Three Lies of The Devil | Part Two

Ozzy Wei completes his study on the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, focusing on the three lies of the devil recorded in Luke 4:1-13. He explains how Jesus successfully resists each temptation using Scripture, contrasting Jesus’ faithfulness with Israel’s failure, and discusses the difference between tests and temptations and trusting God's timing.

Show Notes

August 26, 2026 | Ozzy Wei finishes his study on Luke 4:1-13 and the temptation of Jesus by The Devil's three lies.

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Hey, so today we're just gonna go straight into our study. I had something planned for us at the beginning, but he's not able to make it tonight. So we'll have to show you guys what that is later in a future week. But today we're gonna finish out what we began last week. Last week, we started to study the temptations of Jesus. That's Luke chapter four, if you wanna turn there in your Bibles or your phones. Luke chapter four, verses one through 13. And we only were able to cover the first two. And so today what I wanna do is I wanna look over that third temptation that Jesus was faced by the devil. And then I wanna answer two practical questions that come up when we talk about studying Jesus's temptation in hopes of seeing how this applies to our lives. In Luke four, verse one, we learned that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. And you might ask, why is Jesus going to the wilderness? He could have gone anywhere else. But the Holy Spirit, for some reason, after Jesus was baptized, was taken into the Holy Spirit. Jesus being tempted in the wilderness shows us that he is the one fit to save us from our sins. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. And so we need a savior. And Luke wants us to see through this temptation that Jesus really is the one. He is our savior. In the Old Testament, God's people, or you might hear them called Israel, they were also led to the wilderness. But God led them to the wilderness so that he could test them. So God led his people to the wilderness to test them. And now we see the devil meeting Jesus in the wilderness to tempt him. And we see in the Old Testament that God's people did not do a good job. They did not pass the tests. And so that generation ended up dying off. And the generation after them were granted permission to enter into the promised land. And so we see that still, God's people failed and we needed a savior. And so that brings us to Luke chapter four, where Jesus is now facing the devil in the wilderness with the same three kinds of temptations, the same three kinds of tests that God's people faced while they were in the wilderness. And the reality is that with Jesus, he passed, whereas Israel failed. So Luke didn't just include three random temptations. He is showing us that these are the same exact ones where God's people failed originally. And now Jesus, because he passed, we ought to keep an eye on him. This guy went three for three. He really is the savior, all right? Jesus passed where God's people failed. So last week we talked about how at the heart of every temptation is a lie. At the heart of every temptation is a lie. The devil is always trying to trick you and I to get scammed, right? Those evil thoughts that ruminate in our minds, the devil wants to use those so that we act in a way that doesn't please God. Okay, if the heart of every temptation is a lie, then we need truth, because truth saves us from those lies. So Jesus is coming in as an example, using God's word as truth and saying, here's the lie, Satan, but also here's the truth. So the first lie that the devil gave Jesus was you can live without God. Use your powers as the son of God and turn the stone into bread, right? You don't need him. You don't need him to provide for you. You can do that for yourself. Jesus says, no, God is all you need. Psalm 23, David says, the Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need, right? Same principle there. The second lie that the devil gave Jesus is you don't have to worship God exclusively. You can bow down to me and I'll give you all of these kingdoms. And the reality is Jesus says, no, God must be worshiped exclusively. And we see in the 10 commandments that that's true. We cannot make any idols before God. We cannot worship anything other than God. And so here is the third lie that the devil throws at Jesus is that you should manipulate God. That's lie number three. You should manipulate God. When I was in school, you were cool if you had money for vending machines. All right, remember these? You actually had to press the buttons. Nowadays, you can tap your credit card, whatever it is. But I would see them in school and I was just like, where did these kids get the money to buy these snacks? All right, they can look at any snack they wanted, whether it was a candy bar, whether it was Doritos. And