Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Luke 4

Satan Tempts Jesus

• Three main motivators can change the mind or the heart of a person, which Satan uses for his mode of operation, Modus Operandi:
  
  Appetite, Hormones, and Pain (physical, emotional): Succinctly – Hunger, Hormones, Hurting.
  
• Each of these are tools for Satan:
  
  • Appetite: Eve eating from the tree of good and evil, Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of red stew.
    
  • Hormones: David killing Uriah and taking his wife Bathsheba.
    
  • Pain: Demon Possession. Diseases. Identity Questioned. Disaster. Death. Guilt. Rejection. Torture. Lies leading to Mental Illness. Empty Promises. Abandonment. Being Silenced. Starvation. Bullied. Threats. Assault. Assault on others you love. Addiction. Imprisonment. Execution. Deformation. Anxiety. Fear. Pressure. Being Mocked. Being Dismissed. Harassment and Stalking. (Pain describes the character of Satan)
    
• How does Jesus handle these three? An appetite for bread, His love for the world, and His coming crucifixion.

Luke 4:¹ Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Luke 4:² being tempted (tested) for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

• Tested to the maximum by His appetite.

Luke 4:³ And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

Luke 4:⁴ But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

• When Jesus refused, He broke the curse of Adam and Eve’s appetite for pleasure when the fruit tasted good.

Luke 4:5⁵ Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

• This would be Nebuchadnezzar’s statue from the book of Daniel. It lists all the gentile kingdoms until Jesus returns to earth at His second advent. At that time, all these kingdoms are smashed and given to the wind when Jesus rules after the tribulation. The implications are that Satan has had authority over them and has been heavily involved. Satan is called “The god of this world” (II Cor 4:4 KJV)

Luke 4:⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

• The “mortgage” to the earth and its kingdoms were given to Satan in the Garden of Eden.

Luke 4:⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

• An escape from the crucifixion: A release from Death and Pain.

Luke 4:⁸ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

• His will was to do the will of the Father.

Luke 4:⁹ Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.

Luke 4:¹⁰ For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’

Luke 4:¹¹ and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

• Satan is quoting scripture and he knows it well.

• “If”, “If”, “If” means: Prove your identity and value. You are not who you say you are. I reject you.

• This prepares Jesus for the ultimate rejection of the Pharisees.
  • John 8:13 Jesus Defends His Self-Witness
    The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.”
    
• Satan traps people manipulating their identity with shame, submissiveness, and devaluation.
• One example is Aaron Hernandez who became a professional superstar football player who ended up ending his own life. Everyone’s expectations are high but you are not picked. It is devastating. You must prove yourself.
• Just like any entertainer, the greater the fame, the higher the cliff you have to climb in order to prove yourself. Satan goes after a man’s dignity, it is his connection to God because he was made in God’s image. Dignity is comprised of the natural gifts God gives you when you are born. The only way Satan can get to a man’s dignity is to puff it up until it becomes pride, when he makes more of himself than he actually is so that he is not shamed. Then the umbilical cord of dignity to God is slashed by Satan.
• The captive comes to believe that he is the source of his own abilities. In a sense, man begins to worship himself and becomes his own “god”. To be a famous football player means you are tempted to be Satan’s piece of meat who must perform and dance and continue to outdo the last performance, and the demands just keep coming in. Then, because you are famous and rich you start to get by with things others wouldn’t. Once you get by with something, you begin to play with thoughts of getting by with other things. Someone mentioned Aaron had developed a sinister side. Sinister is spelled with “sin”.
• Jesus did not defend Himself when Satan tempted Him by puffing Himself up. He relied on the Father’s truth of His identity.

• It is the unbelief in Jesus’ identity which leads to the unforgivable sin. Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit (Like the Holy Spirit helped in the creation (impregnation) of the earth when it “hovered/fluttered” over the waters.) Either you believe Jesus was born of a virgin birth as scripture says indicating His identity as the Son of God, or you believe Jesus was born of fornication. Not believing in the virgin birth IS the UNFORGIVABLE SIN. JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.

Luke 4:¹² And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt (test) the Lord your God.’ ”

Luke 4:¹³ Now when the devil had ended every temptation (testing), he departed from Him until an opportune time.

• Jesus worked hard to meet these requirements in order to proceed to the cross.

Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry

Luke 4:¹⁴ Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.

Luke 4:¹⁵ And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Luke 4:¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

Luke 4:¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

Luke 4:18

Isaiah 61:1
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed (downtrodden);

Luke 4:¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Luke 4:²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

Luke 4:²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:²² So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Luke 4:²³ He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’ ”

Luke 4:²⁴ Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.

Luke 4:²⁵ But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land;

Luke 4:26²⁶ but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath (Gr. Sarepta), in the region of Sidon, to a (GENTILE!) woman who was a widow.

Luke 4:²⁷ And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the (GENTILE!) Syrian.”

Luke 4:²⁸ So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with (rage) wrath,

Luke 4:²⁹ and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.

Luke 4:³⁰ Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

Jesus Casts Out an Unclean Spirit

Luke 4:³¹ Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.

Luke 4:³² And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

Luke 4:³³ Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,

Luke 4:³⁴ saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

Luke 4:³⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, (Lit. Be muzzled) “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.

Luke 4:³⁶ Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”

Luke 4:³⁷ And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed

Luke 4:³⁸ Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house (Simon Peter). But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick (afflicted) with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.

Luke 4:³⁹ So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

Many Healed After Sabbath Sunset

Luke 4:⁴⁰ 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 every one of them and healed them.

Luke 4:⁴¹ And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!”

And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. (Or: They were not allowed to say that they knew who Jesus was.)

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

Luke 4:⁴² Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;

Luke 4:⁴³ but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

Luke 4:⁴⁴ And He was preaching in the synagogues of (Judea) Galilee.