s attacks will come, but let us like Jesus, stand on God’s word and choose not to succumb to sin.
