Jesus and Temptation
Notes
Transcript
Today we continue our series in Luke chapter 4.
Let me remind you that Jesus has just been baptized. The Holy Spirit has ascended on Him like a dove and God has spoken from Heaven. Jesus leaves the baptism and goes off into the desert where our text today picks up in chapter 4.
So, if you have your Bibles with you today, we are in Luke chapter 4. We will begin reading at verse 1. Just stay in Luke 4, we will move slowly through this chapter. Look at verse 1.
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.
Verse one affirms to us that you can be filled with the Spirit and be afflicted by the devil.
We also know by verse 2 that Jesus’ temptation by the devil was not a one time event, but He was tempted by the devil for all forty days. It doesn’t go into detail on how long each one of these temptations took but He was under temptation by the devil for 40 days.
Have any of you ever fasted food for a long period of time?
The longest I have ever done a fast without food and only water to drink is two days. I am not good at fasting food. However, if you have ever fasted before you know that the first three days are hardest because those are the days you are hungriest. They say day two is the worst because ghrelin, the hormone that signals you are hungry, is peaking on day 2. We know that it is possible to fast for 40 days, people have gone on hunger strikes for longer. But it is during this time that Jesus is tempted by the devil.
Jesus comes out of the baptism on a spiritual high. He is full of the Holy Spirit and God has spoken and claimed that Jesus is the chosen one.
Do you know that every time God gives you a blessing the devil wants to rob you of your blessing? Think about it.
The children of Israel come out of Egypt. They have been set free by Pharoah and Moses is taking them out of Egypt. This is a blessing to longer be slaves. As they are leaving Pharoah begins chasing them. Then we go over to the New Testament on the Mount of Transfiguration. The disciples are in a moment of spiritual amazement. They have had that experience. It is a blessing. They come down off the mountain and a demon possessed boy is challenging them and their authority.
When you are in the will of heaven you become a target. Following the will of God is not always easy. Staying in the will of God can be even harder. Many people when it gets a little hard will run and not stay to see what God has for them on the other side of a breakthrough.
So, Jesus just had a blessed moment at His baptism and now as He goes into the desert to get alone with God so He can start His ministry and the devil attacks Him.
There are three reasons that Jews would fast.
Mourning for the dead - Someone in their family would die and they would fast in their mourning.
As an act of repentance - Afflict or cause pain to your soul
Dependence in prayer - As a way to show that you are depending on God to supply your need. You are getting rid of food and relying on God to bring you nourishment during this time.
Fasting is not a spiritual diet. It is not a way to twist God’s arm in order to get what you want. It is a way to tune out the flesh and say yes to God.
Acts 13 is a perfect example of this. A group of people were meeting in Antioch, they were praying and fasting and the Holy Spirit spoke to them, probably through a message in tongues and interpretation, and told them to set apart of Paul and Barnabas for the word God had for them to do.
But these are the 3 types of fasting that is done. Jesus was using fasting as a way to prepare Himself for His ministry. It is during this time that the devil will use three things to tempt Jesus with. Let’s look at them beginning in verse 3.
The first temptation that Luke comments about is a temptation for food.
1. Temptation of Food
1. Temptation of Food
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
I believe that this temptation came during the first few days that Jesus was in the desert. I don’t have any proof of this, but it is the first one mentioned. We know in fasting that you are your hungriest in the first few days and what a way to start by tempting someone that is fasting with food.
In this temptation, Satan is questioning God’s provision.
The word “if” here can be translated “Since”. Satan knew that Jesus was the Son of God. Satan knew what Jesus was about to do. So he is trying to get Jesus to use His power to take care of His hunger.
And ironically, this is the same type of temptation that Satan used in the garden of Eden. If you will just eat of this fruit your mind will be opened to a whole new world. You won’t need to depend on God for anything.
And it is the same type of temptation that Satan used on Abram and Sarah. God was going to build a great nation through Abraham but Sarah was old and they didn’t have any children. So, Sarah says, take my maid servant and we will get this thing rolling. We will help God out.
God don’t need your help to fulfill His will. We need to be patient and everything will come together in His timing.
So, Jesus goes to the word to combat the enemy. He says.
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
2. Temptation of High Places
2. Temptation of High Places
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.”
When we think of mountains here in the United States we think of the Great Rocky Mountains. However, if you were over in the region that Jesus was in, the highest peak there was about only 1200 feet. Satan takes Jesus to a high place and he tells Him that he will give Him everything He sees. Satan is telling Him, your going to rule over everything some day anyway so let’s forget all the suffering that you will have to go through and let’s just jump to the finish line.
Satan is Questioning God’s Promise.
In Psalm 2:6-8 God says…
6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.
8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
So, everything is Jesus’. He rules over everything and Satan is telling Him, let’s speed this process up and forget what God’s promise is. Satan is tempting Him to get it the easy way. Let’s skip the cross. But Jesus says.
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
There is no easy way, there is only God’s way and it may not be the easy way but it is the only way.
Jesus had to go to the cross because there had to be a sacrifice for the redemption of sins.
3. Temptation of Falling Down
3. Temptation of Falling Down
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.’”
This time Satan is questioning God’s protection. And Satan thinks he is getting wiser this time. He uses scripture to try and make his point, but he takes the scripture out of context.
Let me say something here. You can prove anything you want with the bible when you take it out of context. They do it all the time. We hear people in the news do it. We hear people of all kinds of religions do it. We hear cult leaders do it. People will misquote the bible all the time in order to make it say what they want it to say and that is what Satan is doing here.
He is basically telling Jesus to do something incredible to prove God will protect you.
