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[0:00] This is our first Sunday, and this Sunday our text will be Luke chapter 4 verse 1-13.! I encourage you to open it up to it in your Bible. If you don't have one, you can grab a Bible in your pew.

[0:17] I think it is on page 1021 of your pew Bible. It is the account of the temptation of our Lord. And many of you are familiar with this account of Jesus' temptation.

[0:32] And many of you might have heard that the point of the story is to show us how to overcome temptation like Jesus.

[0:43] But I want to begin our exploration of this text this morning by first imploring you to put that notion out of your mind. This story, as revealed to us by Luke, is not primarily about how you and me can overcome Satan's temptation.

[1:03] It is about how Jesus overcomes his temptation, this particular temptation, that was unique to him because of who he is.

[1:13] That is vitally important as we go forward. And I think in order to fully understand what is going on in this account, it is important that we see the context that Luke has given us.

[1:27] Notice in the preceding verses of this chapter 4, especially from verse 21 to 38, We have the baptism of the Lord had just taken place. The Holy Spirit, in the shape of a dove, had descended upon Jesus.

[1:46] The Father's voice had declared that this man being baptized is his eternally beloved son in whom he is well pleased.

[1:56] Then curiously, right after that, Luke traces Jesus' genealogy. He kind of paused the narration of the story and he traces Luke's genealogy backward from Jesus, but not to David, not even to Abraham.

[2:15] He traces it all the way to Adam. Luke is trying to tell us something here. That this Jesus is the son of Adam, the son of God.

[2:28] The second and last Adam. In this genealogy, we see that Jesus is fully human as he is fully God.

[2:39] His sonship is eternal from before the beginning of the world. But at the same time, according to God's redemptive plan, this Jesus took on humanity, true humanity.

[2:52] Fully identifying with us. So much so that we can trace his lineage to Adam. He was the offspring promised long ago.

[3:06] We will come to crush the head of the serpent. Jesus' son of God. So, just as Adam's temptation had lasting effect on the whole human race, Jesus' temptation here has lasting effect for those who are found in him.

[3:26] Jesus, as the second and last Adam, stands before God as a representative. In the same way, Adam did. Remember that Adam represented all of us.

[3:41] And because of his sin before God, we were all tainted and poisoned by that sin. And we bared the mark of that sin, even from our mother's womb. Jesus comes now as the second Adam.

[3:56] To be a representative before God. That's what's going on in this account that we have here. And this is why it was important that Luke tells us first by the genealogy, that this Jesus stands in the place of Adam.

[4:10] As a representative for all of mankind. So, in this fight with the devil, Jesus succeeded.

[4:20] Where Adam failed. And in his victory, he begins to undo the curse on the whole cosmos that was due to Adam's failure.

[4:34] Christ's whole life is a public life. What I mean by that is that all he did, all he did in his human mission, in the messianic mission on earth, he did as a representative.

[4:49] His obedience, his death, resurrection and ascension is for our salvation. So, the question I want us to be asking this morning is this.

[5:04] How does this temptation of my Lord assure me of God's love for me? How does this temptation tell of his salvation of me?

[5:19] So, we see in the account, Luke starts telling us from verse 1 that Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, according to Mark's Gospel, Mark tells us that immediately after his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, was led into the wilderness.

[5:40] This is important. Our Lord instructs us. Remember the Lord's Prayer? He instructs us to pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[5:53] But not so for him. He was led by the Holy Spirit into temptation. He was led by the Holy Spirit into this encounter with Satan.

[6:06] So that we may see that this was as if he was led to encounter, to fight on our behalf as a champion.

[6:23] He was in the wilderness for 40 days, Luke tells us. The number 40 evokes Israel's 40 years in the wilderness. Again, in this we see that Jesus is a representative.

[6:36] He is the Messiah promised of God. According to Matthew's Gospel, he is not only the second Adam, he is also the true Israel. He succeeded everywhere that Israel failed.

[6:50] He was in the wilderness, we're told. In the wilderness, and in his wilderness journey, he withstood the devil's attack, and he remained faithful to God.

[7:05] But Satan, Satan's goal, so it's clear to us, Satan's goal was to ender Jesus from accomplishing that which he came to do.

[7:16] His whole goal in this temptation is to stop Jesus from carrying out his messianic mission. The mission that must be accomplished in his humanity in order for us to be saved.

[7:31] That is Satan's goal. That is his point in his temptation. Luke tells us that Jesus was tempted for the whole 40 days, actually.

