Luke 4:1-13

    ¹ And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ⁵ And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶ 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. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” ⁹ And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰ for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ ¹¹ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” ¹² And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

  The tempting of Jesus gives us a glimpse into the life He lived.  As a Christian we say things like “What would Jesus do?”  Well, this tells us exactly what He would do.  Jesus would not give in to the sin and temptation the Devil lays in front of Him.  This is simple enough right?!

  I am a sinner and cannot resist the temptations that are put in front of me, by myself at least.  This is a very discouraging and often times disheartening fact.  We see here that Jesus did not sin in the temptations He was faced with.  The separation we have from Him is based in His deity; Him being the God Man.  Our comfort can come in the fact that “for our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2Cor5:21 God sent Christ to be sin and punish Him for our sins. 

  Scripture can be taken out of context to confuse us many times.  There are times when we do not understand things and they can confuse us.  Our faith needs to be strong in the solid foundation the Lord has placed in our hearts.  If I am a Christian than I know that His Word is true and accurate.  The Devil here tries to confuse Jesus by taking Scripture that God has spoke and twisting it for his own gain.  Jesus knows how to properly interpret the Gospel and refutes the Devil with a proper context of the scripture. 

  Another encouraging fact is v.13.  The Devil tempted Jesus with “every temptation.”  This means that Jesus was tempted with everything we are tempted with.  If I ever think that I am tempted with something that God does not understand I am wrong.  If I think that God does not understand the power of this world, I am wrong.  If I think, for one second, that God cannot sustain me, I am flat out wrong.  Jesus, a man, overcame the Devil.  We are not Jesus, and we are not perfect.  But Jesus asked the Father to send the Helper to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. John 14:16.  Let us live in the spirit to resist the Devil and Worship the Lord our God in every way. 

Luke 3:23-38

23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,[e] the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32  the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34  the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

  Genealogies are important.  We all came from God.  God is the one who created man and has kept us since He created Adam.  This is important to note since when God kicked Adam from the garden he told the Serpent in Gen 3:22 “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”  God also made the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil from which Adam and Eve ate.  God also made the tree of life. 

  From the context in which God was talking it would seem that the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil was meant for the Angels and for those who belong in the garden.  God clearly states for man to NOT eat of this tree of good and evil.  When man does, God no longer wants man to eat of the tree of life.  Because of this God tells man to leave.  Interesting to note, God provides man with a skin covering prior to them leaving the garden. 

    So God kicks Adam and Eve from the garden for disobeying God in His instruction.  How this all relates to the genealogies and their importance is this.  God provided a way for man to be redeemed and enter the garden.  God created a way for man to fellowship with God again through the God/Man Jesus Christ. 

  John 4:7-15 - ⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” ( For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²  Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.[b] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

  Jesus claimed that He was the way to the living water.  The water that gives life and we will never be thirsty again!  Revelation 21:6 says the same, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”  And if that wasn’t enough, Rev 22:1-5 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb² through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.³ No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.⁵ And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

  God did not create life for destruction; He created it for His worship and fellowship with Him.  This was not possible with man disobeying God.  But with the life that God provided in the Man of Jesus Christ, we are able to drink from the river or life and eat from the tree of life.  God has kept us since Adam and has provided Adam’s people with a way to eternal life.  How great is our God?!  God did not create man for destruction; He created man for God’s own worship and fellowship with man.  And, even though we failed, HE provided a way.  Amen!