Luke 4:1-13 - Our Identity in Christ: Identity Challenged

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

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Open your Bibles, if you will, to Luke 4.

I'm going to read verses 1 through 14 in this extended study that we are in the middle of, of the Gospel of Luke.

You can follow with me as I read from God's Word of truth.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil.

And he ate nothing during those days.

And when they were ended, he was hungry.

And the devil said to him,

If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.

And Jesus answered him,

It is written, man shall not live by bread alone.

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

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.

If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.

Jesus answered him,

It is written,

You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

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.

For it is written,

He will command his angels concerning you to guard you,

and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.

And Jesus answered him,

It is said,

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

And when the devil had ended every temptation,

he departed from him until an opportune time.

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.

And a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.

Bow with me, if you will, as we pray that God would give us understanding

from this portion of his word.

Lord,

Oh Lord,

we are needy beyond our comprehension,

but we are blessed beyond imagination.

We struggle in this world, but yet you've given us everything.

You give us your spirit, you give us yourself.

You've given us forgiveness, you've given us life.

You've taken away our penalty.

You've come to dwell within us.

Oh Lord Jesus, we thank you for the great truths.

We thank you for who you've made us to be,

and who you are for us.

We thank you for the hope that that gives us.

And part of that hope, part of the gift you give us,

is your word.

Your word is not just nice sayings and truths that we can gain from.

Your word is life itself.

It is your word.

It is your word, your love letter to us,

to remind us of who you are,

and all that you've done.

So, Lord Jesus,

would you pour out your spirit?

Would you come

and anoint me

in a way that

when all is said and done,

we will have actually heard

not words from a man,

but words from you.

Come Holy Spirit.

Would you speak to us

and lead us

into truth.

We pray

in the great name of our Savior,

our Lord Jesus.

Amen.

You know, last week,

we witnessed,

when we looked at the baptism of Jesus,

we probably looked at the high point,

that glory point,

in many ways,

of Jesus' ministry.

It was his very first public act.

It was the entrance into this,

now,

three or so years of ministry.

And it was glorious

because we saw in his baptism

that

as he went into baptism

and identified himself with us,

he came up,

heard the Father

speak audibly to him

with the descent

of the Holy Spirit upon him

in the form of a dove.

And he heard

that glorious declaration,

you are my beloved son

in whom I am well pleased.

I mean,

it just doesn't get

any better than that.

But,

as that is the high point,

it also means

it's probably downhill from there.

And immediately,

we know that,

you know,

from our own experience,

we go to these great retreats,

you'll hear this sermon

and you'll be on such a spiritual high

that you just can't stand it,

but then walk out of here

and reality of life returns.

And that's kind of the way it is.

It's the way it was with Jesus

because now,

from this high point,

he goes straight to the wilderness.

And from glory,

he now enters into

a period of very real struggle.

And this struggle,

this period that he's going to enter

into the wilderness,

I think is extremely instructive for us.

But I will also tell you,

it is very intricately connected

to what just happened

at Jesus' baptism.

So we can't forget that.

Because now that he enters

into the wilderness,

everything he heard

at that baptism,

from heaven,

from his father,

is going to be put to the test.

And as it is with Jesus,

so it will be for us.

So Jesus enters the wilderness.

And there are three things,

again,

that I think we need to draw

from this text.

And because of time,

we're not going to be able to go through

and analyze all the temptations individually.

But there's something major

going on here

in this period.

And the first thing we need to see

is the normalcy

of the wilderness.

Secondly,

we are going to see

the challenge

of the wilderness.

then finally,

we're going to see victory

in the wilderness.

So let's look at the normalcy

and the necessity

of the wilderness.

Two things.

Immediately as you read this,

I don't know if it struck you

as a little odd

or different,

but if you notice,

in verse 1,

you know,

right after the baptism,

you know,

we've gone through the genealogy,

but this is immediately followed

the baptism,

the Holy Spirit

is descended upon Jesus.

And,

verse 1,

and Jesus,

full of the Holy Spirit,

returned from the Jordan

and was led

by the Spirit

into the wilderness.

