533. Luke - Chapter 4 (#1) Satan Challenges Jesus' Identity and Authority - April 17, 2024

[00:00:00] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast

[00:00:12] we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:17] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today.

[00:00:25] I pray that you give everyone ears to hear and a heart to receive everything you have

[00:00:31] in store for them today. I ask this in Jesus name, amen. This is Proverbs 17 beginning in verse

[00:00:39] 1. Better is a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife. A wise servant

[00:00:49] will rule over a son who causes shame and will share an inheritance among the brothers.

[00:00:57] The refining pot is her silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.

[00:01:05] An evil doer gives heed to false lips, a liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. He who mocks

[00:01:15] the poor reproaches his maker. He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. Children's children

[00:01:25] are the crown of old men and the glory of children is their father. Excellent speech is not becoming

[00:01:34] to a fool much less lying lips to a prince. A present is a precious stone in the eyes of its

[00:01:43] possessor. Wherever he turns, he prospers. He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who

[00:01:52] repeats a matter separates friends. Rebuke is more effective for a wise man than a hundred blows on a

[00:02:02] fool. An evil man seeks only rebellion, therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

[00:02:13] Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.

[00:02:21] Whoever rewards evil for good, evil will not depart from his house. The beginning of strife

[00:02:29] is like releasing water. Therefore, stop contention before a quarrel starts. He who justifies the wicked

[00:02:39] and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. Why is there in

[00:02:48] the hand of a fool the purchase price of wisdom since he has no heart for it? A friend loves at

[00:02:58] all times and a brother is born for adversity. A man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge

[00:03:10] and becomes surety for his friend. He who loves transgression loves strife and he who exalts his gate

[00:03:20] seeks destruction. He who has a deceitful heart finds no good and he who has a perverse tongue falls

[00:03:31] into evil. He who begins a scoffer does so to his sorrow and the father of a fool has no joy.

[00:03:41] A merry heart does good like medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones. A wicked man accepts

[00:03:51] a bribe behind the back to pervert the ways of justice. Wisdom is in the sight of him who has

[00:04:01] understanding but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth. A foolish son is a grief to his

[00:04:10] father and bitterness to her who bore him. Also, to punish the righteous is not good nor to strike

[00:04:20] princes for their uprightness. He who has knowledge spares his words and a man of understanding is

[00:04:30] of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds this piece, when he shuts his lips

[00:04:39] he is considered perceptive. Prince today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 5 and

[00:04:47] Proverbs 17 verse 5 says this, he who mocks the poor reproaches his maker. He who is glad at calamity

[00:04:59] will not go unpunished. Now friends we will come back and revisit this verse prior to closing today

[00:05:08] but what I'd like to do at this time is continue our study in the Book of Luke.

[00:05:14] Now on Monday's podcast I ended chapter 3 so before we begin chapter 4 let's review what we have

[00:05:24] learned so far from the gospel of Luke. The gospel of Luke begins with Zacharias being told by an angel

[00:05:33] that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son and that his name would be John. That John became

[00:05:43] John the Baptist. Later in that chapter Mary is visited by an angel and told that she is going to

[00:05:52] be the mother of Jesus who later became the savior of the world. Now over the course of the next

[00:06:00] couple chapters John the Baptist is born, Jesus is born, Jesus is taken to the temple and dedicated

[00:06:10] and a man named Simeon announces that Jesus actually is going to be the savior of the world.

[00:06:19] John baptizes Jesus in the river Jordan and later John will be put in prison because of

[00:06:30] Herod the tetrarch who has divorced his wife and married his niece and John rebuked him.

[00:06:39] So Herod was not happy with John and he is put in prison.

