Luke 4:1-13

Date: Sunday, January 10, 2010
Study 6: With Jesus' help we can resist temptation.
Bible Study: Satan Tempts Jesus   (Luke 4:1-13)

Matthew 4:1-11 ;  Mark 1:12,13


Background The Nature of the Temptations

Jesus' temptations dealt with expectations people had about the coming messiah. Satan taunted, "If you do this, then…" Jesus resisted knowing he must be a messiah that brings more than what people thought they needed. The first temptation was to be a bread Messiah--"If you feed them, they will follow you." The second was for Jesus to be a spectacular Messiah--"Do miracles and wow the people. Then they will really appreciate you." Finally, Satan wanted Jesus to simply be a political leader, bowing to him and ruling the nations. Jesus knew that all these options were less than his real mission. He was to save people from their sins. Satan's temptations were diversions designed to knock Jesus off track. Jesus wouldn't have anything to do with it! Instead, the temptation experience focused Jesus towards his true purpose to take away the curse of sin.

Satan Tempts Jesus
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
He was led by God into Temptation --- God never tempts us, but . . .
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.’” --- Jesus quotes Deut 8:3
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.’” --- Jesus quotes Deut 6:13
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.’”  --- Satan quotes  Psalms 91:11,12

12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’”  --- Jesus quotes Deut 6:16
13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit


Every one of Jesus’ responses are from Scripture . . . how important is it to know the Bible?
Jesus was tempted in the face of conditions like we are … Adam/Eve were not.
Jesus did not have the bondage to sin like we have … this was a question of conflict.
We (and the Israelites of the OT) are delivered from bondage . . . temptation comes from conflict.
The Israelites were delivered from Egypt, they did not fight there . . . it was in Canaan that they fought and had conflicts.
As Christians, we are delivered from our bondage to sin . . . we are still tempted by the conflicts we face.

the temptations are arranged according to their moral order:
Luke re-ordered some of them from Matthew’s account . . Luke occasionally wrote logically instead of chronologically . . . And also may have wanted to put the Temple episode last .. due to the times.
bodily need
the world
Spiritual
In each the Lord maintains the positions of obedience to and dependence on … God
A simple principle, which protects us in every attack, but by its very simplicity, is perfection.

We find that simple obedience directed by the Word is the only weapon employed by Jesus. This obedience requires dependence on God, and trust in God, in order to accomplish it.
Satan is overcome and powerless before us when we act according to the power of the Holy Spirit.  Bodily need would have become lust if self-will had entered into it, instead of dependence on the will of God;
the world and all its glory is in fact the kingdom of Satan (and it was on that ground that Satan tried to bring Jesus, and showed himself to be Satan in so doing);
self-exaltation in a religious way through the things which God has given us-these were the points of the enemy's attack. But there was no self-seeking in Jesus.

It is in temptation that obedience, having no will but that of God, dependence, the use of the Word, and giving ourselves completely to God, that we can gain the victory over it.

 In all this the first Adam failed.
After Christ's victory, we also as servants of Christ gain actual victories, or rather the fruits of the victory already gained in the presence of God.

We fall short so we have God’s Grace . . . we should not reject His Grace.
Matthew and Mark talk about angels ministering to Jesus afterwards.

The next verse in the Bible (in Luke):
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit
— Being more abundantly strengthened after the conflict.






Christ's being led into the wilderness gave an advantage to the tempter; for there he was alone, none were with him by whose prayers and advice he might be helped in the hour of temptation. He who knew his own strength might give Satan advantage; but we may not, who know our own weakness. Being in all things made like unto his brethren, Jesus would, like the other children of God, live in dependence upon the Divine Providence and promise. The word of God is our sword, and faith in that word is our shield. God has many ways of providing for his people, and therefore is at all times to be depended upon in the way of duty. All Satan's promises are deceitful; and if he is permitted to have any influence in disposing of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, he uses them as baits to insnare men to destruction. We should reject at once and with abhorrence, every opportunity of sinful gain or advancement, as a price offered for our souls; we should seek riches, honours, and happiness in the worship and service of God only. Christ will not worship Satan; nor, when he has the kingdoms of the world delivered to him by his Father, will he suffer any remains of the worship of the devil to continue in them. Satan also tempted Jesus to be his own murderer, by unfitting confidence in his Father's protection, such as he had no warrant for. Let not any abuse of Scripture by Satan or by men abate our esteem, or cause us to abandon its use; but let us study it still, seek to know it, and seek our defence from it in all kinds of assaults. Let this word dwell richly in us, for it is our life. Our victorious Redeemer conquered, not for himself only, but for us also. The devil ended all the temptation. Christ let him try all his force, and defeated him. Satan saw it was to no purpose to attack Christ, who had nothing in him for his fiery darts to fasten upon. And if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Yet he departed but till the season when he was again to be let loose upon Jesus, not as a tempter, to draw him to sin, and so to strike at his head, at which he now aimed and was wholly defeated in; but as a persecutor, to bring Christ to suffer, and so to bruise his heel, which it was told him, he should have to do, and would do, though it would be the breaking of his own head, Genesis 3:15. Though Satan depart for a season, we shall never be out of his reach till removed from this present evil world.