THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
Matthew 4:1-11
Temptation is probably the most familiar experience of the Christian. While some may be tempted more than others, all will be tempted.
I believe there is a great deal that we can learn from the temptations of Christ as found in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. I am firmly convinced that there are some basic principles and similarities between the temptations of Jesus and our temptations.
Jesus was not tempted so that the Father could learn anything about His Son. Jesus was tempted so that every creature in Heaven and on earth might know that Jesus Christ is the mighty conqueror. Jesus was also tempted so that Satan and his tactics could be exposed.
By studying the temptation of our Lord by Satan, we learn a great deal about our adversary, Satan. To know the methods of our enemy, the Devil, we are forewarned and forearmed as to the temptations by which he will seek to destroy us.
A pastor once told his congregation about a man who had a dog, and the man was trying to train his dog to be obedient. And what he would do was to take a large piece of meat, good, red, juicy meat that dogs would normally like to eat, and he would put it in the middle of the floor near the dog and then he would say, “No,” to the dog. Well, the first few times the “No,” was an irrelevant suggestion, the dog proceeded to grab the meat and got wailed on, and after a few such results when he said, “No,” the dog no longer attacked the meat.
But what the man noticed was this; the dog never looked at the meat anymore. When he put the meat on the floor, the dog never for a moment took his eyes off his master. Seemingly feeling that if he did so the temptation to disobey would be too great, so he just maintained a steadfast gaze into the face of his master.
The greatest way to experience victory is a steadfast gaze into the face of the Master who has been there and shown us the path of victory.
If anything this passage is designed for us to take our eyes off the temptation, focus them on the Master who was victorious in all points though tempted like as we are yet without sin. If we will do this we will be able to enter into His victory. That’s what this passage is going to do for us.
Temptation is common to all of us, victory is not so common. The problem is we look at the object and not the Master. Maybe this morning this will help us change that.
I. The SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MOMENT
Jesus was tempted after His baptism and after the divine acknowledgment from Heaven as to who He was. It was a significant time in the life of Christ when Satan attacked Him.
“Then” - there is an emphasis laid upon that. Immediately after the heavens were opened to Him, and the Spirit descended on Him, and He was declared to be the Son of God... the next news we hear of him is, He is tempted!
Great privileges, and special tokens of divine favor, will not prevent us from being tempted.
“Then,” - when he was newly come from a solemn occasion, when He was baptized, then He was tempted. The enriched soul must double its guard.
After a glorious evidence of his Father’s love, Jesus was tempted.
A. Moment of resolve by Christ
Temptation came on the heels of His determination to be baptized.
He was baptized to identify the Saviour of sinners with those He came to save. He chose to deliberately identify Himself with Adam’s ruined race.
He was baptized not because He was a sinner but because we were, and He had come to take our place.
Following on the heels of this great resolve comes temptation.
Here is a great truth of life. After every great victory there comes a temptation. There is a reason why the Word of God says, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed (what?) lest he fall."
It is in our moments of exhilaration that we become vulnerable. We work to gain the victory and in the moment of the victory we are most susceptible to the defeat.
I read recently about a 4th string running back, who didn’t get to play much. It got to be the fourth quarter, and the team was ahead something like 54 or so to nothing. They were on the five yard line and about to go in for another score, and the coached decided to put this Senior 4th string running back in to give him his shot to score a touch own.
He came into the huddle with the play and said, “The coaches said that I am to carry the ball up the middle on the next play.” Now he was really nervous and excited.
The line told him that they were going to give him a hole big enough to drive a Mack truck through.
The huddle broke, and the 4th string running back lined up behind the quarterback. The ball was snapped, and the quarterback handed the ball to him. He hit the line going full speed. He went through that hole, and nobody laid a hand on him.
The thrill of it all got to him.... a real live touchdown he was going to make. He was so exhilarated he turned to the crowd and waved, and he never slowed down, and he hit the goal post dead-center. The football went 10 feet in the air. He cracked his helmet and he was out-cold. He never got to enjoy the moment.
B. Moment of response from Heaven
The Holy Spirit had just descended from heaven on Jesus Christ. Luke says, He was “full of the Holy Ghost.”
Jesus was in full consciousness of His divine mission, His sacred humanity was filled through and through with the abiding presence and power of God.
“Then” came the devil.
II. The IMPORTANCE OF THE MAN
Who was being tempted? It was the man, Jesus who was being tempted.
As a man, Jesus defeated the Devil.
A. The identity of the target
As a man, Jesus faced the devil and his temptations and came away victorious. It is so important for us to recognize that Jesus faced the devil as a man.
We must recognize that Jesus did not use His divine powers to overcome the enemy. Jesus used the spiritual resources that are available to us today.
Jesus used the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God to defeat the devil.
He was teaching us to trust in the eternal Word of God.
Jesus could have used an angelic force to overcome Satan. Jesus could have exercised his deity. A single word from His mouth would have sent the tempter back to his infernal den, but instead He used "IT IS WRITTEN."
With all the choice of weapons which He might have selected to use, and yet He used the Word of God. Let us grasp and hold precious the blessed Book as our only weapon of warfare when dealing with the devil. Cast away human reasoning and human eloquence. Arm yourself with the Word of God. It is safest to meet temptation, not by your own reasonings and thoughts, but by the Word which cannot lie.
Jesus chose to use the Word when He was all alone. The Bible has value in public as well as private use.
As David remarked about the sword of Goliath, "There is none like it." Even so I can say for the Word of God. THERE IS NONE LIKE IT!
Jesus relied on Scriptures. What did David say? "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."
B. The variety of the tactics
1. There was the first temptation that was related to our appetite.
PERSONAL GRATIFICATION
It was a temptation of the physical.
Satan always likes to start by planting the seed of doubt. If he can create doubt, he’s got a foot in the door.
