Sermon Roundup: April 22

Morning Audio link (alternate)

Evening Audio link (alternate)

Morning Outline:

April 22 AM Luke 4:1-13 // Parallel in Matthew 4 and Mark 1

The Temptation of Jesus

I. Narrative: what happens?

     A. Baptism This was just prior, in Luke 3:21-22.

B. Led by the Spirit into the wilderness

     C. Spends 40 days out in the wilderness

          1. Fasting

          2. Being tempted in various ways

     D. At the conclusion, three specific temptations are highlighted

          1. Take your power and use it for your own needs

          2. Worship someone other than God

          3. Test God's Word for truthfulness

II. The Temptations:

     A. Take your power and use it for your own needs:

          1. After fasting for 40 days, Jesus is likely quite hungry.

          2. Moreover, as can be seen at the Feeding of the 5000, providing bread for the masses would be a quick path to leading a revolution against the Romans

          3. Yet that was not what Jesus came to do: He was not here to be a bread winner. He was here to be the Bread of Life

          4. He does not argue the point with Satan: His response is simple: He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, that man does not live by bread alone...but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD

     B. Worship someone other than God

          1. Satan offers the kingdoms of the world---at a moment in time

          2. This shows us two things about Satan:

               a. He offers what is not his.

               b. He can only handle moments, not eternity

          3. The response is similar to the previous response: Deuteronomy 6:13: Worship the Lord your God and fear Him only

     C. Test God's Word for truthfulness

          1. Satan takes the Psalms and twists one of them here.

          2. He quotes Psalm 91:11-12 and tells Jesus to give it a shot--see if the Words of God are true

          3. The response? Deuteronomy 6:16: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

III. What about now?

     A. The temptation to focus on our immediate needs

          1. Focusing on what we do not have

          2. Taking whatever shortcuts appear

     B. The temptation to worship falsely

          1. Trading true worship for something less than what God intends.

          2. Trading true worship to worship something lesser than God

     C. The temptation to ignore the Word

          1. This is the oldest temptation: taking one portion of what God has said and ignoring the rest--

          2. The Psalm in question does not mean we should go out and take unnecessary risks

          3. There is no reason to deny what God has said

IV. What do we do?

     A. Know the Word of God---the basics of the Gospel

     B. Expect temptations to come

     C. Know the Word of God---the basics of godly living

     D. Do not flee from challenges just because of the risk

     E. Know the Word of God---what is not there

 

Evening Outline:

April 22 PM Luke 4:14-30 // Parallel Mark 6

Preaching back home

I. After temptation, Jesus gets to work--preaching

     A. It's generally best to not have a preacher that has never been tempted (or at least, has faced life: 1 Timothy 3:6)

     B. It's also important to get to the business at hand: No pity partying, no whining about what happened

II. Temptation (and overcoming it) is not the focus of the message:

     A. Notice that in His preaching, Jesus does not bring up overcoming temptation

     B. Instead, He starts from a point in the Word of God

III. The message? Isaiah 61:1-2

     A. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Him--this is not insanity, it's divinity

     B. Good news for the poor--that God does not favor the wealthy more than they

     C. Release of the captives--those captive in sin--freedom begins first in our hearts

     D. Sight for the blind---literal and figurative: seen in the healing and being able to see the truth of God's Word

     E. Freedom for the oppressed--likewise

     F. The favor of the Lord---God is working to welcome His people, to provide grace to them

     G. That this comes through Him--not political but spiritual

IV. The response--

     A. 4:24--not welcome (not 'favorable')--it is the same word

     B. The people go from pleased to displeased---partly because the favor of the Lord is not going to just be for them

     C. Jesus leaves--passes through their midst and departs

V. Us?

     A. Our message ought to mirror His: focused on the Word, the good news, and the spiritual needs of people/followed by the physical needs

     B. We ought to avoid the angry response

     C. Even if the preacher has arisen from those we know

     D. We ought not try to keep the message from other places