The Devils Temptation of Jesus, Part 2 | How to Fight Temptation

Luke 4:1-2

So here in Luke’s Gospel, fourth chapter, let’s enter the passage together, just starting with reading the passage about the devil’s temptation of Jesus Christ. Says there in Luke chapter 4, verse 1. “And Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil, and he ate nothing during those days, when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you’re the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’   

“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 give it to whom I will, if you then will worship me, it will all be yours.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”’ And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you’re the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and on their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him, until an opportune time.”

let’s take a look at the significance of the temptation, the significance of the temptation. There are a couple aspects of biblical significance we want to observe. Let’s start with the significance of Jesus as the last Adam. Luke started with Jesus, maternal grandfather, Eli, Luke 3:23 and then he moved in reverse order, all the way back to the father of all mankind, Adam in verse 38, and ultimately to God himself. The close connection with Adam, as we turn the corner from Luke 3:38, to Luke 4:1 the mention of Adam’s name followed immediately by the devil’s temptation of Jesus, this points to the significance of what Jesus came to do, where Adam failed, Jesus prevailed. Jesus entered into suffering in the sin curse world that Adam’s failure was responsible for.

We live in a sin cursed world and Jesus suffered in a barren desert that resulted from Adam’s failure. He was tested in the wilderness in a cursed Earth. It was the deadness of a sun baked desert. And unlike Adam, Jesus was not well fed, he was famished. Jesus was tested, it says, “During the 40 days of fasting and” End of verse 2, “When those days were drawing to a close, he was hungry.” Hungry, weak, he’s amid deadness and barrenness, it’s dry and empty. This is how Adam left the paradise that he received.

What was once the symbol of very life and blessing, and it’d become a cursed Earth. It was held fast in the vise grip of death. And as Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, “Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Here we are, what Adam lost, Jesus came to restore. And the significance of this time of temptation by the devil, God wanted to give Satan a crack at it. Go ahead. He brings Satan into the wilderness to give it his best shot at Jesus and he failed; he failed to make Jesus fall. Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. And aren’t we thankful? Because Jesus has become the progenitor of a new race of those who believe, a redeemed humanity.

Paul continues that thought in Romans 5:18, and 19, “As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners. So by the one man’s obedience, the many will be made righteous.” That’s one aspect of the significance of the devil’s temptation of Jesus. Jesus came to fulfill the perfect righteousness of God, by obeying perfectly by never sinning. What Adam failed to do, leading the entire race into sin, Jesus succeeded, leading all those who believe into perfect righteousness and starts right here.

There’s another significant aspect of this temptation. This period of testing here, it shows Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jesus restores Adam’s race and he does so through the restoration of Abraham’s race, a believing race. Jesus is the promised seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the perfect Israelite. Look again at Luke 4:1-2. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for” What? “40 days, being tempted by the devil.” Why 40 days? Why 40? What’s the significance of that period of time? Why couldn’t it have been 39 days or 83 days?

Forty is basically a number that is symbolic of a generation. Whether we’re looking at 40 days or 40 years, it’s symbolic of the lifespan of a generation. To get even more specific, the number of 40 seems to stand for a period of significant testing. So this is a biblically significant number. Sometimes it refers to judgment itself. The flood rains lasted 40 days and nights, Genesis 7 and 8. God was provoked with Israel and judge the nations with 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, which is what we read in Hebrews. Enough time for the unbelieving disobedient generation to die off.

So this number 40 it indicates a period of significant judgment, but we have to note, we especially see this in the Old Testament, that even in judgment, God tempered punishments with mercy. He was merciful. He sustained his people, by his gracious provision. Some people think, boy, I’m under the judgment of God. There’s no hope for me. I’m in complete despair. You know what? Even in judgment, God shows mercy. Even when there are severe consequences to our sin, God’s there to visit us with mercy if we’ll humble ourselves before him and beg for his mercy. God sustained Israel during 40 years of wilderness wanderings. It was in the midst of judgment that God demonstrated his favor for Israel, even teaching, training the nation to trust him, during that time, to worship him and him alone, to please him fully.

Again, there are a number of passages that demonstrate this, Exodus 16:35, Deuteronomy 2:7, Deuteronomy 8:2-4, Deuteronomy 29:5, Nehemiah 9:21, Amos 2:10, Acts 7:36, Acts 13:18. Let me just read one of those passages, just to make the point Deuteronomy 8:2-4, Moses wrote this. “You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you during these 40 years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know.” Why? “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. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell during these 40 years.”

