Temptation Of Human Jesus

“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.”