MATTHEW 4: 1-11
WHEN JESUS WAS TEMPTED
A husband took his young daughter to the grocery store to help him buy groceries. In addition to the healthy items on his wife’s carefully prepared list, the two of them returned home with one of those big bags of M&Ms.
His wife said "Why did you buy this?" his wife asked. "You know M&Ms aren’t good for you!"
The husband said "don’t worry, honey, this bag of M&Ms has one-third less calories than usual."
The wife looks over the package. She says, "What makes you think that there are one-third less calories than usual?"
The husband says "Well, we ate about a third of the bag on the way home, so there’s one-third less calories than usual!"
How many of you have heard the expression “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak?” We all have areas in our lives where the flesh is weak.
Since the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, temptation has been a constant, unrelenting part of human life. Men have tried to avoid, resist or ignore it. But no person has ever found a place or a circumstance that can make him safe from temptation.
In Matthew 4:1–11 one of the most monumental and mysterious spiritual battles of all time is recounted-the personal confrontation between Jesus Christ and Satan. The devil’s temptations directed at Jesus in the wilderness (of Judea) were observed by no other human being. He was entirely alone, and it is therefore obvious that we could know nothing of what transpired there unless Jesus Himself had told His disciples of it. He does so to reveal to us the victory secret of His momentous struggle with Satan.
The encounter with Satan occurred immediately after Jesus’ baptism, where The Father proclaimed out of heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (3:17). When God speaks to you, Satan strikes at you. When God fills you, the devil fights you! Our text demonstrates why Jesus was well-pleasing to His Father. Jesus listened to His Father’s Word and applied His Word to His daily life.
The purpose Matthew’s recounting this event is to demonstrate the pattern of Jesus’ victory over temptation and sin, a pattern that Jesus longs to share with all who belong to Him. When we face testing and temptation we too can be victorious over the adversary’s attempts to corrupt us and to usurp the Lord’s rightful place in our lives. May we too look at this passage and learn how to stand strong in time of battle and find the same victory Jesus found over the enemy of our soul.
The momentous encounter that Matthew here describes, and from which believers can gain such help and encouragement, may be divided into three parts for our study: the preparation, the temptation, and the triumph.
I. THE PREPARATION, 1-2.
The goal and aim of all believers is to please God. We all would love to hear that our life is pleasing to God. But it caused a showdown in the desert, between good and evil, between light and darkness, between obedience and disobedience, between Jesus and Satan, and it will cause the same in us. Satan wants to test, try, and devour all those who are pleasing God in any way, at any level. Jesus had the testimony of Enoch, "that he pleased God," but His commitment is about to be tested as we see in verse 1. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
One of the truths of life, from which even the Son of God was not exempt on earth, is that after victory comes temptation. At times of success we can let down our guard and temptations can take us unprepared. After the victory of Jesus’ baptism comes His testing in the wilderness.
The devil’s purpose is to frustrate the plan of God and to usurp the place of God. Yet God often uses Satan’s tempting to evil as His own means of testing for good. What Satan intended to lead the Son into sin and disobedience, the Father used to demonstrate the Son’s holiness and worthiness. That is God’s plan for all of His children. Christians cannot be tempted in a way that God cannot use for their good and His glory. [James even tells us to “consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials [peirasmos], knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4).] God’s plan and purpose is to use Satan’s temptations as a means of testing and strengthening our faith in Him and as a means of our growing stronger in righteousness. God allows testings in our lives in order that our spiritual “muscles” may be exercised and strengthened. Whether it is a testing by God’s initiative or a temptation sent by Satan, God will always use it to produce good in us when we meet the test in His power.
In verse 2 we read a understatement of Jesus’ physical condition in which He underwent His time of testing. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.”
At the conclusion of this time of full concentration upon God Jesus became hungry. It may be that He was so caught up in His communion in the Spirit with the Father that He did not notice His hunger. Hunger not only makes us physically weak but also tends to weaken our moral and spiritual resistance as well. When we are tired, hungry, or sick we are usually less concerned about other needs and dangers and tend to be vulnerable to anything that might provide relief from our present distress. Satan may attack more fiercely during times of weakness, unawareness or unpreparedness. Temptations that have been anticipated, guarded against, and prayed about have less power to harm us. Jesus tells us to “keep watching and praying, that you may not come into temptation” (Mark 14:38). Victory over temptation comes from a constant abiding in the Sprit and the Word [Jn 15].
