Today's scripture reading is Luke chapter 4 verses 1 through 13 and Jesus full of the Holy Spirit Returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the devil and He ate nothing during those days and when they were ended he was hungry The devil said to him if you are the son of God command this stone to become bread and Jesus answered him It is written man shall not live by bread alone And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him To you I will give all this authority and their glory for it has been delivered to me and I give it to whom I will If you then will worship me, it will be all be you it will all be yours and Jesus answered him it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve and He took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the son of God Throw yourself down from here for it is written He will command his angels concerning you to guard you and on their hands that will bear you up Let's your start. Let's you strike your foot against stone and Jesus answered him it is said you shall not put the Lord your God to the test And when the devil had ended every temptation he departed for him until an opportune time May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and the hearing of his words One of the the hallmarks of Christmas are the songs The songs, right? I don't know if there is a a holiday more decorated with songs and singing than then Christmas From Contatas which we have tonight five o'clock shameless plug to caroling To him sings the singing is plentiful and the songs are great There are the general Christmas songs, right? Like songs like chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jingle bells one of my favorites this this Christmas, right? I mean if you are an any artist that's of any stature you've put out a Christmas album, right? Then there are the songs that communicate the true reason for the season songs like Oh holy night and Away in a manger like we sang this morning more come that long expected Jesus or or Oh come all the fateful joy to the world these are great songs with great lyrics that communicate robust theological truths about the incarnation of Jesus. I Mean that lines like he comes to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found that That verse that we read enjoy to the world is glorious truth theological truth Then a line from come that long expected Jesus from our fears and sins Relief us let us find our rest in the wonderful wonderful theological Truth I love singing and reflecting on these truths in the songs we sing during Christmas time There is a stanza From a lesser known song the to recent song that I that I think is helpful to reflect on Giving our text this morning the song writer and singer Chris rice has a song entitled welcome to our world It is a song that focuses on the incarnation His last stanza of his song says So wrap our injured flesh around you Breathe our air and walk our side Rob our sins and make us holy Perfect son of God Perfect son of God Welcome to our world Brothers sisters One thing that we ought not to forget is That Jesus was the perfect son of God And in one sense because he was fully human He was born like you and me. He he entered this world as a new born But brothers and sisters It is also true that he was not born like you and me He was not born with blemish or spots Not born with sin and rebellion. No, he was the perfect son of God Born without spot our blemish born in perfect Obedient to the will of his father That truth That Jesus is fully human But also the perfect son of God is crucial to understanding what is going on in our text this morning In fact the announcement of Jesus being the perfect son of God And Luke's focus on his humanity are the actual precursors to our text this morning Luke's inclusion of the genealogy in chapter three where he he he shows the the genealogy From from Adam all the way down to Jesus is meant to highlight and emphasize that Jesus is really a human That when he is experiencing the temptation of of the devil that we will see in a little bit that he is Experiencing it in his humanity. He was fully human. These are real temptations that Jesus is facing But in terms of chronology Jesus is encounter with the devil also comes on the heels of what has been marked as the beginning of his public ministry It is long understood that it was at His baptism that Jesus began His trek to the cross We resist in Luke 3 21 through 22 Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying He the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased Luke wants us to see that the father has affirmed Jesus as his perfect son that he is indeed the perfect son of God for that is what was needed for the mission Jesus was going to carry out He had to be perfect He had to be holy There could be Sound in him no imperfection If Jesus was indeed to be the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world if he was indeed the long prophesied Messiah then He would need to be spotless Sinless Because that what was required to a tone for sin So Jesus at his baptism was affirmed as the perfect son of God born into this world to save but His journey to the cross would not come easy Nor without opposition In fact, it was part of God's plan for the Son to face this opposition for a Reason we will soon come to see But but first notice that this was the plan of God look for in one and Jesus Full of the Holy Spirit Returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirits into the wilderness God Holy spirit is the one who led Jesus into the wilderness This was ordained this was an ordained meeting a scheduled event in the life of Jesus the plan was he would be baptized and then immediately immediately driven into the wilderness by the sisters We shouldn't miss a Biblical pattern being demonstrated here We see this pattern of the exaltation of exaltation to humiliation Mountain top experience to valley experience being worked out here Remember Jesus has just been baptized And affirmed by his father as the perfect son of God with whom he is well pleased Can you get more exalted and mountain top experience than that? But immediately After his baptism after being affirmed by the father he is driven Holy spirit leads him into the wilderness Oh, this is this is a biblical pattern set to mirror what Paul reminds the Philippians of That