The Temptation of Jesus

The Temptation of Jesus

By Rev. Robert P. Elkins
All Scripture verse taken from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted


“1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."
7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test."
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”
Matthew 4:1-11

Notice in verse 1 that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. Just prior to this Our Dear Lord and Savior had just been baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin, John the Baptist. Oh how entirely different the scriptures and our entire way of communicating the things of God might have been if it had been John the Methodist or John the Lutheran. But it wasn’t, he was the Baptist and we are save in our Christian language. Forgive me for that little bit of humor; I hope you know it was a joke don’t you? Now back to the serious things. John has baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit has descended upon him in the form of a dove and the Father has voiced his approval. What a glorious mental image this gives us. This image has set the tone for the Christian believer since the first time it was witnessed so many years ago.

We as believers use the ordinance of baptism as the outward physical manifestation and witness to show the world and ourselves that we have been baptized into new life with our Lord and Savior Jesus. It’s symbolic of our death to sin; by this act we are now dead to the grasp of sin over us. We are a new person being raised out of the water, leaving the old self behind to be washed away and the new self being raised in Jesus Christ as a part of His resurrection and a new life for us not only in the future hope of glory in heaven but here on this tainted earth as well. We’re saying to the world; “Look at me! I was covered in the filth of sin and the impurity of a sinful life but I am no more. I’ve been washed in the water, cleansed by the blood and my sinful nature is now behind me and that’s where it’s going to stay. Amen.”

This baptism is a re-enforcer for us of our faith and a public witness for others to see (if you will) to what level our faith has carried us. In much the same way this is what it did for our Lord as well. Jesus didn’t need to re-enforce his faith that was never in question, but by his baptism, by the visual descending of the Spirit, by the audible voice of the Father, the world was given witness to the power of God and we were given witness to the cleansing power of the water over sin. The water is being symbolic of the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus.

And now following this momentous event strengthened by the Spirit, and led by the Spirit, Jesus enters the wilderness. My friend I’m here to tell you that it is not uncommon for the Holy Spirit to lead us into the wilderness after we’ve entered into a covenant relationship with God. It is not uncommon for the Spirit to lead us into the wilderness after we’ve open this relationship with God, a personal relationship, a knowing and accepting of this Savior Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Of our knowing and accepting as our King and Lord over all of our life this King of kings, Jesus Christ, and we are claiming that it is this Jesus that is in charge of our every fiber and being and sin no longer has control over us. Amen.

Scripture tells us that at some point, everyone will bend the knee and acknowledge Jesus Christ as King and Lord. And yes my friend this includes that old rascal Satan. He’s not exempt from the word of God, as much as he would like to think he is, he isn’t! And he is going to acknowledge Jesus as his king as well. Satan is going to bend the knee, he’s going to say; “Yes my Lord, I acknowledge that you are my Lord and King and that you have total and complete authority over me”. Glory to the Lord God Almighty, Amen.

For some of us when we are led into the wilderness we will be fully ready to go. We will hear his voice call us and we are going to say with a clear crisp response; “Yes Lord! I hear your call and I’m ready and willing to go wherever you send me. I’m eager and willing, direct me, talk to me and tell me where you want me and I’ll pack in an hour and be ready for the mission field.” Some of us will say, “If it’s your desire then it’s my desire “. No questions, no hesitation, God speaks, they listen and they go. When Jesus called Peter and Andrew to be his disciples the Bible says: “and they straightway left their nets and followed him”. When Jesus called James and John it says: “ and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him”.

And then again there will be some of us who are not so agreeable to respond to the call of the Spirit. If you find yourself falling into this category I’m here to tell you that if you’re in this group you’re still in good company, all hope for you isn’t lost. Ezekiel is a good role model for this category of believers. Ezekiel was one of Gods great prophets. He delivered the word of God to the people, he did the things God wanted him to do and he was “The Man” of his day. But our boy here, this great prophet to Israel wasn’t always ready to do everything God told him to do at the very moment God spoke to him.

