Luke 4
Audio Link to Luke 4 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.' [Deut. 8:3 ]"
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. [Deut. 6:13]""
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' [Psalm 91:11,12]"
12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' [Deut. 6:16]"
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is 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 proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." [Isaiah 61:1,2]"
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' "
24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy [The Greek word was used for various diseases affecting the skin—not necessarily leprosy.]" in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian."
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil [unclean] spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34 "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
35 "Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. 39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.40 When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. 41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. [Messiah]
42 At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. [the land of the Jews; or Galilee]
In the 4th chapter of Luke, Luke is still introducing us to Jesus. If you are familiar with the Gospels, it sounds a little funny. Let's see how the chapter starts out, the description of Jesus being tempted by Satan. Not your typical method of evangelism. I once had an evangelist come to my door and start out his prepared speech with Hell. I cannot tell you how fast I exited. In evangelism, it is a method that should be stamped with the word - Fail.
Let's take a second and think about evangelism. The lost and the wondering, the injured and the spiritually impoverished are not going to Church. They are still unreached. And... thinking about the lessons I learned from a very gentle, successful Priest bringing the message of Jesus' love and hope - God gives us opportunities to introduce Jesus.
Why would the Gospels of Jesus Christ tell us about the devil... it's obvious mankind understood 2,000 years ago and today - there is a force of evil at work in the world. People still really do believe it - this why there are horror movies. Just as there are horror movies - - there are people who discuss them. They want to discuss them to have a venue to talk about their own spiritual issues.
What types of spiritual questions will be asked? The ones God wanted to tell us about. The ones people will ask you about if you are familiar with the Scriptures. The ones that plant a seed to be thought about - the conversations you are gentle with and you pray during and after.
What Luke 4 Teaches Us
There is a devil, he tempts everyone. There are evil spirits and they can be found in very unlikely places. The darkness pretends to not be subject to God and pretends not to recognize God.
Notice, also, Luke doesn't get busy explaining where the devil came from. The Christian witness moves away from minute discussions of evil. If they are interested in the details of the devil biblically, tell them, gently and kindly to look them up in the Scriptures.
God set the boundaries, the devil tells Jesus his boundaries have been given to him. The temptations are sometimes not effective at all, evil is not always the sinister genius we tend to think of. Darkness sometimes tries to expose good to add confusion.
Another common misconception about the Scriptures is that in the "dark ages" everyone believed evil spirits caused illness. Jesus didn't believe Peter's (Simon) mother had a demon with fever. Jesus rebuked the illness - i.e. the cells.
Another mistake is people believe the devil is the power today because miracles have died off. No, Jesus is telling us even biblically, miracles occur when God intends them. Today as well.
Yes, you may have the opportunity to bring Jesus up in this fashion, but remember what Luke progresses on to:
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 proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
The compassion of Jesus is the real message. Just as Jesus did, this is what we proclaim. Very, very few people are against the real hope, the real love Jesus proclaimed, yet there are a lot of people who don't know of Him.
Father God, You are Love. The Scriptures tell us so. We give Your thanks for Your love & the opportunity to give Jesus to others. In the highest name You've given us. Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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