“Temptation of Human Jesus”
Luke 4:1-13
A sermon for 1/17/21
Pastor John Bright
Luke 4 “1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ 11 and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”
I grew up with mostly human super heroes – Batman and Green Hornet were weekly television shows. I also enjoyed watching the old, black-and-white “The Adventures of Superman” from the 1950s. I never noticed back then, but lately I read that on that show - George Reeves, the actor who played Superman, would stand there as the bullets from a pistol bounced off his chest. Then, when the man shooting at him from 10 feet away throws the gun at him… he ducked😊
Jesus is NOT a super hero. Jesus is NOT an actor playing a role.
Last week, we explored the full Divinity of Jesus and this week we will try to discover a better understanding of the full Humanity of Jesus and see if that has something to say about our humanity?
I mentioned in last week’s sermon that during the history of Christianity, some tried to deny the humanity of Jesus – they said he only “appeared” to be human. The Church rejected this belief, known as Docetism, and put strong statements in The Nicene Creed – written in 325 AD.
“For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.”
Jesus was born. Jesus died a horrible and painful death. Jesus was buried. These are all evidence that he was truly human. The Early Church also looked at the Temptation accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke as evidence that Jesus’ humanity made it possible for Him to be tempted – yet He did not give in and sin. Being sinless, Jesus acted as the lamb without spot or blemish (1 Peter 1:19). On the Cross of Calvary, Jesus took our sin upon Himself and opened the way to everlasting life with the Father.
In Luke 4, a very human Jesus has been fasting for 40 day. As He was very human, that means He was very hungry. This is the opening for which satan has been waiting.
Now satan appears, just like in the Garden of Eden – v. 1-3
“1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
In the New Testament Church, they believed that Jesus was the second Adam – 1 Cor. 15:45. Adam was tempted with lies and so was Jesus. This was Jesus speaking to those who do not believe Him and even accuse Him of having a demon speaking for Him – John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
Who is this satan? That is actually his title. It is a Hebrew word for prosecuting attorney. This is the role you see satan playing in the Book of Job. He is also called “the devil” as we just read, and that title means “accuser.” In Isaiah 14, we are given his name prior to the revolt he led in heaven – Lucifer. Ezekiel 28 explains that satan was created as “an anointed cherub.” What’s that? These winged creatures in the Old Testament are seen by Ezekiel and they are also represented on cover of the Ark of the Covenant.
The temptations of satan offered to Jesus are all lies:
• Jesus can do whatever He wants to do – He could make bread if He wanted to
• Jesus can have all the power – satan did not really have the authority to grant this one
• Jesus can be Messiah without pain – that would mean no crucifixion
These are all lies – and he even quotes scripture to prove his lies. Jesus does not fall for any of it!
Jesus offers the truth of God’s Word, v. 4, 8 & 12
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
As a human being, Jesus is absolutely dependent upon God. This was what God had tried so hard to show the Israelites by delivering them from slavery in Egypt and giving them a Holy Covenant to be His People.
In Deuteronomy 8, the people are told why they should keep the commandants of God. Part of the reason is that they can depend on God because He had fed them in the wilderness – “3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” How often are we, as humans, faced with a decision to either do it my way or do what the Bible says to do? I would imagine this happens to all of us every, single day.
The next scripture Jesus quotes is from the First Commandment and echoes the beginning of the daily reading made by Jews twice a day – the Shema. It’s a long reading from three different Old Testament books. It starts with Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” This is foundational to every Jew’s belief system. You see, Jesus is not using some obscure verses from Lamentations or Habakkuk. Jesus refused to worship power and kingdoms – do we? Back when we were looking at the Book of Exodus, I warned you that the modern-day equivalent of an idol is to create a God that is accepting of your sin. Do you truly worship the God of the Bible or a god of your own making?
The last of Jesus defense against temptation also comes from Deuteronomy 6 “16 “You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you.” Back in Exodus 17, the people are complaining to Moses about the lack of water. They even say it would be better to be back in back in slavery rather than suffer in the wilderness. (Every recovering addict or alcoholic has had this same thought!) They tempted God by saying – “Prove it!” That is what is at the heart of every “fox hole prayer.” You know, the old – “God if you get me out of this, then I promise I will _______.”
There will always be pain and struggle in our Christian journeys. It’s part of life because life for most folks is hard… maybe not all the time, but stuff happens.
When that stuff happens, when life gets hard and it seem like there might not really be a light at the end of the tunnel, what do you do? Do you contend with God as the Israelites contended with Moses – “This is too hard! You better do something or I am going to give up!”
This very human Jesus points the way for us
We have a tendency to want no trials or tribulations in life AND to take the easy way out.
James 1 starts with these weird words – “2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” He is telling them that trials should be counted as joyful events. WHAT! Remember, these were folks being persecuted for their faith in Christ. It is also a reminder that God can send the testing – not the temptation – to grow our faith. Jesus called Peter out of the boat to walk on the water – a test of his faith. What boat are you stuck in?
We read of the same joy in fiery trials.in 1 Peter 4 – “12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” Again, these were folks persecuted for their faith, as was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 6. Those young Hebrews were thrown into a blazing furnace and came out without even the smell of smoke on their clothes. The Babylonians put three guys in but saw four standing in the flames. That was Christ – protecting those young men.
You don’t have to go through anything alone – unless you really want to do it alone. You can choose to walk with Jesus in the valley of trial and tribulation but… that does not mean it will be easy.
That’s what most folks want – the easy way out. Think about it for a bit – would you choose the easy way or the hard way?
We live in a day when doing what is right, doing what is plainly given to us in God’s Word, it getting to be the hard way. It’s easier to just go along and get along. Perhaps a time is coming when we will have to choose sides. After the 12 Tribes of Israel had settled to Promised Land – Joshua called them together and gave them an ultimatum that may be necessary for the day in which we find ourselves – Joshua 24 “14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Jesus had a choice as a human being – would He avoid the suffering and take the easy way out? He chose to follow the Word of God and that is the beginning of his three years of ministry.
Jesus got tired - Jesus got disappointed with his disciples - Jesus wept when His friend died – Jesus wanted the final cup to pass from Him if possible - He was human and experienced the kind of ups and downs we all have. He was tempted and so are we. We can walk with Him along this way of trials and tribulations and always know – Hebrews 4:15 “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.” Amen
