Trinity Evangel Church

How do you know if your repentance is real? What are the signs?

In the context of the church in America in the 21st century, we might have to defend using the word repentance to start with. Repentance means change, change of mind, change of feelings, change of loyalties, change of choices. Repentance turns from sin, which includes an acknowledgement of sin, and an acknowledgement of the Lord’s authority to name sin and judge it. Even when we find a pack of Christians willing to call non-Christians to repentance, what can we expect the repentance to look like?

Already in Luke we saw John the Baptist proclaiming a baptism of repentance (Luke 3:3), and expecting others to "bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3:8). And then we just saw Jesus' own mission statement: "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

Jesus said this in response to the Rule Boys who were critical of His company. They caught Him with tax collectors and sinners. They knew that's not what righteous people do. They knew that's not what they would do.

And after Jesus answered that He came for sinners not to avoid sinners, "they" move on to the next complaint. First they didn't approve of the kind of man Jesus called to repent, but now they don't approve of how those who did repent are conducting themselves. You know what those repentant people's problem is? They are way too happy.

People can't help but be religious. The Pharisees and scribes were religious elites. They pored over the Law to know what was right, and then built up other expectations around the Law to protect it. It's like adding a sixth quart of oil to an engine that takes five, just to be safe. But their engines were smoking at what Jesus seemed to allow for His disciples.

In Luke 5:33-39 Jesus explains why repentant men are bursting at the seams with joy when He is present.

Often “they” are hard to identify, here we know who they are. Luke connects this complaint with the Pharisees and scribes who were already grumbling (Luke 5:30).

There are three groups of disciples but only two of them are acting like the righteous. The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers. Presumably Jesus would be in favor of this because John was His forerunner. So do the disciples of the Pharisees fast and pray; they had a whole schedule (Luke 18:12). By their own measure they are the cream of the crop for keeping the Mosaic covenant. They know the best places to get sackcloth.

So what's the deal with the disciples of Jesus who eat and drink? This follows the eating and drinking in verse 30. The righteous fast, they don't feast. If you want to see real repentance, you won't find it at a party, right? Real repentance is sober and sad-looking. They knew what God wanted. Jesus and His disciples are not following the rules, and the last thing the tax collectors need is another party.

Jesus answers with four illustrations, and the first one is the main flavor.

What attitude do you wear to a wedding? There is an obvious answer. Jesus knows the dignity of marriage and the seriousness of vows and the embodied picture that husband and wife are of Jesus and His bride. Jesus could have made it His ministry to travel from wedding to wedding with the message: “Hey, I think you need to be more sober about what’s happening here.”

Joy is the obvious attire for a wedding. And what is the menu for joy? That is also an obvious answer. It is not NO menu. Even if it's the cheaper chicken, fry that chicken and dish it up like there are no cholesterol consequences. Fill up your glass.

Jesus highlights the groom's presence because He's highlighting His presence. This is a prophet’s way of talking about God and His people (see Isaiah 61:10; 62:5). Jesus puts Himself at the center of the celebration. His disciples’ conduct makes sense once you recognize who is with them.

There are a couple options for what Jesus meant when He said that days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them. Maybe He means now. He rose from the grave and ascended into heaven and generations have been waiting for His return. So we mourn His absence and put away our wine glasses until the Second Coming.

The church does fast in Acts, but never in mourning for an absent Christ; they fast to seek guidance, not because they are sad about the bridegroom. After Acts, no epistle commands fasting or even reports fasting as part of a church’s practice. This does not mean that we don't know enough to know that fasting could be appropriate at times. But it does suggest that Jesus was referring to a shorter time.

Jesus was taken away for three days, a more violent idea than the ascension. That was a time of uncertainty and grief. Jesus compared it to the time of a woman in labor, with sorrow and anguish (John 16:20-22). But after His resurrection, the dominant flavor has been love and joy and peace, not fear and misery and anxiety.

The point here is, wedding guests have a job when the groom is present. Rejoice in and with the Bridegroom! Gird up your loins and put on your dancing sandals.

Luke introduces this as a parable in three brief comparisons, a trio of “no one”s.

No one sees a hole in an old shirt and rips up a new shirt to patch it. It ruins the new shirt, and it's impossible to match the old shirt, let alone realizing that the old threads will just rip more. The fix was temporary and led to more tearing.

What is the old and new Jesus is talking about?

No one is so ignorant and careless as to ruin a new batch of wine by putting it in containers that can’t hold it. Their first-century containers were animal skins, and over time the skins dried out and wore thin. New wine isn't settled, still fermenting and letting off gas, so more likely to burst an old skin. If that happens the skin can't be used and the wine is gone.

What is the old and new Jesus is talking about?

The last proverb keeps with the wine illustration, but helps us identify the old and new.

No one who is accustomed to the old wine says, “Let me try the new stuff.” This isn’t just a comment about quality, it’s a comment about settling with what you’ve decided is right.

Why does Jesus jump from "you don't fast at a wedding" to "you don't patch new on old"? The link is that the newness of what He brings can't be contained in old forms.

The illustrations of the garments and wineskins show why the combination won’t work. The old wine shows why people still resist the change.

The way of Jesus is the new garment, the new wine. The man-centered lifestyle and liturgy of the Pharisees were the old ways, the old garment, the old wineskins, and old wine. They were comfortable being miserable, content with external standards of repentance. Even John’s disciples had yet to recognize the full meaning of the Messiah’s arrival. And the Pharisees were just tweaked that Jesus didn’t match their expectations.

“this people draw near with their mouth

They saw the feast and concluded that repentance was missing. Repentance means changing your mind. What if part of the change you need is learning to rejoice when God gives you reason?

Fasting and feasting are really helpful categories (for that matter, so are weddings and wine). There are good and bad ways of both, less or more. The key is, is Jesus present?

Jesus did fast (Luke 4:2). Jesus instructed His disciples how to fast, assuming that they would (Matthew 6:16-18). There are a couple cases of the early church fasting in seeking guidance from the Lord. But the church didn’t treat Jesus’ ascension as a killjoy.

How do you know if your repentance is real? You turn from your sin to the Lord, and you let His Word frame your expectations. You don’t insist on fasting when He gives you reason to feast. Jesus came to call sinners, forgive them, and bring them into His company. He is with us (Matthew 28:20), so the found would be feasting.

Examine your settled tastes. Are you comfortable measuring your repentance by easier standards? Are you giving room for the new wine of Jesus’ presence, or trying to make the old skins hold on? Christian, abide in the Vine so that His joy may be in you, and that your joy may be bursting at the seams.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:24–25 ESV)

We've come to the second controversy story in a row. Jesus just pronounced forgiveness, a thing only God could do. Now Jesus is eating and drinking with sinners, a thing God would never do, at least in the eyes of some.

Jesus has also recently healed a leper. What was worse than being a leper? If you really had leprosy, then you were cast out of the community, physically unwell and socially unwelcome. Now Jesus makes a disciple from one who is a social outcast by choice. His neighbors resented him as he made his living from a system they resented. Maybe you could have sympathy for the leper, but even a tax collector's mother might have struggled to love her son.

