Luke 4:9-13

Scripture is a powerful thing. It tells us of the greatness of God’s love and grace towards us. It speaks freedom to our souls. It gives us eternal hope. So why is it that the devil can use it to create a wedge between us and God? Why is it that the devil can use God’s own words to cause us to mistrust God and to test His love?

This is what the devil tries here. Surely scripture is right that God would protect Jesus. But there is a difference between trusting that God will protect and testing that protection. The temptation – mistrust. Did Jesus really trust God enough to protect Him? If so, then why not test it out?

Testing, it would seem, would be a healthy way to know that God is there. But throughout history this has never worked out. While the devil wants us to believe that testing is a sign of faith, what it really is a sign of disbelief. If we really trusted God we wouldn’t have to test that trust.

How do we overcome it? Simply trust in God. Don’t test whether He will love and protect us. This is His promise that He will not break. True faith is a faith that trusts without being tested.

Luke 4:5-8

Is this really God’s world? The devil doesn’t think so. The devil thinks the world and all the kingdoms therein are his to give away. And they could all be yours, Jesus, if the price is right. And what’s the price – only bow down and worship the devil.

How is this even a temptation to Jesus? How was he supposed to be tempted by such a ludicrous offer? The temptation here is to take the easy way. Jesus knew that the world would be redeemed through Him. He knew that He would sit on the throne of judgment in eternity. But He also knew the price. The price was His taking on the sins of the world and dying on the cross. But the devil offers an easy way out. Jesus could skip all the pain and death and have the kingdom’s now. All He had to do was turn His back on His Father and pledge His allegiance to Satan.

The temptation – impatience. It’s one of the hardest temptations for us to overcome. We are all looking for the great things in life, but we don’t want to do the things that will bring them. We want them now instead of in God’s time.

How do we fight it? Trust in God and in God alone. Trust that God will give us exactly what we need in His time and in His way. That’s the only way we will truly get what God has planned for us.

Luke 4:1-4

The first Adam was in a garden filled with food. Jesus, the second Adam, was in a desert wilderness. Adam hadn’t fasted at all. Jesus had gone 40 days with no food. Adam could eat of any tree but one. Jesus didn’t even have a tree for shade.

There may be no garden, but it’s still the same serpent. And the same temptation. The temptation wasn’t to prove that He was the Son of God – the devil acknowledges that He is the Son of God. The temptation isn’t merely to satisfy himself with bread from stones. He feeds the 5,000 through His miraculous power and there is no sin there. No, the temptation is the same for Jesus as it was for Adam, to be God for Himself. The temptation is to use his power to fulfill His desires instead of trusting that God will give Him the best.

Isn’t that the same temptation for us today? To trust in our “own” power, those gifts and abilities God has given us, to feed our own needs. Instead of trusting in God, the temptation is to believe that we don’t need God to provide because we can provide for ourselves.

It’s a temptation as old as creation – self-gratification. But Jesus gives us the key to overcoming – Realize that there is more to life than our needs and that God will provide. The secret is to know that God is in control and that God will provide.