The Three Temptations of Satan

Part Three – Tempting God

Welcome back to the teaching on the Three Temptations of Satan. In Part 1 we examined how Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness with the temptation of Divination and how he is tempting people today with the same tactics. In Part 2 we examined the temptation of the Kingdoms of the World, and in this part we will look at the temptation of Tempting God by testing His Authority and Power. This series is based on the account given in the Gospel of Luke 4:1-13. Grab you Bible and pen and paper because you will want to follow along and take some notes. The Spotify Podcast is available for those who prefer to listen as they read.

Luke 4:1-13

1Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

3And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

5Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for of this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

8And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

9Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’

11and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

12And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

13Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. (NKJV)

Two Key Things to Consider:

1). Scriptures tells us through these three (3) temptations every temptation was ended. That’s interesting isn’t it? We are looking at the three temptations and what is packed into them:

I. Divination – See Part 1

II. Kingdoms of the World – See Part 2

III. Tempting God by Proving His Authority and Power – Part 3

2). When the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. We’ll address this more in detail at the end.

Satan has been given other opportune times. As mentioned in Part 1, Satan and his minions look for an open door, and at the opportune time he comes to steal, kill, and destroy not only what we believe we have in Christ Jesus but who we are in Christ Jesus. If he can trip us up into believing his lies and accusations, and get us to try and prove ourselves, he can tempt us. If we can be tempted, we can in turn tempt the Lord God Almighty. Pay attention!

DEFINITIONS

Satan – (Hebrew word for devil is Sawtawn – pronounced Saw tahn) To accuse, attack, oppose; Adversary

Devil – (Greek word is Diabolos – pronounced Di ab ol os) Accuse, slander, backbite, gossip.

III. Tempting God By Proving His Authority and Power

9Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ 11and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

12And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” (Luke 4:9-12)

We know that deception comes through disobedience to the Word of God. In this temptation, we see reference to both the written and spoken word of God. This is certainly nothing new as we read about this same deception in the Book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden (known as the temptation of the fall of man). Yahweh specifically commanded Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and what did Satan use as his deceptive tactic? Enticing words, logical thinking, persuasive reasoning, etc. He had to have had a seducing spirit to convince Eve it would be fine to disobey the command of God. This should remind you of mind manipulations we find today with ‘law of attraction, self affirmations, you are master of your universe, Dale Carnegie type mindsets’ also known as the New Thought Movement which has infiltrated most denominations and people are completely blinded by it. These tactics are different from New Age where divination is used to get answers as we discuss in Part 1.

(Genesis 3:1-4)

1Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

4Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Beloved, Satan is a indeed a crafty serpent and he also does indeed appear as an angel of light. He is very smooth with his enticing words. Right out of the gate he sowed the seed of tempting God because in Genesis 2:16-17, God commanded the man (Adam), “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Satan then proceeds with deceptive knowledge which causes her to question the authority and power of God over the wisdom and knowledge of Satan. It didn’t end well for them because the minute they realized they had been deceived, no repentance was involved.

We have all fallen short of the glory of God and have conformed to the ways of this world at some point in our life. Mostly because we just haven’t known any better. Cultures and society will try to convince us it’s okay and we’re okay, but it is not. However, once we realize our shortcoming and repent, we become justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus to all who believe and have faith in Him. Justified freely by grace means that we are no longer held guilty of our past sins or iniquities because we now know that He bore our sins on the cross and that only by His blood shed are we redeemed through His righteousness. His finished work on the cross and resurrection from the dead is NOT a free ticket to continue in our old ways and presume we are automatically forgiven.

Let’s look at what God said in Deuteronomy 6:10-16:

10“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

13You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15(for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

16“You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, 19to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.” (Deut. 6:10-16 NKJV)

Not only was this word spoken to the Israelites who were fortunate enough to enter their promised land in the natural, it is very much symbolic and relevant for followers of Jesus today, as it served as a foreshadow of the coming of the Messiah. If it were not so, Satan would not have tried to deceive Jesus with temptations in the wilderness and Jesus would not have rebuked him with “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

