In Step with Christ (1): The Example of Jesus: Overcoming Temptation

by Rev. Jeremiah Cheung

This year is our church’s Year of Worship; it is also our church’s 25th anniversary. I chose “In Step with Christ” as the church’s theme for this year. I want us to focus on the Lord Jesus and learn from his example. We all learn by example, whether good or bad.

There was a president of a theological seminary who was a very gifted speaker, all his students learned to preach well under his guidance. This seminary president makes a peculiar gesture with his mouth when he preaches and all his students acquired this same mannerism. Someone asked the seminary president, “Why do you and your students have the same mannerism? What is special about that gesture?” He replied, “It doesn’t mean anything in particular. I wear dentures and when I preach, they tend to become loose, so I push them back in with my tongue. I never thought my students would imitate that mannerism of mine.”

We see from this story how significant role models are. Obviously, there are good role models and there are bad role models. Of course, we must learn from the good ones; so, this year, let us walk in step with Christ and follow his good example! Today, let us learn from Jesus’ example on how to overcome temptation. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Matthew 4:1-11 is an account of Satan’s temptation of Jesus. Today, let us observe how Jesus overcame temptation:

I. The First Temptation v. 3-4

After going without food and water for forty days, Jesus was now very hungry. Praise the Lord for Jesus was truly a man – he felt hunger, he cried, he felt tired, he wept. Jesus went without food for forty days, he was very hungry. I believe that more than 80% of us here do not understand what true hunger means. Our generation’s problem is not the lack of food, but a fear of food – because we have high cholesterol, high uric acid count, high blood pressure …etc. Thus, it is difficult for us to understand what hunger means.

But Jesus knew what hunger feels like. He was willing to take on the pain of hunger for us. When Jesus was hungry, the tempter came and said, ““If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

We must understand the meaning of this temptation, we must know what Satan was tempting Jesus with. Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, he was hungry. There is no one in the desert, there are no food shops in the desert, Satan was telling Jesus, `You want food to eat? There is only one way you can have them – turn the stones into bread.” We must understand that Jesus really had the power to turn the stones into bread. If Satan tells me to turn a piece of paper into gold, I will tell him, “I don’t think that is possible because I don’t have such powers.” For me, this would not have been a temptation.

Satan’s temptations were doable for Jesus. Jesus can turn stones into bread. Jesus can jump from the temple roof and command the angels to catch him. Jesus could worship Satan and receive all the glory and riches of the world. That is true temptation. Temptation is something you are capable of doing, yet may refuse to do. Besides, turning stones into bread isn’t exactly a sin. Jesus had once performed a miracle feeding five thousand men (not including women and children) with five loaves and two fish. He turned one fish into ten thousand pieces. Thus, we see turning stones into bread is not the issue.

What then was the real point of Satan’s temptation? Satan meant for Jesus to doubt and to be physically tempted.

1. The Temptation to Doubt – Satan told Jesus: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” What Satan really meant was: “If you can’t turn the stones into bread, then you are not the Son of God.” Does Satan know that Jesus is the Son of God? If you read the Bible carefully, you will see that the Devil was the first to publicly acknowledge that Jesus is the Holy One. More than anyone else, the Devil knew that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. When he said `if you are the Son of God’, it was not because he didn’t know Jesus’ identity. What he wanted was for Jesus to doubt his own identity. Doubt is Satan’s tool. In the Garden of Eden, he told Eve `did God really say…’; he wanted Eve to doubt God’s Word, to doubt God’s goodness. He told Eve, “God doesn’t want you to eat of it because He is afraid you will become like God.” Satan wants us to doubt God’s goodness, our salvation, our identity as God’s children; he wants us to doubt the church, the leaders, our friends, God’s Word. When we begin to doubt, we give Satan an opportunity to attack us.

2. Temptation of the Flesh – Our physical bodies have different desires and needs. We need food, we need sleep, we have sexual needs and all these are natural desires. But if we use illegitimate means to fulfil them, it becomes sin. For example, sex within the bounds of marriage is good, it is pleasing to God, but sex outside of marriage is sin, it is detestable in God’s sight. The human body is a physical one, so it is natural that it has physical needs, God made this physical world for the express purpose of meeting our physical needs. There is nothing wrong with enjoying this world, but if we use illegitimate means to fulfil our desires, then it would no longer be glorifying to God. Satan wanted Jesus to use an illegitimate method to fulfil his physical need.

