Have you ever been tempted by something on someone? How did you handle the situation? From the Garden of Eden, to when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, and even in our own lives, Satan will work diligently to tempt us to do what is wrong. We must watch out for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Those things are meant for our danger, but we do have a way to overcome temptation and we have an excellent example in how Jesus dealt with the situation when He was tempted.
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. (Luke 4:1-2, NKJV)
Jesus was prepared. He was full of the Holy Spirit, He had just been baptized, and it was the Spirit that led Him into the wilderness to begin with. Satan may have faced an advantage because Jesus was there alone and Jesus was hungry. However, Jesus faced an even greater advantage because He was there to fast and pray, not to mention that He had been led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was ready. Jesus was prepared.
Then, the temptations began. One of the things that we see with Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness is that he made attempt after attempt to turn Jesus from His mission. It did not happen though, did it? Jesus was victorious. He knew how to face temptation. We can all certainly be thankful for that too, because of it, He was able to live the perfect, sinless life and die on the cross for our sins. Though we do stumble from time to time, we have the ability to know how to face temptation if we are willing to learn how to deal with it. Jesus set the example, we can follow it.
Before going any further though, let's consider one other thing. Is it not interesting that the temptation of Jesus came right after His baptism? Think back to your baptism, were you tempted immediately after? Did Satan try to attack you right after the Lord added you to His church? Let's face it, that is the time that Satan is probably the most interested in attacking us because we are young in the faith, we are babes in Christ. If Satan can get us before we begin to mature as Christians, it makes his job easier.
Let's move on to the first temptation found in Luke 4:3.
And the devil said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." (Luke 4:3, NKJV)
Satan first tempted Jesus with the lust of the flesh. He told Jesus to turn the stones into bread. Satan knew that Jesus was hungry. Think about just how hungry Jesus was at this point, He had not eaten in forty days! Satan will tempt us in our weakest areas. If there is something that we struggle with, that is most likely the area that Satan will begin to attack us in our lives. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Satan does not care about us! He wants to entrap us, he wants to devour us! He wants us to fall, and he will get us in our weakest areas if we are not careful! Satan tempted Jesus where it counted, with hunger, and how did Jesus respond? How did Jesus handle it?
But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" (Luke 4:4, NKJV)
Notice what Jesus just did! He quoted something that had already been written, He said, "It is written!" What was written?!?!? SCRIPTURE!!! Jesus quoted a line from Deuteronomy 8:3 which states that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. Satan tempted, Jesus gave scripture.
What should we do when men, being controlled by Satan try to tempt us? USE SCRIPTURE!!! Man shall not live by bread alone but BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF THE LORD!!! AND Scripture is God-breathed! (2 Timothy 3:16)
So, Satan tempted Jesus with hunger, with the lust of the flesh, and Jesus responded with Scripture, Satan was not finished yet though, he kept trying. Now, Satan tries to get Jesus with glory. Satan tells Jesus to bow down and worship him.
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours." (Luke 4:5-7, NKJV)
Again, Satan tempted Jesus, this time with glory, this time with the lust of the eye! Imagine, seeing all the kingdoms of the world and being told that you could have it all. Satan said that all Jesus had to do was to worship him. How did Jesus respond?
And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" (Luke 4:8, NKJV)
Notice, the first time, Jesus only said, "it is written," but now you can tell Jesus really just wants Satan to leave Him alone. He says, "Get behind me Satan!" You know, when we want Satan to leave us alone, he won't. He will keep prodding at us. He will keep trying. He did it with Jesus, and even at this point, Satan has yet to try one more time to tempt Jesus.
Jesus quotes scripture yet another time to fight off temptation. This time Jesus quotes from a line found in both Deuteronomy 6:13, and Deuteronomy 10:20. Jesus tells Satan, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him ONLY you shall serve." So, again, Satan tempted, Jesus gave scripture.
Satan is not finished yet though, he has tempted Jesus with hunger (lust of the flesh), with glory (lust of the eyes), and next with the pride of life. Satan now tells Jesus to jump from the temple.
Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" (Luke 4:9-11, NKJV)
We see something new with this third temptation. We've seen from the previous two temptations that we need to be ready to use Scripture to fight off the devil and his temptations, but now we see that Satan uses Scripture too! Satan quotes from Psalm 91:11-12. SATAN KNOWS SCRIPTURE TOO!!! That makes it all the more important for us to know Scripture! That way when we are attacked and the perpetrator uses scripture, we can be ready to rightly divide the word of God, as 1 Timothy 2:15 states, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Have you ever known anyone to miss-use scripture? It happens, and we need to be ready to respond! Remember the words of 1 Peter 3:15? But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.
How did Jesus respond to Satan this time?
And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'" (Luke 4:12, NKJV)
Again, Jesus uses Scripture, this time He goes to Deuteronomy 6:16 which states, "you shall not tempt the Lord your God." For a third time, Satan tempted Jesus and Jesus came back at him with scripture! We need not be afraid to use scripture to keep us on the right path. Jesus did it; we need to follow His perfect example.
