Naylor Community Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn
in Bibles to Luke 4:1-13
Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the
Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2
where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those
days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If
you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is
written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 The devil led him up to a
high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he
said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been
given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it
will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is
written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to
Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the
Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels
concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in
their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered, “It is
said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had
finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
--
several years ago, the late Christian singer Carman received an invitation in the
mail from a man named Isaac Horowitz -- Isaac claimed to be a warlock -- a male
witch -- he had heard about Carman and his ministry and witness for Christ and
he said he wanted to have a meeting with him
-- so
with some apprehension and trepidation, Carman agreed to meet with Isaac -- he went
over to Isaac’s house on the day and time of their appointment -- as Carman
described it later, Isaac’s house was filled with satanic and occultic symbols
-- pentagrams -- framed pictures of horoscopes -- Ouija boards -- crystal balls
-- Carmen said that the home looked the setting of a Hollywood horror movie
-- Isaac
invited Carman to sit down and then handed him a large book filled with
newspaper clippings -- he told Carman to just take a look through the book -- and,
as Carman did so, Isaac proudly said, "You see all those newspaper
clippings? -- I did all of that with my powers"
-- he began
pointing out article after article to Carman -- "I healed this woman,” he
boasted -- and “I cursed this man with AIDS” -- on and on -- page after page,
Isaac continued to crow over the powers he had displayed -- finally, he said,
"do you realize that with my dark powers I can make you rich or even curse
someone to death?”
-- having
said that, Isaac leaned back in his chair, smirked at Carman, and said,
"Now, what can your God do to compete with this?"
-- Carman
said he sat there stunned for a few minutes -- he said he kind of felt like
Moses did when he turned his rod into a serpent before Pharaoh as a display of
God’s power and then watched as the three Egyptian magicians standing there did
the exact same thing with theirs -- Carmen remarked later, “It's as if you're
sitting there in that stunned moment while your faith gets violated and all you
feel is weak, powerless, and lame"
-- but
then, something dwelled up within him and he remembered the word of God from 1
John 4:4, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world"
-- and Carman
stood up and thrust that book back into Isaac's arms and said, "I will not
compare God's miracles to Satan’s -- His power will not be compared to yours --
the issue is not who is God in this place because that is settled -- the issue
is not even about whether you are more powerful than me -- the real issue before
us is the condition of your soul versus mine -- and the Bible tells me that
because I believe in Jesus, my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life --
where is yours written? -- for at the end of time, when Jesus returns in
triumph and I stand at His side a victorious overcomer, I will watch as those
same demons who give you your evil powers drag you with them into the depths of
the lake of fire"
-- and,
with that, Carman left -- knowing that God had once again defeated Satan and
his servants
-- this morning, we’re continuing our survey of the life
of Christ -- last week, we discussed the baptism of Christ and how it
represented more than just an example for us to follow, but was a symbolic
gesture to demonstrate Christ as our propitiation and redeemer -- as the One
who stands between God and us to represent all mankind and to take upon Himself
the wrath and judgment of God so that we might receive forgiveness and
cleansing and justification through His body and blood
--
this morning, we find ourselves in the next chapter in the life of Christ --
the story of His temptation in the wilderness by Satan -- and as we take a look
at this familiar story, there’s something I want you to know and to keep in
your mind as we go through this, because it changes the way we understand and
relate to this passage
--
just as Jesus stood in our place in baptism, foreshadowing His death on the
cross for us, He stands in the place of mankind in this battle in the
wilderness -- this is not just Satan tempting Jesus individually and personally
-- this is Satan tempting the representative of all mankind in an attempt to
wrest final control over this earth and the fate of mankind for eternity --
you’ll come to understand this more as we move through this passage
-- so, let’s look together now at this story
of the temptation of Christ and see what we can learn about Jesus and His role
and ministry on earth and how we can follow His example in our daily struggles
against sin, temptation, and the schemes of the devil
II. Scripture
Lesson (Luke 4:1-13)
-- look back at verse 1-2
Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the
Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2
where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those
days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
-- the temptation of Jesus takes place immediately after
His baptism in the Jordan River by John -- this marks the start of Jesus’
ministry -- up to this point, we have no record of Jesus preaching or teaching
or doing any miracles -- up to this point, as we noted last week, we just have
to assume that He has been living in Nazareth as a carpenter, working in His
father’s shop and providing for His family -- attending to the normal religious
and social duties as a young Jewish man
-- but when Jesus turns 30 years old -- the age when
Jewish priests were ordained for the ministry -- things begin happening -- He
has gone to the Jordan River to be baptized by John -- after which, we see the Father
anointing Him for ministry by sending the Holy Spirit to Him
-- Luke confirms that here in verse 1 -- we read that
Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit -- and, if you’re like me, when you read that
here in Luke 4:1, your first thought is probably, “Of course -- Jesus is God,
right? -- of course He has the anointing power of the Spirit -- of course He
has the ability and power to do miracles and to proclaim God’s word and to go
forth in ministry in the land -- He’s God, right?”
