I'm going to snag it.
All right, well, good morning, everyone.
You may be seated.
Yeah, I'm going to do the scripture reading a little bit later.
All right, yeah, so my name is Jeff Kreisel.
I serve as the RUF campus minister at USAPHA.
If you would like to learn more about our ministry at the academy,
please grab me afterwards.
My wife is also on staff.
Raise your hand, Jennifer.
She's on staff.
And then Daniel Sachs, he's one of our volunteers.
He's here as well.
Just grab one of the three of us, and we would love to.
Just tell you about how God is at work at the Air Force Academy.
So this year, I've decided to work through the Gospel of Luke with our students.
And the Gospel of Luke is a uniquely applicable book for college students.
College students that struggle with doubt.
College students who are surrounded by so many reasons to doubt the goodness and the plan of God.
And so we're working through the Gospel of Luke.
And I was kind of struck by Luke's purpose statement that he gives for the entire book.
He says this in chapter 1, verse 3.
It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past,
to write an orderly, detailed account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
which is a name that means lover of God,
so that you may have certainty concerning the things that you have been taught.
Certainty is what Luke is after, because he knows that we, living in a fallen, wrecked world,
will struggle with doubt.
We will struggle to believe with certainty what Christ has accomplished on our behalf.
And this certainty is something that not only skeptical college students need,
it is something that all Christians, from all times, all places,
something that we all need.
We need to experience certainty.
And so the Gospel of Luke was written for people like you and I,
people who struggle with doubt,
people who struggle to experience full certainty
about the events surrounding Christ's life, death, and resurrection.
In Luke's Gospel, it reminds us that experiencing doubt
doesn't mean that you aren't a Christian.
In fact, Luke's Gospel shows us that experiencing doubt
is because we are fallen humans living in a fallen, wrecked, confusing wilderness of a world.
And so the question isn't, do I have doubts?
The question that the Gospel of Luke presents is,
what do I do with them?
What do I do with my doubts?
Do I ignore them?
Do I sweep them under the rug and act as if they don't exist?
Do I downplay them?
Do I distract myself with other things so that I don't have to deal with my doubt?
Do I feed my doubt?
Or do I attempt to identify the root of my doubts
and then I do the hard work of uprooting those doubts
before they cause me to spiral?
Even Martin Luther, the great theologian author during the Reformation,
struggled with doubt.
He said this.
He said,
I cannot stop the birds.
His word for doubts.
I cannot stop the birds from flying around my head,
but I can stop them from making a nest in my hair.
I love that.
Luke's Gospel, it helps us.
It helps prevent doubts from nesting in our head.
It helps prevent doubts from nesting in our hearts.
And so as we look at this passage this morning in Luke 4,
it's particularly relevant given that you guys worked through Isaiah 7 last week.
A prophecy is given about the coming Messiah who would know how to choose right
and how to choose or how to not choose evil or how to refuse what is evil.
And so we see this prophecy in Isaiah 7 that is actually lived out in Luke 4.
When Jesus goes into the wilderness,
he is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where he is tempted for 40 days and 40 nights.
He goes toe-to-toe with Satan himself.
Satan throws all of his best temptations to doubt at Jesus,
and we're going to see how Jesus responds.
The stakes are high.
The stakes are really high in this passage.
If Jesus fails, if he falters, kind of like Adam did back in Genesis 3,
if he falls and Satan's doubts start to nest in his head and in his heart,
the wilderness world in which we live will remain a wilderness world.
But if Jesus succeeds where Adam failed,
then the wilderness will become a paradise that we all get to enjoy for eternity.
Isaiah 7 prophesied that the coming Messiah would know how to refuse evil and to choose good.
And in Luke 4, Jesus is going to show us how to deal with our doubts.
So I invite you all to please stand for the reading of God's word.
Luke 4, verses 1 through 13.
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.
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 worship me, it will all be yours.
And 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.
This is the reading of God's Word.
Let me pray for us.
Heavenly Father,
we live in a wilderness world,
a world in which we are surrounded by so many reasons
why we should doubt your goodness,
and your plan for our lives,
and the reality that we are redeemed
through the redemptive work of Christ.
