You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
Join us.
Open your Bibles, if you will, to Luke 4.
I'm going to read verses 1 through 14 in this extended study that we are in the middle of, of the Gospel of Luke.
You can follow with me as I read from God's Word of truth.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil.
And he ate nothing during those days.
And when they were ended, he was hungry.
And the devil said to him,
If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.
And Jesus answered him,
It is written, man shall not live by bread alone.
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And said to him,
To you, I will give all this authority and their glory.
For it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.
Jesus answered him,
It is written,
You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him,
If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.
For it is written,
He will command his angels concerning you to guard you,
and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
And Jesus answered him,
It is said,
You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
And when the devil had ended every temptation,
he departed from him until an opportune time.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.
And a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
Bow with me, if you will, as we pray that God would give us understanding
from this portion of his word.
Lord,
Oh Lord,
we are needy beyond our comprehension,
but we are blessed beyond imagination.
We struggle in this world, but yet you've given us everything.
You give us your spirit, you give us yourself.
You've given us forgiveness, you've given us life.
You've taken away our penalty.
You've come to dwell within us.
Oh Lord Jesus, we thank you for the great truths.
We thank you for who you've made us to be,
and who you are for us.
We thank you for the hope that that gives us.
And part of that hope, part of the gift you give us,
is your word.
Your word is not just nice sayings and truths that we can gain from.
Your word is life itself.
It is your word.
It is your word, your love letter to us,
to remind us of who you are,
and all that you've done.
So, Lord Jesus,
would you pour out your spirit?
Would you come
and anoint me
in a way that
when all is said and done,
we will have actually heard
not words from a man,
but words from you.
Come Holy Spirit.
Would you speak to us
and lead us
into truth.
We pray
in the great name of our Savior,
our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
You know, last week,
we witnessed,
when we looked at the baptism of Jesus,
we probably looked at the high point,
that glory point,
in many ways,
of Jesus' ministry.
It was his very first public act.
It was the entrance into this,
now,
three or so years of ministry.
And it was glorious
because we saw in his baptism
that
as he went into baptism
and identified himself with us,
he came up,
heard the Father
speak audibly to him
with the descent
of the Holy Spirit upon him
in the form of a dove.
And he heard
that glorious declaration,
you are my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased.
I mean,
it just doesn't get
any better than that.
But,
as that is the high point,
it also means
it's probably downhill from there.
And immediately,
we know that,
you know,
from our own experience,
we go to these great retreats,
you'll hear this sermon
and you'll be on such a spiritual high
that you just can't stand it,
but then walk out of here
and reality of life returns.
And that's kind of the way it is.
It's the way it was with Jesus
because now,
from this high point,
he goes straight to the wilderness.
And from glory,
he now enters into
a period of very real struggle.
And this struggle,
this period that he's going to enter
into the wilderness,
I think is extremely instructive for us.
But I will also tell you,
it is very intricately connected
to what just happened
at Jesus' baptism.
So we can't forget that.
Because now that he enters
into the wilderness,
everything he heard
at that baptism,
from heaven,
from his father,
is going to be put to the test.
And as it is with Jesus,
so it will be for us.
So Jesus enters the wilderness.
And there are three things,
again,
that I think we need to draw
from this text.
And because of time,
we're not going to be able to go through
and analyze all the temptations individually.
But there's something major
going on here
in this period.
And the first thing we need to see
is the normalcy
of the wilderness.
Secondly,
we are going to see
the challenge
of the wilderness.
then finally,
we're going to see victory
in the wilderness.
So let's look at the normalcy
and the necessity
of the wilderness.
Two things.
Immediately as you read this,
I don't know if it struck you
as a little odd
or different,
but if you notice,
in verse 1,
you know,
right after the baptism,
you know,
we've gone through the genealogy,
but this is immediately followed
the baptism,
the Holy Spirit
is descended upon Jesus.
And,
verse 1,
and Jesus,
full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan
and was led
by the Spirit
into the wilderness.
In the wilderness.
It was not the devil
that led Jesus
in the wilderness.
It wasn't the devil
that took Jesus
to the wilderness.
it was the Holy Spirit.
