March 27, 2010

Luke 4:1-30
One thing the car had was power. When I was a freshman in college a high school friend of mine, two years younger, had just purchased a Camero. I forget the size of the engine. But, it was the largest Chevy could put in a Camero in the late 60's early 70's. He had a four barrel carburetor put on it. The first time I rode with him he said, "You wanna see what it will do?"
I said, "Sure," thinking we'd go out on the highway. Instead he stomped on the accelerator and off we went. As my eyes sunk to the back of my head, I remember thinking, "He's gonna hit someone." We were in a residential area, and I was afraid some kid might jump out in front of us. After a couple of seconds I said, "That's good enough." He let off the accelerator. The raw power in the engine was indeed impressive. In those few-however-many seconds we went from 0 to 55, and he seemed to have the intent to continue accelerating had I not said anything. The wisdom of accelerating in that neighborhood was indeed unimpressive. But I have to admit, that car had a lot of power.
Look at the glory of Jesus. He has all power as God. But as a man before the resurrection, He chose not to use that almighty power. Instead, as a man, He depended upon the Holy Spirit for His power. The Spirit took Him out in to the wilderness to show Him what He could do. It was 0-40 days without food, then the temptation set in. His first was to quit depending upon the Holy Spirit to have His hunger needs met. He had tremendous hunger pains at this time. It would have been easy to justify the inordinate use of His own power to meet His needs. After all, He was led there by the Spirit. He had not had anything to eat for 40 days. The fast was over. It was only right that He should have something and something now! But no, the Spirit would provide.
His second temptation was to side step the Spirit's path to the throne of David. If Satan would just relinquish his hold on the world why not do this one act and side step all the work. But no, the Spirit would provide.
His third temptation was to side step the Spirit's plan for humility. He could use His power to show the world how great He really was. There would be no need for people to be skeptical of His credentials or mistrust Him when even the Chief Priests would observe that He was rescued by angels! But no, the Spirit would provide.
Wow! Such power over sin is unbelievable! Lord, O I would that Your people might begin to avail themselves of this awesome power! But power did not stop at just victory over temptation. He had power to preach, power to heal and power to set free! This is the Jesus we follow! He has power that pushes our eyes to the back of our skull. It is awesome power. But it is power under control! His control! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John