Man is not to live by that which goes into his mouth, but by what comes out of God’s mouth.
2. There was the second temptation that was related to our acceptance (approval and applause).
How often we sin because of the pride of life!
PERSONAL GLORY
The devil will use the Word when he needs to. However, Satan cleverly omitted words; he cleverly omitted the context.
Any text without a context is a pretext.
You leave the WORD of God and go to reasoning, and you are easy game for the Devil. Do not attempt to reason with the Devil; use the eternal Word on him. The devil’s first goal in the garden of Eden was to disarm Eve by robbing her of the only weapon she had, the Word of God.
3. There was the third temptation that was related to our ambitions
PERSONAL GAIN - shortcut to the crown.
It was an offer to keep the Lord from going to cross in his offering Jesus all the world’s glory. Did not the devil know that one soul is worth more to Christ than all the world’s glory. Jesus knew it, and He died to prove it.
Satan said nothing about service, but Jesus in His answer said that we are to worship and serve the Lord only.
Jesus knew that whatever we worship, we will serve. Worship and service must go together. Worship leads to service.
Notice as well, that geography will not protect you from temptation. Jesus was in the wilderness, on the temple pinnacle, and on a high mountain, and in each place, He was still tempted. Jesus was tempted in the holy city at the highest point of the temple.
III. The RELEVANCE OF THE MESSAGE
How does the temptation of the Lord relate to me?
Jesus was tempted and was victorious over temptation. As a result the message for us is two fold.
A. FIRST, there is no need for despair.
Most people find temptation depressing and discouraging. They feel that they must be wicked to be tempted.
Temptation does not indicate sin. Jesus was tempted, and yet He did not sin. God had but one Son without corruption, but He had none without temptation.
Christ was not wicked; He was without sin. The real reason that you are tempted is because you are important. Satan wants to make you sin because you are important. The nearer and dearer any child of God is the Son of God the more Satan may trouble you.
None so well beloved as Christ,
None so much tempted as He.
Temptation occurs because we have an enemy who is bent on our destruction.
Spiritual maturity does not exempt us from temptation. It is a mistake to doubt our spiritual growth or condition because we have been tempted.
B. SECOND, the message for the believer is there is no room for defeat.
Jesus had the authority and the power to tell the devil to leave, but instead He employed the written Word of God. As Man He was showing us how we too may be victorious in the hour of temptation.
Jesus showed us how to handle the selected weapon, the Word of God.
1. Always be ready with it
As soon as Jesus was tempted, He had an answer from the Word. Study the Book; meditate upon the Book; memorize the Book.
2. Attempt to understand its meaning
A lot of mischief is done today by simply perverting the truth. The devil in our text takes a passage of Scriptures, clips it, adds to it, and attacks Christ with. He did the same in the Garden of Eden. Search the Bible so you can know what is says. If you know what it says, you will know what it does not say.
3. Appropriate it for yourself
One of the text the Lord used He slightly altered. "THOU shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Deuteronomy says, "YE shall not tempt the Lord your God." YE is the nominative plural of the which THOU is the singular. The singular lies in the plural.
Jesus took the Bible as the Word to Him. Jesus took the general command given to Israel as His own personal obligation.
Bread on the table doesn’t nourish; it must be eaten to sustain.
Some years ago, a hunter in South America heard the cries of a bird. He noticed that it was a male - fluttering anxiously above the nest in which the mother bird and her little ones were crouched in fear. "What’s causing such a hub bub?" the hunter wondered. But soon he saw the reason. Creeping towards the tree was one of the most venomous snakes of South America. Its small, glittering eyes were fixed on the nest. Its forked tongue darted out and in.
Just as the hunter was raising his gun to shoot the snake, he stopped? He noticed that the male bird darted away from the nest, and then returned with a small, leaf-covered twig.
He laid it carefully on the nest. Then he flew higher in the tree and kept watch. Sure enough, the snake glided up the tree, and then slithered along the branch to the nest and poised itself to strike. But suddenly he threw his head back - as if be had received a deadly blow. He recoiled, writhing down the tree.
Later on, the amazed hunter climbed the tree and removed the small leaf-covered branch. He asked the natives nearby, "What kind of a branch is this?" They told him what bush it was from.
"That bush, sir," they explained, "is deadly poison to snakes. The very smell of it causes them to recoil in horror."
The father bird knew how to route his enemy - the snake. He used something that he KNEW would mean certain victory.
I am reminded of another serpent - the devil. His venom is even more deadly than that South American reptile.
How can you and I defeat that old serpent It will not be by our own good intentions or resolutions or will power.
In our text, Jesus demonstrated the protective power of the Word of God. I feel that the reason we have so many defeated believers is because we have so few Christians who really know God’s Word and how to use it in every situation.
We need to know WHAT is written and WHERE it is written, and WHY it was written and then, thunder its truths in the ear of the serpent, "IT IS WRIT-
TEN!"
Conclusion
Turn now to Luke 4: 13. The devil didn’t leave Jesus forever after the wilderness.
When he leaves, he only does temporarily. He will come again.
Satan is after you and I, like a wild animal stalking its prey – 1 Peter 5:8.
I heard about a black woman who went shopping. Her Baptist preacher husband, said to her, "Now honey, if you go shopping, you buy things that are decent."
That afternoon, she came back from shopping. When her husband saw the miniskirt she was wearing, he said, "Woman I told you not to buy indecent clothes. Why did you do it?"
She said, "The devil made me do it."
The preacher said, "Didn’t you tell him to get behind you?"
The wife said, "I sure did, he got behind me and whispered into my ear, ’YOUR SURE LOOKING GOOD GIRL.’ "
The devil may retreat, but he will return. Be ready for him by arming yourself with the Bible.