How wise our Lord Jesus is! He replied, “‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus didn’t fall into Satan’s enticement to doubt his own identity, he didn’t react by saying, “I am a hundred per cent the Son of God, don’t you believe that? Let me prove it to you.” If he had done that, then he would have fallen into the devil’s trap.

The best way to deal with doubt is to ignore it, because when you panic and seek to address it, these doubts will become real. Have you heard of the story, “Zeng Qi Murders a Man”. Zeng Qi was one of the best students of Confucius. One day, when Zeng Qi’s mother was going about her weaving, someone came in and told her, “Bad news! Zeng Qi killed a man!” Zeng Qi’s mother didn’t even look up from her weaving but simply said, “Impossible, my son cannot kill a man.”

Before long, another man came in, and told her, “Bad news, Zeng Qi killed a man!” This time, Zeng Qi’s mother sternly replied, I believe my son, he isn’t capable of killing his fellowman. Do not believe the rumours.” Just then, another man came and loudly said, “Zeng Qi killed a man! You must go hide!” This time, his mother became afraid and immediately fled. Doubts and rumours are vicious, the best way to handle them is to ignore them, because you can never make the true, false and neither can you turn the false into truth.

With regards to physical temptation, Jesus used God’s Word to rebuke Satan, saying, “‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Satan wanted Jesus to fulfil his own physical needs, but Jesus replied that man is not simply a physical being, more than that, he is a spiritual being. The physical life is only temporary but the spiritual is eternal. Food can only meet the needs of the physical body, but only God’s Word can meet the needs of the spiritual being. To be truly alive, a man must not only have a physical life, even more important, he must have spiritual life. However, sin can bring death to the spirit.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and ate the fruit from the tree of good and evil, they became separated from God, their spirits died. Jesus tells us man possesses two kinds of life, a physical life, which is sustained by food and a second one which is the spiritual one, and is sustained by the Word of God. The spiritual is more important than the physical life, so, obeying God’s Word is more important than anything else.

II. The Second Temptation 5-7

It is obvious that this is not a physical temptation, but a spiritual one. The more you pursue spiritual excellence, the more formidable the temptations you will have to face. That is so because excelling is a natural way to get criticism, people love to kick others when they fail; but they really, really enjoy knocking others when they succeed. Just look around and ask, have you heard of a president who had never received criticisms, or a beautiful woman who had never been envied? If you are ugly, not only will you not be criticized, people will sympathize with you, they will tell you, “Don’t worry, what is important is the inner beauty, the external beauty is a passing thing.”

In this instance, Satan was not attacking Jesus’ perfection. I call this temptation, `The Temptation of Spiritual Pride.’ This term is actually a contradiction, because if a person is truly spiritual, he can’t be proud and if he is proud, he can’t be spiritual. True spirituality and arrogance cannot exist side by side. The more powerful and more talented a man is, the more prone he is to become proud. Satan understands this very well, for Satan became Satan because of pride.

Isaiah 14:12-14 “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Five times, Satan stated `I will’ and because of that he fell. Satan took Jesus to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Every day, many enter the temple, if they see Jesus jump down from the temple’s roof, fall slowly downwards, and he doesn’t hit himself on any stone, we can just imagine how the crowd would have reacted. They would have worshipped Jesus, because they will presume he came from heaven; how glorious that would be. More than that, Satan quoted Scripture to tempt Jesus. He used scripture to say that it is alright to do so. This is a great temptation for those who belong to the Lord. Sometimes, we would like to do something but are afraid the Lord might be displeased. But if someone encourages you by quoting scripture, saying, “That is alright because the Bible says so”, will you reject his attempt to affirm you? But the problem was that Satan intentionally misquotes the Word of God, he misuses God’s word.