Now,
I don't know
if that strikes you
as odd,
but
that is an important
piece of information.
First off,
the wilderness,
the whole idea
of the wilderness,
it runs all the way
through Scripture.
This is one of those
paradigms
that describes
so much
of our experience
and our relationship
with God.
And here,
when he's talking
about a wilderness,
he's talking about
the area there
close to the Jordan,
and there,
if you've ever been
to the Middle East,
it is hot,
it is dry,
it is barren,
it is desolate,
it is a hard place
to say the least.
And so,
in many ways,
the wilderness,
what the biblical
writers do
is they use
the wilderness,
this picture
of wilderness
to really describe
what life is like
for God's people
here
and now.
I mean,
our world
is not
the way
it was
at the beginning,
it's not
the way
it's going
to be
in the future,
but we have
this here
and now,
this middle,
and for us,
that's really
the wilderness
because it's here.
You know,
I love that song,
Satisfied,
because it calls us
to Christ
as the only one
who can satisfy,
but it also tells us
if you read through
the verses
of that song,
that in this life
and in this world,
we hunger,
we are thirsty,
we keep running
to things
to try to satisfy
those things
in our heart
and we can't find them
and we keep coming up
empty
and so this world
is really
the wilderness
and it's hard,
it's a place
of struggle
and it might be,
you know,
that hardness
might come from
just the regular
brokenness of life,
it might come
from your own
sinful doings,
it might come
from pressure
from the world
simply because we are
the people of God,
but regardless,
it will come,
it is hard
and it's normal
and this
strikes
at the core
of what is
often termed
the prosperity
gospel.
Now,
the prosperity
gospel,
we can make fun
of those
prosperity gospel
preachers
a lot,
you'll see the memes
on Facebook
with Joel Osteen
and some of those
others
because they're
just preaching
this happy,
clappy gospel
and if you're
close to God
everything's going
to be great,
you're going
to prosper
here and now
materially,
relationally,
physically,
in every way
and we can
very easily
dismiss that
as that's just
not good theology,
it's not true
and so we don't
fall prey to it
because we're
good Presbyterians
or do we?
See,
I live
with this
assumption
that life
is supposed
to be good
and I live
with this
assumption,
it's underlying
assumption,
I wouldn't
verbalize
that I really
believe this
but I know
I do
because when
things go
foul,
when life
gets disrupted
or I'm
in a place
where I hurt,
I immediately
think something's
wrong
and the first
place that I
go is that
I want
relief
from that,
I should
get relief,
you know,
God must,
I don't know
what God's
doing,
you know,
you make a
decision,
maybe you
change jobs
or you move
to another
town and
as soon as
you make
that decision
things start
getting mucked
up and
what's your
first thought?
I missed
God's will,
I missed
his leading,
I,
this must
not be where
God wants
me,
because if
I was
where God
wants me,
then it
would have
all gone
smoothly.
Well,
maybe,
maybe not.
You know,
in the height
of intimacy
with Jesus,
that Jesus
had,
in the height
of intimacy
with his
father,
the very
height,
he's led
by the
Holy Spirit
into an
extremely
difficult
place.
And it's
normal.
The Christian
life,
on this
side of
glory,
is the
wilderness.
And we
should not
be surprised.
And I
think a lot
can be said
too about
how we
should be
parenting our
children and
preparing them
for this.
God's will
for them
may not
be total
self-fulfillment.
Or that
they experience
everything this
world has to
offer.
Or that
life is just
the fullest.
And sometimes
I think we are
communicating,
we're preaching
to our kids
the prosperity
gospel.
people.
And when
trouble comes,
they're not
prepared.
This world,
on this
side of
glory,
the wilderness,
is normal.
It's not
an aberration.
It's normal.
You know,
even Jesus,
you know,
the second
thing,
that's the first
thing we need
to see about
the wilderness
here,
is that it's
normal.
But secondly,
it's necessary.
Hebrews 5,
verse 8,
there's this
really interesting
statement about
Jesus himself,
the perfect man.
And it says,
although he was
a son,
he learned
obedience
through what
he suffered.
Now,
again,
that sounds
a little odd.
Why would
somebody who
is perfect
have to
learn
obedience?