Fasting is a form of self-discipline, a refraining from the good and necessary substances of this life, in order to hear from God more clearly. Jesus though physically weak and susceptible having fasted and prayed for over a month, was alert to spiritual danger. Even in His weakest physical moments He did not allow Satan to gain any foothold because He had spent the time in communion with His Father. [The accounts in Mark (1:13) and Luke (4:2) seem to indicate that Jesus was in some way tempted throughout His stay in the wilderness. Possibly it was the devil’s strategy to gradually wear the Lord down little by little before confronting Him with the three great temptations that are specifically recorded. But Jesus would not yield to His adversary on even the slightest point. [MacArthur, John. NT Com. Mt. 1-7, 88-89]
So at the END of the 40 days, when Jesus would have been as hungry and tired as a person could be, the devil went after Him. That’s how the devil is with us. He waits until we’re tired and weary and discouraged. And then he comes out with the big shots. You come home after a hard day at work. Your wife says “Honey, I wish you would put your laundry in the hamper instead of leaving stuff strewn all over the floor.”
You say “Whatever happened to the word “Hello?” Why are you hitting me with this now? I’m tired. I’ve been working hard all day.”
She says “What do you think I’ve been doing?! I don’t want to come home from work and look at your messy clothes.” And just like that, two Christian people who love each other are duking it out like rock’em sock’em robots.
The devil’s strategy is to hit the people of faith when they’re tired and weary. That’s what he did to Jesus.
II. THE TEMPTATIONS, 3-10.
Satan came at Jesus in three different areas. Three Temptations for Three Needs Overcome By Three Answers from Jesus.
Most people forget that it is not a sin to be tempted but we sin when we yield to temptation. Remember temptations are merely opportunities to sin, but God always provides a way of escape so that we can handle any temptations that comes our way (1 Cor. 10:13).
The first temptation was for Jesus to distrust the providential care of His Father and to serve Himself. The second was to presume on the Father’s care by putting Him to the test. The third was for Him to renounce the way of His Father and to substitute the way of Satan.
1. Temptation #1 - Self-satisfaction: or live to satisfy your needs and desires.
And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
Need #1 - The devil tried to use the real physical need of hunger to tempt Christ into succumbing to temptation to turn the stones into bread.
[“If you be” was a challenge to prove Himself “the Son of God.” Satan wanted to twist the divine mission of the Son of God. What kind of Messiah will you be? Use Your supernatural power for physical needs. If you turn rocks into bread people will follow You. All you need to do is save them from hunger, met their legitimate human needs.] It was a temptation to act independently of God. To act supernaturally to met His needs instead of depending on God to met them. Would Jesus use His position and authority for selfish ends? Would Jesus use His power for selfish ends?
The devil wanted to raise doubts in our Lord’s mind. He wanted Jesus to say, "I haven’t eaten for forty days. Is God ever going to come through for Me? Can I trust Him? Is He going to be there for Me when I need Him? Am I going to have to act on My own or will I follow God & depend on Him to met all My needs, however pressing they may be?"
Satan often uses a legitimate need but tempts us by seeking to fulfill that need in an illegitimate way. Many people have doubts that God can provide for their physical, financial and human needs. Satan sought to exploit a weakness of hunger to cause Jesus to be impatience with the Father. Rather than launch out in a independent self-satisfying life, Jesus trusted His earthly well-being to the Father. In the Father’s time He would supply Jesus’ physical need.
Christ’s response in verse 4 is biblical and profound. “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
The Lord Jesus answer the devil by proclaiming that the Word of God is sufficient to sustain, sanctify and to support us in the most desperate hour of need or temptation. The Lord Jesus insisted that people need more than bread for their life. We must feed on the Word of God if we are going to sustain our spiritual life. God has said if we would follow Him completely, He will take care of or physical needs. Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
"How can a young man keep his way pure, by keeping it according to your word. Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." (Ps. 119:9,11) Memorize the scripture and it will preserve you from sin, self-destruction and disobedience. Focus on God’s eternal purpose not your own temporary concerns as you face your test.
True life depends not upon satisfying material wants but upon obedience to following God. For Jesus to turn stones into bread would have been to place personal physical need ahead of obedience and trust in God. God calls us to a reordering of priorities that places confidence in Him as our highest good [Mounce, New International Biblical Com. Mt, p 29] The guiding principle of Jesus life, revealed in this verse, should be the guiding principle of our life also.
