As is typical in my messages I do not have a written closing. Hopefully by the time you get to the end of the message the Holy Spirit will inspire you to write your own closing. Be blessed!
Gospel of Luke 4:1-13
Part 3
We are in a message series on the Gospel of Luke
The word “gospel” literally means “good news”
So, you could say that this series is about “The good news of Luke”
What exactly is this good news?
Simply put, it’s the life story of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most influential person who has ever existed
Even if you’re not a Christian, or even a particularly religious person, you cannot deny this fact
No one life has affected the whole of humanity more than Jesus Christ
Since He has affected the world so deeply you would think that all of us would know a lot about Him, but unfortunately that is not true
Many claim to know about Jesus, but in reality few people really do
The Gospel of Luke details the events of Jesus’ life from His birth to His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection
Luke is written by a Gentile to a Gentile audience
Since the vast majority of us listening to this message are Gentiles I think it’s very appropriate that we study this Gospel
As we jump into our passage today in Luke 4 we need to remember that Jesus had just been baptized by John the Baptist – that’s what our message was about last week – and was ready to fulfill His purpose
But before He began His ministry something else had to take place
Luke 4:1-13 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 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. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" 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, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" 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.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
So in this passage we see 3 temptations that Jesus faced during His time in the desert
For the last two weeks we’ve been looking at these temptations
The first one, turning stone into bread, was a physical temptation
We spoke about the fact that we need to care for both our physical as well as our spiritual, however if we focus too much on our physical we will starve our spiritual
Last week we looked at the second temptation, bowing down and worshipping the devil
This was a temptation of taking a shortcut
This was gaining the kingdom without the cross
Rarely do shortcuts work – most times they cause more problems than they are worth
You cannot become what God has called you to become by taking a shortcut
Today we are going to look at the final temptation of Jesus
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.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
In this final temptation Satan takes Jesus to the top of the temple and had Him stand at its highest point
The temple spoken of here is what’s called the second temple - picture
The original temple was built by Solomon and was destroyed during the Babylonian conquest of Judah around 586 BC.
The temple was rebuilt sometime around 518 BC
Around 19 BC King Herod remodeled the temple as an act of favor with the Jewish community
The temple was a big deal – it was the focal point of the Jewish faith and religion
While the devil and Jesus were standing on the top of the temple the devil tells Jesus to throw himself down
In fact, I find it interesting how the devil tries to convince Jesus to do it
He quotes from Psalm 91:11,12 “'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.”
Why was this a temptation for Jesus?
I don’t know about you but I’ve never been tempted to jump off the top of a tall building!
Maybe I would be if I was bungee jumping or base jumping, but certainly not without some kind of safety mechanism!
What was going on here?
This was not an “adrenaline rush” temptation, it was a spiritual temptation
Huh? A spiritual temptation?
Yep – stay with me for a minute and I’ll explain what I mean
Remember that the temple was the center for the Jewish faith and it was located in Jerusalem, the most important city in Israel
Needless to say there were a lot of people hanging around!
Now what do you think would happen if Jesus did throw Himself off the temple roof and get caught by angels?
Do you think He would maybe generate a little attention?
Of course He would!
I know that if I saw someone jump off a roof and get caught by angels that they would have my undivided attention
In fact, I can pretty much guarantee that if I were a first century Jew that I would want to set this person in place as the Messiah
While this might seem like a short cut similar to the last temptation – and I guess it partially is – the focus of this temptation is not in the shortcut
Take a look at Jesus’ response
12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
I think there were three things going on here:
One was the temptation of “Prove it”
Satan was basically saying “prove that You are who You say You are!”
Asking someone to prove themselves is not always a bad thing – in many instances it is the smart thing to do
But Satan already knew who Jesus was
There was no doubt in his mind that Jesus was God in the flesh
So what was Satan trying to accomplish?
Scripture doesn’t say for sure so we can only speculate, but let me ask you
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you knew for a fact what the outcome would be yet you still told someone to “prove it”?
Our motives are never pure – they are always intended to harm the other person in some way
Satan was out to harm Jesus
Perhaps he could cast a little doubt into Jesus
Do you think that telling Jesus to “prove it” might make Jesus a little angry?
There’s nothing wrong with anger as long as we handle it correctly
But have you ever noticed that there are those who can really push you over the edge in anger
How many of you think that the devil has the ability to do this?
Maybe the devil thought he could get Jesus to cross the line into sin with His anger
There are times when we are basically telling God to prove it
When we try to make deals with God
“If You do this I’ll do that”
But more often than not we are asking God to prove it when we continually do those things that we know are wrong
We know for a fact that God’s Word says not to do it, yet we go ahead anyway
We’re basically telling God “I don’t believe you, prove to me that You take this seriously”
How well do you think an attitude like that will work out?
Another part of the third temptation was pride
I think the devil might have been trying to get Jesus to show off a little
There’s nothing inherently wrong with a little showing off
Entertainers do it all the time!
But it doesn’t take long to cross the line
Ever notice how anytime someone says “Hey, look at this!” that it usually turns our rather badly?
And when it doesn’t pride can easily come in
“Look how awesome I am!”
Now Jesus really was awesome, but pride is still a sin
In fact, it was the root of what caused Satan’s fall
Again, all the devil had to do was push Jesus enough to get Him to cross the line into pride
Pride is something that all of us struggle with to one degree or another
Some of us more than others for sure
There’s nothing wrong with pride in a job well done
But when I start to say “look how great I am” instead of “look how great God is” then pride becomes a problem
There’s a final part of this temptation that comes into play
Satan was trying to convince Jesus to do something that was totally foolish
As I’d mentioned earlier Satan tried to convince Jesus to jump off the roof by using Scripture
Satan quoted Psalm 91:11,12 “'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 quote was taken slightly out of context, but it does sound convincing doesn’t it?
Satan knows Scripture better than you do and often uses it to get us to do foolish things
“What do you mean Harry?”
Let me give you a great example
Mark 16:17-18 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
Snake churches - photos
When these temptations were over the devil was not done
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
The devil will do the same to us – the temptations will never stop, we must always be on our guard