We pray, Lord,
that we would doubt our doubts this morning,
that we would see Christ more clearly,
and that we would have greater certainty
concerning the things surrounding his life,
death, and resurrection.
We pray all these things in his name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Let me move this a little bit more.
So living in the wilderness is hard,
is it not?
Living in the wilderness is hard,
and it is especially hard
when you are trying to resist
the wilderness's temptations.
When you are trying to resist temptation,
the wilderness is hard.
If you are tempted to lust,
tempted with greed,
tempted with power or control,
maybe you are tempted with self-righteousness
or self-hatred,
you name the temptation.
When you face that temptation in the wilderness,
if you try to resist it,
it is going to be difficult.
Caving is easy.
Fighting temptation is hard.
And the harder that you fight temptation
and refuse to cave,
the better you actually understand
the power of temptation.
C.S. Lewis,
in one of his great writings,
he gave this summary
for how Jesus experienced
the wilderness temptations.
He says this.
He says,
No man knows how bad he is
till he has tried very hard to be good.
A silly idea is current
that good people do not know
what temptation means.
This is an obvious lie.
Only those who try to resist temptation
know how strong it is.
You find out the strength of a wind
by trying to walk against it,
not by lying down.
A man who gives in to temptation
after five minutes
simply does not know
what it would have been like
an hour later.
That is why bad people,
in one sense,
know very little about badness.
They have lived a sheltered life
by always giving in.
We never find out the strength
of the evil impulse inside of us
until we try to fight it.
In Christ,
because he was the only man
who never yielded to temptation,
is also the only man
who knows to the full
what temptation means.
Do you hear what C.S. Lewis
is saying here?
He's saying,
to truly understand
the power and the weightiness
of temptation
and how hard it is to fight it.
You have to fight it
for a long period of time,
and no one knew this better
than Jesus.
Throughout his life,
not just for 40 days
and 40 nights,
Jesus was tempted
in every way
that we are tempted.
We can't even begin
to grasp the depths,
the degree of the temptation
that Jesus experienced,
and the reason why
is because we cave.
When we're walking
against the wind,
we don't like it,
so we lie down.
We end the temptation
before it gets
too hard and heavy.
But Jesus never stopped
walking into the wind.
Every day of his life,
Jesus more than anyone else
knew the power of temptation.
And because he never laid down
when he was faced
with those temptations,
we actually have a Savior
who can resonate with us
when we ourselves are tempted.
This is what the author
of Hebrews brings out.
He says,
For we do not have
a high priest
who is unable
to sympathize
with our weakness,
but one who in every respect
has been tempted
as we are,
yet without sin.
Jesus was fully human,
and he walked
into the wilderness,
and he goes toe-to-toe
with Satan himself,
and he faces
every temptation
that we could ever face,
and he wins.
For 40 days
and 40 nights,
the Holy Spirit
led Jesus
into this wilderness
experience
where he would
be bombarded
by Satan
with all of these reasons
to doubt,
to doubt the character
of God,
to doubt various attributes
of God,
to doubt the very plan
of God
for his life,
and to make things
even harder.
During this entire time,
he fasted.
He fasted for 40 days
and 40 nights,
and the text says
that at the 40-day mark,
he was starving.
He was kind of
at the end of his rope.
He was in really bad shape.
He was probably
close to death
at this point
after 40 days
of fasting.
And so here he is,
he's at his weakest,
and Satan goes
on the attack
for one last attempt,
right,
to get Jesus
to finally lay down,
to get Jesus
to finally cave
to the pressure
and give in
to temptation.
Now imagine going
without food
for one week.
Now imagine
adding five more weeks
to that week.
I can't even fathom
how difficult
this must have been
for him.
I've been watching
the TV show alone
recently.
It's on Netflix
and Hulu.
It's essentially
a survivalist show.
And usually around
the week mark,
they start to think
to themselves,
why am I here?
Why am I doing this?
This is miserable.
And they usually
tap out.
Lower the stakes
even more.
I've been intermittent
fasting over the last
few months,
trying to lose
a few pounds.
