Luke 4:1-2

Luke chapter 4 reading verses 1 to 13 our focus will be on the first two verses of this chapter and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness being 40 days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing. And when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, if thou be the son of God, command this stone that it may be made bread. And Jesus answered him saying, it is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them. For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be. thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, get thee behind me, Satan. For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and set unto him, if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for it is written he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee. And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dashed thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answered and said unto him, It is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. May God bless to us the reading of His holy and sacred word. this morning. You’ll recall the account of David’s battle with the Philistine giant Goliath. David alone, of all who were the in the Israelite camp, ventured forth to face the great enemy of the people. It was a unique battle for David represented all Israel and Goliath represented all the Philistines. Whoever lost, his people would be enslaved by the nation of his opponent. And David was victorious. With his sling stone, he felled the giant and cut off the giant’s head with Goliath’s own sword. A mighty cheer was heard from the camp of the Israelites because they were victorious through their champion, David. What we have set before us in these verses of the temptation of Christ is Christ, our champion. You have before you an account here of his victory. over Satan on behalf of his people. Now, why should you be interested in this section of Scripture? Well, hopefully everything your Savior does, you would consider something worthy to consider and give your full meditation to you. But let me ask you, how do you fare in your temptations? We can learn a lesson here from observing how Christ overcame every temptation that Satan put before him. Your eternal happiness rests on the outcome of this encounter between Christ and Satan because he is your representative. He is your champion and he is victorious. You’ll recall the chapter 3, which gives us the ending of the chapter 3, us the genealogy of Christ through Mary, his mother, and how it was traced all the way back and ended with Adam. Adam was the one who caused the fall. He is the one who disobeyed the Lord, who fell to the temptation of Satan. And here we have before us the second Adam, as verse Corinthians 15 speaks of Christ, who overcome Satan. and defeats him for the purpose of providing for his people a perfect righteousness. He is the one who will spare us. He is the one who is the promised seed of the woman that was given to Adam who would crush Satan’s head. So Christ, your representative, is spoken of here. as a believer and everything rides on his victory. He shall do what you and I have utterly failed to do. Someone has also pointed out, it’s interesting, that Israel was tempted in the wilderness 40 years. Here we have 40 days that Christ is tempted in the wilderness by the tempter here. Israel was unsuccessful. They fell to all kinds of temptations. Jesus, however, again, is successful. And Isaiah reminds us at times that Jesus is also called Israel. And so we have both of these aspects that we could pull. But I will focus here mostly on Adam at this point, and the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Let me begin by saying this. You learn from this passage of scripture in the first two verses how Jesus Christ was spiritually prepared for the temptations that he faced. Let’s look here at these verses. In Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 40 days tempted of the devil, and in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. The first thing we see here, is that Christ was full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, you recall, descended upon Christ at his baptism. We saw that in chapter 3 in verse 22, furnishing his human nature with a greater measure of gifts and graces than he had before. This was a gifting for the fulfillment of the ministry that he was about to undertake. His power. ministry and the experience of the temptations were certainly a suitable preparation for the ministry that he was going to enter. Jesus was clothed in human flesh and made man in order to be exposed to all that human beings would face, and that includes the temptations of Satan himself. let it be noted that Christ being full of the Holy Ghost was specially empowered here and able to overcome the temptations of Satan. In like manner, the people of God, can only expect to overcome Satan and obtain the victory when they are strengthened by God’s spirit in their inner man. you too, as Ephesians 518 says, should be filled with the Spirit. And in this manner we can overcome Satan. For we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. You know the story of Samson that when the Spirit of God was upon him, he was empowered and he could go out and defeat