It is Written

VV.1-4:

Leading up to this temptation, Jesus had spent 40 days fasting.

The number 40 is significant in Scripture.

The great flood brought 40 days of rain

Gen. 7:17

Moses spent 40 days on mount Sinai

Exodus 24:18

Israel spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness

Deut. 29:5

Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days

1 Sam. 17:16

Elijah spent 40 days in the wilderness

1 Kings 19:8

In each case, God was working to prepare His people for some special task.

Noah’s family would repopulate the earth

Moses would bring the ten commandments

Israel would enter the promised land

David would slay Goliath

Elijah recieved a great revelation and would find Elisha

Jesus would be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

This temptation of Jesus was no small thing. Scripture tells us that:

Jesus was tempted in all points

Hebrews 4:15

Hebrews 4:15 NKJV

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

This temptation encompassed three points:

Lust of the flesh (vv.2-3)

Pride of life (vv. 5-6)

Lust of the eyes (vv. 8-9)

These three temptations perfectly parallel the temptations that Eve faced in the Garden of Eden.

The fruit looks good, you can eat of any tree in the garden (Lust of the eyes Gen. 3:1)

You won’t die (Lust of the flesh Gen. 3:4)

You will be like God (Pride of life Gen. 3:5)

Nothing has changed today, satan still uses the same methods, and you will face the same temptations.

John warned us about them

1 John 2:16

1 John 2:16 NKJV

For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

Lust of the flesh:

This first temptation is powerful. I’m sure that many people have never considered what a strong temptation this is.

First of all, if I could turn rocks into food, I would weigh a ton.

Just for the record, if I could turn rocks into food, it wouldn’t be bread. But the point is, I would constantly eat!

Food constantly tempts us; when we’re bored, sad, lonely, etc.

We use food for comfort, and if it were this easy we would abuse it even more.

It wouldn’t take long and we’d have a rock shortage in this world!

Just think, anything you want any time you want. There would be no mess from cooking, and no money spent eating out.

So yes, this is a powerful temptation indeed.

To make it even worse, Jesus was just plain hungry, so what is the harm?

Jesus created wine, and multiplied fish and bread on other occasions, so why not now?

First and foremost, to give in would go against the Father’s will. It was God’s will for Jesus to face AND overcome temptation.

Jesus was always committed to the Father’s will

Luke 22:45

Luke 22:42 NKJV

saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Second, Jesus never used His power and authority for His own benefit. It was always used for the benefit of others to glorify God.

While Jesus was surely starving, rather than give into His fleshly desires, He turned to scripture, “It is written...”

Man does not live by bread alone

Deuteronomy 8:3

Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV

So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

VV.5-7:

Pride of life:

I am important, and will have servants ministering to my every whim. That’s the attitude satan was hoping for.

The devil is quoting Psalm 91:11-12 but is taking it out of context, as he always does.

The Psalm is about the safety of abiding in God’s presence and how He protects and takes care of you, but it has noting to do with protection from stupid and foolhardy actions...such as jumping off the top of a temple.

It amazes me to no end how satan thinks he can sway Jesus by misusing scripture. Jesus wrote the book!

What was he thinking? It’s one thing to fool us in this manner, because we don’t have the perfect knowledge that Jesus has.

Which is all the more reason that we need to be diligent in studying the Scripture.

You will face these same types of temptations, and satan and his ministers will use these same tactics against you.

Satan has many false teachers out there doing his bidding, they twist scripture and take it out of context in an effort to draw you away from Christ.

Often the changes are small and very subtle. They may seem insignificant, if you even notice them at all.

This happened to Eve, a small, seemingly benign change in God’s Word got her into a lot of trouble.

When satan questioned God’s command, Eve responded with this:

Eve added to God’s word and lost her protection

Genesis 3:2-3

Genesis 3:2–3 NKJV

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

God never said they couldn’t touch it. This may seem like an innocent addition, and it certainly seems to be good practice, but it isn’t what God said.

The moment anything is added to God’s Word, it ceases to be His word.

Only the Word of God has power and when you change it, it loses its authority.

The Word of God would have protected Eve against Satan, but she used her own word instead. As such, she was left defenseless.

