Luke 4:3-13
"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 up into an high mountain, shewed 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 whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore wilt 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," Luke 4:3-13.
How prideful is the devil, and how blinding is pride? Last time we got a glimpse of the pride of the devil. The devil thought more highly of himself than he ought to have. The devil raised himself up in his heart, and God cast him down. In our text of Scripture, we see the pinnacle of the devil's pride. He actually believes he can tempt Jesus Christ to the point that Jesus will sin. He believes this, and he knows about God. "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble," James 2:19. The devil knows that God is Immutable, and that if God did change He would cease to be God. Let that fact sink in for a second and we will see how blinding pride is. Pride says "I want something, no matter the cost." No matter how much destruction and misery will come, pride wants gratification.
Our God is a Triune God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God in Three Persons. This is the Godhead. This teaching is foundational for true Christianity. God is eternal; no beginning and no ending. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," Genesis 1:1. Also turn to John 1:1-2; and Colossians 1:16-17. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high," Hebrews 1:1-3. Jesus Christ is Immanuel, God in the flesh (John 1:14). These truths are biblical facts. Here is the question: what would happen if Jesus Christ sinned? If the devil would have been successful in tempting Christ, what would happen? Not only would Christ no longer qualify to be our substitute, but there would be a disruption in the Godhead. To put it plainly, God would cease to be God. If God were to cease from being God, all things would immediately cease. Everything would be uncreated. Pride is so blinding that for a brief moment of gratification, the devil was willing to do something that would result in the destruction of everything. How often have we acted like the devil?
The devil wants what he wants, no matter the cost to anyone else, even himself; Christ wants to please the Father, no matter the cost. How far was Christ willing to go? "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," Philippians 2:8. Christ came to do the Father's will. Christ said no to temptation, no to pleasing the flesh, and yes to the Father's will to the point that even his food was to do the Father's will. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus," Philippians 2:5. The battle with our sinful flesh is a battle that we are in everyday, and a battle we will be in until we die. Throughout the day we have victories and defeats. In our victories we praise the Lord, and in our defeats, we cry out to the Lord for forgiveness and help. Turn to Colossians 3:1-17 and Romans 12:1-2. In these verses Paul is admonishing the readers to do these things. He is not admonishing them from a view of having obtained perfection, but rather from a full understanding of the battle that all Christians are in. Can you imagine the amount of people Paul saw make shipwreck of their lives? How many times was Paul on the verge of destroying his own life? Turn to I Corinthians 9:24-27. We are in a battle! Aren't you thankful we have an Advocate; a Helper; One who is with us? Let us look at how Jesus handled temptation.
In our text we see that Christ answered the devil with Scripture, and obeyed those Scriptures. It is not our place to hold a conversation with the devil, nor do we have the authority or responsibility to rebuke the devil. We run to the Scriptures during temptation, and obey the Scriptures. When we look at these temptations, we must understand that we will not be tempted to do these things, because we can't. But, we will be tempted to trust our self, doubt God's Word, doubt God's love and faithfulness for us, and become prideful in proving that we love God.
The devil tempted Jesus to take the short cut, the easy road, to get instant gratification. Can you hear the tempter: just compromise a little to get what is coming to you now? You don't have to go through all the agony and pain. Your Father wants you to be happy. You really are the Son of God, and you shouldn't have to put up with this. A little compromise won't hurt. Prove to everyone that the Father does love you. Just take the easy road. Give in to your desires. Hold a grudge. Please yourself. You are the exception to the rule.
How often do we hear these same things? More than likely the devil is not personally tempting us, but this world system that he is over tempts us daily. Brothers and sisters in Christ, how are we doing? May we seek the answer to this question from the Scripture. Please do not lie to yourself and tell yourself that you don't have these problems, or that you have not failed. Our hope is in Christ Jesus. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us," I John 1:8-10.
O what a Saviour! Is He your Saviour? I beg you to trust Christ alone to save you. "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world," I John 2:1-2.
Soli Deo Gloria.
