Day 4 of the Gospel of Luke – Chapter 4
How Jesus Defeated The Devil’s Temptations;
Observations;
Each Gospel has a theme that reveals a characteristic of Jesus such as Matthew reveals Jesus as King. Mark reveals Jesus as Servant; John reveals Jesus as God. And Luke reveals Him as fully Man. And as the perfect sinless Man we see His humanity and we see His power in Luke 4. He was full of the Spirit of God. He was under the control, living in submission to Him and we see Jesus great temptation in the wilderness brought on not by demons but the devil himself, whose name “devil” means “slanderer.” But we see How Jesus defeats the devil… as the perfect Man He does not rely on Himself but on what God says- The Word of God. Consider with me…
The temptations are relentless – “for forty days by the devil.”-(v 2). For forty days Jesus not only withstood the temptations to succumb and sin but showed us how He did so….
Luke records for us
Three times the devil tempts Jesus
And the middle temptation is he wants Him to Bow down – which speaks of submission and worship him. To do so He would have to reject the Father as worthy of worship and transfer His allegiance, devotion, and loyalty to the devil. Even one choice would have nullified His righteous life and that one sin would have negated His ability to represent you even His dying on the cross would not be accepted as He had to live a perfect sinless righteous life and offer Himself up as a sinless righteous life in order for His sacrifice on our behalf to be accepted “He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].”-( 2 Cor 5:21 amplified Bible)
The desire of the devil’s heart is that the Son of God would bow and adore and worship Him. Isaiah 14 says the evil one wanted to exalt himself above God and in all temptation he wants worship. He wants God to be displaced in our lives. How? Disobey God and in doing so dishonor Him.
But Jesus as the perfect Man overcame three times referring to what the Word of God says “It is written. It is written. It is written” not “I think…I think…I think” or “I feel…I feel…I feel.” But “It is written…” He goes to the objective Word of God, of what is revealed and in doing so teaches us how to overcome temptation. Not based on what we “think” or what we “feel” or what other people say, their opinions, their experiences (unless they are a fruit of what is written), or what they think, as the ultimate authority for living that glorifies God.
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Jesus Overcame and defeated the evil one with “THE WORD OF GOD.” He turned and His trust was in the WORD OF GOD to defeat and live out the victory over the devil. He gives us as the PERFECT MAN how to combat, and CONQUER the evil one’s temptation and it is using the WORD OF GOD- “IT IS WRITTEN!”
“IT IS WRITTEN,”
“It is written” in Luke 4:4,8. 12. are all written in the “perfect tense” speaks of an action in the past with present, permanent results. Some people say the Bible is not relevant today. This verse says otherwise and so we go with “It is written!” As it was relevant, it is and will always be relevant! It does not change! For God does not change whose Word it is! It is permanent!
This is why we must flee to His Word in times of temptation. Hiding it in our hearts so the Spirit of God can bring to our mind what to do…
And what is one temptation the evil one tempts us with?
LIES such as “You can’t memorize. You’re not good at it.”Or “You don’t have time to listen to it.” Or “Tomorrow… you can do it tomorrow.” And often “ tomorrow, “ turns into another “ tomorrow” that turns into a “ week” and before you know it you are starving and depriving your soul of spiritual nourishment and you become weak in faith, dull spiritually and spiritually malnourished, and something fills the void in your thinking and life!
The temptation is to try any means- usually begins with a thought, busyness, laziness,..Anything to try to get us to neglect what God has given us to overcome the tempter… His Sufficient Word that can build us up spiritually, guide us, and reveal God to us, as it Governs us!
In John 2:14 John says I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” John uses “young men” in reference to spiritual maturity, not their age…and what characterizes them is their ability to handle and apply the Word of God and in doing so they are spiritually strong and overcome the evil one through application of the Word of God. “It is Written!”
- They use the sword of the Spirit and shield of faith. The Spirit of God and the Word of God are mighty weapons supplied by God when tempted to disobey and dishonor God by bowing in submission and worshiping the devil through disobedience!
THOUGHTS TO PONDER;
The last time you were tempted how did you respond?
Based on what you thought, what you felt or “IT IS WRITTEN” which is God’s provision…His Word to overcome the temptations of the evil one.
We can hear His Word, or read His Word, and hide His Word in our heart as ammunition against the evil one’s temptations.
If the Perfect Man – Jesus leaned on the Word of God to overcome the devil and his temptations to sin, how much more we imperfect people need to lean in and lean on and learn to know, and apply “IT IS WRITTEN” when tempted.
The Word informs us to give us discernment and transform us when tempted we need to know what is written and apply “It Is Written” as we follow His prescription for us in times of temptation so that we do not sin against the LORD!
KEY THOUGHT;
Read, reread, memorize, meditate, apply;
“It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”- v8
TEMPTATIONS ARE REAL, at times subtle other times intense but none of them are as powerful as the Word of God, Know what it says. Apply what is said. “It is Written!”
God bless, hope this will encourage you…
Aidan,