The Jehovah’s witnesses use their own version of the Bible, called the new world translation. Some changes, such as the omission of any references to hell, are pretty noticeable. However, many changes are very subtle, changing a single word here or there, which changes the entire meaning of a passage.

This is very common in how their bible deals with Jesus. Since they don’t believe Jesus to be divine, single words are changed here and there to make Jesus appear to be merely human.

Satan is very good at this, and we must always be on guard.

We must always be on guard

1 Peter 5:8

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Spend time in the word, know your Bible.

How did Jesus respond? once again “It is written”

Do not tempt the Lord

Deuteronomy 6:16

Deuteronomy 6:16 NKJV

“You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah.

We tempt God when we put ourselves into circumstances that force Him to work miracles on our behalf. The diabetic who refuses to take insulin and argues, “Jesus will take care of me,” may be tempting the Lord. We tempt God when we try to force Him to contradict His own Word.11 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 18–19). Victor Books.

I remember one Wednesday night when I was pastoring East Side Baptist Church. One of the members came in and said that there was a man sitting in the picnic area of the church yard, and that he looked homeless.

Myself and another member went outside to check on him. He was an older man, who obviously had no home. He had a bicycle and one bag of belongings, and appeared not to have bathed in quite some time.

We offered to bring him in and feed him. He refused saying “God will provide my needs.”

We offered to bring food out to him, and again he refused, saying “God will provide my needs”… only this time, he was a bit more agitated.

I guess I didn’t know when to stop, because I asked him “Don’t you think that God sometimes uses people to provide for each other?”

This made Him downright angry, and he yelled “I said, my God will provide”

Well, for some reason I tried to reason with him a bit more, but his anger only increased. Sadly, in the end, we had to tell him to leave.

This man was tempting God. We offered him a place to rest and eat, and asked nothing in return.

Instead, he wanted a supernatural deliverance, when a physical one was staring him in the face.

“You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

VV.8-10:

Lust of the eyes:

What a view Jesus must have had! We don’t know the name of this mountain, but it was “exceedingly high”.

There’s not a mountain on earth that can give you a view of all the kingdoms of the world, so it was probably a supernatural view.

satan promised Jesus all that He could see, all the kingdoms of the world, and all it would cost was one simple act of worship.

How much are we willing to pay for the things that we desire?

Who or what are we willing to worship for status, material gain, or instant gratification?

Will we devote more time to work than necessary? Time that should be devoted to God and family?

Will we turn our attention to unholy things for the sake of instant gratification?

This instant gratification is the way of the pornography industry and the lgbtq community. You sell your soul for an illusion...a lie.

The retail community also sells instant gratification. You can have anything you want right now, for low monthly payments.

We often create debt that prevents us from living and giving as God would have us to do, all so we can have what we want, and have it now.

It’s all very self-centered instead of Christ-centered.

Again, satan makes no sense all of this already belongs to Christ. Nonetheless, these temptations for us can be strong, so what’s the answer?

“It is written”

Worship only God

Exodus 20:3-5

Exodus 20:3–5 NKJV

“You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Deuteronomy 6:13

Deuteronomy 6:13 NKJV

You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name.

Joshua 24:14

Joshua 24:14 NKJV

“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!

Again, knowing scripture is important, it is “profitable” or beneficial to us.

Scripture is profitable for us

2 Timothy 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

V.11:

At the command of Jesus, satan left, and the angels ministered to His needs.

God is faithful to us, and we need to be faithful to Him.

Satan will tempt when we are the weakest.

Jesus wasn’t tempted inside the temple or at his baptism but in the desert, where he was tired, alone, and hungry, and thus most vulnerable.

1

1 Barton, B. B. (1996). Matthew (p. 57). Tyndale House Publishers.

Lust of the eyes:

We see something that entices us. We keep eyeing it and we want it badly. What price are you willing to pay? To what lengths are you willing to go in order to satisfy this desire.

Pride of life:

You have an opportunity for advancement, to gain more power or money. Its a chance to be recognized and praised, but it requires that you do something unethical, something against God’s will.

Lust of the flesh:

Physical needs and desires will often tempt us to act outside of God’s will, but we must remember that God is always faithful. There is never any need to try to circumvent God, and take matters into our own hands.

While all of these can be very tempting, they will never make us complete or whole. They will never truly satisfy us, Only Jesus Christ can do that. His grace is sufficient.