But God! God saves sinners. That’s the good news in three words, though I think I’d want to add one more little phrase. God saves sinners unto glory. This is the thing that is controversial. This is what makes the Pharisees and their scribes so irritated, even if they don’t say it so clearly. They had their own scorecard for glory, and Jesus turned their card upside down.

But this tax-collector was clearly predestined, called, justified, and promised glory (the grace-chain in Romans 8:30). God calls sinners unto repentance, unto table-fellowship, unto an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Corinthians 4:17).

There are two different scenes in these verses. First, Jesus targets a particular tax collector as a disciple, and second, Jesus defends His mission to make disciples of guys who need to repent like this tax collector. Luke 5:27-32 shows that Jesus is God who calls sinners through repentance unto glory.

Jesus went out and saw this guy, and took the initiative. Luke records no request from the man, there’s no introduction or background as there had been before Jesus called Peter. All signs point to unconditional election at work.

A tax collector was an employee, unlike Zacchaeus who was a “chief tax collector,” nearer to the top of the chain. Jesus went up to the tax booth (or “tax office” LSB). Since this booth was near the sea (Mark 2:13), it may have been a taxes on fishermen, or it could have been on a route to tax goods moving through Capernaum.

The man's name was Levi. Mark also has the name Levi (Mark 2:14) but the same story in Matthew 9:9 has a different name: Matthew. In the list of disciples in Luke 6:14-16 there is a Matthew and not a Levi, and in the list of disciples in Matthew 10:3 Matthew is the only disciple called “a tax-collector.” Either he was known by two names, similar to Simon Peter, or Levi is similar to Matthew as a tax-collector and follower of Jesus, but not the same guy.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all put this call immediately after the healing of the paralytic and the religious leaders questioning Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. Now Jesus calls an obvious sinner to follow Him.

If there was other conversation, Luke didn’t think we needed to hear it. Jesus said, ”Follow me” and Levi did, leaving everything. The paralytic rose from his bed in proof of his healing; the tax collector left his post in proof of his new way of living.

Jesus called this sinner to a new life. The word “call” is used in verse 32, and Levi is the human object lesson. Theologically we distinguish between the external call and the effectual call, or inward call. When Jesus said, “Follow me,” anyone could hear it. When Levi followed, that was God’s grace working in his will.

Rather than be humbled and excited that grace was available to one such as Levi, the “righteous” were proud and irritated.

Some time later Levi made Him a great feast. Apparently some readers have wondered how Levi could afford a party when he'd just quit his job. But one commentator I read said, “There is no rule that says a tax collector must be a financial fool with his earnings” (Bock). In other words, he hadn't drained his savings yet.

There was a large company, and some of them were work buddies, fellow tax collectors. Luke says there were others, and this was a nice way to say sinners (as the Pharisees make explicit in verse 30). They were all reclining at table. We're upright sitters, straight-back chair people. The custom for them was a type of couch, perhaps encouraging a longer meal and more fellowship.

Sometime after that the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples. As is true of a lot of fussers, they don’t criticize Jesus to His face but complain to His guys.

It's worth mentioning that the word grumbled sounds like what it's doing (onomatopoeia). The Greek word works the same way: gogguzo (γογγύζω), grumble, a guttural mumble. It’s the word used in the Greek version of the Old Testament for when the Israelites grumbled at God in the desert and the Lord judged them with forty years of wandering (Numbers 14). They grumbled themselves out of the promised land, the Pharisees grumbled themselves out of the party.

“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Luke 5:30)

They wouldn't have been caught dead at the feast, they were too pure for that. But they’d been tracking Jesus, or at least had heard about this feast, and this company of sinners compromised Jesus’ holiness. The Pharisees were separatists. They had rules for this. The way to be holy was to avoid contact, avoid association. “Consequently, they believed in ‘salvation by segregation’ versus ‘salvation by association’ to fend off the heathens at the gate” (Garland).

Jesus answers not just with a metaphor, but with a mission statement:

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31-32 ESV)

Jesus is like a doctor who goes to the sick to make them well.

Jesus isn’t excusing sin as an unfortunate medical condition. The analogy is about who needs help. The well or "healthy" man just keeps going. Call the doctor when there's a problem. Sin is like incurable leprosy, and Jesus’ touch immediately cleanses. Sin is like irrecoverable social damage, and Jesus’ call bridges the chasm. Sin is like being dead, and the Physician gives new life.

The analogy is also not saying that there are really, spiritually healthy people who don't need salvation. That Jesus did not come to call the righteous does not mean that there are actually righteous men. There are some who think they are righteous. The Pharisees and the scribes thought they had the grades that meant glory.

The parable in Luke 18:9-14 has a Pharisee and a tax collector, one who justified himself and the other who pleaded for mercy. Only one went home truly justified.

Also, while Jesus was a friend of sinners, He called them to repentance. He called, and still calls, men to follow Him as they leave their sin.

How many of the “others” followed Jesus that day? What were the conversations like between Jesus and the thugs around the table? It is strange that Luke doesn’t say whether or not there was a revival among the Israeli IRS and others of lower morals. He does say that the Israeli Society of the Pure and Spotless grumbled at the company Jesus kept.

The Pharisees could see what was wrong with Levi and the people at Levi’s table. They couldn’t see what was wrong with their own hearts. It is possible to be very discerning about other people’s sins and very defensive about your own.

Jeremiah asks whether a leopard can change its spots, then asks whether people accustomed to evil can do good (Jeremiah 13:23). We need sovereign grace that changes what we cannot change ourselves. We need God’s effectual call.

The effectual call works with the external call. The found don’t stand at the door deciding which sinners Jesus ought to call. The found make room at the table and tell others about the Physician. Levi got up from his booth. He opened his house. What would faithful obedience look like for you this week?

If you can't associate with someone who needs to repent, why? If you associate with someone who needs to repent but you never bring it up, why?

Jesus calls sinners to repentance. He gives the undeserving forgiveness, He brings the outcast into fellowship, and He a provides a new future. God saves sinners unto glory.

God is saving you unto glory. He is proving your faith, He is showing your faith to be more precious than gold tested by fire. The result will be praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So Christian, rejoice until you obtain the outcome of your faith: glory!

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. (2 John 1:3 ESV)

Here begins a series of what some have called controversy stories. It starts with the paralytic, ends with the man with the withered hand (6:6-11), and in between are questions about how Jesus could tolerate a tax-collector (5:27-32), why He didn’t make His disciples fast (5:33-39), and even why He let them pluck grain on the Sabbath (6:1-5).

In each interaction Jesus reveals more of His identity, calls more disciples to Himself, and provokes more of the Top Men who thought they were in charge.

As Jesus reveals Himself, He shows His power over and knowledge of nature, as with the huge catch of fish. He shows His power over un-healable disease, as with leprosy. He shows His power over sin, His authority to forgive sin, and to cause the lame to walk. He shows that He came for the sick and sinners.

As He ministered, Jesus called Simon Peter, with James and John, blue-collar fishermen, to follow Him. He called Levi, a despised tax-collector, to follow Him. Right after these controversy stories is the list of His twelve disciples-become-apostles (6:12-16).