Going back to the Garden, Satan convinced Eve that if she ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, she wouldn’t physically die but rather would become like God, knowing good and evil. Her original understanding was that if they ate from it or even touched it, they would physically die. Satan obviously made quite the discourse and seducing impression on her to deceive her, and in turn she used the same tactic to convince her husband to also partake of the forbidden tree and guess what? Yes, they did surely die. Their death spiritual. It was their communion with God, their intimacy with Him that ceased and they were put out of the Garden of Eden. The name “Eden” in Paleo Hebrew literally means ‘See and experience the pathway to Life’. What happened in the Garden with Adam and Even was that they fell from God’s grace and could no longer see and experience the abundance of Life they had known. They lost their relationship with their Creator, their Father, their Friend, their ability to eat from the tree of life. The Word tells us that God stationed Cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Jesus is the tree of life, He is the way, the truth and life. So of course, Satan will continue to use this temptation in an attempt to cause us to dash our foot against a stone and walk in presumptuous sin. He is an expert at twisting God’s Word to make us believe God will cover us. He could not be more wrong. God’s word is clear and if we don’t take the time to understand it, we become a wide open door for the devil to stick his foot in.

With all this being said, it’s no wonder that Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple (the highest point) to try to get Him to prove His own authority and power by throwing Himself off the temple. He wanted to mock God by twisting the written Word to see if Jesus in His own might would act presumptuously and prove His authority and power.

Beloved, this is a play on spiritual death but it is also very real in the physical. There are people today who are so hopeless and deceived that they listen to the voice of Satan and will he will convince them to attempt (often succeed) to take their own life or the life of others. This is where one must stand on the word of God and tell that voice in their head that God said to not tempt Him! Our hope, faith, and trust is in Christ Jesus alone. Jesus Christ offered His life up on that cross for all mankind who will turn to Him. ALL MANKIND, from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation. He loves all.

We read above in Deuteronomy about how the Israelites were warned to not tempt God like they did in Massah (Rephidim). Tempting God’s authority and power also comes through complaining and contentions about what He has provided and/or will provide to those called by His name.

Exodus 17:1-7 is the reference:

1Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”

So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?”

3And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

4So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

5And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. 6Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:1-7)

In the above context, the people lost sight that God had not failed to provide their every need to that point, and even so they continued to complain and murmur about their discomfort. They became hostile towards Moses and thus tempted God. It is in the wilderness experience where faith and obedience towards God and His word is put to the test.

In the New Testament, we see another type of example of tempting God. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira tempted God by lying to the Holy Spirit. This act brought physical death to them in front of Peter and those assembled together. It is a very serious thing.

The lesson in this type of temptation is that you and I are to be about the Father’s business and never be put in a position of having to prove the power and authority we have in Christ. We walk in it and the gifts He has given us and we use them for the glory of God only. So many prophets, teachers and preachers today feel as though they have to perform because it brings in money and celebrity status. It has become a circus of sorts. Many in deliverance ministries do the same thing and they will require something in return for their power and authority. They have literally taken the incorruptible God and made Him a image of corruption to the spectators. This is a horrible abuse of power and it is tempting God. If we are being led by the true Spirit of God and walk by the true Spirit of God in His power and authority, it is for His glory and only when he says to say or do. No performance is necessary, no personal exaltation required, no presumption involved.

Let’s now bring clarity to the very Word Satan twisted so badly through this particular tempting of God. It is Psalm 91. Many Christians misunderstand that this is truly a covenant with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Its New Testament cross reference prayer can be found in John 17.

As you read Psalm 91 below, pay close attention to the opening paragraph (vs. 1&2) and the ending paragraph. Without these, that which is written in between is pure presumption on a Christian’s part. Do not be deceived.

1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

3Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.

4He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

8Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.

9Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

12In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

I would be remiss if I didn’t have you consider verse 14 in the manner of which the apostle John wrote in 1 John 2:3-6:

3Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:3-6) NJKV

Look again at Psalm 91:1-2 and vs. 14-16. There is a cause and effect relationship that is required which leaves no room for presumptuous sin. Let us know take a look at how the devil will wait for an opportune time.

2. An Opportune Time

13Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:13)

We have gone through the three categories of Satan’s temptations and know that every temptation we experience falls under one of the three. It is important to understand that not only will the devil and his minions mess with our mind and put into it ungodly and unprofitable thoughts that do not glorify God, but he also takes great joy in using others to do his dirty work. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 24:4-5:

4And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.
5For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

As believers in and followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we must remember that we are a threat to the kingdom of darkness. If we are not a threat, then we are not of the Kingdom of God and about our Father’s business. Just as it was in the Old Testament church and the early church of New Testament days, the devil’s advocate were the religious leaders, mainly those who had a form of godliness but no power thereof—meaning, they did not operate in the power of the One True God.

