Chapter 4 verses 1-11 Read the Bible verses
The Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the wilderness. This was a grassy field with some trees. It was land that was not used for farming and had just been allowed to grow wild. There were hills and small mountains, there were caves so you could get in out of the rain.
The Holy Spirit led Jesus there to be tempted or tested by Satan.
That seems odd to us. Jesus was both God and man. The man part of him had to be tested and had to learn to depend and listen to the God part him–the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was tempted in all the ways we are tempted. Hebrews 4:15
He had to make a decision if he was going to follow the temptation coming from Satan or was he going to follow the whispers of the Holy Spirit telling him the right thing to do.
Jesus listened to the Holy Spirit. He did not fail. He did not do wrong–not one time. He always chose to do the right thing.
Jesus is our example. He has shown us that we can listen to the Holy Spirit, and we can do right. We have the power in us by the Holy Spirit. Our problem is we are weak and believe what Satan says in our ear.
For 40 days and 40 nights Jesus did not eat.
He was very hungry.
Satan came to him to tempt him. The temptations that Satan gave to Jesus cover 3 areas. The lust (great desire) of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. All temptations come under these 3 groups.
First there was a temptation to make food so he could eat. This is about our bodies and what will satisfy our bodies. We think about our bodies all the time and want things for it. The devil tempts us to eat too much, to eat the wrong things that are not healthy for us. We are tempted to drink what is not good for our bodies and minds. We smoke, we take drugs. We spend a lot of time making our bodies look good. We spend much money on clothes, on make-up, and fixing our hair.
Jesus said that what our bodies eat is not as important as what we feed our spirits. The word of God to feed our spirits is more important than satisfying the needs of our body.
Satan led Jesus into Jerusalem into the temple– way up to its high wall and towers.
The second temptation was for Jesus to have pride in his power. Jesus could have jumped off the high wall or tower and used his power to call on the angels to save him. But that would have served no good purpose (reason). It would have only been to show off.
Jesus said that we should not do things to show off and expect God to come and save us. God might decide not to save us because we were so foolish.
We need not to put ourselves in dangerous places if we can choose otherwise. We need to use our brain and think. God does watch over us, but he is not required to save us when we choose to do foolish things when we know better.
This is also true of our health. We get sick because we have not taken care of our bodies in a wise way. Then we want people to pray for us so we get well. God wants us to be wise about eating and living to protect our health.
The pride of life is something we all have trouble with. We like to be noticed. We want people to see the things we do and pat us on the back. We want them to know who we are and that we are important.
The third temptation was like the second one. Satan wanted Jesus to see the city and think about being the ruler or king over it. Kings are special. People look up to kings. Kings have power.
Jesus knew he was to be a king someday. He would be a king over the whole world someday. But it was not time for Jesus to be king. It was time for Jesus to be a priest. It was time for Jesus to make the offering that the high priest made for sin. Jesus himself would offer the sacrifice and he would be the sacrifice.
Satan would like to have Jesus go out of God’s timing and will. If Jesus skipped being a priest, the death penalty of sin would not be paid. Jesus would not be able to save people from their sins.
We can learn a lesson here. Satan will try to get us to do things out of God’s time. It may be that you feel God has promised you something, or that God wants you to do something, but the way has not opened up yet. Satan would try to get you to force the door open and make it happen. Be wise like Jesus. Know that there is a time that God has chosen for this thing to happen. God’s time is best Don’t miss out because you rushed ahead of God.
Jesus would have to worship Satan to get this power to rule over the city. Satan had been trying to get worship for himself even when he was in heaven and that is why he got thrown out.
Jesus did not give in. He told Satan that only God is to be worshipped.
There are people today who are willing to follow Satan’s way if they get power and things. Some business people have cheated, lied and even had other people killed to get power and high place in business.
Many people don’t think about worshipping God. They want to do what pleases them, or what pleases their bodies. To own things is their goal. They want to drive the fancy car and have the fancy house. They want people to know that they have nice things. Having things is more important than feeding their spirit.
If this pride gets to be too much, the devil will carry them down a road of pride that will end in ruin (everything gone).
In every temptation, Jesus answered Satan with a Bible verse that told Satan why Jesus should not give in to temptation.
We need to know the Bible. If we know what God says we are to do, then we can protect our spirits. We have to know what is right so we can do what is right.
Chapter 4 verses 12-17 Read the Bible verses
John was arrested and taken to prison. The Roman king did not like some things that John said.
Jesus now began preaching. He preached to the people “Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
Chapter 4 verses 18-22 Read the Bible verses
Jesus called some men to follow him. Men who followed a teacher to learn from him were named disciples. Jesus called Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew. He called James and his brother John. These four men were fishermen.
Chapter 4 verses 23 Read the Bible verse
Jesus began his ministry: preaching, healing and casting our demons (evil spirits).