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Matthew 4:1-11
Ephesians 6:10-18
Temptation is the biggest stumbling block to living a holy life, for if we could learn to tame temptation we could eliminate sin in our lives.
A couple of weeks ago, we visited Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and saw that He was able to resist temptation through ‘prayer.’ Today, we join Him in the desert where we will learn about another tool that will help us win the battle over temptation.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”
Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus. (Matthew 4:1-11).
A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
What is the tool Jesus used to resist the wiles of the devil? And the answer is, the Word of God.
But before we hone in on that aspect of this pericope, I want to note something that surface in this passage concerning temptation. I mentioned last week that the Bible indicates that temptation comes our way through the influence of the world, the flesh and the devil and all three influences make an appearance here in the dessert.
And it shouldn’t really surprise us that Jesus faced the same temptations we face; for last week in Hebrews we read,
This High Priest of ours (Jesus) understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same temptations we do, yet He did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
One of those temptations was a temptation of the ‘world.’
Verse 8 it says, “Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
The word ‘world’ here does not mean ‘that which God created,’ which is good. Rather, ‘world,’ when used in this sense in the Scriptures, refers to the opinions, powers, priorities, and values that are hostile, rebellious, and opposed to God. For sure the world does tempt us; it even mesmerizes us with its beauties, comforts and trinkets.
The most well-known Biblical examples of worldly temptations surround money and possessions; things that we immensely enjoy getting our hands on.
In early 2001, some towns in India were stricken by a plague of monkeys. The monkeys were so numerous they would invade homes, bite people, and make off with food supplies. It was agreed the monkeys would have to be caught and relocated. The people in these towns resorted to a traditional method for catching them. They gathered jars with an opening that would allow the monkey’s hand to pass. Then they would place something sweet, perhaps a banana or other fruit in the jar. The monkeys could not resist the temptation and would reach right in and grab the forbidden fruit. But the opening in the bottle would not allow the monkey’s hand to be withdrawn wrapped around the fruit. The monkey will pull and push in an effort to get that treat out of the jar, but he will not let it go, not even as his captors approach. And so the monkeys were caught, literally with their hands in the cookie jar! 1
He kind of looks like us, doesn’t he? Ha!
Paul in his first letter to Timothy warns of the worldly temptation of money:
But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows’ (6:9–10).
Then there was the temptation arising from the ‘flesh.’
Here in Matthew 4, the temptation from the flesh has to do with Jesus being hungry, which in this case is not wrong. After 40 days without food, Jesus has a right to be hungry. But He didn’t feel it would be right to satisfy His hunger by performing a miracle.
When the Bible speaks of temptations of the flesh, it is referring to our many sinful drives. The so-called seven deadly sins are sins of the flesh: Pride, Greed, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth.
These serve as deep sources of temptation and explain why evil tempts us, why it is hard to resist, and why we are often sitting ducks who are easily overwhelmed.
Rich Mullins, a Christian musician and songwriter who died in 1997 at the age of 41, once confessed in a concert that he struggled with watching pornography. Once he woke up in the middle of the night and his flesh started tempting him. He called out to Jesus to help him and picked up a notebook and wrote the words to one of his more popular songs, Hold Me, Jesus:
And I wake up in the night and feel the dark.
It’s so hot inside my soul,
I swear there must be blisters on my heart.
So hold me Jesus, ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf.
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace’ 2
Of these drives Scripture says,
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts’ (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Then, as evidenced by this entire dessert encounter, there are temptation that arise through the influence of the devil
Does all temptation come from the devil? Some would say yes. I once had a book in my library that held that there are demons sitting on our shoulders all the time whispering in our ears tempting us to sin.
I have always said, we can get in enough trouble on our own, through our flesh, without the help of the evil one.
And yet the New Testament does indicate that the devil has some influence over humanity. Today’s reading from the letter to the Ephesians bars witness to that:
Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places’ (6:11-12).
And there is a verse in I Corinthians that indicates that Satan can tempt:
Do not deprive each other (of conjugal rites) except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control’ (1 Corinthians 7:5).
On the other hand, John’s first letter to the church states:
We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them (1 John 5:18).
Whether or not, or how much the devil is involved in tempting us the scripture also says,
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
That’s exactly what Jesus did! He resisted the devil and the devil fled from Him. And how did Jesus resist the devil?
“It is written, it is written, it is written.”
It’s interesting to note that the first three words of the ministry of Jesus were, “It is written.”
