Jesus' Preparation for Ministry

The Temptation of Jesus

A family had a big evening planned so the mom told her young son, ''You don't have time to go swimming in the pond this afternoon. I need you to be clean and dry when I am ready to go.'' As the time drew near to leave the little boy was nowhere to be found. The mother went down to the pond and sure enough there her young son was swimming. She made him get out of the water and called him over to her and said, ''Son, didn't I tell you not to go swimming?'' He said, ''Momma, I didn't mean to but the devil tempted me and caused me to go swimming?'' She looked down at her son who was wearing and bathing suit and asked, ''What are you doing with your bathing suit on then if the devil tempted you?'' He said, ''Oh, I brought that along just in case I was tempted!''

Jesus had just been baptized by his cousin John. God has just pronounced him who Jesus was.

That must have been something right?

English Standard Version Chapter 3

The Baptism of Jesus

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus is baptized and when he is done with that we are told that he is led by the Holy Spirit, Luke tells us that He is full of the Holy Spirit and is led into a season of temptation.

Keep in mind that it has just been revealed that Jesus is God’s beloved Son with whom He is pleased. That must have been something for Jesus.

At this point, the Holy Spirit in Jesus leads him into the wilderness for fasting and to try and figure out what kind of ministry this is going to be. And for temptation.

Luke 4:1–15 ESV

1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ” 9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

This story is a holy story in that it had to have come directly from the lips of Jesus Himself. There was no one else there. So there must have been a point when He was talking with the disciples and telling them about this thing that happened to him.

After His baptism. Jesus begins to walk in the truth of what God has said about Him. He is the Son of God and Jesus goes to prepare for Ministry through a period of fasting for 40 days.

Jesus begins to walk in the truth of what God has said about Him. He is the Son of God and Jesus goes to prepare for Ministry through a period of fasting for 40 days.

He is thinking and praying and trying to understand the problem of how to win these people over to God. And we see that after he wrestles with this in the wilderness that he was in that he decides how he will and how he will not use his power.

The problem of figuring out how to win these people over to God. And we see that after he wrestles in this wilderness that he was in that he decides how he will and how he will not use his power.

Now, Satan knows that Jesus has power, Satan knows that Jesus has different abilities and so he is trying to exploit them by trying to tempt Jesus into using those powers.

So we know that Jesus has been fasting for 40 days. It is certainly possible for people to fast for 40 days, it isn’t an impossibility by any means.

But it is interesting that the Scripture says after the 40 days he was hungry, and Satan shows up. So lets understand what is going on here.

And it is really interesting.

Jesus, has been named the son of God at the baptism, and then He goes to be alone and he fasts and he prays and when He hits the point when he is hungry (this doesn’t mean that he wasn’t hungry on day 2, it means that this was the worst point.

At this point the devil shows up. Understand this, that there certainly is a devil. The devil is not a made up fairy tale. Nor is the devil the little guy in the red onesie with the pitchfork and the tail. No, Satan is real, and he is evil to the core. He wants to kill and destroy God’s people and there is no good in him.

He seeks out Jesus in this temptation. Just waiting for Him. And understand this, Satan is at the core trying to get Jesus to prove that He is the Son of God. As if Jesus were feeling insecure about that.

Listen, this is the moment when Jesus is probably physically most vulnerable up to this point in his life. He is hungry, he is weak and he is being presented with doubts as to who He is. If you really are the son of God..

Temptation 1

We see the same thing from the garden with Adam and Eve in .

When the serpent came to Eve and said, not that there is no God, no , he was trying to get Eve to think that she couldn’t trust God. God wasn’t true to His Word, you can’t trust God is what he was saying. Did God really say you couldn’t eat from any tree? You will not die! God is hiding something from you.

Temptation 1

Temptation 1

Luke 4:3 ESV

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Luke 4

The place where Jesus was was not a desert, there were stones in this valley, limestone that looked just like loaves of bread, they are still there today I imagine. And for a person who hasn’t eaten in 40 days I am sure that it was tempting to do that.

And remember that this is a legitimate need. We need to eat! Jesus needed to eat but he knew what the devil was doing…

There is more to life than surviving. There is more to life than just getting by. Living, eating, working and sleeping. There is so much more than that.

There are probably two things going on here. Every one of these temptations the devil has for Jesus is the basic temptation he has for us.

