#082 "Unmasking Satan: The First Wilderness Lie" (Matthew 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.'"

In Matthew 4:3, a starving Savior stands in a blistering wilderness and faces an invitation that seems reasonable, compassionate—even wise: turn stones into bread. But in this episode of The Abidible Podcast, host Kate shows why this first temptation was never about food—and why Jesus’ refusal was essential for our salvation.

By harmonizing Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and setting the scene in the harsh wilderness of Judea, this episode reframes the entire temptation narrative through a crucial lens: the enemy attacks the Father’s character first—then comes for yours. Hunger isn’t the enemy. Delay isn’t neglect. The real battle is whether the Son will trust the Father without manufacturing proof.

Kate traces the echoes from Eden to the wilderness using 1 John 2:16’s grid (desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and pride of life), connects the baptismal declaration to Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42, and explains why identity is received—not proven through performance or spectacle. Jesus refuses bread not because hunger is sinful, but because meeting a legitimate need through illegitimate means would fracture trust and detour the cross.

This episode also exposes Satan’s familiar playbook: targeted pressure, timed to vulnerability, always loud—but always limited. Practical takeaways help listeners learn how to bring real needs to the Father instead of fixing them alone, reject the lie that delay equals neglect, and turn hunger—literal or spiritual—into prayer rather than panic.

If you’ve ever felt tempted to rush God, prove your worth, or take shortcuts just to make the ache stop, this episode will steady you. Jesus didn’t win by white-knuckle resistance, but by abiding trust. And because He stood firm, we don’t fight to earn God’s love—we fight because we are already loved.

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Transcript

Framing The Temptations Beyond Identity

Kate 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidable.com, and you're listening to the Abidable Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in Him through His Word yourself. It would be an easy thing to make this episode about identity. And it wouldn't be wrong, but I think it would fall short. Sure, we can talk about Jesus' identity as the Son of God, and therefore our identity as children of God. It would be justified to go primarily in that direction. I mean, we see the devil attacking Jesus' identity in our verse for today, right? Matthew 4, 3 says, And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. I mean, that's where my mind went when I first began studying to identity. Did yours? In fact, I even began writing out this episode to that effect. And while there certainly is an element of identity at play in the devil's strategy, there's something bigger that we must see first. Do you have any guess about what it might be? Let's look together. I know that we are just studying Matthew 4 3 today, but as we enter into this next portion of our passage, it would be good to get a quick overview of the three attacks coming from Satan. There's a common theme here. See if you can listen for it. Here's verse 3 again. If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Here's his temptation in verse five. And here's verses eight and nine. So he, Satan, showed him Jesus, all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. What is happening in all three of these individual temptations? Make your own bread, your father isn't doing it for you. Throw yourself down, test to see if your father will catch you as you fall, and make a name for yourself, independent of your father. Where is Satan attempting to drive the wedge? Not primarily between Jesus and his identity, but between Jesus and his father. Sin separates us from the Father, and Satan is hell-bent on separating the Father and the Son. If he can get Jesus to sin against his father, he'll be forever unable to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world. What a devilish victory that would be. So Satan's attacks are aimed at getting Jesus to question not first his own identity, but the identity of his father. Each potential sin would follow. Do you understand what I'm saying? Are you following what I'm saying here? With turning stones to bread, if Jesus first questions the goodness of his father, well then yeah, he'll take matters into his own hands and satisfy his own needs by catering to himself, God's will be darned. With throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple, if Jesus makes light of God's power by taking advantage of it and recklessly jumping, the test will be for his own sensational prestige. And with accepting kingdoms and glory from Satan, Jesus will not only hoard all the glory for himself, he'll actually be giving or stealing his father's glory and giving it to Satan. All three would sever divine, eternal, perfect unity and love between the Father and the Son. Don't trust that he's good, presume upon his power and steal his glory. At the root of it all, Satan is trying to get Jesus to question God's love. These lies sound really familiar. Real quick, want to be a part of what God's doing here at Abidable? For just a few dollars a month, you can join others who are supporting our mission to help people know and love God by abiding in Him through His Word. Check out the link in the show description to learn more. Here's our verse again. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Is God really good? Can you really trust his power to come through for you? How about you get some glory for yourself or all the glory? It sounds familiar because it is familiar. Same devil, same lies. All the way back to Genesis 3. He went after Adam and Eve and through what John calls in 1 John 2 16, used the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. In the garden, the desires of the flesh were enticed by the apple itself. Eve saw that the tree was good for food. Man fell by eating. So logically now Satan comes at Jesus with the same attack. The desires of the flesh turn these stones to bread and eat. Eve didn't believe God was really good, would Jesus? In the garden, the desires of the eyes attracted Eve to the beauty of the fruit. It says Eve saw that the fruit was a delight to the eyes. How beautiful would bread from stones be to the eyes of a starving man? How splendid would it be to see a man fall from the pinnacle of the temple and have angels appear at the last dreadful second to save him? How glorious would Jesus be to the eyes reigning over all the kingdoms of the world if Satan gave him the key. Eve didn't believe God was beautiful enough or that he would come through. Would Jesus? In the garden the pride of life was overwhelming. Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was desired to make one wise. Eat it, the serpent said, and you'll become like God. The forty days of fasting and temptation in wilderness were just a taste. Surely there had to be an easier route than submission. Would Jesus continue in humble suffering service to his father's will? Or would he circumvent the plan and swap his father's glory for his own, to be wise in his own eyes? Would he alienate his father and align with Satan? Would he fall? Is there any other reason all of this sounds familiar to you? Who else fell? Not just Adam and Eve. Who else was enticed by the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life? If you're pointing to the tempter, you are correct. Remember what we learned about him from Ezekiel 28 in our intro episode? It's a heartbreakingly familiar story. Let's look at it in its entirety right now. This is verses 11 through 19 of Ezekiel 28, and I want you to really listen for this backstory because it's the motivation for Eden, and it's the motivation for the wilderness attacks, and it's his motivation for the attacks against you. Thus says the Lord God. Now this is to Satan, you were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle, and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created, they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you, you were on the holy mountain of God, in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till unrighteousness was found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries. So I brought fire out from your midst. It consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. He, Satan, Lucifer, was the signet of perfection. He was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was with God and anointed as a guardian cherub. He was placed by God on the holy mountain of God, blameless and splendid. But it wasn't enough. He doubted God's goodness, presumed upon his power, and, filled with violence, went for the throne. His sin against the Father was his eternal undoing. He corrupted everything for the sake of his own glory and was cast out, exposed, and consumed. His end is dreadful. He will be no more forever. What a tragedy. But the tragedy isn't over. What Satan did, he's been trying to get the sons and daughters of God to do ever since. And at the core, it's not only and primarily about their identity, but God's. If they don't know who God is and don't believe who God is and sin against God like Satan did by doubting his goodness, testing him and taking advantage of his power and usurping his glory, well, then at least he won't go down alone. That's what's happening here, okay? Let's be clear. It's a tale as old as time. And now this fallen angel is coming for the only begotten Son of God. Same old song. When you see it for what it is, it starts to get a little played out, don't you think? I hope so. I hope there's a holy fire rising in your belly. Because that's my aim today and throughout this series, to begin to disarm and dismantle Satan's pathetic schemes. That's the overview of the three temptations that are coming Jesus' way. But let's now hone in on the first. To do that, we're going to refresh our minds for a moment about where we are in this temptation story. Jesus has been led up by the Spirit into the desolate wasteland of the Judean wilderness, an area referred to as Jeshimon in the Old Testament, which actually means the devastation. Listen to how biblical scholar George Adams Smith describes this area of 35 by 15 miles from personal experience. It is an area of yellow sand, of crumbling limestone, and of scattered shingle. It is an area of contorted strata