if they punched in those numbers or that letter and then that number and they paid the price, they would get the item. Well, the truth is God does not work that way. So often in our prayer lives, we can treat God as a way to get what we want. Now, the Bible does say that he is a father who loves to give his children good gifts. So don't hear what I'm not saying, okay? God wants to give us sometimes the things we want, like a good parent would want to bless their child. Most of the time though, our prayer requests are self-centered and they don't seek God's will or the goodwill of other people. And so the devil is tempting Jesus to manipulate God. Here are those verses. This is verses nine through 12 of chapter four. The devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Jesus, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, he will give his angels orders concerning you to protect you and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered him, it is said, do not test the Lord your God. And after the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time. So in the first two temptations, Jesus used scripture to refute the devil's lies. John 17 says, God's word is truth. So Jesus uses truth to counter these lies. And so the devil now plays Jesus's game. Okay, Bible wizard, right? You use scripture. So I'm going to use scripture now as well. Maybe this will trip you up. And so the devil says, why don't you put yourself in a situation where you have to force God to show himself, force God in the picture. The Bible says the angels will protect you, right? Kind of in that tone, right? And so, and similarly in the old Testament, this is what happened with the Israelites. Exodus 17, two to three says this, the people complained to Moses, give us water to drink. Why are you complaining to me? Moses replied to them, why are you testing the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? And now the problem with the Israelites was not that they were thirsty, okay? I could use a Gatorade when I'm thirsty, okay? The problem was they complained and they grumbled and that tested the Lord. And the devil wanted Jesus to do the same thing. You know, as parents or teachers in the room, when children test you, you say like, don't test me now, right? So a similar attitude. The devil is trying to turn Jesus to his own father, against his own father in the same way the Israelites wanted to turn towards God. And they actually named a place after the Israelites complaining. He named the place Masa, which means testing and Meribah, which means quarreling because the Israelites complained and because they tested the Lord saying, is the Lord among us or not? Now I want to stay in the Old Testament real quick. If you're Israel, this is what happened. You were under captivity of the Egyptians, right? So picture maybe a terror group in our world today and you were under their captivity, okay? Similarly speaking, Israel was looking for freedom. And so God sends the plagues because Pharaoh was not listening and the Israelites get to the edge of the land in front of the Red Sea. The only thing standing between them and freedom is this big sea, okay? So God has not split the sea yet and Pharaoh's army starts chasing after them. Pharaoh changes his mind, said, you know, I made a mistake setting them free. Go after them, we need to get them back. Israelites see the Egyptians over the horizon and now they're probably scared, right? We are so close to freedom and Pharaoh's army is about to get us. Where is the Lord? Now, if I was in the Israel army or if I was one of their people, I would probably start swimming, okay? I would jump in the water because I'm like, they're here, I see them and God, you're not showing up. And if you know the story, you've been around the Bible for a while, you know that God split the sea. It was one of the most famous miracles that we know of today. The truth is we doubt God way too easily. We doubt God way too easily. Just like the Israelites faced that sea in front of them and just picture being with them. Is God going to show up? Because the enemies are closing in on us. He better split this sea. And in the same way, we are faced with things every day and we doubt God so quickly. God had just delivered them. God had just split the Red Sea. And then this is where we get these verses in Exodus. We're thirsty. Is God trying to kill us, right? He just split the Red Sea. That's what I would say to them, right? But here they are, after splitting of the Red Sea, they're complaining just because things got a little difficult, right? Think about circumstances in your life where God has blessed you, God has answered a prayer request, but very quickly, we go back to a spot of doubting him. All right, maybe you got a bill coming up and that monthly deadline is closing in all too quickly. All right, God has delivered you in the past. Who's to say you can't do it again?