In the wilderness.

It was not the devil

that led Jesus

in the wilderness.

It wasn't the devil

that took Jesus

to the wilderness.

it was the Holy Spirit.

Now,

I don't know

if that strikes you

as odd,

but

that is an important

piece of information.

First off,

the wilderness,

the whole idea

of the wilderness,

it runs all the way

through Scripture.

This is one of those

paradigms

that describes

so much

of our experience

and our relationship

with God.

And here,

when he's talking

about a wilderness,

he's talking about

the area there

close to the Jordan,

and there,

if you've ever been

to the Middle East,

it is hot,

it is dry,

it is barren,

it is desolate,

it is a hard place

to say the least.

And so,

in many ways,

the wilderness,

what the biblical

writers do

is they use

the wilderness,

this picture

of wilderness

to really describe

what life is like

for God's people

here

and now.

I mean,

our world

is not

the way

it was

at the beginning,

it's not

the way

it's going

to be

in the future,

but we have

this here

and now,

this middle,

and for us,

that's really

the wilderness

because it's here.

You know,

I love that song,

Satisfied,

because it calls us

to Christ

as the only one

who can satisfy,

but it also tells us

if you read through

the verses

of that song,

that in this life

and in this world,

we hunger,

we are thirsty,

we keep running

to things

to try to satisfy

those things

in our heart

and we can't find them

and we keep coming up

empty

and so this world

is really

the wilderness

and it's hard,

it's a place

of struggle

and it might be,

you know,

that hardness

might come from

just the regular

brokenness of life,

it might come

from your own

sinful doings,

it might come

from pressure

from the world

simply because we are

the people of God,

but regardless,

it will come,

it is hard

and it's normal

and this

strikes

at the core

of what is

often termed

the prosperity

gospel.

Now,

the prosperity

gospel,

we can make fun

of those

prosperity gospel

preachers

a lot,

you'll see the memes

on Facebook

with Joel Osteen

and some of those

others

because they're

just preaching

this happy,

clappy gospel

and if you're

close to God

everything's going

to be great,

you're going

to prosper

here and now

materially,

relationally,

physically,

in every way

and we can

very easily

dismiss that

as that's just

not good theology,

it's not true

and so we don't

fall prey to it

because we're

good Presbyterians

or do we?

See,

I live

with this

assumption

that life

is supposed

to be good

and I live

with this

assumption,

it's underlying

assumption,

I wouldn't

verbalize

that I really

believe this

but I know

I do

because when

things go

foul,

when life

gets disrupted

or I'm

in a place

where I hurt,

I immediately

think something's

wrong

and the first

place that I

go is that

I want

relief

from that,

I should

get relief,

you know,

God must,

I don't know

what God's

doing,

you know,

you make a

decision,

maybe you

change jobs

or you move

to another

town and

as soon as

you make

that decision

things start

getting mucked

up and

what's your

first thought?

I missed

God's will,

I missed

his leading,

I,

this must

not be where

God wants

me,

because if

I was

where God

wants me,

then it

would have

all gone

smoothly.

Well,

maybe,

maybe not.

You know,

in the height

of intimacy

with Jesus,

that Jesus

had,

in the height

of intimacy

with his

father,

the very

height,

he's led

by the

Holy Spirit

into an

extremely

difficult

place.

And it's

normal.

The Christian

life,

on this

side of

glory,

is the

wilderness.

And we

should not

be surprised.

And I

think a lot

can be said

too about

how we

should be

parenting our

children and

preparing them

for this.

God's will

for them

may not

be total

self-fulfillment.

Or that

they experience

everything this

world has to

offer.

Or that

life is just

the fullest.

And sometimes

I think we are

communicating,

we're preaching

to our kids

the prosperity

gospel.

people.

And when

trouble comes,

they're not

prepared.

This world,

on this

side of

glory,

the wilderness,

is normal.

It's not

an aberration.

It's normal.

You know,

even Jesus,

you know,

the second

thing,

that's the first

thing we need

to see about

the wilderness

here,

is that it's

normal.

But secondly,

it's necessary.

