Overcoming Temptations

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Matt 4.

Matthew 4:10 KJV 1900

10 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.

Lust of the flesh - immorality, excessive behavior no discipline etc....

Lust of the eyes - materialism destroying western Christianity

pride of life - I am my own man

The three temptations by Satan in the wilderness were not the only temptations our Lord ever suffered on Earth.

We read in that He was tempted by the devil for forty days, but He was undoubtedly tempted at other times (; ; ), and yet in all this He was without sin or compromise.

How does the Lord deal with trails?

How do you deal with trails?

The three trails deal with three common ares we all struggle with

1 John 2:16 KJV 1900

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

I The Leading into the Trail

Matthew 4:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

For all trials and temptations there is a story ...

The hurts of a marriage

The loss of income’

The illness that is terminal

Here it was fasting in the Wilderness

Temptation is never as great as when one has made a public declaration of faith as did our Lord when He was baptized in the Jordan ().

Just after His ministry kicks off a trial comes .......

We believe God is sovereign and knows all and a trial is a time to trust Him!

Proverbs 16:9 KJV 1900

9 A man’s heart deviseth his way: But the Lord directeth his steps.

Illustration - how many times after a victory does it all come upon you .....

2010 - great victory Lasko Foundation provided over 400K new addition .

How about you ?

The structure of this narrative is relatively easy to trace: there is in introductory section providing some details, then three temptations with three answers, and then an aftermath. The main focus of the study will, of course, be on each of the three temptations, to determine what the temptation actually was and how Jesus dealt with it.

The introduction, the first couple of verses, tells us a couple of very significant things.

1) First, that He was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

This is the same Spirit that just descended on Jesus at His baptism.

Almost immediately this Spirit forces the temptation. This has to be given some careful thought.

Matthew 4:1 KJV 1900

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

matt 4

What it indicates is that it was the plan of God for Jesus to begin His ministry with this challenge--and that it was not the devil’s doing.

The devil could tempt Jesus with every power he had, but he would not succeed.

What it indicates is that it was the plan of God for Jesus to begin His ministry with this challenge--and that it was not the devil’s doing.

The temptation episode was God’s way of showing that Jesus was the perfect man, that He could resist sin, that he could defeat Satan.

The devil was willing to tempt Jesus, to be sure; but it was the Spirit of God leading Jesus to it. The devil could tempt Jesus with every power he had, but he would not succeed. The temptation episode was God’s way of showing that Jesus was the perfect man, that He could resist sin, that he could defeat Satan.

Right off the bat this had to be proved.....

The temptation episode was God’s way of showing that Jesus was the perfect man, that He could resist sin, that he could defeat Satan.

Right after salvation or some great spiritual victory the temptation comes

2) The second thing for us to consider here is the devil, Satan.

The Gospels do not shy away from affirming that there is a whole spiritual world around the physical world, filled with angelic beings, some of whom rebelled against God with their leader Satan and are therefore evil.

He was successful in getting Adam and Eve to sin and plunge the world into darkness; but he was not able here to defeat the Son of God.

3) Third, we are told that Jesus had been fasting for forty days and forty nights, and was hungry.

This hunger is where Satan first attacked ....

But the center of this study will be the three temptations themselves, so we should look at them now to determine what they meant, and how they were met.

II The Lust of the Flesh

Matthew 4:3–4 KJV 1900

3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Matt

The first temptation concerns the lust of the flesh (). Our Lord is hungry, and the devil tempts Him to convert stones into bread, but He replies with Scripture, quoting .

The first temptation picks up immediately on the fact that Jesus was hungry, that he had not eaten for forty days. The tempter said,

1. Turn stones into bread. The first temptation picks up immediately on the fact that Jesus was hungry, that he had not eaten for forty days. The tempter said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

We give into the flesh because our flesh pushes us to disobey ....

Lack of discipline

You deserve it

No one should have to go through that

So and so does that and they are Christian

What does the Bible say?

“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

The first temptation picks up immediately on the fact that Jesus was hungry, that he had not eaten for forty days. The tempter said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

There is a fine point of grammar

Sentences that begin with “if” (called conditional sentences) have different meanings.

