DUNCAN/Matthew: Jesus’ temptation and response
Please turn in your Bible to Matthew 4:1-11. This is one of the most mysterious passages in the Gospel because it contains an account of the temptation of our Lord which immediately causes our minds to spin. How can our Lord even be tempted? Our Lord was sinless. He had no repentance to make. He had no imperfection that troubled His nature. He was morally incapable of sin. The Son was wholly given over to His Father. He was in love with the Father and focused in one direction to do the Father’s will. How could someone without sin be tempted? We don’t know. But the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was tempted. And in that temptation, there is a world of comfort for you and for me. Therefore, I would like to point you to four things in this passage. First, we see the context of temptation. Secondly, we see the character of the tempter. Thirdly, we see the tactics of the tempter. Fourthly and finally, we see the response of our Lord.
I. The Context Of Temptation.
What we have as our Lord enters into the wilderness is the field of battle for the establishment of the Covenant of Grace. Where Adam’s failure in the Covenant of Works plunged the people of the world into an estate of sin and misery, the Lord Jesus Christ would do battle and save His people by His righteousness. In verses 1-2, we read that Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This is not an accident. This is not the Lord Jesus stumbling into the way of temptation. This is part of the Father’s plan. This is part of the Spirit’s work. Jesus is being led into the wilderness to engage in deliberate, divine combat with Satan. It is also important to note that the Lord’s combat with Satan was on considerably more difficult fields of battle than was Adam’s experience. Our Lord had not eaten in forty days. There was food available to Adam everywhere he turned. There was but one tree in the Garden that Adam could not eat of, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Our Lord was in a wilderness with no supply of food. Adam confronted Satan in paradise. Our Lord was in a fallen world. Adam faced one temptation. Our Lord faced three temptations from the evil one. The results for Adam were failure and fall, whereas our Lord gained victory. Jesus was successful in His combat against Satan and salvation resulted from that combat. We must remember that our Lord entered into a divine combat for the salvation of the world as he faced Satan in the wilderness.
II. The Character Of The Tempter.
The character of Satan is vividly set forth in the three names that are used for him in this passage. In verse 3, he is called the tempter. In other words, he is the one who entices. And one of the ways he tempts is that he entices us to partake of the fruit of destruction by making it look so good. Then, in verse 5, he is called the devil or the accuser. He is the accuser of our conscience. He is a double-minded thing. The devil entices you and me. Then, once we have bitten of the forbidden fruit, he accuses us for having done so. He is a short-lived friend. Finally, in verse 10, our Lord calls him by the name Satan or the Adversary. He is the enemy of our soul. And his goal, seen in his nature, is our destruction. Let us remember his nature and his purposes as we think on his names. Those names tell us something about who Satan is and what the devil desires to do. We must never forget the true character of the tempter. We must be continually dependent upon the Lord and pray the prayer of the Lord’s prayer, “Deliver us from the evil one.”
III. The Tactics Of The Tempter.
We also notice the specific tactics of the tempter in these three temptations. Specifically, we see the tempter in each of these three temptations attack our Lord’s trust in His Father’s providence. In every single one of the temptations, Satan is tempting the Son to try to cause Him to distrust in His Father’s providence. First, in verse 3, Satan tempts the Lord to exercise His divine power in order to bring relief to His human suffering. He tempts the Son to think that the Father will not provide for his hunger. Secondly, in verses 5-6, Satan tempts the Lord there to foolishly abuse the doctrine of providence, and to presume upon the Father’s goodness. He tempts Jesus to presume that God would provide even if He did that which is against God’s law by putting Him to the test. Thirdly, and finally, in verses 8-9, Satan tempts the Lord Jesus to alienate the Father’s honor. He tempts the Lord to disobey the first commandment. It is a radical distrust of providence because Satan seems to be tempting the Lord Jesus to receive the kingdoms of the world to Himself without going the way of the cross. He knew the Lord Jesus had already set in his heart the motion towards the cross. He knew the humiliation, and the degradation that it was going to cost our Lord to go to the cross. And he said, “Jesus, I will give you the kingdoms of the world and their glory if you will just worship me.” Satan’s grand strategy is deception. He could never produce in any of these temptations what he promised. We must always remember that Satan presents what is evil in attempt to convince us that it is good.
IV. The Response Of Our Lord.
Throughout this passage, we see that the response of our Lord always comes from Scripture. To every temptation of Satan, He responds, “It is written.” Jesus depends upon Scripture, and He asserts the authority of the infallible, inerrant, authoritative and sufficient Word of God. The Lord Jesus remembers that God is to be trusted, and that God will provide despite all the evidence to the contrary. Thus, Jesus uses Scripture to stoke His faith and to stoke His trust in God’s providence. When we face temptation, we must also resort to God’s Word. Satan wants us to forget that, as believers, we are the adopted children of God. He wants us to forget that the Father cares for us. And in that time, we must remember to trust God and to trust His Word. The tempter can only be met by the armor of God provided by His grace. May God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, enable us to embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior and find in Him our all in all.
The Rev. Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor and CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary. Dr. Duncan pastored The First Presbyterian Church of Jackson for 18 years from 1996 to 2014. He can be reached at 601-923-1600 or by email.