--
but that’s not the message that we are to receive from this passage -- that’s
not how Jesus lived while He was here on earth
-- Philippians
2:7 says that “Jesus emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born
in the likeness of men.” -- that doesn’t mean that Jesus ceased being deity --
that doesn’t mean that Jesus ceased being God -- He was and is and shall always
be God -- the second person of the Holy Trinity
--
but what that does mean is that Jesus emptied Himself of the attributes of God
so that He could become fully man while still being fully God -- He had to
divest Himself of the powers and authority of the Godhead so that He could
represent the human race here on earth -- so, when Luke tells us that Jesus was
full of the Holy Spirit, it’s not because He was Jesus -- it’s not because He
was God -- it’s because Jesus was both fully human and fully God
--
and as a human, He surrendered Himself to the will and authority of the Father
and was filled with the very presence of God -- He became full of the Holy
Spirit and relied on the Spirit’s presence and power in His daily life
--
and because Jesus did this as a man and not through His divine attributes, this
means that we can experience and do what Jesus does here -- we can be filled
with the Holy Spirit in the same way -- we can allow the Spirit to work in us
and through us, just as Jesus did -- remember, Jesus came as a man to represent
all mankind and to show us the way that we can live with God by following His
example
--
so, make sure you understand that Jesus is our representative here -- that He
is standing in our place to demonstrate the way we can live for Him on earth --
what Jesus does here, we can do, too
-- the other thing I want you to note in these
opening verses is the pattern of the temptations that we see here
-- remember,
Jesus is a man -- He is the God-Man -- He is the Son of Man -- but He’s still a
man -- and this man has just been baptized and purified on behalf of us in the
Jordan River -- He had heard the Father praise Him and say He was pleased at
what Jesus had done -- and then the Holy Spirit was sent to fill Jesus and
empower Him for His ministry
-- Jesus
is living His life on a spiritual high -- He has just experienced a great touch
of the Father in His life -- He feels the closeness and the relationship and
the power and presence of the Father with Him at this moment
--
and there are times in our lives when we experience similar spiritual highs in
our lives just like the one Jesus just had at the Jordan River -- all of us
have had experiences in our lives that were special moments with God -- times where
God has touched us and we’ve felt His presence and we’ve had a life-changing
and transforming experience and we’re different, at least for a time -- I’ve
heard people talk about how they experienced this after the Walk to Emmaus or
the Passion Conferences or Promise Keepers or some other experience where they
felt God really touch them
--
and, in those moments, you feel like you’re on the mountaintop with God --
you’re in a place where you just feel close to Him and invincible and powerful
in His presence, just like Jesus here in these verses -- but note this: it’s the
times when you’re experiencing these spiritual highs that the devil likes to
attack -- these are the moments when he likes to take us down
-- remember playing King of the Mountain when you were a
kid? -- the game was to knock the king off the mountain and take his place --
that’s exactly what Satan does to us when we are on a spiritual mountaintop --
and I have seen it time and time again, not only in my own life, but in the
lives of those around us and in the life of a church
-- so, know this pattern -- expect this attack from the
devil to happen during periods of spiritual highs in your life -- when you have
a mountaintop experience with God, don’t let your guard down, but prepare
yourself for battle, just as Jesus does here
-- it’s just like we are warned in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “If
you think you are standing firm you had better be careful that you do not fall.”
