Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm19971028.htm

LUKE: GOSPEL OF CERTIFYING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Part XIII: God's Certification By Permitted Trial Of Christ's Qualification As Man's Sinbearer
(Luke 4:1-13)
  1. Introduction
    1. Trials and tribulations are most often viewed as negative in the Christian experience.
    2. However, that is not always the case. There are times when God leads the believer into trials for good.
    3. To understand this very special program, we look at the experience of Christ's temptation, knowing that He is the believer's Example on handling trials and suffering according to Heb. 2:17-18 and 1 Pet. 2:21:
  2. God's Certification By Permitted Trial Of Christ's Qualification As Man's Sinbearer, Lk. 4:1-13.
    1. Right after Jesus' baptism by John, Scripture notes that God, the Holy Spirit actually led Christ right out of the Jordan River into the wilderness where He was put under duress and tempted by Satan, Luke 4:1-3.
    2. To make sense of why the Spirit would do this, we must understand John's baptism and Jesus' mission:
      1. John's baptism was one of repentance, and when people entered the water of the Jordan, they were signaling their departure of sins in preparation for the coming of Messiah, Luke 3:3.
      2. When Jesus came to be baptized of John, John actually tried to stop Jesus, indicating that Jesus was sinless, not in need of repentance even like he, John needed, cf. Mtt. 3:13-14.
      3. In response to John's reticence to baptize Jesus, Jesus encouraged John to do so in order to fulfill all righteousness, Mtt. 3:15. In other words, Jesus, as man's Sinbearer before God, would go down into the waters of the Jordan figur atively to identify Himself with the sins that the people were leaving in John's baptism of repentance, cf. G. Campbell Morgan, Matthew, p. 25-26. Note how this idea of Jesus being Israel's Sinbearer is confirmed by the witness of the Gospel of John: Jesus was call the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world" by John as Jesus came to him, Jn. 1:29-31.
      4. Well, if Jesus is claimed to be the Sinbearer, there must be evidence that He is QUALIFIED as such to back up this claim, and the best way to certify Jesus was sinless was to put him to the test by Satanic temptation. Thus, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into this test to corroborate the claims of His Sinbearership!
    3. In this test, Jesus passed where Adam and Eve had failed in Eden as follows:
      1. Where Adam and Eve failed with the lust of the flesh, Jesus passed, Gen. 3:6; 1 Jn. 2:16; Lk. 4:2-4:
        1. Under Satan's bidding, Eve gave in to the lusts of the flesh in eating the fruit Gen. 3:4-6; 1 Jn. 2:16.
        2. However, though severely hungry after going for forty days without food, and though tempted by Satan to use His powers to turn stones into bread, since the Father had not directed Jesus to do so, Jesus refused to meet His hunger needs Satan's way. He noted that, according to Deut. 8:3, man would live by God's Word and not by bread as his bottom line security, Lk. 4:2-4.
      2. Where Adam and Eve failed with the pride of life, Jesus passed, Gen. 3:4-6; 1 Jn. 2:16; Lk. 4:5-8:
        1. Eve gave in to the pride of this earthly life in heeding Satan's suggestion, for she desired to become wise by eating of the forbidden fruit, Gen. 3:4-6; 1 Jn. 2:16.
        2. However, though the only alternative was by the infamous cross, Jesus refused Satan's ego-teasing way to ruling the world through bowing down to Satan and missing the cross, Lk. 4:5-8. Jesus quoted Deut. 6:13; 10:20 to show that He, as a man, was to worship God alone, not Satan.
      3. Where Adam and Eve failed with the lust of the eyes, Jesus passed, Gen. 3:4-6; 1 Jn. 2:16; Lk. 4:9-12:
        1. At Satan's pull, Eve gave in to the lust of the eyes to eat the fruit for its beauty, Gn. 3:4-6; 1 Jn. 2:16.
        2. However, Jesus refused to make a big show to prove He was the Messiah to Israel by falling down unharmed into the temple square, Lk. 4:9-12. Since God had not ordained that method for Jesus in authenticating Himself as Messiah, Jesus quoted Deut. 6:16 that He should not test God this way!
      4. Since Jesus conquered where Adam and Eve had failed, He was qualified as humanity's Sinbearer! This is proved in Satan's having to leave Jesus as He had failed to conquer Jesus by getting Him to sin, 4:13!
Lesson: As Jesus is our Example in trials, we should expect to follow in His footsteps as God leads us to difficult trials under Satanic duress that display by fire that our witness or character is CREDIBLE! Note how Paul makes this very point to the Philippian believers in Phil. 1:28-29! Thus, we need to shoulder trials of this sort with great joy in accord with the principle of Mtt. 5:10-12 (cf. Acts 5:40-42)!