Luke 4:1-13
Jesus meets the devil
We are up to part 4 in the series…..Jesus meets……
And this week we are looking at the time in the wilderness when Jesus met the devil.
And the first thing for us to understand about this particular meeting, is that Jesus deliberately met with the devil- Jesus deliberately went to the wilderness to confront the devil.
Unlike the garden of Eden, where the devil confronted Adam and Eve and sought them out and perhaps caught them unaware….this meeting of Jesus and the devil was initiated by Jesus
Look at verse 1 with me:
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil
Jesus led by the spirit, led by God himself, who was and is God himself went into the desert and was immediately tempted by the devil.
It was like Jesus went into the wilderness to call the devil out for a fight- and the devil obliged, he came tempting and testing Jesus.
In the all-boys high school that I went to, there was a an old out-door squash court at the back of the school that was used for fights. If some-one wanted to fight some-one else, they would call them out to the old squash court. It was a place where teachers didn’t supervise, it was a place where people went to fight.
Jesus was meeting the devil in the wilderness for a fight.
And after the devil had been tempting and testing Jesus in the wilderness perhaps for the whole 40 days that Jesus was fasting, the devil perhaps thought he could finally deliver the knock-out blow to Jesus.
After 40 days of no food, and yet probably some water, and after 40 days of no other human being around, when Jesus was perhaps at his lowest physical and mental condition, after all, he was human like me and you, the devil may have thought he could come in for the kill, and so he came at Jesus with a 1,2,3 combination.
The devil perhaps thought he had him, Jesus was hungry – starving, Jesus was alone, and he was surrounded by a dry and barren land.
Unlike the garden of Eden, when the devil confronted Adam and Eve. In the garden, at least Adam and Eve had each other, they didn’t lack any food, their bellies were probably full, they had a smorgasbord of trees to choose fruit for lunch…they were surrounded by paradise.
If the devil caused Adam and Eve to fall in the garden of Eden, when everything was “sweet”, then perhaps the devil thought he could make Jesus fall in the wilderness, when humanly he was at his lowest point.
And even though the circumstances for Jesus were different compared to Adam and Eve, the devil still used the same tactics he used in the garden, and it is the same tactics he still uses today.
Look at the first knock-out blow that the devil tries to deliver in verse 3
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
The devil’s first knock-out blow attempt, was to try and make Jesus question the goodness of His father.
Satan presented Jesus with what we would consider a reasonable request- “If you are the Son of God, if you are who you say you are- and you are hungry- then eat- turn these stones into bread and eat- you can do that- you deserve to do that for yourself, after all- you are the son of God. It won’t hurt anyone, turning a few stones to bread, why should you have to go hungry- You deserve better!
This is the same line that satan spun in the garden to Eve. He made Eve question the goodness of God.
If God really loves you, he wouldn’t have held back that fruit from you, maybe he is not really looking out for you….may be God is holding back from you, because he doesn’t really love you….You deserve better!
Friends, if I was a betting man, but I am not, I would put all my money on this being the number one tactic the devil uses today to entice those who once had faith in Jesus to no longer following him.
We still believe the lie of the devil- that God is not enough!
We still believe the lies of the devil which whispers in our ears, “God is not good, God holds his goodness from us”
When sorrow, grief or loss strike us, we question the goodness of God and we walk away. We desire our own comfort more than we desire God himself. We believe the lie that God is not working for our own good. We look at our hunger, pain and loss and believe that God is not working for our good in that!
Or we read God’s commands of prohibition to us, and we think that God is a kill- Joy. We don’t look at God’s prohibitions as his way of showing us his love, but we consider them cruel.
Take for example, God’s prohibitions to us on sexual relationships.
God prohibits homosexual relationships; in fact, he prohibits any sexual relationship outside God’s ordained pattern of marriage between one man and one woman. And those prohibitions are a wonderful thing- it helps cultivate and protect a sexual relationship within the design of God’s plan- and so we can truly rejoice in God’s pattern for marriage…….and yet instead we often lament on the prohibition…..
We listen to the lies of the devil who whispers…..
These prohibitions are a kill- joy
Love is love right
You aren’t hurting anyone else
God is holding back on you
You can’t find contentment in God’s way of marriage,- you must find your own.
Often the devil packages these lies in a bow of “reasonableness”
It was reasonable to eat if Jesus was hungry
The whole marriage debate was package in the bow of “marriage equality”
Who doesn’t want equality?
Unfortunately, the devil has twisted the word “equality” so much, that there is probably not an agreed definition these days.
Or take for example, the anti-discrimination of religion bill which is being debated through parliament at the moment.
