Beating Temptation

Theme: The temptation of Jesus

Objectives:

Know: Jesus overcame temptation by knowing and applying God’s Word.

Think: Have my mind so permeated by God’s Word that my natural response to temptation is to refute it with Scripture.

Do: Follow Christ’s example to overcome temptation.

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

Notes and questions:

B1 The parallel passages are Mark 1:12-15 and Luke 4:1-13.

B2 Definitions:

• Temptation:
• In good sense: to test someone to prove them or go through something difficult as in John 6:6
• In bad sense: to get them to rebel and do evil as here and in Matthew 16:6, Matthew 22:18, etc.
• Fast/fasting:
• If short as in 1 day, then both food and drink as in Matthew 6:16-18 and Matthew 9:14
• If longer than 1 day, then choice food. See Matthew 4:2 and Matthew 11:18
• Fasting is always associated with prayer, self examination, and other serious religious issues.
• The Jew had to have a whole day of fasting from even to even on the Day of Atonement(Leviticus 16:29) and the 9th of Ab (fasting and mourning for the fall of Jerusalem to the Chaldeans(586BC) and to the Romans(70AD)http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/110-ab-ninth-day-of). Other days of fasts began at sunrise until the appearance of the first stars.
• Article:
• http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6033-fasting-and-fast-days
• https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/fasting.html
• There is nothing in the New Testament instructing Christians to fast.

B2 Matthew 4:1-2,

• Why was the Lord Jesus led into the wilderness instead of being sent on a preaching tour? (Part of it would be is that He had to be tested, as any would be to see if He would be true to God’s ways. Compare Genesis 3:6-7, 1 Samuel 13, 1 Samuel 15, etc. These were tested and proved untrue, unloyal, and disobedient. The Lord Jesus was true, loyal, and obedient).
• Does the devil tempt everyone?
• Why the fasting?
• What does the phrase “...afterward He was hungry” imply?

B3 Matthew 4:3-4,

• Why did the devil ask the Lord Jesus the question, “If you are the Son of God…?”
• What does the Lord Jesus’s answer tell us about His character?
• How can we apply this to our own life?
• How can we live by every word that God speaks?
• Is making and eating bread a sin? Why would it be so here?

B4 Matthew 4:5-7,

• Why did the devil take the Lord Jesus to the highest point of the Temple? Couldn’t the devil have done the same thing in the wilderness? How can we apply this to our lives?
• Why does the devil quote Scripture?
• What is the devil’s method of Bible interpretation?
• What does Jesus’s answer reveal about His character?
• What does the words “...the Lord your God” tells us about Jesus?

B5 Matthew 4:8-10,

• Why does the devil take Jesus to an exceedingly high mountain?
• Is this a genuine offer by the devil?
• Couldn’t the Lord Jesus simply bowed to the devil for a moment?
• Did the devil obey the Lord Jesus when he heard the words, “Away with you, satan?”
• What two things are listed in Matthew 4:10 that are required for all?
• How do we worship and serve God?
• Does this contradict verses that tell us to obey government?

B6 Matthew 4:11,

• Where the the devil go?
• How did the angels minister to the Lord Jesus?

B7 Why do we give in to temptations?

B8 Does the Lord Jesus understand temptation? Yes, see Hebrews 2:18.

B9 Is being tempted the same as committing a sin? Explain.

B10 Why are we tempted? How does this lead to sin? Can’t we just play with fire? See James 1:12-16.

B11 How did the Lord Jesus prepare Himself to battle temptation? Can we do the same? (We need to know what sin is, what God wants and does not want, what God believes and teaches (doctrine). What is the best way to obtain this knowledge?

B12 Is sin an addiction?

B13 Does impatience play a role in temptation?

B14 Read:

• Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever. 1John 2:15-1Jo 2:17
• How does loving the world and the things of this world affect us?
• What are the three classes of what is in the world?
• Was the Lord Jesus tempted with these three things?
• How did the Lord Jesus overcome these?
• What are the qualifications of the Lord Jesus that can/will help us?

B15 1 Timothy 2:22

• Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  2Timothy 2:22
• How can following these things help us fight temptation?

B16 2 Peter 2:1-3,

• How can we avoid and recognize false teachers and false teaching?
• What happens to the way of truth when false teachers and teaching are listened to and heeded?
• Regarding 2 Peter 2:3, how can these false teachers exploit us?

B17 Read 1 Peter 5:8, how can we be on the alert? How does entering the silence prevent being alert? (Most of the techniques are a form of self-hypnosis. They seek meeting God in the silence and then hearing His message). We have the Scriptures reveal what is the truth. We do not need anything else. We cannot manipulate God to have our prayers answered. God wants us alert. How would anyone know if this god of the silence is the God of the Bible?

B18 How does Hebrews 13:5-6 help us in temptation?

B19 How does the story of Joseph (Genesis 39:6-10) help us in temptation?

B20 How does Psalm 119:11 help us? How did Jesus use Scripture in resisting temptation?

B21 Does committing one sin doom us to hell? Explain. See 1 John 3:8 (He who keeps doing sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was manifested for this purpose: to undo the devil's works. 1John 3:8).

B22 How does 1 Corinthians 10:13 relate? (There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.  1Corinthians 10:13).

B23 Be honest, and pray, believe, study, memorize, confess sins, avoid, seek help, and rely on Jesus Christ. Let your conduct be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.  Hebrews 13:5-6

B24 Next week:

• Glory Revealed
• Theme: The transfiguration of Jesus
• Scriptures: Matthew 17:1-13