Turn stones into bread. (Win people with material things, bribe them.

That is the basic temptation that the devil has for all of us. Not necessarily that there isn’t a God, that isn’t what the devil is saying. The devil is saying, can you really trust God with what HE said? Is He really trustworthy? Can you really trust God? Is He holding out on you?

We see the same thing from the garden with Adam and Eve in .

When the serpent came to Eve and said, not that there is no God, no, he was trying to get Eve to think that she couldn’t trust God. God wasn’t true to His Word, you can’t trust God is what he was saying. Did God really say you couldn’t eat from any tree? You will not die! God is hiding something from you Eve!

For Jesus the question is “If you really are the Son of God… prove it. Prove it by turning this stone into bread.

Isn’t it funny that the devil uses the same method of temptation for Jesus that he did for Eve in the garden. Both had to do with food. With eating. Now I don’t want to spend too much time on this but I think it is really interesting. I know that this is an area where so many people cannot say no to. You see something scrumptious in front of you and you cannot help but to want to take it even if you aren’t hungry.

And so Jesus is the second Adam. He is man, the way man is supposed to be when it comes to obeying God. He is the example Jesus was going to be obedient where Adam was not.

He is saying, God says not to live by bread alone and I am going to obey that. I will obey what God says. I am not going to perform a miracle for my own convenience, I am going to obey God.

Jesus was out in the wilderness and yes he was hungry. But what Jesus was doing for those days was trying to understand what kind of ministry he was going to have.

How am I going to win these people for the Lord? Satan tempted him to win them over with material things, bribe them.

Satan tempted him to win them over with material things, bribe them.

Jesus answers with Scripture. Whatever does not agree with Scripture does not come from God. That means.

Love this.

Luke 4:4 ESV

4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”

Now understand that Jesus is quoting

And this is so awesome because of the connection with the Israelites in the desert after they were freed from slavery.

Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV

3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Deuteron

He is saying essentially that we don’t need

Temptation 2

Luke 4:5–7 ESV

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

This is the Temptation to Compromise.

Temptation to Compromise.

Compromising with the standards of this world. We see this often. Satan takes Jesus to a high place and offers him all the kingdoms of the world if he would only worship Satan.

Satan would hand over all the governments, all the power that entails.

If we look at what the devil is saying here we would see that it looks legitimate. Legitimate in that if all the kingdoms of the world belonged to Jesus than he could set up the perfect government for people. The world would be a wonderful place. His power would be more powerful than the Roman government which had amazing power at the time.

Now in the back of your mind you might be asking. How could Satan, the devil say that he has all these kingdoms to give away? Who is he that he can do this?

You see, Satan has been given the Kingdoms of the world, for a time. For a time.

John 12:31 ESV

31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

John 12:31

But this would be Jesus turning his back on his calling. Jesus had a specific calling that pointed to the cross.

Again, Jesus quotes scripture in verse 8

Luke 4:8 ESV

8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”

He is quoting and he is not taking the easy road. That would be a short cut. If he took over all the governments of the world he would be able to establish heaven on earth but it would be at the price of worshiping Satan.

Deuteronomy 6:13 ESV

13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.

Deuteronomy

That is not why Jesus came.

We can find ourselves in many situations where we have an opportunity to take a short cut. Maybe it has to do with cheating to get your way to the top. Maybe you have to tell a lie, or to do something that is against the rules in order to have position and status.

That is worshiping your own desires above worshiping God. Jesus is saying that we should be worshiping God only.

Temptation 3

Luke 4:9–11 ESV

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

Satan is telling Jesus to do something sensational to prove that you are Gods son and to win people. Do Miracles! Prove yourself Jesus! See if you are actually who God says you are. See if He really claims you as His son.

Look! Satan even uses Scripture to try and egg Jesus on. Uses the words of God to try to convince Jesus to do something that would be wrong. But he is trying to get Scripture to say what he wants it to say, not what it actually says.

And you need to understand this. There are people who will use the words of God and will try to twist those words to say what they want to say. To try to get people to act in a way that isn’t according to the will of God.

That is where you will get cults. That is where you will get people who will use violence and try to use the Word of God by taking it out of context. Satan does exactly the same thing.