-- verse 3-4
Luke 4:3 The devil said to
him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is
written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
-- so, it’s in these verses that we see that these
temptation from Satan are not random -- they are a direct attack against Jesus
as the representative of all mankind -- don’t lose sight of the big picture
that is occurring here -- these temptations are not just an individual,
personal testing of Jesus but part of Satan’s struggle against Jesus to retain
authority over this world
-- you see, Satan is actually in control of this world --
in some way that we do not fully understand, Satan has been given authority
over the earth and mankind -- and this is recognized by Jesus and the human authors
of the Bible -- that’s why Jesus tells us three times in Scripture that Satan
is the prince or ruler of this world -- for instance, in John 14:30-31, Jesus told
His disciples, “I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world
is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn
that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”
-- so, Satan has been given authority over this world
--
some say this transfer of power happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and
Eve fell -- in the Creation story in Genesis, we read that God created Adam and
Eve and placed them in the garden to take care of it -- that at that moment, He
was making them the human trustees -- the stewards -- of His creation on earth
-- He was giving authority to them to manage it for Him -- in a very real
sense, God gave Adam the deed to earth at that moment -- mankind was placed in
charge of earth on behalf of God
-- but when Adam and Eve sinned against God by disobeying
His command at the prompting of the serpent, they effectively transferred the
ownership of earth from man to Satan -- they gave Satan the deed to the
property -- he took over ownership and authority over the earth
--
and that’s why Satan is described in various places in the Bible as the “god of
this world,” “the prince of the power of the air,” and “the ruler of this
world”
-- in essence, man gave away the kingdom -- but now Jesus
has come to earth to reclaim that which was lost -- don’t forget, Jesus was
fully man and fully God -- He came as the Son of Man -- as the representative of
mankind -- to reclaim from Satan the title deed to earth and to redeem mankind
and all creation from the power of Satan and the curse of sin and death
-- that’s why Paul calls Jesus the “Second Adam” -- and
that’s why here, in this narrative from Luke about Jesus being tempted by Satan
in the wilderness, we understand the reason why Jesus had to stand against
Satan as a man, and not as God
--
He had to stand as man’s representative on earth -- as the Second Adam -- against
Satan in order to reclaim that which the “First Adam” had lost
-- I mentioned Philippians 2:7 to you a moment ago -- let
me read the whole passage to you right now -- Philippians 2:5-8
Philippians 2:5 In your
relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very
nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself
nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in
appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
--
so, understand what we’re hearing here -- Jesus emptied Himself -- not of His
divinity -- He remained fully God as He walked on earth -- but He voluntarily emptied
Himself of His divine attributes of glory and independent authority and power
and His intimate relationship within the Trinity so that He could become human
in the truest sense -- in other words, Jesus became fully man so He could stand
in our place as mankind’s representative on earth
-- it is in that stead that we see Him standing against
Satan in the wilderness here in Luke 4 -- it’s exactly what Sweet and Viola
point out in their book, “Jesus: A Theography” -- and I’m quoting here: “Satan’s temptations toward Jesus…were all
concentrated on luring Jesus to fight satan on the divine level rather than on
the human level -- Only a human could rob satan of his power because it was
humans who gave him the title deed of the earth -- if satan could get Jesus to
react to him as a divine being, rather than as a human being, satan could keep
the earth.”
-- now what does that mean? -- it means that Jesus fought
against the temptations of Satan in the desert as a man armed only the spiritual
power that is available to all of us -- it means that Jesus fought against
Satan in His humanity
--
and that means that we can do the same -- because we too can be filled with the
Holy Spirit, we are capable of wielding the same spiritual weapons of divine
power that Jesus used against Satan in the desert in our own struggles against
spiritual strongholds and temptations
-- in other words, if Jesus was able to stand against
Satan as a human being, then we can stand against him, too
-- notice how this works here in the first temptation --
Satan tried to get Jesus to draw on His divine nature and power in this
encounter -- Satan doesn’t come against Jesus as a man, but begins his
temptation by appealing to Jesus as God -- trying to get Jesus to use His
divinity in this battle
--
“If you are the Son of God, then turn these stones into bread -- if you really
are God, then show your power”
-- Satan knew that if he could get Jesus to deny His
humanity -- to take up His divine power and authority and respond
supernaturally by turning the stones into bread -- then he had won the battle
and there was no one who could stand in the gap to be our propitiation -- there
would be no one who could take on the wrath and punishment of God on our behalf
-- but look how Jesus responds, “It is written: Man…” -- Satan
tried to get Jesus to respond as God, but Jesus emphatically said, “No -- I am
a man -- I am the real human -- the new Adam -- [the second Adam] -- and by
being a real human, I will defeat you -- for Adam, who was also a man, was
defeated by you -- I am man; and as a man, I live by God’s words, God’s life,
God’s Spirit -- this is what is written in the scriptures” [quote from Jesus: A
Theography by Sweet and Viola]
-- Jesus
is standing in the passage as the representative of mankind -- fully man --
fully human -- against the devil and his schemes
--
and because Jesus was acting as a human in this passage, we can respond just as
He did against the temptations and schemes of the devil, too -- with this
response, Jesus shows us how we should respond to spiritual strongholds and
demonic attacks -- we should call upon God through prayer and through His word
-- we should wield our spiritual weapons of divine power against these attacks
and let God fight the battle through us
-- look at how Satan continues to try to tempt Jesus to
take up His divinity and deity in the other two temptations -- verse 5
Luke 4:5 The devil led him
up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has
been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me,
it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is
written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to
Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the
Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels
concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in
their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered, “It is
said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had
finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
-- “once again Satan refused to acknowledge the humanity
of Jesus -- instead, he appealed to His divinity as the Son of God” -- but in
each case, Jesus responded by quoting God’s words that were given to us mortals
-- Jesus wielded the sword of the Spirit against the temptations of the devil
-- He did not use His deity or divine attributes to stand against the devil,
but used the same weapons available to us
-- as Sweet and Viola write, “the authority He exercised
over Satan was the authority God gave to Adam back in the garden of Eden. Jesus exercised such authority as the Son of
man (human), not as the Son of God (divine).”