where the ridges run in all directions as if they were warped and twisted. The hills are like dust heaps. The limestone is blistered and peeling. Rocks are bare and jagged. Often the very ground sounds hollow when a foot or a horse's hoof falls upon it. It glows and shimmers with heat like some vast furnace. It runs right out to the Dead Sea, and then there comes a drop of twelve hundred feet, a drop of limestone, flint, and marl through crags and quarries and precipices down to the Dead Sea. In that wilderness, Jesus could be more alone than anywhere in Palestine. He's also been fasting for 40 days. Remember, he is hungry. Some suggest that when hunger pains return after such a length of fasting, it's indicative that the subject is about to starve to death. This is the upper limit for sure of a human's ability to fast. So Jesus is alone in a horrid wasteland and he's genuinely starving. And here's a sweet side note that I hadn't thought of before until I read it in William Barclay's commentary. If Jesus is alone, then who is the source of this story? Jesus himself. We only know about this because of what he must have conveyed to his disciples. So in a way, it's Jesus' own spiritual autobiography. That's pretty cool. So here's what Jesus tells us happened next. Satan came. Now, let's look at this story in two other places. The Gospels of Mark and Luke also tell us about Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. But are they giving us a contradictory timeline? Mark 1, 12 through 13 says, the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. That's it. Mark dedicates just two verses to this story in comparison to Matthew's 11 verses. Short and sweet. In Luke 4, Luke dedicates 13 verses to this story, so it's a little bit longer than Matthew's. Luke also seems to say that Jesus was being tempted the entire time. Here's his version. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil, and he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, and then Luke details the same three temptations and responses that we see in Matthew. So what's happening? What are the actual order of events? Was Jesus fasting forty days and then the tempter came, and then after Jesus was victorious, the angels came? Or was he being tempted the whole time and the angels were ministering to him the whole time, and the animals were with him, keeping him company? After all, one day the lion will lay down with the lamb. Perhaps the wild animals actually feared and obeyed their creator. Or was he led by the Spirit for 40 days while simultaneously being tempted for 40 days? And at the end of the 40 days, these three particular temptations came. Do these three gospel accounts go against each other and therefore prove something often stated throughout the centuries and perhaps now more than ever? The Bible is full of contradictions and can't be trusted. Can we even ask this question? Is it allowed to be a Christian and ask this question? Yes, of course it is. God can handle your questions. And no, these contradictions don't negate the validity of the Bible or of this particular story. And here's why. Have you ever watched a trial, seen eyewitnesses on the stand explaining the very same story? Do each of them sit there and tell the exact same account, verbatim, of the event that took place? What if they did? What if eyewitness A got up and spoke, finished her testimony, and left the room? And then what if eyewitness B came in and he repeated word for word, or pretty much close to that, exactly what eyewitness A had said. And after B came C saying those very same words. What would you think? That they colluded, right? Their account would not be trustworthy. Now, as I mentioned, Satan and Jesus were the only eyewitnesses to this attack. So anything that Matthew got would have been from Jesus. And Mark wrote from the testimony of Peter, where he would have gotten it from Jesus. And then Luke compiled a careful account of the eyewitness testimonies of many of the disciples and those around Jesus. It is a good thing that these three gospel accounts are not repeated verbatim. You have different eyewitnesses with different perspectives who heard things differently from Jesus, even if he was saying the same thing to all of them. This is a common, normal, good thing, right? And we do have some parts of it, like the words of Satan and Jesus' response in Matthew and Luke, that are the same, right? These are the most important parts. Satan, Satan's words, his temptations, and also Jesus' response. So those are the same. But overall, we've got some different accounts here. And the question is, does it matter at all to Jesus' victory over temptation or to any important doctrinal or theological concept, whether or not Satan was tempting Jesus the whole 40 days, or whether he just showed up at the end? Does Matthew's account that the angels came to minister to Jesus at the end contradict Mark's version that the angels seemed to be ministering to him the whole time? Could Mark maybe mean when he said that that they were just ministering to him at the end? Sure it could. Was the Holy Spirit leading Jesus the whole 40 days? John seems to describe it that way. Because Matthew didn't mention that part, does it mean it didn't happen? No, we don't have to