Sermon

Sermon Title: Beware the friendly advice of the devil

Passage: Luke 4:1-15

Big Idea: Reject the friendly devil’s temptation to be your own man, and rely on Jesus, who triumphed as the Son of God by trusting his Father’s word.

1. The Son won’t be his own provider, but lives by his Father’s word (vv.1–4)

2. The Son won’t be his own king, but worships his Father alone (vv.5–8)

3. The Son won’t orchestrate his own salvation, but trusts his Father without testing him (vv.9–15)

Next month, there will be a movie coming out in Australia called “You Can See Everything”.

It’s a documentary based on a woman called Elizabeth Holmes.

It’s got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It looks very promising so far as a movie.

Well, at one stage, that’s what Elizabeth Holmes was as well.

She was a very promising young woman.

Holmes was a young American entrepreneur who was named the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 30 back in 2014.

She founded Theranos, a product that promised to diagnose people’s illnesses with a drop of blood.

However, she was found to be making false claims about the product.

She lost her company and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Why did people believe her?

Maybe it was because she was charming, friendly and likeable.

Maybe she was selling a vision of what the future without the pain of long hours of testing would look like.

Today, we’re going to see someone who was a far better liar than Elizabeth Holmes.

We’re going to see the devil’s attempt to tempt Jesus.

We’re going to see what makes the devil’s temptations so inviting, and how we overcome them.

Please open up your Bible to Luke 4:1-15.

We’re going to see three things:

1. The Son won’t be his own provider, but lives by his Father’s word (vv.1–4)

2. The Son won’t be his own king, but worships his Father alone (vv.5–8)

3. The Son won’t orchestrate his own salvation, but trusts his Father without testing him (vv.9–15)

Before we continue let’s pray, “Father, we thank you for your word. May your word pass through our ears, into our hearts, and be lived through our hands and feet. And as your Son has taught us, lead us not into temptation, especially the temptation to wander off and to treat your word carelessly. Deliver us from the evil one and his work of taking your word from us. Please protect us and guide us by your Holy Spirit, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

1. The Son won’t be his own provider, but lives by his Father’s word (vv.1–4)

In Luke chapter 3, we saw God’s word coming to John the Baptist in the wilderness.

When Jesus was baptised, God the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove and God the Father said, “You are my beloved Son, with you, I am well pleased.”

Jesus was affirmed by God the Father and God the Spirit to be the Son of God.

What does it mean for Jesus to be the Son of God?

For the rest of chapter three, Luke lists out the genealogy of Jesus.

Jesus, the Son of God, is like us; he’s a son of Adam, like the rest of us.

However, there’s a sense in which Jesus is the Son of God in a very different sense.

God has never said of any of us at our baptism, that we are his beloved Son.

Jesus is the Son of God in a way that no human being ever was or ever will be.

What does it mean for him to identify himself as the Son of God?

To find out, turn with me to Luke 4:1, “Then Jesus left the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness”.

Look with me at verses 2-3, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness “for forty days to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’”

What a friendly suggestion to Jesus from the devil!

The friendly devil’s first offer sounds reasonable: be your own provider.

But listen to how friendly he sounded!

He began by saying, “If you are the Son of God…” He’s not doubting that Jesus is the Son of God.

He knew who Jesus was.

It’s as if he was saying, “If you are the Son of God, and of course you are, turn this stone into bread.”

Jesus was hungry, and thirsty, and he has the power to provide for himself.

Why not?

Well, imagine this scene.

You go with your family to someone’s place for dinner.

But the head of the table wasn’t there yet.

And so you sit down, in front of all the food.

You’re hungry.

You see your little brother reaching for the biggest drumstick on the table.

What do you do?

You stop your little brother.

As hungry as you might be, you wait until the head of the table arrives.

It’s about showing respect where respect is due.

That’s what it’s like with Jesus here.

Jesus was well within his power to make a feast for himself, but if he did, he would’ve been like the little brother at the feast.

Until God says so, Jesus doesn’t move, not even to feed himself.

And so why shouldn’t Jesus listen to the devil’s friendly advice?

It’s because it’s not friendly.

It would’ve ruptured Jesus’ relationship with God.

That’s Jesus’ identity – He’s the Son of God.

He is the Son of God, and he both relies on and obeys God the Father in everything.

And so, Jesus answers, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone”’ (v.4).

This is part of the verse from Deuteronomy 8:3.

Jesus used God’s word to take down the devil’s temptation.

There will be times when God allows you to be hungry, to be needy, to be vulnerable.

Trusting God’s word, and trusting the God who spoke those words, are far more important than food itself.

Jesus could’ve but he wouldn’t because He trusts God and chose to wait for God’s provision rather than making himself his own provider.

We long for comfort, we long for peace, we long for security.

What’s wrong with that?

Friends, this is exactly where the danger lies.

