TEXT: Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, " If you are the "Son of God", command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered, It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone' " Then the devil led him up and showed him in a instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him. To you I will give all the glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours, Jesus answered him, "it is written', "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only . Then the devil took him to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple saying to him, " If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you, and on their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him, " It is said,'Do not put the Lord your God to the test. when the devil had finished every test,' he departed from him until an opportune time. What is Temptation? How does temptation effect you? how do you handle it? The disciples knew it is possible to view temptation as as a trap or snare or stumbling block along each step in a believers earthly journey, an everyday fact. It is also possible to view temptations sudden drastic crisis forcing a choice which is a test.. It may loom up quickly at a fork in life's road. It is a false choice alternatives.
It is never accidental. It is always probing, always crucial, always fierce- because it is real. It involves the issues of life and death.
"Temptation" in the Bible has two chief meanings. The first is that inward prompting or enticement or allurement to sin with our consciences, makes us familiar.
It is regarded as the devils work or the work of the world, or our own inward and innate inclination to sin.
The second main sense of the word temptation in the Bible means trial, or testing and refers to circumstances in life to test a persons faith, courage, and resolution. It may sanctify life an build character. Often both senses are present and possible. You can see both meanings in the biblical accounts of our Lords temptations. It was God the "Holy Spirit who led and drove Jesus to seek the wilderness. It was the devil who tempted him once he in the wilderness. Through the temptation of
Jesus by the Devil, in the wilderness, Jesus has taught us how to pray, " Lead us not into temptation."
By that temptation, Jesus in the wilderness had himself been led by the spirit to go where temptation was. He knew its strength and danger. All three of his temptations, stretching over period of forty-days, were wholly concerned with the choice of right and wrong, between higher and lower means of carrying out the mission on which his heavenly Father had sent him, by giving him an noble end justifies any means.
Can we doubt the seriousness of the those-forty days in the wilderness of decisive conflict? On the outcome hung the whole issue of his mission on earth and every hope of salvation for mankind.
Our Lord was setting out upon the mission of his heavenly Father. His mission was to bring his own people and all mankind into the kingdom of God, free from the "Evil" one. For that mission he possessed gifts and powers that were brought to light in fullness at his Baptism by " John the Baptist, when the voice from Heaven declared, " Thou art my beloved Son;" with thee I am welled pleased." But, those gifts and powers were his only purpose of his mission. He was not to use them
for private mission or selfish personal human reasons. He must resist, even strike down each and every temptation to misuse his gifts or abuse his powers.
We do not know which wilderness was the scene of the temptation of our Lord. We do know that the wilderness meant that Jesus was very much alone in this entire time of solitude and struggle. Alone that is, except for the presence of Satan, the Evil one. The tempting of the devil was continuous and powerful, deliberately, designed opposition to God and the works of God. He was actually present in hand to hand combat with the "Son of God"
The first temptation in our text is the temptation of the flesh! It starts with the big "IF."
"If you are the Son of God" thus starts the devil plea. It is designed to undercut the completeness of the loyalty and Christ's acceptance of the necessary limitations on him and his redemptive mission as a voluntary son of man. The devil knew Jesus was not to use his divine power for self-gratification or fulfillment of his merely human needs. The temper gives him a choice between spectacular and the prophetic, the miraculous and the priestly. He lures Jesus with preoccupation with externals. Jesus was hungry, very, very very hungry. The appeal was tricky; it was a deep-seated lure,which the miraculous tends often to hold for human beings. His rejection of the temptation lies in the living proclamation the living word. The second temptation is designed to be a bargain sale.. Jesus is to choose between a wholly unrestrained display of power, as the second in command to the prince of this world. " Now" and the promise of the future glory after suffering by the way of the cross and finally death. The view was big. The view was big. The view was beautiful and alluring. The price of exchange was open to apostasy in exchange for one act of devil worship. Another big IF: " if you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours." To exchange the whole world for one simple act of devil worship might sound like a good bargain and a fair exchange."
It would only be a slight concession. Jesus could gain a lot by conceding a little., but thereby he would deny his heavenly Father's exclusive, absolute, and total claim on him., without competition,
with no compromise, with out a bit of concession.
The third temptation was the temptation of the Spirit. To tempt God is the highest spiritual enticement. Were it to take place in the Holy city, in fact Jerusalem, the Holiest of the Holy cities, there not just anywhere but on the very pinnacle of the holiest building, the "Temple" a holy place! To this the devil adds a Holy Book, the Holy Bible, quoting from the book of Psalms. From it the fallen angel ventures to speak even of those mysterious mighty creatures,the holy angels, and invites the savior to place, even for moment, a false trust in holy things. We as Christians must prepare ourselves with the word of God, which is the armor of God, by the strength of God. In all "3"
temptations of Satan, our Lord over-came the tempter, changing the big "IF" into the affirmations of trust and faithfulness, based on the sure word of God. Amen! Luke 4:1-13].
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