Luke 4:1-13

    ¹ And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ⁵ And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶ and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” ⁹ And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰ for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ ¹¹ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” ¹² And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

  The tempting of Jesus gives us a glimpse into the life He lived.  As a Christian we say things like “What would Jesus do?”  Well, this tells us exactly what He would do.  Jesus would not give in to the sin and temptation the Devil lays in front of Him.  This is simple enough right?!

  I am a sinner and cannot resist the temptations that are put in front of me, by myself at least.  This is a very discouraging and often times disheartening fact.  We see here that Jesus did not sin in the temptations He was faced with.  The separation we have from Him is based in His deity; Him being the God Man.  Our comfort can come in the fact that “for our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2Cor5:21 God sent Christ to be sin and punish Him for our sins. 

  Scripture can be taken out of context to confuse us many times.  There are times when we do not understand things and they can confuse us.  Our faith needs to be strong in the solid foundation the Lord has placed in our hearts.  If I am a Christian than I know that His Word is true and accurate.  The Devil here tries to confuse Jesus by taking Scripture that God has spoke and twisting it for his own gain.  Jesus knows how to properly interpret the Gospel and refutes the Devil with a proper context of the scripture. 

  Another encouraging fact is v.13.  The Devil tempted Jesus with “every temptation.”  This means that Jesus was tempted with everything we are tempted with.  If I ever think that I am tempted with something that God does not understand I am wrong.  If I think that God does not understand the power of this world, I am wrong.  If I think, for one second, that God cannot sustain me, I am flat out wrong.  Jesus, a man, overcame the Devil.  We are not Jesus, and we are not perfect.  But Jesus asked the Father to send the Helper to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. John 14:16.  Let us live in the spirit to resist the Devil and Worship the Lord our God in every way.