So much of this is unexpected. The carpenter knew better than the fishermen. The clean touched the unclean. The crippled started to walk, but only as the second most important thing. A man announces forgiveness of another man, who didn't ask for it. In the final verse of the story for today, the people say, "We have seen extraordinary things." They were "remarkable" (LBS), "strange" (Tyndale).

Jesus did things contrary to expectations. This caused controversy.

In Luke 5:17-26 Jesus forgives, then heals, a paralytic man, in front of the lawyer class, in order to show His authority as the Son of Man.

Joining the audience for the first time are the Pharisees and teachers of the law. We're at least a few months into Jesus' itinerant teaching, and He's gotten the attention of the Together for the Law guys.

What groups could we liken the Pharisees to? They were a self-determined group, as in, not belonging to priestly families. They were laymen, but they were also lawmen. The label itself refers to being separatists (maybe like the Amish, but more bossy?). They cared so much about the Mosaic Law that they made supporting laws to make sure that the covenant rules were obeyed. They were the sect of the strict, the guardians of godliness, the official officials. Your Homeowners Association Board can’t hold a candle to these rule-followers.

The teachers of the law are also called the scribes (see verse 21). They read and studied and interpreted the law, clarifying meaning and providing current application. The scribes and Pharisees went together like a defense attorney and prosecutor, unlike Pharisees and Sadducees who usually opposed each other.

A group of these Top Men have come from all around (from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and they are in the audience. Luke introduces them first, and he focuses on their response (starting in verse 21).

There's one more piece of info that sets the stage: And the power of the Lord was with him to heal (verse 17). It’s foreshadowing, but with a twist.

The movement happens in verses 18-19. A group of guys (four according to Mark 2:3) bring their buddy who can't walk to Jesus. Or they try to.

The man was paralyzed, lame, weak, disabled, handicapped. We don't know how long he'd been in this condition, how it happened, or how far the friends had to bring him.

Jesus was in a house, the house was full of people, and it apparently made more sense to the men to go up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles. It's agency, for sure. It's also industry. Maybe there were steps on the outside of the house leading up to the roof, but then they had to make a temporary skylight big enough for a stretcher. And they had to rig some way of lowering the stretcher.

We can assume that they removed the roof pieces without debris falling on heads inside the house. We'll have to find out in heaven if they paid to have the hole patched. But the key is, Jesus saw their faith (verse 20). It would have been faith to send a representative in to get Jesus' attention. It would have been faith to wait until the Bible study was over and Jesus was leaving. But this is faith as evidenced by high agency roof-removal.

We anticipate, if anything, that Jesus will heal the man. But instead, Jesus said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." This seems out of context, except when we realize that the context is the audience. It pushes the controversy bus down the hill.

No one said anything about sin, no one has asked for forgiveness. The point is not that this man is paralyzed as a punishment for his sin. The argument that Jesus is about to make in response to the Pharisees is about what Jesus has authority to do, not about the kind of diagnosis Jesus can make. Jesus has as much audacity as the men had agency.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

The scribes and Pharisees are repeated by name because it is they who are paralyzed by their belief in their self-righteous and law-protecting state. They were able to walk, but not willing to bow.

They began to question, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" The second question explains the first question. They knew enough to know forgiveness is solus Deus. First this is because sin offends God, so His perspective matters, and second this is because God is righteous, so His power matters.

Blasphemers of the Lord, per Moses, were to be stoned to death (Leviticus 24:16). The possible need to kill Jesus was already on their radar.

Their error, of course, was accusing Jesus of being a blasphemer. Their calling Jesus a blasphemer was, in a way, making them blasphemers. They were the ones speaking false things about God, who was standing right in front of them.

Whether or not He could hear them, He knew what they were thinking. Did Jesus just have great social radar, or was this part of His divine ability?

He's still teaching, and asks them a couple questions. "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?" (verse 23) They are both impossible without the right kind of authority. Anyone can say either, though the second one would be easier to see in real time. Jesus will show that He can do both.

That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, is the first time we see the title "Son of Man" in Luke. It's arguably Jesus' favorite self-reference, at least based on how many times He uses it. It's used multiple times in the Old Testament, most frequently in Ezekiel as the Lord refers to Ezekiel in his role as prophet. But the most significant use comes in Daniel 7:13 when the Son of Man gets authority from the Ancient of Days.

“I saw in the night visions,

No one follows up in the moment about the Son of Man piece, because Jesus told the paralyzed man to rise, pick up your bed and go home, which he did, immediately.

He was glorifying God (doxazon), and then the crowd glorified God (edoxazon), saying that they had seen the extraordinary (paradoxa).

As I observed, no one followed up the “Son of Man” comment in that moment. In Daniel 7:14 the Ancient of Days gives the Son of Man “dominion and glory and a kingdom.” The glory on display that day was just a glimpse of His worldwide and everlasting authority.

Jesus had the power to heal the paralytic, He forgave first. In other words, the visible need was not the deepest one, nor was healing the greatest authority Jesus had. The paralytic got the second thing (his legs) after the first thing (his forgiveness).

As Christians, we long for all peoples, nations, and languages to serve the Son of Man. We want them to acknowledge His authority as Lord and serve Him. And it starts with forgiveness of sins. Are you asking deep enough from Jesus?

Self-righteousness kept the Pharisees paralyzed; they could walk, but wouldn’t bow. Faith tore through a roof to reach Jesus.

You are completely forgiven in Christ, what can man do to you? You have faith in the Son of Man, is there anything else God won't give you that you need? You believe true and extraordinary things. So I say to you, rise, pick up your Bible, and go home, glorifying God. Ridē fidē!

[May] our God make you worthy of his calling and fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 ESV)

To be a leper was to be about the worst thing you could be in Israel. It wasn't a sin to be a leper, but it was typically assumed that you were a leper because of God's judgment on your sin. It was enough to make a man unclean, so unwelcome in the community by law, and not permitted to participate in business or worship. A leper wasn’t put to death, he might have wished he was. It was injury and illness and insult all together.

There are entire chapters in the Old Testament with laws for lepers (see in particular Leviticus 13-14). The leper laws might be more extensive than laws for any other type non-atonement liturgy. It was a physical disease with physical consequences, and it carried a religious designation with social consequences. A leper was unwell and unclean. A leper had to get a priest's approval of cleansing before he could re-enter community life. It was brutal.

Leprosy was also something only God could heal. Once you got it, you likely died with it or from it. While there were a variety of skin issues that could be considered under the broad term leprosy, many of them had no medical fix. If your skin started to look inflamed or infected, you hoped your issue was something else, something that would go away. You’d be quarantined for seven days while you waited. If the priest examined you and it was just a breakout, you were good. But if it had spread, apart from an act of God, it was almost hopeless.

Luke 5:12-16 shows just such an act of God. Jesus does what only God can do.

Jesus knew where the school of fish was which led to Simon Peter's conviction about his sin (Luke 5:8). The following healing of the paralytic is explicitly a God-only issue of forgiveness (Luke 5:20). The associations of leprosy with sin bring this event into the same thread. Jesus cleanses a leper and restores the outcast to the community.

