THE NECESSITY OF IDENTIFYING THE TEMPTER

‘Temptation’ is the topic we are discussing about and today we want to look at how Jesus Christ overcame it when He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. As human as He was He faced the devil head on and yet was blameless and continued to live a sinless life thereafter until the time of His Crucifixion. Paying close attention and examining truths about the temptation of Jesus Christ not only illumines our understanding but also He becomes our sustainer and strength for overcoming temptation the devil and all his demonic forces. Today we want to identify the tempter.

Reading from the gospel of Luke 4:1-13

These scriptures reveal to us the presence of a real tempter

The tempter must be identifies . . . . .

. . . . . Because of the Criteria mentioned in the gospel of Luke 4:1-13

1. THE NECESSITY OF IDENTIFYING THE TEMPTER, Luke 4:1-13

Why is it necessary to know about the tempter?

As true as it is that there is a beginning to every atom in existence so there is the beginning to every individual spirit, its existence and philosophy. Knowledge of the tempter is important for two reasons, first the Bible tells us that ignorance is sin that would lead us into eternal death (Lk.12:47; Jam.4:17), second to gain knowledge of our adversary means that he is no longer able to deceive us into believing his lies as he did in the past. So who is this perpetrator who so ably deceives people? He is the devil himself. Dr. Luke tells us that Jesus was led to be tempted by the devil (Lk.4:2). The Greek word for devil is diabolos (dee-ab-ol-os) the noun ‘diabolos’ is a combination of the Pre Position of ‘dia’ (dee-ah) and the verb ‘ballo’(bal'-lo) ‘dia’ denotes the channel of an act and the verb ballo (bal-lo) means to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls, to scatter. Hence ‘diabolos’ (dee-ab-ol-os) means a slanderer, a false accuser, a calumniator. This is what the devil is all about “falsely accusing the brethren to the Father” accusing them to their face constantly throwing things at them that are not true of them (Rev.12:9-10) This is what he keeps doing ‘throwing’ false accusations of all sorts of evil thoughts and concepts at us distracting us into believing the falsehood of things of life distorting truth (Jn. 8:44; 10:10).

What we should know about the History and Personality of the devil?

The Bible amply describes the devil as an individual spirit being that he is notan influence or a principle but a real person possessing all the qualities of personality; knowledge feeling and will. The Bible gives us details of his beginning and even what his final doom would be like. He was created in beauty and stature and his name was Lucifer meaning “light-bearer; shining one, morning star.” He was the most powerful cherub the top general of the heavenly hosts wielding great authority, the most privileged most respected leader of the cherubs who enjoyed great intimacy and had a tremendous relationship with God in the beginning (Eze.28:14-15). Tragedy struck when he became obsessed with pride of his own beauty, power and authority thus wild imaginations got the better of him that finally led him in a sinful direction causing him to forget his position and place in creation bringing about his own fall (Isa.14:12-14; Eze.28:15-17; 1Ti.3:6). Ever since he has been involved in tempting man to fight against God wanting man too to inherit his own damnation thus he has pitched his temporary abode in the heavenly sphere until he is finally cast off to earth (Lk.10:18; Eph.6:12; Job 1:6), hence into the lake of fire (Rev.20:10). He is the accuser of the brethren (Rev.12:10; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6) an usurper (2Th.2:3-4; 2Co.4:4)

His Character, Power, and his Limitations

The gospel of Jesus Christ speaks volumes of encounters He has with Satan and in each of those encounters a true picture of the character and personality of the devil is clearly depicted. Hence first he is identified as a liar and the father of lies (Jn.8:44), he is a thief and murderer (Jh.10:10), the great deceiver (Rev.12:9), the originator of sin (Eze.28:15-16; 18; 1Jn.3:8), the original Antichrist (2Th.2:7) who uses the God given wisdom which is now corrupt to deceive people (Jam.3:15) and who will be finally destroyed by fire (Eze.28:18; Mat.25:41)

In his final thrust the only extra ordinary thing he would attempt to do is to lure people through deception to possibly lead them a stray in the last days. He has great knowledge and vast experience of 6000 years of dealing with human nature the wisest of natural men are no match for him. He blinds people’s eyes binds and enslaves them and deprives them of the wonderful love of God. (2Co.4:4; Lk.13:16; 11:20-22; 2Ti.2:26).

Finally what we need to know and remember is that even though the devil has been able to cause such great havoc in history yet his dominion over the things of the world was substantially hindered by the coming of Jesus Christ (1Jn.3:8). It is said that he is the prince and the god of this world (1Co.2:8; 2Co.4:4) never the less nowhere is it mentioned in the Bible that he is omnipotent or all powerful, omniscient or all knowing, omnipresent or all present, nor immutable nor unchanging. The truth is that all these attributes are of Deity alone and the devil is not deity instead he was simply a creation of the Most High. Jesus Christ came to give us life and it more abundantly and have empowered us to overcome the schemes of the evil one.

Now that you have been illumined of the truth make use of it and be an over comer of temptation and the tempter. The Bible tells us that we should “resist the devil and he will flee away” (James 4:7) you must also remember that the Lord has never left room for excuses. Take authority over every situation in your life and live a strong powerful and a victorious spiritual life to exalt Jesus Christ in your walk with God. Amen!

The Lord bless you richly

To be continued . . . . . . . .