the enemies. The Philistines in many cases. Even a thousand to one, he could beat them. He overcame every enemy threat by the strength granted to him by the Spirit. How then was Samson defeated? Well, he grieved the Holy Spirit by his sin, and the Spirit withdrew his power from him. And then he was unable to overcome the his enemies. He didn’t realize. that the spirit’s strength was withdrawn. He went out thinking he could win the victory as he always did and shake off the Philistine, but he could not. So you see Samson captured, and his eyes put out, and you see him grinding at the mill. What a lesson about not grieving the Holy Spirit, but being filled with the Spirit. If you had a desire to have victory over Satan. We have to be like Christ. We have to be fortified by the Spirit for every temptation that we undergo. The scripture says, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 518. Now you know that too much wine will be filled with the Spirit. make you drunk. We speak of a person being under the influence of alcohol. You’re filled with wine, you’re going to be under the influence of alcohol. Your domine, you’re controlled by the wine you’ve drunk. Your mental state is altered. And therefore, you engage in what Paul calls excess here. We might call it lasciviousness, outrageous behavior or conduct, reckless violence, unawed. Unwomeness. sexual advances toward either a woman or a man, doing perverse things, speaking perverse things, picking fights, and so forth. So the comparison is this. Instead of being controlled because you’re filled with wine, by the wine, be controlled by the Spirit because you’re filled by the Spirit. Now, children’s balloon is just sort of a flabby. piece of rubber in the bag or in the box in which you purchase it. Maybe it’s supposed to be an animal. Maybe it’s supposed to be a horse or a dog when it’s blown up. But it doesn’t look like that at first. It just looks like a piece of rubber all shriveled up. Until it’s filled with air. You blow into it, you fill it with air, and all of a sudden it takes shape. And as a horse or dog or what if that case may be. you must not suppose that you are all that you’re supposed to be without being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the spirit within you, in your mind, your will and affections, directing and controlling these things. That makes you what you should be as a Christian. To be filled as a command, there’s some response. responsibility involved in this aspect of being filled by the Spirit. It’s not you just wait and somehow or other you get filled by the Spirit automatically, magically or something. Just as drinking wine isn’t automatic, so being filled with the Spirit requires effort on your part. The Bible talks about being led by the Spirit. And instead of being guided by the flesh. And so as we are led by the Spirit, we are guided and filled by the Spirit, we are guided and filled by the Spirit. spirit to do more and more of what he would have us do. If you grieve the Spirit, and then you’re not following his leading, and you’re being led by the flesh. So it’ll be filled with the Spirit involves sort of a robust working of the Spirit in your life, and you following his guidance. Never trust in yourself because you are weak. You’re no mad for Satan’s wiles. There’s never a better time to fight the devil than when you’re filled with the Spirit. So Christ was full Holy Ghost. The second thing we notice here, that Christ was engaged in obedience to the Father’s will. He returned from the Jordan being led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Remember that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. to fulfill all righteousness. Baptism was an act of obedience unto God. Jesus is focused here on carrying out his public ministry. God had given him to fulfill. Remember that the scripture tells us in the book of Psalms, and also in Hebrews as it’s quoted, Lo, I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me to do thy will. Oh, God. He’s doing the will of God. And so Jesus willingly goes wherever the Spirit leads him, even into temptation by sake. Jesus is going to be obedient, even if he’s led to death, the death of the cross. As the scripture indicates to us in Philippians 2.8, It is true that Satan targets those who are serving God. He would like to sift them as wheat. Still, who better to prepare to resist the devil than a person who’s focused on obeying God in their life? When that is your main concern and your focus is, I want to please and honor God out of love for him. then certainly we’re prepared to face the temptation. It is Job, the man that was perfect and upright and eschewed evil, that was the target of Satan in the book of Job. Was he not? He was a special subject of Satan’s attacks. And yet no matter how severe the trial, and remember he lost his wealth, his possessions, and his family and so forth, Job didn’t succumb to the temptation to curse God and die. Normally, if you’re faithfully following God, as we read about Job, God puts a hedge about you. But if God should take that hedge down, if God should allow Satan to give us a powerful temptation, you’re best prepared to face that temptation if you’re one who is an obedient Christian all along. The one exercise, spiritual