"LIVING BY THE WORD"

MF Blume
January 9, 2000 am

Luke 4:1-4  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.


My text is taken from the statement Jesus gave to the devil in response to the Devil’s temptation as to whether Jesus was the Son of God or not.

That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Jesus Christ was both divinity and humanity.

• He was not 50% human and 50% deity.
• He was 100% human and 100% deity.
It is the human part of Him that relates to us.
• His deity allowed Him to save us from sins and to accept worship from people.
• We cannot save people from sins; God does that.
• We cannot accept worship, worship goes to God alone.
• But the human aspect of Jesus shares with us the privileges it had as A Son of God.
Let us look at the human aspect of Jesus and realize that His humanity was just as dependent upon the Spirit as yours and mine is.

When Jesus was incarnated, or enfleshed, as the Son of God, for the first time He took upon Himself humanity.

• The Son of God did not exist before the incarnation, because Gabriel told Mary that He would be called Son of God as the specific result of being
 the offspring of a human woman who would be impregnated by the Holy Ghost.

Luke 1:35  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The term “therefore,” in the above verse, is “there for” a reason.
• So, the REASON the child was called “Son of God” – in fact the only reason ever given in the Bible as to why He was called the Son of God – was that the Holy Ghost came upon a female human being, and the resultant pregnancy was caused by God’s Spirit “Fathering” a child.
• Since the Son of God was called so because of an actual birth from a human mother, with God as Father, we know there was no Son of God before this.
• But because it was Jesus Christ who came in the flesh, the PERSON of the Son of God is eternal.
• This person of the Son of God was also simultaneously the Father and the Holy Ghost.
• The Father has to be the same person of the Holy Ghost because the baby was called Son of God due to the Holy Ghost making Mary pregnant.
God is only one person, and Jesus is His greatest name.

But when Jesus Christ came in the flesh and began to be the Son of God, as well as the eternal Spirit that He always was, He began to do great things at the same time.

• He remained the omnipresent, everywhere, Spirit of God, and also was there in the world as a little baby.
• Now, this baby’s humanity was limited in understanding just as much as your understanding was limited when you were a baby.
• And so the human nature of Jesus did not lay in that manger and say, “I am going to goo and gaa with the best of them.  I am finally here in the flesh and I’ve got to act like a baby now.”
• No!
• The humanity WAS a baby with INFANT understanding and INFANT awareness and INFANT limited intellect.
In fact, until the humanity matured and grew in spiritual understanding as well as natural understanding, the deity of Him could not accomplish any miracle or great work of God in the world through that baby.
• And this is the same with us.
• And I want to show you how a person is saved and made a child of God and how that child of God can do great works for Go in this world.
At 12 years of age, Jesus knew He was the Son of God.
• After leaving Jerusalem and spending three entire days on their way home, Joseph and Mary realized that Jesus was not with them.
• They returned three more days and found Jesus.
• (That is a lot like us.  We went a three day journey (death, burial and resurrection took three days) and were saved, but we have to go back over that three day journey and find Jesus.  We had our minds off Him).
• Mary asked Him:

Luke 2:48  And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

And then Jesus replied:
Luke 2:49  And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
Just before this we read:
Luke 2:46-47  And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
He was talking to doctors in the temple about the WORD OF GOD.
• It was the custom in Jewish rabbinical schools for scholars to ask questions.
• And this was a twelve year old boy!
When He delved into the WORD OF GOD, He knew He was the Son of God.
• He lived by the Word.
• His understanding was based upon the WORD.
The only Father that he knew He had was God the Father.
• And since He was doing His Father’s business, why did Mary say His Father sought Him sorrowing?
At thirty years of age, Jesus was baptized, and the Father spoke from Heaven.
Luke 3:22  And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
 He received a WORD from God.

His humanity knew He was the Son of God.

