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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/gordon-armstrong/the-temptation-of-christ/
Luke chapter 4 please. Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4 and we'll read at verse number 1. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, 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, he afterwards hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
And the devil, taking him into a high mountain, showed 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 give it.
If thou 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.
And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple and said unto him, If thou 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. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
And we look to God to help us as we consider these verses that we have read and a little bit about the subject of the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we come to the scriptures, we often find there are multiple accounts and multiple pictures that encapsulate something of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we heard this morning in worship, that there are four pictures, four angles from which we view the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And we heard that Matthew is the emphasis on him as king and Mark as him as servant.
And John, the emphasis is the Son of God. And here we were reading this afternoon in the book of Luke, it is the emphasis upon his manhood. And we can see that in the Old Testament, there are various pictures and they are often in various multiples.
Because you think of the offerings. It wasn't just one offering to give us the picture of the death of Christ. There are five. And it wasn't just one feast that God gave us to give the timeline of the history of the world.
There were seven. And we see throughout scripture, there are various angles and multiple presentations of truth. And when we come to the book of Luke, it is interesting that Luke records for us so much of the growth and the development of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke was a physician. He was a doctor. And you know what I learned from that is that God uses our interests and our personalities and the things of God. You've heard from a number of men that have stood on the platform this weekend.
And we are all different in different ways. We've been hearing of different accents and from different places. And I'm sure Bill would agree with me that Scotland and Northern Ireland, I know there's, I heard there's a letter from Newton Breda, so I may get shot down here from someone.
But it's a great place. I've heard about Canada as well. It's a great place to be from. It's a great place to be from. But we think of how there are so many different people and so many different interests and that type of thing.
But the spirit of God can use us in our personalities and our interests. And the only person we have to be conformed to be like is Christ. We have not to be conformed to be like other Christians. We have not to be conformed to be like one another.
We have to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God wants us to be conformed into his likeness. Into his likeness. So when we come to this section, we are introduced to the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there are many lessons that we can learn as to the perfect manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are also many practical lessons we can learn in terms of dealing with the temptations that we face.
Because all of us are going to be tested and tempted in the matter of sin or in the matter of these various categories that we will see as we go down the chapter. So each of these temptations, although we will never face them in terms of the exact temptation the Lord faced, we will never be tempted to turn stones into bread.
Because we don't have that ability. But we will be tested in the same category. And really the ultimate thing was this. Do you trust that God will meet your needs? Can you depend upon God? We'll never be tempted to be given the glory and the dominion of the world.
We'll never be given that opportunity. But will we be tempted to rise up in pride? We'll never be tempted to jump down from the top of a building and say, well, will God save you halfway down? But will we be tempted to act foolishly and to test the promises of God against in contrast to what he has given us?
But this incident, this event is also recorded for us in Matthew's gospel. And I don't want to take too much time, but if you read carefully in Matthew's gospel, you will find the word then, then, then.
But in Luke, we read these words, and, and, and. And we heard yesterday reference to the fact that Luke orders his gospel in a moral order. And perhaps in this context, it is a climactic order in terms of the events.
And Matthew records for us in a chronological sense. So if someone comes to you and says, well, you know, it doesn't make sense in Matthew, it says it happens this way. And in Luke it says it happens this way.
Which one was it? A careful reading will indicate for us that Matthew gives us the chronological order and Luke will give us the climactic order. So it seems that this event took place following his baptism in the Jordan.
And he's identified with the Lord in a public way. And immediately afterwards, he's been tested of Satan. I want to just think of a practical lesson there. How often have we made a public stand for Christ and then felt tempted and experienced temptation?
How often have we come away from a weekend of perhaps challenge and encouragement, a time with believers to just go and to feel isolated and tempted in the days following. And that is really what we see the Lord Jesus moves from Jordan to the wilderness.
But in verse one, we see that he was full of the Holy Ghost. He was led by the Spirit. And in Luke chapter three, we see that the Spirit is descending. We read these words and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased.
Lord Jesus heard the voice of his father from heaven and he had never talked. He had never done a miracle. He had never called the disciples to follow him. And yet he completely pleased his father. God is interested in our character.
God is interested in our faithfulness to him, not just the service that we do. Because it is possible. And I'm sure all of us to a greater or lesser extent would confess that we know what it is to be hypocritical.
It's easy to come and wear the right clothes and to be with the Christians, but inside our hearts are cold. Inside and with our friends at work, our conduct is not what it should be. The things that we view on the internet are inconsistent with the holy life that we ought to live.
And we know what it is to face temptations and trials. And I put myself very much in that category. But here we see that he's led into the wilderness, a scene of barrenness, a scene of drought. And we can see a great contrast to the first temptation that we read of.