We're still traveling with Jesus on His teaching tour, now in an unnamed city. Stories about what His words were doing were spreading, and a man full of leprosy came to Him.

The Greek word lepros seems to have initially referred to what was “scaly” or “rough.” The label of leprosy in the Bible could refer to a number of skin conditions we name more specifically today, including psoriasis, eczema, alopecia, lupus, and even some fungus like ringworm. Our medical term for leprosy proper is Hansen's Disease, a slow-growing chronic infection when the skin is discolored and flaky. If untreated, permanent nerve damage can lead to a loss of sensation, which can lead to unnoticed injuries and rubbing off fingers and toes. We can't know exactly what this man had, but he’s got it bad; he’s “covered” (LSB).

Leprosy was often a sign of God’s judgment. Miriam spoke against Moses, and became “leprous, like snow” (Numbers 12:10). The law threatened the disobedient “with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed” (Deuteronomy 28:27). “The LORD touched the king [Azariah], so that he was a leper” because he didn’t remove the high places (2 Kings 15:4-5). King Azariah (also called Uzziah) went into the temple, burned incense, and “leprosy broke out on his forehead…because the LORD had struck him” (2 Chronicles 26:18-20).

When Naaman the Syrian (previously referenced by Jesus in Luke 4:27) traveled to Israel for healing (2 Kings 5), the king of Syria sent a letter on Naaman’s behalf and “when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?’” (2 Kings 5:7).

One commentator said having this disease was “a form of living death” (Frederic Godet). So again, leprosy brought with it the community’s assumption that it was punishment by God for sin, and anticipated healing alone by God.

The leper shouldn't even be in town. Verse 12 may make it seem like the leper happened to see Jesus, but it's more that he was looking for Jesus and found Him. When he did, he fell on his face and begged him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean."

The leper makes no demands. He also has no questions about Jesus' ability. He appeals to Jesus as Lord, and he submits himself to whatever the Lord wills.

He is asking for a miracle. He is not merely asking for clear skin, he's asking for his life back.

Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." Full of leprosy meant easy to spot from a distance, yet Jesus has zero anxiety about being approached by this outcast. There’s no resistance, no warning to stay away, no taking a step back. Instead, though it was against the tradition of the rabbis, Jesus touched the leper.

And then the Lord declared His desire and declared a cleansing.

Just as with Peter's mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39), the leper got instant healing.

Then Jesus charged him to tell no one. Luke keeps the focus on Jesus, but other gospel writers include that the man couldn't keep his mouth shut; “he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town” (Mark 1:45).

Jesus had been telling the demons not to talk, but why didn't He want this man giving testimony? Perhaps it was to keep the man focused, to see the priest, to get him fully restored to the community. Go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them. This was proper procedure according to the Mosaic Law. Jesus pronounced the leper clean, he couldn't get more clean. But this also demonstrated that Jesus knew and upheld the law.

There are two brief pieces of response, in public and private.

Now even more the legend grew. There were more people who wanted healing. But there were also more people who wanted to hear His teaching, hearing and healing.

As Luke tells the healing of the paralytic in the next section, amazement and awe filled the people (5:26).

As for Jesus, he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

The next four episodes in Luke show Jesus not only ministering, but making the religious leaders angry. Prayer in private kept Him in fellowship with the Father.

Luke has the healing of the leper and the healing of the paralytic (Luke 5:17-26) next to each other on purpose. I chose to preach this passage on its own because of the connection between what was visible on the surface and what was assumed under the skin. Jesus knew what was under the surface of the water, where the fish were (Luke 5:4-8). This is part of what freaked Peter out. What else did Jesus know?

Luke doesn't name this leper's sin, nor does Jesus explicitly say "Your sins are forgiven." But there were at least associations. It’s why he asked not just for healing, but for cleansing.

What to look for in an outcast who should not be turned away:

Not entitled, demanding, or doubting.

Those who are in privileged positions can come too, but not with an entitled attitude. For that matter, being an outcast isn’t automatically better if the outcast is bitter. The leper didn't complain how unfair it was to be outcast.

These days we don’t interact with a lot of lepers, but we are living in days where some externals suggest something wrong more than skin deep. It’s not exactly the same, of course, but there are some modern analogies. Unnatural hair color isn’t a medical condition, but it is obvious, and it is usually a sign that something is wrong.

What is our message? Come to Jesus.

Learn to see the difference between those who are broken, and those who are broken and make it their mission to break others. Many with green/purple/pink hair in the first group need to hear the good news in Jesus Christ, and you know the grace that cleanses down to the roots.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

There are a few great fish stories in the gospels. This one happens when Jesus began calling disciples to follow Him. He catches the lost, then He casts the found back out to go fishing.

In Luke 5:1-11 Jesus, the carpenter's son, teaches Simon, the professional fisherman, a new fishing story. By the end of this particular morning out on the water Simon and his business partners will have caught their largest haul of all time and will walk away from it and their equipment for something better.

The benefit for us includes a reminder of Jesus' authority over nature, a reminder of His intention to seek and save the lost, and a reminder of our life as metaphorical fishers of men.

Jesus continued traveling to different towns and teaching. His words had power to cast out demons and heal disease, but even that corroborated the authority of His words of truth. Luke doesn't say what the lesson of this day was, though we'd expect it to include the good news of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:43).

Jesus gathered a crowd by the lake of Gennesaret, which is another name for the Sea of Galilee, a freshwater lake in northern Israel. The people were pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, and without a platform and some sort of artificial voice magnification Jesus was looking for a spot with good visuals and acoustics. He saw two boats, empty, since the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. It's the morning, they had clearly been out all night, and had caught no fish at all.

There was a book published in 1995 titled, The Sea of Galilee Boat: An Extraordinary 2000 Year Old Discovery by Shelley Wachsmann. It was about the find of a fishing boat buried in the sand in Israel approximated to this time. It measured over 25 feet long and over 7 feet wide, with an expected crew around four or five men (see Garland). It gives an idea of what Simon’s boat might have been like.

Jesus chose Simon's boat, asked Simon to take Him out into the water a bit offshore so that He could have a good spot to teach. But this was more about the moment Jesus chose for Simon than the message for the crowd.

The group lesson time was over, but it was time for a different and more personal lesson. When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Before even hearing Simon's reasonable pushback, this command is meddling. Jesus knew the fishermen were tired because He saw them washing their nets which meant it was the end of their shift. And who did He think He was to boss the boat owner?

In Greek the command “Put out” is singular, to the captain; “let down” is plural, to the crew.

Simon's reply is respectful. He's not only heard Jesus' teaching from his front row seat in the boat, he's recently seen Jesus heal his mother-in-law and others. While respectful, he is real. Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! ESV even has an exclamation point. They're exhausted. They are empty handed—there weren’t any fish. And it was the wrong time of day—they would scare away any fish. That said, But at your word I will let down the nets. It's obedience, though maybe more humoring than humble.

And as soon as they put their nets in the water, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They got the second boat involved, and the amount of fish was so much that both boats began to sink. The great catch was too great. It was one thing to catch nothing, it was another thing to lose everything. The miracle was about to wreck their lives.