Satan has done everything he can to question everything about God. He has tried to question His provision, His promise, and His protection, but Jesus isn’t buying any of it. He says…
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
And with that final scripture Jesus wins. Verse 13 says…
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Satan ended the temptations for now until the next time.
We test God all the time don’t we. When we are out driving going over the speed limit. We pray Lord please don’t let that officer see me speeding. or when we go into a bar, Lord I won’t drink.
The best way for you to fight off any temptation is to just not put yourself in a situation where you might fail. If you have a drinking problem then don’t drive down the street with a liquor store on every corner. If you have a problem with pornography, don’t watch tv or get on the internet without some kind of device that will block those sites. If you always spend too much money then don’t get a credit card.
We put ourselves in situations that we shouldn’t have put ourself into in the first place.
How do you fight temptation?
1. Stand Your Ground
1. Stand Your Ground
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
2. Study Your Bible
2. Study Your Bible
You need to study the scriptures so that you can combat against anyone that tries to tempt you.
You will never know the power of God until you know the scriptures.
Every scripture that Jesus uses is from the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy took place while the children of Israel is in the wilderness. These temptations are while Jesus is in the wilderness. The children of Israel failed while in the wilderness, Jesus succeeded in the wilderness.
Let me tell you that if you have a wilderness experience you can make it out. But you will need to follow God’s leading in order to get out and the only way that comes is through reading and knowing the scriptures that God has for us. Study the Word.
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
So, Jesus comes out of the desert. Again, He is in the power of the Spirit and everyone is hearing about Him. News is spreading fast. He goes into the synagogues where He teaches and everyone is praising Him.
So, why Galilee? He was from Nazareth which is a part of Galilee. Galilee is the area around the Sea of Galilee. During this time the population of Galilee was about 3 million people. When you look at Bible names you will see there are four names that can be mentioned when mentioning the Sea of Galilee. Galilee is one, the lake of Gennesaret, in the Old Testament it is referred to as Sea of Chinnereth, or the sea of Tiberias. So, why Galilee?
Isaiah 9 tells us that God will honor Galilee of the nations. Then it says that for to us a child is born, a son is given. So, the Messiah was coming out of Galilee.
Galilee was a place where Gentiles lived. The Jews did not like the Gentiles. They weren’t any good in their minds. Jerusalem snubbed Galileans. They would make fun of them because they had an accent.
Does anyone here know what that is like for people to always make fun of you for your accent?
Maybe you remember when Peter is denying Jesus and one of the people recognized him by his accent. The girl told him, “your speech betrays you.” So this is the area that Jesus is from and this is what people think about the people from where Jesus is from. It was Nathanael that said when hearing about Jesus for the first time, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Also, have you ever thought about synagogues. If you read the Old Testament, you will notice that synagogues are never mentioned in the Old Testament, but they are mentioned in the New Testament.
So, when the Israelites were taken into captivity and the temple was destroyed, they couldn’t make sacrifices, they could only study the written law. They wanted to continue to study the law so they would begin having little meetings to talk about scriptures and so the synagogue is started. so, when they come back out of captivity and they rebuild the temple, they wanted to keep the synagogue. Every city would have a synagogue facing the temple. Look at verse 16.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
Do you think church is important? If you don’t, think again. Jesus took time out of His schedule and had a custom of going to church. Every Sunday He went to church. If you want to be like Jesus, then you need to go to church every Sunday that you can.
It is sad that more people today don’t want to go to church. 92% of people claim to be believers but only 37% will go to church on Sunday. You need to go to church. You need to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and go to church.
And then Jesus reads the scripture. Look at verse 17.
17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.
On this particular day Jesus decides to create a stir in church. He is about to stir the hornet’s nest and get everyone riled up.
First of all, He just “happens” to show up to church on the day that they were reading this particular passage from Isaiah 61. Everyone there knew that this was a messianic passage. So, when Jesus reads this passage and then says to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” He has told them that He is the Messiah.
These people start talking to themselves, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
Then Jesus takes it a step further and really gets them going. In verses 25 - 27, Jesus is mentioning three groups of people that the Jews thought were beneath them. They were all a part of the lowest rung of society. Women were beneath men and did not hold a place of any authority. Gentiles were not the chosen people of God. And lepers were considered unclean people and they couldn’t be touched.
This infuriates the people that were there. It is amazing how they can think of Him as great one moment and then in an instant turn on Him. Just like later on at His trial. They will love Him as He is performing miracles but in the end they turn on Him and want to crucify Him.
Augustine of Hippo said, “They love the truth when it enlightens them, but they hate the truth when it accuses them.
Augustine of Hippo said, “They love the truth when it enlightens them, but they hate the truth when it accuses them.
I like the old saying “The truth hurts.”
Jesus is speaking truth to those there and they didn’t want to hear it.
Let’s close with looking at those last two verses again.
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.
They were so mad at Jesus, they were ready to kill Him.
Here is an interesting part. The point that they were getting ready to throw Jesus off of is the point that over looks what will become known of as Armageddon. Jesus is standing there looking over this valley. And He is possibly remembering all the things that had happened there in the past. What the Israelites did. And He is looking into the future and thinking about what is to come some day at the battle of Armageddon. All the events of the past and the future in one place.
Let me remind you this morning that God has a plan for your life. He has a future for you. We just have to learn to submit to His will and follow His leading to the place that He has in store for us.
Also, you need to be aware of the temptations that Satan will throw your way. Get into the scriptures so that you can combat whatever is thrown at you. God loves you and wants the best for you.
Will you surrender to His calling today?
Let’s Pray!