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1. What was the event before Jesus’ temptation? Who led Jesus into the desert? Who tempted Jesus? Think about the devil as a tempter. (Gen. 3:1; Rev. 12:9) 2. What was the physical condition of Jesus when the first temptation came? How did the devil tempt Jesus? How do people respond to this temptation? How did Jesus respond? How is this temptation related to the people of Israel in the wilderness? (Deut. 8:3) 3. Where did the devil lead Jesus? Why does this temptation a test to God? How is this temptation directed to man’s inner desire? How did Jesus overcome the temptation? What was the occasion the people of Israel put the Lord to the test? (Deut. 6:16; Ex. 17:7) 4. What was the last temptation of the devil? How does this temptation show the devil’s nature and his ultimate purpose of temptation? Why is this deception attractive to man? How did Jesus resist the temptation? What can we learn from Jesus in resisting temptations? (James 4:7; Eph. 6:16-17)

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D.L. Moody said, “It is not a sin to be tempted; the sin is to fall into temptation.” Even Jesus, the Holy Son of God, was tempted by the devil. How much more shall we be. But Jesus won the victory over the temptation of the devil, and thus gave us the assurance of victory over our temptations. May we learn from Jesus how to overcome the temptations of the devil through this study. Look at verse 1. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Here, “Then” refers to the previous event. In chapter 3:16-17, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. At that moment heaven was opened, and the Spirit of God was descending on him like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God himself declared Jesus as his one Son, whom he was well pleased with. God was so happy that his Son Jesus obeyed him and took the mission of accomplishing God’s salvation work. Jesus is the Messiah who would save us from our sins through his suffering and death as the Lamb of God. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert. It shows that the temptation of the devil was done by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God led him in this way because it was necessary for Jesus to overcome the temptations as the Messiah of the world. The Greek word for “tempt” is Peirazo. It has the meaning of proving if something is true or false. God led Jesus to the temptation in order to prove that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah of the world. God led Jesus to the temptation so that Jesus would defeat Satan and give us victory over the temptation of the devil. Here the devil is the same as Satan. He exists in the spiritual realm. The terms Satan and the devil are interchangeably used. He is the enemy of God and the enemy of all people – followers of Jesus or not. He is your enemy! He still attacks people through temptations. But his final destiny is the fiery lake of burning sulfur through Jesus’ death and resurrection. His other name in this passage is the tempter. He is the same tempter who tempted the first man, Adam. Adam yielded to his temptation by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This same devil came and tempted Jesus. Look at verse 2. “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights. This shows how intensively Jesus fought a spiritual battle to overcome the devil’s temptation. As for us, one or two days of fasting is difficult. Even skipping one meal is not easy. But Jesus fasted 40 days in order to prepare himself to fight against the devil. The first temptation came when Jesus was very hungry and physically exhausted. The tempter came and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” At that time there are many lime stones in the desert, which looked like bread. It was a great temptation at the moment to make bread out of these stones and fill his hungry stomach. Bread problem was serious from the beginning. People think material satisfaction can solve their problem. So they do their best to solve this problem. Once Jesus fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. He did this out of compassion for the crowd like sheep without shepherd. But after filling their stomach, they tried to make Jesus their king. They desperately looked for Jesus for more bread. In another time, people welcomed Jesus when he was entering into Jerusalem. They shouted, “Hossanah.” (which means, “Save us.”) They thought Jesus would be their king who could save them from their political and economic problem. But what was Jesus’ answer to this temptation? Look at verse 4. “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Jesus could use his power to turn the stones into bread and feed his hungry stomach as well as the hungry stomach of people. But in such a desperate situation, Jesus trusted in God, and relied on every word of God. He overcame the temptation with the word of God. The devil constantly tempts us to believe that solving bread problem is the most important and urgent thing to do. He tempts us to give up trusting on God, and use any means to solve this problem. But when we do so, we lose our faith and trust in God and lose our relationship with God. Bread is important for our life. Without bread, we cannot maintain our life. But what is more important is not our physical life sustained by bread. It is the spiritual life sustained by the word of God. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” This is the sure promise of God for all those who trust in God alone. We must not worry about our future and live only for physical bread. We must fully trust in God and live on the every word that comes from the mouth of God. We must first feed our soul with the word of life. We must seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Then Go would fill us with all our needs, including our bread. This is the promise of God we must hold onto even in a desperate situation. Look at verse 5. “Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.” Temple was the public place in the holy city, Jerusalem, where multitudes of people gather every day. The devil placed Jesus on the highest point of the temple. Then he said, “If you are the Son of God, 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.” In tempting Jesus the second time, the devil quoted Psalm 91. When he was defeated at the first temptation by the word of God, he now challenged Jesus with the word of God. Psalm 91 is God’s word of promise for his people who fully trust in him. God sends his angels and protects those who trust in him. But the devil tempted Jesus to test God by abusing his promise. But God’s promise is effective only to those who trust him. When we go out of his way, we are out of his protection. Jesus answered the tempter, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus again used the word of God to defeat the devil. Jesus quoted from Deut. 6:16, which reminds us of the people of Israel at Massah, who tested God saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” Testing God is the expression of unbelief and lack of trust in him. As we have a closer look at this temptation, we can realize that it was the temptation directed to Jesus’ messianic work. If Jesus threw himself down and landed unharmed while the multitudes of people were watching, he would become a Messiah in an instant. Traditionally, Simon Magnus tried, but was miserably bruised. But Jesus had a power to do if he wanted. He would prove instantly to be the Son of God and the Messiah of the world. But Jesus knew that God’s will for him was to save mankind from their sins through his suffering and death. It was to enter glory through the way of the cross. The way of the cross is the way of thorough self-denial and sufferings. Now, the devil was tempting Jesus that there is the way to avoid this sufferings and gain glory easily. But this is only the temptation of the devil. But there is no glory without suffering. Even the glory of ph D demands tremendous sufferings. This is unchanging truth. Look at verse 7 again. “Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” We must not put the Lord to the test with our unbelief and lack of trust in God. We must not put the Lord to the test by choosing easy way to glory. May we follow the way of the cross and see the true glory of God through Jesus. Look at verse 8 and 9. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,” he said, ‘If you will bow down and worship me.” At this last temptation the devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and promised to give him all this. In Luke 4:6, he said to Jesus, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.” But this is the devil’s lie. He does not have such power or authority. The devil’s ultimate purpose is to make Jesus bow down and worship him through this temptation. All authority belongs to God who is the Ruler of the world. And God will give this authority and power to Jesus when he rose again from the dead. Look at verse 10. “Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Jesus decisively defeated Satan with God’s word without compromise. The glory of the world is always a charming temptation to the sinful human mind. But 1 Peter 1:24 says, “For, All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.” Satan constantly tempts us to love the world and things in it. But what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and lose his very soul? Man are created to love God and worship him with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength. Worshiping God is our ultimate purpose of life. The Lord our God is the only object of our worship and service. When we worship God and serve him wholeheartedly, God fills us with his riches and honor and glory which cannot be compared with the things of the world. In conclusion, we learn that the devil is real, and his temptation is real. We are in a spiritual battle. It doesn’t matter we want to be in a spiritual battle – we are in that battle. The temptation of the devil comes to anyone and anytime. No one is exception, even Jesus, the Son of God. There are certain situations that make you more vulnerable to temptation than others. Some circumstances will cause you to stumble almost immediately, while others don’t bother you much. These situations are unique to your weaknesses, and you need to identify them because Satan surely knows them! He knows exactly what trips you up, and he is constantly working to get you into those circumstances. Therefore, we must especially work on those areas we are vulnerable to temptations so that we may be prepared for spiritual battle. We cannot avoid devil’s temptation, but we can overcome it because our Lord Jesus overcame the temptation of the devil. We must overcome the devil’s temptation by looking at Jesus. Jesus was always prepared himself spiritually to fight against the temptations. Jesus overcame the temptations by fully trusting in God and every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus overcame the temptation of the devil by depending on the word of God absolutely. Eph 6:17 says, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The word of God is our only weapon in our spiritual battle against Satan. Jesus had a double-edged sword in his hand. We must also sharpen the word of God through diligently and deep Bible study and memorizing God’s word. It is not for others, but for our spiritual victory. May God bless us to hold onto the word of God and win over the Satan’s temptation as Jesus did.

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