Overcoming the Temptations of Satan

One day Jesus walked into the water of the Jordan river, where his cousin John had gathered with his followers. John was baptizing people in the Jordan river who desired to repent of their sins.

Jesus stepped into the water that day and approached John, and told him, you must baptize me.

John was stunned and looked at Jesus and said, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized by you.” But Jesus insisted that it would fulfill all righteousness.

And so John agreed. As John baptized him, Jesus was praying, and it says the heavens were opened. And the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, declaring, “this is my Son, with him I am well pleased.”

What a powerful moment! But immediately after these stunning events, Jesus would face one of the greatest challenges of his life… in the wilderness.

Have you ever been in the wilderness? A challenge comes forward. The unthinkable occurs in your life. You feel stuck. Things aren’t the way you want. You’re annoyed. Frustrated. And angry. You feel weak.

And then there it comes. A temptation, something you know is wrong, or at least you know isn’t quite right, and it begins to lure you.

Think of the fishermen, with the lure, the worm attached to the hook, dangling in the water. The enemy too bates his hook, with what he knows we are drawn to, and the temptation battle begins.

Will we bite down, or will we walk away? When we bite down, the hook is set, when we walk away, we may feel we missed something, but, what we protected ourselves from is far greater.

Jesus has experienced this kind of temptation too.

Open in your Bibles to Luke 4, starting in verse 1: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness…”

Jesus left the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit led him, where did the Spirit lead him?

Into the wilderness.

What is the wilderness? The Bible is replete with wilderness experiences. Job after the loss of his family and wealth, Jacob fleeing from his brother, Joseph sold by his brothers into slavery, Elijah fleeing from Jezebel, Moses in the desert, and the Israelites wandering in the wilderness.

Verse 2 says, “…where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”

There are different types of wildernesses. This wilderness that Jesus enters is a wilderness of temptation. But, this temptation we discuss today is not just any temptation, it is one plotted and staged against us, by our enemy, the Satan.

And we will specifically discuss today, how to face these challenges by battling against the enemy in prayer. Your chief weapon against the enemy is prayer.

Jesus embraced this time of testing. In fact it says at the end of verse two Jesus fasted to face these moments.

Verse 2 says: “He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”

We’re going to talk about fasting more later in this series, but suffice to say, that when we’re facing a challenge in our lives, some unexpected problem, fasting and prayer is a key way to respond.

Notice this time of tempting would last forty days. There was a time frame. Always remember that, no temptation can last forever. The enemy is on a clock.

Who is this enemy we speak of? For that question we must go back to the beginning of history…

We understand that God made all things in the beginning. But we also understand that there is a problem in our reality, that problem is sin, and the fall. And we understand that part of that fall included the fall of the angels, servants of God who chose to disobey.

We know that according to the word of God, this world is under the control of the evil one. The new testament tells us that Satan and his demonic forces inhabit the kingdom of the air. And they engage in attempts to lead humans away from God, and influence human society to abandon God.

We know that God protects us by way of his angelic armies, angels that stayed loyal to God, and we know that we face attacks, deceptions, and temptation from demons, angels that joined the rebellion of lucifer against God.

Also, understand that demons are not free to do anything they want. They have to function within the rules of the system God has setup. If you remember when Satan wanted to test Job, he had to have God’s permission.

Satan is going to follow a playbook outlined in the word of God, from 1 John 2:16-17: “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever”.

Verse 3 says… The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

The enemy attacks with the lust of the flesh. He knows Jesus is hungry from fasting, so he tempts him to use his divine power in an inappropriate way.

We too face this temptation of the things we desire in our flesh.

We all have desires within us, for food, romance, safety and security, entertainment. But when we exercise these desires in unholy ways they can get out of whack.

We have an honest need for food, but, food can become an addiction, not because of the food itself, but because the desire within us has become distorted.

It’s the same with romance, we all have romantic desires and we fulfill them in marriage, but, through things like pornography, or engaging in multiple partners, or even things done to us, like sexual abuse, the desire can get our of control and become distorted.

The enemy will come into our lives from time to time, to tempt us to misuse the desires of our flesh. He tempts us by telling us, it’s no big deal, just once will be fine. But, it’s never just once. And when we begin down that path, it can become very addicting over time, until we have a desire within us that we can’t control.

