Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #14 Jesus Tempted By Satan - Matthew 4

 

Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and King #14 Jesus Tempted By Satan - Matthew 4

Introduction: 

We are going to begin this morning not with Matthew 4, but with 1 John chapter 2 verse 15. We begin here because John give us the three types of temptation that Satan has always used and continues to use today. We will see these three temptation in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and we will see them in the wilderness with Jesus and if we are wise in the word of God we will recognize them in our own temptations every day.

Temptation In Us - 1 John 2:15-17

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 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. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

John’s Three Temptation Types

John begins by warning us not to love the world. The word he uses here is agape, to love the world by giving yourself fully and completely to the world. Nor is he talking about the world as they physical earth, the created earth. He is talking about the world that is dominated, controlled and under the authority of Satan. This is his domain until the Lord comes and takes it from the fallen archangel, Lucifer.

Then after that admonition, John says 1 John 2:16 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.

Three types, three ways that the world tempts us in order to make us choose the world rather than God.

The lust of the flesh

The lust of the eyes

The pride of life.

Now keep those three temptation type in mind as we go to Genesis 3 and the first temptation. The temptation of the first Adam.

Temptation In the Garden - Genesis 3:1-6

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Three Temptations in the Garden

Notice the exact temptations that affected Eve and then Adam in verse 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Three specific things that turned Eve from the way of God to the way of Satan.

The fruit was, “Good for food,” This is what John says is “the lust of the flesh.” The fruit was not poisonous, it was good for food. She could eat it and it would physically sustain her.

The fruit was “Pleasant to the eyes.” This is John’s second warning, “the lust of the eyes.” It was a beautiful fruit. I know we often make this an apple, but we don’t know what it was, just that it was pleasant to look at. It wasn’t covered in thorns, it wasn’t a strange, unappetizing color. For me this would be a nice juicy plum, or a nectarine, not an apple or banana. But we just know its appearance was pleasant to Eve and Adam’s eyes.

The fruit was also “desired to make one wise.” This was John temptation warning of “the pride of life.” If Eve and Adam ate of this fruit they would know good from evil, they would be wiser, they would be like gods. A temptation that Satan uses in our present world with great success. Take this drug, smoke this weed, give yourself to this experience. Take on this discipline. Meditate like a Buddhist. If you do then you’ll experience something incredible and you’ll be enlightened, in the end you’ll have knowledge like a god.

Adam and Even didn’t have John’s warning, but they shouldn’t have needed it for they had God’s warning. Genesis 2:16-17 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Death entered into mankind and death entered into the Garden and death entered into creation when the first Adam could not and did not resist the temptation of the serpent, Satan.

And that brings us to the Second Adam, to Jesus Christ and the temptation in the wilderness.

Temptation In The Wilderness - Matthew 4:1-2

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.

Background

The Temptation of Jesus by Satan is found all three of the synoptic Gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark and Luke. John doesn’t record it, probably because his Gospel was written last he knew it was already recorded in the early Gospels.

Mark’s account is very short, just two verses. Mark 1:12-13 12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

The Spirit “driveth Him” into the wilderness. …it is Mark’s way of showing the intensity of the experience. No time was spent basking in the glory of the heavenly voice or the presence of the heavenly dove. The Servant had a task to perform and He immediately went to do it. -Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 1:111.

Matthew and Luke employ eleven and thirteen verses respectively. Their  accounts are longer and similar to the other except for the order of the temptations. All the accounts show that right after He was baptized by John, and before He began his public ministry, Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He faced this battle alone, weakened by hunger and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

This was a necessary event, a test or battle that had to happen here, at the beginning of the Lord’s work as the Messiah and Savior. As the cross was necessary at the end of his earthly ministry, the temptation was necessary at the beginning of His ministry. Put another way, you can’t get to cross without first going to the wilderness. The first battle in the wilderness showed Jesus’ humanity, and the last battle on Calvary showed His divinity.

The Temptation in the wilderness was part of the God’s plan for the salvation of man. ‘It was a reality, not a farce, and by means of its awful reality Christ became qualified to be our High Priest and our Example in times of temptation. That he would not yield to the tempter’s solicitations was assured by the omnipotence of his holy will.” - Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett Falconer Harrison, Eds., The Wycliffe Bible Commentary:

The Temptation of Christ

Matthew 4:1-2 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.

Jesus was baptized of John in the Jordan beyond Jerusalem, then immediately afterward was led “into the wilderness” for 40 days and 40 nights or as Mark states it, He was driven of the Spirit into the wilderness. This was probably the Negev wilderness, just south and then east of where He was baptized in the Jordan.  God has used this wilderness for a trying, testing place over and over again. This is probably the same area that Abraham was led by God and tried when he was told to offer his son, his only son. It was where Moses spent 40 years as a shepherd and where Israel wondered by 40 years before coming into the promised land. It was the same area where Elijah fled after the battle on Mt. Carmel. It may have been where Paul went when he said he went down to Arabia.

Nor is the number 40 without symbolism and significance. It rained for 40 days and nights when the earth was judged by God. Elijah ate some angel food and then went for 40 days and nights through this wilderness to the cave below Mt. Horeb.  We’ve already mentioned Moses and Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. With Israel and Moses, there is a very strong parallel with Jesus’ temptation. As we are going to see, all of Jesus’ answers to Satan’s temptation come from Deuteronomy 6-8, which was written by Moses when Israel was in the wilderness being tried but failing.

But here is the vast difference, Jesus did not fail the test. He did not give in to temptation. He overcame Satan but not through His divine nature but as through His human nature. Jesus overcame temptation as a man. A man who had been weakened by 40 days of fasting.

