Jesus' Obedience: 100%
Luke • Sermon • Submitted
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Exams are stressful. Have you taken a high-school literacy test? SAT? University entrance exam? Registration exam?
An exam w/ a lot riding on passing is intimidating. Others failed; success isn’t guaranteed. It can be stressful.
I wonder if Jesus was stressed as his stomach growled in the wilderness preparing for his showdown with the devil. It could make or break his mission. Jesus’ ancestors, genealogy recorded in Lk 3, a long list of people the devil tempted who failed tests.
In OT, Israelites were tested. Key words:
40 days / wilderness / east of Jordon R.
· Israelites: 40 yrs in wilderness after God claimed the nation as his firstborn son on their way to the Promised Land.
· Before that, Moses kept sheep 40 yrs in wilderness before God sent him to free to his people from slavery in Egypt.
· Before that, Jacob fled across Jordan as a single man w/ just a walking stick, lived w/ Laban 14 yrs returning w/ 12 sons and huge flocks.
· Before that, Adam, the first human, was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit in a showdown w/ the devil.
The OT shows the Israelites failed, Moses failed, Jacob failed, and Adam failed to love and trust God 100% when tested.
Now God the HS led Jesus, the Israelite rep., the human rep., 2nd Adam (Adam 2.0), in the wilderness: imagine the pressure!
Before a sports game, you hear about the Keys to Success.
What are keys to Jesus’ success in this showdown?
1. Many people say key to Jesus’ success is Bible knowledge: his ability to apply Scripture. Jesus knows his Father’s instructions. He is committed to them – not legalistically – but out of love & respect for his Father’s way as the best way to live.
That’s helpful. You and I face temptation regularly. Might not be a major showdown w/ devil east of the Jordan, but your faith in Jesus, your allegiance to God’s Kingdom gets tested regularly.
Key to success: Know God’s instructions for how to live. Know how to apply God’s Word to real-life situations. It’s a reason to Bible study alone and w/ others – learn to love God and learn his ways. Commit yourself to God’s way of doing things out of love & respect for your heavenly Father and Lord.
2. Another key to Jesus’ success seems to get less attention:
God the HS
· Jesus was baptized and anointed w/ HS; Christ = anointed
Q. Why is he called “Christ,” meaning “anointed”?
A. Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit. HC Q&A 31
· HS is w/ him; led him to wilderness: HS supervising the test?
· HS remains on Jesus as he leaves wilderness for Galilee.
Sounds almost like a super-power, doesn’t it?
Search the Bible for what people do in the power of the HS: Jesus, Samson, Elijah, Mary, Peter and Paul, & many others. In the power of God-the-HS, humans do extraordinary things.
Q. But why are you called a Christian?
A. Because by faith I am a member of Christ
and so I share in his anointing. HC Q&A 32
Everyone with faith in Jesus has been anointed w/ HS. Baptism is a sign and seal of HS. Often HS is like a pilot light. On his own schedule, the HS ignites everything and Christian acts w/ incredible power. If you believe in Jesus, you have HS like Jesus!
Now for the tests, the trial, the tempting:
The devil opens with a body shot: where Jesus is vulnerable. Tempting w/ food worked in the past – Adam & Eve ate forbidden fruit; Israelites complained to God about hunger, then complained to God about only having manna to eat 24/7.
Tempting food worked in the past, so the devil tried it on Jesus:
The devil said to [Jesus], “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Luke 4:3 (NIV)
Although he was hungry, what was Jesus’ response?
It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone.”
Luke 4:4 (NIV)
When a Rabbi quotes a Bible passage, he doesn’t always say the whole verse, just enough to trigger your memory.
We do that sometimes.
If you’re thinking of moving, a friend might say, “The grass is always greener.” They assume you know the whole proverb, “Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”
So, what’s the rest of Jesus’ quotation?
He assumes you know the snippet comes from Dt 8, as Moses speaks to Israelites, poised to enter the Promised Land:
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:2–3 (NIV)
Food is necessary to sustain life, but ultimately, life comes from the Word of the Lord. The Lord is the life-giving, life-sustaining, Creator of all. God provides everything needed for serving him: for the Israelites, for Jesus Christ, and for Christians.
