The Temptations of Jesus: Lust of the Flesh

Luke 4:1-13
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.' " 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.' " 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' " 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Temptations...what tempted you this week? Was it big...small...or was it that same one that you constantly find yourself struggling with, you know, the one that is your true thorn in the flesh, your Achilles heel...the one the devil knows just how to attack? We must learn that the devil will always tempt in these 3 areas, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

In this posting, we will be dealing with the first temptation only, ...just like we did in the sermon this morning. I feel that we can learn more from individually discussing them, rather than talking about all 3 at once, like I have ususally done.

The devil appealed to the lust of the flesh, in this case hunger or our physical needs, the cravings that come from within our flesh and body. In fact, His deity was the basis for the first of the three temptations. “Since you are the Son of God,” Satan argued, “why be hungry? You can change stones into bread!”

In this first temptation, Satan suggested that there must be something wrong with the Father’s love since His “beloved Son” was hungry…God fed Israel..couldn’t Jesus feed himself?

Satan subtly used this same approach on Eve in the garden: “God is holding out on you! Why can’t you eat of every tree in the garden ? If He really loved you, He would share everything with you!”But the test was even more subtle than that, for Satan was asking Jesus to separate the physical from the spiritual.Satan wanted Jesus to disobey the Father’s will by using His divine power for His own purposes. Satan wanted Jesus to change his IDENTITY.

His IDENTITY is OUR IDENTITY!-To we who truly follow Christ, WHO we are as Christians and HOW the world sees us.

The Bible speaks to this pull from the world on us in 1 John 2:16:
"Practically everything that goes on in the world - wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important - has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him." (The Message)

TEMPTATION is Satan’s weapon to defeat us, but it can become God’s tool to build us

James 1:2–4, 13–17
2. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3. because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4.Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

12. Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14. but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Christ must be first in everything,

or He is first in nothing

(Matthew. 6:33).

It is better to be hungry in the will of God than satisfied out of the will of God. When our Lord quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, He put the emphasis on the word man. As the eternal Son of God, He had POWER to do anything, but as the humble Son of Man, He had AUTHORITY to do only that which the Father willed.

As the Servant, Jesus did not use His divine attributes for selfish purposes (Philippians. 2:5–8). Because He was man, He hungered, but He trusted the Father to meet His needs in His own time and His own way. You and I need bread for the body (Matthew. 6:11), but we must not live by physical bread alone. We also need food for the inner person to satisfy our spiritual needs.

This FOOD is the Word of God
Psalm 119:103/How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Jeremiah 15:16/16. When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.

1 Peter 2:2/Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

What DIGESTION is to the body, MEDITATION is to the soul. As we read the Word and meditate on it, we receive spiritual health and strength for the inner person, and this enables us to obey the will of God.

Most of us Christians don’t realize that we have the same spiritual resources that Jesus used when He faced and defeated Satan:

1. Prayer (Luke 3:22),
2. The Father’s love (Luke 3:23),
3. Power of the Spirit (Luke 4:1),
4. Word of God (“It is written”).

The Word of God will successfully defeat the devil...or his demons. How much time THIS week did YOU spend in God's Word....how well in your desert, your wilderness, your temptation or trial can you reply..."It is written".

Questions to Discuss:
1. Is temptation only merely inevitable, or is it necessary to our growth as disciples?
2. What is the essence of the first temptation, to turn stones into bread? Which temptations we face are similar?
3. What physical or mental needs and desires make us vulnerable to temptation?
4. In what situations are you sometimes tempted to put the Lord to the test?
5. Where did Jesus get the answers he gave the Devil in verses 4, 8, and 12? 6. How did Jesus resist temptation? How can you become skillful in using the Bible & Scriptures as Jesus did?