Temptation

It was history's greatest showdown. Set in the Judean wilderness outside of Jerusalem, it was Adam version 2 versus Satan version 1. Of course, Adam version 2 is the Lord Jesus Christ, and Satan version 1 is often known as the devil.

We find the story in Matthew chapter 4. We've just heard that read for us by Max, but we're going to be in Luke chapter 4.

So if you'd like to just turn over a couple of pages, we're going to look at the Luke 4 version of the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If Satan could tempt humanity's representative, if Satan could lure humanity's champion to commit sin, to abandon his path to the cross, then God's plan of salvation would fail. The stakes don't get any higher, would you agree?

I mean, this is whatever cataclysmic world ending disaster you can think of on steroids. It really is. This is, as I reflect on it, this is the greatest moment, pivotal opportunity for everything to go wrong, isn't it?

If Jesus gives in to the tempter, all is lost, because He is the serpent crusher. He is the champion. Now, if you're a sports person and you were going up against an arch rival in a great showdown, you'd pull out the old videotapes, wouldn't you?

You'd look at the videotapes and you'd see how your opponent is going to come at you, what they've done in the past. You'd think about what their vulnerabilities are, and maybe what your vulnerabilities are and how they're going to come at you.

What's very important to realize with Satan as an opponent is he's not creative. God is creative, amen? He created everything from nothing, ex nihilo, but Satan is part of the created order and he's a counterfeit artist.

He's actually not that creative. So it stands to reason that it's helpful to look back on the videotapes as it were, and see what did he do in the past to give us an idea of what he would do into the future.

If we pull out the videotapes of the first battle, the big battle with Adam 1.0, and we're speaking of Adam and Eve when we refer to them as Adam 1.0, you can see the first temptation.

And I think we will see today, certainly in my studies, I've come to the understanding that he tries the same thing on Jesus. It's the same playbook, what he did to Adam 1.0, and what he tries to Adam version 2.

Well, this morning, I hope we can see how the enemy attacks, and by a careful study of our victorious champion, the Lord Jesus Christ, see how we, the redeemed, new humans in Christ can also be victorious through our trials and temptations.

Three attacks on our champion Jesus involve desire versus grace, pride versus humility, unbelief versus belief. desire versus grace, pride versus humility, unbelief versus grace.

Luke 4 verse 1 tells us, Jesus, full of the Holy spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them, he was hungry.

The life of Jesus is mirroring, in many ways, the path of Israel. Israel were called and redeemed out of Egypt. They went through the waters of baptism, of the Red Sea, and then they were led by God to worship him in the wilderness for 40 years.

Jesus is really mirroring this as faithful Israel, as new Israel. He's taken as a child out of Egypt at 30 years of age.

He goes through the waters of baptism in the River Jordan, and then he's taken into the wilderness to be tempted and tested for 40 days, mirroring the 40 years.

So, he's like Israel, he's like Moses, but most of all, I think, the New Testament says he's like Adam. He's the second Adam. And this is what Romans 5 tells us.

Let me read from verse 12 of Romans 5. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, that's the first Adam, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sinned.

So Paul is setting up in Romans, there was a problem, an expansive consequence, to all of humanity when Adam and Eve sinned.

But verse 15, the gift is not like the trespass, for if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many?

That's why we talk about Jesus as the second Adam, the life that is available in Adam version 2. So Adam 1.0 messed up, Adam 2.0 did not. And we get to choose, don't we?

We can live in the shadow of Adam 1.0, or we can live in the light of Adam 2.0, amen? We live in either, we will live in the shadow of Adam version 1, or by God's grace, we can live in the light of Jesus, who is Adam version 2.0.

When you live in the shadow of the first, you choose desire, pride and unbelief when tempted. To live in the light of the second Adam, we choose grace, humility and belief. Jesus was hungry, the text tells us.

Luke 4, the devil said to him, if you are the son of God, let this stone become bread. Jesus answered, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone. The first idea we find in these temptations is stones to bread, desire versus grace.

We've been studying, as many of you know, the last nine weeks, a subject matter we've called spiritual formation. It's really discipleship. spiritual formation in the way of the master.

That's why you see wayform. It represents this idea, spiritual formation in the way of the master.

And if you've been around the last few months, you might remember this triangle, and it's called the Triangle of Transformation or the Golden Triangle of Transformation.

And we talked about the fact that you need to believe that Jesus died for you on the cross and rose again from the grave.

And when we do believe that Jesus is the saviour of the world and he's my saviour, we repent of our sin and we put our faith in Christ, the Bible says you will be saved. You will receive forgiveness and eternal life.

