Luke 4:1

Luke 4:1

The Bible says in Luke 4:1-3, "And Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, afterward he was hungry. And the devil said unto him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread."

Of course, we know that Jesus was tempted like as we are, yet without sin. In the temptation of Jesus there are several important things to notice about Him in order to understand how to withstand the wiles of the devil, and in order to know how to avoid falling into sin. One of the first things that we notice is that before Jesus was tempted, the Bible says that He was full of the Holy Spirit and that He was led by the Spirit. We must never forget the importance of being led by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal in nature, but spiritual. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

In the first temptation that Jesus faced, the devil said, "If you be the Son of God." By saying "if" the devil was questioning the truth and doubting the truth. In some form or another the devil will always try to attack God’s truth. In this temptation and in each of the three temptations, Jesus would answer the devil by quoting the scripture and saying, "It is written." If you want to be equipped to know how to withstand the wiles of the devil that will come against your life, then you must know and stand unwavering upon the truth, the written Word of God. You must have Bible quotations in your mind and upon your tongue. If in some circumstance you are tempted to take that which is not legally and lawfully yours, you should remind yourself and whatever is tempting you by quoting the scripture and saying, "It is written, thou shalt not steal." If you are attracted to someone who is not your spouse, then you should be quick to remind yourself, "It is written, Thou shalt not commit adultery." Fewer sins would be committed by human beings if they were more diligent to remind themselves of what was written in the Word of God.

Jesus had been led by the Spirit to stop eating for forty days. Of course, there is nothing wrong with eating. We must normally eat two or three good meals a day in order to live a healthy life on this earth, and when God gives us our daily bread, we bow our hearts in thanksgiving to Him. But if the Spirit of God leads you to fast for a period of time, then you must fast. Perhaps Jesus had been fasting in order to demonstrate that spiritual nourishment is more important than even physical food. There is physical food, but there is also spiritual food. Guess which one is more important and which one should be of greatest priority in our lives.

When the devil tempted Jesus to make stones into bread, the devil was attempting to get Jesus to misplace His priorities: to make the physical and material more important than the spiritual. The answer that Jesus gave made it very clear what the priority should be. Luke 4:4 says, "And Jesus answered him saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." If the devil can get you to misplace your priorities, then he will cause you to fall.

There are few things more important than the Word of God. You eat every day in order for your body to stay strong and healthy. It’s imperative that you understand the importance of reading, thinking about, and studying God’s Word every single day. If you do not, you will weaken spiritually and your faith will not be as strong as it could be. Jesus was able to answer the devil’s temptations because of how well Jesus knew the scriptures. Memorizing scripture is not only spiritual food, it’s also a valuable resource that you will be able to use to fight against temptation.

There are many things that you can do to make sure that you have a good diet of the Word of God each day. Many times you hear people talk about dieting and being careful to eat the proper foods each day so they will be healthy. How many people take the advice that Jesus gave and make sure they have the proper spiritual diet each day so that their soul and their spirit will stay healthy? Do you have a regular diet that includes the Word of God? Think of some of the things that you can do each day to make sure that you consistently and daily partake of God’s precious and valuable and delicious Word of God. You can read God’s Word. It’s not how much you read that is important but that you read something that is meaningful to you and that you can take with you during the day. You can read the Bible according to a schedule that you create or you can obtain a Bible reading schedule that can assist you in doing such things as reading the Bible from cover to cover in a year. Whatever schedule you follow, I encourage you to start at the beginning of one of the books of the Bible and at least read that book from front to back before you go to another. The books of the Bible were meant to be studied from front to back. Doing so, will help you to avoid one of the biggest mistakes that some people make: taking Bible verses out of context.

Equally as important as reading and studying the Bible is Bible memorization. You will not be able to bring Bible verses to mind like Jesus did to fight temptation unless you have memorized certain verses. Bible memorization will reap great rewards for you and the benefits will keep coming back to you for the rest of your life once you have committed a verse to memory.

Of course, there are many other things that a person can do to make sure they have a steady diet of the Word of God to pass through their mind and heart. The sermons that you hear will hopefully be full of Bible content. If they are not, then they are not much of a sermon. "If any man speak, let him speak as of the oracles of God." There are good songs and books and poems that contain quotations and ideas that come from God’s Word. The words and ideas that you purposely bring into your mind will determine what kind of a person that you are. Without the Word of God, you will not have the words and ideas that a human being needs to have to live life the way it is meant to be lived.

