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Oct 07, 2025 18:00pm

Walking Through Luke: The Temptation of Christ

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I don’t have to ask if you’ve ever been tempted to do something wrong. I know you have. We all have. Perhaps instead I should ask, have you ever been tempted to do something wrong, but then not done it? Have you ever resisted temptation and done what you know is right even if the sin tempting you seemed very attractive at the time?

Unfortunately, we often forget those moments. They pass us by and don’t stick with us as much as they should. They’re victories and examples of the Holy Spirit’s work within us. I mostly remember my failures, the times when I did give in to temptation rather than resisting it. I don’t know if that’s just me, but I wish more examples came to mind of times I was strong and resisted temptation.

Temptations of some sort are all around us, even those that are not necessarily sinful. It might be a temptation to buy something you really want, but you know you need to save money. What about the temptation to go back for more at the buffet even though you’re already full, but the dessert just looks so good? It’s up to us to decide how to respond to temptation.

In Luke 4, we find Jesus transitioning from His baptism at the hands of John the Baptist into a forty-day sabbatical in the wilderness. For these forty days, Satan was constantly tempting Jesus to sin. We don’t know everything He tempted Jesus with, but we see a few of these temptations as Jesus comes to the end of the forty days. During His time in the wilderness, He was fasting. He had eaten nothing, and He was starving. The devil used this to tempt Him.

“The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’” (Luke 4:3-4 NRSVUE)

I don’t know why turning stones to bread would’ve been sinful. Perhaps because it would have been a selfish use of Jesus’ godly power. Perhaps because He was still committed to His fast and breaking it would’ve been wrong. Whatever the case, Satan tempts Jesus with hunger. Jesus’ response showed that He valued honoring God more than satisfying His hunger. Matthew 4:4 reveals what we are to live off of instead of bread: every word that comes from the mouth of God. God’s Word benefits us spiritually and eternally.

Satan’s next temptation was to try to convince Jesus to worship him in exchange for giving Him authority over all the kingdoms of the world. We know God is the ruler of all things already, but He did give Satan temporary authority over the world (2 Corinthians 4:4) until the time when He will eventually take it all back and defeat Satan for good. Satan was trying to convince Jesus that if He worshiped Satan, Satan could in turn give Him glory before the whole world. But Jesus responded that we are to worship no one but God.

Finally, Satan tempted Jesus with pride. He says that he knows if Jesus were to fall, angels would come save Him. He tempts Jesus to prove His godly authority by jumping off the top of the temple so that angels will save Him. Jesus responds that God is not to be tested. With that, Satan departed from Jesus, leaving Him alone, but would return at “an opportune time” (v. 13).

Jesus left the wilderness (after being ministered to by angels; Matthew 4:11) and began His ministry. And although He resisted Satan’s temptations and did not get the glory Satan offered Him, we see that He is still “glorified by all.” Interestingly, all the passages Jesus quoted in His wilderness experience were likewise from the time when the Israelites roamed the wilderness.

Even Jesus, as the Son of God, used Scripture to combat temptation. The Bible tells us to resist temptation, but this is not something we can do in our own strength. We must rely on God to do it. We can do that by praying in the moment of our temptation that He would help us to overcome it, but we can also do it by remembering verses that address our temptation. Whether you are tempted by drugs or alcohol, premarital sex, lying, stealing, disobedience, or any of a number of other sins, you will find verses to help you resist these sins. We know what sins tempt us most. When we find the appropriate verses, we can memorize them. When we need them, they will be there for us to recall.

But the best news is that when we do fail, God is not waiting to condemn us. He knows what temptation is like, and He can sympathize with us (Hebrews 4:15). So when we do sin, we can come to Him asking for forgiveness with confidence that He will welcome us back to Him with open arms.