 “Jesus took the position of man, as a true human being, to defeat Satan.  Jesus resisted (as a man) and thereby defeated Satan for the sake of all humanity. - J. D. Douglas, Ed., New Testament, New Commentary on the Whole Bible

After 40 days, when His physical strength is at it absolute lowest, the Bible says then comes Satan.

The First Temptation – Matthew 4:3-4

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.

Bread, The Lust of the Flesh

Satan appealed to the body, the desires of the flesh. There was no sin in being hungry only in not doing God’s will. Since Jesus was led here to the wilderness as part of God’s plan and part of that plan was for Jesus to fast, then to break that fast at Satan’s suggestion would have been a sin.

Just as it was not a sin for Adam and Eve to eat from any tree in the garden, but to abstain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they broke that commandment, when they went against God’s will, sin entered into the world and death with the sin.

But Jesus did not yield to Satan and though we received our sinful nature from Adam, in Christ we receive our new nature, we are reborn in Him.

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Christ met and resisted this temptation by remembering and quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Jesus knew that the way to resist temptation is to know God’s Word and then to apply it correctly in the situation you find yourself, what you are going through, what you must endure.

Matthew 4:4 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.

The body may hunger, it may even die but there is something greater and more eternal than our physical body, our temporal life and that is our spirit, our eternal life. And it is fed, not be stones made into bread but by every word from the mouth of God. Feeding the inner spiritual person with the word of God is far more important, far more eternal, far more empowering than feeding the physical person.

The Second Temptation  - Matthew 4:5-7

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.

The Pinnacle of the Temple / The Pride of Life

Satan “dares” Jesus to prove that He is the Messiah, the anointed of God by taking and twisting the scriptures about God’s promises. If you believe the word of God then prove this promise, Satan then quotes, Psalms 91:11-12 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands,
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

This is one of the Messianic Psalms, it is the promise of God to His son the Messiah, that he will watch over and protect him. If Jesus would just jump from the top of the Temple and the Angels catch him, then He would prove to be the Messiah, supernaturally protected by God the father.

How does Christ answer? Once again from the book written in the 40 years of wilderness wandering when Israel was being tempted and tried. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16-18 16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. 17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. 18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee,

Satan was twisting the scriptures, taking them out of context and out of sequence. Jesus knew he must suffer first before God the Father would glorify Him. Jesus had to live as a man upon the earth and the proof of His Messiahship and of His divinity would be through the miracles, teachings and fulfillment of prophecy.

What answer did Jesus give when John the Baptist asked, “Are you the one?” Matthew 11:3-5 Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

“Jesus said we should live by every word that God utters, but Satan adds to the Bible or takes from it. He can twist the Bible and give carnal Christians biblical reasons to support their foolish actions. Beware of taking promises out of their context, or claiming promises when you have not met the conditions.” - Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1992), 22.

You must read the Bible, but you must also understand what you read. Anything can be asserted as “the Bible says so” and the words may be there but the interpretation and the application of those words must be ours and for the situation of life we are going through. I can’t claim the riches given to Solomon, or the land given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but I can claim the precious promises of the New Testament that give eternal life one day and the blessed life today.

You must understand when God’s Word is speaking to you as a New Testament believer in this church age. There are abundant promises for us. We don’t need to steal them from wrongly interpretated scriptures. That is what Satan does, that is what Jesus overcame and it is what we must strive for today in our own lives.

The Third Temptation – Matthew 4:8-11

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. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The Kingdoms of the World / The Lust of the Eyes

Satan then offers Jesus an easier way to become King of the Earth. There would be no need for suffering and death, but only a one-time act of worship. Satan is the prince of this world according to Jesus own words in John 14:30 before his arrest in the garden he says, “for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”

As the fallen archangel, Lucifer, who became Satan, had dominion of the earth and the heavens around the earth. When he fell he retained that power and that influence over his domain. The world and its kingdoms were Satan’s to give, all Jesus had to do was “fall down and worship me just this once.” This has always been Satan’s desire, it is why he fell from heaven, it is what he is striving for now in this world and there are many millions if not billions who are giving him exactly what he desires. Here is the ultimate prize, to have Jesus, the creator do obeisance to him, the created. This would have been a victory beyond all others.  

Not only a victory for Satan in his eternal long pursuit to take God’s place but also a victory over God’s plan for our salvation for without the cross there could be no forgiveness, no grace, no hope. And though the outcome was never in doubt, I’m sure thankful that Jesus, my Lord, Savior and King did not give in to Satan.

Christ’s answer and his defeat of Satan is from Deuteronomy 6:13 13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

To worship Satan would be to make Satan god. One day all the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. In God’s time according to God’s plan and by the power of God’s will. What Satan offered that day will be rightly and forcefully snatched from his hands and laid at the feet of Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Conclusion

The Power of the Jesus Victory Over Temptation

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Let me state that Jesus’ victory over the most powerful and direct temptation of Satan is the proof that God has provided “a way” and that way is Jesus Christ.

Man failed in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus claimed victory in the wilderness. If we are to overcome Satan in our own temptations, trials and testings then we must look to Him. He is the way of escape, the way to overcome. Look to His example of knowing and standing upon God word but also look to and depend upon Him.  

Hebrews 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

In Jesus our savior is the power to overcome sin. Look to Him he was not defeated by Satan in the wilderness and He will not let us be defeated by Satan in our lives, our marriages, our families, or our church. God has provided the way and that way is Jesus.