Jesus Defeats The Evil One (Matthew 4:1-17)

Introduction

First Sunday of 2026, God has ordained that we give special time to the work of overcoming the lies and temptations of the evil one. God wants us to be overcomers.

But before we get into our text today, I want to ask a few questions.

In 30 seconds or less. What’s your experience with spiritual warfare? What does it sound like? Look like? Quick responses.

Again, quick response. Do you believe this is something common to your day or rare for you in life?

Are you winning the battles? If so, how?

This week I was somewhat surprised to see spiritual warfare show up all over the place for our family. Trying to have a prayer retreat and every car had an issue. Then when I borrowed a car, I slid off the road and damaged it. I’ve seen it in our finances. I’ve seen it with family members struggling. I’ve experienced temptation in my thought life. Worry or anxiety rising.

Context:

A little bit of context will help as we dive into chapter 4.

The king had come and had been announced by both God the Father at his baptism and by men (John the Baptist). But just as the kingdom was about to expand, their was a serious clash of power. Even as the religious leaders opposed John the Baptist, refusing to repent of their sin at his message, today we are going to see the opposing spiritual force behind the rebellion and opposition against Christ and his kingdom - the devil himself, the ancient Serpent who misled our first parents in an effort to usurp our authority on earth and steal glory from God.

This story is like a great dual scene - the clash of two kingdoms. But instead of God operating like he will in the future with mighty and decisive power, he fights temptation like all men do, like every human is called to fight temptation. Church, I need you to know that we are in a raging spiritual war, and the Bible teaches us that this war is only won through faith in Christ who overcame for us through prayer, faith in God’s Word, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The First Temptation Of Jesus

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Why on earth would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted?

This is God’s mercy on display. Like we see in the baptism of Jesus, He is entering into our suffering again in tangible ways. All humanity lives in a world ruled in part by the prince of the air and have experienced much temptation. Sadly, all of us have fallen to his lies. This is why it matters so much that we see Jesus’s response to the tempter. God not only wants to show us that Jesus will overcome the devil on our behalf and for his people Israel, but he wants to train us to be overcomers as well. Remember that this Jesus is forming a new humanity. He is the new Adam, the forerunner of a new people. He is called the second Adam. We see this in the symbolism of this story.

What do you think is significant about being led into the wilderness?

Dale mentioned last week that this symbolizes the forming of a new people under a new law even as God gave his Word through Moses to his people and formed a people.

But it was also in the wilderness where Israel fell short over and over again and were punished as a result.

There is a devil.

C. S. Lewis famously wrote, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence, and the other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” The Screwtape Letters

"There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by satan". Christian Reflections

Especially in the West, the devil wants us to believe this is all hokey pokey stuff. But this is no joke. There is a real devil who hates you and God’s people. He wants to dominate you. But there is way to overcome.

The Bible teaches us that a created angel of great ranking rebelled against God along with perhaps a third of the angels who followed him. He is not equal to God but created by God. He is not working with God but in rebellion against him. However, the Scriptures show us that he is on a leash, so to speak. God’s transcendent sovereign rule cannot ultimately be usurped, although God sometimes chooses to allow certain tests of the devil during this time of human history before Christ comes again, which we see in Job’s life and elsewhere. But there is one very important thing for us to get straight. What the enemy means for evil, God always means for good. Even though we pray daily in this life “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” we can be sure that the Father has good plans for us even in the trials and tests that he allows us to pass through.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Jesus’s Total Dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. I don’t think this is atypical for Jesus, but something that he lived out daily. This is one of the incredible realities of Jesus’s life on earth. Though he was himself the divine Son of God, he subjected himself fully to his Father in obedience and to the dependence on the Holy Spirit to help him overcome. In other words, he put himself under the same playbook in terms of our creaturely dependence on God, only differing in the fact that he did not have a sin nature like all of us since he was not born of Adam.

Jesus doesn’t presume to charge ahead on his own but always depends on the Holy Spirit. He says that he is doing what his Father is doing in the world (Jn 5:19) and over and over models for us time of solitude and prayer to get direction and wisdom. This is the key to a healthy heart, an abiding relationship with the Father. This relationship was satisfying to Jesus and sustained him in a unique way for 40 days without food.

Fasting

Why would Jesus fast? Fasting is subjecting yourself to weakness purposely. Spiritually speaking, Jesus taught us that this practice can be a means of grace to grow faith and dependence in God and not in our own strength. Fasting trains our body and mind to obey God’s Word and the Holy Spirit rather than our flesh desires.

Even still, Jesus got hungry. Temptation often comes in ordinary situations like when we are hungry or tired or lonely. It’s when we feel vulnerable and weak. It’s the heat of life. But it’s not the heat that makes us sin. It’s the sin that dwells within. Sin that disbelieves God’s Word about reality, about who we are and what we need, sin that paves our own path instead of following after God’s path.