gifts and graces is more likely to resist a temptation than one who’s not doing so. And it’s God’s purpose to further develop your gifts and graces when he does expose you to these temptations. Even the godly, righteous Job learned patience through the things that he suffered, this whole ordeal. That grace had to be fully developed, more fully developed in him. So a good preparation for temptation is a careful walk of daily obedience to the Lord God, following God’s revealed will. So Christ was engaged in obeying the Father’s will. He listens and is led by the Spirit. Notice that Christ was communing with God and fasting, according to verse 2. We read here that at this particular time here that he had faith, fasted. He ate nothing. After Christ was baptized and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He was in a solitary place, wasn’t he? To face the temptation of the devil was not the only reason Jesus was in the wilderness. We see that his retirement to a private place seems to indicate a willingness to meditate and prepare himself for the public ministry he is about to enter. It was a very very very. very demanding work. And our Savior was preparing himself for this great task. Fasting in Scripture is often linked to prayer. And no doubt Jesus was seeking God’s face on this occasion. Just as in the Old Testament, Moses was 40 days on Mount Sinai with the Lord alone. alone as the true mediator. Here Christ spends 40 days alone with God in the wilderness. It’s true that sometimes fasting is for the purpose of repentance. It’s for the purpose of loosing the bonds of iniquity, but that cannot be true with Christ. For he was sinless as the Son of God. So why is he fasting? One, reason is he’s undertaking a definite commission from God, public service. Remember when Paul and Barnabas were leaving the church at Antioch to go out as missionaries for the first journey? What did they do? What was the church doing? They were fasting and praying before sending them out. They were entering in a new service. And so we could see Christ doing that here. Another reason is to seek to drink. draw nearer to God. Forgetting our earthly concerns and focusing upon God. Anna was constantly fasting as we studied in Luke chapter 2. It was a constant way of life for her. And so we see drawing near to God would be certainly something Jesus would be doing. His human nature would want to draw near. A third reason is to show grief over the the spiritual state of your nation. In the book of Daniel, chapter 9, we find him fasting because he’s so grieved about the wickedness of his nation, how that they have gone into captivity because of their sinfulness. And there’s a great confession of the wickedness of the wickedness of the nation in chapter 9 of the book of Daniel. And certainly Jesus could be grieved over the state of his nation. at this particular time. And the fourth reason may be self-humiliation, to discipline the body, to bring it into subjection, that it might not be controlled by the bodily appetites one has. Paul in 1. Corinthians 9 talks about bringing his body into subjection. And Jesus certainly could be doing that with regard to his human nature here. So all these things could be associated with Christ fasting, except for the repentance aspect. Now, if you desire to overcome temptation and walk closely with God, you certainly have to keep your bodily appetites in check. To draw near unto God, the desire to commune with Him, to watch carefully that you’re not ruled by your bodily desires is important. The believer who follows after Christ is one who will do as Christ does here. Remember that Peter failed to watch and pray, and so he entered into temptation and fell and denied His Lord. But to be careful here, to pray and then when necessary, and on these occasions, there may be times when we need to fast. to make sure that these bodily appetites are not dominating us, then indeed we will be ready to follow our Savior in the temptation. So you learn how Christ was spiritually prepared. He was full of Holy Ghost. He was engaged in obedience to the Father’s will, and he was communing with God and fasting. And so he was certainly prepared. Now, with that in my God. Let me draw a few practical thoughts from this passage this morning. And the first is this. Just because you have a holy character does not mean that you’re going to escape temptation. Jesus Christ is spiritually perfect. He is spotless with regard to sin. And yet this is the person who is tempted by sin. Satan. So you should never think, well, if I just reach a high spiritual level of Christianity, then Satan will no longer bother me. I got news for you. That’s not the way it operates. You should never think that that is the case. Somehow you’ll reach a point where you’re immune to temptation. Expect temptation. No matter how sanctified you are by the Holy Spirit, even if you have mortified sin after sin and lust after lust in your life. 1 Corinthians 10, 12 tells us, Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. As long as you’re in the flesh, you have the kindling wood, which Satan could set a flame. C. H. Spurgeon once remarked that nobody ever broke into a Baptist minister’s house because it is well known that there would be nothing worthwhile