But we've pointed out that to say that it's only, the gospel only manages our sin problem is to sell the gospel short.

The gospel does more than just get us into heaven, shown by so many passages, Matthew 28 being one of them, where Jesus says go out and teach them all that I commanded you. Basically, tell these new disciples how to live my way.

So the whole gospel talks about a life transformation that starts now. Amen? And takes us through death, through heaven into the new creation and eternal life.

So the whole gospel is a life-effecting gospel. And as the spirit comes in and we're given the Word of God, how does it happen? Well, we learn habits of the way.

We have to appropriate the way of Jesus. We don't earn His love, but we learn how to live the way He said that we could live. And there are lots of habits.

Some of them are on the screen. There's study, prayer, worship, service, giving, submission, solitude, silence, habits of the way. But another crucial part of the process of becoming more and more like Jesus is trials and temptations.

It's the challenges along the way. James 1 says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. These challenges that are part and parcel to becoming more and more like Jesus often involve temptation.

So, as I've been studying spiritual formation, it really struck me as a curiosity. I wonder how much you can see this pattern between the first great temptation and the second. So that's what led me to spend some time studying up on it.

So the devil's first attempt at breaking Jesus' obedience was stones to bread. Stones to bread. What's the big issue?

Just turn a stone to bread, Lord. You're about, in a little while, you'll turn, what do you turn, water to wine. What's the problem?

Jesus is hungry. What's so bad with the suggestion? Well, the devil is in the detail.

Jesus was fulfilling his calling to do a fast like Moses did up the mountain. That was part of his call. It wasn't God's plan for Jesus to cut the corner, as it were, and avoid the sacrifice of hunger.

Have you realised, as you follow Jesus, those of us who do, that the devil tends to often suggest to us, cut the corner? Is that fair to say? Just cut the corner.

Take an easier way. I mean, the way that God is leading you to, it's a bit of suffering, it's challenging, it's windy, it's a detour. Just do the easier thing, cut the corner.

You're hungry. You're hungry, Jesus. Just look after your desire.

And so Jesus is going to say back, no, and quotes from his favorite book, Deuteronomy, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, and Matthew says, but on every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Now this is muscle memory, isn't it?

For Jesus, he's like, no, I know the word of God. I have it stored away in my heart. Even though I'm hungry, even though I can taste the bread, it's not the Father's will for me.

And life, abundant life for Jesus is found on the other side of obedience to his Father. Amen. Think about that line for us.

Abundant life is found on the other side of obedience. But the devil will say, no, abundant life is on this side of obedience. You don't have to go through a cross, Jesus.

And we don't have to go through our cross. What about the videotape of Adam 1.0? Here, represented by Jesus.

I'll read from Genesis 3 verse 1. The serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

The woman said to the serpent, we may eat from the trees in the garden, but God did say you must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die. You will not certainly die.

The serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And then verse 6, when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food. Wow.

What a base way of taking out humanity. Have you ever stopped and thought about that? It was good for food.

So, Eve, not knowing it, basically said, let me usher in the sin of the nightmare of sin on the stage of world history. Let me unleash sin to break this beautiful world for the duration until Jesus fixes it. It's horrendous, isn't it?

It's an incredibly sad, tragic moment. But it was good for food. Stones to bread.

The devil hasn't changed much, has he? I noticed you're hungry, Jesus. It worked before.

All I had to say to Eve was, it's good for food. Stones to bread is a powerful summary for us to remember. When it comes to spiritual formation in the way of the Master, where is the devil tempting us to turn stones to bread?

Now, that's the most vague sounding question you'd ever hear. What does that even mean? Well, I think it's the challenge of desire versus grace.

The challenge of desire versus grace. You can run your life on two fuels. The world runs on desire.

Christians run on grace. The world runs on the fuel of desire. Followers of Jesus on the way of the Master, they live their life out of the fuel of grace.

desire lives in your body. And remember the order, we've looked at this picture here.

The order should be God's spirit informing our will, changing and renewing our mind, which affects our emotions and our actions, and how we live in our social context. The opposite is true when desire rules the roost.

It's just the body has what it wants. Have you ever noticed that anger lives in your body? That's why someone can, without even thinking, just give you the bird when you're driving.

Rage. Rage is just there. Boom.

Lust is just there. It's living in your body. It's not that your mind's not part of it, but it's just right there.

The world tends to say, let your body rule the roost. And your emotions can follow the desires of the body, of the flesh, and then the mind, and then the will, and last of all, what God might think about it.

