His Word was with Power

And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.  And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.

Luke 4:31-32

The people in Capernaum recognized that the Words of the Lord Jesus came with a certain authority that the words of others didn’t have.  In fact, the people there “were astonished at his doctrine.”  He had come to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament.  He was not telling them anything new, but He was telling them things with a certain power and authority.

We have that same power and authority today in the Bible.  The Bible is the Words of God written down for us.  It is described perfectly in Hebrews 4:12, “…the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  The word of God is alive and it is powerful.  It has authority.

The word of God has an authority that we, as humans of flesh and blood do not have on our own.  The people marvelled at Jesus: they marvelled at His word and at His doctrine.  Nobody is going to marvel at our words.  But people will marvel at the word of God.  They might accept it and they might reject it, but they are going to sense its power and authority.  In fact, that is exactly what makes some people bristle at the word of God.  They don’t like the fact that it has an authority and power over them.  It hurts their pride and makes them angry.

The question of the day is this: we have the power and authority of the Word of God, but how much do we use it?  We have all the access we want to this awesome source of power, but are we really using it?

How Did That Happen?

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.  But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.

Luke 4:28-31

I had to read this passage several times before I really “got it.”  Reading it through the first time, I had to think, “how did that happen?”  But after reading it again, I had to come to the conclusion that it happened because Jesus is the Son of God.  Look at these verses:

“they… were filled with wrath.”  The people to whom Jesus had been preaching were very angry at His words.  They then “rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.”  They were filled with wrath and took Him to the top of a hill, where they were going to throw Him down and kill Him.  But then we have verse 30: “But he passing through the midst of them went his way…”  They had Him, they took Him to the top of a hill, and they were going to kill Him, but He just walked through them and left.

How did that happen?  When you have a mob of people wanting to kill you, how do you just walk through them and leave?  I would say that normally you don’t.  That is, unless you are the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Then you can do that.  I wonder if any of those people present at the time caught this irony.  Sadly, I doubt that they did.

Filled With Wrath

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath.

Luke 4:28

When Jesus taught in the synagogue, not everyone was happy.  Even though they “wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth (vs. 22),”  they still weren’t thrilled with the message that He was bringing them.  In fact, they were “filled with wrath.”

The words of Jesus are going to cause many reactions.  The reason for this is that being confronted with Jesus is to be confronted with our need for Him.  Being confronted with Jesus is to get a glimpse into our own sinfulness and unworthiness.  Being confronted with Jesus puts us in the position of realizing our utter dependence on Him.  The reaction to those thoughts is as varied as the people who have them.

Some will react by throwing themselves at His feet and begging Him for mercy.  Some will react indifferently, choosing to try to ignore Him by immersing themselves in everything that doesn’t involve Him or even the thought of Him.  Others will flatly reject Him, not necessarily out of hatred for Him, but out of confidence in themselves.  And then there are those, like the ones in this passage, that will vehemently reject Him with hearts full of wrath toward Him.

He specifically told them that “No prophet is accepted in his own country.”  It must have been a terrible thing to have been there hearing Jesus teach and seeing the Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled before their eyes, only to completely miss it.  History would show the judgment that these Christ hating people would bring on their descendents.  They were so close but missed Him by so much.

How do we react when confronted with Him?  Do we react to His Words by bowing at His feet, or do we react to His Words with hearts full of indifference or even anger?  May the Lord help us to always react in a way that honours and glorifies Him.

I’ve Found a Friend (Hymn)

I’ve Found a Friend
Jack P. Scholfield

I’ve found a Friend, Who is all to me,
His love is ever true;
I love to tell how He lifted me
And what His grace can do for you.

Refrain
Saved by His power divine,
Saved to new life sublime!
Life now is sweet and my joy is complete,
For I’m saved, saved, saved!

He saves me from every sin and harm,
Secures my soul each day;
I’m leaning strong on His mighty arm;
I know He’ll guide me all the way.

Refrain

When poor and needy and all alone,
In love He said to me,
“Come unto Me and I’ll lead you home,
To live with Me eternally.”

Refrain

I’ve also seen this hymn under the title “Saved, Saved, Saved,” but found it under this title.  Whichever title you use, it’s a great hymn.  We are saved, saved, saved.  He does secure our souls each day and we can lean strong on His mighty arm.  What a wonderful hymn about our wonderful Saviour!

The Temptation of Jesus, Pt. 8

And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.  And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

Luke 4:12-13

After trying three times, the devil decided to stop trying to tempt the Lord Jesus.  The respite would only be temporary, as it usually is for us.

We, as Christians, are often tempted by the devil.  We can find many promises in the Bible that we can claim, promises of victory in Christ.  In fact, the Bible tells us in James 4:7 to “Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  If we will submit ourselves to the Lord and will resist these temptations, the devil will flee from us.  But only temporarily.

As long as we live in these bodies of human flesh and as long as we walk on this sin-cursed earth, we are always going to have to deal with temptations.  We might get some seasons in which the temptations are fewer and weaker, but they will always be with us.  Just as the devil left tempting the Lord Jesus “for a season,” so will we get some “seasons” in which he is hard after us.  But those seasons will be few are far between.

The key for us is to not succumb to those temptations when we are faced with them.  We can battle the devil, using the Word of God, prayer, and faith in the victory that the Lord has already given us.  The battles may be long and hard, but we can rest assured that rest will come.  Temptations do not last forever and the battles to avoid them do not last forever.

If you find yourself in a season of temptation, take courage from the example of our Lord and continue to resist the old devil!