And so for every day,
I fast for 16 hours.
So I stop eating
at 9 p.m.
and then I get to eat
again at 1 p.m.
the next day.
And so 16 hours,
I go without food.
And so between 10 and 11 a.m.,
I'll tell you what happens.
Every single day,
my stomach starts to growl
and I start to think,
why am I doing this?
Like I can just eat.
Like I have the power
to go into my kitchen
and open the fridge
and just eat something.
It takes like all
of my willpower
to not cut a corner,
to not cheat my fast,
to end my fast prematurely,
to stick it out every day
and just go 16 hours.
Now imagine 40 days
without food.
And you have no distractions.
Like I can distract myself
when I'm hungry.
I go on a walk.
I listen to a podcast.
I read a book.
I play with my kids.
I can do things
to distract myself
from my hunger.
But in Luke 4,
Satan wouldn't even allow Jesus
to distract himself
for a minute,
for a moment.
His tempting whispers,
they never stop.
He says,
I bet you're really hungry, Jesus.
You don't look good, Jesus.
You look like you're
in really bad shape.
You look like you
might be close to the end,
in fact.
Just satisfy your cravings.
You have the power.
Just turn this rock
into bread.
You know you want to.
You starving
can't be a good thing.
You starving
can't be a purposeful thing.
It would be easy for you
just to break your fast
a day early.
What's a day?
It's only a day.
You've gone 39 days.
Well done.
What's one day?
Stop walking
into the wind
and just lie down.
You see,
while the fasting
for 40 days
was hard,
Jesus knew
that it was purposeful.
And he wasn't motivated
to lose a few pounds
like me.
like Jesus
was motivated
in the wilderness
because he was preparing
for greater suffering.
He was training
and testing his spirit
in preparation
for the next three years
of very difficult
public ministry
that would ultimately
culminate
in the cross.
Now,
if he couldn't resist
temptation
for 40 days
without food,
how was he going
to bear the sins
of the world
as he hung
on a cross?
And so he needed
to go through
this period
of testing
and training.
He was learning
how to rely
on the Holy Spirit
even when he was starving.
He was learning
how to pray
thy will,
not my will
in the wilderness
so that
he could pray
the same prayer
in Gethsemane.
Thy will,
not my will
as he's looking
straight into
the reality
of the cross.
But man,
was he hungry.
I can't imagine
how hungry
he must have been.
So with this temptation,
the first temptation,
it's pretty obvious
what Satan
is up to.
Satan is trying
to get Jesus
to doubt
God's provision,
God's ability
and willingness
to take care
of Jesus'
physical needs.
Now this temptation
worked on Israel
as they were
wandering in the wilderness
for 40 years.
God told the Israelites,
I will be faithful
to my promise
to provide
for your needs.
I will send you
manna from heaven
every single day
to care for you.
But there's one caveat.
God,
you are to only
gather enough
manna for that day
with the exception
of the day
before the Sabbath.
You gather
for two days.
But you are to trust me
that I'm going
to provide for you
even when you're hungry,
even when you're
in the wilderness.
And what did
the Israelites do?
They doubted
God's ability
to provide,
his willingness
to provide,
and they start
hoarding the manna.
Start hoarding it.
But Jesus
was different.
He knew,
as Isaiah 7 says,
how to refuse evil
and how to choose good.
He trusted
that God
was going to be faithful
to his provision,
promise.
He knew
that he didn't have
to take matters
into his own hands.
God was faithful
even while he was
starving
in the wilderness.
but there's more
to this temptation
than simply trusting
God's provision.
The preceding story
in Luke's gospel
flows directly
into this story.
And what happened
directly before
Jesus is led
into the wilderness?
Well,
the Holy Spirit
led Jesus
into the Jordan River
where he was baptized
and the clouds
open,
the skies open,
the heavens open,
and God says,
this is my beloved son.
With him
I am well pleased.
This is the backdrop
of this temptation.
You see,
the deeper temptation
here
was to get Jesus
to doubt
God's pronouncement
at his baptism
which had just occurred.