All these things we long for are good things; they might even be things we think we’re entitled to have.

But don’t listen to the devil’s friendly advice.

Choosing to be your own provider, no matter how noble the cause, without trusting God first, is to disrespect God.

It’s like the little boy who picks the best food for himself before the Head of the table sits down.

Friends, be better than that little boy.

Trust God first.

Ask Him first.

A while ago, someone came up to me and told me an important life decision that she’s made.

I said, “Ok, thanks for letting me know. What do you think God’s will is, in regard to this?”

She asked me what I meant.

And I said, “I mean, you must have prayed about this. What has God been telling you?”

By her surprise, it seems like she’s never prayed about this.

She took the initiative to provide for herself instead of asking God first.

She grabbed the biggest drumstick on the table because she thought she had the right reason but she didn’t ask the head of the table about it.

Friends, do you have an opportunity in front of you to make you feel more fulfilled, something that you think would alleviate your hunger for whatever you’re hungering for?

Friends, if that’s you, pause and pray.

Ask God whether that hunger is a right sort of hunger to have.

Then ask God to give you the right kind of hunger, God’s kind of hunger.

Hunger for righteousness, Jesus said, for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.

Hunger to see someone come and join the Welcome to the Family course.

Invite them to Discover.

Don’t let your hunger for food or fulfilment drive you in life; let your hunger for God to provide drive you instead.

2. The Son won’t be his own king, but worships his Father alone (vv.5–8)

Seeing that Jesus would not be his own provider, the devil changed his tactic.

The friendly devil’s second offer is to be your own king.

Look with me at verses 5-6, “So he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 The devil said to him, ‘I will give you their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want.’”

From the wastelands of the wilderness, the devil took Jesus up to a high place to show him the best the world has to offer.

For a brief moment, all the authority and splendour of the world were on display for Jesus.

And he claims that their authority and splendour ‘has been given to me’ (v.6).

What’s the catch?

A single bow, a show of worship (v.7).

The devil’s offer to Jesus is this: Just one bow and all of these could be yours.

However, there’s a little phrase in the description of the riches of the world that alerts us.

“So he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time”.

For a moment in time, the world is under the devil’s watch.

The devil’s rule over the world has an expiry date.

A time will come when all the riches of the world will fade away.

Now remember, one moment, Jesus was hungry in the wilderness and the next moment, he was on top of the world.

All the world could be his.

God sent Jesus on a mission to save the world.

With one single bow, he would’ve avoided the suffering, the hunger, the pain and the death that accompanies the cross.

Taking a bow, for a moment in time, was a lot easier.

However, Jesus answers, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”’ (v.8).

Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy again.

This time, from Deuteronomy 6:13, “Fear the LORD your God, worship him, and take your oaths in his name.”

Being the Son of God means fearing and worshipping only one God, acknowledging only one Master, God.

No one else must ever be above God, full stop.

This is true for Jesus and it ought to be true for us.

Like Jesus, it is our duty to worship the Lord our God and serve him only.

Our full allegiance to God is what we owe God.

The devil tried to tempt Jesus into worshipping him by offering to give him the beauty and the authority of the world.

How about us?

Is getting someone’s approval more important to you than obeying God?

What has the devil offered you to bow to him?

While we might not consciously think of ourselves as worshipping the devil, we do in fact worship him, when we follow the ways of the world.

When we want to make our comfort our king, when we think that no one, not even God, can tell us what to do with our time and our resources, then we are doing exactly what the devil wanted.

However, the way of Christ is to worship the Lord your God and to worship Him only.

Only God is King.

A few years ago, someone approached me and told me about a grant that clubs give to local Churches as part of their support for their community.

While I’m sure that some of the clubs do contribute to the community life, the club that this person had in mind benefitted from pokies, that is gambling.

The person was reluctant to tell me about it because he knows I probably don’t want to take grants that came from gambling.

And he’s right.

Gambling has been a cause of great harm in our community and our Church must not receive any gain from the misery caused by gambling.

The riches are there, but we will not bow to it, we will not compromise, for we worship the Lord God and serve him only.

That was a few years ago.

How about now?

What’s the devil offering you to not love God and to not serve him?

Whatever it is, like all the treasures of this world, it has an expiry date.

Repent of being your own king and rely on Christ.

If you want to find out more about how you can serve him, pick up one of the ministries where we need people to minister as you leave.

Tell him that you worship the Lord your God and will serve him only.

3. The Son won’t orchestrate his own salvation, but trusts his Father without testing him (vv.9–15)

And so, for the third and final temptation in this passage, the friendly devil’s third offer comes dressed in Scripture: be the author of your own salvation.

The devil took Jesus from a high place to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem.

There he said to Jesus, beginning from the second half of verse 9, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, to protect you, 11 and they will support you with their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

This is a direct quote from Psalm 91:11–12.

The devil knows the Bible and he can quote the Bible!

