God isn’t the supply of temptation to sin. As a substitute, the cycle begins with highly effective needs in our hearts. So maybe you’re questioning if the satan is concerned in any respect. Sure, he’s.
Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit within the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the satan. . . . And when the satan had ended each temptation, he departed from him till an opportune time. (Luke 4:1–2, 13)
We be taught a lot from Devil’s tempting of Jesus. Although Jesus didn’t have a sin nature as we do, the satan struck at His humanity with full pressure, and but Jesus endured. From the satan’s assaults and Jesus’s obedience regardless of them, we be taught 5 methods Devil is concerned in tempting us to sin. We additionally discover the chief means to withstand the satan as our Savior did.
Devil Assaults When We Are Most Weak
The satan’s first temptation appealed to a professional bodily want for meals. Jesus “was hungry” after His forty-day quick (Luke 4:2). Like a shrewd hunter, Devil aimed his arrow on the bull’s-eye of Jesus’s vulnerability. Philip Ryken explains, “What Jesus suffered within the wilderness would have killed a weaker man. His situation was crucial. On the finish of forty days he was nearer to demise than at every other level in his life, besides the crucifixion.”[1] Be conscious of your weak spot and be careful if you find yourself most inclined to Devil’s assaults.
Devil Casts Doubt on God’s Phrase
The satan planted a giant “If” within the thoughts of the Savior: “If you’re the Son of God” was a refined assault on the integrity of God’s phrases (Luke 4:3). God had simply declared Jesus to be His Son at His baptism (see Matt. 3:17), however now the satan challenged that phrase. Devil hasn’t modified. He’s the identical sneaky serpent who efficiently used an similar tactic on Eve: “Did God truly say?” (Gen. 3:1). As he tried with each Jesus and Eve, the satan vegetation the seed of doubt regarding Scripture.
Devil Feeds Fleshly Delight
Jesus efficiently resisted Devil’s first assault, so the satan tempted Him to interrupt the primary commandment by worshipping one other god (see Exod. 20:3). Devil appealed to humanity’s innate want for place and energy by exhibiting Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world and promising, “If you happen to, then, will worship me, it would all be yours” (Luke 4:7). This was an try and get the Son of God to seize what rightfully belonged to Him earlier than it was time and with out having to undergo. However this temptation was a lie! God’s plan to exalt His Son all through the world required the cross. No cross, no crown. No humiliation, no exaltation (see Phil. 2:8-11). When tempted to behave in self-will, bear in mind that you’re making a alternative of who to worship.
Devil Encourages Us to Take a look at God
Within the third temptation, the satan tried to control Jesus into foolishly misapplying Scripture by taking a five-hundred-foot “leap of religion.” Devil took Him to the head of the temple and stated, “If you’re the Son of God, throw your self down from right here, for it’s written . . .” after which he quoted two Bible verses out of context (Luke 4:9-10; see additionally v. 11). However the dwelling Phrase answered the satan by correctly quoting from Deuteronomy, the place we learn of how Israel put God to the take a look at by demanding that Moses produce water for them. If you’re tempted to place God to the take a look at, remind your self of His many guarantees, in addition to His instructions to belief Him as an alternative.
Devil By no means Offers Up
When “the satan had ended each temptation, he departed from [ Jesus] till an opportune time.” The satan is relentless. Simply as he hounded Jesus all the way in which to the cross, so he by no means tires of tempting you. He’s at all times on the hunt, at all times ready for an opportune time. You have to “resist him, agency in your religion” (1 Pet. 5:9), the identical means Jesus did. 3 times, the satan tempted Jesus. 3 times, Jesus answered, “It’s written” (Luke 4:4, 8, 12). We are able to struggle the deceiver’s lies with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the phrase of God” (Eph. 6:17).
Questions for Reflection
- Within the preface to The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis writes, “There are two equal and reverse errors into which our race can fall concerning the devils. One is to disbelieve of their existence. The opposite is to imagine, and to really feel an extreme and unhealthy curiosity in them. They themselves are equally happy by each errors.”[2] As you mirror in your life with Christ to date, do you see your self drifting into both of those errors? Why?
- Do you ever act irresponsibly, opposite to biblical knowledge, after which count on God to guard you? If that’s the case, discuss to God about it.
[1] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009), 1:154.
[2] C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters with “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” (New York: HarperCollins, 2013), ix.