[00:06:46] Chapter 3 ended with Jesus being baptized in the river Jordan and as soon as he was totally submerged

[00:06:55] in water when he came up the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and God announced from heaven

[00:07:04] that Jesus is his son and he is pleased with him. So as we begin chapter 4 Jesus is going to be led

[00:07:16] in the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. He is going to be tempted by Satan for 40 days so let's begin

[00:07:26] chapter 4 first one. Then Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan

[00:07:35] and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness being tempted for 40 days by the devil

[00:07:44] and in those days he ate nothing and afterward when they had ended he was hungry. Now friends I

[00:07:54] am reading out of the Nelson study Bible and I'd like to go over the commentary for verses 1

[00:08:01] and 2. It is very important to me over the next 2 or 3 podcasts that as we begin Jesus's public

[00:08:10] ministry I want you to understand who Jesus is. I want you to understand also that we have an

[00:08:20] adversary and he is known as the devil. Let's go over the commentary for verses 1 and 2.

[00:08:29] The order of the temptations differs between Matthews and Luke. Luke has the temptation about

[00:08:39] Jerusalem last probably because Jerusalem is the place Jesus is headed for his decisive

[00:08:48] confrontation with Satan. In his temptation Jesus demonstrated not only his ability to resist the

[00:08:59] devil but also his allegiance to God. What Adam could not do Jesus did where Israel had failed in

[00:09:11] the wilderness Jesus succeeded and both of these points is very important. I kind of want to associate

[00:09:22] being a Christian with doing what Jesus did in the next few verses so I really want you to pay careful

[00:09:33] attention to everything that Jesus does when confronted by the devil. At this point I want to go

[00:09:43] back because I failed to mention point number 1 but point number 1 was Jesus was led by the spirit

[00:09:53] into the wilderness and I want to make that perfectly clear he was not led into the wilderness

[00:10:00] by Satan. He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and I believe the intent of the Holy

[00:10:10] Spirit was to prepare Jesus for his public ministry and the only way he was going to be effective

[00:10:19] in his public ministry is if he could show that he could resist the devil and the temptations

[00:10:30] that he threw at him. Let's go back to verse 3 and the devil said to him if you are the son of God

[00:10:41] command this stone to become bread so friends my second point is Satan questions Jesus identity

[00:10:53] as the son of God. Now friends this is still going on today the naysayers of Jesus people who refuse to

[00:11:05] acknowledge him as the son of God people who do not want to receive him as their Lord and Savior

[00:11:14] still question his identity as the son of God but over the course of this entire gospel it will

[00:11:24] be shown time and time again that he was indeed the son of God. Let's look at the commentary for

[00:11:35] verse 3 if you are the son of God this is a conditional statement in other words Satan was saying

[00:11:46] let's assume for the sake of argument that you are the son of God. In fact,

[00:11:54] Satan was challenging Jesus' identity and authority. Let's go to verse 4 but Jesus answered him

[00:12:05] saying it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God and friends this

[00:12:16] is the beginning of the red letters in the Bible. These are the words that Jesus actually spoke

[00:12:25] the third point I'd like to bring up today is Jesus responded to Satan's temptations by quoting

[00:12:33] scripture. Let's look at the commentary for verse 4 it is written. Jesus responded to Satan's

[00:12:44] temptation by quoting Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 Jesus refused to operate independently of God.

[00:12:56] The Spirit had led him into the wilderness to prepare him for his ministry so eating at Satan's

[00:13:06] instruction would have shown a lack of dependence on the Father and friends just like Jesus responded

[00:13:16] to Satan by talking scripture we can do the same thing today. Now when Jesus was confronted in

[00:13:26] the wilderness by Satan, Satan was physically present. Jesus saw him now that is not the case today

[00:13:35] with us but believe me Satan is very real and he will get into your ear he will tell you that

[00:13:43] you're not worthy he will tell you that you're not good he will tell you all kinds of things

[00:13:51] and friends the only power that Satan has over us is what we allow him to do in our lives. We

[00:14:03] need to resist him simply the same way that Jesus did and this is why it is so important to know

[00:14:15] because if you know scripture well like Jesus did you can battle him and he will leave you.