You might wonder, why would I suggest that the battle is desire versus grace and not desire versus obedience? It's because obedience comes out of grace. Jesus was able to obey because he lived powerfully and profoundly in the grace of God.

Here's a question that's a bit of a trick question. Who uses the most grace, the sinner or the saint? It's actually something to really think about.

I've found as I've asked that question a hundred times, most people say sinners use grace more than saints. What use do saints have of grace? That's a false understanding of grace.

Saints use grace like a jet plane uses fuel taking off. We need grace. Scripture tells us at 2 Peter 3, 18, Peter says, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace is not just something you access once and get saved. By grace, we have been saved. Amazing grace.

I was once blind, but now I see. We have to, in the journey of spiritual formation, understand no, no, grace is what I need to access daily to obey, to be the sort of person Jesus said I could be. I love Titus 2.11.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness.

It's the grace that is required for us to say no to ungodliness, yes to obedience, no to worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. desire, the grace, desire of the flesh or grace-fuelled obedience.

We need to remember in our journey, when we are tempted and we will be tempted, 1 Corinthians 10, Paul writes in verse 13, no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful.

He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. So can I encourage us next time we are tempted and it feels like it's an unstoppable desire.

Remember, it is written, man doesn't live on bread alone, on desire alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And for me to obey that, I'll need grace. Amen?

I will need God's grace. But the scripture says, his grace is there. His grace is sufficient for us to say, no, I don't need to cut the corner and turn the stone to bread, desire v grace.

Secondly, the devil attacked through the suggestion that it can all be yours. It can all be yours. Luke 4, 5, the devil led him to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

And he said to him, I will give you all their authority and splendour. It has been given to me. And I can give it to anyone I want to.

If you worship me, it will all be yours. Jesus answered, it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only. If you want an unchanging truth to store away, it's this, the devil's a liar.

Jesus said, you're a liar from the beginning. He's a murderer. He's a thief.

He's a liar. He's always going to lie. He didn't have all authority to give away.

It's why Max had a bit of a laugh. It's like, what are you talking about? He's a liar.

The devil is attacking here, the human propensity for pride. It took immense humility for Jesus to respond the way he responded. Again, quoting his favourite book, Deuteronomy, it is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

And are you noticing a habit, a pattern in the way Jesus responds? It is written. Jesus had to first read it to state it.

He had to first learn it to draw the sword of the spirit, the word of God from his scabbard. He had to store it away in his heart.

When the devil comes and tempts us, which he doesn't normally flag and say, look, I'm going to come, you'll see me coming. Now, he sneaks up and tempts us to disobey the ways of the master. You need to have the word of God in your heart, amen.

If we don't have the sword here and it's over there in the cupboard, or my friend would know a scripture to quote right now. It doesn't work. We need to have it ourselves.

But Jesus does. And he quotes scripture immediately. How did Adam 1.0 go when the devil pulled this Swifty?

How did he go? And I'm going to say how. I'm meaning Adam and Eve.

When the woman, verse 6 of chapter 3 in Genesis, when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, she ate some. Pleasing to the eye took her over the edge. Pleasing to the eye took her over the edge.

You might say, why is pleasing to the eye pride? Think about it. What drives pride?

Looking at what other people have and thinking, I'm going to have me some of that stuff. This lack of contentment, of desire drives the world and sets a person on a path of procuring those assets, those resources, that power.

And once you get the treasure, pride is just next door. The devil says to Jesus, the essence of what he says to Eve, you can be like God if you eat the fruit. You can have all the splendour, all the glory you desire, just worship me.

Humility versus pride. Humility is at the core of true worship, isn't it? For a creature to not worship a creator, that's weird.

To not respect and honour. And in our case, because our creator is worthy of worship, the creatures should, it is right that we praise and honour and give worship to our creator. You need humility to do that.

Beware of the temptation, it can all be yours. Anyone had that temptation? It can all be yours.

The thought, all be yours, is waiting around the corner for anyone, especially if you're young, and you're on a pathway to earn a lot of money, have a lot of status, get a lot of influence. Looking around the room, some of us have already been there.

So I know you've already journeyed through these challenges. It can all be yours. You know, it's interesting, Ben's going to interview Hamish, our kids coordinator, tonight.

And part of that story is Hamish is going to say he works as a volunteer for EU, Evangelical Union, which is a student body, evangelistic group, mobilising people for ministry. He's in at Sydney Uni. You know, it's interesting.

They say, we don't get many applicants from the North Shore to go into ministry training. None at all. No one expects anyone coming from the North Shore.

It's south and mainly west. Why would that be? I think this all be yours thing might just be part of it.

I've had a big expensive education. I want me some of that grandeur, the stuff of success. I want that.

