1 SURVIVE TEMPTATION WITH GOD S WORD LUKE 4:1-13 SERMON Father Francis Norton woke up early one beautiful Sunday morning. He poked his head outside and decided he just had to play a round of golf, so he told the Associate Pastor he was feeling sick and convinced him to say Mass for him that day. As soon as the Associate Pastor left the room, Father Norton headed out of town to a golf course about 40 miles away. This way he knew he wouldn t accidentally run into any of his parishioners on the golf course. Setting up on the first tee he was all alone. Not another person was anywhere to be seen! At about this time, St. Peter leaned over to the Lord while looking down from heaven and exclaimed you re not going to let him get away with this are you? The Lord sighed and said No, I guess not Just then Father Norton hit the ball and it shot straight for the pin, dropping just short of the hole, rolled up to it and fell into the hole. It was a 420 yard hole in one! St. Peter looked astonished and asked the Lord why did you let him do that? The Lord smiled at him and said, Who s he going to tell? Temptation. It affects us in many different ways! In the story I just told, Father Norton was tempted to play golf instead of serve Mass. When tired of work, we re tempted to lie and call in sick; at school, we re tempted to cheat on tests or for those of us older, to cheat on our income tax. We re tempted to make idols of good things in our lives like sports, or music or hunting or some other hobby. We re tempted to carry grudges against people who have hurt us. Some of us struggle with the temptation of fleshly lusts. Some of us struggle with yielding to pride and greed. Some of us struggle with fear. Some of us have grown so accustomed to yielding to a particular temptation that we no longer even consider it sin or realize that we re sinning! Some people use the Lord s name in vain so frequently they don t even realize that they re sinning! Temptations lure us by appearing attractive, inviting, healthy and good. We can rationalize our thinking and behavior and in doing so, yield to the temptation and sin. Someone once said Satan s temptations are like rat poison: 98% corn meal and 2% arsenic. What temptations entice you? How do you respond to them? Good news! God s word provides practical help for us when confronted with temptation. In our text this morning we observe how Jesus used scripture, He used the Word of God to confront Satan and deal with temptation! We can follow Jesus lead! We too should use the Bible to confront temptation! Use the Bible to confront temptation in your life! Jesus response to the three temptations recorded in our text serve as a great model for us in confronting temptation in our lives. If we respond as Jesus did, we too can withstand the lure of temptation! Please note: Jesus knew scripture! He knew what the Bible said! For us to be successful in using the Bible to confront temptation, we must know what it says! How well do you know the Bible? Let s turn our attention to our biblical text. In all three temptations Jesus experienced in the wilderness Satan tried to get Jesus to distort or leave his Messianic mission.
2 What was Jesus Messianic mission? God the Father sent Jesus to introduce the kingdom of God to a broken and sinful world. For Jesus, this involved service, sacrifice and submission to God the Father s will. But Satan tried to tempt Jesus with self-aggrandizement and self-glory. Satan attempts to do this with us as well. God has a plan for our lives and Satan seeks to thwart God s plan for us. He tries to mislead us and distract us and he does this through temptation. Now, let s look at Jesus and his experience with temptation. Luke tells us in vs.1-2 the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert where he remained for forty days. During that entire time Jesus didn t eat anything. I can t imagine not eating for forty days! I tried fasting on two different occasions for thirty hours each time and it about killed me! I discovered that I do not have the spiritual gift of fasting! Obviously, Jesus was hungry. Look in vs.3-4: The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. Jesus answered It is written, Man does not live by bread alone. Jesus quoted part of Deuteronomy 8:3. Listen to the end of the verse He quoted Man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Jesus stated that God s Word feeds us! So, this first temptation Jesus encountered focused on taking care of himself; providing food for himself. At first glance this temptation seemed reasonable, didn t it? After all, everyone needs to eat, including Jesus! But something greater occurred in this temptation than simply having enough to eat. Here s the rub: Satan tempted Jesus to abuse his power. By tempting Jesus to abuse his divine power for selfish ends, namely turning stones into bread, Satan sought to lure Jesus into using his divine power as the Son of God for his own selfish purposes. Look at the second temptation in vs.5-7: The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him I will give you all their authority and splendor for it has been given to me and I can give it to anyone I want to. So, if you worship me, it will all be yours. Jesus answered, It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. The second temptation Jesus experienced centered in the temptation for self-glory and power. Satan offered to give Jesus earthly power and authority if he would simply bow down and worship him. Note the phrase where Satan said to Jesus, So if you worship me it will all be yours (vs.7) Jesus responded by quoting the Bible. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in his name. In quoting this passage, Jesus confronted Satan s temptation for self-glory and power by reminding him of His call to serve God the Father. Again, note how Jesus used the Bible to confront temptation! We read of the third temptation in vs.9-10: The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God he said throw yourself down from here. For it is written, He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered, It says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test. In this third temptation Satan tempted Jesus to prove the truth of God s promises. Satan quoted scripture to back his temptation! Listen carefully: Satan knows what the Bible says! Satan