Hebrews 5,

Hebrews 5:8

verse 8,

there's this

really interesting

statement about

Jesus himself,

the perfect man.

And it says,

although he was

a son,

he learned

obedience

through what

he suffered.

Now,

again,

that sounds

a little odd.

Why would

somebody who

is perfect

have to

learn

obedience?

Well,

it's necessary

for him

because

obedience

is not

real

obedience

until

it is put

to the test.

Real faith,

real obedience

comes through

the test.

engineers,

and you

guys know

this,

most of

the people

in this

room are

engineers.

And you

know that

when you

get on

your computers,

you guys

are building

some incredible

things.

I'm just

amazed at

some of the

projects you're

involved with.

You get on

and you build

these launch

systems,

you know,

for space

travel or

this really

cool aircraft,

aircraft,

and on the

computer,

man,

it's looking

great,

and then you

go from

that,

you build

these models

and they

are cool.

You build

it,

you finally

get to the

place where

you put

one together

and it's

all there

and sitting

on the

runway.

This is

one mean

machine.

But you

know you're

not finished

because you

have no idea

if this

design is

really going

to hold

up.

And so

what you

do,

you put

it through

testing that

pushes it to

the ultimate

limits of

what its

capabilities are

because only

then do you

know it

can be

trusted.

And,

you know,

the wilderness

is our

stress test.

for a

believer to

live his

life at

ease with

everything

given to

him in a

life of

comfort and

so forth,

his faithfulness

to God in

that position

is a good

thing.

but,

let's compare

it to

somebody else

who's just

gone through

a battle

of cancer,

they've lost

a child,

maybe they've

lost their

jobs,

maybe they're

being persecuted

by friends

at school

because their

value system

is so contrary

to anybody

else's,

and they go

through all

this stress

and then

they still

say at

the end,

God is

faithful and

good,

whose faith

are you going

to say is

the most

genuine?

You see,

the wilderness

is necessary

for us.

It's not

necessary for

God to

figure out

if our

faith is

genuine.

He already

knows.

But it's

necessary for

us.

Because it

proves whether

faith is

there or not.

You know,

some of you

might say

at some point

you get in

one of those

stressful

situations

and maybe

you don't

respond really

well.

Maybe the

words that

come out of

your mouth

are pretty

ugly or

you just

kind of

flip out.

And you

say to

those who

may have

witnessed it,

oh, I'm

sorry, I

just wasn't

myself.

that, you

know.

I actually

think in

those situations

we are far

more ourselves

than we are

when everything

is under

control.

When we

went to

overseas,

we were

told ahead

of time as

we were

moving our

whole family

to East

Central

Europe,

we were

told this

great truth

and I

found it

to be

true on

every

level.

Moving to

the mission

field is

like pouring

miracle grow

on all of

your sin.

That should

encourage you

to go to

the missions.

Go missions.

It's

great.

But what

happens when

you get into

these foreign

cultures,

you deal with

a foreign

language,

you deal

with all

this stuff,

all of a

sudden all

those props

that you

used to

have to

hold life

together

don't work

anymore.

And so

your true

support,

the things

that you

really do

trust,

come to

the surface,

they fail,

and now we

see what

you're really

like.

That would

never happen

outside of

the stress

test.

We don't

see the

reality of

faith while

we're relaxing

on the

sofa.

that.

So,

will your

Heavenly

Father lead

you intentionally

to a hard

place?

Absolutely.

Cheer up.

Is it because

He's trying to

crush you?

Absolutely

not.

What He is

trying to do

is to crush

what is false.

To bring to

life what is

true.

And the

wilderness is

the necessary

place for

that.

So,

that's that

normalcy and

the necessity

of this

wilderness.

We can't

escape it.

It is where

we live.

But now we

see the

challenge in

the wilderness.

How does

really the

stress come

on Jesus?

in this

account,

we're not

only given

again that

reality of

the wilderness,

but we're

also given

insight into

the nature

of how the

challenges are

going to

come.

And this

is vital

for us.

And we

have to

remember the

context.