worry. These three stories don't damage one another. They just fill in more of the picture and they prove that there wasn't collusion or any effort to manufacture a false account by recounting stories word for word. So, Satan, this vindictive sorry sack comes for Jesus, the son of his greatest adversary. And because Jesus is one with the Father, Satan's contempt for the Son is equal to his contempt for the Father. How does he come? It's not described, but it seems apparent that this was a visible appearance. Matthew Henry says, if ever the devil transformed himself into an angel of light, he did so now and pretended to be a good genius, a guardian angel. In the book of Job, we see a similar desire by Satan to cause a son of God to turn his back on God. Satan desires to go after Job, and something interesting is revealed about the devil in this account. We see God ask the devil where he's been. This is an unnecessary question as God is all-knowing, just like it was unnecessary for God to ask Adam and Eve where they were in the garden. It was a rhetorical question. God knew where they were, just as God knew where Satan had been. So this question in Job serves a different purpose. And I posit that its purpose is to reveal Satan's modus operandi to give us more information about our adversary. So where does he say he's been? He says going to and fro on the earth and walking up and down on it. These exact words are. Repeated not once, but twice in Job chapter 1 and chapter 2. When something is repeated in the Bible, it's for emphasis to catch our attention because it's important. Peter, Jesus' disciple, who surely knew this story of Jesus' fateful appointment with Satan in the wilderness, describes Satan this way in 1 Peter 5.8. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Think about that word. Satan's goal is not a little nibble or a lick, as Gusick points out. He wants to devour you. Pay attention to Spurgeon here. He, Satan, can never be content till he sees the believer utterly devoured. He would rend him in pieces and break his bones and utterly destroy him if he could. Therefore, do not indulge the thought that the main purpose of Satan is to make you miserable. He is pleased with that, but that is not his ultimate end. Sometimes he may even make you happy, for he hath dainty poisons sweet to the taste, which he administers to God's people. If he feels that our destruction can be more readily achieved by sweets or bread than by bitters, he certainly would prefer that which would best affect his end. What do we make of this? Well, Satan has free access to the earth, and he has an active interest in what happens on it. He seemingly even boasts to God about his access, about his ability to roam to and fro here and there, walking over every part of it. This must therefore be some of what's going on behind the scenes as described in Ephesians 6, 11 and 12, as the schemes of the devil and the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places and in this present darkness. What else is going on behind the scenes? Matthew 25, 41 tells us that Satan is the head of a kingdom of evil spirits called demons, fallen angels like him, angels that fell with him. He revels in taking others down with him as he revolts against God, his creator. He's referred to by John and Paul as the prince or God or ruler of this world. Matthew and Paul show how he is the enemy of God and of truth, and Luke emphasizes that the devil will do everything and anything he can to tempt individuals. Revelation says he leads the whole world astray. And elsewhere, because we're reminded to keep watch and be alert against him, it is clear that he is formidable and should not be underestimated. He can do evil and can cause great harm on the earth. We know this because we see this throughout history, throughout the Bible, and today, every single day. And here's where I add, the cartoon devil with his cherub wings and horns and pitchfork, or the Halloween costume version, or the Middle Ages medieval art version, or any other made-up, man-made, minimized mockery the world throws together are just caricatures to trick us. We must only interpret Satan, his power, his schemes, and his nature through what we are told about him in scripture. We must not make more of him than we ought, but we also must not minimize him. So make no mistake. Satan is real, he's powerful, he's careful, he is intentional, he is crafty, and he is really good at what he does. No one does it better. He's the father of lies. And he now approaches Jesus strategically and skillfully. Jesus is alone, he is hungry. What will Satan say to him first? Satan's not going to tempt Jesus just like he wouldn't tempt you with something that you wouldn't fall for. He's not stupid. What might work for me wouldn't work on you, and vice versa. What would have worked on you last year might not work today. You've changed, your circumstances have changed. If you don't think Satan's attacks are fluid and adaptable, then he's already got one leg up on you. So Jesus, right now, he's vulnerable. Imagine that. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords has allowed himself to be led into a situation where his flesh is not only weak, but quite literally starving. No one is around to help him, and here comes his old adversary. Matthew Henry says it is one of the wiles of Satan to take advantage of our outward condition, to plant the battery of his temptations. He is an adversary no less watchful than spiteful. We know that Satan's goal is to get us to sin. Remember, sin separates us from God. So if he can separate the Son from the Father by getting the Son to doubt the Father and sin, Satan would not just have a massive victory, but the massive victory. No sinless savior, no substitutionary sacrifice, no salvation. So sin here is Satan's goal. What is his technique? What will he say to Jesus? If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread. Identity. He's gonna go for Jesus' identity. By attempting to appeal to Jesus' very nature, who he is, Satan will try to get Jesus to disobey God and take matters into his own hungry hands. Is God really good? It seems like he's holding out on you. Why does he have you out here? You're gonna keep going without? You look rough, man. Say the word. Meet your own needs. Make it happen. You created everything anyway, right? Son of God, that's you, right? You're the guy. This should be easy for you. Plus, remember, remember that thing your dad did in the wilderness, that manna from heaven gig? If you really are his son, you could make these stones into bread instantly. Easy. Fill your belly, satiate your hunger, fill the void. You are the son of God, aren't you? Prove it. Here's the catch. Fasting is about obedience, and the Father has not yet released Jesus from fasting or the wilderness. The buzzer hasn't sounded. If Jesus turns these stones into bread, he won't prove he's the son of God. In fact, Charles Spurgeon says that would have been the surest way to prove that he was not the Son of God. And here's the key to unlock the whole thing. Jesus doesn't need to make bread from stones in order to prove who he is. Some on-demand magic trick directed by the devil will do nothing toward establishing Jesus' identity. That's the lie. God had already declared who Jesus is. Seven verses earlier in Matthew 3.13, we have the baptism of Jesus. Three verses earlier, literally three verses, before we have Satan say, If you are the Son of God, we have a voice speaking from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Who is Jesus? God's beloved son, the son that deeply pleases the Father's heart. This is Jesus' identity, and there are two beautiful parts to it. The Father chooses his words wisely and carefully because they highlight very integral parts of who Jesus is. First, he is the beloved son, and second, he is the one with whom the father is well pleased. Now, without Bible study tools like cross-references and commentary, we might miss something really cool, really spectacular that's happening here. First, this is my son, is a reference to Psalm 2, verse 7. Guess what? William Barclay tells us that every Jew accepted that psalm as a description of the Messiah, the mighty King of God who was to come. And the second part, with whom I am well pleased, that's from Isaiah 42, 1, which is the beginning of the description of Israel's suffering servant to come. So something very significant was clarified by God at Jesus' baptism for both the world and for Jesus himself. The Father has identified the Son with certainty. Jesus is his promised beloved Son, and with him God is well pleased. This identification not only describes Jesus, it also reveals what he will do based on that identity. He is indeed, as Barclay says, the chosen one of God. He knew that he was chosen to be king, but he knew also that his throne must be a cross. He was destined to be a conqueror, but that his conquest must have as its only weapon the power of suffering love. If I hated God and all that he stood for, like Satan, I'd jump at the chance to catch this son at his most vulnerable, to whip out those old techniques, the desires of the eyes and of the flesh and the pride of life, and see if I couldn't shake up this alliance, to see if I couldn't stop this servant from suffering by appealing to his needs and feeding lies to him about his father and his identity. It probably would have worked on anyone else. It didn't work on Jesus. We'll be right back after this message. If you've been listening to this podcast and thinking, I wish I had a place to actually process this, to ask questions, and to stay consistent in the word, I want to invite you into something really special. Abidable Plus is my small, intimate membership community for women who love God but struggle to abide in his word consistently. It's not loud, it's not overwhelming. It's like friends on the couch, studying scripture, asking honest questions, praying for one another, and growing together. Inside, you'll get guided Bible study, daily prompts to help you stay rooted, and a safe place to engage without pressure or perfection. If you're hungry, committed, and want to grow deeply, I'd love to have you join us. You can learn more and become a monthly supporter for $10 at the link in my bio. We'd love to have you with us. And now, back to the show. So it didn't work on Jesus. And we're going to see that in his response next week when we look at Matthew 4:4. But what about us? Will it work on us? Can Satan get us to doubt the goodness of God and