“13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
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1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”
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If you are mechanically gifted, you are likely to find me a bit slow. If I ask you to help me winterize my lawnmower or replace a window, I will ask you questions the answers to which will be obvious to you. They aren’t obvious to me. I will ask you to show me how to do things that seem as simple to you as tying a shoe. I am all thumbs at being a handyman.
You are all thumbs at something too. Maybe you wish someone would show you how to talk to that girl you like. Maybe you wish someone would take the time to show you how to talk to your son when he has lost control of his emotions. Maybe you wish someone would show you how to keep the meringue on your pie from cracking. Maybe you wish someone would show you how to use the camera on your smartphone again. Each of us is all thumbs at something.
By nature, you are all thumbs at dealing with Satan. You need someone to show you how to respond to the temptations of the evil one; so do I. If you have recognized that you are all thumbs when it comes to resisting Satan, you would love it if someone would show you how to do it.
Jesus loves you, this you know for the Bible tells you so. One of the ways Jesus loves you is by taking the time to show you how to do what he does. Jesus doesn’t just tell you how to forgive your enemies. He shows you how. Jesus doesn’t just tell you to pray. He shows you how. Jesus doesn’t just tell you to resist the evil one. He shows you how.
We will spend three weeks with Jesus in the wilderness because here he shows us how to resist the evil one. He doesn’t just tell you to pray for deliverance in temptation; he shows you how to resist temptation.
This morning we will study the first temptation Luke recorded and Jesus’ response. This temptation might sound familiar because, if you are a child of God, Satan has used it on you. Since Jesus knows that you are all thumbs at dealing with Satan, He underwent this temptation to show you how to respond.
When Satan questions God’s generosity, you must trust God’s promises. That is what Jesus did and that is the claim of this sermon: When Satan questions God’s generosity you must answer by trusting the promises.
We will study this in three points. First, in verses 1-2, we see that Jesus became was tempted like us. That is our first point: God with us. Second, in verses 2-3, we seethe temptation itself. Why would your Father withhold anything good? Third, in verse 4, we see how Jesus responded and how you can respond. Jesus trusted the promises. That is our third point: living by every promise.
First, let’s see how Jesus was tempted like we are. The Son of God identifies with us, which is remarkable because, by and large, we don’t want to identify with us.
Do you want to be identified with humanity? By nature, we are selfish. Each of us is bristling with bias towards ourselves. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry. We are so often blind towards what must be seen and quick to see what deserves a blind eye.
We say things like, ‘I’m not like most people…’ Most people say, ‘I’m not like most people…’ By and large, we humans don’t want to be identified with the bulk of humanity. We don’t want to be identified with us. Praise God that he did. The Son of God identifies with the bulk of humanity. He identifies with the people we call ‘most people’—the people we don’t want to be like.
Jesus identified with us in his baptism. These temptations came on the heels of Jesus’ baptism. John the Baptist tried to keep Jesus from being baptized because he knew that Jesus was not like most people. Jesus didn’t need to repent of anything the way you do. Jesus demanded to be baptized because he wanted to identify with you.
After his baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus identified with you by being tempted just as you are. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
Satan didn’t lead Jesus to the wilderness for these temptations. God did. God sent Jesus into the wilderness to enter into your experience.
Jesus chose to become like you. He chose to suffer bodily pain because you have a body. He chose to suffer the anguish of soul because you suffer anguish of soul. He chose to be tempted because you are tempted. For him to save all of who you are, he had to become all of who you are, yet without sin.
We don’t want to identify with humans because humans are sinners and we don’t want to be sinners. None of us wants to be the sort of people who do the sort of things that people like us do. None of us wants to be like Adam and Eve, but by nature that is what we are. We are sinners.
Satan tempted Adam and the result was sin and death. God sent Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan to put right what, with Adam, went wrong. God sent Jesus into the wilderness to do what you couldn’t do.
Since Jesus chose to identify with you, He had to face Satan at your disadvantage. Unlike Adam in paradise, Jesus faced Satan in the wilderness. Unlike well fed Adam, Jesus faced Satan hungry. Jesus faced Satan the way you face Satan since the fall into sin, not the way Adam faced him in the garden. He faced him at your disadvantage
Jesus identified with you in your weakness. He identified with ‘those people,’ people like us. Have you identified with him? When you read this account, do you recognize that he went hungry for you? Do recognize that he faced Satan for you? When you look at the cross, do you recognize that Jesus died for you? Do you recognize his empty tomb as the only hope possible when you face death, which you will? Identify with Jesus. He identified with you.
Jesus identified with you in each of these three temptations. This first temptation is one that I imagine that you have faced. It was a temptation that Adam faced. It is our second point: why would your Father withhold anything good?
This temptation is the first Luke recorded but that doesn’t mean it was first temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness. Verse 2 tells us that, “for forty days [Jesus] was tempted by the devil.” These three temptations might simply be the final three, like the final three miles of an ultramarathon.
This first recorded temptation was about trust. Satan wanted Jesus to distrust the Father. He wanted Jesus to wonder, ‘why is my Father withholding something good like food?’
That wasn’t obvious to me when I first read Satan’s words, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread,” but I shouldn’t expect it to be obvious. Satan wants his victims thinking about the cheese, not the trap. Hunger was the bait. Distrust was the trap.
Satan didn’t tell Jesus to turn that stone into bread because he cared about Jesus’ hunger pains. He cared about driving a wedge between Jesus and the Father. ‘Jesus, you’re obviously hungry. Just feed yourself. The Father isn’t going to do it.’
Satan is crafty. His temptations are never obvious. You shouldn’t expect that you will immediately understand what he was up to when he told Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” I didn’t immediately understand it.