God has said that he would not let people who had put their trust in him be harmed.

And so the devil says in effect, if you don’t fall down and worship me, then fall down and show people who you really are.

Show them that God will protect you.

Show them that God will save you.

Jump down from the top.

Now, remember that God’s mission for Jesus was to die on the cross.

On the cross, he would face the full fury of the judgement of God in our place.

But here, Jesus could show that he’s the Son of God by jumping off the top of a very tall building, possibly up to 45 metres tall and he would land safely.

He knew that his Father would save him.

That sounded a lot less painful than the cross.

Jesus replies, in verse 12, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’ (v.12).

I remember when I was small, our family had this lamp called the Dolphin.

The dolphins would throw the light around the swimming pool (I don’t know why they had dolphins in the swimming pool) and the light would land on the side and it would still turn on.

And so, after my parents bought one, I threw the light in the air and watched it land on the ground.

My Dad looked at me and shouted, “What are you doing?”

What was I doing?

I was putting the dolphin to the test, to see if it really does work after you throw it on the ground.

Of course, if I had trusted in what they said about the Dolphin, I wouldn’t need to throw the Dolphin light around and my Dad wouldn’t shout (rightly) at me.

Would God have saved Jesus if Jesus jumped from the top of the temple?

Of course he would’ve.

He didn’t need to put his Father’s love to the test.

However, if Jesus did jump, and God did send the angels to protect him, then Jesus would’ve done this on his own initiative.

The issue is whether Jesus would wait for the Father’s leading, instead of orchestrating his own way of doing the Father’s will.

The quote that Jesus had was from Deuteronomy 6:16, which says, “Do not test the LORD your God as you tested him at Massah.”

At Massah, God’s people complained against God because they had no water to drink.

They wanted God to save them on their terms.

We think we know how God ought to save us.

We want to orchestrate God’s salvation our own way.

But to orchestrate our own salvation, to demand how we should be treated by God, is to put God to the test.

Friends, God has answered our prayers for room to grow as a Church.

Back in 2018, we didn’t know how God would do it, but we prayed that God would provide more facilities for us to use as a Church.

And God, in his mercy, eight years afterwards, has provided the opportunity for us to expand as a Church.

God has provided us with so much already.

But friends, please, don’t put our God to the test.

Don’t pre-determine the kind of people who are welcomed at your Church.

And when God does bring new people to our Church, don’t presume that our job is done and we don’t welcome them as warmly as we should.

We must not put the Lord to the test.

Application: Over this coming few months, we will prepare to go into the hall with dress rehearsals.

Be active in inviting our new friends to the Welcome to the Family course.

Don’t orchestrate your own salvation or test God’s patience by doing nothing with what he has given us.

Rely on Jesus; trust and obey him.

Serve him by working together to be the Church that he made us to be.

And so, what makes the devil’s temptations so inviting?

It’s because he dishes out friendly advice that sounds helpful and convincing.

It seems like you’re hungry?

Go ahead and get some food for yourself.

It seems like you’re on a mission?

Don’t follow God’s hard way; follow my way instead.

You trust God?

Great!

Make some great plans for God, because he says in the Bible that he will bless his people.

These sound like great things, but they are bad things if they are done without following God’s will.

Our desire to be our own provider, our own king, and the orchestrator of our own salvation is contrary to God’s will.

Our desire to be our own man or our own woman is what the devil desires.

How do we overcome them?

Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.”

We can’t overcome the devil by ourselves.

We need our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus, who has triumphed over every temptation without sinning.

When we are tempted by the devil, run to Jesus.

For this is what Hebrews 4:16 tells us.

“Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.”

Jesus has overcome the temptations and in him, we’ll find mercy and grace in our time of need.

Reject the friendly devil’s temptation to be your own man, and rely on Jesus, who triumphed as the Son of God by trusting his Father’s word.

Over this past year, many of us, myself included, have faced what seems like times in the wilderness.

The temptation is that we try to make it out on our own, we try to be our own man, and we try to do it our way.

Friends, don’t fall for the advice of the friendly devil.

Instead, rely on Jesus, who, true to his identity, did not live for himself.

Jesus triumphed because he’s not his own man.

He’s the Son of God.

All that He does is in relationship with God.

And you, if you are an adopted child of God, that’s your identity.

You are a child of God, and so trust in the Son of God, and live a life for God.

Reject the friendly devil’s temptation to be your own man, and rely on Jesus, who triumphed as the Son of God by trusting his Father’s word.

Let’s pray, “Father, we thank you for showering your love and kindness to undeserving sinners like us. Father, forgive us when we try to be our own provider, our own king and orchestrate our own salvation. Make us more like your Son Jesus, who finds his identity in you, his Father. Father, may we find our identity in you, through Jesus our Lord. Make us to come before you in prayer, because you are the Lord, the King of all, and under whose rule we live. Father, make us more like your Son our Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.”