It’s pretty apparent from the fact that Jesus answered the devil’s temptations every single time from the book of Deuteronomy. It’s pretty apparent he was thinking about that passage during his own time of testing in the wilderness. For him, these 40 days, they were symbolic of the wilderness wanderings. While Israel never learned to trust God wholly, never learned to trust God consistently, Jesus did. Never a moment of break in his trust of God. Each of the devil’s temptations reveal and demonstrate Jesus perfect trust in God, unbroken.

First temptation, look at it there in Luke 4, says, “Israel needed to learn to live not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” But Israel failed. Didn’t the nation fail crying out for food? They were willing to kill Moses and Aaron, return to Egypt. Jesus by contrast, he stood firm, he passed the test. Luke 4:4 he answered the devil “It is written man shall not live by bread alone.” Which pointed to the teaching of that whole passage.

Second temptation, next verses, verses 5-8. Israel needed to learn to worship Lord God and serve him only. They were to love God, Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.” Verse 13 of Deuteronomy 6, Moses warned, “It’s the Lord your God, you shall fear, him you shall serve, by his name you shall swear, you shall not go after other gods.” But Israel repeatedly disobeyed, repeatedly went after other gods. Jesus stood firm though, he passed the test. Luke 4:8, Jesus answered the devil, “It’s written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'”

Third temptation, verses 9-12. Israel needed to learn to please the Lord, that pleasing him was the only thing that mattered in life. But Israel did not please the Lord, Israel complained instead against God. Israel grumbled, tested his patience repeatedly, over and over and finally incurred his wrath and his judgment. Jesus, he didn’t succumb to that temptation at all, as he told the devil Luke 4:12 “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'”

Listen, by enduring these 40 days of testing, by standing firm against all the devil’s temptations, Jesus demonstrated his place as the perfect Israelite. He’s the quintessential Israelite; he fulfilled perfectly what both Adam and Israel had failed to do. Listen, that’s the significance of these temptations, it proves that only Jesus could accomplish all this for us. While this passage does help us understand howta withstand temptation ourselves, ultimately, we need to see, not that we can be successful. We need to look at Christ. We need to see not just what he could do, but what he did, in fact, do. Because he’s our only hope. We need to see that Jesus prevailed, we need to stop and worship him. He fulfilled all this by the power of the Holy Spirit, in obedience to the father, for the glory of the father. As the perfect Israelite, Jesus obeyed the law and he obeyed all the law.

Everything that God revealed to Moses at Sinai, Jesus obeyed and thus he becomes the fulfillment of all the promises of God, to Israel, through Israel, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. By fulfilling that perfect law of God, Jesus takes his place as the last Adam. He fulfilled all righteousness, he pleased God in every way, and he has become the representative head of a new race of redeemed people, that’s us. So we’ve seen in the context, we’ve seen the context of the temptation, we’ve seen the significance of the temptation, this period of testing, it’s the foundation for Jesus’ entire messianic ministry.

Let’s consider a third point: The purpose of the temptation, the purpose. Why, why did Jesus need to go through this time of testing? I mean, we see the significance, but did it have to happen this way? It’s not as if the father needed to prove anything. He knew. His affirmation of the son, remember, came at his baptism, before this time of testing in the wilderness, not after. No, the father didn’t need anything proven or verified. He knew the son’s nature, not just fully man, but fully God as well.

So why was the suffering necessary? What was the purpose? Was it Jesus who needed the encouragement? As in, hey, look at this, I can withstand all temptation. I am the Messiah after all. Was this about his confidence? Son didn’t need anything proven or verified either. He’d known since he was a 12 year old young man, who he was. The subsequent 18 years of the study of God’s word, all those years of submissive obedience to his parents. Everything else had brought him up to this point all of it confirmed what he knew to be true. He didn’t need any subjective experience to steel his resolve. He didn’t need an experience here to encourage him to embrace his role. He knew who he was, he knew who the father was. He was confident.

So for whose sake is this period of temptation, for whose sake is this period of qualification? What is the point? Couple passages in Hebrews that I’d like to show you to provide a sufficient answer for this question. Turnover in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 and we’ll start there. “Since therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things. And through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” What does that tell us? It tells us that Jesus stood up to the bully of the universe, he put him down.

“For surely it’s not angels that he helps but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest, in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Some people wonder how it is that the holy Son of God being perfect, unable to sin, as it says in verse 18, how he could truly suffer when tempted, did Jesus suffer when he was tempted? Well, this verse tells us he most certainly did suffer. So we need to wonder, well, in what way did he suffer? Make no mistake about this, Jesus suffered more pressure during temptation than you and I ever will. Why? Because he outlasted the temptation.

