He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. Exposition. Jesus has just been baptized, anointed by the Holy Spirit for his messianic ministry, and acknowledged by his Father as . Question: 'How can I overcome temptation?' Answer: The Scriptures tell us that we all face temptations. First Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.” Perhaps this provides a little encouragement as we often feel. Directed by Eric Gibson. With Mia Zottoli, Susan Featherly, Burke Morgan, Timothy Stempien. A bored housewife takes on a new modeling career. Soon, affairs and all sorts of. About this page APA citation. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Jesus' Temptations (Luke 4:3-12) John's Classification (1 John 2:15-17) KJV NIV J.B. Sinful temptations comes from three sources: the world, the flesh and the devil. SINFUL TEPTATIONS precedes sin which results in spiritual DEATH. Daniel The Prophet What The Bible Says About Sinful Temptations Sinful temptations come from three sources. I'm very pleased with you. There is work to do. Led by the Spirit into Temptation (4: 1- 2)The work, however, begins with a time of intensive preparation. Notice the role of the Holy Spirit in this preparation. Jesus is described as . Mark's Gospel uses much stronger language: . The verb in Mark is ekballo, . Jesus had been baptized and filled with the Spirit; now he must go into the desert. Bear with me for a bit of technical observation that helps me get the picture here. In Luke the Greek verb . Figuratively, of the working of the Spirit on man, 'lead, guide,' passive, 'be led, allow oneself to be led.' . With a verb of action such as . Rather the Spirit continuously led Jesus in the desert area for the 4. The Spirit went with him throughout the entire time. Why the desert? Jesus wasn't yet ready to enter into his public ministry, so the desolate wilderness of the Jordan plain north of the Dead Sea, and the arid Judean hills west of the Dead Sea were places he could be alone. I'm sure he communed with his Father during this time. And, as we'll see from the nature of his temptations, the shape and meaning of his Messiahship were determined here. The desert, of course, was John the Baptist's home, and was also the place where Moses and Elijah had fasted and encountered the Lord (Exodus 2. Deuteronomy 9: 9, 1. Kings 1. 9: 8). Fasting has a way of temporarily lifting the tyranny of preparing and eating food to assuage physical hunger. It allows one to focus on the spiritual realm more intently. After the first few days, the hunger pangs subside some as the body's metabolism changes. Fasting can produce a clarity of mind and spirit. Was the forty days a literal time period? The number forty is used so often in the Bible that it seems to be a rounded rather more than an exact figure, much as we might say . A long time to be tempted. A long time to fast. Why Temptation? It startles us to think of Jesus being tempted at all. Shouldn't he be above all that? After all he is the Son of God, and James tells us, . But the Incarnation (coming in the flesh) required that the Son of God empty himself of his divine prerogatives (Philippians 2: 7), and one of those must have been the ability to be tempted. We see his temptation here and also in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 2. In both instances, he chooses his Father's will over the temptation to pursue an easier path. But notice that he has no extraordinary weapons in his temptation; he has the same tools we have - - the Spirit and the Word. Sometimes being tempted makes us feel dirty. The spontaneous thoughts of hatred or lust or envy or theft shock us. An important lesson for disciples is this: temptation is not sin. Satan may tempt us by putting evil thoughts into our mind, but we can push them right out again with God's help. I've always appreciated a saying attributed to Martin Luther: . Would you like to contemplate an unanswerable question for a moment? Could Jesus have sinned? And yet, part of being human is to have a will free to choose wrong as well as right. He must have been able to sin, or temptation is just a big play- act. What if he had sinned? What would have happened? Would the Trinity have exploded? Would the unity of the Godhead itself been threatened? We can't imagine or comprehend it. And yet I get the feeling that the Incarnation was not risk- free for the Father. When he sent his Only Begotten Son, he took a huge risk - - because he loved us. Yes, I know that the Father knows the end from the beginning. I believe the Bible teaches predestination. But I also believe the Father took a huge risk - - for you and me. The Necessity of Temptation. Why should Jesus be tempted at all? Because innocent faith is not strong faith. The Garden of Eden is illustration enough. Innocent faith may be pure, but it needs testing to be strong. Volcanic granite domes cap the sheer rock faces above Yosemite Valley. And near the top of some of these domes grow trees that are tortured by the reflected glare of the summer sun, frigid stormy gales, and massive winter snow packs. These trees are contorted yet strong. The wood fibers in these twisted and stressed branches are much stronger than those of any of their straight- grained cousins. Many disciples have discovered that while their lives were pretty controlled by Satan before their conversion, after their conversion a battle begins, an inner war. