Luke 4: The three battlegrounds

January 4

After Jesus was baptized by John, he is immediately led out into the wilderness to be tempted. My friend Francis Frangipane wrote a book about this temptation “The Three Battlegrounds”, it is very good reading, I recommend it.

1 John 2:16 outlines these three; “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

Jesus is called the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45 – 49). The first Adam failed in these three areas. The second “Adam” overcame in this passage.

Sin Adam - Genesis 3:6 Jesus (2nd Adam)

Lust of Flesh “tree was good for food” “command these stones to be bread”

Lust of Eyes “it was pleasant to the eyes” “showed Him all the kingdoms”

Pride of Life “a tree desirable to make one wise” “thrown yourself down”

These three sins are at the root of all sin and Jesus overcame each one so we might overcome them.

Notice what he did, He did not rely on conventional wisdom but spoke the Word and then stood on the Word. With each onslaught from the enemy, he gave us an example of how to stand against our own battles and temptations. The enemy’s first strategy was to attack Jesus physical weakness, in this case, His hunger. Jesus quoted the scripture and would not back down. The enemy knows our weakness and always attacks there first. We do not have the strength in ourselves to overcome our weaknesses we overcome by faith and grace relying not on our own strength but on the Lord.

The second attack the enemy used a different strategy, logic. It would make sense to Jesus that all the authority was given to Satan because of the fall of mankind in the garden. Many times we sin because we rationalize it to “just make sense” at that moment at the time it does seem to make sense so we do it. It doesn’t matter what the temptation, sin is still sin no logical rationale can justify it. Once again the Word is our truth and our defense.

The third attack the enemy used God’s word against Jesus. Twisted enough, God’s Word has been used to justify all kinds of sin. The letter of the law kills but the spirit of God’s Word brings life. We must not only understand the words but must be able to interpret them in light of the whole of the Gospel message. Many times one or two scripture have been used to justify anything from adultery and fornication to murder. We must stand on God’s Word and allow it to be our strength always.

What temptations are you facing today? What sins have you been battling over and over again? Are you justifying them in some way? Making excuses for why you have to do them? Do a search in your Bible about the sin and then ask the Lord to cause you to overcome! He will enable you to overcome if you ask. He will give you the scriptures to stand on and the grace to have victory if you will allow Him.

Tomorrow – Luke 5