This is most commonly illustrated I think in alcoholism. Slowly it goes from enjoying a few drinks, to increasing loss of control, to eventually I’m an alcoholic and I can’t stop. It’s deadly.

But it can be anything, it can be as simply as swearing, and now, we can’t seem to quite control our tongue, and those cusses keep flowing out.

Let’s see how Jesus responds to this temptation: (Verse 4) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

I’m sure some of us here have secret desires that we can’t quite control. And it happened slowly over time without us realizing it. The world doesn’t tell us that such a thing is happening. They just encourage us to keep doing what feels good. That’s a deadly trap. And soon we find ourselves with desires we can’t control.

But I can tell you this, God is able through Christ Jesus, to overcome and restore any desire in us that has gotten out of control.

If the enemy has corrupted our internal desires, and the good desires God gave us have grown out of control, prayer is the answer to our battle with the devil.

We come to the prayer of repentance. The Holy Spirit will guide the prayer. A prayer of repentance is a turning away from sin. Use that power phrase, “I repent Lord.” Forgive me for this sin. Heal my flesh Lord. I submit to you God. Lord deliver me from this, in Jesus name, amen.

The prayer is the beginning, not the end. But, I’ve seen many people delivered, they pray, they repent. I was at a men’s group, this guy was struggling with lust, and I led him in a prayer of repentance. Lord, I repent, I prayed with him, and he was delivered in that moment. He got up and hugged me. It was so exciting, he was in tears because something in him shifted during the prayer.

But what happens after is key. The temptation will come up again, but every time we say no, it builds our wall of resistance higher. Every time we say yes and fall to it, the wall comes crashing down, and we have to start over. That’s why the first few months of recovery are crucial for an alcoholic. If they can stay sober and build a few months of sobriety, particularly 1 year, suddenly, there is a far greater chance of long term success.

If you’re struggling with swearing, repent, and guard your lips, if you’re struggling with smoking, keep that door shut, pray everyday, and over the weeks, and months, and years, the victory will remain.

Next, the second temptation, verses 5-7: “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

The Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The second lust before Jesus, is the lust of the eyes.

Satan is the god of this world, he has authority over the kingdoms. But we as Christians now have the new kingdom authority, and we are able to break the enemy’s power over regions, counties, cities, neighborhoods.

But Satan offers all this authority to Jesus, in exchange for worship.

How does this relate to us? We often desire the good things of this life. Nice cars, boats, fine jewelry, pleasant homes, property, anything we can see with our eyes. None of these things are wrong in themselves. They are to be received with gladness, says the Lord. But, we are to always keep God first, and keep our worship for God alone.

How does a desire of the eye become sin? When we want it more than we want God, or maybe better said, when it erodes our love for God, and becomes our idol.

Take the example of a young couple in love. The emotions are very powerful. But if they don’t keep their focus on God, the excitement of the romance can become the main thing in their lives. Many in our society worship romantic love like this, as the most important thing in the world. The romance desire over-rules the desire for God, and becomes an idol.

Let’s see how Jesus dealt with this temptation of the eyes.

Verse 8: Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:13 “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only…”

How do we face the lust of the eyes?

We overcome these temptations through the prayer of worship. How does this work? Worship is all about reverence for the Lord. We love Him. We fear Him. We view Him as Holy. We bow down to Him.

When I’m tempted by something of the eyes, I pray and say, “Lord you’re so much more than this thing.” When I see a beautiful home and I’m tempted to desire it, I pray, and say, “Lord thank you that my mansion in heaven is of much more value.”

If you’ll turn to the Lord in that critical moment when you’re tempted by your eyes and turn your eyes to the Lord, you’ll overcome this temptation.

Lord, I worship you, Lord I praise you, you are higher, you are greater, you are more desirable than this thing in front of me. I love you. Lord I fear you, I regard you as Holy. You are first in my heart. Not this thing. Lord I repent of desiring this, I worship you, I love you. I tremble before you, Lord deliver me from this temptation, in Jesus name, amen.

A great tip with this one, is to turn on some worship music ,in your car, at home, on your phone, and just start singing, start worshiping God. And your heart will re-orient and remember, the lust of the eyes is nothing compared to my God!

Now we come to the third temptation: “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.”