that that Jesus did not eat county quality with God something to be grasped but he took on human flesh Taking on the form of a servant exaltation to humiliation mountain top to valley. This is the pattern that we see Brother and sisters I am sure you can no doubt Relate to that pattern in your life The the mountain top Experiences in our lives are often followed by wilderness experiences Valley experiences seasons of dryness and Baroness This is real brothers and sisters This is the this is the experience of the people of God as they were delivered from Egypt You remember they they were on the banks of the red sea being chased by the Egyptian army watching their lives Flash before them for them death was imminent But instead of death they experienced salvation God miraculously delivered them from the Egyptians By allowing them to cross the red sea on dry land. They had a do you imagine being there? Would that not have been a mountain top Experience, but then we read this in Exodus 13 and 18 But God led the people around By the way of the wilderness toward the red sea And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle God led them From the mountain top Into the wilderness. Oh, this is this is the this exaltation to humiliation Is the pattern we see throughout scripture. This is the pattern we see in Jesus's lives It is the pattern we see in our lives These wilderness experiences are used for the testing of faith and obedience Of commitment and loyalty. They they are also used for preparation and fordication all all of which Jesus experienced Here is the point wilderness experiences have a purpose They have a purpose they are not random or ever Wasted you like Jesus are sent into the wilderness for a purpose I might not know Why you're in the wilderness I don't know why the Lord might have sent you there But I know this It is accomplishing good in you and for you And and so you ought to always remember that that my wilderness experience has a purpose I might not know why the Lord has me here But I know it's for a purpose and while I don't know the reason for your wilderness experience The Bible communicates and helps us to see the reason for Jesus's wilderness experience Jesus Was sent into the wilderness to encounter the devil To encounter the devil brothers and sisters. This is This event is in the life of Jesus is significant This you do understand it needed to Happen it was for ordained Jesus went into the wilderness for a purpose. This was pre ordained
All the gospel the the Matthew mark they they they make mention of it again to signify It's important to the ministry of Jesus So why okay? Okay fast. So get to the point why Why is it important why is it significant? Well the temptation Pun intended when looking at this passage or hearing it preached Is to think that Jesus encountered the devil and faced these temptations as an example For us in how to face and deal with the temptations we face That's the temptation Now listen we are going to look at how Jesus combatted the devil's temptation And there are indeed things there are some strategies that we can glean from how he Encounter these temptations and dealt with these temptations from the devil we keep we're gonna see Some of those things in our text, but please Please note that Jesus did not face the devil's temptation simply as an example for us He faced the devil's temptation For us so that you and I would not have to Not as example for us But he faced the devil for us For us huge huge difference brothers and sisters that is a huge difference You will see this passage differently if you understand that That he didn't face the devil's temptation simply as an example for us But he faced it for us He faced him for us can I give you can I give you a golf illustration for a minute One of the more difficult shots in in golf is the is the t-shot hitting hitting a driver Right it's the first shot you hit What makes it so difficult is that you've got to hit that the idea with your driver is that you've got to hit it as far as you can And as straight as you can now maybe you've seen that on tv you've seen tiger woods do it And that might seem like it's easy It's not easy It is quite different. It's exactly hard. It's hard for me for bass and Tony. It's pretty easy. He can get it far And he can get it straight. Yeah, right. He wouldn't be here if he could do that
It's it's it's fairly difficult You know I can hit a golf ball, but sometimes I could hit it. I hit it far, but not straight And sometimes I hit it straight But not far. It's a difficult shot But when I go to some tournaments golf tournaments for Charity and such like that you you go up to some of the teas and they have a golf professional sometimes there or or college golfer and Their role is to hit the tee shot for you
So that you you have you have an advantage right they they hit the tee shot for you Now when I get up there he doesn't say okay watch what I do right and and and and and and and follow use my example And then you get up and hit and use your tee shot No, no, no He says I am going to hit this for you so you don't have to Why why would I get up there and hit a ball not as far not as straight as the professional can do it Jesus did not face this temptation as an example for us He faced it He hit the shot For us, you know, you see if Jesus was just an example for us We would come up short every time Every time we would not stand a chance How do I know that? Because you and I had our shot in Adam and he failed He failed We had another shot in the people of God and they wandered for 40 years in the desert They failed to We had our shot that is why Jesus had to come Not as our example, but as our substitute besides You and I stand no chance against the temptation of the devil You and I You know, you know how I know because we Get worn out by his minions By by his foot show soldiers his lower level soldiers we we couldn't even stand the thoughts of an all out of Out of tack like Jesus faced from the devil
This is why when we make statements like the devil made me do it We have no idea what we are talking about