That's what EU, these are people mobilising young people from ministry and they're like, we don't get them from the North Shore. So Hamish is a rare breed from us North Shoreers. That sounds cheeky.

I'm just putting it out there. That was just a curious insight. I was at a previous church for a long time.

Some of our family were in. We bought a factory, some of you heard some of this story. We bought a factory and we were doing it up into a church and turning it into a sports centre, a ministry centre.

And so we bought it and we lived as a church in just one-tenth of this huge 6,000 square metres under cover. So it was a big job to do it up. And it was a two-year process.

So we were a small church going in with a big dream. And it became something really amazing. God did an amazing work in that church.

But when we first went in there, just before we were about to go into the factory and begin the process of transformation, of renovation, I felt led to ask one of our elders, who was a very top quality manager, looking after high-volume production

and making sure it was done very well. He was a top quality manager. And I said, would you ever think of leaving your work and coming and working for us and running our centre and being an executive pastor?

And to my surprise, in a way, he said, yeah, I feel like God's calling me to do that. But it was a two-year gap before it could happen. And let's call him Greg.

It's not his name, but... So Greg says, yes, I'm going to do it. And then the two years is going on, and he ends up getting a different job with an incredibly charismatic, globe-throtting entrepreneur.

And they've got, to cut a long story short, they've created, with Greg's help, a software package that fine-tunes efficiency of high-volume production, and it's being sold around the world.

And this is hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of software. So Greg is travelling around the place, and he's listening, and he's travelling, and he's staying in hotels, lovely hotels, with this charismatic individual, the boss, the entrepreneur.

And the two years are ticking away, and he ends up, Greg ends up coming and working for us.

But near the end, in our staff retreats, he often told the story that he was with his boss, and they were literally in one of the top floor office blocks in Sydney, floor-to-ceiling windows.

And he said, this guy said to me, as we looked out over the harbour, he said, Greg, come with me, and it can all be yours. It can all be yours. Because sometimes you've got to see the forked tongue, don't you, in our lives.

When that word comes in, it's finding, well, you've got to go get, no. Where's the spade? I've got to get at that head of the serpent.

Don't do what Adam did. Let the serpent run free. And you know, that guy, Greg, ended up coming on board as executive pastor and centre manager.

And he was instrumental in taking the church from a $100,000 annual budget to a 1.25 annual budget in about four years. In 10 years, he stewarded about $5 million. The church grew phenomenally.

And I look back and I say, he was crucial. And that was a moment that the devil was coming saying, I'm taking him out. And he's not creative.

He came and did the second temptation and said, it can all be yours. Because he knows 100 out of 101 people tend to go, that sounds great. I'd love that.

All be yours. I think that counter is an issue of humility. That's what I would suggest to us.

And of course, Jesus is par excellence, the humble one, the humble one. He wasn't going to be caught up with the first lure. I can give you all this stuff.

And it's the desire of the eye. It's all this stuff. Just worship me.

He responds with no, only worship God. I'm not going to worship you. I'm going to be humble because I'm part of that which is incumbent upon them to give glory to God.

He's God, but he's also human, Jesus. Stones to bread, desire vs grace, all be yours, pride vs humility, and God to the test, unbelief vs belief.

The devil in verse 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, for it's written, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully.

They will lift up, lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered, it is said, do not put the Lord your God to the test.

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. God has big shoulders, have you found that? He can cope with our criticisms, our complaints.

The Psalms are full of such things. So, you know, you're allowed to do it. Even at times, our cynicism.

But be careful if your attitude leads you to a place where you're putting him to the test. He's got big shoulders. He can handle our honesty.

For Satan's last crack at humanities champion, Adam 2.0, the Lord Jesus Christ, he goes for unbelief. Now, it might not seem like that's actually the case, but think about it.

The devil says to Jesus, put your life on the line and see what God does, which is basically put God on the line. Put your belief in God on the line. And the challenge is he's got to do what you say.

And if not, he has failed you. Jesus responds with the third quote, do not put the Lord your God to the test. I think sometimes we bring our prayer requests to God and they have a very specific outcome.

Did anyone ever do that? Surely we do. This is what we listen to.

Shameless persistence. The widow that comes to the judge at night knocks on the door and Jesus says, keep doing it, be persistent. This is certainly the journey we've had as the Shanks family last year.

We shared it with our life hub all the way through. We had this need in our family that was specific and we petitioned the Lord. We petitioned the Lord for six months.

We're like, Lord, please let this happen. It's completely outcome related. We need you to do this specific thing.