In the midst of the chaos and possible catastrophe, when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (No exclamation point there?! The NASB and LSB do.) Of note, we don't actually learn about the Peter part of Simon’s name until 6:14, so this is Luke getting a little ahead of himself, but those who would hear the story later would already know that Simon is Peter.

What is not obvious is why a boatload of fish would convict Peter about his sinful nature.

Verse 9 gives the reason for his outburst. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.

The miracle seems to have been in what Jesus knew. Maybe Jesus caused this huge school of fish to show up, or swim over to the right spot. The fish clearly hadn't been there during the night. But it's more the part that He knew they were there now. This knowledge was too high for a human. It also brought to mind: what else can this man know that is hidden to the rest?

This would be the context for Peter's comment. "Go away, you're going to see what's under the surface in my heart just as you could see under the surface of the water." Peter knows that he's sinful.

Peter is the focus, but he wasn't alone in amazement. So also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. These brothers will also be among the first disciples.

But Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." Rather than distance from sinners, Jesus came for sinners. He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). The physician came for the sick (Luke 5:31). Peter's sinfulness isn't a hurdle, but it does belong with being humble.

Then Jesus turns the miracle catch into a catching metaphor.

Spurgeon once said that illustrations are like windows, they let light in but are easily broken. Apparently some people get fired up about applying the negative angles of fishing with human beings, as in, taking away the freedom of the fish, or even killing the fish. That's clearly not the part that's relevant here. And the verb here for catching is a form of ζωγρέω (ζωός (zōos, "alive") + ἀγρεύω (agreuō, "to hunt/trap"), which means “capture alive,” as used by Herodotus and Thucydides for prisoners of war, a deliberate contrast to killing on the battlefield. Jesus uses the metaphor as if the catching is a rescuing, pulling men out of danger. And including Simon means that Jesus won't do it all by Himself.

Simon was called to call, caught and now a catcher, a fish and a fisherman, redeemed for the kingdom and recruited for kingdom work. There’s still training to do, but from now on this will define his life.

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. They had never had such a profitable catch, and they apparently didn't care. Their livelihoods depended on their boats and nets and whatever other kit they had, and they just walked away. They got to shore, and then they followed Jesus.

This is perhaps the great verb of discipleship: follow. There's listening, learning, watching, imitating, and all those are right. But moving behind someone in the same direction is the defining feature of a disciple.

Simon Peter, as well as James and John, go from the frustration and fatigue of a long night of work without catching any fish, to the faith-building huge catch and fish-catching figure of speech, to a brand new from now on.

Jesus teaches, Jesus heals, and Jesus catches disciples who catch disciples.

“the great prime mover of preaching the gospel does not come from outside (the “need of the world”) and not from within either (the “religious impulse”) but from above....” (Johannes Blauw, quoted by Garland)

All of us who believe in Jesus have a new from now on. We can’t physically leave our boats and walk with Jesus like the first disciples. Maybe Jesus won’t give you a brand new vocation, but following Him will change how you think about your vocation. You will need to leave parts of your former identity. Jesus said, “From now on you will be catching men.”

Pray for someone you know is lost by name. Throw a good news hook out in conversation. Include that you’re a Christian in your social media bio. Don’t hold back when your neighbor asks where you go every Sunday.

Don’t be afraid. There’s room for sinners like you on the boat with Jesus. And then, the found go fish.

For the sake of building the body up in love, drawe one waye. For the sake of the progress and joy of faith, drawe one waye. For the sake of shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, drawe one waye. For our witness to Jesus' great name, drawe one waye.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV)

There is a new kingdom in town. The old ways, the old powers, the old dead-end living, have all been upended. The powers of hell recognized this truth early. As soon as Jesus began His public ministry Jesus began to ruin the demonic run of destruction and announce the kingdom of God.

Jesus demonstrated His power not just in the spiritual realm but in the physical realm where sickness and disease were totalizing and demoralizing if not debilitating enemies. Lack of Advil and anesthesia is rough, but the great burden was living in a world where full healing was outside anyone's imaginative coordinates. If you got sick or injured, you might be done.

At Jesus' word demons and diseases were done, and that isn’t even the primary work of Jesus' word. The primary point is to announce His authority and the kingdom of God. Even the demons knew early who they were dealing with, and Jesus kept tipping over the apple cart of people's expectations as He taught.

In Luke 4:1-13 Jesus bested the best of the devil's temptations. In Luke 4:14-30 Jesus angered His hometown by identifying Himself as the anointed prophet. In Luke 4:31-44 Jesus exhorts and exorcises and explains His purpose. We'll see four things about His word.

The headline of this final third of the chapter is that his word possessed authority that astonished them (verse 32). He went down to Capernaum; it was almost 1800 feet lower than Nazareth (so a bit more than halfway up from Marysville to Snoqualmie Pass, a 3000 foot elevation change). Jesus kept teaching, as He had been doing, and as the bookend of the section says again in verse 44.

Authority refers to controlling power. Jesus' words didn't just command focus, as in getting others to pay attention, His words had force, causing others to feel the weight. At this moment in the sermon my words are describing things, but Jesus' words were doing things, invisible things in the soul.

On this Sabbath day there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. It's a pile-up of words that refer to an evil, non-physical being with destructive purposes that inhabited a human being to the point of control. It was the demon who yelled at Jesus using the man's mouth. Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God (verse 34).

Ha! could mean “Go away!” (NIV) or “Let us alone!” (KJV). It's preemptive smack talk. And who is the us? All the demons, or is the demon threatening that he and the man will be destroyed if Jesus tries to kick the demon out? The next verse suggests the latter.

Jesus rebuked the evil spirit. Three times in this section Jesus rebukes, twice to demons (verses 35 and 41) and once to a fever (verse 39). His word commands a new situation. In this case, the demon obeyed and, though he had thrown [the man] down in their midst the demon was able to do no harm to the human.

So all of them were amazed. The rhetorical question is about His commanding word: What is this word? For with authority and power he commands and it is done (verse 36). As authority is power to control, this added word for power is the strength and energy to accomplish the thing.

And news got out. Echos/reports went out about Him into every place in the surrounding region.

We will meet Simon himself at the start of chapter 5 (also called Peter, 5:8), but Simon's here, and Jesus goes to his house. Had Simon started appealing while they were shaking hands at the end of the synagogue service? How forward was Simon about talking more to Jesus anyway?

Simon's mother-in-law was sick, she was “seized by” or “in the grips of” a high fever. (Matthew and Mark include this story, but don’t call it a “high” fever, however much this connects to Luke as a “physician” Colossians 4:14.) This means Simon was married, and we have confirmation of this from Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:5; that’s just a biographical fact. The key here is that enough people had seen what Jesus did for the guy with the demon, so they asked Him to do something for her.

Jesus spoke a word and she was healed. He rebuked the fever. Because of how specific the comment about the unclean spirit was, and because there were diseased people and demon-possessed people distinguished right after this in verses 40-41, this seems to be the illness personified. But she didn’t have to wait for the meds to kick in.

His word had authority, and she immediately and fully felt better, so much so that she got up and started to serve them.