When faced with this spiritual temptation, Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Satan told Jesus, “for it is written…” But, Jesus replied, “It is also written…” The word `also’ is very important. Jesus didn’t deny that what Satan quoted was God’s Word, what he did was point out Satan’s misuse of God’s Word. This is called interpreting the Bible out of context.

Let me share to you an important principle regarding bible interpretation. You don’t need to know the Hebrew or Greek languages, but you have to know how to interpret according to the context, if not, you will be in error. Let us make a comparison, what is the difference between the scripture passage Satan quoted and what is truly in the scriptures? Satan said, “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

This is found in Psalm 91:11-12, “For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Notice that Satan left out a portion, the phrase, `to guard you in all your ways’. This Bible passage is saying we must trust in God, and he will guard us in all our ways.

Let me ask you, is jumping from the 12th floor of a building God’s will? Not stepping on the brakes while driving because you expect the Lord will turn all the traffic lights green as you drive by, is that God’s will? Refusing to take medicine when you get sick, insisting that prayer is enough, is that God’s way? No, you are testing God!

Jesus told Satan, “I will not jump from the temple top to gain glory, because that is false glory; it is not from God.” Such glory comes from Satan and is vain. I have been in the Lord’s ministry for 24 years already, I have heard all kinds of praises from men (you are so handsome, you are so good in preaching, you are nice to people, you are full of love, you have such a good sense of humour); but I have also heard a lot of criticisms (you are insincere, you are so arrogant, you are so selfish, you don’t have a loving heart, you can’t preach well). Sometimes, criticisms would come from the very person who praised me before. Men’s praise is like perfume, you may smell it and enjoy it, but you can’t swallow it, because perfume is for smelling, not drinking. Let us seek only the praise that comes from God.

III. The Third Temptation 8-10

This is the `Temptation of Fulfilling a Mission’. The ultimate purpose Jesus came into this world is to become the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Someday, all the nations of the world will become the Lord’s kingdom. Satan told Jesus, “All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.” This is a great temptation, Satan meant `you don’t have to be crucified on the cross, I can just give you everything.’

We must not think that Jesus wanted to be crucified on the cross, Jesus didn’t want to be crucified. He prayed thrice in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking the Heavenly Father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus didn’t want to be crucified on the cross, but in order for the Father’s will to be fulfilled, he had to be crucified, because without the cross, there would be no crown. Satan tempted Jesus to take the `no-cross’ path to glory, that without paying the price, he can enjoy the glory. This is a great temptation.

Our human nature loves pleasure, we don’t like suffering. We don’t like fasting, we want to eat. We want to play, not work. We love success without having to pay the cost, we love the beautiful physique without the exercise; we want the education but not the studying; we want spiritual maturity without having to pray and read the Word. But that is not God’s way, that is Satan’s way. The Chinese have two sayings, “Sweet before Bitter” and “Bitter before Sweet”. “Sweet before Bitter” is Satan’s temptation. He always lets us taste a little pleasure, find enjoyment and feel delight, but then in the end, he lets us die suffering. “Bitter before Sweet” is God’s way. He will not deceive us, he tells us to take the cross and follow him, take the narrow path, the difficult path, but in the end, it becomes the wide door, the wide path.

Jesus was clear about his mission, his goal, and he knew even more clearly how to achieve his mission and goal. The goal is important, but the method is even more important. When we do business, we want to earn a lot of money; that is the goal of going into business. An athlete hopes to win the gold medal; the gold medal is their goal. But if the method is through deception, through lying, even if you get the money, can there be peace in our hearts? A few years ago, a scandal broke out regarding China’s tainted milk products. Unscrupulous businessmen, in their desire to earn money, damaged many babies’ health. They really fell into the devil’s trap. Also, many gold medallists had to return their medals and were banned for life from competing because they were found taking drugs. They, also, had fallen into the devil’s trap. But Jesus did not do so, he was clear about his mission, he was clear that he had to serve in order to gain the crown of glory. He told Satan: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

O Church! May we seek God’s reward through the path of service. Let us not seek glory that is vain. May we step on solid ground and step by step live out God’s will. Let us follow Jesus’s example, for in the end, He became the King of kings and Lord of lords! (Phil 2:7-11)