And what I felt in that petitioning was, a subtle move towards the danger of unbelief if God didn't turn up and do what we asked.

And what we found as we processed and prayed, we discovered it's more important to believe that God is good than to believe that he will do what I want him to do. It's more important.

When Jesus responded with, do not put the Lord your God to the test, I think he was guarding his heart against unbelief. And at the same time, bracing his heart to believe that his father is always good. The devil will go us on unbelief.

Have you not seen this in other people's lives or maybe your own? God has not given me a spouse. I asked him for it.

I'm not going to believe anymore. Specific prayer request. I'm jumping off the cliff and God, you've got to stop me or I'm not believing anymore.

Are you with me? I need this job. I need this outcome.

I need this suffering to go away and I've asked for it. And because you have not given me what I asked for, I'm not believing in you anymore. I think that's the core of this.

This third temptation is actually unbelief versus belief. Because he hasn't given me... what is it for you?

The devil says, you should choose unbelief. How did this third lie play out on the videotape?

Well, Genesis 3 verse 6, When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave it to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Adam and Eve are walking around in perfect relationship with their Creator. There's no barrier.

They're just, they're in perfect sync. If she needed wisdom, she could have asked God. Like, everything is perfect, but it's not enough for her.

It was desirable for gaining wisdom. And I could just be a little bit more like God. I think there is unbelief there.

Eve is not believing that God is good, and He's giving her and Adam, her husband, everything they need. Unbelief versus belief. Unbelief is coming at us if we are going to walk the way of the Master.

It's a temptation that's coming. But how is it going to come at us? The devil did come back at Jesus various times, didn't he?

Through his friends, sneaky ways. Hey, no, you don't have to go to the cross. Get behind me, Satan.

He said that to Peter. He's coming at me from different ways. Jesus consistently chose grace to obey, humility and belief.

How are you being tempted in this season of your life? Because the tempter doesn't come in exactly the same way. I think there are different times where we're more vulnerable, aren't they?

What is it for you at the moment? I don't believe the devil is creative. I think we can see that in scripture.

I think we can expect him to come at us from certain angles. But that doesn't make it any easier to resist. We need to resist with grace.

Stones to bread. May we look for the power of grace, because it's there. Amen?

When we are tempted, he won't leave us alone in the temptation he's going to find. There's going to be a way out, and that's the grace way out. Stones to bread.

desire vs grace. We're going to live in grace. All be yours, pride vs humility.

May we choose the way of the servant, because that's what our Master did. Serving by grace, God's worthy of our worship. God to the test, unbelief vs belief.

May we choose the way of belief. God is good all the time, amen? May with that truth we reframe our past and pre-frame our future to look for the good fingerprints of God.

He was there in the past and he's there in the future. Whether he answered our prayer the way we were praying, we might have put him to the test and he failed our test, that doesn't make him any less glorious. Amen?

Doesn't make him any less good. It just proves we don't see everything. We don't understand everything.

We choose, I will rejoice in who he is and not what I understand he is doing. As Helen prayed today, I will abandon outcomes into the hands of my father. I will continue to believe by grace.

Luke 4 14 says, Jesus, after the temptation, now this is a huge encouragement to us if you're going through temptation right now. Luke 4 14 says, Jesus returns to Galilee in the power of the spirit.

There can be an empowering, may the temptation you are going through or you go through next, empower you rather than drain you, equip you rather than empty you, strengthen you rather than weaken you in the name of Jesus.

And all the people said, thank you, Lord God, that you have done everything we need for us to experience life and godliness through the gospel, through the perfect life of our Lord Jesus, His wonderful sacrificial death on the cross in our place, His

mighty resurrection from the grave, and His giving of the Holy spirit to fill every believer. We have with your word in our hands and with our brothers and sisters by our side, we have all that we need.

And with the shield of faith on our arm, we can extinguish all the fiery arrows of the evil one. And I thank you, Lord God, that you've fitted us with feet that are ready with the Gospel of Peace.

Help us not only to be able to defend the temptation, the assault of the evil one, to take us away from your plans for our lives.

But Lord, we have so much more to even fight that off, but to move forward, to grow in grace, you've given us everything we need for life and godliness.

Lord, some of us here today are struggling right in the middle of powerful temptation and we've given in and there's a habit loop happening. Lord, we pray against those loops of habits and we pray for new righteous habits fuelled by your grace.

We pray that we might experience freedom in the name of Jesus, because you said that the son has come to set the captives free. And you say we're free, so we'll be free indeed.

Lord, would you help us live in the freedom of righteousness by grace, which leads to holiness in the name of Jesus. Amen.

‍