Sermon - Matthew 4:8-11 - The Third Temptation - Littleby Baptist Church - March 10, 2019

The devil tempted Jesus to take matters into His own hands by getting Jesus to turn some stones into to bread. Jesus saw through it and showed us that we need to know God’s Word so that we can resist the devil and He showed us we need to trust in God. That was strike one for the devil.

The devil then tried to tempt Jesus by pulling out a single piece Scripture. He insinuated that Jesus could do anything, even something that was flat out foolish, and the Father would protect Him. The devil quoted Scripture, twisted it, manipulated it, to try to make it mean something different than what God intended. There are fake religions built off of a twisted and manipulated piece of Scripture. There are some that cutout whole sections. Jesus responded to the devil by also quoting Scripture, emphasizing the need for us to understand God’s overall message for us. Understanding God’s message found in our Bible helps us to see through the twisting and manipulation of Scripture. Jesus resisted the devil by knowing God’s Word, and that was strike two.

The common theme so far is that if we want to be victorious over the devil and his temptations we need to know God’s Word. The more we know, the better our chances of resisting the great tempter. Let’s take a look at the third temptation.

Matthew 4:8-9

“⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.”

In his third attempt, the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain, shows Jesus the entire world, all the world has to offer, and everyone in it. Then the devil tells Jesus all you have to do is bend a knew and worship me. Worship me and it is all yours. No reason to go through all the garbage before you, no reason to be betrayed, mocked, beaten, and crucified. There is a shorter and easier path for the world to be yours.

I remember going to music stores flipping through the records, cassettes, and later CDs to find an album that was worth buying. I enjoyed the time looking at them, reading the songs, and talking to my buddies about them. Now days all you have to do is log on to one of several streaming services and you instantly have the songs you want. You can get your music faster today, but the experience is lost. I can still remember buying that Def Leopard record at the Buena Park mall, the Cure imported CD from a small store in Orange and that was 30 years ago.

Same thing could be said for food, it used to be the norm for a family to sit down and enjoy dinner together. A time to connect and talk about the day and eat some really good homemade food. Now everyone seems to be in a hurry. Many meals come from a fast food restaurants or microwave ovens. I am surprised at how many people I talk to, that do not have family meal times anymore. Home cooked family meals are replaced with quick meals on the run. There is a time a place for the quick meals, but they are not the same as that family meal.

Now I am not saying instant downloads and fast meals are bad things. I for one enjoy being able to buy a move while sitting on my coach and start watching it 2 minutes later. Fast food has its place in our crazy busy lives, but hopefully is not the norm. While these are not bad things, they do show a trend that points toward the desire for instant gratification. People want it when they want, how they want it, and with little to no effort. That might work for music, and sometimes food, but not for life and our faith.

If we read our Bible, we will see that God is going to take care of us, He is going to bless us. The catch is those blessings are not going to happen overnight. They may not even happen in this life time.

This third attempt to tempt Jesus, the devil was trying to get Jesus to take the easy path. At first glance it might appear that the devil was offering what Jesus was going to get anyways. The devil was tempting Jesus to take a short cut, to what in the long run would pale in comparison to the real thing.

Psalms 2:8

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession.”

The devil knew that Jesus was going to inherit all of creation, so he was trying to offer a short cut. Instead of taking the time and effort to do things the long and hard way, have it now. Don’t worry about going out there and teaching everyone, don’t worry about performing all those miracles, don’t bother dying on the cross, you can have all I can give you right now.

It almost sounds like the devil will step aside and let Jesus have everything if He did this one thing. The devil was saying, one simple action and it is all yours. Achieve your goal without all the heartache and pain.

Thankfully, Jesus knew exactly what was going on. He understood the difference between Mom’s homemade meatloaf and that thing you pull out of the microwave after a couple of minutes.

As far as Jesus was concerned enough was enough, the devil had struck out.

Matthew 4:10

“Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

The devil had pushed one to many buttons, he pushed Jesus to far, it would be safe to say He was mad. It was one thing to tempt Jesus to make food or to even test God, it was another thing to try to take the Father’s place. Jesus was done!

Again, we find that Jesus was relying on His knowledge of the Bible.

Deuteronomy 6:13-15

“¹³ Fear the Lord your God, worship him, and take your oaths in his name. ¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, ¹⁵ for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, the Lord your God will become angry with you and obliterate you from the face of the earth.”

For the third time in a handful of verses we are shown that knowing God’s Word will allow us to see through the temptations of the devil. If we know our Bibles, we can see when the devil is twisting scripture to try to get his way.

Jesus knew that no matter how much power the devil was offering, no matter how much simpler the process would be, or how much pain He would avoid it was flat out wrong to put anything before God. Submitting to this temptation would have put the devil in God’s place.

Mark 12:30

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

If we are loving our God with ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength should there be anything in God’s place? If there is anything that we treasure more than God, if there is anything we are loving more than our Lord? If so, we would be putting a manmade god in the place where only the One True God belongs.

No matter what the devil tries to temp us with, simple pleasures, the easy path, instant gratification, power, you name it… we need to purposefully keep God first in our lives. If we put God first, if we continually love Him with all that we have, He will guide us, and He will help us to resist the evil one.

How do we purposefully put God first in our lives? We make time for Him. We talk to Him. We read the Bible. We come to church. We fellowship with other believers. We purposefully spend time with God and His people.

Matthew 4:11

“Then the devil left him, and angels came and began to serve him.”

There was no doubt about Jesus response, the devil went too far. He lost, Jesus was not going to sin.

Three tries, three strikes, and the devil fled. Then as we see Jesus being cared for by the angels. We may remember that the Holy Spirit lead Him into the wilderness and now God is providing for His needs. There was never a reason for Jesus to take matters into His own hands.  

Over the last 2,000 years the devil has continued to refine his skill at tempting us, but Jesus showed us the key to resisting the devil’s tricks. We need to know God’s Word, not just a cursory understanding from reading it once in our life, we need to truly know God’s Word. Couple that with truly understanding how vast His love for us is, and we will be able to resist the great tempter.

Hebrews 12:2

“² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We need to put obedience to God above everything else. We need to live a life of obedience to the One True God.

1 John 4:4

“⁴ You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

It is a fact that Jesus is greater than the devil. As a follower of Jesus, He that is in you is greater than the one in the world. The one who resisted the devil is in you and His power strengthens you.

James 4:7

“⁷ Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

If you are following Jesus, if you are living for Him, the devil has NO POWER OVER YOU! You have the power of the Holy Spirit in you, and you can resist the devil. You might think I am over simplifying it, but the Bible says we can resist the devil and I believe it. The Bible tells us that the same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead is in us.

Knowing those facts, should help each of us to stand our ground and resist the devil. He is not all powerful, Jesus is.

Stand with Jesus, Resist the devil, and watch as he flees.


God Bless,

Robert