Be Still and Know part 4

Luke 4:1-4

pray

It is this verse where we left off.

We have been going through an examination of the purpose of the wilderness.

There are times when it may feel like we are going through a wilderness trial.

But there is purpose in what the Lord is doing, even in such times.

This morning we are going to look at how Jesus overcame the trial of His time in the wilderness.

Luke 4:1–2 NIV

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 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.

Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days.

During this time He did not eat.

After this 40 days is when the devil appeared attempting to tempt Jesus.

The devil appears when Jesus was at His most vulnerable from the human perspective.

When His body and mind were weak from enduring the trial.

Luke 4:1-2- Why does the Lord give us this detail?

Because often we are faced with temptation in our time of weakness.

When we are not paying attention to our walk

When we are overwhelmed by the circumstances of the trail.

This detail is included in Scripture so that we can be warned.

The term temp in this case can be thought of as both negative but also positive.

In the negative sense, temptation is the entiecement of the enmey to try to pull us away from submission to the authority of God.

In the case with Jesus, the devil was attempting to cause Jesus to lose focus of His purpose.

We are going to talk about each temptation, but in a general sense the lesson we can get is that we must diligently remain focused on the Lord.

We need to seek Him out to help us overcome anything that is attempting to distract us from following His lead.

This temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, in the positive sense alludes back to what we talked about a few weeks ago in 1 Peter and other places.

1 Peter 1:6-7- Testing proves our faith.

The Lord woks to deliver us through trials in an effort to build us up.

To help us remember that we are in covenant with Almighty God,

And we can overcome by His authority in our lives.

Testing of our faith encourages us to know that we can trust Jesus because He is faithful.

We will talk more about why Jesus went into the wilderness later.

But for now we are going to look at how Jesus addressed each trial.

Luke 4:3–4 NIV

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

As I said, the devil approached Jesus when He was vulnerable in the human sense.

When He was hungry and weak.

The devil attacks us often in the same manner, when we are weak from a trial and in need.

God gives us this detail to help defend us against the attacks of the enemy.

If we can be aware of the enemies tactics, then we have the power of the wisdom of God to overcome.

Through His protection.

God does not leave us without hope of defense.

He gives us the capacity to trust in Him.

To fend off the attacks of the enemy.

Through His presence and protection in our lives.

When the devil approaches Jesus, he is attempting to cause Jesus to misuse His power.

Jesus came to bring Salvation to those who desperately need Him.

Throughout the ministry of Jesus, He used His authority in the earth to address the needs of others.

Helping them to come to a place where they can recieve Jesus as Savior.

But in this case, the devil is trying to cause Jesus to use His power to benefit Himself.

The devil is trying to tempt Jesus into proving Himself.

If you are the Son of God, well then prove it.

Focus on yourself and use what was meant to bring hope to others, in order to benefit yourself.

The temptation levied against Jesus is to use His ability to benefit Himself.

The enemy is attempting to entice Jesus to misuse His power.

To use His ability to alter His purpose.

The application for us:

We can be tempted to use the grace of God to build ourselves up rather than giving thanks to the Lord and serving others.

This is pride.

We have talked about this.

We can be tempted to use the grace of the Lord,

The gifts that He pours forth to benefit the self.

We can be tempted to look at faith as a means to gain something rather than to help us focus on Jesus.

Jesus did not use his ability to alter his purpose.

This would be misusing His power.

We are given this example for our own understanding.

We also cannot misuse our gifts to get what we want or to alter our purpose as directed by God.

We are given gifts for the glory of God.

To equip us to follow.

To accomplish His will.

To walk in our purpose so that we are able to achieve the things He sets before us.

God does not equip us so that we can use the gifts to bring glory to ourselves.

Jesus refutes this temptation by quoting Scripture.

Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:2-3

Deuteronomy 8:2–3 NASB95

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Jesus quotes this Scripture because it obviously very closely relates to what He was enduring.

Israel was in the midst of the wilderness.

Enduring a trial.

And the Lord watched over them.

The Lord led the people to a place where they had no other hope but in God.

The desolation of the wilderness was meant to help the people look to the source of hope.

The desolation of the wilderness humbled the people.

It caused them to look to the Lord for help.

Jesus quotes this Scripture to remind all of us of our source of help.

Look to the Lord.

Our hope is found in Jesus.

Depend on the Lord.

We are to seek out His will.

Not our own.

We are to seek to accomplish His purpose not our own.

We are to use the gifts as a testimony of the Gospel of grace.

We are a living witness of the great things He has done and will continue to do.

As we follow.

Acknowledge the God is the source of hope.

Benediction: Micah 7:7

Micah 7:7 NASB95

But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.