[00:14:25] Let's go to verse 5 then the devil taking him up on a high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of

[00:14:33] the world in a moment of time. Friends listen to the commentary this temptation was an attempt

[00:14:44] to offer Jesus power by the wrong means. Satan's method involved a detour which did not include the

[00:14:56] cross an inducement to take the easy way to power. Now friends I feel a need to pause here how many

[00:15:07] times have we been tempted to take the easy way out and I don't know what your circumstances but I

[00:15:19] have been tempted and many times I have given into that temptation you do things the easy way

[00:15:29] and it's something that's going to be uncomfortable for us a lot of times we choose not to go that way

[00:15:39] but when you become a Christian we need to think differently. Let's go to verse 6 and the devil said

[00:15:50] to him all this authority I will give you and their glory for this has been delivered to me

[00:16:01] and I give it to whomever I wish. Listen to verse 6 the commentary. Satan's claim here is exaggerated

[00:16:13] he has great authority over the earth as we know he will come to us on a recurring basis but not

[00:16:25] the authority to deliver kingdoms a very important point. Let's go to verse 7 therefore if you will

[00:16:36] worship before me all will be yours and Jesus answered and said to him get behind me Satan for it is

[00:16:46] written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you will serve. Let's read the comment

[00:16:55] here for verse 8 get behind me Satan later Jesus makes this same statement to Peter when he becomes

[00:17:06] a channel for Satan's message in response to Satan's second temptation Jesus cited due to

[00:17:15] the economy chapter 6 verse 13 Jesus knew that only God is worthy of worship that only God is to be

[00:17:28] served and friends that is why that is one of our 10 commandments now we will pick up right here on

[00:17:39] tomorrow's podcast but before we close I'd like to take a moment and go over our verse of the day

[00:17:47] now we are in proverb 17 let's look at verse 5 and verse 5 says this he who mocks the poor

[00:18:00] reproaches his maker he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished now friends I looked in the

[00:18:11] dictionary for the word reproaches and when you use the word reproach as a verb it means to express

[00:18:20] disapproval or disappointment so let's look at verse 5 again he who mocks the poor

[00:18:31] expresses disapproval or disappointment to his God in other words we are basically condemning

[00:18:43] God we are making fun of the poor and friends this is something we simply should never do

[00:18:52] the second part of that he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished now friends we need to

[00:19:01] remember that God is not a respecter of persons we should never be happy if anyone has stuff go bad

[00:19:13] for them we are not the judge of people it's easy for us to sometimes fall into that temptation

[00:19:21] and look at people and judge them but friends we are not the judge so we are to be careful

[00:19:30] that's an area that I think we can easily fall into and judge people and say well they deserved it

[00:19:39] but friends we need to be careful not to do that my call to action today is very simple

[00:19:49] Jesus was led into the wilderness he was confronted by Satan and friends we are often

[00:19:57] confronted by Satan in our lives today how do you respond when he talks to you do you respond

[00:20:08] like Jesus did do you respond by speaking the word of God by trying to get rid of him by telling

[00:20:17] him to get away by quoting scripture if you do I applaud you if you do not know scripture well

[00:20:29] please do not fall into the temptation that he gives you it's very easy to fall into temptation

[00:20:40] unless you know the word of God will be strong be courageous fight that devil and he will flee from you

[00:20:51] friends I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their

[00:20:58] Lord and Savior if there is anyone listening today you've never taken that step I invite you to

[00:21:05] repeat a simple prayer after me today Jesus I confess that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior

[00:21:14] I believe that you are the Son of God I believe that you came to earth and died on a cross and were

[00:21:21] buried on the third day you rose from the dead and now live at the right hand of God the Father

[00:21:31] Jesus thank you for forgiving me of all of my sins I ask that you come into my heart I ask that

[00:21:39] you lead me and guide me from this point forward I make you my Lord and Savior friends may the Lord

[00:21:48] bless you and keep you the Lord make us say shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord

[00:21:56] lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace friends please join me again tomorrow as we

[00:22:04] further explore wisdom today