Jesus the Fighter

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 4

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around 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 had ended, He became hungry.

3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.’ ”

5 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of bthe world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

7 “Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ”

9 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand 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,

SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ”

13 When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Luke 4:14

Introduction

Welcome to the first Spring Fountain Church Retreat.

From what I know, all of us have lived a quite busy life before coming here.

Some of you have graduated, and for most of us, our semesters are over, meaning you all had a heavy set of responsibilities.

Our home, the Bay Area has been changing at a fast pace, and the city is becoming overpopulated,

I hope all of us can find the next few days as an opportunity to have our lives charged, ready to live our regular lives filled with the Spirit of God.

I’m going to ask you two main questions, and take some time to picture the answers best you can in your mind.

What did your life look like before you came here?

Busy? Stressful? Restless? Was it peaceful? What made you happy? What made you sad? What made you angry? Where was God in your life? Did you feel his presence each day?

What was your life purpose?

What will your life look like when you go back home?

Vacation? Time-off? Binge on entertainment? Summer-programs? Traveling? Summer school? Work? Will you be happy, sad, angry, frustrated, peaceful?

How will it be different than when you first came?

In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the first question asks, “What is the chief end of man?” Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Have you been glorifying God in your life? Have you been enjoying him everyday, even in the most stressful moments, or when other good things came up in life?

How can you glorify God in your life?

Do you know how?

What does it look like?

Do you have to pray for five hours everyday? Read 10 chapters of the Bible each day?

In today’s passage, Jesus glorifies God in perfectness as a man, and we can see how we, as humans can glorify God.

Jesus defeated all the temptations of Satan and glorified God by reflecting his treasuring of God as the most precious being.

We must take note, that Jesus’ temptation was directly after the Baptism of Jesus. When John the Baptist was baptizing people with water, Jesus insisted that he be baptized by John. When Jesus was baptized, the “Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” ().

Luke 4

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness

2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil.

He was full of what? The Holy Spirit, and who led him to the wilderness? the wilderness. For how long? For 40 days!

Without the Holy Spirit, you cannot glorify God.

Holy Spirit

13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you

When you believe and receive Jesus Christ that he is the Son of God, and has been raised from the dead, you will become the child of God, and the Holy Spirit will enter you. (; Corinthians 3:16)

But even if you have the Holy Spirit, you need be “Filled with the Spirit”. ()

What happens when you are full of the Holy Spirit?

Let’s see what happened to Jesus who was most and completely filled with the Holy Spirit.

In His greatest physical needs, Jesus depended on God as the source of Life.

How many days can a man live without food? Reports say that after 45 days, deaths can occur.

In the greatest physical need to live, Jesus depended His life on God, more than food.

Jesus didn’t eat for 40 days. His physical body was near death, and as we know, the body cannot survive without food.

And the devil comes to tempt him, saying “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

But Jesus answers, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone’”.

It was Adam and Eve, desiring

Was Satan wrong? No! Jesus is the Son of God, and he has the powers to turn stone into bread, he is the Creator!

Then why does Jesus answer him this way?

It is because, living for oneself, apart from the relationship with God, is a self-centered life.

Is it wrong to eat? Not at all, what is at stake, is when a person longs to eat without ever wanting God. This is Sin.

God is our source of life, and only he can truly sustain and satisfy our lives.

Jesus knew this, and denied his own physical needs. It’s not that he was God and didn’t actually need food. Remember how he died helplessly on the cross?

He denied even his physical needs when His need for the relationship with God was at stake.

I asked you some questions before, and the reason I asked was to help you think, “What am I living for?”

All the things you do, working, going to school, studying, preparing for a good career, having a great family, home, car, financial income, and reputation.

Why do you do it? If God is not in the picture, you are in Sin.

So How can you then live for God? You must repent for your desires to be like God, depending on your own power.

Learn to say, “Without God, I am nothing, and I have nothing”

Trust that God is the only source of life.

Jesus did not give His worship to anyone but God, and gave up his own glory for God's.

It is quite interesting how the devil tempts Jesus the second time. He brings him to a high place, where far distance could be seen, and offered him the world.

I mean, didn’t Jesus create the world, and own it already? Doesn’t Satan know this? Why would he offer him the world, when it is so plain that Jesus is the owner?

To answer this question, we first need to ask, why did Jesus come in the flesh in the first place? Why was he tempted at all?

The answer is easy when we look at ourselves.

If we look into the deeper motives of our heart, all of us have the desire to be glorified, instead of God being glorified.

That’s why when people make you mad, you hate them. Because you want to be the higher being than them.

When nobody likes you, you seek attention, because you want everyone to like you, as if you were God.

When others don’t go by your rules, that frustrates and angers you, because you want to be the standard for the world.

You want certain people in your lives to love you with all their heart, mind and soul, even if that means they don’t love God.

You see, we are sinners, because we desire to “be like God”. ()

Jesus didn’t have to come as a man. He didn’t have to go through the 40 days of temptations, he was already perfect.

But He knew that You, being in your dead spirit, would die in sin.

So he came and bore all the temptations that you face daily, the desire to be like God.

Satan was telling Jesus, look at the world! You can have it all! All the pleasures, wealth, fame. Everyone will love you, everyone will worship you, everyone will like you, and everyone will follow your law.

Isn’t that what we live for every day?

But Jesus tells Satan, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ”

Jesus defeated the temptation by proclaiming that only God deserves our worship and service.

We are not Gods, so we must always acknowledge and confess that God is the only one to worshipped and served, not me.

Jesus died and resurrected for one thing, that all of you would turn from your sin and Worship the True and Living God.

So when you find yourselves wanting to be God, Worship the Lord your God and Serve Him Only

In the moment of being challenged for his faith, Jesus turned His will to trust God instead of testing Him.

The last temptation of the devil was simple. He told Jesus to throw himself down a cliff, testing God’s promise. He even quotes the Bible!

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,

SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

Jesus responds by saying, “It is said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ”

There are many times when we misquote the Bible, and we are lost in our faith because we have God’s Word, but do not know how to use it.

What Satan was telling Jesus to do is, “The Bible promises these things, so make it happen in your own will, at your own time.”

We must know that, the Bible is not just an ancient texts with super powers

It is the very Words of God. And everything will happen by God’s will at His Time.

When the devil tempts you, to test God of His Will or his Powers, do not give him a foot!

To test God is to deny

God is a personal being that has a plan, and nothing goes outside of it.

When things don’t go your way, when certain persons don’t treat you the way you want.

For you to test God, is to say “I will use God’s power for my own Will and good”

Instead we must learn to trust His Will, His Timing, His Plans.

God says

Jesus did this perfectly.

He was the Son of God. He was God (). But to cover for your sins, your desires to be like God, Jesus was tempted just as all of you and I are tempted daily.

Ins

He could have thrown himself down if he wanted to, and it would not have been a problem, because He is God.

He glorified God through trusting the Father, and not testing Him.

But he didn’t

So shall we, glorify God, when we have the desires to question, challenge, or test God, by denying ourselves like Jesus did, and lifting up the Father.

Jesus defeated all the temptations of Satan and glorified God by reflecting his treasuring of God as the most precious being.

Jesus perfected the Law that condemns us sinners to death, that God will be glorified in the world through justifying and sanctifying us.

What will your life look like when you return?

Will you live the same life filled with you following your desires to be like God?

Turn to Jesus today, for he has covered your sins. And glorify God by being filled with the Holy Spirit.