Notice what it says in Ezekiel 3:14: “ So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heart of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me”.
Does this sound like he was an open willing vessel? “I went in bitterness in the heart of my spirit”. Ezekiel went because the hand of the Lord was strong upon him. I guess you could say that the Lord strongly impressed upon him to follow His direction. But the important thing is not the motivation behind how Ezekiel went, whether it was as an eager participant or strongly influenced in bitterness, the main thing is that he went! Ezekiel went as directed and it was through him as a servant of God that God used him greatly to accomplish his divine will and purpose. This pericope shows us that even if the heart isn’t into it fully God can and will still use us when we follow his direction, when we allow the Spirit to lead us, even if it is into a wilderness where we’ve never been or have any desire to go to. And of course there is always the third category I haven’t mentioned yet. There is a third group with which you could fall into, and of course this is the least desirable group to be in. You could be 100% totally rebellious and just say “NO! I’m not going to do it; I’m not going to go. I’m not going to hear your voice.” What is that that the little kids do with their hands over the ears and make strange sounds so that they can’t hear you? Or what’s that other one, “Speak to the hand”. I personally wouldn’t recommend this option when one is dealing with God but we all know that it’s out there.

Now before any of the “Super Saints” get themselves all worked up over this statement and rise in protest shouting; “Heresy, heresy, no man can stand up to God and say no or flaunt his power in the very face of the Living God”. I want you to think back into the pages of the Holy Scriptures and bring to remembrance one of my personal favorites of days gone by. Remember Jonah and his pet fish? Not only did he rebel and say “No” but he even went as far as to try to hide by going in the wrong direction in a ship. He was told to deliver a message to Nineveh somewhere out there in the center of the countryside and what did our friend do? He headed for the beach resorts of the gulf. Jonah opposed God completely and ignored his call. And do you remember Jonah’s job title? He was a prophet of the Lord! This guy carried his “Prophet Union Card” right there in his wallet. Jonah most likely carried it right next to his “Master Card”. Jonah was one of the “in crowd”, a chosen and set aside man of God and prophet. And of course we all know what happened to this poor lad for his disrespect to our Lord. God in his infinite wisdom and wonderful sense of humor decided to invent the first of it’s type personal manned submarine and got our hero of the story to his port of call and pointed him in the right direction this time. And now Jonah did as he was told, he delivered the message, as directed, to the people he was supposed to deliver it to. But if you know the whole story, he never did do it with a willing heart. Through the entire story outline we see him mad, pouting, rebellious and down right grumpy about it all. He never agreed with God, he never though it was a good idea and he always questioned the reasoning for the message. And how does the story of our friend Jonah end? With Jonah sitting out in the sun, pouting and sullen.

Now back to our pericope for this day. “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil”. As we read this most important verse we aren’t told per say what Jesus’ wilderness was but I think it’s safe to assume it means the dessert or the barren places of the Middle East. It was a quiet place where Jesus, full with the Spirit upon him, went and prayed and fasted for forty days and nights. Granted the Scripture doesn’t say that he prayed but by common sense we can make this deduction on our own. There are several places in the Scriptures that tell us that Jesus went off by himself to a quiet place to pray and I have no doubt that this isn’t the case here as well. So Jesus is out praying and fasting for forty days and nights and at the end he was hungry! I can only imagine so, what an understatement. The most I have ever fasted for is three days and at the end of that short time I was hungry. At the end of forty days I’d be able to eat an elephant!

Common sense tells us that Jesus entered the wilderness for a grander purpose other than fasting for such a long time. Jesus wasn’t out there just to design a great new weight loss program. As before stated there are several places in the Scriptures that record Jesus going off to “a wilderness”, going off by himself to a personal place of wilderness and he did so for the express purpose of praying to his Father. We should learn a lesson from his example. On a regular basis we too should be going to our private place for prayer and conversation with Father God. We should be going to the Father daily or even hourly if possible to talk things over with our Heavenly Father; he loves to hear from us. And once we get into the habit of praying we’re going to realize that our prayer time is actually a 2-way conversation. Prayer isn’t just you speaking from your personal prayer closet and there isn’t anyone out there listening to you. If that were the case then all of those dedicated prayer warriors would be classified as “Nuts” and they aren’t, at least I don’t think I am and I like to think of myself as a dedicated prayer warrior! You on the other hand may have a different opinion of me but that’s okay. Our prayers aren’t just words spoken with no one listening to us, our words don’t just go out there and there’s no response, that’s not prayer, that’s called communication with-in a marriage. But that’s another sermon for a later date. Prayer is you and God developing a personal relationship, we are establishing a line of communication between the Great Almighty and His creation. We talk and God listens and then with patience it develops into God talks and we listen. When we reach this level then we are really into prayer. But notice there is a time for each to talk and each to listen. I think for many of us it’s a one sided conversation, we do all the talking, and then walk away before we hear God respond to our prayers. There are some that talk so much they don’t even know how to listen. Their lips are so busy that their ears fall asleep. Be careful, maybe your talking lips are putting the ears of everyone around you to sleep as well. But … Jesus understood this concept of open 2-way communication in prayer. He knew that his Father in heaven was deeply interested in every aspect of his life just as our heavenly father is deeply interested in every aspect of our life. Each of us need to understand like Jesus did that the Father takes our every word to heart and cares for us as if we were the only child in the entire world. God loves all of us as a special family of his own but he also loves each of us as a Father loves his only child. If you walk away with nothing else today from this message let it be that God loves you completely and is totally interested in you’re every thought, word and action. Loving you is the very nature of God and God’s nature never changes. He always was, always is and always will be exactly the same.