And we think of the first Adam, Adam and Eve in the garden. And the temptation is in a context of lush greenery and so much provision. There are so many trees from which they can eat. And Satan comes along and causes them to doubt the word of God, to doubt the love of God, to question the provision of God.
And we see that in those perfect conditions, Adam fails. But here, the last Adam, not the second Adam, because that suggests there might be a third or a fourth or a fifth, the last Adam and conditions that are unpleasant and conditions that are inconvenient and harsh and barrenness and famine, he passes the test.
And he was there, it says he was led of the spirit of God, because right at the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, God was going to prove that my son is sinless. My son is worthy of being followed.
My son is who he claims to be. And he proves that the Lord Jesus Christ, he proves it by his temptation, by his teaching, by his miracles. And here at the very beginning, he proves in connection with his character that he is the son of God.
So we see it began with 40 days, being tempted 40 days. I think that these are just events that took place. I don't think this is the only temptations because we see in verse two, being 40 days tempted of the devil.
The devil was there, continually tempting, continually attacking the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see from other places in scripture that 40 is the number connected with testing, connected with proving. And sometimes we may just read this and think, well, these were three quick temptations.
This was a compressed period of testing. 40 days he was continually being tested of the devil. And we think of Moses as he spent 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert before being raised up to lead the people of God.
Elijah, 40 days without food or drink at Mount Horeb. So we can see that the number 40 is often linked with testing or with proving. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ really begins and ends with a period of 40 days.
40 days at the beginning, proving that he's the son of God, proving that he is sinless and fit to go to the cross. 40 days post-resurrection when he proves to us his fitness as a high priest. And there in picture form with the experiences that he had with Mary and with Peter and with the two on the road to Emmaus, he gives us glimpses into his high priestly ministry, that he is the one that will restore.
He's the one that will wipe away tears. He's the one that will unfold the truth of scripture of himself and cause our hearts to burn within us. And whether at the beginning or whether at the end, the period of testing results in the Lord Jesus Christ proving that he is worthy for the cross and he's worthy for the throne.
What a saviour that we have. So let's look at the three temptations that Luke gives us here. Number one is in connection with appetite, but it's more than that. It's in connection with doubting the goodness and the love of God.
And secondly, it is in connection with authority. And then thirdly, in connection with dependence upon God. And really we could think of 1 John chapter 2 and verse 16, and we can just categorize these temptations when we read these words, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
And the Lord Jesus was tested in connection with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. But we could also contrast it with the temptation and the words of Satan in the garden of Eden.
In terms of the appeal to the physical appetite, he said, you may eat of any tree. And what does he say to the Lord in Luke chapter 4? You may eat by changing swords to bread. And then he appeals to the personal gain.
And he says to Eve, you shall surely not die. You won't die. And he says to the Lord, you will not strike your foot. And then lastly, he appeals to the power and the glory. And he says to Eve, you will be like God.
And he says to the Lord Jesus, you will have all the kingdoms of the world. And you know what I learned? That Satan's tactics are unchanged. And he causes us to doubt the word of God. And he causes us to desire physical gain, personal gain, and power and glory.
And we see throughout scripture that it never ends well. So these temptations, they were temptations that appeal to different aspects and different areas of life. And this is often how Satan works. Anytime I think of the subject of temptation, or the subject of the devil testing, I think of our brother, Jack Hay.
And he often would teach us that he remembers his neighbor who was into fishing. And he would look and his neighbor would be creating all different types of hooks and flies. Because not every fish would respond to the same type of bait.
And he says, so Satan is with us. Not every believer is going to be tempted by sport. Not every believer is going to be tempted by business goals. Not everyone is going to be tempted by watching Netflix for hours on end.
But Satan knows our weakness. And Satan knows where and how to tempt and test us. And he comes and the Lord responds on every occasion by quoting scripture. He says, it is written, it is written. And each time I think of Psalm 119, when it says these words, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
And what I learned there is this, that the word of God produces a cleansing in my life, but I must have it find its root in my heart. And I can think of times where I've read, quoted, spoke with people about the scriptures and I've had it in my head, but not in my heart.
Because the Bible says if I'm hiding the word of God in my heart, it will have an impact on my holiness. And that is why we were being encouraged to read the word of God because it affects every area of our life.
It is not only an encouragement. It is not only something that builds us up. It is something that preserves us and keeps us. So the second temptation listed is in connection with the authority. So the first one we see is all about the, the idea of the stone being turned to bread and will you doubt the goodness of God?
Will you doubt that God will provide? Will you take on and do what you're never been commanded or expected to do in order just to have your needs met in the short term, the immediate? And I wonder, I'm sure there's believers in this room that have gone through trials that are very hard to deal with and you face temptation and perhaps Satan has come along and he's not said to you to turn stones into bread, but he's come along and he says, is God really faithful?
