Meeting the Enemy
Series: Encountering Jesus (through the Gospel of Luke)
Brad Bailey – January 30, 2019
Text: Luke 3:20-23; 4:1-14
Intro:
At the start of a new year…many of the trends that are growing get special attention. And one of those is the growing tragedy of identity theft. Unlike the history of various forms of physical theft…in which someone may physically take one’s material property…identity theft is essentially taking your identity…by which one can then take everything. [1]
As we have referred to in the past, there is a far more ultimate identity theft that we may not even realize. We can refer to it as spiritual identity theft. Stakes are higher…and the terms far worse.
The Scriptures describe how we have surrendered our true identity to another… and live generally unaware.
We sold our birthright (so to speak).
Unless someone comes with greater authority… who can win that birthright back…we are lost.
And so Jesus comes to confront and reclaim us…and that includes a confrontation with the current owner of our souls.
As we continue our series… Encountering Jesus through the Gospel of Luke…we encounter Jesus… in that confrontation. [2]
Luke 3:20-23
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.
This is the moment that the ministry of Jesus is inaugurated.
He calls on the prophet John to baptize him…in what is a unique baptism symbolizing being set apart for his mission. [3]
He is set apart with the Father’s blessing: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” and the Spirit's anointing for ministry.
The eternal ruler has entered humanity… and that identity is declared.
Only he is the eternal divine son…but humanity bears the image of God in the created world….and that is why he is coming to make that blessing possible for all to live in again.
Beloved son of proud father is what we all want ...deep affirmation of our being ... I don’t care how secular one beliefs are.
He was coming to reclaim God’s rule… but the first step may surprise us. Luke continues…
Luke 4:1-2
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.
If we stop and consider what is described in just these two sentences… there is so much perspective for understanding our lives and all we face.
He has just been blessed and anointed… it’s the point at which one would be honored…in which a king would then be led into a palace. But immediately he is led into the wilderness.
And we might assume that it is the enemy who comes after him… but no,,, we are told what was happening… “he was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness.” God who is ultimately triune in nature: Father, Son, and Spirit…is coming to confront the powers that rule this world…and that plan involves leading Jesus immediately into the wilderness….for a time in which he would be alone… fasting…and ultimately … be confronted by the one who rules this world.
From the most blessed moment to the wilderness. How naturally we might assume something had gone wrong.
It speaks to misguided assumption.
You can be in the center of God's will, you can be doing exactly what God would have you to do and right there you can encounter your greatest trials, your deepest sorrows, your most challenging times. Jesus is doing exactly what the Father would have Him do. He's led by the Holy Spirit, and it's precisely there that He encounters this great temptation.
So don’t be surprised if high times are followed by hard times.
Why would the Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness?
Because there is a conflict that must be confronted… and a determination that must be forged.
That is what is happening. Jesus has just been given the full acknowledgement. This is his identity. But before he can move out in that… he is taken into the wilderness. [4]
Here he is… alone… hungry.
It is in such a space …and such a state…that the deepest determination is developed.
I have had some very defining moments in some public gatherings…BUT the deepest determination… but I would venture to say that it at some level I must work out things within.
It is in the wilderness that we must embrace who we are. [5]
And it is in that wilderness where we are most vulnerable…and where we will have to “face our demons”.
It is here in this state that Jesus meets the enemy. Here we are introduced to the reality of a spiritual enemy.
On one hand…not surprising… the reality of evil is as universal as any…and captured in many personal forms.
But the modern media age has given this personal entity so many fictional portrayals that it is understandable that such a figure might be doubted or even dismissed.
And many today speak of the devil as … a friendly enemy…not a real enemy.
That may be the real issue at hand.
While the Scriptures do not presume to give a full treatise of the nature of the “the devil”…core truths are revealed regarding being associated with angelic nature, seeking the glory due only God, and seeking to draw those who bear God’s image into the same posture and fate…using deception as a primary means. [6]
The enemy had won the will of humankind. Long ago what was created to be aligned and centered in God… was given over to another.
So Jesus is coming to lay claim…to fulfill what God had said long ago… that one would come…born of a woman… who this enemy would strike down and believe he had defeated…but would then rise up and bring his defeat…an end to his rule.
And Jesus is very clear… he will be coming after all who join him in reclaiming God’s rule.
You and I have an enemy of our souls.
And we do well to learn that we will have to face our demons…spiritual forces that see to stop us.
And we will find the same dynamics are still at hand.
1. Testing will often come when we are alone.
When we are alone, we are deeply aware of our weakness.
When we are alone…we may feel most uncertain of what is true… most vulnerable to compromising.
But that is why it can become so developing…so defining.
When you decide to do the right thing when no one else was looking… it was a decision forged in your own will.