Jesus warned us of these in Matthew 24:23-25:

23“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.
24For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
25See, I have told you beforehand.

Jesus’ disciples continued the warning throughout the ages to beware of the false teachers, prophets, etc. that have crept in unawares. Sadly, but fortunately, God has been on a mission of exposing many who have led His sheep astray. He has given them plenty of time to repent, but because they have not repented and stepped down from their little kingdom thrones, He is dethroning the false prophets, apostles, and false teachers, and He will continue to do so until His sheep who are called by His name return to the True Shepherd and follow Him. You may not be one them but even if you follow and have been deceived by their witchcraft, there is repentance required by you as well, meaning you have got to turn back to the true word of God and seek His face. Ask Jesus for His forgiveness and forgive yourself and those who have deceived you. The battle is spiritual and Satan is doing a work through them. Pray for their souls and for a spirit of conviction to come upon them so they will repent. There is a grieving process that takes place when we realized we’ve been hoodwinked, but blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Those people who remain faithful to the deceivers will receive their just reward if they do not wake up and turn away soon. We must pray for them as well because the window is closing soon.

Let’s look at scriptural examples of how Satan will use religious people to tempt God and His power and authority.

(Luke 4:14-28)

14Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

16So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

20Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

23He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ” 24Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

28So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

In verse 28, you see the parallel of Satan telling Jesus to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple and the religious leaders wanting to throw Him off a cliff. Jesus was a threat to their kingdom and they could not bear that He spoke truth. Today, very few synagogues and institutional churches want to hear the truth. Did you notice the prophecy Jesus gave in verse 23? He knew there were mockers of Him and His followers and all He stands for and he reminds them that both Elijah and Elisha were sent to Gentiles, Elijah to a widow (symbolizing on a people (church) without a husband (Jesus); and Elisha to cleanse a leper (symbolizing the Gentiles who would received His healing more than His own people in Israel).

Another example is in Luke 11:14-20

14And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. 15But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

16Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. 17But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. 18If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. 19And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

As a friendly reminder, if we are doing that which Jesus has called us to do, we are going to be a threat to the kingdom of darkness. There are many examples in the New Testament how Satan will use people to be his tempter. Some examples are John the Baptist being tempted by the queen and because he said “no” she tricked the king into beheading John. Saul (later Paul) hunted down followers of Jesus to persecute them until he met Jesus and repented. Paul, Silas and others were thrown into jail or run out of town because they preached the true gospel. They did not give in to the temptations of Satan! It was the religious leaders and those who followed them that tempted God; and, as in the days of Moses in the wilderness, those who did so were denied entrance into the promised land. The common denominator of those who were (and are) heavily persecuted is that they all knew the word of God, they knew and had a relationship with Jesus their Messiah, and they did not give in to the temptations of the devil.

As we conclude this message on the three temptations of Satan, I pray that the Holy Spirit of Truth will pour out upon us all more discernment to detect the deceptive tactics of not only the false religious leaders and teachers, but also the propaganda that Satan uses the kingdoms of the world (leaders of nations, WHO, WEF, Bilderberg, etc.) to bombard and deceive all the world. The deception is real, it’s harsh, and the end result is spiritual death for those who continue to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil rather than partake of the tree of life. The first tree is contemptible and offers defiled food and the later tree of life is the pure word and undefiled food. Jesus has prepared a table for His beloved before their enemies. Let us all come sit at His table for His name sake. (Read Psalms 23, Revelation 19:9)

If you find you have strayed away from God and are guilty of tempting Him after hearing the above, and you could use some refining and refreshing, take time to commune with the living God and ask Him to show you where and when you have fallen prey to the temptations of Satan and have either knowing or unknowingly come into agreement with them. He is so full of loving kindness and He is gracious and quick to forgive those who confess their sin and turn from their wicked ways. Amen!

The blog posts, “Have We Become An Apostate Church?” and “The Root of Exposure in the Church” are two posts you may want to read along with this teaching. If you have found this series beneficial to you, please share with others so that together we can be a voice that awakens others.

Until next time, blessings to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Norma Umphress