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.
If the Saviour faced Satan’s temptation, that means the believer is most certainly going to face them. Just because Satan tempts you does not mean that you are a bad person; it means he considers you a worthy target to destroy. Therefore, you must always beware of his temptations that try to destroy your life and the work that God is doing through you.
When you look at Jesus’ life, you can see Satan personally attacked Jesus in three different ways. However, Jesus’ response to this temptation is exactly how you overcome Satan’s onslaught towards you through temptation. My friend, it is going to come, and you must be ready for when it does come. Whether you are a new Christian that Satan is trying to quickly quench the fires of the excitement of being saved, or a veteran believer who is trying to do right, Satan will come at you and try to stop you through temptation. Let me share four ways Jesus fought and overcame Satan’s temptation.
First, push back and fight. Jesus did not surrender when the temptation came. Too many believers quickly surrender and quit when temptation comes. Let me ask, where is your fight? You knew Satan was going to fight you, so, where is your fight? Instead of running, hiding, surrendering, or quitting, you need to have pushback and resist Satan’s attempt to stop you and what God plans on doing through you. The fact that he is tempting you means that he knows God is about to do something great through your life.
Second, read and obey God’s Word. Jesus’ response to Satan’s first temptation is found in verse 4 when He says, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Jesus was saying that you cannot survive life your spiritual walk with Christ by worldly thinking or living. You must live by every word of God in His Word. In other words, you must read God’s Word to know how His Word tells you to live, and you must do what His Word tells you to do. In other words, read God’s Word, spend time in prayer daily, be faithful to church, tithe off your income, and go soul winning is how to overcome Satan’s temptations. You will never survive Satan’s temptations if you don't read and obey all of God’s Word.
Third, don’t be foolish and tempt God by saying or doing foolish things. Jesus’ second response to Satan is found in verse 7 which says, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Jesus was careful with His answer and actions not to say or do something against God that He would later regret. This answer reminds me of Job who said he would not charge God foolishly when he was going through trials. Trials will come, and Satan will try to get you to say or do something foolish during these times. Stay faithful to what you are doing in those hard times of life, and be careful not to say something or do something that you will later regret.
Fourth, continue to worship God by serving Him. Jesus’ final response to Satan’s temptation was, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Jesus was teaching that the best way to fight Satan is to continue serving God. He was saying, keep doing what brought the attacks because whatever brought the attacks is the way to defeat Satan. If you will get busy serving God, you won’t have time to consider surrendering to Satan’s temptations to quit.
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