[7:41] He was in the wilderness for the whole 40 days, and he was being tempted. But the three temptations of the devil came at the end were just heightened, a heightened culmination of all the temptations he'd endured while he was in the wilderness.

[7:58] So I looked it up. It is possible for a human being to go 40 days without food. In fact, it says that after the 45th day, between 45 and 60 days, then death usually comes.

[8:12] But, so Jesus, I only say that to our life, that Jesus is truly human. And he was enduring this 40 days in the wilderness without food.

[8:24] So Jesus, going without food was humanly possible. But many of us know how the pangs of hunger over one or two skipped meals can bring about mental and emotional paralysis.

[8:39] Maybe I'm just talking about myself here. I don't know about you. So, so imagine, imagine then 40 days without food.

[8:51] The devil came when Jesus was most weakened. He had undergone an intense physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.

[9:03] It's not just physical at this point. it is, it is, it is mental, it is emotional, it is spiritual. Jesus was exhausted. Now, you may think, and I think we, we often think, well, he's Jesus.

[9:20] He has powers. That is not true. I think we, we've wrongly come to assume that because Jesus was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and he performed divine miracles in his ministry on earth, we've come to assume like, like he's like a modern notion of Superman or something.

[9:42] But, it is not so. Jesus was truly human. He had no special powers beyond what you and I have in his human body.

[9:55] He had no special capabilities in his human body. He was truly human. In taking on this mortal flesh, he divested himself of all his divine prerogatives.

[10:10] He suffered in his humanity in every way that we suffer, yet without sin. Notice, notice here the contrast between the first and last Adam.

[10:25] Adam was in a verdant garden where he enjoyed all of God's bountiful gifts. He had all he needed and wanted within his grasp.

[10:37] He had comfort and companionship and love and acceptance. He, unlike us, did not have a fallen nature.

[10:51] Adam didn't. It wasn't until he sinned and rebelled against God that sin corrupted his nature and he transferred all of that to all of us as descendants.

[11:04] So Adam was there in a verdant garden and he failed. Jesus, while Jesus endured his temptation, temptations rather, in the world already corrupted and marred by sin.

[11:21] Instead of a garden, he was in a wilderness, in the desert. he was facing complete deprivation, lacking the most essential things that we need to live.

[11:34] Sustenance, food. And so, you can imagine the potency of the devil's first temptation. After 40 days, Satan comes to him and he says, if you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread.

[11:56] Satan is essentially saying, the son of God should not have to suffer in this way. Surely, you who made the whole world from nothing but the word of your mouth can transform a stone into bread.

[12:13] Notice here that Satan does not dispute Jesus' identity as the son of God.

[12:25] He knows the truth. He knows who Jesus is. But what he's doing is he wants Jesus to use, he's inviting Jesus to use his power to serve his own needs.

[12:39] Jesus could have turned the stone to bread. by the word of his mouth. And that's what Satan is inviting him to do. Exercise the power you have as God's son.

[12:55] The power that is yours, he says. Exercise that power to satiate your hunger. But Jesus' response was with the truth of God's word.

[13:09] From Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3, Jesus says, it is written man shall not live by bread alone. Jesus is God. He only has to say the word and the stone will be bread.

[13:25] But he comes in his humanity. He comes as the suffering servant. He comes to live as one of us, to endure the pain and sorrow of this fallen world.

[13:41] Even unto death. He comes as the last Adam and the true Israel to show that he lives not by bread alone, not for his own physical needs, but he lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

[14:04] His food is to do the will of his father who sent him and to accomplish his work. So, Jesus, in his suffering, identifies with us and he trusts in his father's provision to provide for his needs.

[14:29] Satan comes again though. He tries it again. He tries again with his second temptation. And he says, in like a vision, he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world at a moment.

[14:42] And he said to Jesus, to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, Satan says, and I will give it to whom I will.

[14:57] If you then will worship me, it would all be yours. The question here is, can the devil truly do this? Is it really, truly his to give?

[15:12] But the answer is yes and no. The rulership of the world has been delivered to him. He is indeed ruler of this world because of Adam's sin.

[15:25] Adam was to have dominion over the whole earth. Remember, that is the demand given to him by God. Adam was to rule as God's vice regent over the whole of creation.

[15:39] But in his rebellion, he ceded the authority that God has given him. He ceded it over to Satan. So, Satan is right to say, it has been delivered to me, the authority and glory of this world.

[15:57] But he says, I will give it to whom I will. Only if you worship me, it would all be yours. But the authority that Satan has is not ultimate.

[16:10] Although he is the ruler of the world, he is only so by God's allowance. And so Satan knows, he knows to whom he is speaking.