“If you are the Son of God,” he did not mean “If you are the Son of God [but you are not],” but rather he meant “since you are the Son of God.”

He knew who this was, and would build his temptation on it. He was saying, “Look, you are divine! Why should you be hungry? Just change some stones to bread.”

Now then, we have to ask what was wrong with that.

Was there anything wrong with making something to eat? He had the power to do it. He multiplied food later for people who were hungry. So why was this a temptation?

The answer, I think, is that Jesus had come out into the wilderness to fast for forty days. That was a spiritual exercise that had a very important place in His life at the moment.

But the devil wanted to ruin the mission of Jesus, and so if he could convince Jesus on this seemingly trivial thing to abandon a spiritual work, then he would have had him.

The temptation was to turn His spiritual nature into a means of satisfying His material need without reference to finding the will of God. In fact, he would be doing the will of the devil.

The devil simply chose a little thing for the test; but it would have destroyed the work of Christ.

The perfection of Jesus is displayed in His refusal.

Hunger was not wrong, especially in a spiritual time of fasting (fasting was designed to focus attention on the spiritual and away from the comforts of life).

And Jesus was announcing to Satan, and to all of us who will hear it, that it is better to be hungry than to be fed without any reference or recourse to the will of God.

Satan had hit the nail right on the head--Jesus is the Son of God. But the essence of Sonship is obedience to the will of the Father. He would not, therefore, act independently of the will of the Father.

Jesus knew that the Spirit had led Him into a place that necessitated hunger, and so He would fulfill that task.

In response Jesus quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

If you go back and read you will see that the topic there is about the Israelites hungering in the wilderness for forty years.

God tested them in the wilderness so that they would learn that they must obey what comes from the mouth of God.

He gave them Manna; but to acquire it and enjoy it required that they follow God’s instructions carefully. The main point was that if they obeyed the LORD He would provide their food.

And so it was more important to obey God than to have all the food they could eat (recall that Adam and Eve chose to eat rather than obey God’s word).

So Jesus saw through the clever little ploy of Satan. He defeated the temptation by appealing to a clear principle of Scripture.

III Pride of Life

Matthew 4:5–7 KJV 1900

5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

Matthew 4:5–7 KJV 1900

If God loved you then ????

Some will move without the first inkling of what church they will attend .....

Long beach CA, UAE etc ....

God loves us and I am sure we will find a church .....

Here the devil uses a verse of Scripture (), but the Lord replies again with Scripture to the contrary (), stating that it is wrong for Him to abuse His own powers.

The second temptation concerns the pride of life (), and here the devil uses a verse of Scripture (), but the Lord replies again with Scripture to the contrary (), stating that it is wrong for Him to abuse His own powers.

here the devil uses a verse of Scripture (), but the Lord replies again with Scripture to the contrary (), stating that it is wrong for Him to abuse His own powers.

If the first test was in the realm of the physical, the second is a test of the spiritual.

In fact, the test strikes at the heart of the previous victory. Jesus had escaped that temptation by showing that He was not just physical but spiritual, that He could accept the hunger and the weakness if it meant obeying God.

And so Satan wants Him to do something spectacular to demonstrate that He is spiritually perfect.

Satan was saying to Jesus, “Very well, you have shown your trust in God in response to my first appeal; so now show your trust in God by flinging yourself from the pinnacle of the temple.” This, no doubt, was to be in full view of all the assembled people; they would witness that God was with Jesus in a very special way.

What is interesting now is that Satan himself quotes Scripture in making the appeal.

He quotes from a psalm that says that God will give the angels charge over him so that he will not dash his foot against a stone (,).

The psalm is a psalm of trust, telling how God protects his people. It was never intended to be claimed apart from practical wisdom. God promises to protect His people; but He has also given them common sense.

At the outset one should consider the source: if the devil, or, more obviously for us, someone who has no inclination to obey Scripture, if such a person prompts you to do something that it looks like the Bible says you can do, you would be wise to think it through very carefully.

A lot of Scripture is quoted out of context, or partially, and needs to be investigated.

Jesus’ response is also from Scripture: “It is also written, ‘You shall not put the LORD your God to the test.” This also comes from Deuteronomy, 6:16.

The moment an individual puts God to the test, that person gives evidence that he or she does not really trust God.

