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Posted by Dion Todd September 30th, 2017 6,092 Views 0 Comments
RHM Bible Study, Luke Chapter Four< from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.
Today we are going to continue our interactive Bible study and we are going to cover Luke Chapter 4. I would encourage you to follow along in your own Bible, highlight and make notes in the margins. Don’t be afraid to underline things in your Bible. It is a study book, not a sacred artifact. So make it yours.
To be honest, today I use mostly digital copies on the computer, phone or tablet and let them read it to me, or listen to audio bibles. Because I can do that in the car while driving or while in bed with the lights out. Try using your paper Bible for that. At night I have a homemade pillow speaker that I made using tiny audio transducers and I play the Bible chapters on random shuffle. It gives me something to think about when I can’t sleep and I don’t get bogged down too long in Leviticus.
After the meeting today, or sometime this week, please take the matching Quiz on Luke Chapter 4 that I have prepared on the website. It is on the right hand side and matches this teaching. Thanks to all that have taken last weeks quiz. It looks like participation is growing. Last week we had around 30 participants, and 10 people scored a perfect 100. Let’s get started:
Luke Chapter 4 WEB: 1. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.
This happened near the Sea of Galilee. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, traveled to the Jordan river to hear John, was baptized by him, the Holy Spirit descended on Him, and then He went into the desert area. The words wilderness and desert are used for this place, an uninhabited area. Note: The Holy Spirit will lead us through green pastures, but also into the season of the barren desert.
Now Jesus lived His life as a “Spirit Filled” man and obviously He knew the Holy Spirit from before birth, but this was a special public filling / anointing of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by a voice from heaven saying “This is My Beloved Son.” It was the beginning of His public ministry.
After the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, He was led, or driven, into the desert and began a forty-day fast during which He was tempted by the devil. We sometimes feel that Jesus doesn’t really understand temptation because His temptation was different. In many ways, His was even more demanding. Jesus was baptized, and then went through a season of temptation, but He never gave in.
Temptation is like hunger pain, it grows more and more intense as you resist, but if you just yield, it will leave. Jesus never yielded, so He endured the full weight of it. Hebrews 4:15 reads “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Scriptures speaks of temptation in basically 3 ways:
1. satan, working through our own lusts, tempts us to perform evil acts. This is an enticement to do evil and it is covered in 1 Corinthians 7:5 where Paul told us to not deprive our spouses except during fasting, or we may be tempted because of a lack of self control. And James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. This is just like fishing with bait, satan is looking for a fish that is hungry for what he has.
2. We may tempt God by wrongly putting Him to the test. Examples of this is Acts 5:9 when Ananias, with Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, and in 1 Corinthians 10:9 which speaks of the Israelites that tested God and were bitten by serpents.
3. God may test us, but never with an enticement to do evil. An example is in Hebrews 11:17 which speaks of Abraham’s faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. Abraham was tested.
The story of Jesus fasting and being tempted in the desert can only have come from Jesus Himself. He was alone there. At some point, He must have shared this story with His disciples.
Jesus fasted for 40 days, and then He was hungry. It is believed that Jesus drank water, because it does not say that He was thirsty. Also unless a miracle happens, you will not live but about 3 days without water. As a note on fasting, when you begin to fast, you will have hunger pains for 3 to 4 days but usually they are gone before the first week has passed. A normal person can fast without food for about 30 to 40 days before their hunger returns. This is critical and means that all reserves are used up and the body is beginning to starve to death. This is where Jesus was in His fast when He stopped.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
“And the devil said to Him”: The Bible clearly teaches the existence and activity of a evil being of great power and cunning, who sets himself against God and God’s people. This one is sometimes called the devil, sometimes Satan (Luke 4:8), and many other names or titles. He came to test Jesus.
The first temptation was food to someone that was starving. That was pretty low. Jesus was hungry, but full of the Spirit, where we are sometimes just the opposite - full stomachs and empty spirits. The temptation was basically this: “Since You’re the Messiah, why are You so deprived? Do a little something for Yourself.” The same temptation in our life would be: “If you’re a child of God, why are things so tough? Do a little something for yourself.”
satan enticed Jesus to use the power of God for selfish purposes. The temptation to eat something that they shouldn’t, worked well with the first sinless man, Adam, (Genesis 3:6), so the devil tried it on the second sinless man. It had worked in the past.
Jesus countered satan with Deuteronomy 8:3 - “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” I could talk about this a long time, but suffice it to say that God intended for us to hear His voice. It was His idea to begin with.
It is important to note that Jesus simply used Scripture to battle Satan’s temptation, not some elaborate supernatural spiritual power that we don’t have. Jesus fought this battle as a Spirit-filled, Word-of-God-filled man. He used nothing that is not available to us today.
We should resist temptation in the same way that Jesus did: be filled with the Holy Spirit, and answer satan’s lies by using scripture to reveal the truth. The more that we know about the word of God, the more powerful we become to resist temptation.