be so insecure in our identity that we'll give in to meet our needs in our own personal power and strength? I don't know. It depends. Who is your father and who does he say that you are? Notice that I started with who is your father? It doesn't matter if we discuss your identity, if you don't know how to stand secure first in who he is. It was the same for Jesus. Satan tried to separate the father and the son first by sowing seeds of doubt about the father's nature. Is he really good? Can you really trust him? Isn't he kind of holding out on you when you need him the most? So we must start with who the father is. If we make battling temptation about you, it'll all fall on you and you'll be crushed by the weight of it. You'll be defeated by trying to bear up against Satan all alone. Even if we try to tell you who God says you are, what does it matter what God says about who you are if you don't first know who He is? So I'll ask it again. Who is your Father? Guess what my answers are going to be here? You won't know unless you abide. I could sit here and list off the traits and actions and promises and nature of the Father, but I'm not going to. What I am going to say is it's in the book. Read the book. You got to know this for yourself. We're going to see in this series that the Son knew the word. To know your Father, you have to read his book. It's how he's revealed himself to you. You could spend the rest of your life letting pastors and teachers and leaders and podcasters and friends tell you about him. Or you could go directly to the source and find out for yourself. You're here, so I assume, I assume that you want to know, and I'm glad that you're here. But my knowledge of God does nothing for you in the heat of your battle unless you're learning to know him on your own. When the temperature really gets turned up, which it will, you must know him for yourself. When Satan comes for you, which he will, you can't say, well, Kate's father. You must say, my father. Abide in this book, friend. He will show you who he is. So then, second, who does he say that you are? Guess what I'm going to say? Correct. To know who he says you are, you have to be in the book. I mean, I could list some things for you. Knowing that list is critical. Jesus knew who he was and were able to know it because the Father publicly spoke a specific identity over Jesus, my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And we're adopted into that same sonship, that same family by the power of the Spirit who dwells in those of us who confess Christ as Lord. Romans 8.14 says, For all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, and that same Spirit leads us in our wilderness. He, Jesus, is the Son of God, and because of him, we are the sons and daughters of God. But to get more, you got to get in the book and see what he says about you. But now this is where we get to talk about the gospel, and this is where it gets really good, okay? Because bread would have been the crappiest consolation prize. Would it have been cool to see stones morph into bread? Maybe. I mean, I guess, sure. Would it have filled Jesus' belly? Yeah, it would have. But again, it would have been a consolation prize, the parting gift from a spotted, sinful, non-savior. Instead of the cross, we would have gotten an impotent son, unable to be our sinless, spotless, substitutionary savior. Miracle bread, but no cross. Food, but no salvation. Again, this is why you should read the book because it's the best story ever written, and it's all true. And while Satan has some temporary authority in this world as a result of the fall, meaning his power is not yet completely broken, and we still experience his attacks and the effects of his works, our wilderness, Jesus, isn't finished. He's going to walk out on the other side of this wasteland, victorious, and continue his winning streak until he dies to, as Hebrews 2.14 says, break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil. Jesus' death and resurrection release us from Satan's stronghold. And even though we still taste the effects of this world and sin, they have no power over us, and neither does death anymore. John 11, 25 says that the one who believes in Jesus will live even though they die. And 1 Corinthians 15, 55 tells us that death has lost its sting. Our great hope comes from the ability of our Savior to stand in his identity as the beloved Son of God out of love for his Father. No wedge was driven, no wedge of sin, especially was driven between the Son and the Father. And that was because Jesus knew who the Father was and he refused to succumb to the temptation in order to prove his own identity through some janky consolation prize miracle. That would have been sin and it would have separated him from a God, from his father, who he knew was good. Relationship and love are key in each of the temptations in our story. While the devil is powerful and formidable and crafty and wise and prowling, he is, as author Erwin Lutzer puts it, God's devil. He is always on a leash held by God. The devil is not God's equal, not out of control, and not winning. Even when Satan schemes, tempts, accuses, or destroys, he can only operate within the boundaries that God allows. And we see this again and again in the Bible, including