40 days and nights

Two amazing things highlighted by this number. One, Moses was on the mountain 40 days and nights before receiving the Law of God. Jesus, likewise, is about to lay out the way of the New Covenant for the new people of God who follow him. Two, Israel suffered and was tested in the wilderness for 40 years.

The Devil’s temptation

English Standard Version Chapter 4

3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

Notice that the devil is called “the tempter.”

He is icky and deceptive. A liar. I hate the devil. He packages his temptations in slimy and deceptive ways doesn’t he?

Jesus is hungry. He appeals to his human hunger.

This reminds me of the garden temptation. Jesus is tempted by food like they were. He is offered the same kind of things that Eve was offered. Pleasant to the eyes, good for food, and could make one wise. But rather than giving into the flesh desires and allowing it to define reality, Jesus allowed God’s Word to define reality and define good for him.

But the devil also appeals to Jesus’s divine power. Notice the words, “if you are the Son of God”, which he will repeat below. Jesus is the Son of God, who the devil knows has divine creative power. He is able to take turn a stone into bread even as he turned water to wine or nothing into something. But the temptation is 1) to get Jesus to step outside of God’s order and design and timing 2) to prove his identity. Compare this statement “if you are the Son of God” with “did God really say?” This is the devil’s attempt to challenge identity. The devil challenged Adam and Eve’s identity as his people under God’s rule. He challenges Jesus’s identity as the divine Son of the Father.

In other words, the devil is always inviting us to do it your way. You can define reality and take matters into your hands.

But all of this is an attempt to seduce us into listening to him rather God. He wants to have the authority. Humanity was supposed to have the authority of ruling the earth according to God’s Word. But the devil wants to usurp that authority.

But look how Jesus answers.

How does Jesus respond?

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Using God’s Word (Deut. 8:3), Jesus essentially says, I don’t listen to you but God. I live under his rule and word and his rule and word is true life even as bread is life for human bodies. He defines reality – what I need and don’t need.

The Israelites stumbled many times over food. They doubted God and grumbled against him many times rather than going to him in dependence and trust. Even Moses struck the stone rather than obey God. But God provided Manna for them in the wilderness, water from the stone. Their clothes never wore out or their feet swell (Deut 8:4).

But while they failed in the wilderness, Jesus did not. He trusted that God was knew best.

Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament Matthew 4:4

Tigay (1996: 92) comments, “Man does not live on natural foods alone, but on whatever God decrees to be nourishing.”

Church, let this Word sink deep into your ears. Your good in this world is God. Nothing else can satisfy. It’s not just the feeding of our flesh that sustains us, but abiding connection to our God. That’s true life. We are body and soul. As the body hungers for food and perishes without it, the soul hungers for God and perishes without him. In fact, Jesus argues and proves for us in this moment that what’s more important than feeding our hungering bodies is holding fast to God’s Word. Though our physical health matters and God knows we need that, our soul being connected to God is far more important.

God’s Written Word

I love these words that Jesus says, “It is written.” What is the significance of these words here?

These words validate the written Scriptures as truly God’s Word.

Church, like Jesus, take seriously the written word of God. We can be confident that it is God’s Word. It comes from his mouth. It is God-breathed. Because that is true, that Scripture is really God’s Word, we should hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against our God.

Equipped with the Sword of the Spirit

We must know God’s Word so that you know how to overcome temptation. Jesus counters the devi’s lies with the truth of God’s Word, with God’s reality.

If we don’t know God’s Word, we wont live according to reality. The whole world is perishing because of belief in a false reality, taught by the devil himself. But we must use the Word like a sword, combatting the devil’s lies with truth. If the devil says you are not loved. You say, “For God so loved the world that he gave his Son… that I might not perish.”

But you need to know the heart of God behind the Scripture because the devil knows Scripture too and can twist it. The next scene highlights this.

The Devil’s Twisting of Scripture

English Standard Version Chapter 4

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”

We don’t know if this is literal or not. Matthew seems to think so. The devil uses some supernatural power to transport Jesus to the Jerusalem temple at its peak.

He challenges his identity as the Son of God again and calls him to test God’s protection and plan by throwing himself down.

Jesus is about to enter into a difficult three year ministry, hated by many and pursued, and then he would go to the cross and die.

The devil, therefore, invites Jesus to show his divine Sonship by forsaking the plan of salvation and doing things his own way. The devil is essentially saying, “You could prove yourself right now. God will protect you and send angel armies to you and you know it. So do it.”

And look how gross this appeal is. The devil uses Scripture to tempt Jesus.

The devil is quoting Psalm 91:11–12 almost verbatim.

He is welcoming Jesus to test God by appealing to God’s promised protection.

This is true of how the devil and his workers continue to tempt us. One of the most common is the unforgivable sin teaching from Jesus. The devil has used this Scripture with countless people to shake people’s faith. Kate’s story also.