• And notice that nothing had been done by way of a miracle or a ministry in any manner up to that point.
• But despite the fact that He did no miracles yet, He was still the Son of God.
• And not only that.
• He was well-pleasing to the Father.
• That can only mean one thing.
• Its not what great things you do that validates the claim that you are a Son of God.
• Its not works that you should look to if you wonder if you really are the Son of God or not.
• GOD JUST GAVE HIS WORD THAT JESUS WAS THE SON.
• And you need to simply look at what the WORD SAYS ABOUT YOU to see whether you are a Son of God or not.
And when Satan tempted Him at thirty years of age, the faith that His human nature had did not dwindle one bit.
• He heard the Word, He read the Word and He knew the Word.
• He lived by what the WORD said.
Satan’s first personal encounter with Him as a man was one of tempting Jesus to doubt that He was Son of God.
• You cannot tempt God, but you can tempt humanity.
• And Satan appealed to the human nature of Christ.
• If Jesus could not be tempted then no humans can be tempted.
• That side of Him was as human as we are.
• He had to be in all ways like we are before he could die as us on the cross.
• If He was not as human as we are then He could not die as us and He was not identified with us enough to die in our steads.
• And the way Satan that tempted Him was to get Him to prove to Himself that He was Son of God by performing a spectacular miracle.
• “Command that these stones be turned into bread.”
Watch the devil’s tactics, because he still uses it on you today.
• “Prove you are Son of God by DOING something.”
• “If you’re a Son of God, the only way you can know it is by performing and doing things. So, do them. Then you will be confident that you are a Son of God.”
• SOUND FAMILIAR?
So many people look at themselves and doubt their Christianity, because they think they are NOT DOING something right.
• Its not so much the turning of stone into bread that is the issue, but the DOING SOMETHING to convince yourself you are a Son of God.
• People say, “Look at me! I did this today and that yesterday!  How could I really have been saved?”
But Jesus replied and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
• Jesus did not LIVE as Son of God, by doing things and depending on those works and acts to prove His sonship.
• He LIVED AS A SON OF GOD BECAUSE OF THE WORD OF GOD THAT HE KNEW.
• He knew the WORD.
If we don’t have a handle on that like Jesus did, then instead of defeating the devil, the devil will defeat us.
• But notice what it is that defeats the devil.
• Knowing what the Word says about being a Son of God defeats the devil.
• Too many people go to Church but do not get the WORD into them that is preached at Church.
• (And then some people get no Word to put into them when they do go to church, because they hear about a social event preached, or nothing about who they are in Christ!)
• The devil does not even mind preaching about how great God is, so much as how great a work God did in saving you and making you a Son of God.
• The devil does not want you to know how complete you really are in Jesus Christ!
• The devil does not want you to know how much really was finished when Jesus cried IT IS FINISHED on the cross that day.
• The devil does not want you to know that you are not to grow to be seated with Christ in heavenly places, but that you already are seated with Christ in heavenly places the moment you are saved.
• He does not want you living by what the WORD says instead of living by whether or not you are committing certain works.
Jesus went to Galilee and preached and performed wonders.
Luke 4:14-15  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
After He resisted the devil because He knew what the WORD said, THEN He did great works!
• We think we must do great works in order to be a real Son of God.
• But that is the opposite.
• God did the work, we find out through the Word that HIS work makes us a Son of God, and BECAUSE we are confident we are Sons of God, through the word, God we go out and do great works.
• We do not look to see what great works we are doing to know if we are Sons of God.
• We do them BECAUSE we know.
Then Jesus went to His hometown.
• Heaven was His divine hometown, but Nazareth was his human hometown.
• He opened the Word.
• He read this:

Luke 4:18-19  The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And in his hometown, we read the following:
Luke 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Everyone just stared at Him.
• Intimidation was again used, but this time not by the devil.
• This time the neighbours and friends of His childhood glared at Him.
But again, He was into the WORD before they stared at Him.
• And He lived by what the WORD said, and not by opinions, let alone spectacular feats.

Luke 4:21  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Nobody missed those words.
Luke 4:22  And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. ...
He made it known to all of them despite the fact that they were familiar with Him as a man.
• Sometimes the hardest things for you believers to do is to begin to move in the Spirit right here in your home church, because everyone knows you.
• But you need the confidence in what the WORD says like Jesus had it.
Let them all look, but you know what the WORD says.

...And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

• Who does He think He is?
• We know Him?
• And He says He is the one anointed to do all these things?
• He is JOSEPH’S SON.

And the SAME ATTACK hit Him that the devil used against Him.
• Doubt as to whether or not He was the SON OF GOD.
• But this time it was from His hometown acquaintances!
The same INTIMIDATION VEILED IN ANOTHER FORM FROM ANOTHER SOURCE.

Jesus replied that they probably would say to do some miracles for them.