Listen, Satan has no power except to suggest. He has no real power over us. He can’t throw Jesus down, he says “Throw yourself down”. He cannot make Jesus do anything, he can’t make us do anything. That old saying “the devil made me do it” is nonsense. We have been given power to say no. Remember..

And

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

But again, finally Jesus answers again with Scripture.

Luke 4:12–13 ESV

12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Jesus knew where his power came from. He doesn’t need to prove himself. He is the epitome of confidence in His God.

Jesus spent all those 40 days in the wilderness preparing. He was preparing for what kind of ministry he would have. He was also preparing for the temptations that would come before Him.

He spent 40 days in the wilderness. His Jewish ancestors spent forty years in the desert. I am wondering if he thought about them. The wandering in the desert. The trials and tribulations that they would have experienced?

After all, whenever Jesus answered Satan, he did it with Scripture. And not just any Scripture. Each time Jesus answered the devil He used the book of Deuteronomy which was the book that describes the giving of the law to the people while they were in the desert wilderness.

But he probably really thought about those stories and he probably dwelled on those quotes from Scripture which prepared him to face the devil in these temptations.

How are we preparing ourselves for the temptations that face us? Are you preparing? Because there is nothing better to prepare you for the rough roads ahead then through Scripture.

And understand this,

1 Temptations are custom. They are custom. What I mean by that is that the temptations you face are custom made for you, tailor made for you. The temptations I face are custom made for me. That’s a little scary isn’t it? To think that the things that you struggle with consistently are things that the devil is just working on getting on you.

Jesus had his own temptations that the devil had for him. Satan tempted Jesus with Jesus things, supernatural things. Tempting Jesus to use his powers to gratify himself instead of what his mission was. Trying to make Jesus doubt who He really was. To make him feel insecure. Prove yourself Jesus. Prove yourself!

Satan knows you, he knows how you struggle, he knows how you are wired and he will always tempt you with the things that you struggle with.

Satan would never tempt me or you to turn stones into bread or to jump off of a high place. But Jesus really could have. He had to resist that temptation. He was prepared to resist that temptation.

And so He is the picture of what we can do. He resisted the temptation and we can resist it.

2 We can resist temptation. We really can resist temptation. You can resist temptation. There is nothing stopping you from that.

Remember that Satan or any demonic force cannot force you to do anything. God has given you the ability to say no. God has made sure that you do not have to give into any temptation.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians and how did he resist it? Through Scripture.

He provides a way out. Do you know how that works? Do you know the secret to saying no? How did he resist it? Because it does take an effort. We can resist temptation.

3 We can resist temptation through Scripture. Through scripture. Knowing the words of God prepare you for saying no to temptation. Jesus knew how to defeat Satan’s temptation.

He was ready for that test. Remember studying for tests? Some of the students that are in here today say, “yes, I did that this week”. Well remember that when you know a test is coming what do you do? You study!

You study the material that you are going to be tested on and you get yourself ready.

I cannot tell you how important is it is to be in the word of God. You would be amazed if you took time to read it how it can immediately and automatically apply to your life! Its crazy! And there is no better preparation for the the temptations that are coming your way. Because they are coming.

One of the main things that Satan was trying to do to Jesus was to get Jesus to question who He was. Was he really the son of God?

Jesus wouldn’t have it. Jesus knew who He was in regards to His Father. He knew His father loved him, and he wasn’t going to let Satan tell him otherwise.

It is the same with you and with me.

One of those things that Satan wants to tell you is that you don’t belong to the Lord. He wants to tell you that God doesn’t love you. He wants to try to convince you that you aren’t really a Christian, that you really haven’t done everything you need to do. He will try to convince you that since you haven’t felt anything for a while that something must be wrong with your relationship with God.

We can be sure of who we are in Christ. No matter how much Satan wants to convince you otherwise. When you belong to Christ you belong!

And if you never have given your life over to Jesus you have the opportunity to do that. All you do is recognize who Jesus is. He is the Son of God, who was born of the virgin Mary.

Believe that He is the Son of God, that He died and rose from the grace 3 days later and lives forever. Recognize that you need a savior, that you cannot do this life on your own.

Saying, yes God, I need you. I surrender my life to you. I belong to you. If you have ever done that then the Holy Spirit comes into your life and the word says that He will never leave you or forsake you. You belong to Him and there is no temptation that can better you. You have all you need to say no to that temptation.