As a result, Jesus was able to fight off Satan for the time being. So now, after being tempted three times, with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, we see that Jesus IS victorious!
Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:13, NKJV)
When Satan saw that he was not going to succeed, he stopped tempting Jesus for the time being. He did not leave permanently. He ended the temptation, but only until an opportune time. Only until opportunity would allow him to tempt Jesus again. When we fight off Satan, he will depart from us, but only until his next opportunity arises. He will leave us alone, but when he sees that he can try to tempt us again, he will be back. Again, be watchful. Remember the words of 1 Peter 5:8, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion.
Jesus was victorious in enduring temptation from Satan by using Scripture, certainly an example that we can follow.
Do these three areas that Jesus was tempted in sound familiar? Let's look at another situation where the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life got the best of someone. Let's look at the temptation in the Garden of Eden found in Genesis 3.
[1] Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" [2] And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; [3] but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" [4] Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. [5] For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." [6] So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1-6, NKJV)
Notice, right away in the first verse, Satan questions what God really said. Satan asks Eve, "Has God indeed said..." It is interesting that this still happens today. People will question what God's word, the Bible, really says. Does the Bible really say that I cannot drink? Does the Bible really say that I cannot smoke? Does the Bible really say this or that? Friends, our bodies are the living temple of the Lord and if there are things that we would not do in certain places like the church building or in front of grandma, then we should not do those things... period! Again, we need to know how to fight of Satan!
Satan gets us to question what God said, what is written in Holy Scripture. Satan will get us to base our faith on a question mark! If Satan is getting us to question God's word, to question Scripture, then is it not logical to go right to the word that people are getting us to question in the first place? We have the words that will lead to salvation. God gave us everything we need to know and when we begin to question God, we begin to question His authority.
Eve told Satan what God said in Genesis 3:2-3, but the next thing that happened was that Satan attacked God's word. Satan's approach is to get us to doubt God's word and that is just what he did in the Garden of Eden. Satan IS the father of ALL lies! In Genesis 3:4, Satan negated God's word by saying, "you will not surely die." God had already said in Genesis 2:16-17, "And the Lord God commanded the man saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." This was a direct command from God and God even gave the consequence, death, but Satan negated it.
Then in Genesis 3:5, we see that Satan enticed Eve, he got Eve where it counted. Satan tempted Eve with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Look at the first part of verse 6 again:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [lust of the flesh], that it was pleasant to the eyes [lust of the eyes], and a tree desirable to make one wise [pride of life], she took of its fruit and ate. (Genesis 3:6a, NKJV)
Eve gave in to temptation, she did not know how to respond to temptation and Satan succeeded in tempting her. Keep those three areas of temptation in mind and consider the words of 1 John 2:16.
For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. (1 John 2:16, NKJV)
Satan is of the world, he tempts us with worldly things and these things are NOT OF THE FATHER!
There is one more thing to notice about Genesis 3:6, Adam was with Eve yet he did not stop her. Was he deceived as Eve was? 1 Timothy 2:14 answers that question.
And Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14, NKJV)
No! Adam was not deceived, Eve was. Adam should have been the spiritual leader and stopped Eve from sinning, but instead he gave into sin too. It may have been easier to just give in to his wife and not rebuke her, but let's face it, sometimes the right thing to do is not the easiest thing to do. We need to be ready to fight off temptation, Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the full armor of God! Be ready!
We have now looked at how Jesus endured temptation and how Adam and Eve gave in to temptation. What about our lives? We are tempted every day by various things. Will we endure, or will we give in? We are tempted in the same way that Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and by using the same methods employed on Jesus in the wilderness. We are tempted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Satan will get us to negate the word of God, he will change it, he will completely disregard it, and he will dig into his own reasoning. We must be ready!
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV)
It is encouraging to know that God will not let Satan tempt us to a level more than we can endure. No matter what temptation we are faced with, we can handle it, God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. There is a way of escape. Think of Job, notice that when Satan inflicted all the hardship on Job, that God placed limits on what Satan could do. Satan is NOT all powerful, God is, and that should serve as a great encouragement to us all.
The fact is, we do have temptation in our lives, but God will not allow Satan to tempt us more than we can bear and there will be a way of escape. Adam and Eve gave in to temptation in the Garden of Eden because Satan negated, changed, and disregarded God's word. However, Jesus was able to fight off Satan. Jesus endured by using scripture.
We can fight temptation too, the question is, will we give in, or will we endure? We know that enduring is part of the Christian life, in Matthew 10:22, Jesus states, "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved."
Being faced with temptation is kind of like seeing a deer in the headlights as we are driving down the road at night. If we are not ready to step on the breaks, we will hit the deer. Likewise, if we are not ready to fight temptation with the Holy word of God, chances are greater that we might give in. As 1 Peter 5:8 states, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."
