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TEMPTATIONS FOR JESUS—AND US
Luke 4:1-13
David Z. Ring III

Several decades ago, a famed circus aerialist successfully walked across a high wire strung across the raging torrent of Niagara Falls. Hundreds cheered as he completed this amazing feat. When he was back on solid ground, the assembled crowd fell silent as he announced that he planned on the next day to perform an even more difficult task. Tomorrow, he would cross the wire, pushing a wheelbarrow with a man in it. “It cannot be done,” most of the onlookers murmured, but one young man in the crowd called out, “You are the greatest! I know you can do it! I have faith in you!” The aerialist called the young man to his side. “I am glad to know you believe in me,” he said. “You are just the man I have been looking for! I need a volunteer to ride in that wheelbarrow I will be pushing! Let's test the faith you say you have!”

The subject of today's sermon is temptation. Temptation is, from a biblical standpoint, a test of faith. It is a test of faith in God, faith in another person, faith in one's self, or, perhaps, all three. It is easy to say that we have faith in this or in that—until a test comes. That is what temptation really is, a test of one's faith.

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