Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
Most every temptation that we face is similar to the temptations of Christ in this week's Come, Follow Me readings. Jesus's responses to temptation can help us overcome and resist temptation. We can also do this as we are taught or recall and apply eternal truths Christ teaches. I love the invitation we are given when we are tired and have "toiled all night" to try one more time and invite Christ to be with us.
President James E. Faust: “Years ago, reckless boatmen would take passengers in canoes to stand on those rocks and look down into the Devil’s Throat. The water above the falls is usually calm and slow moving, and the atmosphere tranquil. Only the roar of the water below forewarns of the danger lurking just a few feet away. A sudden, unexpected current could take a canoe into the rushing waters, over the cliff, and down into the Devil’s Throat. Those foolish enough to leave the canoes to stand on these treacherous wet rocks could so easily lose their footing and be swept away into the swirling currents below.”
“I recognize that some of you think of yourselves as daredevils, ready to take on almost any challenge. But some of these excursions for excitement will inevitably take you down into the Devil’s Throat. The only safe course is to stay well away from the dangers of the Devil’s Throat. President George Albert Smith strongly cautioned, “If you cross to the devil’s side of the line one inch, you are in the tempter’s power, and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly, because you will have lost the spirit of the Lord.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2003/04/the-devils-throat?lang=eng)
Some Lessons from Christ's Temptations
“The southwest corner is the greatest height and overlooks the busiest street in the city. It is the place where priests sound trumpets and horns on special occasions, including the beginning of the Sabbath.” (see Brown, the Testimony of Luke, p. 229)
President David O. Mckay: “Classify them, and you will find that under one of those three nearly every given temptation that makes you and me spotted, ever so little maybe, comes to us as,
How Jesus’s responses to temptation can help me:
When we recall and apply truths taught in the scriptures, we can resist the devil’s temptations.
Howard W. Hunter: “There are times in our struggle with the adversities of mortality when we become weary, weakened, and susceptible to the temptations that seem to be placed in our pathways. A lesson for us lies in the account of the life of the Savior.” (The Temptations of Christ, Ensign Nov 1976, 17)
What about us? We live in a world of temptation – temptation that seems more real and oppressively rampant than any since the days of Noah. Are we remaining faithful in such a world? Every individual in this church should ask himself, “Am I living so that I am keeping unspotted from the evils of the world?” (The Temptations of Christ, Ensign Nov 1976, 19)
“The question for us now is – will we succeed? Will we resist? Will we wear the victor’s crown? Satan may have lost Jesus, but he does not believe he has lost us. He continues to tempt, taunt, and plead for our loyalty. We should take strength for this battle from the fact that Christ was victorious not as a God but as a man.” (Ensign Nov 1976 p 18-19)
C.S. Lewis: “A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the opposing army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like a hour later. That is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.
“We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only true realist.” (Mere Christianity, p. 124-125)
Nazareth
In the Isaiah scroll he would need to get into it about 21 feel before he got to this verse in Isaiah.
“The Savior's citation of lines from Isaiah 61 highlights a further compelling link, this one bonding to Melchizedek. One of the fragmentary texts that have come out of Cave XI at Qumran—now titled Melchizedek Midrash—consists of a commentary on a series of Old Testament passages which envision Melchizedek and those of his "lot" fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah embedded within Isaiah 61:1-3. That is, Melchizedek will "proclaim liberty to the captives," meaning that he will "free them from [the debt] of all their iniquities." Moreover, he will be the messenger of God who comes to "comfort the afflicted" by instructing them "in all the ages of the wo[rld]." Plainly, in the view of the people of Qumran at the Dead Sea, one of the "lot" of Melchizedek, who bears his priesthood, is to fulfill the expectations envisioned in Isaiah 61 … by quoting lines from this chapter, he shows that he stands within a shared stream of Jewish expectations about a Messiah who is tied to Melchizedek and his lofty priesthood.
“To take this observation one step further, when Jesus announces who he is by declaring "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (4:21), he brings the entire focus of his people's expressed and unexpressed expectations directly onto himself. He is the expected one who will bring promised relief, who will offer sweet freedom, who will give reassuring comfort. In light of the words of the Melchizedek Midrash, he also fulfills the expectation that this person will come as a Melchizedek who is both "king of Salem," that is, king of peace, and is "the priest of the most high God" (Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7:1). In a word, the Savior comes as both king and priest, the righteous ruler, when fulfilling Isaiah 61. (Brown, the Testimony of Luke, p. 255).
Elder Richard G. Scott: “This life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience” (“Trust in the Lord,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 17).
Teaching Thoughts:
President James E. Faust: “Years ago, reckless boatmen would take passengers in canoes to stand on those rocks and look down into the Devil’s Throat. The water above the falls is usually calm and slow moving, and the atmosphere tranquil. Only the roar of the water below forewarns of the danger lurking just a few feet away. A sudden, unexpected current could take a canoe into the rushing waters, over the cliff, and down into the Devil’s Throat. Those foolish enough to leave the canoes to stand on these treacherous wet rocks could so easily lose their footing and be swept away into the swirling currents below.”
“I recognize that some of you think of yourselves as daredevils, ready to take on almost any challenge. But some of these excursions for excitement will inevitably take you down into the Devil’s Throat. The only safe course is to stay well away from the dangers of the Devil’s Throat. President George Albert Smith strongly cautioned, “If you cross to the devil’s side of the line one inch, you are in the tempter’s power, and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly, because you will have lost the spirit of the Lord.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2003/04/the-devils-throat?lang=eng)
Some Lessons from Christ's Temptations
- Christ was led to be with God (Matt 4:1)
- After He communed with God, the temptations came (Matt 4:2).
- Temptations came when he was more vulnerable.