Notice what the Scriptures said about Jesus and his trip into the wilderness in 4:1. He was led by the Spirit, but the Spirit had a purpose for this leading. And what you may ask was that purpose? That he might be tempted by the devil. Isn’t that what the scriptures said? “1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”
When I first read this I thought it strange that the Spirit would lead Jesus out to be tempted, or out into an encounter with the devil. Remember … God never tempts us … but he does allow Satan to tempt us. Satan is allowed, but he has to ask permission first, he did it with Job and he tried it with Peter. Now wouldn’t it have been just as easy for Jesus to avoid this encounter? Wouldn’t it have been just as easy for Jesus to have no contact with Satan and avoid all of this? Isn’t that just what many of us try to do all the time? Don’t we try to have no contact with the enemy on a regular basis? Don’t we try to wrap ourselves in “Christian wrapping paper”?

We study our Bibles, or at least we read from them every once in a while. We get a few Christian books to have sitting around the house, play some of that good Christian music, watch the 700 Club on the tube, have or associate with only good Christian friends and like to think that our family members are good Christians as well. That one there doesn’t always work out so well, we all have at least one in the family you’ve got to wonder about, will they be taking the up or down car at the end of their walk here on earth. Up to glory or down for regular or extra crispy. We walk the walk, we talk the talk and we are Christians through and through. Praise God, Hallelujah, Amen! And if we can avoid spending time in the wilderness wouldn’t it have been the best choice of direction for Jesus to do the same as well? And the proper answer to that of course is a resounding “NO”! Because had Jesus done that, which he could have, as God he could have done anything he wanted and taken any path he wanted to take. But had he done that and taken the easy path he would have left no example for us to follow. And every word Jesus left behind in the scriptures was for our benefit. Every action he took was for our benefit; every word of the Bible was placed there for our benefit and our use. We are supposed to us it and make the attempt to be as Christ-like as we can. But there is more to it than just this. My friend I’m here to tell you that the Spirit led Jesus, and that Jesus encountered the devil in the wilderness for one reason and one reason only. And that was for the benefit of you and I, it was because of Jesus’ love for you and I right to this very day that he allowed this meeting to take place. You see Jesus always knew that Satan could not, in any way, under any circumstance, for any reason, could never ever get the best of God, even on his best day. But Jesus allowed this meeting to take place solely for our benefit. Ready for more? Would you like to see some proof that what I say is correct?

You see my friend all of scripture is there for us to use as our rule and guide, 2nd Timothy says “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”. Jesus allowed this encounter with the devil so that we, you and I, that we could be thoroughly equipped for every good work, he didn’t do it for his own sake, he did it for ours. Jesus was showing that even though we wrap ourselves in our Christian wrapping paper, even though we do all that we can to insulate ourselves as best we can against the fiery darts of the devil, despite our best efforts we still have little gaps in our armor and some of those darts get through. If we didn’t have the example of Jesus to show us the way, we would all wander off into our own personal place of wilderness and we’d all have our personal encounter with the devil, and we’d be helpless were it not for the example of our Lord Jesus.

Each one of us may have a different place we feel is our personal wilderness but for each of us that wilderness is just as real as the one Jesus was in. And Satan is still there hiding in the darkness waiting for us to stumble in; he’s waiting there to tempt us just as he was there to tempt Jesus. But by following the example laid out for us by Jesus we can overcome that old rascal Satan. All we have to do is follow the example of our leader. When confronted by the old rascal, Jesus knew enough to confront him back with Scripture. What are the three best things about heaven? Location, location, location. Well Jesus used the same good logic here. What are the three best things to know when meeting Satan in your wilderness? It is written, it is written, it is written. Jesus didn’t try to go head to head with Satan, he didn’t challenge him on a personal level, or on an intellectual level, he just quoted Scripture to him. You know Satan used some pretty good logic himself when he confronted Jesus. Satan knew that Jesus hadn’t eaten in forty days so he tried to play on his humanity. Hungry? Turn these stones into bread. If you really look at this it’s a real good trick statement. In saying this Satan acknowledged that Jesus has the power and authority to do this mighty miracle so he’s playing to the ego of our Lord. And he’s playing to the desires of the human side of our Lord as well, Satan knew that the body of Jesus knows hunger. It would have been very easy for Jesus to fall into this trap. “You know who I am, you know what I can do and you know I’m hungry so why not do it, why not change a few stones into bread”.

