Luke 4:1,2 Why Jesus was Tempted ?

A)Today we are going to look at one of the most radical, one of the most

1. the personal confrontation between Jesus Christ and Satan.

2. Because temptation is something that all of us deal w/ & this is such a radical time in the life of Christ

1. We are going to spend two weeks looking at it .

3. Today - we are going to focus on the When /the Where & the Why of the temptation.

1. When - Jesus was/ Where took place / Why Jesus was / Next week focus on Satan’s attack & How Jesus over came the temptations.

A) It was after His Baptism.

3. The Baptism of Jesus was a high moment in the life of Jesus up to that point . It was the Beg. Of His Ministry

1. And there He was anointed by the Spirit - and attested by the Father

4. Now this is good for us to note that the high times in our lives are often followed by hard times / triumphant times - troubling times
5. Haven’t you noticed that after - retreat or conf. Or some place where you experienced a great spiritual victory or the Lord really met you

1. That those times are often followed by times of great attack.

One of the great truths of life, is that after every victory comes temptation.

1. In 1 Cor. 10:12 God’s Word warns, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall"

2. See it is In those times of spiritual victory & renewal we can fall into the trap of thinking we really have it together / really spiritual

1. In doing so we open the door for spiritual pride to set in & we lose our perspective. - we drop our guard -thinking not a problem

Well They not only saw one, they ran into it.

They jumped out of the rented Land Rover and ran over to the kangaroo. It was just lying there on the roadway without moving. So They took some pictures. Then one guy had the idea that it would be funny if he put his expensive Gucci jacket on the animal and took its picture. So he did. Just after he got the coat on the limp kangaroo and stepped back to take a picture, the creature revived and hopped away so fast he couldn't catch it.

So Somewhere in the Australia outback is a fashionably dressed kangaroo. He wears a Gucci jacket, and in the pocket are the keys to a Land Rover and the team's credit card.

In the same way that the Italian sailors made a false assumption about the kangaroo, Christians often wrongly assume that we have victory over a sin that we've been struggling with. That sin may seem to be dead, but when we least expect it, temptation can come to life. Take Heed !!!!!!

B) it is a very barren desolate area, & temperatures often times get up to

120, 125 degrees,

3. Nowhere in Palestine could Jesus have been more isolated or in less comfort - than there .

4. Now I find this incredibly comforting that our Lord Jesus knows what it is like to be in the wilderness. / In the desert

1. In a place that is hot desolate & barren.

5. Because I have those times in my own life - times where it seems like the fire is turned up a few notches

1. Times spiritually where - I feel dry - times where my life feels a bit barren. Times where all I see is the desolation & despair

6. Times where things just don’t seem to be going together /

1. All of us go through those wilderness times - encouraging to know that Jesus has been there.

Wilderness times are to make us thirsty - so we cry out

1) So Jesus was tempted in the wilderness

3. Now why would the H.S. lead Jesus into such a place - especially knowing that He was going to be tested by the Devil. 3 reasons

2. 1^st Adam was the perfect man- created by God in the garden of Eden / The first Adam also faced the temptation of Satan.- but the 1^st Adam failed

1. Consider the Contrast between Adam & Jesus: the last Adam

3. The first Adam was in a beautiful garden - Jesus - The last Adam was in a barren forsaken desert

4. The first Adam ate freely of all things except one ( the forbidden fruit )

1. Jesus the last Adam - ate nothing for 40 days

5. The first Adam blew it in the test - he gave into the temptation - plunging all of humanity into a lost & hopeless situation.

1. Jesus the last Adam - came through & was triumphant over every temptation.

6. And In doing so He revealed to us who He is - The one who conquered sin!

Now in James 1:13 - we are told that God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

1. Now because of that many people believe that Jesus was not able to sin in this temptation - because He is God.

2. Others say no because Jesus was a man the possibility of sin existed , but He was able not to sin because of His walk w/ the Father.