Well,
it's necessary
for him
because
obedience
is not
real
obedience
until
it is put
to the test.
Real faith,
real obedience
comes through
the test.
engineers,
and you
guys know
this,
most of
the people
in this
room are
engineers.
And you
know that
when you
get on
your computers,
you guys
are building
some incredible
things.
I'm just
amazed at
some of the
projects you're
involved with.
You get on
and you build
these launch
systems,
you know,
for space
travel or
this really
cool aircraft,
aircraft,
and on the
computer,
man,
it's looking
great,
and then you
go from
that,
you build
these models
and they
are cool.
You build
it,
you finally
get to the
place where
you put
one together
and it's
all there
and sitting
on the
runway.
This is
one mean
machine.
But you
know you're
not finished
because you
have no idea
if this
design is
really going
to hold
up.
And so
what you
do,
you put
it through
testing that
pushes it to
the ultimate
limits of
what its
capabilities are
because only
then do you
know it
can be
trusted.
And,
you know,
the wilderness
is our
stress test.
for a
believer to
live his
life at
ease with
everything
given to
him in a
life of
comfort and
so forth,
his faithfulness
to God in
that position
is a good
thing.
but,
let's compare
it to
somebody else
who's just
gone through
a battle
of cancer,
they've lost
a child,
maybe they've
lost their
jobs,
maybe they're
being persecuted
by friends
at school
because their
value system
is so contrary
to anybody
else's,
and they go
through all
this stress
and then
they still
say at
the end,
God is
faithful and
good,
whose faith
are you going
to say is
the most
genuine?
You see,
the wilderness
is necessary
for us.
It's not
necessary for
God to
figure out
if our
faith is
genuine.
He already
knows.
But it's
necessary for
us.
Because it
proves whether
faith is
there or not.
You know,
some of you
might say
at some point
you get in
one of those
stressful
situations
and maybe
you don't
respond really
well.
Maybe the
words that
come out of
your mouth
are pretty
ugly or
you just
kind of
flip out.
And you
say to
those who
may have
witnessed it,
oh, I'm
sorry, I
just wasn't
myself.
that, you
know.
I actually
think in
those situations
we are far
more ourselves
than we are
when everything
is under
control.
When we
went to
overseas,
we were
told ahead
of time as
we were
moving our
whole family
to East
Central
Europe,
we were
told this
great truth
and I
found it
to be
true on
every
level.
Moving to
the mission
field is
like pouring
miracle grow
on all of
your sin.
That should
encourage you
to go to
the missions.
Go missions.
It's
great.
But what
happens when
you get into
these foreign
cultures,
you deal with
a foreign
language,
you deal
with all
this stuff,
all of a
sudden all
those props
that you
used to
have to
hold life
together
don't work
anymore.
And so
your true
support,
the things
that you
really do
trust,
come to
the surface,
they fail,
and now we
see what
you're really
like.
That would
never happen
outside of
the stress
test.
We don't
see the
reality of
faith while
we're relaxing
on the
sofa.
that.
So,
will your
Heavenly
Father lead
you intentionally
to a hard
place?
Absolutely.
Cheer up.
Is it because
He's trying to
crush you?
Absolutely
not.
What He is
trying to do
is to crush
what is false.
To bring to
life what is
true.
And the
wilderness is
the necessary
place for
that.
So,
that's that
normalcy and
the necessity
of this
wilderness.
We can't
escape it.
It is where
we live.
But now we
see the
challenge in
the wilderness.
How does
really the
stress come
on Jesus?
in this
account,
we're not
only given
again that
reality of
the wilderness,
but we're
also given
insight into
the nature
of how the
challenges are
going to
come.
And this
is vital
for us.
And we
have to
remember the
context.
Remember what
has Jesus
just experienced?
He's just
experienced this
great moment
with the
Spirit and
the Father
and His
Sonship.
His
identity as
the beloved
Son in
whom the
Father is
well-pleased
is front
and center.
And now
as He
enters into
the wilderness,
that
is what
is going
to be
tested.
You know,
He gets
out into
the wilderness
and then
immediately
He's been
there for
40 days
and the
enemy comes
to Him
and says
what?