2. Testing will often come most intensely when we are pursuing God most deeply.
The enemy is not concerned with our distracted lives. It is when we dare to defy the ways of this world and our selfish desires most…that we will actually face the harder truth about out nature…and feel most confronted.
C. S. Lewis made these insightful observations about temptation: “No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. That is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. Christ, because He was the only Man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what temptation means.” [7]
The enemy will be most overt / intent when we are discovering our true identity in God.
Personal experience: When I was in high school… in the midst of a fairly rebellious time trying to run from God…I went on a backpacking trip with our church’s youth group. One night I faced the position I was in…and had a moment of deep personal commitment. And that night…all alone…I experienced an intense encounter with the presence of spiritual evil.
3. Testing is ultimately trying to convince us to trade our true God-given identity for a false one.
It is precisely when the identity of Christ is declared …and he is most prepared to begin to fulfill who he is…that the enemy comes with alternatives.
What is at stake is our identify…who defines us
The enemy’s ultimately claim is our identity. He wants to draw us away from what God has told us.
Luke continues telling us about the way the enemy tests Jesus… three tests in particular.
Luke 4:3-4
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 shall not live on bread alone.’”
Don’t be mislead by a false understanding of the Devil’s statement when he says, “If you are the Son of God” - this is not a supposition but an affirmation. It literally means “since you are” or “ in view of the fact that you are the Son of God.” The devil is well aware that God exists and the demons express fear of him.
He knows who Jesus is…the Creator has entered.
We may tend to think that the conflict is between belief vs non-belief …but our enemy is actually more of a believer than any believer on earth.
What's going on with that temptation?
It is a temptation for Jesus to question the love and goodness and provision of God His Father. It's a temptation for Jesus to take into His own hands the provision of what He needs, and not to trust in God's provision of what He needs.
We could paraphrase the first test this way:
FIRST temptation: “You can’t trust the ultimate love and goodness and provision of God your Father that you are seeking to live in relationship to. So go ahead and just trust your own means to satisfy this world’s temporary desires.”
The enemy is essentially saying…you’re the son of God…you shouldn’t be hungry and deprived. Don’t give yourself to such sacrifice and suffering… take the easy road.
He is seeking to confront the very nature of fasting. For fasting is in part…that which denies the temporal to center ourselves more deeply in the eternal provision of God’s love. It is that which knows that man does not live by bread alone…but by God’s Word…which is the ultimate source of life.
His basic strategy is to make us believe that God can’t be trusted. Satan entered into the Biblical picture at creation in the form of a serpent. He said to Adam and Eve, “Do you really believe that God is good? He has told you not to eat from that one tree because he knows that the moment you do so you will be as wise as He is? He is not your friend. He is holding out on you” (Gen. 3:4).
And it is still his strategy to have us think we believe in God…when in actual practical life…we don’t trust him.
The essence of sin…is the belief that it can satisfy…and make us happy… in ways it can’t.
Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
Of course Jesus values bread….but he truly understands that life comes from God…and from what God speaks. Bread is only temporal …secondary. “Seek first the Kingdom…and these things will be added.”
Luke 4:5-8
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.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
Again, he is trying to draw Jesus away from the very identity that had been confirmed upon him. That he is the son in whom the Father is well pleased.
In essence this second temptation says:
Second Temptation: “Don’t find your identity in God the Father being pleased with you. I can give this world’s form of power and recognition … so acknowledge my worth… by choosing the affirmation I can offer.”
We can imagine how he might say… “After all… your whole life has been one of humility…even disgrace.
You were born among animals… your family had to flee as refugees… you’ve lived in obscurity… and now you have disciples…which appear to be common nobodies. You are so underappreciated.
So let me give you a good view of all the glory of this world. I rule this world…and know how to work the hearts of it’s people. So agree that I am the one to give your worth to …your worship to…your allegiance to.”
As vain as it might sound… it is the divided audience of every human soul.
Who will we live our lives out to?
Jesus declares what is right: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’
It’s not only true. It is the defiant truth that liberates us. Apart from God…we will find a desire for affirmation… some of us may try to find acceptance in popularity…some in being needed in codependent ways…some in withdrawing to hide from the loss we feel.
But Jesus has been rooted… he is already rooted in an eternal Father who loves him…and is pleased with him.
That is the audience of one he will give his worth to…his service to.
(It doesn’t mean he will not value or appreciate appropriate affirmation from others…it means he will not be enslaved to it.)
There is power when we are able to believe something to be right even when others may not agree.
Martin Luther King Jr…. whose life our nation will celebrate tomorrow… set forth a powerful path. Today we hear his dream which became more popular over time. But for years he was whites resented his power…and many blacks resented his power…because he called for non-violent resistance. He once said:
“I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.
Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But, conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe… nor popular but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
That is the power that is forged in the depths of inner allegiance.
Luke continues…
Luke 4:9-12
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 is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
The devil took Jesus to the point of the temple roof that overlooked the Kidron Valley, about a 450 ft. drop. Whether he took him there physically or in a vision we do not know. But once there he made Jesus very tempting offer.
Having seen Jesus defeat him two times by quoting Scripture, Satan now quotes it himself, for his own purposes (vv. 9-11). He misconstrues it…and it’s a reminder to us…that these are not magical words. It is God’s intended meaning that is powerful…and many can misuse. (Guy in NY subway… NASA… earth flat…Bible tells us…. If you’ve ever heard things said.. doesn’t sound right…good chance it’s not.)
We could paraphrase the final test this way:
Third temptation: “Don’t trust His will. Don’t be the obedient son who serves His will. Make Him serve your will.”
You set the terms and make Him.
There are many subtle ways that we can put God to the test. We decide we will do what we want even when we know it may not be what God wants…and then expect God to make it work out well.
Or we don’t follow the wisdom and ways of God…and then expect God will protect us from the consequences. We dive into a path of our own choosing and then cry out to God to bail us out.
Our text concludes…
Luke 4:13-14
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
Outwardly at his weakest state… but he leaves that wilderness resolute… in who he is…and what it means.
That is what he has come to restore in us. To take back the world that we were rightfully given responsibility for.
Closing
Jesus wants us to know that we have an enemy…who is not afraid of the materialist…who believes there are no spiritual forces … nor the magical…who relate to spiritual forces like it’s a fun Harry Potter battle of magical work …nor the moralist… who thinks that the spiritual battle is only about trying to be a more moral person. What he fears… is those who come back home and have their identity restored…as those who live in the homes and heart of God the Father.
I want to invite you to here God’s claim upon your life…as we pray.
It is that which is extended to us… by Christ the only eternal Son of God…but it is extended to those who receive him.
Prayer:
“You are my child….whom I love…in whom through Christ, I am well please.”
Closing song options:
Iron Bell Music // Belong To You (Enemy Can't) - Lyric Video
Lauren Daigle - You Say (Official Music Video)
The Lord's Prayer Lyric Video - Hillsong Worship
Resources: Drew some ideas from Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III: “Tempted, Tried but Never Failing”
Notes:
1. At the start of 2019, the following affirm the growing impact of identity theft:
https://www.comparitech.com/identity-theft-protection/identity-theft-statistics/
Identity theft is increasingly a 21st-century problem. … consumers share a good part of the blame for their lost data. Still, identity theft prevention appears to be on the rise despite savvier consumers. Data breaches show no signs of decreasing. And unfortunately, consumers still appear to be less than proactive when it comes to securing their private information.
Within the last year, more than 978 million adults in 20 countries globally experienced cybercrime.
• Over 25 percent of identity theft complaints relate to new accounts opened in an individual’s name. Only 7 percent relate to existing credit card accounts. (Source: FTC)
• According to Equifax Canada, Millennials are the top target for fraudsters. Nearly half of all suspected fraud applications are for those between the ages of 18 and 34. (Source: Equifax) and a recent study shows a growing work at stealing the identities of children… with over 1 million over the past year. (Source: Equifax)
RESOLVE TO SAFEGUARD YOUR IDENTITY IN THE NEW YEAR - By CyberScout
December 21, 2018 - https://cyberscout.com/education/blog/resolve-to-safeguard-your-identity-in-the-new-year
In the U.S. alone, 16.7 million people become victims of identity theft annually.1Globally, there were 178 million victims of cybercrime last year, impacting 44% of all consumers.2 Identity theft happens all around you, all of the time.
https://vpnpro.com/data-protection/identity-theft-statistics/
One of the most surprising things we’ve learned from the identity theft 2018 statistics is how criminals have started to target the identities of children more and more frequently. A major study by the research agency Javelin Strategy & Research found that over 1 million minors had fallen victim to the crime over the past year, and 66% of those were aged under 7.
2. Regarding Luke’s distinctions:
Matthew and Luke record the same temptations but in different order - both of them put the first temptation (turning stones into bread) first, but Matthew has the devil leading Jesus’ to the pinnacle of the Temple second and to a high mountain third, while Luke reverses the order.. Reasons are proposed as to why the difference but they are somewhat conjecture. Both records are the inspired word of God and that is what matters. All three versions of the temptation of Jesus (Mk 1:12-13) are strategically placed after His baptism by John and before He began His 3 year of mission culminating in to the Cross. Luke of course does insert His genealogy on Mary's side (Lk. 3:23–38) before the temptation narrative. But even this genealogy appears strategically placed because it follows His lineage back to the first Adam ("the son of Adam, the son of God" Lk 3:38), who failed when tempted by the serpent! And so it is fitting that then God gives us the perfect pattern of Jesus showing us how we can respond victoriously to temptation. - https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-4-commentary
3. Why was Jesus baptized? The gospel writers don’t spend a lot of time on this question. Some suggest that it was to identify with the sin of Israel, others to validate the ministry of John, others to foreshadow his own death as the suffering servant of the Lord. Matthew simply says it was “to fulfill all righteousness.”