These verses show that Jesus' word was personal, and consistent with His purpose, and self-attesting.

We're later on the same day as verse 31 introduced, but since the sun was setting, that meant the Sabbath day was over, so traveling and maybe even carrying were allowed again.

The population in Capernaum is estimated to have been between 1000-1500, and also the word had gone into every place in the surrounding region, which maybe meant same-day. People brought their sick to Jesus.

He laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. Instead of a blanket word, that healed everyone inside of His speaking radius, He showed personal care for each one. The laying on of hands in the Old Testament didn’t belong with healing, but it did have to do with blessing. It's not magic, but it is love.

Some of the ones brought to Jesus had demon issues. While they didn't form two separate lines, one for normal diseases and one for supernatural evil spirits, they can be distinguished even if some of the symptoms looked similar. I point that out because COVID probably isn’t the name of a demon, even if demons had a heyday with it.

These demons cried out, You are the Son of God! I mentioned this last week, that they knew. It’s part of our certainty.

Earlier in the day when Jesus told the demon to "Be silent" (verse 35), it may have been a little different than the rebuke here in verse 41. It may be the difference between "Stop threatening" and "Stop witnessing."

Why would Jesus tell the demons to stop saying true things? He is the Son of God. But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. The best answer seems to be because He didn't need demonic testimony. His Word itself is the self-attesting authority.

The result of His word here is quite different than in Nazareth. There they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff, these guys want to keep Him from leaving. Were they just asking, making verbal appeals? Were they making any physical threats?

but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (verse 43)

He was anointed and sent (4:18). Jesus explains that He had a bigger purpose than being a local doctor. He must preach. His primary work was word work. His message was about a bigger authority than authority over demons and disease.

His message is about His authority over the world and the kingdom of God. This is the first time Luke uses it, and Luke opens and closes Acts with reference to the kingdom (Acts 1:3, 28:31). The kingdom, the reign, of God is a takeover of hostile forces.

Luke refers to the kingdom of God 31 times in this book. He does not tell us everything that it means right here. We’ve got time to learn more, though in context this is a glimpse.

The kingdom of God is the sphere of His sovereign reign, a kingdom that has already begun to spread, that includes individuals who are saved, blessing them with a new life and worldview and fruitfulness, bigger than any person and not bound to the institutional church or any government, though affecting them all. The coming kingdom will be on earth, earthly, just as spiritual, but also manifest in ways earthly kingdoms are now.

Even the demons believe some true theology, and shudder (James 2:19). They knew Jesus:

They knew it early on. This fact also warns that knowing Jesus’ name doesn’t equal living under Jesus’ reign, or enjoying the rule and blessings of His kingdom. The same thing that caused terror for the demons gave certainty to Theophilus.

What do you want from Jesus? Do you desire personal redemption and His return to reign as King over all the earth?

The Word is at work. Jesus' words are still doing things, in souls, and then into civilization, until the King returns to earth to reign from the throne of David.

You disciples of Christ, you are the salt of the earth. Jesus said so, He gives you saltiness, so live that others would taste that the Lord is good. Pray “Your kingdom come” and walk in the name of the King, established in the faith.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:20 ESV)

From the beginning of Jesus' ministry people wanted to kill Him. The problem was His teaching. He told the truth about Himself and His mission and men drove Him out of town. John said that Jesus came to His own and His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). Luke opens this section of his narrative with people trying to throw the good news off a cliff.

Jesus is now an adult. He's been baptized, He's been tested by the devil. From Luke 4:14 to 9:50 we see Jesus' ministry in Galilee. Jesus will do some miracles, but there is even more focus on His message. He came to preach good news (Luke 4:43). He traveled around teaching in synagogues (Luke 4:14-15, 44). He identified Himself as the Anointed, and He announced the favorable year of the Lord.

Remember Luke's purpose in writing: to confirm Theophilus' faith. What he had been taught about Jesus is legit. It is interesting that part of the proof is that Jesus was the catalyst to wrath for many (Luke 4:28). Religious people were mad to the point of murder. People who knew the prophecies did not recognize or receive The Prophet. Many went from marveling to madness to murder in a matter of minutes.

But the brightness of the light isn't measured by the blind, and the back and froth between Jesus and the Jews in His hometown shows how desperately they really needed Him.

Verses 14-15 transition from the days of preparation to the days of His public work.

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. (Luke 4:14–15 ESV)

The Holy Spirit had led Him to the wilderness, now the Spirit leads Him around synagogues in Galilee. He will work His way toward Judea, then Jerusalem, but for now He starts closer to where He grew up.

His teaching initially made an impressive impression; a report (φήμη from which English gets the word fame) was going around. We know that even as a 12 year-old He impressed the temple teachers. And we know that He knew the Scriptures, as well as the severity of the spiritual battle. He had a message.

In verses 16-30 we see how one of His synagogue teaching times went, namely in the synagogue of His youth, in Nazareth.

Synagogues came to be during and after the exile in Babylon. They were local meetings where Israelites gathered, often on the Sabbath, for Scripture reading and exposition of whatever copy of whatever parts of Scripture a village had. There was no command in the OT for these assemblies, but they had an edifying communal effect.

These guys in Nazareth knew Jesus. It's likely that this was not His first time participating or reading. But it is the first time He tells that He is the application of the verses. There are two cycles: Jesus speaks and they marvel, Jesus speaks again and they’re mad.

First cycle: There was an attendant who handed Jesus the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. That would have been a big scroll, especially if just one scroll. And it means that Jesus was familiar with Isaiah's prophecy so that He unrolled the scroll and found the place He wanted; He selected His text. We look it up by chapter and verse: Isaiah 61:1-2, with Isaiah 58:6 tagged on.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

The Spirit of the Lord being upon Him indicates the source of the message and the authority of the messenger. To be anointed (from the Greek word χρίω) is to have the sign and privileged calling. The noun of the person who is anointed is the Christ (Χριστός), the Messiah. See verse 41, even the demons know that Jesus is the Anointed one.

Four parts of His manifesto, His public declaration of His mission statement:

The last one, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor has Jubilee imagery, the every 50 years release of slaves and land and blessing of Yahweh.

His audience are society’s losers: the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed. These labels shouldn’t be immediately spiritualized, as if economic and material and physical concerns had nothing to do with it. At the same time these are not merely the concerns of a social revolutionary.

The poor have no money, but also no hope. The captives aren't just political prisoners, they are caught in sin’s consequences. The blind may not be able to see, but this has deeper significance. The oppressed have bigger problems than rulers who are jerks. Jesus is the anointed prophet who proclaims good news.

Liberation theology, so-called, turns everything a material only problem. We do have material systems involving money and government and medicine. But the great problem is in the heart, and the kingdom of God reverses fortunes by redeeming rebels and changing the world from the inside out. It heals broken and guilty souls. It's truly radical, down to heart roots.

Jesus read the passage, “And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him” (Luke 4:20). It would be one thing if He'd said, "Here are three tips for fixing the minimum wage so that no one feels left out." Instead He said, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (verse 21). At least as Luke writes it, this is the first public statement on record by Jesus.

