In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Ben Johnson of Canada won the one-hundred-meter dash, setting a new Olympic record and a new world record. The favorite, the American Carl Lewis, came in second. After the race, the judges learned that Johnson ran the race illegally because he had an illegal substance in his body. The judges took away his medal. Though he ran faster and made an unforgettable impression, he did not deserve the reward.
We are being subjected to a steady stream of news reports of athletes taking steroids and other body enhancing performance enhancing drugs. Even congress is investigating.
Ben Johnson yielded to temptation—he was looking for an edge. He badly wanted to win the gold medal, and besides, everyone else was doing it, so he began taking performance enhancing drugs.
But it isn’t just athletes. What about building contractors and politicians in Albuquerque; or what about some crooked politicians in Santa Fe!
This is how temptations often begin—it’s no big deal; I can handle it; no one will know; it feels good; everyone is doing it; and so on.
What is temptation? It is that desire, or impulse, or urge—weak or strong—to do wrong. For Christians it is the urge to do anything outside of God’s will.
Satan knows our weaknesses. He charms us. He has immense power, subtlety, and thousands of years of experience in deceiving us. His chief aim, by the way is not us. He can’t have us. We belong to Jesus. But he wants to destroy our witness in the world, and thus to hurt God and thwart God’s plan.
To accomplish this, Satan misrepresents God to us. He attempts to frustrate God’s good purposes for us. Through this he hopes, to break God’s heart.
Satan promises us the world, but every word from his tongue is false and hollow. Jesus said this about Satan in John 8:44, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Temptation is not a sin, but it is a call to battle with Satan. You can be sure of two things about Satan: he’s a liar and he’s persistent. You will face temptations all of your life at the points you are most vulnerable. Even Jesus was tempted (Text).
At the beginning of His ministry, as soon as He was baptized His 40 day wilderness experience began. It is very important to notice what was going on here:
You may be good, read your Bible, go to church, hang out with other Christians, and try to be a good Christian, but even you will experience temptation because nobody is temptation proof.
Look what happened to Jesus. Jesus is holy. He was full of the Holy Spirit. He was totally surrendered to the will of God. Yet, even He was tempted by the devil. Mark that down, Christian.
Jesus went into the wilderness to prepare Himself completely for His ministry. He was looking for some quiet time alone with God the Father. He wanted to talk things over. Yet He was tempted.
Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, temptation has been an unrelenting part of human life. If anything speaks to the humanness of Jesus, the temptations do.
Men and women have tried to avoid temptation by isolating themselves from whatever it was they believed was sinful. Monks would isolate themselves from physical comforts and people.
Some would try to resist temptation with self-inflicted pain, or they would try to make themselves uncomfortable by wearing horsehair shirts or living in caves. They thought in this way they could avoid temptation.
Benedict of Nursia once threw himself into a clump of thorns and briars until his body was covered with bleeding wounds He really thought God would exempt him from temptation if he did this.
Sixteen hundred years ago Jerome went into the remotest part of a wild and stony desert burnt up with the heat of the scorching sun. He wrote, “I seemed myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome. Many times I imagined myself witnessing the dancing of the Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them.”
Some have taught that Christians should not be bothered by temptation. But in fact, I believe Satan targets Christians.
No person has ever found a place that would protect him or her from temptation. No one has ever been able to put themselves into a circumstance where they were safe from temptation.
Jesus wasn’t trying to get away from temptation; He wasn’t trying to get away from the devil. He wanted to prepare His heart before God the Father for ministry. He was being led by the Spirit.
Yet it was at that tender, vulnerable time that Satan came with his temptations. But Jesus was ready. It’s as if He said, “Here am I, Satan. You hate everything I represent. Do your best.”
For 40 days Jesus faced the onslaught of the devil (v. 2). When you are tempted Jesus understands—He knows what it feels like to be tempted. He overcame the Enemy and temptation. He is our present help when we are tempted. And you will be.
Satan is after our hearts, he’s after our bodies, he’s after our ministries, he’s after our marriages, and he’s after our reputations. Satan is after us. He will do whatever it takes to hurt God and thwart God’s good plan for us.
He whispers that what he has to offer is better, prettier, nicer, and more fun than what God offers. And he makes it look so good. And, as he did with Jesus, Satan can tempt us with good, legitimate things. But remember, Satan is a liar!
Knowing Jesus was physically hungry he tempts Jesus to turn the rock into bread. Jesus answered with scripture from Deut. 8:3, “Man does not live on bread alone.”
This seems a perfectly legitimate physical need. Jesus hadn’t eaten in 40 day. He was hungry—probably real hungry. Now Satan comes along and in essence says, “You mean you are the Son of God, and He treats you like this? Come on man—change these rocks into bread and feed yourself.”