Additionally, even people in the church are twisting Scripture to justify homosexuality and abortion and other horrific things. Where do you think these ideas are coming from. From the tempter.

The devil can twist Scripture, so we must know his heart, we must study the full counsel of God in Scripture so that we will not be deceived.

Self Harm

One last observation here. The devil wanted Jesus to harm himself. One sure fire way to know if the devil is at work in your life is if you find yourself tempted towards self harm. This so commonly the end of spiritually oppressed people in the Bible. Think of the demon possessed man in the tombs scraping and cutting himself with stones. Think of the demon possessed boy who kept leaping into the fire. Think of Judas or Saul who were tormented by Satan and led to commit suicide. If you experience this temptation, get help from the church! The odds are is that you have been listening to the devil in other areas and giving him a lot of room to speak lies about your identity, which means there is a lot of healing and undoing of lies that needs to happen.

Jesus Answers The Devil

English Standard Version Chapter 4

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” Referencing Deuteronomy 6:16.

Again, Jesus quotes the Word of God with these beautiful words, “it is written”.

The truth Jesus declares here is rooted in his fear of God and submission to him. God’s Word is not to be tested but obeyed. He is the king. He gives a real choice but the choice is not whether he is king or not but is instead life or death. In this case, Jesus operates in the fear of the Lord and shows us that testing God is foolish and wicked.

Final Temptation of Jesus

English Standard Version Chapter 4

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

1 John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”

The devil has already welcomed Jesus to feed his flesh but now he wants Jesus to crave what he craves, earthly glory, which John describes the “pride of life.”

He lies again saying that he has authority to give all the kingdoms to Jesus in an instant if he will worship the devil.

This is what the devil wants. He wants the allegiance and worship of men and angels alike. He wants all to bow to him.

Jesus’s response

English Standard Version Chapter 4

10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus is the Lord God. He will not bow to worship but commands the devil to worship God alone and serve him alone. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, which a few verses later describes God as a jealous God who alone deserves worship and who will destroy the wicked.

At this word, the devil left him.

Notice this: Angels came and were ministering to him. God showed up on time to care for Jesus. God will always take care of you when you resist temptation. The belief is that you just have to fight and then live in the pain of fighting. But God promises his care.

Jesus overcame and begins His Ministry: Light for those in darkness

Out of the place of prayer and fasting, showing dependence on the Holy Spirit, and after overcoming this temptation, Jesus begins his ministry.

Looking at verse 12. Hearing of John’s arrest, Jesus had to be on the move. But this was providential, and another fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiah. Isaiah 9:1-2; 42:7; Job 3:5; Psalm 23:4.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

16  the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

I want to highlight one thing from this fulfilled prophecy.

We all are like these people, dwelling in darkness and in the region of the shadow of death under the rule and reign of the devil, the prince of this world.

But their is a king of light who has dawned, and he came preaching vs 17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This copy of John’s preaching validates him and what he came preaching.

This is good news that the kingdom has arrived in him. There is now an opportunity to turn from sin and pledge allegiance to him and be saved from sin and Satan.

Because he is the only one who overcame the devil he is the only one worthy of following. He is the only way to overcome. No one else has resisted the evil one like this, which is why Jesus is the light that shines so bright in the darkness. Come to him!

As we talked about last week, repentance is an opportunity to come out of darkness into light. It is a merciful opportunity for all who are alive to escape death and hell through Christ. Repentance is a merciful call to all to live and not die.

Gospel Application

Repent and follow Jesus. Never stop repenting and following Jesus. Faith in Christ is the only way to overcome. He is the forerunner king who has been tempted as we are yet without sin and shows us how to overcome. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

You need a new king and a new heart. All who repent and follow King Jesus are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:14). Without this, we aren’t in the fight against the devil. We’re just on his team, the losing side.

Sin is the devil’s only weapon against us and it has been canceled in Christ. . 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Col 2:13-15Because this is true. Don’t turn back. And if you fail, which you will, hold fast to the Gospel, which says:

Revelation 12:10–11 “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Blood of the Lamb - we are washing. we are clean. Even while we were a sinner, Christ died for us.

Word of their testimony - testimony (Greek - μαρτυρία) which BDAD defines as: confirmation or attestation on the basis of personal knowledge or belief, testimony

love not their lives even unto death. We love God more than food, God more than money or sex or power, love God more than our lives. He is our life! Jesus is the Word made flesh, the life, the bread of life, the living water. He is what we really need. Don’t take the bait of counterfeit hope and life.

2. In Christ, You will be tempted, but you are equipped by God for the fight. This passage particularly highlights prayer and the Word of God, called Ephesians 6 the sword of the Spirit.

a. know the Word. Hide it in your heart that you might not sin against him.

b. battle for your mind. Wield the word against the temptations of the evil one.

c. never stop praying for God’s protection and care. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

Identity Statement Exercise

Groups of three.

Pray the one that feels most important for you to believe right now.