Almighty God, we pray that by your Holy Spirit you would cause us to see Jesus. May we see his glory and power. Grant us faith to trust him more. We ask in his holy name, amen. Our New Testament reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter four, verses one to 13. This is the word of God. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into 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. 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. And 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. Lucas capítulo cuatro, versículo uno al trece. Entonces, Jesús lleno del Espíritu Santo volvió del Jordán y fue llevado por el Espíritu al desierto por cuarenta días, y era tentado por el diablo. No comió nada en aquellos días, y cuando fueron cumplidos, tuvo hambre. Entonces el diablo le dijo, Si eres hijo de Dios, di a esta piedra que se haga pan. Jesús le respondió, Escrito está, no sólo de pan vivirá el hombre. When he took him to a height, he showed him all the kingdoms of the earth in a moment. And the devil said to him, I will give you all the authority and glory of them, because it has been given to me, and I give it to whom I want. For this reason, if you worship me, everything will be yours. Jesus answered and said to him, It is written, You will worship the Lord your God, and you will serve only Him. Y lo llevó a Jerusalén, y lo puso de pie sobre un pináculo del templo, y le dijo, Si eres hijo de Dios, échate de aquí abajo, porque escrito está. A sus ángeles mandará cerca de ti para que te guarden, y en sus manos te llevarán, de modo que nunca tropieces con tu pie en piedra. Respondió Jesús, y le dijo, Dicho está, lo pondrá a prueba al Señor tu Dios. We have a beautiful savior, don't we? We have in this passage a picture of Jesus as our great champion. God had promised in chapter three of Genesis that one day the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the seed of the serpent. For 40 days, Jesus faced the temptations of the devil and came out victorious. There are three things we should understand before we look at the temptations themselves. First, we must understand that Jesus is fully God and fully man. There are some who would say that because Jesus is God that he did not really feel everything as a normal person would. But the Bible says that Jesus suffered just like we do. He was made like us in every way, except without sin. Hebrews 2.18 says, because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2.18 says, because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. His suffering in this story must have been extreme. His suffering in this story must have been extreme. Sometimes after skipping a meal or two, my head will hurt and I begin to feel weak and tired. Multiply that times 40 days and we can begin to understand what the text means when it says he was hungry. Jesus was also under spiritual attack the whole time by the most evil being in the universe. Satan tempted his mind. His knowledge of God's Word and his wisdom to apply that Word were tested. His emotions were tempted. His sense of what would truly satisfy him was tested. His will was tempted. His allegiance and obedience to God were tested. The Gospel of Matthew says that this whole experience was so difficult for Jesus that angels had to come and minister to him afterward. But praise God, Jesus triumphed and he understands our need. Hebrews 4.15 says, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect was tempted like we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4.15. So God was fully, Jesus was fully God and fully man. But there's a second thing that we need to understand. Jesus faced the devil as our representative, as the last Adam. The end of Luke chapter 3 has Jesus' family tree. The final verse of chapter three says that Jesus was the son of Adam, the son of God. Adam represented us in the garden as the head of the human race. His sin brought condemnation to all human beings and God's curse to the earth. Jesus came to reverse the curse of Adam's sin and destroy our enemy. 1 John 3, 8 says, the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Luke contrasts Adam's situation with Christ's. Adam was tempted to disobey God's command in a perfect garden. Jesus was tempted in a wilderness where there were wild animals. Adam's temptation was amidst the plenty of the garden. Jesus in the wilderness ate nothing. In the garden, Eve had a discussion with Satan. In the wilderness, Jesus answers the devil with the sword of the spirit, the word of God. The third thing we must understand before we look at the temptations is that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. Look at Luke 4.1 again with me. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit indwells Jesus and guides Jesus. The Holy Spirit is closely connected to Jesus in Luke's Gospel. In chapter one, the angel Gabriel told Mary that Jesus will be conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. In chapter two, verse 40, Luke writes, and the child, Jesus, grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. In chapter three, 22, Jesus is baptized, And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. All of these texts teach us that Jesus is the bearer of the Spirit. He is anointed by the Spirit. The Spirit directs his actions. The Spirit empowers him to carry out his divinely appointed task. Chapter four, verse one, indicates that Jesus was being guided by the Spirit continually during the 40 days in the wilderness. Jesus is the ultimate example of what it means to live by the Spirit. The same Holy Spirit is given to Christian believers to dwell in them and to guide them. It is the Spirit of Christ who lives in our hearts and illumines our minds. So then, full of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is tempted by the devil. The text says he was tempted for 40 days. The three temptations listed here represent the culmination, or the most significant three. The first temptation is in verse three. The devil said to him, if you are the son of God, command this stone to become bread. The devil is not challenging Jesus to prove that he is the Son of God by making a bread out of a stone. Rather, he is saying to Jesus that because he is the son of God, he has the authority and power to take care of himself. The devil is attacking the care and provision of God the Father. What kind of father would let his son starve in the wilderness? Why would God make Jesus suffer like this? The devil is challenging Jesus to take matters into his own hands. He wants Jesus