right? Or think about how something way worse should have happened in your life but it didn't and God protected you. We quickly thank God but then go back to a lifestyle of doubting. We're thankful to Him and then a few days later we're not sure about Him. Okay, all of this is trying to paint this picture of the devil trying to get Jesus to doubt God. Here's the truth. Remembering God's faithfulness in the past gives you courage in the present and hope for the future. I'm gonna leave that up there if you want to write that down. Remembering God's faithfulness in the past gives you courage in the present and hope for the future. All right, the Israelites should have remembered that the splitting of the Red Sea was a sign of God's faithfulness to them but instead they focused on their circumstances more. They focused on the fact that they might not be able to quench their thirst and they doubted God's presence among them. In a room full of people like this I'm sure we are in some situations where it's easier to doubt God's presence. There's a song called Waymaker and the lines go even when I don't see it or feel it you're working, right? And a lot of us aren't seeing it and feeling it right now. Is God here? Where is God? And you find yourself like the Israelites standing and looking at the Red Sea going, is God gonna split the sea or not? I want to encourage you that God sees you, God has not forgotten you, and that if you aren't sensing God's presence in your life, remember God's faithfulness. Remember what he's done for you in the past and let that encourage you in the present. Give you courage to face today and then give you hope for tomorrow. So Jesus comes in and he says, hey Satan, I don't need to manipulate God because the truth is God is always on time. I don't need to force God's hand, I don't need to have his angels protect me, they already do. And so I don't need to do a magic trick for you, okay? You can trust God's timing. Now here's an interesting aspect of this temptation that often doesn't get talked about. When the devil quotes this to Jesus, right, the devil says, hey the Bible says the angels will protect you, so why don't you throw yourself and put yourself in a situation. That's Psalm 91 verses 11 through 12. The devil leaves out one verse, he doesn't quote all the verses, he leaves out verse 13. You will tread on the lion and the cobra, you will trample the young lion and the serpent. Emphasis on the serpent. Isn't that interesting how when the devil tried to tempt Jesus, he left out the part about him. Again, the devil is the father of lies, those are God's words, the father of lies. The devil knew he was misusing this, right, but Jesus knew God's Word, he knew that the devil was lying. And the irony is that the devil misusing God's Word actually fulfills it. And one day, Jesus will defeat the devil completely, when he comes back. And the devil did not want to remind himself of that. What God says will happen, and it's gonna happen on his timetable. God's timing really is the best. So I want to turn you to your tables now, and I want you to take some time to discuss these two questions. What is something you need to trust God's timing about? What is something you need to trust God's timing about? And then secondly, how does knowing God is always on time encourage you today? All right, take a few minutes and then we'll continue on. So we have just finished our deep dive of Jesus's temptation. So we've looked at the three that Luke includes, we've studied how it proves he is fit to save us from our sins, and we've pointed out the lies that the devil's tried to trick Jesus with, and then highlighted the truths Jesus used to encourage us, but also to move past those temptations. So I think there are two really big questions that come up when we talk about tests and temptations. And here's the first one. What's the difference between the two? How do I know that what I'm going through is either a test or a temptation? Does anybody in this large room want to take a stab at this? What do you think is the difference? You raised your hand? I see a test as something that God may use to kind of, I guess, see how much you've grown in an area that God is healing, or trying to grow your faith in, and with a temptation, I kind of see it as maybe sometimes the devil may try to see what's on the inside of you and hurt you. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's two different things you're trying to measure, right? One's a test, one's a temptation. That's good. Anybody else? Add to that? Expand on that? Yeah, like it almost feels better. It looks like it looks better. I mean, in school you don't want, like, the test days, right? They were always the worst. You didn't want to be in those. Anybody else? Test versus temptation. These are good thoughts. Ryan, all the way back there. Yeah, I think that's a great way to summarize that, right? The devil likes to tempt us. He likes to lie to us. God cannot tempt us. The Bible says that God does not tempt, so Ryan, you're right on. But Jehan and Sean, those are also really good thoughts. Here's another way to think about this. Every day you and I make decisions. We have to make a bajillion decisions, right? Everything from, do I get into an argument with this person, right? Do I forgive this person? Or on the way home, do I get drive-thru food or make a home-cooked meal, right? We have all these different decisions that we make every single day, and so decisions are inevitable. Jesus made decisions when he was tempted by the devil, so knowing the difference between a temptation and a test helps us as we make choices in the moment. It gives us context. There's a pastor in Nashville named Matt Smallbone, and I like how he describes the difference here. He said, there's a difference between temptation and testing. Both involve