They did not understand what He was saying yet. Parts of it sounded good, but in a vague way. They were amazed at His gracious words. Their question at the end of verse 22 was maybe still positive and part of their amazement. But Jesus doesn't leave them there.

Second cycle: Jesus pokes their positivity. He knows that they want to see something really amazing.

He quotes a well-known proverb and then says why. Physician, heal yourself, and Jesus explains it in the rest of the verse: they wanted to see Him prove His power at home just like they heard about His power in Capernaum.

He keeps pressing. He's apparently done something big in Capernaum, or anticipating what He will do and that they’ll hear about it. He presses again, Amen...no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. He presses more.

But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:25–27 ESV)

Two examples from Israel's history when the people who should have known better didn't humble themselves, and the Lord's grace spilled over to those who weren't in the deserving class.

The prophet Elijah lived during a three and a half year drought that was due to Israel’s Baal worship. Of all those who were hungry, he only helped an un-named woman in the city of Zarephath, a non-Israelite widow (1 Kings 17:8-16). She was a single-mom, and not even a Jew. Yet Elijah was sent by God to help her, and her “jar of flour...and jug of oil” didn’t run out.

Elisha came after Elijah, and of all the stories Jesus could have told, He chose the healing of the Gentile leper named Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-14, and this is the only time Elisha is named in the New Testament). Naaman guy didn't even have a good attitude, though he was desperate. God cleansed Naaman as he obeyed the word of the prophet.

The Lord’s grace found the lost.

When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. They followed the breadcrumbs Jesus put down. They got the point that they weren't going to get grace from this prophet. Even Gentiles were going to get help, they didn't deserve it.

They were done asking questions, and got up and grabbed Jesus and dragged Him out of town so that they could throw him down the cliff. From marveling to madness to murder in a matter of minutes. They wanted to kill the messenger, the Anointed, the Messiah. They wanted to throw the Good News off the cliff. The devil had Jesus at a pinnacle not long ago.

Some sort of miracle enabled Jesus to get away. It was not yet time for Him to die, but it was time to make men angry. He passed through their midst, they lost track of Him, though He had been in their hands.

The Anointed's manifesto was to proclaim good news, to seek and save the losers, and that made the men in His hometown so mad that murder came out of their hearts. So as a disciple of Christ, don’t be surprised if you post something about Jesus and the rage-replies fill up your comment thread.

For believers, as Luke intended by including this account, when people reject Jesus, that is a sign that the proclamation of the Word is working and men are accountable. The reality of rejectors, rebels, and haters, confirms our faith, it doesn't call it into question. The found should be faithful, and often that’ not persuading but persevering.

And salvation is for today! The good news is now! We know even more about the Messiah's message and ministry, that He died and rose again to liberate captives and open eyes and spread His favor. But to gain these blessings you have to come as a loser.

The same Spirit that anointed Jesus to proclaim the good news has caused you to hear it and receive it and rejoice in Jesus. The same Spirit dwells inside you to strengthen your faith and keep you faithful to glorify God for His mercy. Be likeminded, and live as gospel lights.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13 ESV)

We've slowed down to consider each of the three big temptations one at a time. This is partially to examine the great example of faithfulness, but it's mostly because we need a Savior for our unfaithfulness. We need one who will stand faithful.

Luke sets up Jesus as the one who came to seek and save the lost. In Luke’s narrative so far we’ve seen that Jesus fulfills the word of prophets and angels, Jesus has the Holy Spirit's presence and the heavenly Father's pleasure, Jesus represents royalty (a son of David) and even humanity (a son of Adam). But can Jesus withstand the devil unlike Adam and represent us in perfect submission and loyalty to the Father? Yes, and praise God.

The common thread in the devil's work is to turn focus onto self, and his aim is to sow doubt about God's blessing and so break up patient trust. Jesus’ faithfulness comes from His certainty of the truth about God and dependence on God's sovereign timing. For us, we call this living by faith.

First, after 40 days without food, will Jesus follow His own will or His Father's will for when it's time to eat? Second, with a flashing vision of earthly dominion, will Jesus gain the world when His Father gives it or get it early by giving allegiance to the devil? Now, will Jesus make His Father prove He cares?

Three times the devil put a spin on Jesus' situation, and three times Jesus responded with Scripture. The way Luke orders the temptations, the devil comes the third time with Bible verses. He tries to use God's Word to provoke doubt in God's word. The serpent asked Eve, "Did God actually say?" Now Satan basically tells Jesus, "Didn't God really say...?"

The devil sows this subtle seed of doubt in the very place where God revealed His presence and promise of protection.

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple (Luke 4:9a)

Each location connects with the particular temptation. The wilderness was so scarce that a stone might seem like it could be turned into food. The place that was "up," what Matthew called a "very high mountain," made for a panoramic view of ruling over all the earth. And here we're given three specifics about the scene.

The devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem, the capital city, and the center of national life. In Jerusalem they went to the temple, the center of covenant life. Luke spends more of his account focusing on Jesus' time in Jerusalem than the other gospel writers. That suggests why Luke deliberately put this temptation as the crescendo.

The devil and Jesus are at the pinnacle of the temple, what could be translated as “wingtip,” so a peak on the roof-top. This is probably the southeast corner of the temple with a steep drop that overlooked the Kidron Valley, and Josephus said that the heights here were "dizzying." Watch your step.

The temple is the place where God promised His presence, the place where He would be and hear and care. The temple, at least at this time, was the geographical crown of God’s covenant loyalty. The devil tests Jesus’ faithfulness at the pinnacle of God’s faithfulness.

For a second time the devil makes a point to target Jesus' identity as Son of God. And this time he pushes Jesus with a psalm.

and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,

If they were already in a very high place (verse 5), why not just stay there for this temptation? What was the purpose of being at the temple?

There's nothing that suggests it would be a public show. It's not about Jesus expecting His Father to do a miracle in front of a crowd and prove that He was the Son. They are in town, but no one is said to be watching.

So again, why the temple? Because that's the place the Lord promised protection. Psalm 91, from which the devil quotes verses 11 and 12, is about God as the place of refuge. And where would an Israelite expect to meet God? The temple was the place where God said He would dwell with His people. The psalm is a promise of care and support and defense for those who trust the Lord. God will send angels to protect those He cares for.

So the devil says, “Let go and let God!” (Bock).

All that is true. The verses the devil quotes are true. In application to the Son of God they are uniquely true. God will send supernatural beings to protect those who trust Him, but not without any qualification. The devil tests Jesus’ faithfulness with the words of God’s faithfulness.

Jesus’ reply comes from Deuteronomy again. It's a Deuteronomic hat trick, a third quote from Deuteronomy 6-8 that references Israel’s forty years of testing in the wilderness.

And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (Luke 4:12)

The problem with what the devil wanted Jesus to do is bigger than just doing something dumb. That said, thank God that He often protects us from at least some of the consequences of our own dumbness. In His divine sovereignty and love, He is not obligated to fix the foolishness and failures that belong with our human responsibility. "God can fix it so go ahead and be dumb" is bad advice.

