Temptation Of Jesus

Scripture Introduction: In Matthew 4 we find Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness to undergo a test by the evil one. The devil certainly wanted Jesus to fail His mission before He ever really got started so this temptation comes right after a HIGH POINT in Jesus’ life…right after His baptism by John the Baptist and right after hearing the words from His Heavenly Father who said:

Matthew 3:17 ESV

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The “Wilderness Temptations” are recorded in 3 out of the 4 Gospels and according to the Faithlife Study Bible:

...highlight Jesus’ role as the new Adam, and mirror Israel’s 40 years of wilderness wanderings. Like Adam and Eve, Jesus underwent temptation, but where they sinned, Jesus proved faithful...The temptations also qualify Him for His role as priest, since He is able to identify with His people in their temptations and restore them in relationship to God (Heb 4:14–16).(Faithlife Study Bible)

It’s also important to remember and remind ourselves a couple of things about these tests and/or temptations:

What the devil means for evil God means for good. Scripture is clear that God does not tempt us with evil and He does not tempt us to do evil. However, God can use the devil’s temptations to do evil for our good! Hopefully temptations to do evil will lead us to depend upon God’s grace, strength and mercy more than we already do, which is certainly a good thing!

Temptations often follow a great victory or “mountain top experience”. Jesus had just been baptized and had just been publically called out by His Father as the Son of God and the fact that God was well pleased with Him. Immediately after this event the Spirit led Him to a desolate wilderness and He was tempted by the enemy. Many times in my on life I have found the times of greatest temptation to follow times of greatest victory. We must keep our guard up!

Another thing we must remember is that “temptation itself is not a sin. Stuart Weber says:

One practical implication we may draw from this passage is that temptation itself is not a sin. Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb. 4:15; see also 2 Cor. 5:21). A misunderstanding of this defeats many people before they begin resisting temptation. A false (devilish) guilt grips them, and they begin to lose the battle before they begin to fight it. (Stuart Weber)

As we look at Jesus’ temptation together there are some very important principles we can discover and apply to our own experiences with temptation.

Some Temptations Don’t Appear to be a Big Deal at First Glance

Matthew 4:2–3 ESV

And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Jesus was hungry after fasting for 40 days. Most of us can’t imagine how hungry we would be if we had deprived our bodies of food for 40 days. So what’s the problem with Jesus using His power to provide something for Him to eat. After all He just went 40 days without eating. Doesn’t He deserve some food now? Since He is the Son of God, He doesn’t have to wander back in to town and find something to eat, after all He has the power to speak the Word and the flat, round rocks that surrounded Him would immediately turn into warm pieces of bread! What’s the big deal?

William Barclay said this temptation was about Jesus using His power in a selfish manner for His own benefit. Over and over and over again, throughout Jesus’ life and ministry, He used His power for the benefit of others and for the glory of the Father!

Yet we struggle with this same temptation! We have been given power, benefits and blessings by God to use for the benefit of others and for the glory of God, but often we are tempted to use the power, benefits and blessings we have for our own self-centered purposes.

Satan may have thought he could appeal to the “lusts of the flesh.” After all he had successfully used it against the first Adam in the Garden of Eden and had been using it successfully for thousands of years. Maybe he forgot who he was dealing with. He was dealing with the PERFECTLY, SINLESS SON OF GOD! Jesus did not have the “lusts of the flesh” as you and I had them. Sure he was hungry, just like any other man would have been hungry after 40 days, but He had not desire to do anything apart from the Father’s will.

The problem is you and I do struggle with the LUSTS OF THE FLESH! Satan seeks to prey on ALL OF OUR DESIRES!

He preys on our GOOD desires and seeks to trick us into fulfilling these desires in a way that doesn’t trust in God’s provision. The desire for food is not a bad desire. The fact that Jesus was hungry after 40 days was not in any way sinful…but the temptation was to fulfill that GOOD DESIRE in a bad way.

Satan is a MASTER at deceiving people into fulfilling GOOD DESIRES in bad ways. When we give into the temptation of fulfilling a GOOD DESIRE in a bad way we are demonstrating a lack of faith and trust in God’s way, God’s timing, and God’s provision!

Stuart Weber parallels this temptation with what happened to the Children of Israel through their 40 year wilderness wondering:

In a similar manner, Israel was tempted by their hunger in the desert to seek ways to provide for themselves. When they found they had no resources, they grumbled. God demonstrated their need to depend on him by providing manna. Even then they were tempted to take care of themselves by hoarding the food. But the extra manna was always spoiled the next day, so they were once again dependent on God’s provision for that day. Through this concrete demonstration, God taught Israel to be dependent on him, in hopes that they would apply the same lesson concerning their dependence on God for truth, wisdom, and instruction. (Stuart Weber)

Of course Jesus doesn’t not fall for the enemy’s tactics but rather responds with a quotation from the Word of God:

Matthew 4:4 ESV

But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Many of the devil’s temptations are designed to convince us that sin really isn’t that big of a deal. After all you have needs, you have desires…what’s the problem with taking this shortcut? What’s the problem with just a little nibble from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?” Jesus you are hungry, you’ve just deprived yourself of food for 40 days, could your Father really care if you used your power to meet your legitimate need for food? Come on now, it’s not that big of a deal.

But whenever you and I choose to take things in our hands and refuse to trust and depend upon God’s provision, in God’s time, in God’s way…it is a big deal…a big deal called sin.

Don’t fall for the tricks and tactics of the evil one! He is your ADVERSARY!

