Jesus Tempted

LUKE — LESSON 4

Scriptures for this lesson are taken from: Luke 4, Genesis 3, John 3, Romans 5, Revelation1, Psalm 91, Exodus 17, Exodus 20, Isaiah 61.

In Lesson 3 we studied about Jesus going to the Temple when He was 12, talking to the scribes about the Old Covenant scriptures. Then when Jesus was grown He went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him visibly in the form of a dove. His baptism was a necessary step for Him as He began His ministry. Jesus was the Son of God in human form. But the Spirit of God came to dwell with Him in a special way to help Him fulfill His mission to be the sacrifice for man’s sin. Now here in Luke chapter 4, Jesus will take another necessary step toward His mission.

[Luke 4:1-2] (1) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, (2) where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

We are told here by Luke that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to go into the wilderness area so that He could be tempted by Satan. Jesus was sinless, so why did He have to be tempted by Satan? The simplest answer is that as humans we are tempted by Satan all the time encouraging us to sin. In order for Jesus to be the sacrifice for the sins of mankind he would have to be tempted and not sin. He had to be the sinless sacrifice. For a deeper look let’s go to Genesis:

[Genesis 3:4-6] “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Sin interred the world through the first man and his mate. Because of their sin they were driven out of the glorious garden where they had plenty of food growing naturally, no enemies, just a glorious easy life where they could walk with and communicate with God. God does not look upon sin so they and all mankind after them were separated from God.

[John 3:16-17] (16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

God’s only begotten Son is Jesus Christ who came to earth as a man and suffered and died to save the world.

[Romans 5:18-19] (18) Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. (19) For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

[Luke 4: 3-4] (3) The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” (4) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

Jesus is quoting a passage from Deuteronomy 8:2-3: (2) Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (3) He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

This is the first temptation that Luke told us about. Jesus had been praying and fasting for many days and He was hungry. Why would Satan tempt him to make bread from a stone? Satan made the statement that if Jesus was the Son of God, He could turn the rocks into bread. This passage from Deuteronomy 8 shows that God humbled and tested the Israelites to see if they would keep His commandments and sent manna from heaven to feed them for the forty years that they wondered in the wilderness area. So Satan was testing Jesus to try to get Him put His need for food above His desire to follow God’s will. Jesus knew the scriptures and responded to Satan’s testing with this quote that basically says that obeying God is more important than bread to eat. Satan wanted Jesus to make something, anything more important to Him than God.

[Luke 4:5-7] (5) The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. (6) And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. (7) If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Being a King with all the earth under His power and control is what is in the future for the Son of God. But Satan was tempting Jesus by offering Him this power and position without going to the cross and suffering for the sins of all mankind. It was God’s plan and God’s will that His Son would suffer and die and if Satan could convince Jesus to bypass God’s will and take what was His by the power of Satan, then He would have sinned and there would be no redemption for man.

[Revelation 1:4-6] (4) John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, (5) and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, (6) and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

This passage is taken from John’s message to the churches established by Paul in Asia Minor and Greece. John states here that Jesus is the ruler of all the kings of the earth; Satan has been defeated.

[Luke 4:8] Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'”

Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy:

[Deuteronomy 6:13] Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Jesus knows the Old Covenant scriptures and He refutes the devil by using God’s Word.

[Exodus 20:3] You shall have no other gods before me.

For Jesus to receive the kingdoms of the earth from Satan, He would have to worship him and that would go against God’s commandment to worship no other gods and would be a sin. This quote comes from the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai by God Himself. When Jesus refuted Satan twice by using scripture, Satan tried to tempt Him by using scripture.

[Luke 4:9-11] (9) The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. (10) For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; (11) they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

[Psalms 91:11-12] For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

The Israelites were looking for the Messiah to come. John the Baptist had been preaching to prepare the way, the Messiah is coming. The people believed when the Messiah came, He would raise an army, defeat the Romans and restore Israel to the way it was under King David. They were not looking for a suffering servant Messiah. Satan took Jesus to the top of the temple in Jerusalem and quoted scripture that promised that the angels would protect the Messiah from harm. He was tempting Jesus to jump of the high point in the temple and cause many angels to appear and assist Him. There were always many people around and in the temple praying and worshiping, visiting. These people would see how the angels would save Jesus when He jumped and they would believe that He was the Messiah. The people would accept Him and make Him King. He could become king by being popular with the people rather than dying on the cross.

[Luke 4:12-13] Jesus answered, “It says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Jesus was referring to a passage in Exodus when the Israelites had left Egypt, arrived at Rephidim and there was no water. Remember there were over two-million people plus their livestock that needed water.

[Exodus 17:5-7] (5) The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. (6) I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. (7) And he called the place Massahand Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The people here At Rephidim were questioning Moses whether God was with them or not. If He was there with them, there would be water. They were challenging God, testing God to prove that He was there. Satan was trying to get Jesus to challenge God by jumping off the temple in front of the people so that God would send His angels to save Jesus and the people would all see. Jesus refused to test God, He had absolute faith in God and chose to take the path that His Father had chosen for Him. Jesus once again refuted Satan with scripture. Being tested by Satan, having to draw upon the Holy Spirit within Him, and His knowledge of God’s word, strengthened Jesus and helped to prepare Him for what He would face when He began His ministry to show the Israelites that their long awaited Messiah had come and to establish God’s New Covenant with His people.

[Luke 4:14-17] (14) Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. (15) He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. (16) He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, (17) and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus goes home to Galilee to begin His public ministry. Along the way, Jesus visited in the synagogues and taught the people the meaning of the scriptures, and they praised Him for His teachings. When He arrived home in Nazareth, He again went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as was a custom for the men to do, He stood up to read from the scriptures. He was handed the scroll of Isaiah and He found a particular scripture and began to read:

[Isaiah 61:1-2a] “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the blind, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This passage in Isaiah is about the Messiah. He would be filled with the Spirit of God, would proclaim the news that the Messiah had come, He would bring freedom to those who were captives (prisoners of sin), bring sight to the blind and proclaim that the Messiah had come.

[Luke 4:20-21] (20) Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. (21) He began by saying to them “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Get the picture here, Jesus had stood on the Sabbath in the Synagogue in Nazareth, His home town, He read from the Isaiah scroll, then He carefully re-rolled the scroll, handed it back and quietly sat down. The He said to them very plainly that this scripture in Isaiah had been fulfilled.

[Luke 4:22-27] (22) All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. (23) Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” (24) “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. (25) I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. (26) Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. (27) And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Naaman the Syrian.”

This passage tells us that Jesus had been in Capernaum before He went to Nazareth and had healed people there. The people in Nazerath are asking Jesus to perform miracles like He did in Capernaum. But Jesus can see into their hearts and He knows that they are thinking He is Joseph the carpenter’s son, He grew up here, lets see Him do some miracles. But they had no faith. So Jesus referred to the prophets Elijah and Elisha who were able to raise people from the dead, but they did no miracles in their home towns. Jesus was saying clearly that He would perform no miracles there.

[Luke 4:28-30] (28) All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. (29) They got up, drove him out of the town,and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. (30) But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

The people were so angry because Jesus would not do any miracles that they tried to push Him off a cliff. They tried to kill Jesus there in Nazareth. But they could not touch Him. He just turned and walked through crowd and left.

Lessons from Luke chapter 4:

1. Knowing the scriptures is necessary for a Christian to live their life obeying God.

2. It is more important to obey God than to satisfy the needs of the flesh.

3. Trusting God to take care of our needs is evidence of our faith.

4. Doing things God’s way can prevent a lot of problems in our future.

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