4. More has been noted about how there is a parallel with Adam in the garden depicted in Genesis…which serves as the restoration of human heritage’s “fall”… when “one man” (Adam) was also told not to trust God…and fell to the temptation, becoming expelled from a garden to a wilderness.
As Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III states,
Notice also that what is playing out in Luke 4:1-13 is a parallel to Genesis 3. In Genesis 3 Eve and Adam are tempted by the evil one — the devil, Satan in the form of a talking serpent — in the beautiful pristine garden. It is a perfect world in which there is no sin in humanity, and yet this fallen angel in the guise of a talking serpent comes to tempt Eve and Adam. And in contrast, Luke is painting us a very different picture of the place of Jesus’ temptation. He is not in a garden, He's in a wilderness; and that in and of itself provides us a very graphic contrast between the unfallen world of Adam and the fallen world in which our Savior lived. This temptation is the temptation, in other words, of the second Adam. Paul will put it this way:
“For through one man's disobedience all died, so also through one man's act of obedience all are made alive.”
That is, as we are in Adam, all die; all those who are in Jesus Christ, however, are made alive. So what we have is a contrast between Genesis 3 and Luke 4: the temptation of the first Adam — a temptation which he failed and thus plunged us all into an estate of sin and misery — and the temptation of the second Adam — which He passed and thus opened the doorway of life to all who trust in Him. So it's not a garden but a wilderness that this temptation takes place in. It is a picture of our fallen world. Jesus, in contrast to Adam, lived in a fallen world sinlessly; Adam lived in a sinless world, and by his sinful actions filled it with sin.
5. Video depictions of this scene:
The Bible: Jesus is Tempted by Satan in the Desert – History Channel / Son of God movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu26294vXnc; Christ Tempted - David Helling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkHeETl6yqY - (adds words beyond the text)
6. While the Scriptures do not presume to give a full treatise of the nature of the “the devil”…core truths are revealed regarding being associated with angelic nature, seeking to desire the glory due only God, and seeking to draw those who bear God’s image into the same posture and fate…using deception as a primary means. Those who bear God’s image and were intended to have proxy authority to care for creation, have now come under the devil’s authority. Some texts offer what deemed vital for us to understand.
1 Chron. 21:1 (NIV)
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
Zech. 3:1
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
John 8:44 (NIV) ?You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ?John 10:10 (NIV) ?The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 12:31 (NLT)
The time of judgment for the world has come, when the prince of this world will be cast out.
James 4:7 (NIV) ?Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV) ?Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Ephesians 6:11-16 (NIV) ?Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Col. 1:13 (NLT)
For he has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.
Col. 2:15 (NLT)
“…God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ.”
1 John 3:8 (ESV)
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
Mark 3:11-15 (NIV) ?11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. 13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve--designating them apostles--that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. ?Mark 3:20-30 (NIV) ?20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." 22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons." 23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28 I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." 30 He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."
As Don Williams states, “It is well worth noting that the “teachers of the law” (Mark 3:22) do not deny Jesus’ power and authority to cast out demons. They are not modernists. They don’t claim that he is using psychological tricks, indulging mass delusions, playing on mentally disturbed people, yielding to the unlettered, primitive mind-set, or adopting a mythological perception of reality. No. They know that demons are real. The whole of Palestine was filled with unclean spirits.
“A strong man has a house full of possessions (Satan is the god of this world or age who rules it in its fallen state. Usurped though they are, its goods are his. (II Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2) Because he is strong (and mean) he will not freely let go of his goods. The only way to take them is to bind him. He has to be tied up. Then his goods can be plundered. ?… the logic and evidence are clear. Since Jesus is setting people free from demons, he has tied up Satan, restrained him, exercised divine authority over him, and now he is plundering his house, carrying off his possessions for the Kingdom of God. This work, again, is in process person by person. The tying up of Satan does not mean he is impotent, immobilized or inactive. It does mean that a stronger One is here who binds him and delivers those who are subject to him.”
7. From Today in the Word, November, 1998, p. 24.
The temptations of Jesus had to be real for the consoling truth of Hebrew 4:15 to be true: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” To sympathize with us, Christ had to have fully experienced the Devil’s temptations.