And Jesus could have. But remember, He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. God took Him there. That time without food was for His own spiritual profit. He wouldn’t endanger that.
It’s true that man cannot live without bread, but man does not live by bread alone. There are other dimensions in life—our spiritual dimension and relationship with God. This is what Jesus is telling Satan.
Satan was suggesting that man is merely an animal, not a human being created in the image of God. So he suggests to us, “If it feels good do it. If you really want to be happy, all you need are those physical and material things that make you happy.”
Can you hear him whispering to you: “If it makes you happy to get ahead, lie, cheat, and steal to get what you want. Don’t worry about what God thinks. Take care of yourself.”
But remember, there’s one word that best describes Satan—liar. We are not animals. We are the crown of God’s creation, human beings made in the image of God himself.
Next, Satan came out from under his rock, stamped his foot, and shouted to Jesus, “Worship me.” He showed Jesus a panoramic view of all the Kingdoms of the world. “These are mine, and I can give them to you if you will worship me.”
Satan comes to us with many kinds of offers—offers of money, power, sex, prestige—and he has the ability to deliver—for a time. “Jesus, instead of enduring the long, bitter, humiliating, and painful road to the cross, you can rule the world now.”
Satan knows that we like to feel important and needed. If we will just do it Satan’s way we can get what we want; we can fulfill our lusts and fantasies; we can be somebody. And all we have to do is go after those things the same way the world does—Satan’s way. All we need to do is worship Satan.
Why do it right when you can get what you want by cutting a corner here, shading the truth there? Why wait for heavenly reward, when you can have what you want right now?
When you make the decision that money, prestige, popularity, power, or your own personal happiness is the most important, you are doing exactly what Satan wanted Jesus to do—to put yourself first and God last. The problem is Satan is a liar, and a counterfeiter.
Do you remember what the serpent asked Eve in the Garden of Eden? Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
Satan’s still doing it. He whispers in your ear, “Does God really mean what He says in the Bible?”
Satan is trying to get clever with Jesus. Jesus had rebuffed him twice by quoting scripture, so Satan says, “I’m going to do that too. That’ll give me authority.” So he quotes from Psalm 91.
But like many do today, he twisted the Scriptures for his own use. He quoted what he wanted to and left off what he didn’t want.
Satan took Jesus to a pinnacle of the Temple. There was a drop off of 450 feet. “You want the people to worship you, Jesus? Throw yourself off. God will send angels to gently lower you to the ground. That’ll make an impression. You’ll have them eating out of your hands. The people will believe you are the Messiah if you do something Messiah-like.”
There are many people who say “show me and I’ll believe.” But now listen: Miracles do not produce faith—they only strengthen the faith of those who already believe. All you have to do to know that is look to the Bible.
The many miracles of God for the Israelites in the wilderness drove many of the people to presumption and disbelief. Jesus’ miracles only hardened the hearts of his enemies.
Those who followed Christ only because of His many miracles and impressive words, later turned against Him. To demand sensational acts or miracles as a test before believing is to press or test God.
Jesus said, “It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Deut. 6:16). The question we must ask ourselves is, ‘Do I really trust God?’ To test God, or to see how far you can press God means you do not trust God to begin with.
Jesus didn’t need proof that His Father cared and protected, and neither should we. He also knew that God’s care and protection could not be proved to others except through genuine faith.
When it comes to miracles, people are never satisfied. They always want one more sign, one more miracle, one more show. The natural, carnal heart can never be satisfied.
Many of us, when facing the major decisions of life, put God to the test. “Jesus, if you do this or that, then I’ll know that I’m supposed to (fill in the blank).” That is putting God to the test, and Jesus says, “Don’t do it!”
No matter how noble you think your reasons are to test God—to do a Gideon and put out the fleece—to test God is to doubt God. To doubt God is not to trust Him. Not to trust God is sin.
One final note here: Satan told Jesus to risk it all for immediate gratification. God expects us to take risks—whatever is necessary, in order to obey Him. When we risk our prestige, our money, our lives, our families, or anything else to fulfill God’s calling, you can rest assured in His divine provision for all that you need—He alone knows what your needs really are.
Satan tempts us in the same basic ways he tempted Jesus in the wilderness: 1. He will tempt you where you are most vulnerable. 2. Being filled with the Holy Spirit will not prevent temptation. 3. Times of physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion are prime times for Satan’s attacks. 4. Satan never gives up. He just looks for different ways to discover your weaknesses.
So how should you cope with temptation? (1 Cor. 10:13) 1. Respond quickly. Jesus didn’t allow it to grow and develop. (Ps. 1) 2. Use the Scriptures. We have the most difficulty with temptation when we are out of touch with God. 3. Put God first. Jesus refused to take center stage. He got Himself out of the way and, through the use of Scripture, pointed to God. 4. Be committed to obey God’s will, just as Jesus was.