The devil himself is not messing with you, but his minions are His foot soldiers are and we can't even handle them A brother's sisters So as we walk through this text Don't focus on Jesus as your example Focused on him as your substitute The writer to the Hebrews is my admonishes us to do that in Hebrews 4 14 to 15 since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin Jesus is our high priest he bore the temptation for us Jesus was you doing a stand being led into the wilderness To accomplish what Adam failed to do Namely resist the fall on attack of the enemy what Adam could not do Jesus was going to accomplish brother sisters the circumstances around Jesus temptation Were far greater than what Adam faced Jesus met the devil in the wilderness Adam encountered the devil in the garden east of Eden Jesus met the devil at the end of a 40-day fast suffering from hunger Adam when when he was tempted wanted for nothing and had every fruit available to him for him to enjoy Jesus encountered three temptations from the devil Adam only endured one The deck was stacked against Jesus as he was about to encounter the devil would would he endure would he withstand the attack and resisted him the temptations of the Temptor The Temptor That is who approached Jesus Matthew calls him that The Temptor Matthew 4.3 and and the Temptor came and said to him if you are the son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread Matthew calls him the Temptor Paul calls him that as well for Thessalonians 3 and 5 For this reason when I could bear it no longer I sent to learn about your faith for faith fear that somehow the Temptor had tempted you and your and our labor would be in vain That is who the devil is In this part of his strategy He is a Temptor Seek into entice people away from the truth Away from the good and life-giving commands of God That was was Paul's concern for the Thessalonians He feared that the devil would seek to draw them away from their faith from the faith they had so eagerly embraced And he will do that So the sisters Satan may be powerful But as tactics you do understand they don't change He is a Temptor who tempts the same way He was going to seek to tempt Jesus the same way he tempted Adam and Eve The devil approaches Jesus And seeks him seeks to get him to question the word of God That's what he did And you know what that's the same tactic he used with Eve Genesis 3 and 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made he said to the woman Did God actually say You shall not eat of any tree in the garden Getting them getting her to to distrust the the word of God. He does the same thing with Jesus Luke 4 and 3 the devil said to him if you are the son of God Do you see it? The devil was tempting him to use his power to make bread for himself Yes, yes, but he was ultimately trying to get Jesus to doubt the word of God to question His pronouncement of him Remember God the father had just declared Jesus as the son and expressed his great pleasure with him Now Satan comes to him and says If you are the son of God in other words is that really true You can't really believe that you are the son of God If so then prove it Prove it Prove it by satisfying your need and taking matters into your own hands turn these these stones into bread Oh brothers and sisters Let's you think this was not much of a temptation You have never been hungry
Never been hungry perhaps This remember we this is Jesus truly is fully human This is a real temptation. He had been fasting for 40 days. The text says he was hungry Hunger will make you do some desperate and uncharacteristic things The devil uses that But notice Notice this tactic The scheme of the devil did not work on Jesus Jesus response Look for it is written Man shall not live by bread alone He was satisfied. He was satisfied with the father But more importantly Jesus knew the father was pleased with him He had declared itself His food he told his disciples and John was to do the will of his father He might have been hungry physically But you do understand spiritually he was full He he he knew life was not in bread but but in the father who gives life And in that he was full he was satisfied During those 40 days that he was fasting from food he he might he was hungry But he he was feasting on the communion of his father and so he was full Oh He's not just a restraining from food Spending time communion communion with the heavenly father Having him satisfy us Oh Jesus was satisfied and so he says man shall not live by bread alone He was satisfied But the devil wasn't He wasn't going to give up that easy If test if tempting him to distrust the word of God wouldn't work He was sure tempting him to choose a different path would So he enticed Jesus To subvert the plans of the father by telling Jesus that he could receive Lordship and glory By not going to the cross All he would need to do was worship him Say and you do understand with tempting Jesus with another way He says look look I will give you all of the key see all these kingdoms I will give you all the kingdoms of this world you can have them They will bow down and worship you Simply if you bow down and worship me
yet again Another tactic The enemy uses Enticing people To take the easier path to glory through unlawful means
But you do understand by the sisters There are no shortcuts in the kingdom of God Matthew 16 and 24 Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come After me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me. There is there's no easy way to glory That This promise that that say that the devil gives to Jesus That he would give him all of That these kingdoms say and was making a promise. He couldn't even deliver on Remember he's not only called the Tempter He's called the deceiver as well The father of lies the Bible calls him You think he had the authority to give Jesus the kingdom of this world Of course not This temptation This temptation doesn't move Jesus either any answers In verse 8 It is written You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve Jesus he wasn't it he wasn't it he wasn't interested in the easy world He knew that joy and Exaltation would only come through his obedience even to the point of death Death on a cross He had come To serve the will of his father for glory by any other way other than the cross was not something Jesus was going to entertain You you remember when when when Peter came and tested in with the same thing Jesus told the disciples that he was going to be delivered over through the chief priests in the and the elders And that they were going to put him to death and do you remember how Peter responded? He pulled them aside and he said Jesus that will never be And then how did Jesus Answer Mark 8 and 33 but turning to and seeing his disciples he rebuked Peter and said Get behind me Satan For you are not setting your mind on the things of God But on the things of man Satan Have failed again Try to get him with the with the bread Try to get him to to to to this to disbelieve the word of God He tries to get him to to take a different path to to glory to take the easier path to glory