[16:24] He knows that this Jesus, to whom he is speaking, this Messiah, has come specially, specifically, to take back dominion.

[16:37] And here's the lie that he offers Jesus. I'll give it to you. You've come, that's the purpose for which you've come. I will give it to you.

[16:49] I'll give it to you. All you have to do is bow down and worship me. and it will all be yours. It's meant to be yours anyway, Satan is saying.

[17:08] Take it now. You don't have to go the path of the cross. That's the temptation. Take it now.

[17:20] You don't have to go through the arduous way of the cross. cross. So Satan understands Christ's messianic mission. He knows that Christ's mission will end with him as ruler and lord over the whole cosmos.

[17:41] Satan knows Psalm chapter 2 verse 8. He knows of God's divine decree and promise to the Son. The Father's decree and promise to the Son. In Psalm 2.

[17:52] Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. That was the promise of God the Father to his Son.

[18:05] He knows that Jesus is to inherit a kingdom, a birthright announced by the angels even at his birth, that he is to rule over an everlasting kingdom.

[18:18] Satan knows that it is for this purpose that Christ is coming to the world, to reclaim that dominion which Adam had lost. But he is saying, instead of pursuing the path of humiliation by which you will attain this glorious birthright, just take a shortcut, just bend the knee to me, Satan is saying, and it will all be yours without pain and suffering.

[18:51] So that's a temptation that you can see resonate with Jesus. This is what he had come for, and now it's been offered to him, without pain, without suffering.

[19:10] Only deny your identity as God's Son, Satan says. That's the same temptation that he comes to Adam with in the garden. Deny your identity, Adam, as God's Son.

[19:27] Trust in me and my words rather than your Father's word. And what a lie it is. Satan is the father of lies, indeed. Because what he's telling Jesus to do is what Adam did.

[19:42] the very thing that lost Adam the kingdom, which is to yield to the serpents rather than God. Now he's telling Jesus to do it in order to gain the kingdom.

[19:53] You see the lie of the enemy. It's deception. He claims this will now gain Jesus the kingdom. The question is how often does Satan offer the world and a platter to us death.

[20:10] When in fact all he truly offers is eternal death. That's what he offered Adam and Eve. Do this and you will be like God.

[20:23] Now he comes to Jesus. Who is God? The very image, the very essence of God. And he says, well you are already God and this is all going to be yours.

[20:34] Do this without suffering. You're suffering eternal death. But not Christ eternal death. He's offering to stop God's mission on our behalf.

[20:51] But again Jesus replied to Satan, it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

[21:04] Jesus again quotes Deuteronomy this time chapter 6 verse 13. Jesus rejects the empty offerings of the devil. As if saying to the devil, I know you're just a pretender.

[21:18] I know that true dominion and power belongs to God. And to him alone belongs my worship as man created in his image.

[21:32] Jesus withstands for the second time Satan's temptation. So Satan tries for the last time. He took Jesus to the temple, God's dwelling place.

[21:45] He took Jesus to his father's house and he sets him on the highest pinnacle of the temple. And again he tries to dissuade Jesus from following God's agenda, from the father's laid out path for him to follow.

[22:02] Now at this point Satan now quotes well if he's using the Bible as a defense, let me try it. He quotes the Bible.

[22:14] Satan quotes Psalm 91 that we read in our psalm this morning. He quotes specifically verse 11 and 12. He says to Jesus jump, jump from this pinnacle.

[22:28] After all your father promised that he would command his angels concerning you to guard you and on their hands they will bear you up lest your foot strike against the stone.

[22:41] Satan is saying if you are the son of God you can expect that you can enjoy absolute safety in your father's house.

[22:54] Nothing can harm you, you are in your father's house. Satan, the liar that he is, he takes this verse out of context. That's how Satan works.

[23:06] He knows the Bible. He comes and he tells us of God's word but he takes it out of context and he says to Jesus, the words of this psalm are for you.

[23:23] This is what they mean. Jump and his angels will come and catch you. Your father's angels will come and catch you. But he forgets the whole psalm.

[23:35] He forgets that the promise of safety in this psalm 91 is for those who dwell under the shadow of the almighty.

[23:47] In verse 1 and 2. The promise of safety is for those who say unto the Lord, you are my refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I trust.

[24:03] That is the people that God promises to guard and to keep and to bear up. The promise is for those who have rock solid confidence in God's faithfulness towards them.