pressure, but the purpose is different. One is destructive, the other redemptive. Temptation is designed to pull you down. Testing is designed to grow you up. Temptation entices you towards sin. Testing invites you toward maturity, right? So both are true. All of us in this room were tempted and probably tested today at some point. A temptation seeks to draw the worst out of you, while a test seeks to draw the best out of you. Now, Jesus prays in Matthew 6, lead me not into temptation, right? So this is a very interesting subject. Why would Jesus pray that if God doesn't tempt? James 1 13 says, God does not tempt anyone. Jesus was not saying God would ever lead him into temptation. That's not what he's saying. However, God can test, okay? So that prayer, lead me not to temptation, is really a prayer of protection from the evil one. Not God, please don't tempt me, right? But God, I am vulnerable, I am finite, I am limited, so do not bring me to places where I can't bear the temptation. Okay, that's what Jesus is saying. But God can test, and here's that verse that talks about Israel in the wilderness. Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. Okay, so God tested his people. Like a teacher giving an exam to see what their students have learned, or a coach wanting to draw the best in their players. God uses tests to grow our faith. This is why James says this, consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And so let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. God can test you, but he can't tempt you. God doesn't encourage you to disobey him. The devil does that. And tests and temptations show us what we're really made of. That's why they exist. God wants to build up our faith, while the devil wants to tear it down. And the truth is, we don't always know when what we're going through is a test or temptation. There's a lot in the heavenly realm we don't know, that we can't explain, and so I'm not going to stand up here and say, this is a test from God, or this is a temptation from the devil. They aren't always obvious. Some of them definitely are, right? But we can't always know. Here's a helpful question to ask yourself. If you're going through something, and you're asking, is this a test or a temptation? Ask yourself, is this decision pushing me toward God, or away from him? When you find yourself in a situation, and you don't know why it's happening, and you're forced to make a decision, because you are, is the decision you're about to make pushing you toward God, or away from him? God wants you to make the decision that brings him the most glory. The devil wants to pull you away from God. God wants to grow

you, the devil wants to destroy you. Okay, so in these situations, don't try to figure out, is this a test or a temptation? Ask yourself, is the decision I'm about to make gonna push me toward God or away from Him? So when God tests us, there are temptations to turn from Him. When the devil tempts us, there are opportunities to turn to God. And so our responsibility is to turn from the devil All right, tests and temptations exist all around us. Ask yourself this question if you find yourself in one of those situations. So here's the second question. Okay, for those of you who are familiar with the Bible, this might relate to you, but for those of you who are still new to the Bible, maybe I'm gonna explain some of the backstory here. The devil says you should manipulate God. Scripture says that the angels are gonna protect you, so force them to do something. There's a story about that in Scripture. What do we do about that? If I shouldn't try to manipulate God, what about the story of Gideon? Okay, so I'm gonna give you a little bit background of a story of Gideon. This is in the Old Testament. It's in the book of Judges, a very disturbing book to read if you've never read it. Okay, a lot goes on. It's very violent, but it was a dark time in the history of God's people. Yet God was still faithful. He had already made some covenants and promises to redeem his people, and so God always raises up somebody to save his people. Well, now it's Gideon's turn. What you need to know about Gideon is he was not the guy to save the day. Okay, he was what we would call a scaredy cat. Okay, he was the last pick in the schoolyard pick of the kickball game. Okay, in the Bible, it actually shows Gideon digging a hole, trying to hide from the enemy. Okay, so he was legitimately scared, and the angel of the Lord appears to him and says, oh mighty man of valor, you're up to bat. All right, you're gonna save God's people. And so you can only imagine what Gideon's reaction was. So God says this is gonna happen, right? God already told Gideon that. But Gideon wanted some confirmation. Maybe some of you guys are interested in that. I'm getting a thought, an impression, and I really want to know whether it's God talking to me or not. Okay, so Gideon's like, I just want to make sure. So the test is, he's gonna take some fleece, and he's gonna put it outside. He's like, all right God, if this really is you, if this is gonna happen, I want you to make the fleece wet and then keep the ground dry. How's that? I'm gonna go to bed. When I wake up, if this happens, I'll go. If not, I'm not going. So Gideon comes out, and he sees that his wish is granted. I think my mic died. There you go. His wish is granted. And like all good rock-paper-scissors matches, you got to go two out of three, right? So that does not solve Gideon's doubt, okay? So he says, let's reverse the matchup here, okay? Now let's make the ground wet, and let's keep the fleece dry. Let me just buy 24 more hours. But I promise God, if you do this, then I'll go. And then it happened again. So God confirmed for Gideon that he was the person for the job. So why don't we just do that then, right? Why don't I just go home and