-- you can see how this is more than just a personal
tempting of Jesus -- by standing against the devil as a man -- as the Second
Adam -- as the Son of Man -- Jesus is taking back the authority that Satan
stole from the First Adam in the Garden of Eden -- and He’s showing us how we should
be living for God in our own lives
-- in the Star Wars spin-off, “The Mandalorian,” one of
the repeated quotes is the phrase, “This is the way” -- every time the
Mandalorian remained true to his race and followed the rules and traditions of
his people, despite being tempted to do otherwise, everyone would affirm, “This
is the way”
--
that’s exactly what we should say as we read these verses -- “This is the Way”
-- Jesus is showing us the way here -- He’s showing us how to stand against the
devil’s temptations and schemes by relying on the authority of God and His
power and presence within us
-- Jesus
is standing before Satan as a man -- as one of us -- and He defeats him at
every turn -- and through that, we learn that we don’t wage war in our own
strength, but from the strength of God within us -- we don’t try to fight the
devil on his own ground, but we resist him in the name of the Lord and pray
God’s word against him -- and when we do that, the devil has no authority or
power over us -- and we experience the truth of God’s word, where it says that if
we resist the devil, he will flee
III. Closing
-- let me bring this to a close by making two points:
-- first, Jesus is showing us the way here -- He is
showing us how a normal human being, filled with the very presence and power of
God, is able to stand against the devil and against temptation and sin in the
world today
--
but to follow the way -- to follow His example here -- means that we have to be
like Him -- we have to be in a personal relationship with God -- we have to
know Him -- we have to have surrendered to Him and asked Him to forgive our
sins and to be our Lord and Savior -- we have to be filled with the Holy Spirit
and know His power and presence in our lives -- we have to saved and redeemed
and justified through Christ Jesus
--
you cannot stand against the devil unless your loyalties and ownership have
been transferred from this world and the prince of this world to God
--
which brings me to my final point -- it’s not just enough to claim to know
Jesus -- you have to live it -- you have to be in true relationship with Him --
you have to be following His word and doing what He says
--
and this means that we are constantly in prayer -- we are constantly in
relationship with Him -- talking to Him -- listening to Him -- knowing Him --
knowing His heart
-- this
means that we are in His word -- that we’re studying Scripture and listening
for God’s voice and learning more about Him daily -- it means that we are
fellowshipping with His people -- communing with the church -- being the church
on earth
--
and we have to learn how to wield God’s word and God’s power as Jesus did here
-- we have to know the Scriptures and we have to be able to speak them into
this world -- to pray God’s word back to Him -- to make His word our cry and
prayer to God
--
there is a spiritual practice called praying the scriptures that we need to
begin doing if we aren’t already -- rather than just praying with our own words
every time, use God’s word as the basis for our prayers -- take God’s word and
make it our heart cry to Him -- use God’s word to stand against the devil and
the temptations that come our way
-- to do this you reword the scriptures to make them
personal so that when you read these verses -- when you pray them back to God
or wield them against the devil -- they are yours
-- let me show you how this works -- turn over to Isaiah
40:26
Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your
eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the
starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power
and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
-- now let’s turn this verse into a prayer -- “Father
God, help me to lift my eyes and look to the heavens when I need help -- remind
me that You are the creator of all these things -- remind me that You are the
one who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them by name and that
You know me in the same way -- because of Your great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing -- and in the same way, I know that I can trust in
You and stand firm because Your power and Your mighty strength will keep me
safe from all harm. Amen”
-- see how that works? -- it is powerful to pray the word
of God back to the Lord -- it’s a powerful way to stand against the devil, too
-- now, don’t think you have to do this every time you
pray, but do get into the habit and practice of doing this on a regular basis,
and it teach you how to live like Jesus -- how to pray like Jesus -- how to
stand against the devil’s schemes and temptations like Jesus
--
if there is one particular area that you are struggling in, look up scriptures
relevant to that area -- write them down -- and change them into a scripture
prayer that you can use to resist the devil’s temptations
--
this is the way
-- so, as we close this passage, I want to make sure you
see the true extent of Jesus’ ministry on earth -- how everything He did and
everything He was pointed to His role as mankind’s representative -- the One
who would stand on our behalf to redeem us and justify us
-- He stood as our representative in His baptism to
foreshadow His role as our propitiation -- the One who would take upon Himself
the wrath and judgment of the Father for our sins so that we might be purified
and cleansed of sin and be deemed righteous in the sight of the Father
-- and He stands as our representative here in this time
of testing to wrest back authority and control of the earth from Satan -- the
battle will not be finished until His death on the cross and His resurrection
-- but we see the reason why Jesus came to earth in passages just like this --
He came to be one of us so that we might be redeemed and justified and live
with Him for all eternity
-- let us pray
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