5 The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. 7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”
It is best to think of this as a vision, as there is not really a mountain high enough to see all the kingdoms of the earth at the same time, and the earth is round. It would be hard to see more than one side of it at a time even from the moon.
The devil knew that Jesus had come to save the kingdoms of the world, so he offered them all to Him at once. He could be the ruler of them now. Again, it was shortcut. “Delivered unto me” means “betrayed to me”. satan said that the kingdoms of the world had been betrayed to him and that he could give them to whomever he wanted. He was not lying. As I understand it, Adam had authority over the kingdoms of the world, but he delivered them to satan by siding with him against God in Genesis chapter 1. It is not surprising to see ungodly people in positions of power and prestige. This will end. Revelation 11:15 reads “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”
Jesus answered ”Get behind Me satan.” Just as James 4:7 tells us: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Again Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy using chapter 6 verse 13 For it is written, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Again satan was defeated by the Word of God used by a Spirit-filled believer.
9 He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’ 11 and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
For the third temptation, satan took Jesus a very high place at the temple in Jerusalem overlooking the crowded court yard. Legend has it that the Messiah would appear on the roof of the temple, so if Jesus descended from there, it would be a spectacular event and fulfill the Jews expectations.
It is written: satan knew the word of God as well and he actually quoted it to Jesus. He has probably spent centuries looking for loopholes. He is a bible expert, and he knows how to twist scripture out of context.
It is important to know that satan could not throw Jesus down from the temple, he could only suggest that Jesus do so. The only power that he had to use against Jesus was the power of suggestion, and it is the same way with us today. If you stand firm in your faith and on the word of God, the enemy will leave. Again Jesus quoted scripture from Deuteronomy using chapter 6, verse 16: “You shall not tempt the Lord Your God.”
13 When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time. 14 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.
When satan had run out of ideas, he left Jesus until a more opportune time. He waited and watched hoping for a moment of weakness, a time to gain a foothold in the life of Jesus. Now satan is not stupid; he will not continually put his limited resources into a losing battle. If you want satan to leave you alone for a while, you must continually resist him. Many are so attacked because they resist so little. Quote the word of God in your prayers and mean it. Jesus resisted these temptations because He walked in the Word and in the Spirit; these two are the resources for all Christian living.
The Word and the Spirit:
- Too much Word and not enough Spirit and you will puff up becoming prideful and believing that you are better than others.
- Too much Spirit and not enough Word and you will blow up, becoming unstable and easily deceived.
- Combine the Word and the Spirit together, and you will grow up.
Jesus returned in the Power of the Spirit. He went into the desert, but after fasting and resisting the temptations, Jesus walked in true power. This was a turning point in His life.
15 He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Galilee was a highly populated area with about 3 million people in an area smaller than the state of Connecticut. There were 240 cities and villages, with an average of 15,000 people in each. Jesus taught in their synagogues and early on, had no opposition as He was glorified by all. Then He came to His hometown of Nazareth.
Jesus had grew up in Nazareth, and since this was early in His ministry, it had not been that long since He had lived and worked there. The people of that village knew Him, and He had probably done work as a carpenter or builder for many of them.
We should note that Matthew 4:12 tell us: “That Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea. " So Jesus had moved His residence from Nazareth to Capernaum.
17 The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted,* to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 19 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
Jesus was the visiting speaker that week and He read from the book of Isaiah, chapter 61.
The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me and He has Anointed Me: The word “anoint” means to rub or sprinkle on; apply an ointment, or oily liquid to. Jesus was anointed to heal the fivefold damage that sin brings:
- To preach the gospel to the poor: Sin impoverishes, and the Messiah brings good news to the poor.
- To heal the brokenhearted: Sin breaks hearts, and the Messiah has good news for brokenhearted.
- To proclaim liberty to the captives: Sin makes people captive and enslaves them, and the Messiah comes to set them free.
- Recovery of sight to the blind: Sin blinds us, and the Messiah comes to heal our spiritual and moral blindness.
- To set at liberty those who are oppressed: Sin oppresses its victims, and the Messiah comes to bring liberty to the oppressed.
The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
Jesus answered two questions with “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”:
- “Whom did Isaiah write of?” Jesus answered, “Isaiah wrote of Me.”
- “When will this come to pass?” Jesus answered, “Isaiah wrote of now.”
Some people began to resent the fact that “Joseph’s Son” would make such bold claims.
23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’ ” 24 He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
Apparently Jesus had already been doing miracles in Capernaum and they wanted to see Him do some here in Nazareth. Jesus understood that it is most difficult to recognize the power of God in those that are already familiar to us.
25 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
Jesus used examples from the lives of the prophets Elijah and Elisha to show that God will often show Himself to the those that are deemed “unworthy”. The widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, for instance, were both gentiles. To the Jews, who thought that they had God in their little box and shared Him with whom they wanted to, this became a stumbling block.
28 They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things. 29 They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. 30 But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way.