Does Satan ever try to trick us by playing to our ego or our humanity? You bet he does. He knows where our wilderness areas are. What kind of toys or babbles does he try to dangle in front of us? Food like he did with Jesus? Maybe your wilderness area is sex or alcohol, Satan will dangle those things in front of you, and they appeal to the humanity of some of us. Maybe your wilderness is found in power or position, especially in a church. There are many that really covet that power or position or that weighty title. Your name in lights so to speak or reserved parking, which feeds the ego and the humanity of man or woman. But Jesus didn’t fall for the trick, How did he respond to the temptation? He quoted Scripture, “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Jesus is telling the devil; “Thanks but no thanks, bread is important but not as important as food for the soul. Without that there is no life at all”. Old Satan most likely was saying “Curses, that didn’t work, I’ll try it from a different angle”. And again he used good logic. Notice what he does next, he uses the same logic as Jesus. He quotes Scripture as well. “If you’re the Son of God throw yourself down for it is written”. Don’t think Satan won’t try to misuse Scripture on us as well. The lad knows God’s word, he just misuses it. Again Satan is trying to trick Jesus, this time he’s playing on the pride of Jesus the man. What he’s saying is “I know who you are, I know that you’re the Son of God, you’re the big shot, just step off the roof and all those angels will save you, they wouldn’t let anything bad happen to someone as important as you”. But our Lord doesn’t fall for this either, Jesus didn’t let pride get the best of him, he knew that pride leads to the downfall of sin. Jesus just responded with quoting Scripture again. “It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test”. But old Satan doesn’t miss a beat; he instantly escorts Jesus to the high place and tries to trick our Lord with vanity and greed. “All of this I will give you, all you’ve got to do is bow down and worship me”. But this time the old boy went too far. Once he mentioned worshipping anything other than God alone he crossed the line and Jesus shut the door on him. With the first two temptations Jesus kind of humored the old boy since they were simple little things that didn’t amount to a hill of beans. But now Satan has crossed into sacred territory and revealed his true desire, that he’s after the one thing that is reserved for God and God alone, he wants worship directed towards him. And with this 3rd “it is written” Jesus not only tells Satan what the Scriptures say “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”, but he adds a little extra as well, he displays his real power. He tells him to hit the road and he lets Satan know that “brother you don’t have a choice in this, it’s not an option and I’m tired of your games.” And as for Satan? What choice does he have? He knows he’s met his match and he slinks away.

And thus we come to the end of our reading and this sermon. We’ve seen the examples our Lord laid out before us. We’ve seen that like Jesus, we can use Scripture and repel the devil, we’ve seen that the real word of God is more powerful that anything Satan has in his bag of tricks. And now before we part company I have to ask you. What have you learned from all of this? Have you been made aware of any of your wilderness areas? Do you have any better understanding of where your weak spots are? And more importantly, do you know how to protect them? Do you understand that knowing the word of God is the biggest gun you have in your arsenal of weapons for fighting the devil? We all have wilderness areas. We all have those areas that have an open door for Satan to gain entrance to at times. I don’t know what your wilderness areas are but you should and if you don’t, ask God to reveal them to you because if you think you’re above having a wilderness area, guess what, you’ve got a big one and it’s known as pride.

We can do what Jesus did, we can quote scripture, we can tell Satan what God has to say and we can tell Satan when it’s time to hit the road. There’s power in the word of God and there’s victory over the devil. Know the word of God, live it, love it and claim it. Bath yourself in it, let it be a part of your every function and let it cover you in its beauty and power. We need to know the weapons we have at our disposal and we need to know where the battlefields are as well. Both are important if we are to win the battles of life that will be coming to confront us. It’s up to God to win the war; we can’t do it on our own. But we can win some of the battles if we know what weapons we have to work with. Allow me to close with a set of verses that can be the turning point in any Christian’s life if we take this to heart. Paul wrote this down for us a long time ago and it is the best advice or instructions we could ever hope to find. You have most likely seen this before but it’s a great reminder to have every once in a while.

(Ephesians 6:10-18) “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

Grace & peace