here in our wilderness story, that God ultimately even uses Satan's evil intentions to accomplish his good purposes. His played out tricks are exactly that, old and tired. Satan is a deceiver and an accuser, not a creative force of his own making. He just tries to twist what God has already made. He's permitted activity for a time. Think Job or the sifting of Peter or the betrayal of Judas. But even that God uses for bigger redemptive purposes than we can see. Because we rely on Christ's authority and not our own strength in combating the devil, we can rightly not fear him while also not ignoring him. And finally, the cross proves that Satan's greatest apparent victory actually secured his final defeat. Matthew Henry says, There is no conquest without a combat. Christ was tempted that he might overcome the tempter. Satan tempted the first Adam and triumphed over him, but he shall not always triumph. The second Adam shall overcome him and lead captivity captive. This is a matter of comfort to all the saints that in the temptation of Christ it appears that our enemy is subtle, spiteful, and very daring in his temptations. But it appears withal that he is not invincible. Though he is a strong man armed, yet the captain of our salvation is stronger than he. Christ conquered, being tempted and conquered for us. Not only that the enemy we grapple with is a conquered, baffled, disarmed enemy, but that we are interested in Christ's victory over him and through him are more than conquerors. Satan may Be a lion who roams and roars, but as David Gusick says, he's been defanged at the cross. Satan may seek out whom he may devour, not a little nibble here or a nibble there, but those that he might devour. But our shepherd makes a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Satan may walk about now, but revelation tells us he will be bound and restrained for a thousand years and then eventually thrown in the lake of fire forever. Best of all, in Christ, we have the power to resist. When we stand against the devil, being more and more prayerful each time that he's more and more active, Spurgeon says he will soon give it up if he finds that his attacks drive you to Christ. Often has Satan been nothing but a big black dog to drive Christ's sheep nearer to the master. Here's the big idea. The devil is real and destructive, but he's still God's devil, restrained by God's purposes and defeated by Christ. Christ defeats this first lie and the others, generally speaking, by love. It's what was revealed when he submissively followed the Spirit up into the wilderness. Love is what sustained him while he fasted for 40 days, and it's what enables him to combat lies about the Father's goodness. God is not withholding bread because he's not good. And the Son does not have to make bread to prove that he is the Son. Sometimes it really is that simple. It's a matter of calling the lie a lie. Of course, it's a great comfort for us to know that he suffered and was hungry and was tempted to take control and make something happen in his own strength. He is tenderly in tune with how hard it can be to hear the lies and to suffer the want and to have the father's goodness questioned and to be challenged over issues of identity. He knows all of that. Knowing that he knows all of that and is like us in what he faced, but unlike us in how he responded, it helps. It is huge. But what do we do with information in this real life? Aside from getting in the book, here's where I'll close. If Satan's strategy is to separate us from the Father, to make us doubt his goodness, to presume upon his power or to steal his glory, then we need to know that resisting temptation is not first about willpower. It's about relationship. So here are a few ways to practice relationship this week. Number one, when you feel a legitimate need, which you will, don't rush to meet it alone. The world says you're hungry, fix it. You're tired, numb it. You're anxious, control it. Jesus shows us another way. Bring the need to the Father before you try to satisfy it. Because hunger isn't the problem. Impatience with God is. We have to learn to wait on God. How many times have we missed his provision, the provision that would have come from the hand of God because we yanked the reins out of his hands to have them in our own? So this week, when you feel a real ache, physical, emotional, relational, pause and ask, God, what do you want to show me about yourself or provide for me in this moment rather than me just stepping in and making it go away on my own? That one question reorients temptation from self-reliance to trust. That's relationship. Two, refuse the lie that obedience means God is withholding from you. This is one of Satan's oldest tricks. If God were really good, you wouldn't still be waiting. If God cared, you wouldn't feel this exposed. If God loved you, he'd give you some relief right now. But scripture tells us something different, doesn't it? Psalm 84, 11 says, No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Delayed provision is not the same as denied goodness. Sometimes obedience will feel like hunger, not because God is cruel, but because he's forming trust that can't be rushed. 