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. The battle is both inevitable and necessary for you to begin to experience spiritual freedom in your life. For Jesus the battle was somewhat different. His nature wasn't sinful like ours, where the devil often has an inside track to temptation. Rather, as we will see, the temptation in the wilderness was an attempt by Satan to gain a foothold on Jesus, to trip Jesus into a petty concession that would force him into disgrace or impotence. If a politician, for example, takes just one under- the- table gift, the donor now controls him by threat of exposure. If a nuclear scientist offers just one bit of information to the enemy, he is not allowed to stop there. Let's examine Satan's attempts to compromise Jesus.#1 Temptation of Hunger (4: 3- 4)The first temptation seems pretty simple. Jesus has been fasting for 4. Satan offers him a quick way to feed his hunger, to turn the rounded bread- shaped stones scattered on the desert floor into actual loaves of bread. The other alternative is for Jesus to hike 2. The devil's suggestion is instant, within Jesus' power, and he IS very hungry. There comes a point in fasting where the hunger pangs return, and if you don't eat then, starvation and death take hold quickly. This is the temptation to meet legitimate physical needs by illegitimate or unnecessary means. But there's another subtle temptation here, as well. The devil slyly begins, . Prove it to me by doing this minor miracle. And when someone taunts us and doubts our role we're very tempted to SHOW THEM, to prove it. This is the temptation to pride, to prove ourselves to others - - and, in our insecurity, to ourselves as well. There's nothing wrong with meeting physical needs - - food, shelter, love, companionship, sex - - by legitimate means. But there is a higher law than our physical desires, and that is God's Word. The essence of Jesus' reply, a quotation of Deuteronomy 8: 3, reads in full: . We're tempted, of course, to steal, to cheat, to fornicate, to lie, to provide a quick fix for our physical hungers. God is able to supply our needs, but we must wait on him and seek to do things his way. Just because we CAN work miracles doesn't mean we should in any given circumstance. Bread - - physical fulfillment - - is not more important than God's Word and way.#2 Temptation of Power and Wealth (4: 5- 8)The second temptation is to authority and worldly glory. The devil leads Jesus up to a high place and shows him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. This sounds like a vision. Instantly, Jesus can see each of the kingdoms of his day: Herod's petty domain closest to him, then Rome's towering buildings and Caesar's court, and all the other empires on the Russian steppes, the Indian subcontinent, and ancient China. Jesus could see it all. Satan claims both ownership of and the power to bestow political power and material wealth and splendor. It's interesting that Jesus doesn't question it. Satan isn't able to draw him into an argument that God alone is sovereign and Satan's power is usurped from its rightful owner - - though Jesus' answer hints at this. Arguing with Satan makes the tempted person even more vulnerable. If you've ever been near the pinnacle of political or corporate power, you know that temptations to comprise are abundant and the stakes are high. The rewards can be tremendous. In the last few years we've seen many overnight millionaires. The incentives to compromise are almost impossible to resist, especially if the love of money and power have found a ready place in your heart. Can a person live in the business or political arena and retain his integrity? Yes, but not without facing and passing the kind of tests that Jesus met in the desert. Part of the lie is that Satan alone controls power and material rewards, and that the only way to reach them is the devil's way. The other way is to trust God and serve him in good times and bad, relying on him to exalt you if that is his will. You cannot serve both God and Money. Daniel retained his integrity as Prime Minister of Babylon and Persia; so did Abraham and Job. Joseph was second to Pharaoh himself, and Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin Council that ruled Jerusalem in Jesus' day. God is not opposed to bestowing on Christians power or wealth. But we cannot afford the shortcuts, no matter how appealing or seemingly innocent they appear. The devil said to Jesus, ? Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich's Greek- English Lexicon, gives the background of the word. These days kissing one's ring, or a handshake, or eye contact and a subtle nod of the head can indicate the same kind of submission. Satan would grant power and wealth to Jesus instantly if only Jesus would accept it from him. But the strings accompanying such a gift would be like steel cables enslaving Jesus to the devil forever. We understand the temptation. We live in the present, we want instant gratification. We would rather get our rewards now and worry later about the future. Does this describe you? What is the balance on your credit cards? Jesus answers with Scripture he had doubtless learned as a boy: . Our God is a jealous God. We are not free agents in the world, picking or choosing between world powers to align our tiny selves with. We must choose the Lord our God or be sucked irresistibly into the orbit of the devil's minions. If we don't worship the Lord we are lost.
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