The context of refers to Massa and Meribah in the wilderness where the people murmured against God and tested Him--because they did not believe He could or would give them water (“Massa” is one name; it is derived from the verb in Hebrew nasa,. “to test”; the other name is “Meribah”; it is from the verb rib, “to strive”).

A trust that is weak or wavering seeks a sign or a dramatic intervention to make it steady.

So Jesus said, “No, my trust is perfect; I do not need to do anything heroic to prove it. And I will not test God’s word by doing something foolish--at your prompting.”

And so the spiritual nature of Christ retained its dignity and lived out its quiet, confident trust in the Father. He refused to do something dangerous to see if the angels would protect Him.

Illustration of Pride

- you can do this look what the Bible says by someone that does not even believe the Bible

Pride says I have the ability to get out of this my own way why wait of trust God

Pride says I have the ability to

3. Fall down and worship me. The last temptation is amazing in its boldness. It is almost as if the devil realized he was not winning, and so with nothing to lose calls for Jesus to worship him. Its purpose was to prevent the work of the king, the work for which He had come into the world.

IV Lust of the Eyes

Matthew 4:8–10 KJV 1900

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 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.

matt 4.

Matthew 4:8–10 KJV 1900

The third temptation concerns the lust of the eyes (), and if any quick route to the Messiahship could be attained, bypassing the passion and crucifixion for which He had originally come, this was the way.

The devil already had control over the kingdoms of the world () but was now ready to give everything to Christ in return for His allegiance.

But the mere thought almost causes the Lord’s divine nature to shudder at such a concept and He replies sharply, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” ().

Well, even in the words of Satan there were some clues that this was a malicious temptation.

First, the offer was coming from the one who is the prince of liars.

example of a lier … you really trust him ...

Who would knowingly do a deal with the devil? Jesus will later explain () that he was a liar from the beginning and the truth was not in him. What a lie this was.

Who would knowingly do a deal with the devil? Jesus will later explain () that he was a liar from the beginning and the truth was not in him. What a lie this was. Did Satan actually imagine for one moment that the Son of God would believe him? Never would Satan have given him the kingdoms; that was simply the bait for him to bow before the evil one. Unfortunately, far too many people have believed the evil tempter. Adam and Eve surely did.

Did Satan actually imagine for one moment that the Son of God would believe him? Never would Satan have given him the kingdoms; that was simply the bait for him to bow before the evil one.

Unfortunately, far too many people have believed the evil tempter. Adam and Eve surely did.

Its purpose was to prevent the work of the king, the work for which He had come into the world.

He took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth. This verse seems to suggest something mystical, something supernatural. There is no mountain in Israel high enough to see much of anything.

But the idea is probably that the devil provided some vision of these kingdoms. And the promise was that he would give them to Jesus if only Jesus would fall down and worship him.

Luke adds that Satan claimed he had been given these kingdoms and it was his right to give them to whomever he wished.

Satan was saying to Jesus, “Look, you came as the king to inherit the nations. Here they are. Why go through the trouble of being the suffering servant to get to the crown. Give me one moment’s homage and I will abdicate.”

Second, all Satan could offer were the “kingdoms,” plural kingdoms--these warring, divided, conflicting powers and races in the world. Who wants them? The Father had promised the Son a Kingdom, united in peace and righteousness and harmony. Of course, there is no way to inherit such a kingdom apart from redemption, apart from changing human nature to make it fit for the kingdom, for without it there would never be peace and harmony in the world. Satan’s offer is a cheap substitute.

So Jesus’ response was, “Away from me Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the LORD your God, and serve Him only.’”

Illustration - look what you could have if you did not tithe

God says look what you have because you do tithe

satan is a lier

Lust of the Flesh - you are hungry

Pride of Life - I will do it anyway and God will bless

Lust of the Eyes - I really need that

As mentioned above, the obvious parallel and necessary background is the temptation in the Garden. The tempter there came in disguise, in the form of a serpent, a creature that the humans were to rule over; here Satan did not come in disguise, but in a bold and direct attack on Jesus.