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,’” quoted from Deuteronomy 8:2-3.
“It is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test,’” taken from Deuteronomy 6:13.
“It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only’” from Deuteronomy 10:20.
Three times Jesus routed the devil’s temptations by drawing and brandishing the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
We say, easy for Him; He’s the Son of God; He’s got the word of God on the tip of His tongue, I could never do that. And I say, that Jesus took to heart Psalm 119, where David wrote:
Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee’ (11).
We too can resist the devil’s temptations by unsheathing the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
When we are tempted to hold a grudge against someone we can resist by recalling: IT IS WRITTEN in Ephesians 4:32:
Forgive one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven you.
When we are tempted to question what God is doing or not doing in our lives we can resist by recalling: IT IS WRITTEN in Proverbs 3:5-6:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
When we are tempted to lash out at someone in anger we can resist by recalling: IT IS WRITTEN in Proverbs 15:18:
A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.
When we are tempted to talk about someone in a malicious way behind their back, we can resist by recalling: IT IS WRITTEN in Psalm 141:
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
When we are tempted to lust after the opposite sex we can resist by recalling IT IS WRITTEN in Matthew 5:28:
If you even look at a person of the opposite sex with lust in your eye you have committed adultery with that person in your heart.
D. L. Moody said, “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” 3
Pastor David Shelley shares a personal story that illustrates well the fact that though we were created to hear the words of God and to respond to them, we often are preoccupied. He writes: My amazingly faithful wife, Lorie, married an introvert. She did not know all that she was getting into, but she experienced something strange early on in our marriage.
Often she would ask a question, and she would not get an immediate response. The question might be simple. I am sitting at the table and reading. She has set food before me. She opens the refrigerator door and asks, “What would you like to drink?” She expects an immediate, one-word answer, such as “tea.” What she gets is silence and a puzzled expression. What she did not know at first was that, as an introvert, I do not automatically move her question to the front of the line. I am preoccupied with another important to me train of thought, and her question has not even registered, to say nothing of checking in and phoning home. As an introvert, an inner conversation is already going on inside of me, and the giver of sustenance is put on hold. She may give me a drink of her own choice, or she may give me nothing, because I am not responsive to her words.
Like my wife, God speaks, but we are too preoccupied with ourselves to respond. Are we aware that the One giving us sustenance at this very moment has spoken to us in His very word? He speaks that we might be sustained and refreshed in our knowledge of him. He speaks that we might be enabled to live a righteous life. The most pitiful thing we can do is refuse to enter the conversation. 4
How many of us are preoccupied?
Would you believe that the latest research indicates the average American adult spends about 11 hours a day staring at some kind of screen? If those hours were spent reading instead, you could be reading over 1,000 books a year!
Is it the world, the flesh or the devil that is not only tempting us but succeeding in distracting us from reading the word of God?
How are you being tempted by the world, the flesh or the devil?
What are some of the things that are your greatest temptation? Do they come from the world, the flesh or the devil?
Write them down (or maybe not) and then look up a verse of scripture that addresses that temptation and commit it to memory. Then when you are tempted, unsheathe the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and use it to resist!
The Lord Jesus defeated Satan because He had memorized the Word of God, and He knew how to use it. If the Son of God used the Word of God to effectively end the temptations, how much more do we need to use it to resist our own temptations? We must arm ourselves with the Word of God!
IT IS WRITTEN! There is power in the word of God! There is power in the word of God that will enable us to resist temptation!
Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee. (Psalm 119:11)
Later in that 119th Psalm, David writes,
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. (105)
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correction,
and training in righteousness’ (I Timothy 3:16). ‘Training in righteousness’ is what we are talking about. We are talking about resisting temptation because when we resist temptation, we do not sin, and when we do not sin, we are living in the will of God, in righteousness!
Man cannot live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, hallelu, hallelujah!’ 5
This is the air I breathe, this is the air I breathe; Your very word spoken to me. And I, I’m desperate for You. And I, I’m lost without you. 6
1 https://storiesforpreaching.com/hunting-monkeys/
2 Luke Gilkerson, “‘Hold Me Jesus’: A Prayer for Porn Addiction,” Covenant Eyes,
June 17, 2010.
3 https://www.pinterest.com/clkdavis/d-l-moody-quotes/
4 https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2010/february/2022210.html
5 From the song Seek Ye First by Karen Lafferty. Used by permission of CCLI .
6 From the song Breathe by Michael W. Smith. Used by permission of CCLI.