Lesson 24

Lesson 24-Jesus overcomes temptations

Matthew 4:1-11 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But 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. 5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6And 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. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then 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. 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Luke 4:1-13 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

Mark 1:13 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

Compare the number of verses in each of these 3 passages: Matthew wrote 11 verses on the temptations Jesus experienced immediately after His baptism; Luke wrote 13 verses on it; and Mark wrote only 2. In the apostle John's gospel it isn't mentioned at all. The Holy Spirit directed each writer to include what He wanted written. This was true about the Old Testament, too. 2Peter 1:20-21 No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. It was also true about the New Testament. 2 Timothy 3:16 16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God....

Let's look carefully at these accounts of Jesus' time in the desert after His baptism and see what the Holy Spirit, Who is our Teacher, shows us.

First, in the gospel of Luke, the text states that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. This meant that He was being directed by the Holy Spirit in every area of His life. (That's what we want for our lives, too.)

Both Matthew and Luke say that Jesus was "led" into the desert by the Spirit of the LORD; however, Mark says the Spirit "drives" Him into the wilderness (another word for desert). So Jesus moved from the lush Jordan River valley to a dry, barren area at the instruction of the Holy Spirit. (If you've seen pictures of that wilderness area in Israel, you know what this would have looked like.)

If you are" led" by the Holy Spirit, where is He in reference to you? The Holy Spirit is in front of you, going before you, and you are following Him. Jesus always followed the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit is "driving" you, what position is He in? He is in back of you, directing you to go a certain way. Have you ever seen a parent holding the hand of a child, leading him along the way? Haven't you also seen a parent with his hand on his child from behind, pushing him gently to direct him? That's what the Holy Spirit was doing to Jesus, so that the direction in which He was to go was absolutely clear to Jesus. Jesus may have expected to be directed back to His hometown of Nazareth following His baptism, but the Holy Spirit was showing Him instead, that He first wanted Him to go into the wilderness for a short time.

The Holy Spirit knew what was going to happen, that the devil was going to try to lure Jesus into sin. Why didn't the Holy Spirit shield Jesus from this? Jesus had to be presented with choices: godliness or impurity, obedience to His Father or rebellion against God. Hebrews 4:14-15 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus wasn't forced to obey His Father; He chose to be obedient. He honored His Father by His choices every single time; therefore, He is the best example of what to do when we are confronted with temptations. In a later lesson, we'll look at how Jesus dealt with temptations.

Principle: We face choices every day, many times a day. When we choose God's way, we are choosing the way of life and blessing for ourselves and, at the same time, we are choosing that which pleases our heavenly Father and honors Him in the same way our Lord Jesus did.