1. So which is it ? Was He not able to sin because He was God - or was He able not to sin - because of His relationship w/ the father

3. Let me Answer it in this way. There are Two things that we need to understand about Jesus & His humanity - turn to Phil. Ch. 2

1. 1^st Understand that To say, Christ was in the form of God , is to say that

He existed as one with God. It is an expression of His deity

2. I think we all understand that - it is not talking fashion or shape - but it is talking - the very likeness in every aspect .

1. Jesus was totally God - and it was expressed in His form - when we

1. The word robbery is translated 2 ways in the grk.

4. 1^st A Robbering something unlawfully seized or taken .

1. 2^nd how it is used here - most enlightening A Prize - a treasure to be clutched & retained at all cost.

5. The 2^nd translation is used in this instance - He did not consider His equality w/ God as a treasure to be clutched & retained at all cost.

1. Instead we are told that He made Himself of no reputation which could also be translated - He emptied himself and took the form of a bondservant & came in the likeness of men.

7. Now in the book of Col. 1:15 we are told that Jesus is the express image of the invisible God. ( In the Beg, word .. God / Word became flesh…)

1. Now if that be the case What Part of His God hood did Jesus empty himself of in becoming a man . It was His glory -

8. The glory of God was concealed in the humanity of Jesus. It was hidden

under or with in the physical body that He possessed.

1. Now His glory was re -revealed when He - ascended into Heaven As Paul goes on to tell us there in Phil .

1) That every knee will bow & every tongue confess & …. Lord

2. But while on earth His glory was concealed - as He came in the likeness of men. He looked like a man - he talked like a man

1. - - he ate & drank like a man. He was tempted like man.

3. Yet He was a different kind of man. See We are born w/ a sin nature. Our nature is bent on sinning -

1. When born again we get a new nature & its desire is to please God.

4. Jesus did not have a sin nature - but He did have physical body - He was 100% flesh & blood . 100% Man

1. And in His flesh He felt everything that we feel - hunger - pain - weariness - grief

5. And in His flesh He felt the full weight of this temptation – in fact I believe He encountered it in an even greater way than what we do. More intense

1. Consider this analogy - 10 foot sail boat - sledge hammer

6. Same Hammer to a battle ship - pound on it - Big Dave - hit even harder

the attack on the Battleship is even harder - more severe / more intense

1. It is able to stand because of being stronger stuff.

1. But what was on the inside was much greater - He was God.

2. One of the guys in our fellowship who is a carpenter - been working on repairing a Cruise ship . ( Interesting )

1. Quest. Would you sail on the thing - How is it put together

3. Well through the temptation it is as if the H.S. is saying - here is a ship you can board w/ absolute confidence.
4. Others will fail you / Parents / friends / spouses / Pastors / Presidents - they will all let you down.

1. But there is one who is totally sea worthy - no matter what the enemy throws at Him He will sail on in total victory.

1. To show Him off so to speak

2. Commercials - those who make them - write them are brilliant - 1 or 2 minutes to convince you to purchase their product

1. One of the best - Jeep commercial - / guys on a huge cliff - Mountainous terrain - shooting commercial - Toyota

3. How get our jeep up here - no way it will make it - Helicopter -

1. Guys all go get in a jeep by jeep to leave - ( The point is obvious - it can make it )

4. That is part of the point here - H.S. is illustrating to us that Jesus - He makes it . He is the only one -

1. To Reveal Who He is in our lives / His strength in our weakness
2. True fact that unbelievers are not that impressed by our victories -

When everything is going awesome in your life & you say

1. Praise the Lord God is so Good - their not impressed - especially if their going thru it

3. But when we find ourselves in the fire - when we are going thru it as well - they tend to watch closer . Lets see how they praise the Lord now

1. Watch closer when one of us or a loved one is diagnosed w/ Cancer

4. Watch closer when we lose our jobs - don’t know what is going to happen next -

1. Watch closer when there is a death in the family See their faith now

5. And the Father - allows us to go through those times to grow us up / but also to show us off - by revealing His strength in our lives.

