OUR LORD'S TEMPTATIONS

MATTHEW 4:1

A. "THEN WAS JESUS LED UP OF THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS TO BE TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL"
  1. The word "then" indicates that following His baptism and the mighty witness of the Holy Spirit:
    1. He was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil
    2. Thus it is clear that the Son of man was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin Heb. 2:18; 4:15
  2. There is much in the temptation of our Lord by Satan that is very informing:
    1. Satan tempted Him when the Son of man was physically exhausted
    2. He sought to entice Him where Adam and Eve yielded to his enticement B. LET US CONSIDER OUR LORD'S TEMPTATION BY SEEKING A NUMBER OF ANSWERS RELATED TO HIS TEMPTATION
  3. Why did Satan tempt our Lord?
    1. Could Jesus have fallen? or was Christ's contest with Satan just a make-believe?
    2. Was Lucifer so uninformed that the Son of God could never yield to his enticement?
    3. To believe that His sinlessness excluded Him from the possibility of falling would make a mockery of the comfort we receive through His victory over Satan
    4. Yes, the sinless Son of man could have fallen, but He overcame Satan and herein is our hope
  4. The occasion of the temptation:
    1. It was, as we indicated before, after His uplift of His call and the consecration of His baptism, that Jesus was supremely tempted
    2. This is true of every child of God, and this links him with humanity
    3. His temptation and His triumph are the signal for victory over Satan for everyone of the children of God
  5. The nature of the temptation:
    1. Doubt, "If thou be the Son of God" - that is the way Satan tempted Eve, "Yea hath God said?" Gen. 3:1
    2. Presumption "command that these stones be made bread" - Matt. 4:3
    3. Presumption - "cast Thyself down" - that would have been the sin of presumption again in obedience to Satan
    4. Idolatry - "fall down and worship me" a direct violation of the first commandment - Ex. 20:3 C. How our Lord met the temptation
  6. Let us keep in mind:
    1. That temptation is not sin; our Lord was tempted in all points as we are yet He never sinned
    2. So we must never think of temptation as being a sin; it is not so long as one does not yield to temptation
  7. Our Lord met temptation the way everyone of us must meet it:
    1. He took refuge in the written Word of God "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" - Matt. 4:4
    2. Let us take not that Satan can not be overcome by any other way - but by a Thus saith the Lord
    3. When Satan tempted our Lord to be presumptuous the Lord used the Word of God again, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" - Matt. 4:7; Deut. 6:16
    4. When Satan made a final attempt to entice the Son of God with offering Him the kingdoms of this world on the one condition, "bow down and worship me," Jesus told Lucifer to remove himself from Him, "for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Matt. 4:10
  8. The source of Christ's victory:
    1. His unfailing reliance in God the Father
    2. No given situation could entice Him to lose faith in Him, who had sent Him to save man from sin
    3. Then let us keep in mind how firmly the Lord held to, "It is written"
    4. The Son of God, who became also the Son of man, leaned altogether on what the Scripture says and if He did, who is the wisdom of heaven, how much more must we seek refuge in the Bible.


Design © John Bryant 2011