there to steal. It’s the rich man’s house. that gets targeted. If I could draw from that this morning, the devil doesn’t need to go after those people without grace. He already has them in his camp. Oh, he may torment them further and so forth. But if you’re full of grace and you’re full of holiness, Satan has something to steal. The devil knows that you’re gaining spiritual wealth and And therefore he has something to snatch away from you. He doesn’t want you glorifying Christ. He doesn’t want you being a witness to the lost around you by the way you’re living your life. And so therefore, he will attack. Just because you have a holy character does not mean you’re going to escape temptation. Never think that. It may be just the opposite. Secondly, just because you are isolated for you. from the evil world around you does not mean you’re going to escape temptation. We see here that Jesus Christ got completely away from human society. He’s out in the middle of the wilderness. He’s all alone. And yet, we read, the devil came to him. Satan approached him to attack him even though he’s all alone. And look at these great temptations. he brings. Seclusion from the world does not indicate that you’re going to have some safe haven from temptation. When you must mix daily with the world, you know you’re going to face many temptations. It’s like Mr. Christian and faithful going through Vanity Fair. You know there are all kinds of temptations and they have to avert their eyes and and pray, you know, turn away mine eyes from beholding iniquity because there’s all kinds of problems there. We know that. But people have a tendency to think, well, if I can just get alone, if I can get away from everything and all other people, the temptations will cease to be a problem. In the past, people would move to monasteries, high up in the mountains and get away from the world thinking, that somehow or other that would be a way they could live alone and avoid temptation. Now, solitude does have benefits, and there are times we need to withdraw from the world and be alone and approach our Savior. But the Lord never calls us to retreat from the world. Now, retreating from the world may keep you from some temptations, but I’ve got news for you. So he’s got a lot of temptations in his arsenal. He got plenty of ways. that he can use. And I remind you that Christian was all alone, on the narrow road, in a solitary place in the valley of humiliation when he was confronted by Apollion and viciously attacked. Martin Luther lived a portion of his life as a monk, secluded from the world. I remember reading once how Satan attacked Luther. He said, while he was even studying all alone in the monastery. Luther, he said, was tormented. He said this, I was tormented by thoughts regarding my previous promiscuous life. Because he lived with a woman out of wedlock for a period of time. He said he was bombarded by lustful thoughts. Somehow, evil ideas would pop into his mind. even though he’s isolated, even though he’s off at a distance from society around him. If you don’t think Satan can do the same to you, you’re sadly mistaken. He can. Dreadful, blasphemous thoughts and temptations may come. Even when you’re alone and secluded from the world, just because you’re isolated from evil the world around you doesn’t mean you’re going to escape temptation. My third thought is this. Do not imagine that because you are just a person, a common Christian, your temptations will be light. Now, you can understand Satan’s temptation with regard to the Savior. He’s representing all of us. All of our salvation rests with our champion here. If he can get Christ to fail, if he can get him to sin, then our salvation is gone. It’s lost. That’s how he’s thinking. Of course, the scripture tells us he, shall not fail as Isaiah 42 tells us. But he’s thinking, I can upset God’s plan of salvation. You can see why he would attack Satan. Satan would attack Christ. And perhaps you’re not surprised that ministers of the gospel would be special targets of Satan. Sure. You can grasp that. You can understand why Pierre would be specially singled out to be one to be a one to be a attack because of his boldness and his willingness to speak. So as a disciple of Christ, he gets attacked. However, it’s just a common Christian. Expect to be tempted of the devil. Scripture says that Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. I got news for it. He’ll eat the lambs just as well. as the mature sheep. Whoever he can get, he will attack. You need to be putting on the whole armor of God and crying out for strength to be alert, to be on your guard, to constantly watch and pray that you enter not into temptation, that God would shield you, not tempt you above that which you’re able to bear. Let me close. Adam fell to Satan’s testimony. temptation. He plunged the whole human race into sin and misery. Christ, our champion, steps forward here. He represents us, and just like David did against Goliath, and he’s victorious. He will overcome every temptation of Satan so as to provide a perfect righteousness for his people who often succumb to temptations. So he will overcome. in Christ, we have what we need as one who overcomes Satan and shows us how it is done. Let us close with a word of prayer.