The Gospel Project
Jesus Was Tempted UNIT 20: THE PREPARATION Session 3 19 APR 26
LUKE 4:1 The wilderness is the traditional site of the temptation is NW of the Dead Sea, near Jericho. Jesus was Greek) 4134. pleres, play'-race; from G4130; replete, or covered over; by anal. complete:--full. Jesus was fully influenced by the Holy Spirit. Does this mean the Holy Spirit indwelt Him, which was rare under the First covenant.
What everyone seems to forget is Jesus lived during the First Covenant period. The New Covenant did not start until Jesus was RAISED from the dead by the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Gal 3:6-9 RSV) "Thus Abraham "believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith. Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them." Now it is evident that no man is justified before God by the law; for "He who through faith is righteous shall live"; but the law does not rest on faith, for "He who does them shall live by them.""
THE BIBLE TRUTH: (Heb 10:8 RSV) "When he said above, "Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), then he added, "Lo, I have come to do thy will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
(1 Tim 1:8-11 RSV) "Now we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully," Before we read on we MUST remember that the law is good for us ONLY if we keep it PERFECTLY! (Gal 3:6-9 RSV) "Thus Abraham "believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith."
Note carefully (James 2:10 RSV) "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." AND read it again: (James 2:10 RSV) "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." Mess up once and the Law has NO benefit. Jesus is the ONLY human who kept the Law Perfectly! One sin, small or great, makes a man a sinner and brings him under condemnation. God does not force sin. A human, when he/she get old enough (PS 7:14) sins for personal choice. Then the person because lost.
(Gal 3:18-19 RSV) "For if the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained by angels through an intermediary."
(Gal 3:22 RSV) "But the scripture consigned all things to sin, that what was promised to faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." The law shows the world to be under sin so that people will realize that works cannot save, only Christ can.
(Rom 3:1 RSV) "Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?" A Jew had the advantage of special revelation of God's law before the Gentles. The preamble to the Law defines this and the Jewish response.
Yet the Law could not save any Jew, for he/she was not able to keep it. The law increased his responsibility but demonstrated his/her inability to live up to God's standards.
What then? (Gal 3:23-26 RSV) "Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith."
LUKE 4:2 Satan's intention in the temptation was to make Christ sin so as to thwart God's plan for man's redemption by negating the Jesus as Savior. But it was worse than that. The Trinity would have lost the Holy Spirit to Satan, thereby eliminating the Trinity as the sinless Trinity! (Eph 1:13 RSV) "In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."
God's purpose (note that the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the test) was to prove His Son to be sinless and thus a worthy Savior. It is clear that He was actually tempted; it is equally clear that He was sinless (2 Cor. 5:21).
LUKE 4:3 Satan can only say at mots half-truths: “If you are the Son of God.” The particular Greek construction used here indicates that the devil did not doubt that Jesus was the Son of God.
This is like answering the question “when did you stop beating your wife” or such. Again IF is the biggest little word in the English Translation of the Bible.
LUKE 4:4 The Lord acknowledged His dependency on His father, quoting (Deu 8:3 RSV) "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 that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD."
Important Lesson: Answer the devil (Satan) with scripture truths! Jesus quoted from the Law of Moses. This proves that the Ten Commandments was NOT the only part of the Old Testament those under the salvation of the First Covenant were to obey. Hebrew explains it best in (Heb 9:15 RSV) "Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant."
That would happen under the New Covenant: (Heb 10:13-17 RSV) "then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,""
LUKE 4:5-6 Satan tried a second time. He offered Jesus the world as a kingdom just for Him. Satan did not have the right to make this offer but tied to fool Jesus as He did Adam and Eve because he is prince of this world.
LUKE 4:7 If Christ had accepted, He would have bypassed His crucifixion and lost His perfection in the Trinity. Satan would have become more powerful.
LUKE 4:8 When tempted by Satan, our Lord quoted from (Deu 6:13 RSV) "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him, and swear by his name."
This includes the truths of DEUT 6:16 and DEUT 8:3 (see Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).
LUKE 4:9-11 Satan made one final grand attempt. The pinnacle of the temple is one of the battlements or towers that overlooked the courtyard of the Temple. He again misquoted the scripture. (Psa 91:11-12 RSV) "For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone."
If Jesus had cast Himself off and landed unharmed among the crowds below, He surely would have been acclaimed the Messiah. But that was not Jesus’ “ways” of the Psalm. Jesus “ways” was His death, burial, and resurrection by the Father from death in Hades.
LUKE 4:12 Jesus again answered the devil from the Law: (Deu 6:16 RSV) ""You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah." Satan’s temptations were designed to offer Christ the glory of ruling without the suffering of dying for sin. It did not work!
Jesus proved what James wrote in (James 4:7 RSV) "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
LUKE 4:13 Having failed the devil left to bid his time, He had other options, like the scribes and Pharisees and finally Judas.
APPLY THE WHOLE BIBLE BEFORE YOU STATE A DOCTRINE!
Best Study Guide: How to Study the Bible Principles with Bible, A Study Sources by Orin T. Binkley.
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