This week our sermon series The Gospel of Luke, Part I: The Arrival of the King invites us to marvel at the perfect righteousness of Christ in the wilderness. In this passage, Jesus not only provides a blueprint for victory in spiritual warfare, but He has provided actual victory in perfectly overcoming the Devil’s schemes every step of the way.

Parker’s Main Points

• Satan challenges Jesus’ identity as a Child of God.
• Satan makes promises that he cannot keep.
• Satan twists the words of Scripture.
• The main point Luke wants us to see in this passage is that Christ did not fail where we have fallen short.

Key Takeaways

• As testified by 2 Corinthians 3:18, we can become more like Christ as we truly behold the glory of Christ.

• As led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus was utterly famished after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. It was against this backdrop that Satan tried to tempt Jesus, but Jesus emerged victorious.

• The Devil unsuccessfully attempted to get Jesus to distrust God and take matters into His own hands.

• Satan’s promise of satisfaction from sin is always a mirage.

• Satan knows God’s Word, but hates His Word and has every intention to twist and distort it

• Bad theology bears bad fruit — oftentimes, not through a flat-out rejection of God’s Word but via a misapplication or false interpretation of it.

• Like Jesus we are to be students of Scripture and filter Satan’s lies with the truth.

• Luke traces Jesus’ lineage to Adam to contrast the failure of the 1st Adam with the victory of the last Adam.

• Right standing with God cannot be attained by your own imperfect righteousness, but only through Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed, or credited to us.

• “Therefore a man can with confidence boast in Christ and say: ‘Mine are Christ’s living, doing, speaking, his suffering and dying, mine as much as I had lived, done, spoken, suffered, and died as he did.” Martin Luther

• When we step out of bed, we are stepping onto a battlefield where the enemy is prowling like a roaring lion.

Discussion Questions/Application

Personal application:

• What sources of bad theology exist in your life? Who/what may be feeding your heart lies about God, yourself, and others?

• How is Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to you through faith good news to you today? What areas of your heart and strivings need to be reminded that your salvation is 100% by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone?

Discuss with your community group:

• Where are you currently prone to fall into temptation rather than stand firm on the truth of God’s Word? How will you be equipped for battle this week against the enemy’s attacks?

• In what areas are you struggling to trust in God’s perfect timing and provision? Encourage and pray for one another in these areas.

Passages Referenced
Luke 4:1-13; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Matthew 6:25-33; Romans 5:18-21; Romans 6:1-4; Galatians 2:19-20; 1 Peter 5:8.

Worship Set List

House of the Lord, 1,000 Names, Jesus is Better, How Marvelous, Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me