Home Bible Study - Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness - Day 2


Matthew 4:1-11 - Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “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.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

 Day 2 -

Jesus hasn’t eaten for 40 days when the Devil shows up to tempt him.  Imagine if you hadn't eaten anything for 40 days how tired and weak you would feel?   How hard would it be for you to resist temptation or to do the right thing?

This is a great lesson for us, the Devil waits until we are at our weakest before he shows up and tries to get us to make bad choices.  He usually doesn’t show up while we are singing a worship song with our Bible open, because he knows we are ready to go, but he shows up when we are tired, when we are alone, when we are stressed, when we are angry, etc.  We have to recognize that the Devil has been doing this for many years, and he has led many people astray, which means he has many strategies that work.  So, when we are down, weak or vulnerable is when we need to go to God the most, because with out the help and grace of God, we are likely to make a bad choice.

Now, you may be thinking what does one bad decision do…A LOT!  It is important that when we make a bad choice or decision we go straight to God and ask him to forgive us.  He already saw us when we did it.  He knows we did it.  You aren’t keeping it from him by not telling him, but you are re-establishing your relationship with him and you are removing the Devil’s foothold into your life when you confess (tell God you are sorry).

If you have ever been rock climbing or even rock wall climbing, you know that the most important aspect to get up the wall quickly is getting a good foot hold.  If you can get your foot into a crack or a peg, then it will allow you to sustain your body weight while you get your hands adjusted and also push off so you can go forward.  Each time we sin, we give the devil a foothold into our life which allows him to take some control.  If we go to God and ask for forgiveness, it pushed the devil back out, but if we do not – whether it is we think it is okay to do it again or we are ashamed of what we have done – it allows the devil to stay entrenched in our lives.  Asking Jesus to forgive us releases the Devil’s foothold. 

We also don't need to put ourselves in places where it will be harder for us to resist the Devil's temptation.  When you read the Old Testament there is several times that God orders his people to stay out of the "high places."  The high places was where the Canaanites would worship their god, a false god, named Baal.  God didn't want them to be tempted or put in a situation where they couldn't resist, so he said, just stay away from it.  Don't go there.  We need to recognizes the places and times we will be weak and have a more difficult time resisting and we just need to stay.  Don't put ourselves in difficult situations.



Why do you think the devil comes at us when we are weak, tired or vulnerable?


What are some ways you can make sure you don't get into a situation where it is hard for you to resist?


Why is asking Jesus to forgive you as soon as you sin so important?  


What do you think it means to confess to God?





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