Luke 4:1-13
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days; and when they had ended, he became hungry. And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'" And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be yours." And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'" And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand 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 give His angels charge 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 and said to him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Message: Obedience in Temptation
Time: Luke, a non-Jew, written in Theophilus, by a physician, is a careful chronological rendering of the events of Christ's life. Luke takes his writing from primary sources - those people who had witnessed the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Luke wrote this probably from 58-60 AD as he accompanied Paul. His second volume was Acts. He writes of salvation to all men.
What the Lord is Saying:
Christ Alone or He alone saves. In this we have studied that Jesus is the God incarnate creator, has a human nature, is the last Adam according to the principle as our Federal Head and that of being in Christ, is the True Israel, Messiah or God's anointed, rescuing or delivering us from the discord between God and Man, and always obeyed His Father and never failed, discharging our debt before God and paying the penalty for our sins. This obedience included baptism. And now this obedience included resisting temptations.
All of Jesus' days He kept the commandments of God. Hebrews 5:8-10 says, "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek."
Paul called Jesus the new Adam, and as we have discussed He is the last Adam. Like Adam, Jesus faced temptations. Adam, in the garden, was tempted by Satan. God had given Adam the command of all that he was in charge of in the garden but not to eat of one tree. Satan came to Adam to tempt him to be like God. The alternative is to trust God.
It is clear and obvious that after not eating, we are at our weakest. In my lifetime, I have only gone without food I can think of, for 1 day. Jesus went without food for 40 days. The danger when facing temptation is to try combat it alone. The model Jesus has given us is to resist it by looking to scripture. God's word is the only thing that can shield us or protect us from temptations that we experience. We must stand on the authority of scripture, as Jesus did. In resisting temptation, Jesus quoted scripture and succeeded where Adam had failed.
Only looking at Jesus' answers is (1) we need food, but we need God to live, (2) we shall worship God and serve Him only, (3) you shall not put God to the test. Take God as He is.
Promise: If we want to grow stronger against sin, we must grow in our understanding of God's Word.
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for helping me return to Your word and rest in it. I need you Jesus and thank you for saving me and saving me alone. You are perfect and lived a perfect life. You paid the penalty I have incurred, discharging my debt before God. Thank you for showing me what it means to be obedient and resist what Satan throws at me and he continues to do this. He continues to try to forge an opening in my life, but keep me closet to You and Your word, reminding me of truths that I need.
Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of May is about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April was about salvation by grace alone; March about the sovereign providence of God; February was about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January was about the doctrine of God.
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