Remember what

has Jesus

just experienced?

He's just

experienced this

great moment

with the

Spirit and

the Father

and His

Sonship.

His

identity as

the beloved

Son in

whom the

Father is

well-pleased

is front

and center.

And now

as He

enters into

the wilderness,

that

is what

is going

to be

tested.

You know,

He gets

out into

the wilderness

and then

immediately

He's been

there for

40 days

and the

enemy comes

to Him

and says

what?

If

you are

the Son

of God.

If

He's

trying to

bring doubt

by

showing Him

the hardness

of the

wilderness

and He

says this

to Jesus

twice.

In the

first temptation

the way

that Luke

arranges them

in the

first one

and then

in the

last one.

Both of

those He

begins by

saying if

you are

the Son.

Well,

in the

middle one

it's

interesting

because He

challenges them.

He takes

them to a

place and

shows Him

all the

kingdoms

of the

world.

But if

we read

back in

Psalm 2

Psalms 2:7

verses 7

and 8

hear these

words.

It said,

I will

tell of

the

decree

the

Lord

said to

me

you

are

my

son

today

I

have

begotten

you

ask of

me

and I

will make

the nations

your

heritage

and the

ends of

the earth

your

possession.

I mean

look at

this.

There's the

declaration.

It sounds

so familiar

from what we

just heard

back in

Luke 3.

And Satan

is confronting

Jesus.

He's

confronting

that promise.

And he's

confronting

his

true

identity.

And he's

saying

that the

hardness

of the

wilderness

is saying

that obviously

you've got

it wrong.

So here's

the crucial

issue for us

as we battle

against sin.

If you're

going to

defeat sin

you've got

to fight

the right

thing.

You've got

to fight

the right

enemy.

And I

think too

often when

we get

into battle

with our

sin

we see

it as

our behavior.

What I

need to

do is I

need to

fight this

bad behavior.

I need to

fight to

gain a

little bit

more self

control.

I need

more

determination

simply to

bring myself

into line

with all

of this

biblical

rules and

regulations

and values

and so

forth.

The problem

is that's

not where

the enemy

comes to

do battle.

He's doing

battle at

the very

core of

who we

are and

what we

believe.

You know

if I am

battling

sexual sin

or if I'm

battling an

addiction to

something or

if I'm

battling an

anxiety issue

or I can't

control my

temper or

any of

that at

the heart

of it

the issue

is

not

how much

self-control

I have

I mean

that is

part of

it

but the

biggest

issue

is

what

do I

believe

about

God?

Is

he

good?

Does

he

love

me?

Is

his promise

sure?