3. Stop trying to prove who you are by what you can produce. Jesus didn't turn stones into bread because God-given identity doesn't need to perform to prove itself. The world says that. Prove it, show it, make it happen. The gospel says it is finished. You don't need to justify your worth, earn your place, or manufacture fruit in your own strength. Your role is not to impress God, it's simply to abide. Fruit grows, only grows when roots grow deep in Him, not when we strain or when the branches come off from the vine. Four, name temptation for what it really is, an invitation to distrust the Father. Temptation isn't just about bad behavior, it's about believing a lie about God. So when you feel pulled towards something lesser, try saying it out loud or writing it down. I'm being tempted to doubt God's goodness here. Or I'm being tempted to take control in this situation instead of trust God. Or I'm being tempted to want, oh, this one's so good. I feel this in my bones. I'm being tempted to want relief more than relationship. Light exposes lies, and lies lose power when they're named. Practice small acts of dependence that train your hunger. It doesn't have to be dramatic. For example, you can fast from that thing that you reach for first, or the noise that you use to numb yourself, or the habit that fills space in your life, your heart, your mind that God Himself wants to occupy. And when the ache shows up, don't shame yourself. Redirect yourself to God. It's relationship. Let your hunger become a prayer. Father, I want you more than this. That sentence alone dismantles half of Satan's schemes. Listen to me, friend. Jesus didn't refuse bread because bread was evil. He refused it because nothing, not even legitimate needs, was worth breaking trust with his father. And because he stood firm there, you don't need to stand alone here. You don't fight temptation to earn God's love. You fight from a place of already being loved. The wilderness is not where God abandons his children. It's often where he best teaches them who he really is. That's not self-help. That's salvation working itself out in real life. And that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidable podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review. Tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Avidable Plus Women's Membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and begin working on our next verse in this series, Matthew 4:4, on pages 20 to 23 in your study workbook. You can also complete our fun recap sections for verses 1 through 4 that can be found on pages 24 and 25. Ideally, you would have these sections done before you listen to the next episode, number 83. In that episode, we will see what Jesus' response was to Satan's temptation of turning the stones into bread. The verse next week is our key verse for the series, and hopefully you've lettered it all over your home or snagged some of the items from our lettered collection at abidible.com. This key verse for our passage that we'll look at next week is Matthew 4:4 and says, But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Why did God create bread and hunger and even thirst? Why are they so central to our existence and such important themes all throughout the Bible? And again, as we see it here in Matthew 4:4, we'll take a look at all of that next week. I'll pray for us and then close this out with our memory work for verse 3. Father God, we come to you as people who know what it is to hunger. We hunger for relief, for certainty, for control, for comfort, and for answers. And so often, if we're honest, we have tried to satisfy those hungers apart from you. But today, you've reminded us that hunger itself is not the enemy. Distrust is, independence is, believing lies about your goodness is. So we thank you for Jesus, for your beloved Son who trusted you perfectly in the wilderness, who refused every shortcut, who would not trade obedience for relief, and who loved you more than bread, more than glory, more than life itself. Father, where we have doubted that you are good, forgive us. Where we have presumed upon your power, forgive us, where we have sought our own glory instead of yours, forgive us. We confess that we are often full of lesser things and numb to our need for you. Would you, by your Holy Spirit, awaken a holy hunger in us again? Not a hunger rooted in guilt or striving, but a hunger shaped by grace. A hunger that drives us back to your word, back to prayer, back to trust, back to you. Teach us to sit with our hunger long enough to hear your voice. Teach us to resist the lie that we must meet our own needs alone. Teach us to believe that obedience is not deprivation, but the pathway to deeper joy and relationship with you. And when we are weak, remind us that Jesus has already stood firm for us. When temptation presses in, remind us that the enemy is defeated. When the wilderness feels lonely and never-ending, remind us that you are so near. We place our open hands before you now and simply say, This much, O God, we want you. Have your way in us for your glory and for our joy. It's in the strong and faithful name of Jesus that I pray. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Matthew four, three, five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Matthew 4 3. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.