Temptation #2 - Self-accomplishment:
Satan’s next strategy is to get Jesus to focus the attention on Himself instead of upon God. He wants Jesus to rationalize and compromise and attempt to complete God’s purpose in the wrong way. In verse 5 we read of the miraculous transportation of Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem. “Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand 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 give His angels charge concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”
“The devil takes a beautiful verse about trusting God, and he twists it into an invitation to test God!” [John MacArthur, ] You say Jesus that by not turning the stones into bread You are trusting God, now publically demonstrate that trust in God by jumping and letting people see your trust and God’s promised protection. Satan takes a verse out of context (Ps 91:11-12), [omits part of it (“To guard you in all your ways”)] and then twists it to get it to say something God never intended. God has promised His providential care for our life as we daily live it out in a normal fashion. He has not promised to supernaturally intervene when we decide to step out side of His will and jeopardize our life in order to force Him into action [Mounce, New International Biblical Com. Mt, p 30].
There were many people at the temple at that time. Jesus could have popularized Himself through a sensational display of angels bearing Him up. But that was not God’s will and purpose. Sensationalism appeals to the flesh and Jesus wants men’s hearts. It was God’s will that He take on the nature of a servant, not of a dynamic celebrity.
Many of the battles that we find ourselves in are over the same thing. Satan will come and try to force us out of focus, trying to cause the word, will, or way of God to become fuzzy, and unclear, so he can get us sidetracked. Satan will offer you an alternative to God’s word, will and way and try to get you to think you are still following God.
This second temptation is about the plan that God has for you. God has a purpose for YOUR life. God has designed you and is trying to mold you for His eternal purposes. When following His Word, will, and way your life will be lived for, and turn out for, your eternal best. When you try to take matters into your own hands then you run into trouble and cause enormous pain for others.
A case in point is when God called Abraham to trust Him and WAIT for his promised son. God promised Abraham that he would father a child with his wife in his old age. That God would bless the world through this child. Rational thinking told that Abe he getting real old and his wife was barren and could not have children. You see how satan can cause you to doubt and to not listen fully to God. He said to WAIT. But ….Abe took his wife’s maid and had sex with her, thus causing her to become pregnant with Ishmael. This seemed like a better quicker way to accomplish God’s plan. Big Mistake! All of us, all over the world, are suffering to this very day for that rational.
Once again in verse 7 Jesus turns to the Old Testament Scripture for a wise response. “Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus’ words come from Deuteronomy 6:16 and refer to the time when Moses struck the Rock in order to get water to satisfy the grumbling Israelites (Ex. 17:1-7). Because God did not immediately meet their expectations, they questioned His leadership and faithfulness. Faith is simply trusting God and taking Him at His Word no matter our circumstances or trials. We are not to try and force God’s hand, but simply to take God’s hand and follow Him.
So Jesus refutes the notion that we have to rely on our pride, human efforts and sincere personal efforts to accomplish things. "It is not by power or by might but by My Spirit says the Lord of hosts. This mountain will be removed by My Spirit says the Lord." (Zech. 4:6,7)
Focus on God’s plan not your own. Our desire should not be to prove or force God’s faithfulness, but to prove our own.
[Jesus quoted Scripture but it wasn’t His ability to quote Scripture that gave Him victory.] He quoted Scripture to let satan know what He was committed to trusting God. Jesus was committed to the obeying the Word of God
[Many people know the Word, can quote the Word and shout up a storm but are not committed to the Word. Its not the hearers of the Word of God that are justified but the doers of the Word [Jas. ]
It is our commitment to obey the Word of God that gives us victory over temptation and sin
You can’t go around compromising the Word and expect to walk in victory over temptation.
Temptation #3 - Self-glorification:
Having failed in his first two attempts Satan came blatantly at Jesus in verse 8. “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 things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me,”
From the vantage point of some unknown mountain Satan gave Jesus a vision of all the great kingdoms of this world. There satan displayed the wonders of earthly kingdoms and offers them to Jesus. [Later Jesus would call Satan the ruler of this world (Jn. 14:30) and the apostle John stated that the entire world is under the power of the evil one (1 Jn. 5:19). So apparently satan had the right to give them to Jesus [Ed Glasscock, Moody Gospel Com., p88].
God has also promised Jesus a kingdom (Ps. 2:8), but these kingdoms would not require the shame and suffering of the cross. So Jesus is faced with that age -old temptation that the end justifies the means. The way of obedience is long, hard and difficult. Why not make a deal with the prince of this world (Jn. 12:31; 16:11)? Why not compromise to obtain the desired end immediately?