Doesn’t the very title make it a lovely package to receive?
No-one wants to be discriminated against, do they?
Who would disagree with this?
Apart from the majority of religious organisations.
If this bill passes as it is, Christian schools would be forced to employ non-Christian teachers.
Can you imagine if this church, under the banner of “inclusivity” let us all sit round a camp fire and sing cum by ah, employed an assistant pastor who was an atheist- some-one who didn’t believe in God….I hope you are thinking that would be crazy….
In 1 Timothy 3, it tells us that not only does a pastor have to believe in God, but a pastor cannot be a person, who has only just recently come to believe in God. They can’t be a recent convert. God put this prohibition for a pastor into the bible for the good of the church, the good of the pastor…..and yet sadly, some consider these prohibitions, as God being exclusive, God holding back- God being a kill- Joy.
Friends, the number one lie that the devil continues to spin today and has so from the beginning is that God is not enough for you- you deserve better!
This is why at this church we continue to beat the same drum week after week- the drum that we are here to enjoy Jesus together. Whatever the circumstances of your life may be, whether you are in a season of paradise in the garden, or you are in the season of the wilderness- I want you to remember that Jesus is enough!
He is always for you! He is always working for your good and His Father’s glory!
The reason Jesus didn’t turn those stones into bread, even though he was hungry, was because it wasn’t the good will of his father to do so. No matter how hungry Jesus was, no matter how easy it would have been for Jesus to do it, - He didn’t do it, because he knew that was not His father’s will for him. He knew his father had a better plan for him.
And that better plan included suffering, the suffering of the cross.
Jesus knew that pleasing his Father was all that mattered.
Jesus never questioned his status as the son of God- He knew he was the son of God, - satan was right on that count! Jesus never questioned his unique relationship with God the father, he did however, refused to be drawn into satan’s trap of thinking that just because he was God’s son, he should not suffer.
No, Jesus knew, precisely because he was God’s son, that his father had called him to suffer, suffer on the cross. Suffer, knowing the Joy set before him- the Joy of redeeming you and me and all who believe in him.
Friends, if you are a son of God, heirs according to the promise, that is what sonship signifies in the New Testament and so it applies to men and women, if you are a son of God, then we too have been called to suffer for our faith- this is what God promises us.
And yet even within that suffering for your faith, you will find exceeding Joy in Jesus, Joy knowing that your suffering in this life is only temporary, Joy in knowing that our suffering in this life is nothing, nothing, compared to the weight of Glory which awaits us.
So as satan threw his first punch at Jesus, Jesus entrusted himself to his father and wielded the same sword that we too have at our disposal when satan tempts us, Jesus hit back with the word of God or the sword of the spirit as it tells us in Ephesians 6:18.
Look at the response of Jesus from verse 4
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’
Jesus said it is written, He said to satan, “this is what the bible says”
There are so many points I could make about this response of Jesus, but I will just limit it to a few.
First of all, let us not be shy of saying to others, “this is what the bible says”?
And why, because if we believe that the bible is what it claims to be, words that have been breathed, spirited out by God according to 2 Timothy 3:16, then as we say, this is what the bible says, we are really saying, this is what God says.
Secondly, if we are going to say, this is what the bible says, then let us make sure that what we are saying is actually in the bible.
I have sometimes heard people say, I think the bible says something like that doesn’t it, - a classic misrepresentation of the bible, is when people say, the bible says that the root of all evil is money- the bible never says that- it does actually say, “the root of all kind of evil is the love of money” not money itself- there is a big difference.
Money is not evil- the love of it is- there is a big difference.
Thirdly, it is great to know all the verses of the bible in context, but let us still memorise and learn verses of scripture, even if we don’t know the context.
For example – memorise – John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that who so ever believes in him, should not perish but have everlasting life”- You don’t need to know the whole context of John chapter 3, you don’t need to know who Nicodemus was in order for you to understand this verse. Yes, it is great to know context, but let us also memorise verses- they are good- God brings them to your mind, when you most need them.
I know- God has often dropped Psalm 46:10 into my mind- “Be still and know that I am God”. Sure, the context of Psalm 46 helps me also, knowing that even though mountains crumble and fall into the sea, God is still with me. But I can still just remember that I can be calm and still, and why because I know God. I know God through his son Jesus- through his word.
In the response that Jesus gave to satan, he directly quoted scripture from Deuteronomy 8:3 which says:
And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
God spoke these words to the Israelites while they were wandering in the desert for 40 years. He spoke these words to remind the Israelites that while they were hungry in the desert, they weren’t to satisfy their hunger by doing it their own way- that was by storing up bread for the following days, but they were to trust God that He would feed them each and every day, day after day.