3 knows scripture! Satan tried to entice Jesus into questioning his relationship of trust and faith in God the Father. In other words, Satan told Jesus, God promised to take care of you, so why don t you put God to the test and see? Now, the godly man or woman doesn t need to do this because he or she has faith in God to accomplish his promises. Jesus responded to Satan again by quoting scripture, this time from Deuteronomy 6:16. Jesus said, It says, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. So, we observe that Satan tempted Jesus three times and each time Jesus answered the temptations by quoting scripture. In doing this, Jesus established a great model for us in confronting temptation. Let s do a simple exercise for a moment. Write down on your sermon outline your greatest temptation. It could be lying, cheating, lusting, holding a grudge, making an idol out of something, the temptation to put something you re good at above God, it could be fear, you decide your greatest temptation. Take a moment and write it down. You don t have to share this with anyone including your spouse. It s for your use. Do you have it written? As I proceed through the rest of the sermon, think about that temptation in light of what I will preach. 1.The Holy Spirit can help us remember scripture when we encounter temptation. Look in your Bible in 4:1: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert. This verse connects Jesus baptism in the Jordan River in chapter 3 with the temptations He subsequently encountered in chapter 4. We know that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism. Look back in your Bible to Luke 3:21-22. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. Luke reminds us in 4:1 of the Holy Spirit s active presence in Jesus to demonstrate Jesus reliance on divine power to counteract satanic temptation. Jesus withstood Satan s temptations by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus, we too should rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to bring scripture to mind that we have memorized when we encounter temptation. One rather subtle, satanic temptation many of us experience involves complacency about our faith in Jesus. Satan tempts us with the lie that simply living our faith is enough. He convinces us that we don t really need to talk about what we believe; people will see our faith and they will respond! But think that lie through for a moment. Who of us lives such an outstanding life that an unbeliever can grasp the importance of salvation by simply observing our life? Jesus commanded us to talk about our faith didn t He? Listen to what Jesus said: And he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick (Luke 9:2) Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always to the end of the age (Matt 28:19-20) Another common temptation is feeling sorry for ourselves; self-pity. Why is self-pity a sin? It s a subtle form of pride. When we feel sorry for ourselves we become self-focused and self-
4 absorbed. Yielding to self-pity draws us into feelings of discouragement and depression. We climb into a shell that we ve managed to create for ourselves. How can God possibly use us, use our spiritual gifts to strengthen his church, how can we help others, how can we serve our spouse when we dwell in the shell of self-pity, when we become self-absorbed? Catherine Marshall faced the temptation of self-pity when her beloved husband Peter died at the age of 47 years old. Catherine turned to the Lord in prayer and received the comfort of the Holy Spirit in her heart. God reminded her of certain texts of scripture which gave her great hope. She later wrote that the comfort the Spirit gave her was not a human sympathy type of comfort, a kind of pity but rather a courageous, empowering comfort which helped her deal with the strains and demands of life. As you struggle with temptation, depend on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to bring scripture to mind to help you overcome temptation! Whether you re tempted to be complacent in your faith, or throw pity parties, or carry a grudge, or whatever, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with his wonderful presence so you will be a godly man or woman that day in your thoughts, speech and behavior. This brings us to a second observation in our text about using the Bible to confront temptation in our lives: 2. To be successful in overcoming temptation, we must know the scriptures! Jesus knew the scriptures; He knew the Bible! For us to be successful in overcoming satanic temptation, we too must know our Bibles. What can help us learn and memorize the Bible? Naturally, there s an app on your phone or tablet that helps you memorize scripture. It s called Remember-Memorizing Scripture. There s another app called Memorize Anything that s available. If you want to memorize scripture the old fashioned way, you can do it the way I did it: get a 3x5 card and simply write down scripture verses in seven different columns that you have memorized. Each day of the week, review one of the columns. You could incorporate this verse memorization exercise into your quiet time. Keep your 3x5 card in your Bible. But let me say it again: to be successful at confronting and overcoming satanic temptation, you must know the scripture; you must know your Bible! Gordon McDonald related the following story about himself in an article called, When the Doctor Calls : In the fall of 1956 I began my final year at the Stony Brook School, then a boy s college preparatory school in New York. Among the required courses that last year was Senior Bible, taught by the school s headmaster, Dr. Frank E. Gaebelein, a man who required us to memorize 300 verses of scripture over the course of that year. If he met a student on the pathway from the class room to the dining hall, he might say, Gordon, give me John 13:34 please He expected us to recite the verse from memory without faltering. One of the passages he tasked us to memorize was Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea..
5 Now, 56 years have passed. A few days ago my doctor called me. Gordon, I have some difficult news for you. There s a tumor in the back of your head in the lining of the brain. It s not malignant but it will have to come out. I have spent my whole life helping other people face doctor-call moments like these. Now it was my turn and the very first thing that began to surge through my mind was Psalm 46:1: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed When Gordon McDonald s doctor called him and shared the news of the brain tumor, Gordon could have succumbed to the temptation to be fearful and afraid. But, he didn t! The Holy Spirit reminded him of scripture he learned as a young man that made a huge difference in his response to the surprising and unexpected news! Do you see the tremendous benefit of memorizing scripture? It can help you withstand temptation of all kinds, including the temptation to become fearful and afraid. You re never too old to memorize scripture! Obviously, one can t memorize the whole Bible. Focus your memorization on areas where you struggle. So, if you struggle with gossip, memorize verses like Psalms 141:3 Lord, set a guard at my mouth, a sentry at the door of my lips. If you struggle with lust, memorize 1st Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. If you struggle with pride or self-pity memorize 1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He might exalt you at the proper time casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you. We ve learned this morning that we can use the Bible to confront satanic temptation in our lives. The Holy Spirit can help us remember scripture when we encounter temptation but to be successful, we must know the scriptures. Let us pray.