Some Temptations are a Result of “Twisted Scripture”

Matthew 4:5–6 ESV

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

The next temptation is found in vv. 5-6 of Matthew 4. He invites Jesus to put God the Father to the test. He does so by MISQUOTING a passage of Scripture. You see the devil knows Scripture. He probably knows it better than we do. But we must remember that he is the “Father of lies” so it’s only natural for him to misquote, twist, misapply and misinterpret the Scriptures. He uses this tactic in his temptations to justify sinful actions.

He will tempt people to have a misunderstanding of God’s grace in order to get believers to move away from holiness. He will tempt people to have a misunderstanding of true love, in order for them to act upon their lusts. He is a master of taking Scriptures out of context to tempt people to believer or create false doctrines that lead people astray.

Stuart Weber says this about the second temptation:

In this temptation Jesus was tempted to exercise improper dependence to “force” divine intervention. That is sin.

Satan, in quoting Psalm 91:11–12, misused Scripture in his attempt to deceive and mislead. It was a subtle challenge to Jesus to prove his deity.

In response to Satan’s second challenge, Jesus took the matter back to Scripture and quoted Moses from Deuteronomy 6:16, which prohibited testing God in this way. Jesus refused improper dependence. (Stuart Weber)

Misinterpreting, misquoting, and misapplying Scripture is VERY DANGEROUS! Satan is a master at taking something good, something beneficial, something holy, something honorable and perverting it! He seeks to add poison to the bread of life!

It is vitally important that we take seriously the admonition from Scripture

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Some Temptations Encourage “Shortcuts” Instead of Following God’s Plan

Notice the next temptation:

Matthew 4:8–9 ESV

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Satan was inviting Jesus to bow down and worship him. You see the devil is an “earthly king.” The Bible refers to him as the “prince of the power of the air” as well as the “god of this world.” However, Jesus is eventually going to snatch all of this authority away from him and is going to cast him and his demons into the bottomless pit of the lake of fire one day!

But first Jesus had to go to the cross to pay the price of redemption. But first Jesus had to be mocked, tortured, spit upon, falsely accused, stripped naked and nail to an old rugged cross to pay the ultimate penalty for all of mankind.

Satan was offering a shortcut. Jesus you don’t have to go and do all that. Just bow before me and offer me worship and I will gladly hand over the keys to the kingdom. Jesus wasn’t about taking shortcuts. Jesus was going to snatch the keys away from the devil. Jesus was going to obliterate the “works of the devil” and He was going to defeat our greatest enemy—death!

The devil’s dominion over all the world, implied here and explicit in Luke 4:6, is stated also in John 12:31 (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19). It was this dominion which Jesus had come to contest, and the contest would be fierce. To avoid it by compromise with the devil was not a very subtle temptation, but it provided a crucial test of Jesus’ loyalty to his Father, even where it meant renouncing the easy way of allowing the end to justify the means. (R. T. France)

Satan will encourage you to take shortcuts too.

Don’t worry about getting married, just move in together it’s no big deal. After all it’s just a piece of paper.

It’s just a little lie. It’s no big deal.

No one will ever find it and if they do it’s not a big deal. It’s just pictures on a screen, it’s not like you are really committing adultery.

You deserve this. After all you’ve been through and after all they put you through, you deserve to take what’s yours.

You see the devil is still pulling the same tricks he’s always pulled. He just wraps them in different wrapping paper and packages different for each situation, but they are basically the same old temptations.

The Faithlife Study Bible said that the devil was tempting Jesus to trust in him, rather than to trust in the Father. He’s still using the same old temptation. He wants you to trust in his scheme, his plan, his way, rather than TRUST IN YOUR CREATOR, YOUR GOD, YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER! But everytime we give into this temptation DISASTER STRIKES EVENTUALLY!

Once again I quote Stuart Weber who said:

Satan tempted Jesus to believe that someone else could provide for him in a better way than God could. That is always the satanic appeal, whether it involves work, power, money, success, or some personal interest. (Stuart Weber)

It’s interesting how these temptations parallel the temptation we find in the Garden of Eden.

Satan appealed to Adam & Eve’s physical appetite and he tried to appeal to Jesus’ appetite (tree, bread).

Satan suggested personal gain…he told Eve “you will not die” and told Jesus, “you will not hurt your foot”

He also promoted power and glory…he told Eve, “you will be as God” and he offered Jesus the “kingdoms of the world.”

We find him appealing to the same things today...

1 John 2:16 ESV

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

What Can we Learn?

We Must Know & Use God’s Word!

God’s Word is likened to a sharp, two-edged sword. It is an offensive weapon in our spiritual arsenal! We must use it to COUNTER the LIES of the enemy!

The Faithlife Study Bible says:

Temptation often presents sin as acceptable and desirable; the antidote is the truth of God’s Word.

If Jesus, the sinless Son of God used the Word to combat temptation, how much more do WE need to study the Word and meditate upon it!

We Must Depend upon God in Prayer

In Gethsemane, Jesus charged His disciples to pray that they not enter into temptation (Luke 22:40). (Faithlife Study Bible)

Luke 22:40 ESV

And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

We Must Stay on Guard, Especially After a Great Victory

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Ephesians 6:10–12 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The tempter carefully, subtly and skilfully chose his time to attack Jesus—but Jesus conquered him. We will do well to be specially on our guard whenever life has brought us to the heights, for it is just then that we are in gravest danger of the depths. (Barclay)