But Jesus was not given into his soul is a soul I guess the devil figured that the third time would be the charm He wasn't done So once more He took Jesus it says up to up to the highest point in Jerusalem on the temple And mocked him once again if if you are the son of God He says throw yourself off this temple and call the angels to calm and catch you So bold was the devil in his temptation in this temptation He used the word of God To entice Jesus to try to take the bait Referencing Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12 we see it here written in Luke 410 through 11 for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you And on their hands they will bear you up less you strike your foot against a stone the devil He was seeking to get Jesus to miss use the promises of God to miss use his power for personal gain In other words to test the Lord's goodness Would the Lord do what he said he would do
once again Brothers sisters, we ought not to be unaware Of the wild and the schemes of the devil This this is a common tactic that he and his minions use They want you to doubt the goodness and promises of God by using the scriptures in a way that they were never intended to be used
You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you Doesn't mean you can jump out a window and fly Sounds extreme. I know But I'm hoping you get the point The temptation is to miss use and presume upon the promises of God The temptation that we all face To presume upon his grace to presume upon his promises But Jesus knew the tactics of the evil one He knew what the devil was seeking to do And therefore this temptation fell flat as well Jesus answered him You shall not put the Lord your God to the test These knew his father to be good He knew him to be good. He knew his promises were true. He did not need to put the Lord to the test three times Three times the devil tried to tempt Jesus to doubt the goodness of the Father To abandon the mission and to take things into his own hands and three times Jesus resisted And how did he do it What was what strategy did he employ what what did Jesus do To resist the devil Well, he didn't first he didn't get angry with him He didn't try to fight him This wasn't about willpower He resisted the temptation of the devil with the word of God That's what he did All of Jesus's answers to the devil were quoted from the scriptures due to runny me to be specific That's because Jesus was the word of God made flesh There was no sin in him because the word of God was in him The psalmist says in Psalm 119 11 that he has hidden the word in his heart that he might not sin against God Jesus was the word and therefore did not sin against God every temptation that the devil offered to Jesus was met with the word of God Oh, and so is this not a lesson for us? Oh, this this is an example that we can take yes, yes, we can we can follow the example here of Jesus That that when the devil seeks to tempt us that we ought to be answering it with the word of God That was this the devil the resist his temptation We can do what Jesus did Remember brother and sisters This text is not simply about doing what Jesus did This is about seeing what Jesus has done What he has done because the reality is sometimes you will Resist the temptations you will you you you will a temptation will come and holy spirit will bring a word to your mind to help you resist the temptation But the reality is there are some temptations that you are going to give into We do doubt the goodness of God We do take the easy road through unlawful means We test the promises of God You have and you will believe again the life of the devil Some of us will hear this message this morning and fall to temptation this afternoon
Now listen the the the enemy the enemy and even his foot soldiers that we deal with regularly are powerful They they are cunning and their their attacks are fierce Look look. I love the song. I'm sure you've heard it shake shake shake shake the devil off Have you heard that song before? Shake shake shake shake shake the devil off. It's a catchy song I love the song, but but I'm sorry that just doesn't work You and I lack the ability to just shake the devil off I wish I wish that that that shirt that says not today Satan but I could just say that and and everything would be good But I there too many times I fall prey to temptation Shake shake shake shake the devil off is hard for us to do, but you know who did Jesus shook him off He shook the devil off three times and he did that for us Should the devil off for us Jesus accomplished what Adam failed to do He resisted the devil and he had to flee Luke four and thirteen and when the devil had ended every temptation He departed from him until an opportune time Jesus the new Adam had passed the test and the additional temptations they would come You see that in life with Jesus. He is being tempted at every turn to To disbelieve the promises of God to take a different road different path to the cross But this defeat in the wilderness What a foreshadow of what was to come How Jesus was going to defeat the devil He was the one who would come to do what Adam could not do He was the perfect son of God the perfect son you and I needed to stand in our place It is his perfect obedience we rest in It is his resisting of the devil's temptation that gets credited to us Ah That is why this encounter needed to happen Jesus was facing the devil for us So that when we face temptation we have a helper not just a helper to endure the temptation But one who has endured it for us Hebrews 2 and 18 For because he himself had suffered when tempted He is able to help those who are being tempted He helps us he helped us by standing in our place facing the scheme and the wild of the devil And he won he won he shook the devil off For us Let's pray