[24:20] So Satan is telling a lie by inviting Jesus to be like Adam and like Israel in the wilderness. He's telling Jesus to doubt God's plan and promise and to put God to the test.

[24:35] Jump! Put God to the test. He will surely save you and deliver you. But again Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 6 it is said Jesus says you should not put the Lord your God to the test.

[24:54] Instead you should diligently keep his commandments his testimonies and his statutes knowing that your God is good knowing that your God works all things together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

[25:15] Jesus withstood the temptation of the enemy. And when the devil had ended every temptation Luke tells us he departed from him until an opportune time.

[25:30] Mind you that doesn't mean that the devil left Jesus the opportune time means that until another moment of tempting Jesus and the temptation continues throughout his earthly ministry.

[25:45] We remember after Peter made the confession that you are the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus told his disciples I am going to Jerusalem to die and to be killed what did Peter say no no no no no no that's not what the Messiah does that's not what the Messiah of God does what did Jesus say in response get behind temptation continues even with Jesus' closest friends sitting through them is saying to Jesus you can get this thing that you've come to do just do it my way don't follow God's path don't follow the path of humiliation and suffering the temptation comes at its peak in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was sweating like it was sweating blood when the cross is before him the temptation continually comes but

[26:52] Jesus withstood them all he stayed faithful trusting in his father's plan and look in this account that Jesus means of countering the devil's attack is to employ the word of God the sword of the spirit this is his weapon against the devil's attack so the question for us is are you better than your lord to think that you can withstand the devil's attack without wielding the weapon God has given you for your defense the Bible is not just interesting stories and intellectual musings for amusement it is for the believer the fundamental weapon in our fight against the forces of darkness Jesus himself relies!

[27:50] on the word of God to withstand the temptation of the devil and if we are also to continue to stand in this broken world we must know the word we must be able to wield it to counter the devil's lies we must rest on the promises of God's word we cannot deviate from it Jesus also came into the world to accomplish our redemption to crush the serpent's head and to regain the dominion over the world as the true son of God and in doing so he comes to restore all that our sin as ceded over to the devil he comes to reclaim the dominion Jesus knows that the path that this work that he's come to accomplish will take is to be the suffering servant of

[28:51] Isaiah 53 he will be rejected by men he will take up our infirmity and carry our sorrows this path of humiliation leads him to the harker complete humiliation and rejection on the cross Satan's attempt is to try to dissuade Jesus from taking this path but Jesus knows that this is the path to glory remember what he says in the end of Luke's gospel in chapter 24 and 26 after his death on the cross and his resurrection on the road to Emmaus as he encounters his two disciples he tells them was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory and he did he suffered these things and he entered into his glory he by his perfect obedience by his trusting and commitment to his father's will was given dominion over the world so

[30:17] I think as we look at the story of the temptation of Jesus I want us to know that our Lord through his obedience has brought redemption to us that is the primary thing that we are to see in this account of Jesus temptation and it is for you to know us also that as you face your temptations as you face your temptations and you sometimes or often succumb to them as you languish over your sin and think yourself defeated by the devil and your weakened flesh as you in this life experience the brokenness of the world as you experience the deepening shadow all around you know this because of Jesus all things are being made new because of his perfect obedience he is bound up the strong man showing that he himself is stronger so you don't have to fear the shadows know this their saints that by his perfect righteousness as the last

[31:38] Adam he is secured for you a full pardon he is secured for you forgiveness of every sin for those who trust in him so rest in his finished work rest as we continue in this Lenten season do not put confidence in your own efforts but rest in his perfectly accomplished work for you so that when the devil comes and accuses you he will come he's the accuser he will come and when he comes and accuses you of your unworthiness of your weakness cry out to him with full confidence Jesus Christ is worthy and because I am in him he has made me worthy that is our pride that is what we rest in let us pray!

[32:43] Lord God we come before you Lord in gratitude for your work for us we come blessing your name glorifying you because you accomplished that which we could not you withstood the enemy's temptations you perfectly obeyed the law you kept the law you kept you were the true Israel and because of your perfect obedience you secured for us an everlasting and eternal salvation help us Lord to live in gratitude of that which you've accomplished for us help us

[33:44]  Lord when the enemy comes to continue to rest on the work that you have done to look to the cross where you accomplished you bear the guilt of sin upon yourself and you accomplished that salvation to look then again at you seated at the right hand of God in complete dominion and authority and power knowing that all things have been put in subjection under your feet and because we're in Christ we are secure so help us Lord to hold fast to this truth help us also Lord to proclaim it to the world that is in desperate need of it empower us Lord by the power of your Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus name Amen