Luke 4:1-15

Luke 4:1. And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness Вѕ

«Full of the Holy Ghost» Вѕand then led «into the wilderness» to be tempted. You would not expect that. Yet it is a sadder thing to be led into a wilderness when you are not filled with the Spirit, and a sadder thing to be tempted when the Spirit of God is not resting upon you. The temptation of our Lord was not one to which he wantonly exposed himself, he «was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.» The Spirit of God may lead us where we shall have to endure trial. If he does so, we are safe; and we shall come off conquerors even as our Master did.

Luke 4:2. Being forty days tempted of the devil.

Six weeks of temptation. We read the story of the temptation, perhaps, in six minutes; but it lasted for nearly six weeks Forty days tempted of the devil.»

Luke 4:2. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

It does not appear, therefore, that Jesus hungered while he was fasting. He was miraculously sustained during that period. After fasting, one looks for deeper spiritual feeling, and more holy joy; but the most prominent fact here is that «he afterward hungered,» Think not that you have lost the benefit of your devout exercises when you do not at once feel it. Perhaps the very best thing that can happen to you, after much prayer, is a holy hunger; I mean not a natural hunger, as it was with our Lord; but a blessed hungering after divine things. «Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.»

Luke 4:3. And the devil said unto him, «If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.»

Satan met the hungry Man, and suited his temptation to his present pangs, to his special weakness at that moment: «If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.» The devil suspected, and I think he knew that Jesus was the Son of God; but he began his temptation with an «if.» He hissed that into the Saviour's ear: «If thou be the Son of God.» If you, believer, can be led to doubt your sonship, and to fear that you are not a son of God, Satan will have begun to win the battle. So he begins to storm the fort royal of faith: «If thou be the Son of God.» Our Lord was the Son of God, but he was then suffering as our Substitute; and in that condition he was a lone and humble man; what if I call him «a common soldier in the ranks»? Satan invites him to work a miracle of an improper kind on his own behalf; but Jesus wrought no miracle for himself. Now, it may be, that the devil is trying some of you tonight. You are very poor, or business is going very awkwardly, and Satan suggests that you should help yourself in an improper manner. He tells you that you can get out of your trouble very easily by some action which, although it may not be strictly right, may not be so very wrong after all. He said to Jesus, «If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.»

Luke 4:4. And Jesus answered him, saying, «It is written,»

That is Christ's sword. See how swiftly he drew it out of its sheath. What a sharp two-edged sword is this to be used against Satan! You also, believer, have this powerful weapon in your hand; let no man take it from you. Believe in the inspiration of Scripture. Just now there is a fierce attack upon the Book of Deuteronomy. It is a very curious thing that all the texts Christ used during the temptation were taken out of Deuteronomy, as if that was to be the very armoury out of which he would select this true Jerusalem blade, with which he should overcome the tempter, «It is written,» «It is written,» «It is said.»

Luke 4:4. That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

«God can sustain me without my turning the stone into bread. God can bring me through my trouble without my saying or doing anything wrong I am not dependent upon the outward and visible.» If you can feel like that, if you can appropriate the promise of God, and quote it to Satan, saying, «It is written,» Using it as Christ did, you will come off conqueror in the time of temptation even as he did.

Luke 4:5. And the devil,

Now he tries him again. There is wave upon wave trying to wash the Son of man off his feet.

Luke 4:5. Taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

Skeptics have asked how that could be done. Well, they had better ask him who did it. He knows more about them, and they know more about him, than I do; but be did it: I am sure, for here it is written, that he «shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.»

Luke 4:6. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it.

Does not be talk proudly in the, presence of his Lord and Master? What an audacious dog he must have been thus to howl in the presence of him who could have destroyed him by a look or a word, if he had wished to do so!

Luke 4:7. If thou therefore, wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan:

The temptation annoyed him, it was so foreign to his holy nature, it vexed his gracious spirit, so he cried out indignantly to the tempter: «Get thee behind me, Satan.»

Luke 4:8. For it is written,

Here flashed forth the sword again.

Luke 4:8. Thou, shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Then let us pay no reverence, no worship, to any but God. Consciences and minds are made for God alone; before him let us bow; but if all the world were proffered us for a moment's idolatry, let us not fall into the snare of the tempter.

Luke 4:9. And he brought him to Jerusalem,

Satan now takes Christ to holy ground. Temptations are generally more severe there.

Luke 4:9. And set him on a pinnacle of the temple,

The highest point of all; elevated high above the earth.

Luke 4:9. And said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, test at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Now Satan tries to quote Scripture, as he can do when it answers his purpose; but he never quotes it correctly. You young brethren who go out preaching, mind that you do not imitate the devil by quoting part of a text, or quoting Scripture incorrectly. He did it, however, with a purpose; not by misadventure or from forgetfulness; he left out the very necessary words, «In all thy ways.» «He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.» Satan left out those last four words, for it was not the way of a child of God to come down from a pinnacle of the temple headlong into the gulf beneath.

Luke 4:12. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Do nothing presumptuously. Do nothing which would lead the Lord to act otherwise than according to his settled laws, which are always right and good.

Luke 4:13. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee:

He had not lost anything by the temptation, the power of the Spirit was still upon him.

Luke 4:14. And there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

He became popular; the people resorted to him, and were glad to hear him. He who has had secret temptation and private conflict is prepared to bear open success without being elevated by it. Hast thou stood foot to foot with Satan? Thou wilt think little of the applause or of the attacks of thy fellow-men.