He's essentially
tempting Jesus
to doubt
that he is God's son,
that he is
loved by God,
that he is
delighted in
by God.
You can hear
Satan's whispers.
Like,
did God actually say
that you are
the son of God?
Did he actually say
that you are
his beloved son?
If that's true,
then why are you starving?
Given your current condition,
it seems as if
God doesn't love you.
In fact,
it would seem
as if God hates you,
that you are his enemy.
Why would he allow you
to starve
if he loves you?
Are you sure
about that?
Are you sure
you're his son?
Are you sure
he loves you?
Are you sure
he's pleased with you,
that he is proud of you?
Maybe he was lying
at your baptism.
Do you see
what Satan is doing here?
He wanted Jesus
to doubt
his very identity
as the Messiah.
He wanted him
to doubt
his identity
as a child of God,
as the son of God.
He wants Jesus
to doubt
God's love for him,
and he wants
Jesus to doubt
that God
is pleased with him.
Satan was casting doubt
on what God
said to be true,
which is what Satan
has been doing
since the very beginning
of time.
Satan casts doubt
on what God
says to be true.
But Jesus
doesn't cave.
Instead,
he responds
to this temptation
by quoting a passage
from Deuteronomy
that the Israelites
so quickly forgot.
He says this,
Man shall not live
by bread alone,
but by every word
that proceeds
from the mouth of God,
including the words
that he just heard
at his baptism.
This is my beloved son.
With him,
I am well pleased.
You see,
Jesus was not only
relying on God's promise
to provide
for his physical needs,
he was also relying
on God's pronouncement
at his baptism
that he was God's son,
that he was loved,
and that he was delighted in.
Now,
if we're being honest
with ourselves,
I think that we're more
like the Israelites
in the wilderness
than Jesus
in the wilderness.
When life throws us
a curveball,
when things get difficult,
we tend to take matters
into our own hands,
and we start to doubt
God's pronouncement
that we are his child,
that he does love us
more than we can imagine,
that he is pleased with us
because of the redemptive work
of Christ applied to us.
We are so quick
to doubt God's word
about us.
While starving,
Jesus reminds us
that God's word
about us,
it never changes.
In God's word,
it can never fail,
it can never falter.
Jesus had no doubt
in his mind
about who he was.
He knew that he was,
in fact,
the son of God.
He knew that he was
loved by God.
He knew that God
was pleased with him.
Why?
Because God said it.
Because God's word
spoke truth.
Truth.
And he believed
God's word.
Even in the wilderness.
So the first temptation
doesn't work.
So Satan moves on
to the second temptation,
and he shifts his tactics.
He is cunning and clever,
and he shifts his tactics.
Instead of focusing
on a lack of food,
Satan now focuses
on a lack of power.
And so he gives Jesus,
he takes Jesus,
like, up,
and he shows him,
like,
a panoramic view
of all of the kingdoms
of the world.
And the text says
that he did this
in a moment.
So clearly something
mysterious is at work.
Something supernatural
is happening here.
He shows Jesus,
in a moment,
every kingdom
on the earth.
And I imagine
this wasn't just
the existing kingdoms,
but every kingdom
throughout all time
and space, right?
And so he probably
showed him
the Greek empire
and the Roman empire
and the Ottoman empire
and the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Maybe the Mongolian empire
was thrown in there.
The British empire.
And yeah,
I think he saw
the United States
of America, right?
He saw all the glory,
all the fame,
all the wealth
that every kingdom
has ever possessed.
And at a time
when he had nothing,
Satan says
it could all be yours.
All of it
could be yours.
Satan was offering Jesus
all the power,
all the glory,
all the wealth,
all the fame
that this world
could offer
in a moment.
And all Jesus had to do
was hit his knees
on the ground.
That's it.
That's all he had to do
was just fall
two to three feet
to the ground
and he would have it all.
You see,
the second temptation,
it seems as if
it's like this simple
temptation
for power
and glory, right?
But like the first temptation,
there's a deeper temptation
at work here.
The real temptation here
is to get Jesus
to doubt God's plan
for redemption,
which includes
Jesus going
through the cross.