He endured longer than the temptation had the power to endure. We don’t. We never see the temptation all the way to its ending. We don’t ever get to that point, because we break first. I had a dear professor in seminary named Trevor Cragin. A salt of the earth man, he was a native of Rhodesia, which is modern day Zimbabwe. He provided an illustration that’s helped me understand this a bit better, perhaps you’ll find it helpful as well. Think about humanity as having the strength of like a wooden broom handle. It’s strong enough for its tasks. If you put enough pressure on a wooden broom handle it eventually it’s going to break, isn’t it? That’s us.

When we’re visited with temptation, we feel that pressure to give in, but when we call out for God as we ought to, and he delivers us, the pressure relents, we don’t break, we continue sweeping the room. If we continue battling the temptation on our own strength, you know what happens, we will eventually break. We’re just wooden broom handles, after all. So Jesus in sharing flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that is to say, in his humanity, he is like that wooden broom handle, feeling all the pain, the pressure that we do, and yet his humanity is lashed, it’s tied to a titanium bar, the titanium bar of a divine nature, which never ever breaks. His divine nature is untemptable, as James tells us, God cannot be tempted with evil.

So even when these temptations visited Jesus, though he didn’t break, he felt all the pressure to break in his humanity. He felt the full force of those temptations because he never broke. He outlasted every temptation, which is something you and I are unable to do on our own. But he endured, so that, Hebrews 2:17, “So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest, in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Oh, he felt it all right, he felt every ounce of pressure, he endured to the end. It’s an imperfect illustration. Don’t try to make it get up and walk on all fours, like all illustration, it will break down at several points. But if you just take it for the simple point it’s meant to illustrate, how Jesus could feel real pressure, suffer when tempted, more significant pressure than you and I will ever, ever feel. It’s sufficient to illustrate that purpose and notice, if you look ahead to Hebrews 4:14-15. Take a look at that. The writer reinforces what we just learned. “Since then, we have a great high priest who’s passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who’s unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” So for the purpose of becoming our merciful, high priest, Jesus entered into the wilderness to endure the greatest of all temptations from the greatest tempter in the world.

Before he commenced his messianic ministry, it wasn’t just death for sins that was on his mind, but also his advocacy before the father. He prays for us when we are tempted. He suffered through this immense pressure to break to give into sin, and yet never relented so that you and I can pray to him. You know what, when you’re tempted, when you’re suffering, when you’re struggling, you know what, he knows, he has been there, he’s felt it, and he succeeded. He never failed, you can come to him for strength, he will help you in every need.

Let’s keep reading though, in Hebrews because there’s one more purpose, Hebrews chapter 3, one more purpose of Jesus testing in the wilderness. Take a look at it there. Hebrews 3:1-6. “Therefore holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle, and High Priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much as a builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. Every house is built by someone; the builder of all things is God. Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. Christ is faithful over God’s house, as a son.” There’s another purpose here. Writer calls Jesus not only the High Priest of our confession, but he’s a leader after the pattern of Moses, and yet he’s counted of worthy of more glory than Moses.

God told Moses, Deuteronomy 18:18, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” So Israel was always looking for the second Moses, the one who would inaugurate a new covenant, which Jeremiah prophesied, Jeremiah 31:31-34. Like Moses before him, Jesus was in the wilderness with no one to sustain him, but God. Like Moses, Jesus prepared himself to receive God’s word and then to deliver that word to God’s people.

Moses was prepared 40 days to bring the law. Jesus was prepared 40 days to bring the Gospel. Jesus communed with God, he was sustained by God, he meditated on his Word, God sent him forth to bring the new covenant to his people. He was fully obedient, Jesus was, in his commission. Especially remarkable since the instituting of the New Covenant meant his own death for sins.

By his death for sins, Jesus brought the forgiveness of sins to his people. This forgiveness of sins, full communion with God, it’s what the writer of the Hebrews calls rest, Sabbath rest. He holds that rest forth as the hope of the gospel, the good news, it’s preached in Jesus Christ. There’s a warning in Hebrews 3 about not entering that rest. Even Moses didn’t enter that rest, did he? Moses sinned; he didn’t enter the promised land.

But Jesus, one greater than Moses, in as much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house itself. He is the one who fulfills that work of Moses, he leads his people into the greater promise land of rest, and that rest is rest indeed. It’s a rest that means deliverance from sins penalty, which is death. It’s a rest that means deliverance from sin’s power, which is falling into temptation being sla, enslaved to sin. It’s a rest that means, one day deliverance from sin’s presence altogether. Sin’s penalty, power, and presence, never more to be troubled with temptation, never more to be troubled with the threat of falling.

 I’m just going to close with the thought as the writer to the Hebrews put it, “was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation, perfect through suffering.” I’m so thankful he did because there is no salvation without it.