Is God really worthy of our trust? I sat across from a man that not that long ago has been through a vast amount of trials. And he said to me this, I just feel completely abandoned by God. You know, he was speaking out of his heart.
He knew he said, I know it's not true, but it's how I feel. And that is how Satan can use his power to wield against us the truth and the character of God and to distort it before us. But the second temptation is in connection with authority and Satan shows him the worlds and he offers this to the Lord Jesus in exchange for worship.
Satan really was overstepping his mark. He really didn't have the authority to offer this. The Bible tells us that Satan is the God of this world. And John would tell us that the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one.
And that happened as a result of the fall of Adam, because God's design and God's desire is that there would be a man with his bride that would rain upon the earth. Adam and Eve in the garden with responsibility to look after it and to tend it.
And that was God's desire. But when Adam and Eve sinned, the authority in terms of the whole world that we read was really surrendered. It was surrendered into the hands of Satan and he is the God of this world.
And that is why, as we've been hearing already, the millennial reign of Christ on earth is so essential because God is going to give to Christ what was always his intention. That there would be a man with his bride, the church, raining upon the earth.
And God's first thoughts or his last thoughts, as we have often heard, and what was lost in Adam has been gained in Christ. And God will restore everything that was lost in the creation and the fall of this world.
He will restore it in his perfect son, who, because he is sinless and because he is holy and righteous, will never ever forfeit what he truly deserves. And Satan comes and he says to the Lord Jesus, if you bow down and worship me, I'll give you all of this.
But the reality is that it already belongs to Christ. Psalm 2 would tell us prophetically, I have set my king upon his holy hill in Zion. And God has established that Christ will reign upon the earth in the place that he deserves.
And Satan comes along and he says to the Lord, I'll offer you the kingdom, I'll offer you the glory. And then he says at the end, if you worship me. And you know that's how Satan often works in our lives and with our temptations.
He'll tell us, go this way, do that. And the price tags put right at the end. But when we give in to the temptation of Satan, we will find there's always a price tag. There's always a price to pay. And again, the Lord Jesus responds by saying it is written.
And he quotes the Old Testament saying, you shall worship the Lord your God. And he adds this, Satan misses this out when he quotes it to the Lord Jesus, where the Lord Jesus says, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only.
And the Lord was teaching us this, that what we worship is what we will serve. And I wonder if you look at my life and my interests and how my time is spent, if you will get a reflection of what is the true God in my life.
And we heard earlier who is reigning. And the Lord tells us that who we are is who we worship. And lastly, thirdly, the temptation of the pride of life, the miraculous testing of the Lord. And he takes away to the top of the temple and says, cast yourself down.
And he says, if since you're the son of God, Satan knew the Lord Jesus was the son of God. He was trying to bring down and to prevent him going to the cross because he knew ultimately what would take place.
And we read in Hebrews that as a result of the death of Christ, the devil was disarmed. He was disarmed. But again, Satan uses the scripture of context and he quotes Psalm 91 in verse 11, for he shall give his angels charge over them.
And we see the ministry of angels has been significant at points in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even at the beginning of the ministry of the Lord, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, an angel appeared to Joseph saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt.
So even in the beginning of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, angels were being used to gain and to predict and to preserve the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord responds and says this, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
And the Lord shows us that trusting God is not testing. And we should never seek to do things that are foolish without a word of God, without a word from God to try and to test them. There's a story of a little girl when she's asked by someone very simply, she says, are you ever tempted?
Are you ever tempted? And she said, yes, but every time temptation knocks, I asked the Lord to answer the door. And you know, we have the resources to respond. And I'm sure all of us to some extent can look back at times where we were tempted and we fell, but we have the resources that the Lord Jesus used when he responded to the devil.
He used the word of God and he was led of the spirit of God. And we see in verse number 13, that when the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed for a season. And that was in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one that was completely perfect and completely holy. What about you and I? Perhaps you'll win a victory one day and will fail the next. But let us be resolved to use the word of God and to be helped by the spirit of God to resist temptations.
And when we face temptations, it may not be exactly the same, but I'm sure most of us will agree. It will fall into one of those categories to appeal to the flesh, to appeal to the eyes or to appeal to a brain.
But on every occasion, let us have the word of God, irrigate the roots of our lives and to seek to build one another up depending upon the word of God and the spirit of God. And we can be encouraged today, as we've heard already, that the Lord Jesus is the son of God who could never sin.
Not only, it wasn't a case that he just chose not to sin. He could not sin. And he is the one that has proven over and over again that he is the son of God. And if he is the son of God, he's worthy of our worship, he's worthy of our service, and he's worthy of us resisting the temptation of the devil.
May God bless us all.