to act independently from his Father. The devil had made a similar attack on Eve. He questioned God's goodness in providing for her and Adam. He said, did God really say you can't eat of any tree in the garden? Of course, they could eat of all the trees, except one. But the devil was tempting Eve, why would God keep the best fruit from you? This fruit will make you wise. You can be just like God himself. In order for Jesus to be our Savior, he had to perfectly trust and obey his Heavenly Father. Jesus knew that meant trusting his Father's promises to provide, even if that led to his own death. The devil tempted Christ to question God's love and provision for him and to take matters into his own hands. God doesn't really love you, you're starving. Save yourself, feed yourself. Jesus responds by saying, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. Jesus' life echoes the psalmist who wrote in Psalm 63, Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. Jesus said in John 4, 34, Jesus dijo en Juan 4.34, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. El dijo, mi comida es para ser la voluntad del que me envio y para ser su trabajo. He teaches us to live the same way according to the word of God. Y el nos enseña a nosotros de vivir de igual manera de acuerdo a la palabra de Dios. In the second temptation, the devil challenges God's kingdom purposes. In a vision, he shows him all the kingdoms of the world. Then he says in verses six and seven, To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I will give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours. In this second temptation, Satan is saying to Jesus, you are the son of God, but God hasn't given you everything you deserve. I can do that, just worship me. He is tempting Christ's allegiance to God the Father. Satan made promises like this to Eve also. He told Eve that when she ate the fruit, she would be like God, knowing good and evil. God had given Adam and Eve dominion over all of creation. They were to rule in His place. But that wasn't enough for them. They wanted to be the same as God, so they ate. Christ, the last Adam, replies to the devil in verse 8. It is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. Philippians chapter two teaches us something very important about Christ's obedience. It says, though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing. taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Filipenses 2, 6 to 8 says, although he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God as something to be grasped. As God's Son, the Father was going to give Jesus a kingdom. The devil was tempting Jesus to take that kingdom without going to the cross. Praise God that Jesus was faithful to his father. This brings us to the third temptation. In this temptation, the devil questions God's protection. The temple in Jerusalem sits on top of a high rock formation. Verses 9 to 11 tells us what the devil did. 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. le dijo a Jesús, y lo llevó a Jerusalén, y lo puso de pie sobre el pináculo del templo, y le dijo, si eres hijo de Dios, échate de aquí abajo, porque escrito está, a sus ángeles mandará cerca de ti para que te guarden, y en sus manos te llevarán, de modo que nunca tropeces con tu pie en una piedra. What is happening here? It is helpful to hear Jesus' answer. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. What does it mean to put God to the test? Putting God to the test means questioning his power to save. Will God keep his promises? Putting God to the test means attempting to force his hand. Adam and Eve faced this kind of temptation too. God had told them that if they ate the fruit, they would surely die. But Satan said to them, you will not surely die. But they ate and their sin led to death and misery for all of humanity. Here with Jesus, the devil promises life. He challenges Jesus to jump off the top of the temple and then he quotes scripture to prove his point. You won't even hit the bottom before the angels catch you. But Jesus knows he does not have to prove God's love and protection. God's word is enough. Then verse 13 says, and when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. What was this opportune time? All three temptations and Christ's responses point forward to what Christ still had to go through on the cross. The Holy Spirit led Jesus through the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in order to prepare him for the greater trial of his crucifixion. Jesus was learning obedience through what he suffered so he could be ready to obey God in the hardest thing of all. The first temptation related to Christ's hunger He refused to make bread out of the stone the devil offered. Later, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus would be asked by his father to drink the cup of wrath for his people. God the Father was going to ask His Son to drink the cup of God's wrath. He prayed in Luke 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, 42. 22, The devil tempted Jesus to make bread to save his own life. Instead, Jesus drinks the cup of God's judgment to give life to sinners. The second temptation related to receiving the glory of a kingdom. Satan tempted Jesus to give up God's plan, receive the world's kingdoms, and give glory to Satan. Instead, Jesus gave up everything, but then God gives him the highest place of honor. Philippians 2, 8 to 11 says. Philippians 2, 8 to 11 says. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Dice Filipenses 2, 8 al 11, y al ser encontrado en forma humana, se humilló haciéndose obediente hasta el punto de la muerte, incluso la muerte en la cruz. Por lo tanto, Dios lo ha exaltado y le ha otorgado el nombre que está por encima de todo nombre. And the final temptation, the devil tries to convince Jesus that God will save him from death. Instead, Jesus realizes that God will vindicate him through death. God's will for him is to lay down his life so that he would rise again. Jesus says in John 10, 17, For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. Jesus went through these temptations in order to prepare for his own death, his greatest trial. It is because of His perfect obedience and death on the cross that sinners like us can become children of God. May He guide and protect us through the Holy Spirit as we make our journey to our heavenly home. Let's end with words from Ephesians 6, 16 and 17. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now let's pray together. Oh God, our Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.