lay out some fleece, and then that's a way to find out what God's will is for my life. So I want to tell you here, because it's very important to hear, the fleece method is not how you discern God's will, okay? So don't start a riot if your fleece stays dry, okay? That's not how you find out God's will. Gideon actually showed himself to have weak faith. This was a bad example, okay? So we know the story, but it is not the example we're supposed to follow. Gideon was the one to deliver God's people. God had told him that, but he didn't take him at his word. Gideon didn't believe God's word. He wanted confirmation not once, but twice. So if anything, this shows God's willingness to stoop down to somebody who didn't believe him the first time. If anything, this shows God's grace and God's mercy to somebody who showed weak faith. So this is not an example of how we were to find out God's will. Now don't just believe me for this, let's look at Jesus's words. Signs don't always help us. Maybe some of us are saying, if God were only to show me, then I'll go. Okay, clearly that didn't work for Gideon. Jesus also says, even though he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe him. So correction, John says this about Jesus. Even though Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. Signs don't always help. Signs sometimes are a cop-out for us to exercise faith. If God would just show us, we wouldn't have to exercise any faith, right? And so there was an exception in the Old Testament when God was delivering his people. Okay Gideon, like I'll show you, I'll stoop down to your level and show you I really need you to do this. But that's not the example we're to follow. That's not how we find out whether we're gonna take the next job, move to the next state, or pursue that person. Gideon is a bad example of taking God at his word. We need to take God at his word the first time. That's the lesson here. So like I gave you a question to answer the first question, I'm also gonna give you another question to answer this question, all right? Ask yourself this, is there something God's asked me to do that I'm refusing to do? Is there something God's asked me to do that I am refusing to do? There are some very strong impressions on some people's lives right now. There are some very strong voices that are speaking to you, and you are refusing to take action on it. I don't think that's everybody in the room today, but I'm sure there are at least some. God is telling you to do something, and you are delaying obedience. And I've heard it said that delayed obedience is disobedience, right? So you need to ask yourself, is there something God's asked me to do that I'm refusing to do? Gideon wouldn't go. He wouldn't go until the weak faith was picked up by God, right? So don't follow Gideon's example. Instead, take God at his word the first time. If he says now, the answer is now. If he says wait, that means wait. And if he says not yet, that means not yet. We gotta take him at his word the first time. So I want to throw you through your tables again. This is the last discussion time for today. Here are the two questions. What life experiences have most grown your faith? Okay, as I wrote out this question, I realized this could be really, really deep. Okay, so just proceed with caution on that one. What life experiences have most grown your faith? And then secondly, is there a part of your life where you are delaying obedience to God? All right, talk about those two questions, and then we'll finish our lesson out for the day. So, as we talk about Jesus's temptation, guys, every single time the devil asks Jesus a question, he is trying to get him to doubt God. Every single temptation is this whisper saying, you don't really have to take God at his word. You can't really trust him. That time he delivered me the past month, this past year, that was just luck. You really don't, you can't trust God. He's not gonna come through for you again. At the heart of every temptation is a lie. In the book of Genesis, where we read about the fall of man, this is why 10 out of 10 of us need Jesus Christ. The devil challenged Adam and Eve's trust in God. Did God really say, you couldn't do this? Right? He was feeding them a lie. You can't really trust God. What if you came up with your own rules? Or God didn't really say that, right? Same thing he did with Jesus, right? Psalm said, do this. But Jesus knew God's word. Jesus took God at his word. And a challenge for all of us in the room today, studying temptation is this. Instead of taking matters into your own hands, why don't we trust God's timing? Instead of taking matters into your own hands, trust God's timing. Temptation is all about the devil wanting you to take. Steal. Steal from God. Break the rules. Temptation is all about you, right? Sean, like you were saying, there are things that look good to our eyes, but are not really glorifying to God. The devil says, you can do that just this one time. God's gonna forgive you, right? So why don't you continue doing it? He's out to destroy us. But Jesus came so that we would have life and life abundantly. The devil came to kill, steal, and destroy. Jesus came so that we could have life abundantly. Jesus models that God really can be trusted. And so as we move forward in our study of Jesus through the gospel of Luke, we're now gonna start to listen to what Jesus has to say about the kingdom of God. Jesus has passed the test. And so Luke is affirming before all of our eyes, continue listening to Jesus. He passed where God's people failed. And so we're gonna continue studying, what does he have to say about the world? What does he have to say about our lives? What does he have to say about the cost of following him? As we're gonna see, it's all worth it, guys. It's all worth it. All right, let me close this in prayer.