Yesterday, Pastor Christopher Seah (pastor of Providence Reformed Church) came over to preach. The text he preached from was Luke 4:1-13.
1. Jesus, the Torah-keeping Jew
In Luke 2:52, we read that "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man". The phrase "increased in wisdom" tells us that Jesus was a devoted student of the Bible, while "in favour with God and man" tells us that Jesus lived out the Torah (Jewish word for the Law of God/Bible) in His life and was very good with people around Him. 'Good' in the sense of being caring towards others and respectful towards His parents. He is indeed qualified to be our Saviour :)
2. The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness (v1-2)
"Being full of the Holy Spirit" tells us that Jesus was under full control of the Holy Spirit, as He was led into the wilderness. Why did the Holy Spirit bring Him to the wilderness? Why not bring Him to sit on some throne, as a hero who had come to save the world? This is because royalty in Man's or the world's sense is to kill the Jews' enemies and overthrow the Roman empire. But in God's sense, royalty refers to servant-hood. Jesus must demonstrate His royal-hood by suffering hardship, deprivation and pain. The Messiah's work is to suffer for His people. In v2, we are told that Jesus hungered, and later on in the passage, we would read that Jesus will have to confront the devil (Satan) face to face and conquer it.
3. The 1st temptation: stone to bread (v3-4)
The devil comes to Jesus and begins the first of three temptations. The purpose of the temptations is to make Jesus sin, so that He is disqualified from being the Messiah.
So, the devil asks Jesus to turn stone into bread, knowing that Jesus is hungry and that He has the power to turn stone into bread. The devil also added a phrase "if thou be the Son of God" (v3). In an indirect way, the devil is trying to appeal to Jesus' ego, as well as to ask Him to disobey God. How is this disobeying God? The reason is that Jesus' hunger is because He was obeying God's will and by turning stone into bread for Himself to eat, He would be going against God's will.
Jesus responds by quoting from Scripture (Deut 8:3 - Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live). In the context of that verse, God was trying to teach Israel not to rely on physical things, but to rely on their Covenant King and to be faithful and loyal to Him.
4. The 2nd temptation: all the kingdoms of the world (v5-8)
The devil brings Jesus up into a high mountain and presents all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus. The devil is trying to present himself as a powerful, majestic, God-like being. But is he really one? Does he really have such power? Scriptures tell us that the supreme King of the world is God (Psa 22:28), but it also tells us that the ruler and god of this world is the devil (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11, 2 Cor 4:4). How do we reconcile these two facts? Basically, when Adam and Eve sinned, they came under the devil's power. The devil has become a 'god' in a way. To be precise, he is kind of an illegitimate god. This is because the world rejected God and worshipped the devil instead. So... The devil wasn't really telling Jesus the truth. He did not mention that his authority and power will come to an end one day. The devil tempts Jesus by asking Jesus to worship him and then all kingdoms will be Jesus'. But Jesus is not tempted. He is not looking for power. He is looking to be who God wants Him to be. (And may we all learn from Jesus and be like that too - be who God wants us to be)
Jesus responds by quoting from Scripture (Deut 6:13). There is an offensive side to this response. If all creatures must worship God, shouldn't the devil do that too?
5. The 3rd temptation: "cast thyself down" (v9-12)
Now the devil also quotes from Scripture (Psa 91:11-12). But he has taken Scripture out of context, violating the 3rd commandment (Exo 20:7), by mishandling God's Word. These verses in Psa 91 were written to comfort those who trusted in God. The devil also violates the 6th commandment (Exo 20:13) by trying to get Jesus to commit suicide.
Jesus responds by quoting from Scripture (Deut 6:16). In this verse, Moses was reminding Israel not to test the Lord as their ancestors have done at Massah (Exo 17:3).
6. The devil departs from Jesus (v13)
The devil cannot get Jesus to sin. Jesus was able to withstand the devil because He was filled with the Spirit and loves the Word of God.
7. Jesus really is the Son of God
By resisting temptation so well and obeying God, His Father, Jesus has shown that He truly is the Son of God.
8. The glory of... Obedience?!
(I've no idea why there is a '?!' at the end of 'obedience'.) The world wants a hero that is like a warrior king. But the true hero is a true servant of God who gives perfect obedience to God. The most important thing is obedience, not high self-esteem or success.
9. The (servant) hero of the story
Jesus is not merely our example. He is our hero and Saviour (Rom 5:28-29, 10:4).
Conclusion
Have you rested in Christ for your salvation? Is your life only about the earthly treasures of life? Let us receive and rest on Chrsit Jesus alone for righteousness, holiness and eternal life. Let us say to our Lord Jesus, "He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust" (Psalm 91:2).
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