God

that's

where

the

challenge

is

you

know

one of

one of

my great

lifelong

struggles

I think

is my

reliance

on

material

resources

to give

me a

sense of

peace

and rest

in life

when I

pull up

the computer

and quicken

and I look

at all the

numbers

and the

numbers

of the

bank

accounts

and the

credit

cards

and all

that

stuff

when there's

a lot

of red

on that

page

I

get

terribly

anxious

fear

and I

feel

like

this

security

that I

trust

this

foundation

under my

feet

is no

longer

there

and I

become

very

vulnerable

and so

at that

point

then

I get

really

uptight

I get

stressed

and I'm

just not

very fun

to be

around

so how

do you

fight

that kind

of

anxiety

how do

you fight

those kind

of fears

and that

kind of

dependence

on

material

well I

could

go back

to all the

scriptures

and said

be generous

and give

all your

money away

or I

could go

memorize all

those scriptures

that say

fear not

is it

going to

work

afraid

not

because

that's not

the issue

the issue

is

that

this is

what the

enemy

basically

says

at that

point

he says

you

are

alone

it's

all up

to you

you can

live here

in this

hardship

and struggle

and you're

going to

you know

get to

retirement

and you're

going to

not have

any money

and you're

going to

be stuck

in some

old

people's

home

and nobody's

going to

come see

you

is that

what you

want

or

you can

take

shortcut

you can

fudge

here

just

not

give

as

much

there

you

can

do

all

these

things

and that

will

sure

make

all

those

numbers

on the

computer

screen

black

instead

of red

and some

of those

things you'd

really like

to get

you could

but he

says

you're

all alone

and it's

all up

to you

that's

the lie

and he

offers

a shortcut

and this

is exactly

what

enemy

does

to

Jesus

Jesus

has been

out in

the

wilderness

he's

been out

there

for 40

days

and he

has not

eaten

and I

think

it's

such

an

understatement

where Luke

writes

and he

got

hungry

yeah

I'm

dying

after

24

hours

I

cannot

imagine

going

a month

and a

half

and he

calls

Jesus

attention

to his

suffering

and he

said hey

you can

end this

right now

you've

got the

power

just

come in

that stone

will become

bread

and this

will all

be over

you get

relief

that's

the

reasoning

a son

should not

suffer

like this

if

God

were

good

and

you

were so

precious

then

you

should

not

be in

pain

let's

fix

this

because

obviously

God

is not

there

so

it's

up to

you

you know

the second

temptation

is the

same

it's a

little bit

different

he's now

here

he's not

just

tempting

him to

bring

relief

in his

momentary

hunger

but he's

now

attempting

him

for

power

and

control

and

he

basically

says

Jesus

you don't

have to

go

this

route

that

you're

on

you

can

get

out

of

this

suffering

you

don't

have

to

go

down

this

path

to

Jerusalem

I

know

where

you're

going

we

can

skip

all

that

just

I

can

give

you

everything

obviously

you're

alone

out

here

God

has

abandoned

you

the

third

temptation

is the

same

says

if you

are the

son

throw

yourself

off the

top

of this

temple

and

it'll

be

glorious

forget

the cross

forget

the humility

forget

the

the

suffering

forget

all

of

that

just

throw

yourself

down

you

got

the

scriptures

here

that

support

you

just

in

everything

the

temptation

is

if

you're

suffering

God

obviously

doesn't

love

you

if

you're

if

you're

in

the

hard

place

and

you're

experiencing

pain

you're

obviously

not

the

beloved

son

in whom

the

father

is

well

pleased

so

take

the

shortcut

get

relief

and

this

is

what

he

says

to

us

when

we're

tempted

sexually

when

we're

tempted

materially

when

we're

tempted

in

every

way

at

the

core

of

it

is

this

are

you

a

son

are

you

serious

is

God

good

are

his

promises

sure

are

you

the

beloved

and

here

here

is

where

we

need

to

remember

that

if

we

are

in

Jesus

we

are

God

and

the

wilderness

is

doing

nothing

to

compromise

that

thirdly

and here's

the good

news

of all

this

we do

see

victory

in the

wilderness

and

Jesus

brings

it

you know

one of the

obvious

things about

this

passage

is that

we might

overlook

that

Jesus

wins

in

all

of

these

temptations

and

then

we

see

that

great

verse

in

verse

14

where

it

says

and

the

spirit

leads

him

back

out

of

the

wilderness

into

Galilee

Jesus

wins

the

victory

and

he

does

so

contrary

to

what

God's

people

have

done

up

until

now

throughout

all

the

centuries

as

they

live

through

the

wilderness

God's

people

have

been

there

every

time

things

got

hard

they

ran

and

left

and

they

went

to

other

gods

they

went

to

other

sources

they

took

shortcuts

to

cut

short

the

pain

to

bring

relief

but

where

they

failed

Jesus

succeeds

and

again

this

is so

important

because

we

are

talking

about

our

identity

in

Christ

because

we

identified

with

him

he

with

us

in

his

baptism

he

came

and

embraced

our

brokenness

our

sin

he

was

baptized

of

saying

I'm

one

with

you

that's

mine

I'm

going

to

take

it

so

we

are

identified

with

Christ

in

that

and

then

we

also

saw

that

as

he

comes

up

and

the

father

declares

his

sonship

we

were

there

too

in

that

joyful

passionate

loving

dance

of the

trinity

there

with

the

spirit

and

the

father

and

the

son

that's

what

we're

brought

into

that

is

our

identity

and

now

here

in

the

wilderness

it's