Notice that Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." Jesus said "every" word of God because every word is important. In some ways the Bible is a mystery, a mystery that takes some very important ingredients to be solved. Since the Bible is a spiritual book, it’s imperative to have the Holy Spirit within you to enlighten your understanding. It’s also critical to remember what Jesus said here in Luke 4:4. "Every" word of God is important. That’s another reason that you need a daily diet of the Word of God. In order to thoroughly understand a particular doctrine or teaching you must compare scripture with scripture. Don’t use the Bible to try and justify some system of theology. The Bible does not fit as neatly into these systems of theology as some people seem to think. It is a lifetime effort to read it, to study it, and to think about it. The Bible is a living book. You need it every day as part of your life.

In the first temptation Jesus defeated the devil because Jesus kept His priorities right. He continued to make the spiritual more important than the material. The life of Jesus Christ stood firmly upon the principle that the Word of God is indispensable and is more important than food itself. Concerning the second temptation, the Bible says in Luke 4:5-8, "And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomever I will, I give it. If you therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

The devil offered Jesus the Kingdoms of this world. It was not an empty offer. The devil has the power to give such things, even if it’s only temporary. Elsewhere in the Bible the devil is called "the god of this world." Many people have taken much less from the devil, and in effect sold their soul to him. The devil offers power and glory. You had better be careful of what your view of this world is. Remember that the world is passing away and its strong desires. Anyone who is selfishly going after power and glory in this world, is going after what the devil offers. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: for all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Why is it wrong to love the world and the glory and power that it offers? One reason is because we are supposed to love God. In our hearts we are supposed to be doing what we do out of service to God. Jesus said in the gospels, "No man can serve two masters. Either you will love the one and hate the other, or else you will despise the one and cling to the other." It’s not necessarily wrong to obtain power and glory in this world, but it is wrong if you obtain it in place of serving the Lord thy God. Remember that Jesus resisted this temptation by quoting the scripture that says, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."

Notice that in this second temptation Jesus said to the devil, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Never underestimate your power to say "no" to the devil. God has given you a free will. The devil cannot make you do anything. He can tempt you, but then you are the one who makes the final decision. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." If you serve God, if you walk with God, and if you are properly prepared; you have every right and authority to say what Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan."

The word Satan means adversary. Satan is the adversary of the human race. One of the reasons that he tempts you is to destroy you. "The devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." The devil knows that the consequences of sin and selfishness are negative and destructive. The devil makes things look attractive, but what he is offering is corruption and degradation and sin. Don’t just look at what is being offered to you, look at the consequences of what is being offered to you. All of Satan’s apples have worms.

Concerning the third temptation the Bible says in Luke 4:9-12, "And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If you be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

This time Jesus is tempted to do something foolish and impractical: defy gravity, and then to depend upon God to protect Him. But God created gravity and other things in the natural world that limit and to a great degree control our daily lives. A wise person will understand the world in which he lives. One way to find the will of God is to find what makes sense in your situation. The problem is that common sense isn’t so common. Don’t do that which does not make sense and then expect God to bail you out. There are consequences to behavior. For every action there is a reaction. Many of the things that happen to you in your life are simply a consequence of what you did. Don’t do something foolish, and then expect God to perform a miracle to fix everything. Jesus did not do that. Instead, He said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Don’t throw it all away on a whim or a wish. Be practical. Carefully consider the probable result of your actions.

One more thing to notice about the third temptation of Jesus is that the devil quoted scripture. He quoted from Psalm Chapter 91. He saw that Christ was determined to keep the teachings of scripture, and so the devil tried to use scripture to get Christ to do the wrong thing. That’s the same method used by the false cults. They often quote the Bible but they do so out of context. They twist the scriptures to their own destruction and the destruction of those who hear them. Some Christians have also come up with the wrong doctrine or wrong philosophy of life like how to raise children because of taking a verse or two out of context without considering everything the Bible says on a subject. The Bible makes sense. If your interpretation of something from the Bible does not make sense, then it’s probably your interpretation that is wrong. When Jesus was asked to do something that did not make sense even though it was based on a quote from the Bible, Jesus said, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

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