Jesus was confident of his Father’s love, care, and providence. As hungry as he was after fasting 40 days, he wasn’t falling for the devil’s tricks. Fasting and praying in the wilderness rooted his life in the power of God the HS. No strength anywhere else! Like Joshua, the OT hero who led God’s people into Promised Land, Jesus’ strength & courage, forged in desert, are from God.
2nd test: showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Authors speculate about logistics: where and how. It’s besides the point.
It’s similar to the day God led Moses up Mt Nebo and showed him the Promised Land from Dan (N) to Beersheba (S) before Moses died. It’s not possible to see all the Promised Land from Mt Nebo, 800m above sea level. God enhanced Moses’ sight. Maybe something similar in this test.
Ways and means are not the issue. The Prince of this World was offering Jesus a cheap victory. Jesus’ mission is reclaiming the whole world for the Kingdom of God, so the devil offers him a shortcut: “If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
It’s a real temptation. It’s also why Jesus was on retreat in the wilderness, building his connection to the Father & Spirit. Armed with God’s word – the sword of the Spirit – Jesus quotes Scripture. Again, one phrase as part of a longer text in Dt 6:
Fear the Lord your God, serve [worship] him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.
Deuteronomy 6:13–15 (NIV)
The Lord’s instructions not to worship “other gods” is clear. The consequences are clear. Yet Jesus succeeds where many of the Israelites in the OT failed.
Jesus refused to take his eyes off the Lord his God. He refused to be distracted from living 100% for his Father. Jesus saw that the devil’s offer of a quick victory was really a defeat.
Final test: standing on the highest point of the temple. We’re not sure where: here? Here? Big drop, either place.
Come up on the roof and see what it’s like on the edge.
Devil takes a page from Jesus’ playbook; he quotes the Bible:
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Luke 4:9–11 (NIV)
Ps 91 is a celebration of God’s providential care for his people. It’s an assurance that God is always on guard, protecting and delivering his dearly loved people. The final verse promises that God will “show him my salvation.”
But Jesus has already been assured of his Father’s care and providence. Fasting in the wilderness, Jesus experienced God’s intimate closeness and care. Jesus returns to Dt 6, Moses’ speech to the Israelites, looking back at the time at Massah, a short distance from Red Sea, the place named “test” b/c the Israelites tested God’s patience by asking for water.
Jesus again mentions one phrase:
Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.
Deuteronomy 6:16–19 (NIV)
Jumping off a roof is a foolish way to see if God helps you. God might help by letting you learn as your broken arm heals!
Jesus, w/ God’s Word and Spirit holds firm in the face of fierce testing. In this wilderness tour de force and throughout his life, Jesus did what no other human has successfully done. He resisted temptation, trusting and obeying God’s word 100%!
You face tests too. Sometimes you resist by relying on the HS and remembering God’s Word. It’s awesome when you succeed!
Here’s the challenge, nobody but Jesus bats 1000. Resisting temptation 99% of the time doesn’t make you holy in God’s sight. And 99% today doesn’t help cover up 97% yesterday.
Truth is, we all need to be rescued from disobedience and sin. Jesus is the rescuer, the salvation God promised in Ps. 91. He defeated the devil, not just in the wilderness and on the high point of the temple; Jesus defeated the devil by taking the punishment for our sin on himself.
Jesus’ 100% success rate covers your failures. By faith in Jesus, God sees Jesus’ success when he looks at you. Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the devil at the cross and Jesus’ resurrection from the grave give you life and a place among God’s heroes of faith.
Now when we face temptation – and we are tested every day – we rely on the same Keys to Success as Jesus: What are they?
Know the Bible & God the HS.
As we mature in faith and experience, we succeed in resisting temptation. God keeps helping us. Other Chr. keep encouraging and helping. Accountability partners help. Discipleship and Chr. discipline helps. It’s an awesome feeling to succeed.
On the days we don’t, when we look back over our day and see our disobedience and the devil throws our failures in our face, tempting us to despair, we are reminded that Jesus is our hope, our hero, and our rescuer.
This showdown in the wilderness b/t Jesus and the devil is not only a great example of how to resist temptation, it is your assurance that Jesus has resisted temptation for you. Jesus has defeated sin and death. We aren’t counting on our righteousness, but on Jesus’ righteousness for life, for joy, and for God’s acceptance and love.