If
you are
the Son
of God.
If
He's
trying to
bring doubt
by
showing Him
the hardness
of the
wilderness
and He
says this
to Jesus
twice.
In the
first temptation
the way
that Luke
arranges them
in the
first one
and then
in the
last one.
Both of
those He
begins by
saying if
you are
the Son.
Well,
in the
middle one
it's
interesting
because He
challenges them.
He takes
them to a
place and
shows Him
all the
kingdoms
of the
world.
But if
we read
back in
Psalm 2
verses 7
and 8
hear these
words.
It said,
I will
tell of
the
decree
the
Lord
said to
me
you
are
my
son
today
I
have
begotten
you
ask of
me
and I
will make
the nations
your
heritage
and the
ends of
the earth
your
possession.
I mean
look at
this.
There's the
declaration.
It sounds
so familiar
from what we
just heard
back in
Luke 3.
And Satan
is confronting
Jesus.
He's
confronting
that promise.
And he's
confronting
his
true
identity.
And he's
saying
that the
hardness
of the
wilderness
is saying
that obviously
you've got
it wrong.
So here's
the crucial
issue for us
as we battle
against sin.
If you're
going to
defeat sin
you've got
to fight
the right
thing.
You've got
to fight
the right
enemy.
And I
think too
often when
we get
into battle
with our
sin
we see
it as
our behavior.
What I
need to
do is I
need to
fight this
bad behavior.
I need to
fight to
gain a
little bit
more self
control.
I need
more
determination
simply to
bring myself
into line
with all
of this
biblical
rules and
regulations
and values
and so
forth.
The problem
is that's
not where
the enemy
comes to
do battle.
He's doing
battle at
the very
core of
who we
are and
what we
believe.
You know
if I am
battling
sexual sin
or if I'm
battling an
addiction to
something or
if I'm
battling an
anxiety issue
or I can't
control my
temper or
any of
that at
the heart
of it
the issue
is
not
how much
self-control
I have
I mean
that is
part of
it
but the
biggest
issue
is
what
do I
believe
about
God?
Is
he
good?
Does
he
love
me?
Is
his promise
sure?
God
that's
where
the
challenge
is
you
know
one of
my great
lifelong
struggles
I think
is my
reliance
on
material
resources
to give
me a
sense of
peace
and rest
in life
when I
pull up
the computer
and quicken
and I look
at all the
numbers
and the
numbers
of the
bank
accounts
and the
credit
cards
and all
that
stuff
when there's
a lot
of red
on that
page
I
get
terribly
anxious
fear
and I
feel
like
this
security
that I
trust
this
foundation
under my
feet
is no
longer
there
and I
become
very
vulnerable
and so
at that
point
then
I get
really
uptight
I get
stressed
and I'm
just not
very fun
to be
around
so how
do you
fight
that kind
of
anxiety
how do
you fight
those kind
of fears
and that
kind of
dependence
on
material
well I
could
go back
to all the
scriptures
and said
be generous
and give
all your
money away
or I
could go
memorize all
those scriptures
that say
fear not
is it
going to
work
afraid
not
because
that's not
the issue
is
that
this is
what the
enemy
basically
says
at that
point
he says
you
are
alone
it's
all up
to you
you can
live here
in this
hardship
and struggle
and you're
going to
you know
get to
retirement
and you're
going to
not have
any money
and you're
going to
be stuck
in some
old
people's
home
and nobody's
going to
come see
you
is that
what you
want
or
you can
take
shortcut
you can
fudge
here
just
not
give
as
much
there
you
can
do
all
these
things
and that
will
sure
make
all
those
numbers
on the
computer
screen
black
instead
of red
and some
of those
things you'd
really like
to get
you could
but he
says
you're
all alone
and it's
all up
to you
that's
the lie
and he
offers
a shortcut
and this
is exactly
what
enemy
