Lessons from Matthew 4: God’s People Resist Temptation
Did you know that the moment you confess your sins and accept Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Savior and Lord you have become an enemy of Satan’s?
It is after your acceptance of Christ as your Savior that he will try everything within his power to try and undo you. This is what we often refer to as a target on your back. A target that is aimed at your life trying to get you to fall into temptation and sin against the one you proclaim to love and obey.
But the good news is that Jesus, Himself was tempted in every way. Just as you and I are and He successfully resisted Satan and His temptations and remained the sinless man of God. The perfect God man, therefore becoming our example. Our perfect example of how to resist sin and overcome the temptations that Satan sets in our paths.
God’s people resist temptation.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13 Paul reminds us that, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.” Meaning Satan’s tactics and temptations are not new. “Yet, God is faithful; He will not let be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
In a culture filled with moral depravity and sin-inducing pressures, we as Christians come face to face with wrong desires and temptations. We must exercise our will and choose that when we suffer such things to remember that we are not alone. We are to be encouraged that others have resisted such temptations, and so can you and I. The way to resist these temptations is to rely on Jesus and the help of the Holy Spirit and remember His Word.
God’s people resist temptation by relying on His Son and remembering His Word.
In Matthew 4:1 Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert. Jesus confronts Satan in Matthew 4:2-11 and Jesus begins His Public Ministry in Matthew 4:12-25.
Now it should not be surprising to us that as soon as Jesus was baptized and confirmed by His Father from heaven that Satan would try to undo Him.
Verse 1 of Matthew chapter 4 tells us that, “Then” after Jesus was baptized and confirmed by His Father in Heaven and the presence of the Holy Spirit who rested upon Him, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
The Devil or Satan, one being with many different names is God’s greatest enemy and he hates everything about God and God’s people. As a matter of fact Satan wanted to be God. Isaiah 14 speaks of Satan’s desire to not be content to serve God as one of His powerful angelic beings. But rather Satan who was once called “God’s Bright Morning Star” chose to follow his own pride and tried to be equal with God and failed. Thus, he was thrown out of heaven and in doing so he dragged a whole host of demonic angelic beings with him.
In fact, Jesus is quoted as saying in Luke 10:18 “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” And for reasons unknown to us God did not totally destroy Satan. For now God has allowed him to remain. It is vitally important for us to know that Satan also known as the Devil as a real person. He is a spiritual being. An evil spiritual being and he has a large dominion of demons that follow him. He is known in the scriptures as the father of lies. He has a mind, will, and emotions.
He also has insight for he too knows the Holy Scriptures though he tries to twist and turn God’s Word for the purpose of fouling up people’s lives. Satan is extremely powerful. So it is important that we do not underestimate his power. Yet on the other hand we must remember that he is a defeated foe.
Jesus Christ overcame Satan and his power at the cross and that matter has been settled and done. It is only a matter of time, God’s time, until Satan and his followers will meet their end. But until then he is an active and powerful adversary.
In fact in 1Peter 5:8-9 we who are in Christ Jesus by faith are told to, “Be self-controlled and alert ( be watchful). Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brothers/sisters (in Christ) throughout the world.
You see Satan knows Jesus has overcome him, that matter has been settled. It’s as I said just a matter of time. But his ploy, his scheme in the mean time is to keep as many people as he can away from the truth about God and the gift of salvation that He gives through Jesus Christ, His Son. So now we (those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ) are his targets. No believer is immune.
Although Satan is a fierce enemy, he is not omnipotent as God is. All power finds its source in God, and God can do all that He wants and intends to do. Satan cannot. Satan can only do what God will permit.
Just think of Job 1:6-12. God has unlimited power, authority and influence. Satan’s power is limited.
If you have studied the book of Genesis, you know that God spoke or called all things into being. God brought all things into being, from nothing!
God is also omnipresent. Meaning His is in all places at all times, nothing escapes him. Yet Satan cannot be everywhere, tempting everyone at once. He can only tempt one person at a time. Though his cohorts or demons can be active anywhere in the world. Above all Satan in not omniscient; he does not know the future except as God reveals it to us and the demons through scripture.
Though Satan is loose, he is limited, and he is a defeated foe. Jesus has already triumphed over him at the cross. Therefore nothing and no one can thwart God, not evil, and not even death. For God is able even to raise the dead to life, eternal life.
No other being has the power God has, for God’s omnipotence stems from His infinite and eternal being. And so we as His children have nothing to fear. For we have one who has gone before us and been tried in every way that we too might follow His path and be declared holy, righteous and blameless in His sight.
Jesus Christ in His omnipotent power has overcome sin and Satan at the cross.
So what situation do you face today that tempts you to doubt God’s power or authority in your life?
Remember Satan is our enemy and he will do anything he can to try and get us to follow his evil, deadly path. Yet we can all be more than conquerors in Christ Jesus as we exercise our faith and belief in Jesus Christ.
Terri Hamman
Faith & Fitness Coach