Jesus leads the way

-Giving- The box, and why.

(Tell the people where we will be reading from today) and version (NLT) how to find that in the Bible app.

-Where is the Lord leading with this series? (More sensitive to his leading)

PRAY!! ——————————————————————————————-

-Set the scene, John preaching in the Judean wilderness, He is preaching a baptism of repentance.

-Jesus had not as of yet entered his public ministry

Matthew 3:13-17 4: 1-11

13Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 

14But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”

15But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him.

16After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.  17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.

2For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

3During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

4But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,‘People do not live by bread alone,but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’  ”

5Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 

6and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,‘He will order his angels to protect you.And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

7Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

8Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  9“I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’  ”

11Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Jesus is baptized – in obedience.

-What is contained here in these verses is I believe the most amazing pictures of obedience in all of scripture

-Jesus comes to John to be baptized and John is trying to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?”

-These two, John and Jesus are first cousins and so there is a relationship here and a knowledge on the part of John that is either prophetic, or first hand or both. (meaning).

-So John is saying to Jesus I need to be baptized by YOU!

-Remember Johns baptism is of repentance (“Prepare the way for the Lord”) and Jesus has no need of repentance.

-Jesus says something here that has inspired quite a lot of deep theological thought over the millennia sense he said it

-Jesus says “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” The King James says here “to fulfill all righteousness.”

-Jesus the sinless savior steps into obedience and leads the way to repentance

-He points to his death on the cross

-He validates the ministry of John

-As the last Adam Jesus must fulfill all obedience to the father

-As the first Adam failed in disobedience Jesus has to fulfill all righteousness to become the spotless lamb that takes away the sin of the whole world.

-Jesus is not going to leave anything undone, He wont go around anything, He will go through everything to be the template, to be the model.

-So you see not only so He can die but so we can live!

-John is convinced and agrees

-Can you picture this the sinless man Jesus, but he is not just man he is God in the flesh, identifying with his very own creation, The very ones he came to save.

-(Describe the scene)

-The heavens are opened. Humanity could not go to God so God came to us.

-Isiah 64:1 says “Oh that you would burst from the heavens and come down!” this is exactly what happened.

-And the Spirit came down out of heaven like a dove and settled on Jesus

-This served more than one purpose. in John 1: 31-34 John testifies that God told him the one who the spirit rests on like a dove is the messiah

-And the one who will baptize with the Holy spirit.

-Gods voice thunders from heaven, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

-All three Persons of the Godhead are acting distinctly and simultaneously. The Son is baptized, the Spirit descends, and the Father speaks.

-It is difficult to find a more vivid biblical picture of the Trinity: one God, three distinct Persons, acting together in perfect unity.

Jesus is obedience incarnate

-Jesus shows us what a Spirit-led life actually looks like, and it looks like submission, self-denial, obedience, and dependence on God.

-What is especially powerful is the sequence. Jesus is baptized, the Spirit descends upon Him, the Father affirms Him, and then the very next thing the Spirit does is lead Him into the wilderness.

Luke 4:1 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,

-Can you see it, Jesus Full of the Holy Spirit? (elaborate)

-Having been affirmed as the Messiah the Lamb of God at his baptism

-He doesn’t go to the nearest town to preach

-He doesn’t call disciples

-He doesn’t perform one miracle

-The Bible says, “He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.”

-That means being led by the Spirit does not always mean being led somewhere comfortable.

-The Spirit led Jesus directly into a place of hunger, isolation, testing, and confrontation with Satan.

-Jesus didn’t merely endure the wilderness; He submitted Himself to the Father’s will through the Spirit’s leading.

Being led by the Spirit means surrendering control.

-Luke intentionally says Jesus was both “full of the Holy Spirit” and “led by the Spirit.”

-Filling and leading belong together. We often want the Spirit’s power without the Spirit’s direction.

-When we submit to the Spirit He will lead us to some places we don't want to go

-Do we still want the Spirits leading when He is leading us into discomfort?

-Jesus demonstrates the opposite: And follows directly into isolation discomfort and testing

The Spirit led Jesus into battle with the flesh.

-The Spirit led Jesus to the showdown!

-Jesus is God in the ...… flesh. Even Jesus has to deny the flesh.

-Forty days without food means His physical appetites were screaming.

-Then Satan’s first temptation directly targeted His appetite: “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

-The temptation wasn't about the bread, it was about submission

-It was “use your power to satisfy the desires of the flesh.” The extraordinary hunger he was experiencing

- “But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures say, “People do not live by bread alone.”

-Jesus had the power to make bread, but having the power to do something does not mean we should.

-If Jesus would have eaten one bite he would have missed it.

The Spirit-led life requires saying no to legitimate appetites

(some of my experiences with the Spirit) Medicine, Food, Over eating, How i speak, How i hunt!

-There was nothing sinful about Jesus being hungry. Bread was not sinful. Eating was not sinful.

-But satisfying that hunger outside the Father’s will would have violated His submission.

-The flesh does not have to want something sinful in order to pull us away from the Spirit

-Sometimes my flesh simply wants something good, right now, on on my terms.

-I’m not teaching on fasting this morning, but in the Spirit led life we won’t go far without it

-Nothing shows us our spiritual weakness like our physical hunger.`

-I have failed at this more than once.

-Thank God for my sake Jesus didn’t fail!

-“Fasting is not punishing the body; it is teaching the body that it is not in charge.”

Galatians 5:24 crucify the flesh

Spirit led power operates through dependence

-Satan repeatedly tempts Jesus to prove Himself, exalt Himself, protect Himself, and satisfy Himself.

-“Turn the stone to bread.”

-“Worship me and receive the kingdoms.”

-“Jump from the Temple and make God rescue you.”

-Every temptation is, in some form, an invitation to step outside submission.

-And every answer Jesus gives effectively says:

-“I will remain under the authority of my Father.”

-Get out of here Satan! lol

-This is Jesus teaching Spirit led living

The wilderness is the proving ground

-People often think:

- “If God is with me, why am I here?”

-“If I’m being led by God, why is this difficult?”

-“If the Spirit is working in my life, why am I being tested?”

-But Jesus was exactly where the Spirit led Him to be.

-The wilderness wasn’t evidence that God had abandoned Jesus. It was part of God’s preparation of Jesus.

-And notice what happens afterward.

-Luke 4:14 (NLT): “Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power.”

-He enters the wilderness full of the Spirit and comes out in the power of the Spirit.

-The Spirit filled Him at the Jordan.
The Spirit led Him into the wilderness.
The Spirit sustained Him through temptation.
And Jesus emerged in the power of the Spirit.

-(How amazing)

-A Spirit-led life is not a life where I ask the Holy Spirit to follow me. Even Jesus followed Him (how much more should I)

-It is a life where I surrender myself, my will to follow Him

-Even when He leads me somewhere my flesh does not want to go.