The first stage of stoning someone was to throw them off a cliff, and then pelt them with rocks until they were dead. They were so angry with Jesus that they dragged Him to the cliff intending to throw Him off and stone Him, but Jesus miraculously passed through the middle of them and went on His way. Apparently He did something like vanishing right in front of them and walking away invisible. I don’t see another way to explain this, as they would not have let Him go.
31 He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. He was teaching them on the Sabbath day, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 saying, “Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”
We should note that “there was a man in the synagogue who had a demon” sitting right there comfortably in the midst of them, probably came every week, and sat on the front row. The anointed preaching of Jesus upset this thing so badly that it began to cry out in a loud voice. None of the other sermons from the other speakers had bothered him before.
I will mention that this is real, and still relevant today. I have seen this happen quite a few times. Once was when Sylvia and I was in Mount Pleasant SC at a conference once and the visiting speaker was Mahesh Chavda, who had recently came off a forty-day fast. As he began to speak about the blood of Jesus, a little lady about 75 years old, sitting behind us and to our right, let out a scream: “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” and then fell to the floor kicking and screaming. The demon could not stand it any longer. The anointing exposes darkness. The demons knew who Jesus was, but the people in His own hometown could not see it.
35 Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 Amazement came on all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 News about him went out into every place of the surrounding region.
The people looked at each other in astonishment and said “What new teaching is this?” when they saw a man be delivered of an evil spirit. Two thousand years later, that is what the people in the church that we were in looked like when the little lady fell down and started screaming. Jesus clearly had authority over them and just said “Be quiet and come out of him”, and it did, causing no harm.
38 He rose up from the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him for her. 39 He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them.
This Simon is later called Peter, the Apostle. We should note that Peter the Apostle was married because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian writer, said that Peter’s wife helped him in ministry by meeting the needs of other women. I want to note here that forbidding those in ministry to marry is a grave error and a doctrine of devils.
Paul wrote to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” I didn’t write it, the Apostle Paul did.
In this sickness instance, Jesus saw the great fever as something to be rebuked. It was probably demonic because when Jesus rebuked the fever, the woman was instantly strong enough to get up and start waiting on them. You don’t go from bedridden to cooking that quickly without a miracle.
40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41 Demons also came out of many, crying out, and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
When the sun was setting meant that the Sabbath day was now over, as it spanned from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and the people were now free of the travel restrictions. They came to Jesus and He laid His hands on everyone of them and healed them. Every one of them was healed; no one was too little for His attention. He touched them all. This is so like Him. More demons came out screaming and saying that He was the Son of God.
We should note that the Bible focuses on the highlights and when we read it, it sounds as if Jesus encountered demons at every corner, but that is probably not the case. There are about 10 specific people mentioned that were delivered from demons over the course of about 3 years. We don’t really have a number because there are references like “demons came out of many” but it does not say how many. Apparently deliverance was a fairly common occurrence in the ministry of Jesus, and it still is, but not every thing that you encounter is a demon, just trying to balance the scale.
42 When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place, and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn’t go away from them. 43 But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent.” 44 He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
Jesus knew the value of spending quiet time with the Father to regenerate, to get a fresh vision. He spent most of His time ministering to the people, but often withdrew to deserted places. Later, He would take His disciples to deserted places as well, but even then sometimes He would leave them to go be alone with the Father.
“For this purpose I have been sent”: Jesus saw His main ministry, at this point, to be preaching the kingdom of God. Miracles were a part of that work, but they were not His main focus. The people clung to Jesus and did not want Him to leave their area. To know Him is to love Him. Those who do not believe in God, just have not met Him yet. That concludes our study of Luke chapter 4. Thank you for coming! Be sure to take the quiz on your way out.
Quiz on Luke Chapter 4 (answers)
1. Jesus was baptized in the _____ river.
2. Jesus fasted for _____ days in the wilderness.
3. At the end of His fast, Jesus was _____.
4. The _____ showed up to tempt Jesus.
5. The first temptation was: If You are the Son of God, command this _____ to become _____.
6. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy and said: Man shall not live by _____ alone, but by every word of God.
7. The second temptation was: The devil led Him up on a high mountain and showed Him all the _____ of the world in a moment of time.
8. The third temptation began when satan took Jesus to _____ and set Him on the pinnacle of the _____.
9. satan quoted scripture to Jesus. _____.
10. After fasting and resisting temptation, Jesus returned to Galilee in the ________________.
11. Jesus entered the synagog in His hometown of _____.
12. While in the synagog in Nazareth, Jesus read from the book of _____.
13. The people of Nazareth became so upset that they tried to: _______________.
14. Jesus said that no _____ is accepted in his own country.
15. Jesus said: “But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of _____, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land.
16. Jesus said: “And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except _____ the Syrian.”
17. The demons cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of _____?
18. Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a _____.
19. When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on ______ of them and healed them.
20. Jesus said to them, “I must preach the ______ to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”