The Temptation of Jesus, Pt. 7

And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:  For it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Luke 4:9-11

In this temptation, the devil tempts Jesus to leap off of a pinnacle on the temple.  The devil knew that God would send His angels to help Jesus and protect Him.  In fact, the devil even tried to quote Jesus some Scripture from Psalm 91:11-12:  “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.  They shall bear thee up in thy hands, lest thou dast thy foot against a stone.”  Of course the devil misquoted the Scripture, leaving out part of it, which is yet another one of his tactics that we need to be on guard against.

Sometimes the devil tempts us with Scripture.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t give us the full verse or the full context.  Many Christians have been deceived by this tactic.  One example of this is in the area of Christian liberty.  As Christians, we are free from the curse of the law.  The books of Romans and Galatians make that abundantly clear and that is a wonderful thing.  But the devil tries to get us to use that liberty in Christ to fulfill our own lusts.  He tries to get us to sin, and then use the excuse that “we should not judge” and that “we are free in Christ.”  We certainly are free in Christ, but we should never think that we are free to do whatever we feel like doing.

Satan is very smart and subtle with his temptations.  We must be on guard for the times he uses even the words of the Bible to tempt us.

The Temptation of Jesus, Pt. 6

And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed uno him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 

Luke 4:5-8

The devil here tempted Jesus by offering Him the kingdoms of the world, if He would just “worship me.”  Of course Jesus did not worship the devil, and, like the first temptation, He responded to this temptation with the Word of God: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”  The Bible tells us that the only One worthy of worship is the Lord.  The devil is not worthy of worship and we, as humans are not worthy of worship.  Not even the angels in Heaven are worthy of worship.  We are to serve the Lord and Him only.

Jesus knew this and the devil knew this.  But that has always been the game of Satan.  He wants and demands worship.  And if he can’t get that worship, he wants to do his best to keep the true God from getting it.  He seems to have the attitude that “if I can’t have it, I don’t want God to have it either.”  Sometimes he is successful in getting people to actually worship him.  But far more often, he is successful in getting people to focus on themselves and the things of this world, thereby taking worship and glory away from the Lord God.

Let us make sure that we are giving the devil nothing.  We will, like Jesus said, “worship the Lord thy God…”

The Temptation of Jesus, Pt. 5

And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed uno him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.  If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

Luke 4:5-7

Satan is after worship.  It’s that simple.  It was his pride that caused his fall long ago.  It was the fact that he said he “would be like the most high.”  He wants to be worshipped and he wants to take worship away from the One Who actually deserves it.

In this temptation, the devil took Jesus to a mountain and “shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.”  I’m not exactly sure how that worked or what all was involved, but the implications are clear: the devil is the “king” of the world.  The devil was going to give Jesus all of these earthly kingdoms if He would only do one little thing: “worship me.”

We know that Jesus will one day rule and reign all of the kingdoms of the world.  But, at that time, it was not what God the Father wanted.  The devil tried to appeal to pride to get Jesus to sin by offering Him something.  If He would worship him.

Jesus did not bow His knee to the devil to worship him.  We should not bow our knee to the devil to worship him.  We should watch for these types of temptations in our lives.  The devil wants to tempt us with greed and desire for things that we do not have and that the Lord does not want us to have.  Allowing pride and greed into our lives is a way to worship the devil.  We don’t want that!

The Temptation of Jesus, Pt. 4

And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.  And Jesus answered him, saying, it is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Luke 4:3-4

While He was being temtped of the devil, Jesus here gives us nugget of wisdom that we would be wise to consider.  When He was tempted to turn a stone into bread to eat, He responded that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

How much time and effort do we spend caring for our bodies?  Our bodies are temporary.  They don’t last forever.  But most of us spend the majority of our lives in search of physical comfort for our bodies.  Obviously, we have to eat.  Obviously, we have to have some level of care for our bodies.  But that is not the most important thing.

The most important thing to our “lives” is “every word of God.”  That is what is going to help us.  That is what is going to feed our souls and and our spirits, which do last forever.  That is going to truly nourish us.  The Word of God gives us life in the first place, and it keeps us going through our physical life.  We can survive without a lot of food.  But we cannot survive without God’s Word.

How interested are we the Word of God?  How desperately do we feel our need of it?  How many times have we skipped a meal of physical food because we’re “too busy”?  How many times have we skipped reading God’s Word beacuse we’re “too busy”?  It’s a convicting thing to think about, but it’s also an important thing to think about.

How are we living?  Are we focusing on physical “bread” or on the “Bread of Life?”

The Temptation of Jesus, Pt. 3

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil.  And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Luke 4:1-4

The response of Jesus to the devil’s temptation to turn a stone into bread was to quote Scripture.  That is an absolutely perfect response to any temptation.  Jesus was hungry.  He had been fasting for forty days.  The devil appealed to His flesh to put His desire to eat over everything else.  We often find those temptations in our own lives.  The desire to have things, whether they be food, clothing, houses, cars, money, or a host of other things, is always going to be present with us as long as we live in these bodies of flesh.  But those things are often not what the Lord wants us to have.  We need to make sure that we resist these types of temptations.

We can resist temptation the same way Jesus: by focusing on the Scriptures.  If we would think about what the Bible says about it when we are confronted with a temptation, we would be far, far less likely to succumb to that temptation.  If alchohol is a temptation, quoting all of the verses condemning strong drink would probably be a good deterrant.  If we start to feel ourselves getting proud, there are dozens of verses dealing with God’s hatred of pride that would probably give us a good dose of humility.

Whatever the temptation, God’s Word will help us!