does
to
Jesus
has been
out in
the
wilderness
he's
been out
there
for 40
days
and he
has not
eaten
and I
think
it's
such
an
understatement
where Luke
writes
and he
got
hungry
yeah
I'm
dying
after
24
hours
I
cannot
imagine
going
a month
and a
half
and he
calls
Jesus
attention
to his
suffering
and he
said hey
you can
end this
right now
you've
got the
power
just
come in
that stone
will become
bread
and this
will all
be over
you get
relief
that's
the
reasoning
a son
should not
suffer
like this
if
God
were
good
and
you
were so
precious
then
you
should
not
be in
pain
let's
fix
this
because
obviously
God
is not
there
so
it's
up to
you
you know
the second
temptation
is the
same
it's a
little bit
different
he's now
here
he's not
just
tempting
him to
bring
relief
in his
momentary
hunger
but he's
now
attempting
him
for
power
and
control
and
he
basically
says
Jesus
you don't
have to
go
this
route
that
you're
on
you
can
get
out
of
this
suffering
you
don't
have
to
go
down
this
path
to
Jerusalem
I
know
where
you're
going
we
can
skip
all
that
just
I
can
give
you
everything
obviously
you're
alone
out
here
God
has
abandoned
you
the
third
temptation
is the
same
says
if you
are the
son
throw
yourself
off the
top
of this
temple
and
it'll
be
glorious
forget
the cross
forget
the humility
forget
the
suffering
forget
all
of
that
just
throw
yourself
down
you
got
the
scriptures
here
that
support
you
just
in
everything
the
temptation
is
if
you're
suffering
God
obviously
doesn't
love
you
if
you're
if
you're
in
the
hard
place
and
you're
experiencing
pain
you're
obviously
not
the
beloved
son
in whom
the
father
is
well
pleased
so
take
the
shortcut
get
relief
and
this
is
what
he
says
to
us
when
we're
tempted
sexually
when
we're
tempted
materially
when
we're
tempted
in
every
way
at
the
core
of
it
is
this
are
you
a
son
are
you
serious
is
God
good
are
his
promises
sure
are
you
the
beloved
and
here
is
where
we
need
to
remember
that
if
we
are
in
Jesus
we
are
God
and
the
wilderness
is
doing
nothing
to
compromise
that
thirdly
and here's
the good
news
of all
this
we do
see
victory
in the
wilderness
and
Jesus
brings
it
you know
one of the
obvious
things about
this
passage
is that
we might
overlook
that
Jesus
wins
in
all
of
these
temptations
and
then
we
see
that
great
verse
in
verse
14
where
it
says
and
the
spirit
leads
him
back
out
of
the
wilderness
into
Galilee
Jesus
wins
the
victory
and
he
does
so
contrary
to
what
God's
people
have
done
up
until
now
throughout
all
the
centuries
as
they
live
through
the
wilderness
God's
people
have
been
there
every
time
things
got
hard
they
ran
and
left
and
they
went
to
other
gods
they
went
to
other
sources
they
took
shortcuts
to
cut
short
the
pain
to
bring
relief
but
where
they
failed
Jesus
succeeds
and
again
this
is so
important
because
we
are
talking
about
our
identity
in
Christ
because
we
identified
with
him
he
with
us
in
his
baptism
he
came
and
embraced
our
brokenness
our
sin
he
was
baptized
of
saying
I'm
one
with
you
that's
mine
I'm
going
to
take
it
so
we
are
identified
with
Christ
in
that
and
then
we
also
saw
that
as
he
comes
up
and
the
father
declares
his
sonship
we
were
there
too
in
that
joyful
passionate
loving
dance
of the
trinity
there
with
the
spirit
and
the
father
and
the
son
that's
what
we're
brought
into
that
is
our
identity
and
now
here
in
the
wilderness
it's
the
same
thing
Jesus
wins
the
battle
and
I
do
too
because
I'm
in
Christ
you
know
if it's
left up
to
me
I
wouldn't
have a
whole
lot
of
hope
of
being
a
son
because
far
too
often
my
hope
of
being
a
son
a
son
in
whom
his
father
delights
a
son
in
whom
the
father
is
well
pleased
I
base
so
much
of
that
hope
