By: Robert Serreyn
Question? Satan knew Jesus was God, Why then did Satan try to tempt Jesus?
Answer:
For three reasons…
1. To stop the Lord Jesus from going to the cross and paying for everyone’s sins.
2. To stop the Lord Jesus from fulfilling the Word of God.
3. Through deception and lies like he did with Adam and Eve to gain control and worship of the world.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent (Satan) beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent (Satan) was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (2) And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: (3) But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (4) And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (5) For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
In a FAILED ATTEMPT Satan TRIED (without success) to tempt the Lord Jesus by…
– Lust of Flesh
– Lust of the Eyes.
– The Pride of Life.
1 John 2:16 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.
BUT with each temptation the Lord Jesus COUNTERACTED Satan’s attempts WITH SCRIPTURE.
Satan’s Temptation – Lust of the Flesh…
Matthew 4:1-3 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (2) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. (3) And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Jesus Response…
Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Satan’s Temptation – Lust of the Eyes…
Matthew 4:5,6 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, (6) And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psalms 91:11,12 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. (12) They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
NOTE Satan DID NOT Quote all of Psalms 91:11, He left out “In all thy ways”
Jesus Response…
Matthew 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Deuteronomy 6:16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
Satan’s Temptation – The Pride of Life...
Matthew 4:8,9 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; (9) And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Jesus Response…
Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 10:20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
TAKE NOTE of the last two words of Satan in Matthew 4:9 – Satan wanted to be WORSHIPPED.
This is EXACTLY what Satan wants. This is the VERY REASON why Satan rebelled (along with 1/3rd of the angels) against God on the Original Earth – Genesis 1:1.
Satan wasn’t satisfied with just ruling over all the angels that God had created he wanted to BE WORSHIPED as God.
Isaiah 14:12 – 14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (13) For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
In Conclusion:
The WHOLE PURPOSE for God in letting Jesus to be tempted by Satan was to show that Satan CAN BE defeated by The Word of God.
Satan TRIED to thwart (stop) Jesus from fulfilling his whole reason for leaving his Perfect Heavenly Kingdom (Heaven) and that was to Die, shed his blood on the cross, be Buried and Resurrected from the dead as the complete payment for every person’s sins and offer it freely to all who would SIMPLY BELIEVE and Trust him alone for it.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing to know IS Jesus Christ as savior, just simply believe that Jesus Christ went to the cross and DIED and shed his blood, was BURIED and three days later RESURRECTED from the dead to pay for your sins.
The moment that you do YOU HAVE (at that second and forever) Everlasting Life which WILL NEVER be taken away no matter what.
-Christ DIED for you – Romans 5:8
-Christ PAID your sins in full – 2 Corinthians 5:21,1 Peter 2:24
-BELIEVE (Trust In Completely) in Christ ALONE as the complete payment of sin for salvation – John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8,9
“For the wages(payment) of sin is death (eternal torment in hell); but the GIFT(salvation) of God is eternal life THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 6:23
IT IS THAT SIMPLE – THE GOSPEL TRUTH