And feed them God did, day after day, morning after morning, God supplied all they needed for that day and the next and the next.
God was teaching his people that it was more important to trust Him, than to trust in their own “clever schemes”.
Sadly, his people failed, they stored the bread for the next day and it became stale, and worm infested.
Jesus didn’t fail though, he didn’t trust in the devil and his schemes, but he entrusted himself to His Father, knowing and believing that His Father’s way was best.
Our trust in God’s word is literally more important than our trust in our own perceived “human wisdom”. Food always runs out, but God’s word is living and active and as we read and meditate on God’s word it should dwell up in our hearts, overflowing to life eternal. His word is like springs of living water, springs which never run dry.
So, there is the first knock-out blow that the devil tries to land on Jesus but fails, so let us quickly have a look at the last two.
The next lie, which the devil threw at Jesus, was again a lie that he continues to spin today, it is the lie that tells us that “God is not in control”. The devil told Jesus that His Father was not the one who was almighty, all glorious, all sovereign, but instead he tried to convince Jesus that he was, and so Jesus had to bow to him.
Look at verses 5-7
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I will give it to whom I will. If you will then worship me, it will all be yours
Interestingly, even in this temptation that the devil delivers to Jesus, he gave away the truth that he, the devil isn’t the one who is ultimately in control. He admits in his statement that any authority and so-called glory had been delivered to him.
As troubling, as it may sound that the devil has been given some authority on this earth, we must understand that anything, anything that the devil does is all done under the authority of God. The book of Job paints a picture of God and the devil as one like a man and a dog on a lead. God has the dog on a leash, and he only allows him to do what the owner wills. Just like when God allowed the devil to cause suffering to Job, but didn’t allow the devil to kill him.
Friends, if we don’t believe that God is the one who is ultimately in control, we will instead worship those things which we think give us power and control. The aim of the devil, was for Jesus to worship him. If Jesus thought it was the devil who gave him power and glory and authority, he would have worshipped him.
Friends, what things do you think give you power, and glory and authority?
Is it your career?
Your reputation?
Your money?
Your status?
If you think these things give you authority and glory and power, you will worship these things, you will sacrifice anything in order to feed these things, which ironically and ultimately don’t bring you glory, and power and authority, because all glory, all power, all authority belong to Jesus and Jesus alone.
Look at how Jesus responded to the lie…..again….he went straight to scripture and he went straight to the heart of the matter.
Look at verse 8 with me:
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
Friends when we worship other things rather than Jesus, we are settling for second best, way second best, we are settling for a devon sandwich instead of rump steak.
What we may sacrifice all our lives for, ends up being a devon sandwhich- tasteless.
Now, after the devil had failed in his first two knock out blows, he tries one more knock-out blow- he tries to entice Jesus to prove himself by doing something extra ordinary.
The devil even used the scriptures themselves to try and tempt Jesus.
Look at verses 9-11 with me:
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
11 and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Satan tempted Jesus to prove to him that he was the son of God, and he asked Jesus to do something grand and something stupid.
Friends, we don’t have to do anything extra ordinary to prove we are children of God, we don’t need to make big sweeping heroic acts to prove we belong to Jesus. In fact, if we are looking to do something heroic for Jesus, we are often wanting to do those things for our own glory, not his. We are perhaps trying to impress others, whom we don’t need to impress.
Friends, we don’t need to prove to anyone that we belong to Jesus, God knows who are his, we don’t have to impress anyone, we don’t have to prove our status as children of God, why?-
Because we are already children of God.
Through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we have been adopted into his family, our sins have been forgiven, we have been sealed into God’s family.
We don’t have to prove that to anyone, we don’t have to perform any heroic acts.
Often, it is what we don’t do, rather than what we do, which reflects that we are children of God.
Notice, Jesus did not turn stones into bread- it may have looked cool- it may have been impressive, but Jesus didn’t do that- He just trusted his father.
Jesus didn’t grab power and authority of the kingdoms of the earth, instead he just trusted himself to his father.
Jesus didn’t throw himself off a building to prove that his father would look after him, no- he knew his father always looked after him- he just entrusted himself to his father.
Friends, the devil tried his 1,2,3 knock-out blow and failed.
Jesus conquered, he conquered where Adam and Eve failed in the garden
Jesus conquered, he conquered where Israel failed in the wilderness
And how did Jesus conquer?
He simply entrusted himself to his father.
Friends, do we trust Jesus?
Trust that he has passed the test we all failed
Trust that we have forgiveness of sins
Trust that he picks us up when we fall
Trust that he is for us, and if he is for us, then who can be against us?
Let us pray.
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