30. Confronting The Devil Series

[IN GOD’S IMAGE 30 – CONFRONTING THE DEVIL]

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

Last time we talked in more detail about the representation principle and how critical it is to our understanding Jesus’ role in saving us.

• Jesus’ official ministry begins with Jesus asking John the Baptist to baptise him.

• We saw Jesus did not just “die” for us, he also “lived” for us.

• At his baptism, Jesus stepped into the role of being our representative by identifying himself with sinners so he could vicariously live the perfect life you and I are incapable of living and overcome our fallen human nature in order to redeem it by wrestling it to the ground, defeating it and restoring it to God’s original intention.

With His baptism Jesus begins his official ministry.

• As He begins His ministry it’s important to note that for the first time there is a human acknowledging God as Lord by putting his complete trust in God and living a life truly in God’s image.

• This is in contrast to the life of independence humanity has chosen in rejecting God’s invitation to trust Him with their lives.

• But his baptism is also the beginning of a new age, the age of the New Creation.

• At Jesus’ baptism we see God pronouncing his “well pleased” on his Son in much the same way He announced His “very good” at the original creation.

• We also see the involvement of the Holy Spirit in the new creation as it descends like a dove upon Jesus.

• As mentioned earlier, the Holy Spirit is prominent in all new beginnings, e.g., original creation, Jesus’ birth and baptism, and the birth of the church at Pentecost.

• The striking aspect of this display of the Holy Spirit is significant in that it has been poured out on a human being. Humanity is now drawn into and included in the circle of life and love of the Trinity.

• As we saw in an earlier session, Jesus as our Mediator as both God and man establishes a direct connection between God and humanity that allows us to participate in the life of the Trinity. We are drawn into “Holy Communion” with the Trinity.

But there is another striking similarity with the original creation and that is the temptation from Satan that signifies a new start or a new creation.

• As we saw earlier in the cases of Adam, Job, Abraham, Israel, David, there comes a time in the lives of God’s people when their allegiance is put to the test.

• What we see now is the “second” Adam being subjected to the same conditions as the “first” Adam.

• But the test the second Adam is subjected to is much more menacing than the original Adam.

• In this encounter Jesus faces the full onslaught of the principalities and powers of the evil side of the spiritual realm.

• Right from the start, beginning with his birth when Herod sought to kill all the newborns, and now at the start of His official ministry, the devil tries to derail God’s plan of redemption.

• This is a burden that will plague Jesus throughout his ministry and reach its climax at the cross.

• And the goal of Satan and his evil powers is to somehow break that hypostatic union between the divine and the flesh by luring Jesus into sin.

• In other words to give in to the self-will of the flesh rather than trust the leading of the Spirit.

• Surrendering to the selfish desires of the flesh would disqualify Jesus from becoming our Savior.

But there is a major difference in the temptation Jesus willingly subjected himself to and the one Adam and Eve were subjected to.

• While Adam and Eve were enjoying the pleasures of Eden with a full stomach in a beautiful surrounding with an unfallen nature when temptation nuzzled up to them in the form of a serpent, Jesus had an entirely different experience.