I only understand this temptation was about trust rather than food because I had a week to study it. I’ve been able to read different scholars’ thoughts on this passage. Most importantly, I’ve had the benefit of Jesus’ response. He is the one who told me that Satan was trying to get him to distrust his Father. Satan told him to feed himself. Jesus said, ‘no I trust the Father.’
Satan’s schemes are not obvious to me. I would have thought this was about a hunger. If I were in Jesus’ place, I wouldn’t even have noticed that Satan was driving a wedge between me and God. I know that because that is often the way it goes for me in temptation.
I take three lessons from that. First, I need to have some sympathy for myself when I fall into Satan’s schemes. If I could only begin to understand this scheme after hours of reflection, I shouldn’t be surprised that I don’t recognize Satan’s schemes when they unfold in real time. I shouldn’t be surprised that he outwits me. I should have some sympathy for myself.
Second, I should have some sympathy for others when they fall prey to Satan’s schemes. They are responding in real time like I am.
Third, I should be amazed by Jesus. Even in his hunger, he immediately recognized that this wasn’t about food. He recognized in real time that Satan wanted him to distrust the generosity of the Father. I should be amazed that someone like Jesus wants to be identified with someone like me.
That should amaze me because I’ve fallen for this temptation. Satan has tempted me to wonder, ‘why is God withholding something good?’ My guess is that Satan has tempted you to ask the same question. Maybe you haven’t recognized that as a temptation until now.
Satan has used your felt needs to raise doubt about God’s generosity. For Jesus it was hunger. For you it might be loneliness. ‘Why would the Father withhold a spouse from me?’ It might be chronic pain. ‘Why would the Father withhold health from me?’ It might be financial shortfall. ‘Why would the Father withhold from me what He gave to my brother?’ That isn’t just a question. That is a wedge between you and God.
Has Satan succeeded at driving in that wedge? Have you stopped seeing the Father as generous? Have you begun to see Him as stingy? Here is one test: how do you respond when you hear Jesus say, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”?
Do you think the Father is more generous than you? If you find that hard to believe, take that as a sign that Satan has been active in your life. Jesus saw Satan trying to drive a wedge between him and the Father. Do you?
Satan tempted Jesus to doubt the Father’s generosity. Jesus responded by trusting his Father’s promises. That is our final point: living by every promise.
I want to start by noting the genius of Jesus. It has taken us one point to even understand this temptation. Jesus decisively answered it with one sentence. “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”
Jesus decisively answered Satan’s temptation with Scripture; “It is written.” When dealing with Satan, you must depend upon what God said because in temptation your ability to reason can’t always be trusted. You and I don’t have the wisdom necessary to argue with Satan. Jesus did, and he still used Scripture. How much more do we need it?
If you want to understand how Jesus answered Satan you need to see what was written. Turn to Deuteronomy 8. It is on page 287 in the Bible in front of you.
These were Moses’ words to Israel. He was reminding them of how God fed them with manna when they were in the wilderness. We will start with verse 2, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Satan wanted Jesus to doubt his Father’s wisdom in bringing him into the wilderness. Jesus knew why his Father brought him into the wilderness because he knew why his Father brought Israel into the wilderness. “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.” Jesus knew his Father was testing his heart. He knew his Father was giving him a chance to trust.
Satan wanted Jesus angered to find himself hungry. Jesus wasn’t because he knew what his Father was doing. “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus knew he had promises which were better than food.
God gave Israel manna, bread from heaven, to train them to live by His promises. God promised that He would send enough food each and every day. He gave them manna 14,600 days in a row so they would learn that they lived not by bread alone but by the promise of God.
God didn’t give His people manna in the wilderness just because they needed to be fed. He could have wiped the Egyptians from the face of the earth and given Israel their flocks and herds, their watermelon fields and fishing holes. He could have fed His people a thousand different ways. He chose to put them in a situation in which they needed to a daily miracle to survive because that was the only way they would learn to trust Him.
God didn’t take Israel into the wilderness to be stingy with them. He took them into the wilderness because He loved them. He wanted them to learn to trust Him because if they didn’t trust Him it wouldn’t matter if they had food. If they didn’t trust Him, they were still slaves even thought they were free from Egypt.
The same is true for you. If you haven’t learned to trust God’s promises, it doesn’t matter how much is in your bank account; you will still feel insecure because you are still doubting the Father’s generosity. You don’t think He is good to His word.
What would you rather have—a loaf of bread or the promises of God Almighty? Jesus knew the promises were better. That’s why he refused to turn that stone into bread. That’s why he said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but every word [every promise] that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Jesus didn’t need manna in the wilderness because he had learned the lesson of manna in the wilderness. Jesus knew that since his Father brought him to the wilderness, He would give him what he needed in the wilderness. Jesus thought his Father’s promises seemed far better than a loaf of bread to a hungry man.
Jesus didn’t just believe that a full belly. He believed that when he was hungrier than I dare say you have ever been.
When Satan tempts you to question the Father’s generosity remember the promises. Remember that God promised, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will He not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Remember that God promised to, “never leave you nor forsake you.” Remember that as you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, God has promised that all that you need will be given.
The Father is not stingy. He is not withholding something that He thinks would be good for you in this moment. Charles Spurgeon was right when he said, “remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there.”
Satan wants you to doubt the Father’s generosity. He wants you to doubt that the Father is true to His word. He wants you to believe that you live by bread- by what is in front of you right now- not by every promise that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Satan wants you to doubt the Father. Jesus went hungry because he trusted the generosity of his Father. Now which of those two knows the Father better? Whose words will you believe the next time you doubt the Father’s goodness? Amen.