on
how
I
perform
in
my
faith
and
if
that's
what
it's
based
on
I
have
a
little
hope
and
I
bet
you
do
too
but
that's
not
where
our
hope
is
because
Jesus
succeeded
Jesus
won
the
battle
this
is
what
Christ
does
for
me
I
am
in
Christ
my
sin
was
taken
in
Christ
I
am
declared
the
son
in
Christ
and
now
I
have
victory
in
Christ
he
wins
the
battle
and
I'm
there
in
him
and
when
he
wins
I
win
and
now
in
Christ
I
can
say
even
though
in this
wilderness
my
performance
is
much
to be
desired
I
win
I
win
I
win
now
is
this
going
to
encourage
us
to
say
well
that's
the case
I can
just
run
off
and
do
whatever
I
want
whatever
I
want
to
do
I
don't
have
to
obey
because
I'm
in
Christ
he's
already
won
it's
okay
I
don't
think
that's
where we're
going to
go
because
of this
I
used
to
have
a dog
that I
used
to
is the
key word
here
that I
really
struggled
with
and what
I'm about
to say
is probably
going to
make all
you pet
owners
terribly
angry
with
me
but
I
have
improved
I
have
changed
I
don't
have
a
pet
anymore
well
this
dog
that we
had
was not
the most
obedient
and part
of the
reason
was I
didn't
train
him
very
well
though
I
don't
think
this
dog
was
going
to
do
very
well
even
being
trained
but
he
would
get
out
of
the
yard
sometimes
and
sometimes
he'd
get
out
of
the
yard
at
the
most
inappropriate
moments
you're
getting
ready
to
leave
you're
loading
up
the
kids
you've
got
to
go
somewhere
and
there
goes
the
dog
making
his
beeline
around
the
neighborhood
and
there
is
no
way
you're
going
to
go
catch
him
because
even
in
my
prime
I
was
not
as
fast
as
my
dog
and
so
I
just
got
angry
you
run
in
you
grab
that
newspaper
roll
it
up
and
imagine
what
you're
going
to
do
with
it
when
you
ever
got
your
hands
on
the
dog
and
funny
thing
is
I
could
never
get
my
hands
on
the
dog
when
I
had
that
newspaper
funny
thing
now
why
wouldn't
the
dog
come
to
me
well
I
got
smart
and
put
the
newspaper
away
and
I
got
down
on
my
knees
and
stretched
out
my
hands
and
the
dog
came
running
to
me
imagine
that
imagine
what
fear
does
if
we
think
that
God
is
not
pleased
and
that
if
we
fail
he's
just
going
to
whack
us
around
to
beat
some
sense
into
us
but
too
often
that's
what
we
think
he
is
we
forget
the
fact
that
we're
sons
beloved
sons
in
whom
he
is
pleased
and
so
now
the
father
he
simply
gets
down
and
stretches
out
his
arms
it's
a day
come
and
when we
begin to
comprehend
that
depth
of our
sonship
oh
we'll
come
there's
no
question
because
we're
out here
in the
wilderness
and
it's
not
working
for
us
but
we
are
sons
we
are
daughters
we
are
the
beloved
we
are
pleasing
in
his
sight
and
he
simply
says
come
I
am
your
identity
I
am
your
victory
I
am
your
hope
come
and
so
if we
are in
Christ
this is
our
hope
if
you're
not
in
Christ
you're
alone
you
have
no
such
identity
you
have
no
such
hope
all
you
have
is
yourself
and
how's
it
working
for
you
Christ
says
come
to
me
all
you
who
are
weary
and
heavy
laden
I
will
give
you
rest
come
to
Christ
who
gives
us
our
identity
and
our
hope
and
our
victory
in
this
barren
world
let's
pray
together
father
we thank
you for
hope
we thank
you for
Christ
now
help us
to believe
help us
to believe
that it
could
actually
be
true
help us
to believe
that it
could be
true
for us
help us
to believe
that your
love
is
unfailing
that your
delight
is
unfading
and the
stamp
that you
have placed
upon us
can never
be erased
help us
to believe
and if
there
is
someone
here
who
has
yet
to
grasp
that
would
you
by that
great
work
of your
Holy
Spirit
open
the
blinds
open
the
curtains
and let
light
into
the
darkness
that
they
can
behold
the
glory
of
our
Savior
our
Lord
Jesus
Amen
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