In the Garden the tempter took the ploy of questioning what God had said. If you make a detailed study of that passage, , against the background of chapter 2, you will see that Eve made three changes in the wording (or was it Adam who told her incorrectly?): first she diminished the privileges (God had said “you may eat to your heart’s content of all the trees,” but she simply said, “we may eat”); second, she added to the prohibition (God had said, of this one tree “you must not eat,” but she added, “neither may you touch it”); and third, and most importantly, she was not convinced of the punishment of death (God had said, “You shall surely die,” and she said, “lest you die,” leaving it as a contingency). When the tempter saw this, he immediately denied the penalty for sin in exactly the words of the Creator: “You shall not surely die.” And this is the lie from the beginning, that you can sin and get away with it, or that God will not punish people whom He has made over sins like this.

The two observations to be made here are: Satan knew more precisely what God had said and was able to draw them into a discussion about the word of God with that advantage, and Satan boldly denied that there was a penalty for sin. This is why Jesus said that he was a liar from the beginning ().

With that in mind we can see in that Jesus could defeat Satan because He knew the word of God better than the tempter. He could come back with the wider picture: It is also written. Often temptation requires “getting rid of” one verse, or a prohibition that stands in the way (“if only that passage could be explained differently”). But the victorious believer will know how all of Scripture works, and that behind a prohibition or an instruction there is a general theological revelation that will govern the interpretation and application of details.

But we can also see that there is no trivial temptation. Eating from the tree in the Garden?--such a little thing. Turning stones into bread?--harmless. But each was a prompting from the devil to go against the will of God. And when anyone chooses to act contrary to what the living God wills, that person has chosen death. Satan knew that. We often do not; we often think something small can be winked at, easily rationalized, even though we know at the time it is not what God wants. The Bible is filled with examples of this, and the more you study the Bible the more you will see them. One classic example is the case of Moses. Commanded to “speak” to the rock and bring water from it, he lost his temper and hit it (). For that he was not allowed to go into the promised land. Who could blame Moses after putting up with the people for forty years in the wilderness? But, in the eyes of all the people he disobeyed God and gave them the impression that God (and he) was (were) getting fed up with the people. God wanted them to see His power--not Moses’ anger.

Well, in the Garden the aftermath of the temptation is also instructive. The text of Genesis 3tells us that when the woman realized that the fruit of the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom, then she took and ate.

This is probably what John is referring to when he talks of the cravings in the world as the lust/desire of the flesh, the lust/desire of the eyes, and the pride of life (). Temptation worked on all three levels--desire of the flesh to eat, desire of the eyes for beauty, and the desire to be like God, spiritual pride. But when they ate, all that they discovered were guilty fears and their vulnerability to evil.

New Testament Correlations

Hebrews. The Book of Hebrews tells us that we have a High Priest, Jesus Christ, who was tempted in every way as we are, yet remained without sin (). This means that He fully understands all that we face in this world--He was tempted in every way, not just in these three temptations at the outset, but throughout His life on earth. Therefore, Hebrews says, we may approach the throne of grace in prayer with confidence so that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in the time of need. Prayer to Christ in the times of temptation and trial is therefore critical for victory over temptation. And this makes sense--seek help from the one who did it.

James. If you look in a Bible study book, or a dictionary, or a theology book, or a concordance, you should find New Testament teachings on temptation or on Satan rather easily. James tells us “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (4:7). That indicates that the devil will go where there is the least resistance. It also indicates that the human heart is capable of producing a good bit of evil without the devil’s prompting, a point that James makes in his epistle.

2 Corinthians. Paul also tells us that Satan masquerades as an angel of light (--but read the whole section of verses 1-15). Paul tells us that thanks to Scripture we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices, and therefore should be able to resist the tempter. But it will require more knowledge of Scripture, and better spiritual perception (see ). By knowing Scripture well, we will both know what the whole plan of God is for our lives, and we will be better able to perceive what would undermine it.

Conclusions and Applications

So we have here a great drama between Satan and Christ. It ends with Christ’s victory over the tempter because of His knowledge and use of the word of God. The attack of Satan was made against every vulnerable point--hunger, trust, and responsibility--and when these were held firmly, there was no other area the devil could attack. He struck at the material or physical need of food, but he found one who knew the spiritual was more important than the physical; he struck at the spirit’s confidence in God, but found one whose trust in the Father did not need testing; and he struck at the carrying out of the divine commission, but found one who was determined to carry out that plan in a divine way. Thus was Satan defeated.