Satan's offer
was a much easier route.
It was a much easier route
to get all the glory
and power.
You know,
Satan was essentially
offering Jesus
the same thing
that God the Father
was offering Jesus.
Everything.
And you can question,
you know,
if Satan was actually able
to promise something like this
or to give something
like this,
but the reality is
he's offering it.
Listen,
God's road
for Jesus
was that Jesus
would die for sinners
on a cross
and then he would
get everything.
Satan's offer
is just bow.
no atoning death,
no cross.
This is like
the easy button option.
You can have
the crown
without the cross.
Take it, Jesus.
But here's the thing.
Jesus didn't just come
into our world
and put on flesh
to inherit
earthly fame
and fortune
and glory
and power.
he came
into this world
to get us.
He put on flesh
to make us
his treasured possession,
to make us
a holy nation,
to make us
a kingdom of priests.
He put on flesh
to solve
the problem
of sin
that we can't
solve
on our own.
So there's more
that Jesus
has on his mind
than mere power,
glory,
fame,
and wealth.
above all,
Jesus was motivated
in this wilderness
out of loving obedience
to God's plan.
The atoning cross
on which Jesus
would pay our debt
was part of God's plan.
And Jesus trusted
God's plan
even if
God's plan
meant that he
had to go
through the hardships
of the cross,
that he would have
to suffer.
You see,
if he took
Satan's offer,
he would reject
God's plan.
And if he rejects
God's plan,
he was rejecting
God himself.
Instead,
he was choosing
to worship Satan
and follow Satan's plan
for his life.
But in the wilderness,
Jesus doesn't
hesitate
to reject
the easy button
option.
Isn't that amazing?
Once again,
he quotes a passage
from Deuteronomy
that was so quickly
forgotten
by the Israelites.
He says,
you shall worship
the Lord your God
and him only
shall you serve.
Listen,
sometimes in life,
God's plan
and your plan
may not match up.
Sometimes,
God's plan
may even include
hardship.
It may include
suffering.
I love,
so last week,
I preached from Luke 8
when Jesus
leads them
into the storm
only to calm it.
Like,
so clearly,
like,
sometimes Jesus
will lead you
into hardship
to humble you,
maybe to prepare you
for greater hardship
to come,
or maybe he's leading you
into hardship
to reveal
the goodness
of Christ
and the power
of Christ
to get you
through the storm.
easy button options
will be offered.
I want a promotion.
I want it desperately,
but am I willing
to work on Sundays
to get it?
Or how about this one?
I really want
to buy that new car
that I've been eyeballing
all these years,
but am I willing
to stop giving
to a missionary
or to a local charity
to get it?
Jesus answered,
no.
Or how about this one?
I want to enjoy
like a nice,
restful day
just sitting on my couch
watching football,
but am I willing
to ignore my neighbor
whose mom
just passed away
to get it?
Jesus answered,
no.
He refused
to take
the easy button
option
even though
it was presented
to him
on a silver platter.
All you have to do
is hit your knees
on the ground,
two to three feet.
Jesus said no
to the quick fix
and he said yes
to the cross
because he firmly
believed
that God knew
what he was doing,
leading him there.
All right,
so two temptations
down,
one to go.
And once again,
Satan shifts tactics.
So twice,
Jesus has bested Satan
by quoting scripture.
And so what does Satan do
with a third temptation?
Well,
he uses scripture
as part of his final temptation
to best Jesus.
And so he takes Jesus
to the roof
of the Jerusalem temple.
It was probably
somewhere around
550 feet.
And so yes,
if you fell
from that height,
you would die
instantly.
he takes him
to the top
and he says,
I see what you've been doing
all these 40 days.
You have been using scripture
to best me.
Well,
I know my Bible
as well.
So Jesus,
please turn with me
to Psalm 91.
Because here,
God promised
that he was going
to protect his Messiah
from danger.
It says right here,
it says right here
that God will catch
his Messiah
if he falls.
So if you are the Messiah,
then jump.
Jump.
Let's see what happens.
What's the worst
that could happen?
God catches you?
Cool.
