That Apple Looks Good

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 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. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” 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, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:1-13 ESV). Temptation has been with us from the beginning of time. God created us as creatures with the power of choice. Adam and Eve had the perfect blend of freedom and choice. They were tempted with the beauty of the fruit and the reasonableness of taking it. Temptation is always like that. The apple always looks very good! Sin has a way of sounding so reasonable, so plausible. The devil cloaks himself in the guise that is most appealing to our most vulnerable points. To the student he comes as an easy grade. To the business person he comes as easy money. To the spouse unfulfilled in marriage he comes as an easy affair. To the Christian he comes as the self-satisfied voice of the Pharisee, saying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people” (Luke 18:11). And to Jesus, he comes as the enticing possibility that he, Jesus, does not have to suffer and die. Jesus withstands the wilderness temptations. But the battle is not over. The devil doesn’t quit; he merely “departed from him until an opportune time.” Jesus came out of the wilderness, but the wilderness never came out of him. Again and again, Jesus would hear the voice of temptation whispering seductively, urging him to sidestep the cross. It is easy for us to win a battle against temptation, and we think it’s over. It’s not. The devil awaits an “opportune time” to pay another visit when he can appeal to our injured pride, our fragile self-esteem, our anger at being passed over. Because of sin we cannot claim the same freedom of Adam and Eve. However, we can claim the same power to resist temptation as Jesus, simply because we have access to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So, the answer to sin is to stay vigilant. Jesus triumphed over temptation. The apple is not nearly as good as it looks!