What did this mean for Christ’s mission? It was a foretaste of the victory at the cross. Here Jesus defeated the tempter who tried to ruin His mission. But here Christ demonstrated that He would not be deterred from His mission. It was a very significant spiritual victory over the devil. And it would have given Jesus a tremendous boost (if we can say that reverently); He would know that the anointing of the Spirit gave Him the power to resist the evil one and to fulfill His mission.

On the theological level you might want to get off on an aside and think about what was going on here theologically. It makes a good little discussion. People often wonder whether or not Christ could have sinned, and if not, was it a real temptation? We would probably say that as Jesus He could be tempted, but as the divine Son He could not sin (and so it is bound up in the mystery of the two natures). But we would also say that at the moment of the temptation Jesus may not have known this--it was a real temptation and He worked through it. But Heaven knew He would not sin. In His time in this world there were times when Jesus had that greater knowledge and insight, and there were other times that He did not seem to have it or use it. And when and how this works is hard for us to know. But this was a true temptation. Satan thought he could win. Jesus fought back with His knowledge and obedience of Scripture. And Heaven was not surprised that He defeated Satan. And I do not think Satan was all that surprised either.

The applications or lessons that can be drawn from this passage are many--and you may think up others as well.

One very clear one would be the necessity of knowing Scripture, knowing what God’s will is (not for a career for your life, but the day in and day out spiritual life of devotion and obedience to God). This involves both understanding and being able to use the word of God in making choices between what is good and what is evil.

Another application would be the inspiration that can be drawn from the fact that Jesus as perfect man defeated Satan. Therefore, because he was tempted and because he was victorious, he understands us and stands ready to help. So prayer to him for victory would be a good lesson.

Other lessons can then be drawn from the individual temptations (and these have been discussed above so I will not go into detail here). The first had to do with knowing what is most important in life--obeying the word of God--and not living only to satisfy the flesh, or making a living, or using spiritual resources just to meet physical needs. Living by obedience to God has fallen on hard times today when so many are only interested in security of life through investments and entitlements, or indulging themselves in the good things of life. Seeking the good life can truly crowd out the spiritual things.

The second temptation had to do with trusting God. Those who truly know God and experience the reality of their faith daily do not need to find something spectacular to convince themselves and others. Today there is a growing pre-occupation with miraculous signs. Now God will do miraculous things--when He chooses to do them. But if people seek the spectacular in order to believe, or to convince themselves of the faith, it betrays a weak faith. Remember how in the vision of the rich man and the poor man Lazarus in their rewards, and the rich man asked Abraham for Lazarus to be sent to his family to warn them, thinking that they would believe if one came back from the dead? The answer was, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets [Scripture], they will not be convinced even if one rises from the dead” ().

The third temptation had to do with fulfilling the commission or plan of God with a shortcut, not doing God’s way. This is the common temptation to avoid the means to get to the ends, or as is said, the end justifies the means. But with God there is a way to accomplish His plan for your life, and it calls for absolute devotion and obedience to Him. But Satan always offers shortcuts, that if looked at carefully, will ruin your life.

So there are a number of very useful lessons that can be drawn from this account. These should start your thinking. You can probably meditate on these for a while and find other examples of how the temptations would work in life, and how knowing what God wants would prevent them. The bottom line is that Jesus demonstrated for us how to achieve victory over temptation. In other words, we do not have to sin. There are ways to spiritual success, if we are willing to take them.

One thing that the rabbis taught on temptation is helpful. You work the issues and temptations and choices out like a business person, with a profit-loss ledger. If you make this choice and do this, what are the benefits, and what will the cost be? In many cases the cost, including fallout afterward, is just too high. A wise decision will count the cost.

If Christ had followed any one of these temptations, the immediate result might not have seemed so great, but the overall results would have been disastrous--He would have been a sinner, another fallen human like us, unable to redeem anyone, and the mission would have been ruined by the devil. But that was not going to happen, for the Father sent the Son into the world to redeem us, and by doing that He had to conquer Satan.

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