• But Jesus said He was still a prophet and knew it, and commented in that confidence that in the WORD many widows and lepers received no miracles except for the woman of Sarepta and Namaan due to unbelief.
• The people were enraged and ran Him out of town to a cliff and tried to throw Him off.
But His confidence was not diminished at all.
• He went right back into Capernaum, in Galilee, and got up in another synagogue to preach again.
And look at what happened.
Luke 4:31-34  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. And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let [us] alone; what have we to do with thee, [thou] Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
He still went in POWER.
• He lived by the WORD.
• So He could not be intimidated.
• And instead of standing in the presence of doubters who declared he was not Son of God but Son of Joseph, suddenly a demon screamed out of a man and said, “I KNOW THEE WHO THOU ART – YOU ARE THE HOLY ONE OF GOD!”
Later...
Luke 4:41  And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking [them] suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ {Messiah – Anointed One}.
Recall when in the synagogue of Nazareth He read that he was the One Anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to heal and to set free?
• He was the anointed.
• That meant literally that He was the CHRIST.
• CHRIST means the ANOINTED ONE.
• And these demons in Galilee KNEW He was the CHRIST – the anointed one.
• Furthermore, they knew HE AS THE SON OF GOD.
• When you LIVE BY THE WORD, and know what it says, and LIVE accordingly, the devil won’t simply try to make you doubt your sonship, but rather be terrified that you KNOW.
 

GET THIS AND DO NOT MISS IT:

The ONLY difference between the child of God who scares the devil and the one who doesn’t, is that the one who scares him KNOWS WHO HE/SHE IS because THEY LIVE BY THE WORD.

Its not the abundance of good deeds that scare the devil.
Its not the miracles that scare the devil.
Its confidence from the Word of God that you know you are a Son of God that will scare the devil.

All that you have to say to him is GO! And he has to go.

• He knows that!
• He knows what God did in saving you automatically gives you power over all the works of the devil, because when God saved you He united you to Jesus Christ.
• The devil’s whole agenda is to pull you away from that confidence.
No child of God is any better than the others.
• Its just that some children of God KNOW WHAT THE WORD SAYS and you cannot shake that out of them.
• Find out what the Word says about who you are.
• Hear what I am preaching to you today.
• Jesus was Son of God, well-pleasing to the Father before He did anything!!!!
• That means that the moment you are truly saved, you are as well-pleasing as you are ever going to get.
• SO JUST KNOW THAT AND BE CONFIDENT IN THAT.
• Do not be deceived to think that you have to be doing something to know you are saved.
• “Well look at me!”
• Look at nothing but the Word.
• And if you look at your mistakes and sins and think you are not a Christian, you are not living by the Word by living by WORKS.
DO NOT MISS THIS:

When you know who you are and what God did with you, according to the Word, YOU WILL HAVE FAITH THAT YOU ARE A SON OF GOD AND THAT WILL EMPOWER YOU BY GOD’S POWER TO DO GREAT WORKS AND TO RESIST SIN, AND REPENT IMMEDIATELY WHEN YOU DO SIN.

God cannot work through you without faith in what he did.

• And you have to know what the Word says to have that faith.

Luke 4:14  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

Notice that Jesus returned in the POWER of the Spirit after the devil tried intimidating Him, but Jesus stuck to the word.
• Why?
• Because FAITH IN THE WORD CAUSES GOD’S POWER TO MOVE.
• Jesus was drifting in the power of God!
And even those who get discouraged if they don’t feel the Spirit of God are not living by the Word completely but by feelings.
• Whether I feel like it or not, I am a Son of God.
• Whether I perform a miracle or not, I am a Son of God.
• Because I know that all that had to be done for me to be reconciled to God was done at the cross, and when I identified with (1) His death by my repentance, and (2) His burial by my water baptism in Jesus’ name, and (3) His resurrection by my reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost, I was as well-pleasing to God as I ever could possibly be.
• Just like Jesus, before I did any work for Him or any miracle, I was His Son.
I live by the Word.

When He sees me, He sees not just the blood of the lamb, but He sees the Son of God.

• I am in Christ.
• I am one with Him.
• I am as much one with Him as a Body is one with the Head of that Body.

Matt 4:10-11a  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, ...

Tell the liar to go, you have power over Him.
• THE WORD SAYS SO.
If you are seeking the Holy Ghost... LIVE BY THE WORD – and ALL THE WORD..
ACTS 2:38  THEN PETER SAID UNTO THEM, REPENT, AND BE BAPTIZED EVERY ONE OF YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.
YOU SHALL receive it if you repented and were baptized!
• In fact you can receive it before you are baptized, and get baptized right away afterwards (Acts 10:48).
• The word says YOU SHALL receive the Spirit.
• Not that it is not for you.
• YOU SHALL receive it.
Why?
Acts 2:39  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call.
The promise is to all!!!

If all that you did was accept the Lord into your heart, and you never repented, were baptized in His name and received the Spirit, notice that Jesus said: “That man shall ... live by every word of God.”

• Don’t claim the goods if you did not obey the Word.
• ALL THE WORD.