This is the pride of the life. The Son of God’s purpose was to offer his life on the cross as a ransom sacrifice for our sins. But Satan tempts Jesus to do it his own way.

Then Satan even quotes scripture in verse 10: 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

This is very clever. He tempts Jesus to prove to the crowds that he is the son of God by throwing himself down, forcing God to send angels to keep him from falling.

We all also face the temptation of the pride of life. We want to be in control of our lives. We want to rely on ourselves. We want to be the god of our own lives.

It’s a very American attitude. I’m going to gain the world. I’m going to show off my accomplishments. I’m going to be the best of the best. I’m going to pull myself up by my own bootstraps.

We also can be tempted to try to do the right thing at the wrong time. Or, to try to force God to give us what we desire. God if you don’t do this for me, you aren’t really God. Or God you let me down because you didn’t make this thing happen!

We are not God. We do not get to dictate to Him what happens in our lives. He is the King. We are the servant.

The pride of life moves in when we try to force our way, instead of allowing God to have the authority.

Let’s see how Jesus handles this temptation.

Verse 12 says: Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, “16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.”

And what happened at Massah? The Israelites were in the wilderness and didn’t have any water. So they demanded to Moses saying, “Is God really among us or not?”

How often we do the same thing, something bad or unexpected happens in our lives, and we come to that place we never wanted to be, of being tempted to angrily ask the question: “Where are you Lord!? Do what I want or else!”

That is pride. That is the pride of life. Thinking we know better than God, and angrily demanding God prove himself to us.

So how do we overcome the pride of life? The third prayer we want to utilize against our enemy today, is the prayer of humility. 

This prayer is all about submitting under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The pride of life says we can do it ourselves. The humility of faith says I need Jesus to be my king. This is really a prayer of submission to God. The pride of life says “It’s my life and I want it my way.” But Jesus is our life. The pride of life is insidious, the most deceptive of the three. It slowly works it’s way in, and convinces us we can do life without God.

Fear, anger, annoyance, pride, self, all seem to mix in here, with this sense of “I want what I want.” I’ve seen it in myself, I’m sure we all have, when we’re having a tough day and we’re annoyed and angry, and we start to throw a tantrum. And in the midst of that tantrum, pride demands God prove himself or else.

But instead, let us offer this prayer and counter the pride of life with the humility that Christ taught us.

Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves. We can’t do life without you. We give you control of our lives. We tried to control it ourselves, and it didn’t work. We surrender all to you. We give you the lordship of our lives. We declare, our life is in you Lord Jesus. Be our King forever. We reject the tyrannical reign of self. We trust you in the wilderness, in Jesus name, amen.

We get a detail in Matthew 4, which recounts this same encounter in the wilderness, in which at the end Jesus commands the devil: “Go away from me Satan!”

And then verse 13 in Luke says, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”

In conclusion today, I want to underline for all of us that Satan’s time is limited. He can only tempt us for so long. As the word of God tells us, 1st Cor 10:13: “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.”

If you believe you are being tempted by the devil, I want you to “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Then pray out loud, and command the devil “in the name of Jesus Christ, go away from me!”

Notice it says Satan left until a more opportune time. I believe that moment was when Jesus was on the cross, and someone said, “If you are really the son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matthew 27:40).

When we’re in the wilderness, we all want the suffering to stop. But we must trust in the Lord. Remember the three prayers we talked about today…

The prayer of repentance, when we see in ourselves a disordered desire, we can pray and ask the Lord to forgive us, repent, and the desire in us shifts, giving us a road of repentance to travel down.

The prayer of worship we can utilize when we’re tempted by the beauty of the things of the world, we can immediately turn our eyes to God, and worship Him, and remind our soul that it’s all about Jesus, and He is greater than anything in this world. 

The prayer of humility helps us to reject the pride of life, humble ourselves, submit to God, surrender all to Him, and allow God to be the king of our lives. We let go of control, we set aside pride, and we allow fear, and annoyance and anger to die at the feet of Jesus. He is our life.

When you face the lust of the flesh, remember Jesus is the way. He will guide you through.

When you face the the lust of the eyes, remember Jesus is the truth. He will show you what life is really about.

When you face the pride of life, remember Jesus is the life. Real life is found in Him only.