Use the arsenal of diabolic political and worldly weapons to seize the prize of sovereignty without the delay or suffering that God Himself had promised Him. The price of immediate possession was simply bowing the knee in compromise before satan.
Instead of enduring the long, bitter, humiliating, and painful road to the cross-and the even longer wait in heaven for God’s time to be completed-Jesus could rule the world now!
Satan always comes at us in that way. He suggests that the world of business, the world of politics, the world of fame, or the world of whatever our heart desires can be ours-if only…! We can get what we want; we can fulfill our lusts and our fantasies; we can be somebody. All we must do to get those things of the world is to go after them in the way of the world-which is Satan’s way.
He tempts each of us in the same way. “Why set your standards so high? What’s the use? You can get what you want by cutting a corner here and shading the truth there. Why wait for heavenly reward, when you can have what you want now?” When we set our hearts on money, prestige, popularity, power, or selfish happiness, we are doing exactly what Satan wanted Jesus to do-put self first
Had Jesus fallen for satan’s temptation the statement of those who mocked at the foot of the cross would have had to have been reversed: “He saved Himself; others He cannot save” (Mt. 27:42). Instead of redeeming the world He would have joined the world. Instead of inheriting the world, He would have lost the world.
Jesus’ response was straightforward and clear. In verse 10 Jesus stood up in the Spirit and using Scripture for the third time told the devil that He was not getting distracted from living for and worshiping only the Lord God. “Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”
There can be no compromise with the Devil. Referencing again the Word of God as Jesus’ ultimate authority He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13. God’s Word is the final argument and ultimate authority against our enemy.
The Lord Jesus proclaimed in no uncertain terms He would not compromise with evil.
He advocated a focus on God’s person. Many people are more interested in the blessings than the Blesser. If you find yourself craving something the world seems to offer, quote Jesus’ words to the devil. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”
["He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with what is good." (Ps. 107)
"They who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing."]
There was a tragedy in Florida. I’m not sure if the baby BURMESE PYTHON came with a warning. If not, it should have. The Oxford, Florida family that brought the serpent home as a pet would live to regret allowing such a creature in the house.
The snake, now 12 feet long, broke out of the glass aquarium during the night. It silently slithered into the bedroom of a 2-year old girl, wrapped itself around her defenseless body, and strangled her to death; a horrible, yet entirely preventable tragedy.
I want to tell you that Satan that old serpent works tirelessly to get us to believe that allowing him in the house is no real danger. After all, we know how to restrain him behind the “aquarium glass.” We know how to control him. But can I tell you that a snake is a snake.
III. THE TRIUMPH.
Verse 11. “Then the devil left Him and angels came to attend Him.”
Because Satan’s present power is only by God’s permission, when the Son commanded him to leave, Satan had no choice but to obey. [Though Satan would be back as soon as he had “an opportune time” (Luke 4:13), for now he was forced to leave.]
After satan left, angles came. Jesus waited for His Father to provide, and in the Father’s time, He sent angels to minister to Him. Jesus, I’m sure thought it was worth the wait.
Jesus will inherit the kingdom in God’s time, and we will inherit the kingdom with Him (Mt. 5:5; 25:34; Rom. 8:17; James 2:5). In the eternal, heavenly state all the universe will be ours! Who would want to sacrifice that for the deceptive, disappointing, and short-lived imitations Satan offers?
There are many good things that God will give us even in this life. No one desires our joyfulness more than our heavenly Father. “If you then, being evil,” Jesus says, “know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Mt. 7:11). We can have the joy God gives. So why would we settle for the cheap substitute Satan offers? We can have the glory of living righteously and pleasing our heavenly Father. Why should we settle for the brief and disappointing successes sin produces? By God’s grace we can have the peace that passes understanding. Why should we settle for the cheap satisfaction of a world which will soon pass away forever and ever?
CONCLUSION
The reason this story is in the Bible is very simple. The same way Satan attacked Jesus is the same way he attacks us. And the way Jesus responded to the attack is the same way we should respond to Satan’s attack. The Bible is the only authority for right living. Since Jesus had mastered the Bible, He could not be mastered by any thing or any one, including the Devil himself.
When the devil does attack us – when he comes against us or our families or our businesses or our finances, or even our health – how do we respond to the devil? How do we actually stand up and face up against the devil? He seems so intimidating, because next to God himself, the devil is the most powerful being in the universe. How do we accomplish this seemingly impossible task? Answer him in the Spirit of God with the Word of God.