- “IF thou be the Son of God,” then give into a physical temptation (Mat 4:3).
- Christ had scripture memorized that helped him in a moment of need (Mat 4:4).
- Satan makes appeals to our pride, fashion and vanity (Matt 4:5-6).
- Christ had another scripture memorized that helped him in a moment of need (Mat 4:7).
- The glory of the world is nothing compared to the glory of the kingdom of the Lord. You must have a vision of God’s kingdom to know the difference (Mat 4:8-9).
- Christ had another scripture memorized that helped him in a moment of need (Mat 4:10).
- Satan will always leave you (4:11) but the Holy Ghost can be with you always (see Moroni 4:3).
- God sends angels to minister (Matt 4:11).
“The southwest corner is the greatest height and overlooks the busiest street in the city. It is the place where priests sound trumpets and horns on special occasions, including the beginning of the Sabbath.” (see Brown, the Testimony of Luke, p. 229)
President David O. Mckay: “Classify them, and you will find that under one of those three nearly every given temptation that makes you and me spotted, ever so little maybe, comes to us as,
- A temptation of the appetite.
- A yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God.
- A gratifying of the passion or a desire for the riches of the world, or power among men. (Conference Report Oct 1911, p. 59)
How Jesus’s responses to temptation can help me:
- We are led to be with God (Matt 4:1).
- To overcome temptations, you must be full of the holy Ghost (Luke 4:1).
- After we commune with God, temptations will come (Matt 4:2).
- Temptations come when we are more vulnerable.
- Satan tempts you with immediate needs and Christ is patient. “In patience possess ye your souls” (Luke 21:19). Patience helps you overcome temptation.
- Satan will attack who we fundamentally are – a child of God. Mat 4:3, 6)
- Satan tempts us with physical temptations (Mat 4:3).
- Satan makes appeals to our pride, fashion and vanity (Matt 4:5-6).
- Like Christ we can have scriptures (the words of prophets and apostles) memorized to help us in a moment of need (Mat 4:4, 7, 10).
- The glory of the world is nothing compared to the glory of the kingdom of the Lord. You must have a vision of God’s kingdom to know the difference (Mat 4:8-9).
- Satan will always leave you (4:11) but the Holy Ghost can be with you always (see Moroni 4:3).
- God sends angels to minister to us too (Matt 4:11).
When we recall and apply truths taught in the scriptures, we can resist the devil’s temptations.
Howard W. Hunter: “There are times in our struggle with the adversities of mortality when we become weary, weakened, and susceptible to the temptations that seem to be placed in our pathways. A lesson for us lies in the account of the life of the Savior.” (The Temptations of Christ, Ensign Nov 1976, 17)
What about us? We live in a world of temptation – temptation that seems more real and oppressively rampant than any since the days of Noah. Are we remaining faithful in such a world? Every individual in this church should ask himself, “Am I living so that I am keeping unspotted from the evils of the world?” (The Temptations of Christ, Ensign Nov 1976, 19)
“The question for us now is – will we succeed? Will we resist? Will we wear the victor’s crown? Satan may have lost Jesus, but he does not believe he has lost us. He continues to tempt, taunt, and plead for our loyalty. We should take strength for this battle from the fact that Christ was victorious not as a God but as a man.” (Ensign Nov 1976 p 18-19)
C.S. Lewis: “A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the opposing army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like a hour later. That is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.
“We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only true realist.” (Mere Christianity, p. 124-125)
Nazareth
- “The guarded one”
- In 2014 its population was 74,619
- 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian
- Population in the Savior’s day is estimated to be 480 people. (E. Meyers & J. Strange, Archaeology, the Rabbis, & Early Christianity Nashville: Abingdon, 1981; Article "Nazareth" in the Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992.)
In the Isaiah scroll he would need to get into it about 21 feel before he got to this verse in Isaiah.
“The Savior's citation of lines from Isaiah 61 highlights a further compelling link, this one bonding to Melchizedek. One of the fragmentary texts that have come out of Cave XI at Qumran—now titled Melchizedek Midrash—consists of a commentary on a series of Old Testament passages which envision Melchizedek and those of his "lot" fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah embedded within Isaiah 61:1-3. That is, Melchizedek will "proclaim liberty to the captives," meaning that he will "free them from [the debt] of all their iniquities." Moreover, he will be the messenger of God who comes to "comfort the afflicted" by instructing them "in all the ages of the wo[rld]." Plainly, in the view of the people of Qumran at the Dead Sea, one of the "lot" of Melchizedek, who bears his priesthood, is to fulfill the expectations envisioned in Isaiah 61 … by quoting lines from this chapter, he shows that he stands within a shared stream of Jewish expectations about a Messiah who is tied to Melchizedek and his lofty priesthood.
“To take this observation one step further, when Jesus announces who he is by declaring "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (4:21), he brings the entire focus of his people's expressed and unexpressed expectations directly onto himself. He is the expected one who will bring promised relief, who will offer sweet freedom, who will give reassuring comfort. In light of the words of the Melchizedek Midrash, he also fulfills the expectation that this person will come as a Melchizedek who is both "king of Salem," that is, king of peace, and is "the priest of the most high God" (Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7:1). In a word, the Savior comes as both king and priest, the righteous ruler, when fulfilling Isaiah 61. (Brown, the Testimony of Luke, p. 255).
Elder Richard G. Scott: “This life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence. To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7). To produce fruit, your trust in the Lord must be more powerful and enduring than your confidence in your own personal feelings and experience” (“Trust in the Lord,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 17).
Teaching Thoughts:
- Jesus’s responses to temptation can help me.
- Value of memorizing scriptures.
- Recalling and applying truth helps us resist temptation.
- Be willing to try one more time with Christ there to help us.
- Dare to be a disciple.