Then you prove
that you are the Messiah.
You see,
once again,
it seems like Satan
is simply tempting Jesus
to doubt God's ability
to protect him.
But once again,
there's more going on
with this third temptation.
In this one,
Satan is tempting Jesus
to doubt God's presence.
He takes Jesus
to the temple,
which is where,
like,
God's concentrated presence
was found.
And he essentially says,
if God is present
anywhere on the earth,
it's right here
on the temple.
This is where he dwells.
He is present,
right?
Do you believe
that he's with you?
His presence
implies his ability
to protect,
does it not?
And once again,
Jesus doesn't bite.
Why doesn't he bite?
Because he trusts God
at his word.
He didn't need
to test God's presence
because God said
that he would always
be with him.
If God said it,
he will do it.
His word cannot fail.
His word is power.
His word is the sword
of the spirit
that cuts down
the lies that surround us,
that cuts down doubt
before it can nest
in our hair.
You see,
Jesus shows us
in Luke 4
how to resist
the temptations
to doubt God's,
there's a lot of P's here,
right?
Provision,
God's pronouncement
of who he is,
to doubt God's power,
his plan,
his protection,
and his presence.
When you start
to hear the tempting
whispers to doubt,
your weapon
is the same weapon
that Jesus employed
in the wilderness.
Your weapon
is God's very word.
When you hear the whisper,
you're not actually
a child of God.
We turn to John 1,
verse 12,
and we say,
but to all
who did receive him,
who believed
in his name,
God gave the right
to be called
children of God.
No,
I am a child of God.
Why?
Because God's word
says so.
How about this one?
God won't take care
of you.
You're in a storm.
You're going
through hardship.
He must be mad at you.
He won't take care
of your needs.
Matthew 6, 26,
look at the birds
of the air.
They neither sow
nor reap,
nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them.
Are you not more value
than they?
You're wrong,
whispers.
God does care
about me.
He cares about me
more than I even
could ever believe
myself.
How about this one?
God doesn't love you.
Have you ever heard
that whispered
into your ear?
Maybe after you've
sinned and you feel
the weight of your
guilt and shame,
do you ever
tell yourself
or hear that whisper,
God doesn't love you.
Where do you turn?
Well, how about
Romans 5, verse 8?
God shows his love
for us,
and that while we
were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Yeah, God loves me.
Or how about this?
God hasn't redeemed you.
You still have debt
to pay.
Isaiah 43, verse 1.
Fear not,
for I have redeemed you.
I have called you
by name.
You are mine.
No, God knows my name.
He has redeemed me.
And so those doubts
can get behind me.
You see,
this is why Jesus came.
This is why we
celebrate Christmas.
Jesus came to fulfill
God's word
because we could not.
Jesus came to lead us
through the wilderness
because he's the only one
who went through
the wilderness unscathed.
There's no one better
to lead us through it.
He came to live
a perfectly righteous life
to give us
his righteousness.
He came to empower us
to pray,
thy will,
not my will,
even in hardship,
even when we're suffering,
even when we're facing
the greatest of storms.
He came to defeat
the devil
for people
who just lay down
when it starts
to get windy.
You know,
at the beginning
of the Bible,
this is an interesting
parallel.
Adam faced
temptation
in paradise
and through
his failure,
he cast
humanity
into a spiritual
wilderness.
Jesus faced
temptation
in a spiritual
wilderness
and through
his victory
he secured
for us
the eternal
restoration
of paradise.
Amen.
Let me pray for us.
Heavenly Father,
we thank you
that you are
a good and gracious
God who is with us,
who is for us,
who loves us more
than we could even
begin to realize.
We pray that your
spirit would empower
us to struggle
with temptation,
to push against it,
to walk into the wind
instead of laying down
and taking the easy
button option.
We pray that we would
be the kind of people
who put others
ahead of ourselves,
who love our neighbors,
who pursue them
even when we want
comfort and security.
we pray, Lord,
that you would help us
this Christmas season
to be mindful of the
one who became a servant,
who humbled himself
and suffered on a cross
so that we could receive
his righteousness
and it's through his name.
Amen.