Why do we study the Bible? We study the word of God not for more knowledge, though you will have more knowledge. One of the purposes is to have the weapon to defeat the evil.
Why was Jesus tempted? To be an example for us.
Jesus is the Son of God, and it’s not necessary for him to suffer from this and this temptation. He doesn’t need to be baptized by John, neither tempted by the devil. But for us, he is tempted. He was hungry like us. (Hebrew 2:18) Right after John the Baptist baptized him and there was the voice from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased”. But for Son, there is temptation from Satan. For the people who are living under the power of Satan, it’s not necessary for Satan to tempt them. However, for the Son of God, who will live his life obeying God’s will, there is temptation from Satan.
1Peter 5:8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Peter exhorts the believers to be alert and resist Satan. He always wants to kill them and it seems he has strong power. Actually the believers of Christ can resist him and all believers are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. We are in the same battle.
Our Lord Jesus was tempted but he defeated Satan. We can learn how to defeat Satan from him. How does Satan attack? He always uses the word of God, but misuses it and changes it and confuses us and kills us. That’s why Jesus says, he is a liar and a murder. But Jesus defeated him by the Word of God. That’s why we should study the word of God and have that in us. "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Ps 119:11) God told Joshua to mediate the word of God day and night and he led his people entering the promise land. We often could not see how precious the word of God is. Satan can have the world under his power, but by the word of God, he can be defeated. This is the power we have from Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s use it.
First: 1-4, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
After the voice from heaven saying “you are my Son”, Satan came to attack him. He was hungry. “tell these stones to become bread.” We know that Jesus has the power to do this, but he lives as a human being as us, defeats the temptation as a human being as us, so that we can overcome the same temptation. Jesus is not the one who only teaches, but the one who walks this path first. The first temptation is about “bread”. As we live, bread is very important. If we don’t eat, we will die. Satan came to tempt with this. If you look at this world, the most important thing is to eat and live. When you invite people to come to Bible studies, they always say I am very busy. What are they busy with? Mostly it’s about “the bread”. That’s how Satan put the world under his power. In the country I am from, if you become a Christian, people always say, will Jesus give you bread? Especially new born Christians will become weak in faith, yes, how can I live, have food, wife, house, etc.
How does Jesus answer it? “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This is from Deuteronomy 8:3, it’s about Israelites’ story in the desert. After they were delivered from Egypt, 600,000 men, how will they eat? How can there be enough food for these much people? But they lived in desert 40years.
Deuteronomy 8:3-5 “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.”
We know that God can give them food, and God did give them food, but there are more important things in life than material provision. “to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” God’s word does not fill the stomach. But it’s a question of priority. Jesus has the power to do that, but he did not, why? Word of God is more important than food. Through this temptation, we will know that we should live on the word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. We can say this when we are full, but can you still say this when you are hungry? At that time, it’s the time to overcome this temptation. By knowing this priority and the faith in the provision of God, we can overcome that. And God does provide.
Second: v5-7
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
The original text is in Psalms 91. If you read it, you will find it’s a beautiful psalm. It’s about the absolute provision of God to people who love and call on him. And we can also see the absolute faith from the author to God. Yes, God has unimaginable grace and mercy and he will surely protect the one who loves him. 100% God will. But Satan misuses the word and changes the message. You say, he will protect you whatever happens, so throw yourself off, to see if he will save you. This is opposite to the original meaning, which is to trust God, but now, it is to test him, similarly, to doubt him.
How Jesus answered him? “do not put the Lord your God to the test”. Jesus defeated this challenge by faith. He is saying, “to believe your God”. It’s from Deuteronomy 6:16 “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.”
In Deuteronomy the words refer to the incident at Massah, where the Israelites were short of water and complained about Moses. In Exodus 17:1-4 God saved them out of Egypt and provided them what they need all the way and will give them the promise land. v2, v7, they are still not believing him. (I found how close we are. I experienced his provision many times and only after that began to trust in him.) Actually God is with them. It’s time for them to build their faith even in this circumstance. They didn’t believe in God and complained. They complained and God ordered Moses to strike the rock and water came out. Although God graciously supplied their needs, they always didn’t believe and complained and asked more, forgetting how much God had delivered them from.
Remember Eve in Eden, God says, don’t eat it, or you will die. But Satan says, you will not die, eat it. This is how Satan works. He wants to break her faith in God. There are things in our lives like this. Satan often came to us and tries to change the word of God. Jesus gives very strict words on sins. (Matthew 5:27-30)There are so many, so strong temptations coming through the eyes. Jesus asks us to keep our eyes and hands clean and defeat the evil. Satan will say, it doesn’t matter, you will not die. This is the temptation which is to break our faith. If we break the word of God, if we sin, the result is death. Like Jesus, by faith in God, not testing him, we can defeat Satan.
We must have absolute faith in the word of God to overcome all temptation. We are not supposed to test God. We are not supposed to doubt the word of God. We must be like Jesus having absolute faith to overcome.
Third: v8-10
The devil offered Jesus the kingdoms and their splendor, but the cost is “bow down and worship” the evil. Satan wants us not to worship God, but to worship him, using the world to attract us.
There are times we fall into this temptation. That is when Jesus says to serve the Lord, your God, only. When we have the attitude of serving only our God, then we can overcome this temptation. When we have God, then we have everything of the world. Let us say that we got everything of the world, but we lost God, then we have lost everything. Adam and Eve failed, lost God and were not at the position of the master any more. When we have God, we can truly receive and have everything of this world. (Romans 8:27-32) The one who created this world was God. When we stand righteously in front of the Lord, God will give us everything else.
Jesus knew God's commands and obeys them. "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Ps 119:11). We should learn Scripture well and, be empowered by the Spirit and choose to obey it. No matter how great we feel our temptations are, there is no temptation too great to endure (1 Corin 10:13). Today we learned the ways of overcoming the temptations from how Jesus overcame the temptations. When these three temptations come to you, let us be the true sons of God overcoming. When we practice it, we will truly know the word of God well, and we will find out the hidden treasure. Finally, God brings triumph to those who remain faithful in testing (4:11).
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