But jumping off the top of the temple because there are verses about God protecting those who depend on Him is more than dumb, it's actually not depending on Him. The quote from Deuteronomy refers to this as testing God, and that means we want God to prove that we should believe. It's not believing that He will protect, it's seeing if He will protect so that we will believe. That's the opposite of trust and living by faith.

Faithful men do things for God that may look crazy to men without faith, but faithful men don’t do stunts just to see what God will do.

“The demanding of miraculous protection, where it is not needed, is not faith or loyalty. It is sin.” (Bock)

Jesus replies to the devil with Deuteronomy 6:16, and the whole verse says, “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” The story at Massah is found in Exodus 17:1-7, when Israel demanded proof that God cared. They were thirsty and wanted water. Had they forgotten their recent walk through walls of standing water at the Red Sea?

Jesus demonstrates His faithfulness by not testing God’s faithfulness. He knows the context of God’s promises.

The devil couldn’t get the job done.

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

The devil departed after this battle, but he’d be back for more. That opportune time arrives at Luke 22:3, "Then Satan entered into Judas," and Luke 22:53, "this is your hour, and the power of darkness."

I do wonder, when the devil came back and told the other demons what he had done, did they think it was appropriate? Did any of them have the horns to criticize him?

Jesus will demonstrate His faithfulness again as He pays the price for the unfaithful.

Remember that the preparation for public ministry started at Jesus’ baptism when the voice from heaven declared, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). Is this what having the Father’s pleasure looks like? Yes.

There were three particular temptations, so here are three general applications.

Can Jesus withstand the temptations of the devil and represent us? Yes, He can and He did. He is the one who stood faithful.

Beloved, keep on being watchful. Our adversary prowls around like a roaring lion seeking those he can devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. Take up the shield of faith in order to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Trust and obey the One who was faithful to the end.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10–11 ESV)

In order of testimonies:

It would be tempting to miss the point of this passage and preach a compelling misreading. Instead I want to preach the actual compelling point.

We're looking at the devil's three big temptations of Jesus after Jesus had spent 40 days without food in the wilderness. In the first temptation Satan wanted Jesus to satisfy His human hunger for food. All Jesus had to do was exert His own will against the Father's. In what Luke orders as the second temptation Satan wants Jesus to satisfy His human hunger for power. All Jesus has to do is worship someone other than His Father. When you're dealing with the devil, remember, he's always trying to sow false ideas about, and break up fellowship with, God.

Usually preachers explain this temptation as a deal the devil offers Jesus to get out of suffering. Satan offers Jesus the crown without the cross. That'll preach, for sure. A few years from this point in Jesus' ministry, Jesus calls Peter Satan when Peter rebuked Jesus for talking about suffering and being killed and rising on the third day (Matthew 16:21-23). Shortcuts to glory are real temptations.

But this temptation is not about avoidance, it's about allegiance. There may be some issue of timing, sooner rather than later, but it's more an issue of trust. Who gives the glory?

As we look at the temptation and the response, let's note what the devil's deal includes, what Jesus' quote from Deuteronomy does, and then at the end I'll add an additional observation about how Jesus outmaneuvers the devil.

At the start of chapter 4 we noted that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and was being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now Luke says the devil takes Jesus to a one-of-a-kind destination.

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, (Luke 4:5)

They went up. Up where? Matthew specifies that it was a “very high mountain” (Matthew 4:8), but he doesn't name the mountain, nor do we know of any mountain in the world that has this view. Somehow the devil has a spot to show all the kingdoms of the world. Were these the current kingdoms, and which ones? There wasn't any mountain in Israel from which they could have seen Greece, let alone India, or China, and so on. All they could have likely seen was land under control of the Roman Empire. But the devil displayed them all.

And what's the point of showing in a moment of time? That suggests that it was a unique vision, and not purely physical. It was a flash, in an instant, the biggest widescreen advertisement ever.

The great perverter-of-truth presents his deal.

and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. (Luke 4:6)

He starts with the offer, and it is quite an offer. He leaves the condition to the end, and it is quite a condition.

The devil starts with to you, with the customer, so to speak. He wants Jesus thinking about what's in it for Him. And this is a generous offer, I will give it to you; hey, what's money between friends? And it's a complete package, all this authority and their glory of the kingdoms. What would it take to get you into all this dominion and power and honor today?

Before we ask, yes, it is the devil’s to give. This part, like any tempting offer, has to have some truth in it. Jesus does not dispute any of the devil's claims here, that the devil is the ruler or that the devil could transfer the rule. Jesus knew what we learn from other places in the Bible. Satan is called “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), and even “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

What the devil didn't have to, or want to, clarify is who delivered this rule over to him (it was his Enemy). All his authority is delegated authority, not absolute. For that matter, Satan knew enough to know that he wouldn't really be able to keep it. It's less likely that the devil thought that if he could get Jesus on his side that together they could defeat God, but more likely that if he could somehow persuade Jesus to join him that that division would be defeating God.

The price comes last. It's the small print where the most significant clause comes.

"If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." (Luke 4:7)

That's quite a condition, but this is the deal. This word for worship is often used for bowing before a person of authority and dignity, to prostrate and maybe even kiss their feet. In Luke this word only appears here and in 24:52 when the disciples see the resurrected Jesus.

"You want to gain the world? Give me the glory that Your Father refused to give me. Recognize my greatness." Isn't it a tiny ask compared to the big promise?

For the second time Jesus quotes Deuteronomy.

And Jesus answered him, "It is written,

There's nothing in the exchange about glory instead of suffering. Rather the offer is glory from an alternative source, and the reply is about worshiping and serving the true God with complete allegiance.

This is from Deuteronomy 6:13. In that context, Israel is on the edge of the promised land about to receive cities they hadn’t built, houses full of good things they hadn't filled, vineyards they didn't plant. They were about to “gain the world” that they didn’t earn. And Moses warns them to “take care lest you forget the LORD” (6:12). They would be tempted to misplace their allegiance.

Worship and serve the Lord your God only. The Son remained devoted to His Father.

Jesus knew Deuteronomy, and no doubt He also knew Psalm 2. He could have replied to the devil that all the kingdoms and all their authority and all their glory was promised to Him, and He would have been right. There is nothing wrong with the authority and the glory, and all of that would be given to Him. But the Son would ask the one who laughs at rebels, not the one who lies as a rebel.

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;

But there was an additional part of the plan. This is how Jesus outmaneuvered the devil. In this stage before Jesus began His ministry and teaching, Satan wasn’t thinking about the cross, let alone offering a way to the crown bypassing the cross. His temptation was an allegiance play. Having failed at that, Satan wanted to put Jesus to death.

If Satan had known that “word of the cross” would be “the power of God” for salvation (1 Corinthians 1:18), he “would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8). Satan didn’t know that killing Jesus would enthrone Him. Where do you think the story idea came from, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine"?

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). The answer is obvious. Instead, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 2:12) Don’t take any other deal.

There are no shortcuts to glory. Maybe you have the burden of prosperity, tempted to think your strength is your success. Maybe you have the burden of pain, tempted to think that God doesn't care. Christian, He is shaping You for a weight of glory in His kingdom. So serve the Lord.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28–29 ESV)