He Overcame For Us

These are the notes from Impact on February 17, 2010.

Luke 4:1-13
Being Tempted: Jesus’ Example to Us

As we have moved through Luke’s Gospel, many principles have been shown to us. We have seen the faith of ordinary people and how God used them to do extraordinary things. Also, we have seen the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers as it leads us to the truth of God and the purpose He has for our lives. Last week we looked at where Jesus was and where He was going. Now Luke’s Gospel shifts the focus totally on Jesus and His ministry. Just after Jesus is baptized and publicly begins His earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert. Tonight we are going to look at why Jesus was tempted, how He was tempted, and what that means for us.

1. Why Jesus Was Tempted (vv.1-3,13) – There are many reasons why Jesus faces temptations, but do not think that Jesus was only tempted during this time. One of Satan’s missions was to tempt Christ all throughout His ministry. He even saw Satan influencing Peter’s thoughts and words in Matthew 16:23. Jesus did undergo temptation. Remember that He was a human too and faced the very things we face. One reason that Jesus was tempted was to show us this, but this is not the primary reason. Question: Who really initiates this encounter between Jesus and the devil? In verse one we see that Jesus was led by the Spirit to go to the wilderness. He was also led to fast and become hungry. This was not an accidental encounter. This was a declaration of Jesus’ mission to conquer the evil in the world. This was a move of offense, not defense. How amazing is that? Not only was this a declaration of good versus evil, but it was a way for us to see that Jesus indeed conquered all sin and endured all sin. Hebrews 2:17-18 and 4:16-18 shows us that Jesus endured the temptations in Luke 4 and all throughout His life in order to be a Savior and Priest who knows what it is like to suffer. Because He overcame, we can overcome through Him.

2. How Jesus Was Tempted (vv.4-12) – Satan temped Jesus in three ways that we see here. While each temptation has differing circumstances, all of them share common elements. What the devil is trying to do is lead Jesus to use His divine power against what Jesus as part of His divine plan. This is heart of all temptation: placing God below us, or, trying to become God. Adam and Eve fell to this in Genesis 3:1-6. We all fall to this when we give in to temptation. When we sin, we are saying, “No God, I want to do this and not what you want.” Praise God that Jesus Christ endured the temptation of sin for His glory and our salvation. The response of Jesus gives us insight to how to deal with temptations as well. We will probably never be tempted like Jesus was, but the strategy is effective all the same.

3. How We Can Face Temptation (vv. 4-12) – If we examine Jesus’ encounter with Satan, we can see a few important principles for us to adopt in order to not fall victim to temptation. First we see the very clear knowledge that Jesus has of the Scriptures. The Word of God is such a powerful tool for our lives. Not only can it be used to guide us to the truth in regards to temptation, but It also guides us to the truth in all of our life. Question: Do you ever just feel lost in life without any meaning? The Scripture can change your heart! It really can. Jesus uses Scripture to combat Satan’s lies, but Satan also uses Scripture to create a lie. Notice is the not the Scripture on its own that false but the way the devil twists it into a false context. We see another principle in Jesus’ response. Not only does He know what Scripture say but He knows what it really means. We should not only read the Bible, but we should also learn what it says correctly. Ignorance is a powerful tool that the enemy uses to guide people into lies. Also important to notice is the strong connection between Jesus with the Holy Spirit. If we are to be successful in resisting temptation, our personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit must be close. The power to overcome is found in the Trinity and not ourselves. Question: If Jesus went into the desert to face temptation and the devil head on, should we? The answer is no we should not. Our pride will often lead us to think that we can just take on the devil if we know enough Scripture, but we must remember that Jesus was man AND God. In fact the Bible teaches us to not be on the offensive but on the defensive. Ephesians 6:10-18 tells us about the Armor of God which is all defensive in nature except for the Sword of the Spirit, the Scriptures. Even then, as we see Jesus use it, it is more of a defensive weapon. Verse 10 also tells us to be strong in the power of God, not our own power. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:9 and James writes in James 4:7 says to resist the devil. We are not taught to go seeking a fight. In Acts 19:11-20 we see the story of the seven sons of Sceva who tried to take on an evil Spirit and were beaten up! This is a huge difference between Christianity and Islam. Islam teaches to confront enemies and even kill them, but Jesus taught to pray for your enemies and foretold of capture. It was in these times of capture that the Holy Spirit would move and change lives. It all comes down to this. We must remember that this is all about God and His Kingdom. We when start to think we are the biggest part of the puzzle, pride takes over and destroys. Question: Why do we want to resist temptation? Why would we even want to bother with it all? The reason we should want to live a life in Christ’s example is because He is so worthy of it. He loved us enough to live a life that resisted every temptation so we could be made right with God. Should not we want to do the best we can for Him and His glory? Do we not want to change lives like He changed ours? We can never do that if we cannot commit our lives to Him.

Discussion/Application Questions
1. How do you deal with temptation? Do you try to fight under your own power?
2. Do you really know God and the love He has for you?
3. What are things in your life that are a strong temptation for you? Are you willing to do what it takes to overcome them for Christ’s sake?