2^nd Reason The H.S. led Jesus into the wilderness was not only to reveal to us Who He was - but also so He could relate to us as we are. Turn Heb. 2

2. Hebrews 4: 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

1) He continues to minister to us / interceding / aiding us

3. Jesus is a Faithful, merciful & perfect High Priest - who can sympathize w/ you in the struggles that you & I go through - Because He has been there.

1. The attack on Him was even more intense because of who He was .

4. He is a perfect High Priest who prays for us & is able to relate to us in the trials & temptations that we go thru.

1. Heb 5 makes this even clearer - turn

1. In this passage we are told something radical about our Lord

1. In v. 7,8 the writer tells us that Jesus was prepared for his High Priestly

27. He learned obedience by things he suffered / Quest.- how could Son

of God learn obedience?

3. It is important to understand this phrase He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

1. He did not need to learn how to obey - but rather He learned what was involved in obedience!

D) As the Son of God He came in human flesh, & He had to experience that which His people would experience - so that he could minister as High Priest

1) No one accuse Him of not being able to understand

5. No one could say - Lord you just don't understand my situation - what I'm going through

A.)Wasn’t He perfect already ? Yes morally / - perfect ministerially - able to perfectly relate to our temptations - our struggles

1.) Our suffering and pain!

B.)Even more so - because the attack on Him was even more radical than the

attack on us - He was going to be faced w/ separation

1. Sweat drops of blood

3. Therefore He is a perfect minister - who is able to perfectly minister to us

& aid us who are being tempted.

Joseph Turner, was an English painter, who invited Charles Kingsley to his studio to see a picture of a storm at sea. It was an incredible painting & , Kingsley was amazed at how realistic it looked . responded -It's so realistic! How did you do it?

The artist replied, "I went to the coast of Holland & talked a fisherman into taking me out to sea in the next storm. Entering his boat as a storm was brewing, I asked him to bind me to the mast. Then he steered his boat into the teeth of the storm.

"The storm raged with such fury that at times I longed to be in the bottom of the boat where the waves would blow over me. I could not, however. I was bound to the mast. Not only did I see the storm in its raging fury, I felt it! It blew into me, as it were, until I became a part of it. After this terrible ordeal, I returned to my studio and painted the picture."

That is what Jesus did for us - He willingly - came in a human body & allowed Himself to go thru the storm - that He might perfectly aid us

1. Lest we forget - Jesus came as a husband to a bride that was so far gone it didn’t recognize Him - Israel

2. He showed love that they didn’t accept - & He laid down His life for them but is still denied even to this day.

3. Parents who would say - Jesus had no kids - how can He relate to me as I struggle w/ my teenager - or my toddler

1. Jesus came as a father - seeking for the Prodical son

4. Oh Jerusalem …. Mother Hen …. But you were not willing

5. Jesus was faced w/ the temptation to get angry to give up / to say forget it I am out of here

1) Instead He learned what was involved in obedience

1. 1st Put His life in hands of Father - not my will but yours!

B)He submitted Himself to the Fathers will -

1. That is what we need to do -

Sinclair Ferguson Only in obedience can we discover the great joy of the will of God.

Andrew Murray What is obedience? Giving up my will to the will of another.

B) So often we get all messed up - fouled up - because we resist placing lives in hands of Father

C) So we don't obey - don't experience rest - instead we experience -

heartache from rebellion!

Jesus submitted to the Fathers will - He trusted in the Fathers word & Plan - That the Father would see Him through

4. Obedience - superceded - personal comfort -

1) Same is true for us !

1. Because of who is living in us - Jesus said In the World you will have Trib. / be of good cheer I have overcome the world.

B) 1 JN 4:4 Greater is He who is in us than He who is in the World.

Guys when we face temptation in the strength of the Lord - realizing that He has over come - by His strength in His might I can stand - Victorious