Resisting Temptation Like Jesus (Matthew 3:13–4:11, Mark 1:9-13, Luke 3:21–4:13)

Jesus walks into the Jordan River and asks John the Baptist to baptize Him. That single scene raises a question a lot of us carry: if Jesus is sinless, why step into a baptism tied to repentance? We unpack baptism as identification, not confession, and how Jesus publicly aligns Himself with the faithful remnant waiting for the Messiah and the coming kingdom. It’s a grounding look at identity that doesn’t depend on image management or personal achievement.

From there, we move to the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the Father’s unmistakable approval: “This is my beloved Son.” We talk plainly about Jesus as fully God and fully man, and why His Spirit-led life matters for everyday Christian living. If you’ve ever wondered what resources you actually have for pursuing holiness, fighting sin, or staying steady under pressure, this section connects the dots between Scripture, the indwelling Spirit, and trust that doesn’t demand constant proof.

Then the wilderness hits. We walk through the three temptations of Jesus in Matthew 4 and the spiritual warfare tactics that still show up today: meet a legitimate need your way, test God instead of trusting Him, and chase the crown while skipping the cross. Jesus answers every attack with the Word of God, drawing repeatedly from Deuteronomy, and He shows us a simple plan when temptation comes: run to the Scriptures, and remember He understands what you’re facing.

If this helped you think more clearly about temptation, Scripture, and following Jesus under pressure, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you’re putting into practice.

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Transcript

Four Events Before Ministry

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Well, as we set sail today, the gospel accounts give us four important events that now take place in the life of Jesus. Out of the wilderness has come John the Baptizer, this unique, courageous, Old Testament prophet of God. He's wearing a rough camel hair tunic, and I imagine he's got a little locust and honey stuck to his beard. John's been preaching a message of repentance to prepare the nation for the coming Messiah. The public ministry of Jesus is about to begin, but before it does, these four events take place. We'll call the first event identification. Now we're going to go to Mark's gospel account for this. Chapter 1 and verse 9 says this. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Now over in Matthew's gospel, it tells us that John was somewhat reluctant to baptize Jesus, but Jesus insisted. Now you might wonder why Jesus would be baptized at all. He had nothing to repent of. Well, remember the basic idea of baptism here is identification. Those people who were being baptized were not only testifying

Baptism As Identification

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to their repentance, they were also identifying with John's message of the coming Messiah. So when Jesus is baptized here, he's also identifying with the believing remnant in Israel, who were expecting the coming kingdom of the Messiah. And now the second event takes place, and that is anointing, Matthew chapter three and verse sixteen reads. Let me tell you, when the Son of God left heaven and became a man, he did not surrender his divine nature. He took on a human nature. He's fully God and fully man. And with this anointing here, Jesus as a man

Anointing By The Holy Spirit

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is going to show us what it's like to be surrendered to the power and leading of the Holy Spirit so that he can complete his messianic mission. By the way, every believer to this day has been anointed. You've been given the Holy Spirit who now resides within you. The Apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 5.5, that the Holy Spirit has been given to us. In 1 Corinthians 6 19, Paul writes that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within us. In other words, you and I have the same resource for living a holy life that Jesus had through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, with that the third event takes place. We'll call that approval. Here's Matthew chapter three and verse seventeen. A voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Well, this takes us back to the prophetic words of David in Psalm chapter two and verse seven, where we read this The Lord said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you. So Jesus is now receiving approval, public approval from God the Father. Now

The Father’s Public Approval

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following these three events, we come to the fourth and very significant event that essentially becomes the first event of Christ's ministry, and in a word, it's temptation. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all weigh in on this event here, and together the three accounts give us a very full picture of the temptation. We're told that Jesus is now led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where he fasts for forty days. Well Satan seizes this opportunity and he shows up to tempt the Lord to sin. Matthew chapter four and verse three records Satan's

Led Into Wilderness Temptation

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words to Jesus. If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. Well he knows Jesus has the ability to end his fasting by feasting on fresh bread. But Jesus answers here in verse four, quoting Deuteronomy eight, verse three, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Satan is tempting Jesus

Stones To Bread Self Reliance

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to serve himself, to use his divine powers to satisfy a human need. Let me tell you, Jesus never once used his divine power to make his human life more comfortable. Now Matthew and Luke agree on the details of all three temptations, but they reverse the order of the last two. Matthew's order is chronological and Luke's is thematic. And we're going to continue following the chronological order, so we'll go to Matthew's gospel where he writes now in verse five. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 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. Well now Satan can quote a little scripture too, but just like he always does, he twists it around to make it mean what he wants it to mean, and with this he's tempting Jesus to experiment with God the Father's promise to take care of him. He's essentially saying to Jesus, look, Jesus, why don't you test

Testing God With Twisted Scripture

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God rather than trust him? And Jesus responds here in verse seven. Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Here he quotes Deuteronomy chapter six and verse sixteen. He counters and says basically, My confidence in God the Father is so great I don't need to experiment. I don't need to prove anything. I'm not going to test him. I will trust him. Well now the third and final temptation is given here in Matthew chapter four and verse eight. Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to them, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. In other words, listen, Jesus, why go through the rejection? Why go through all that suffering of a crucifixion and separation from your father? I've been I've been given delegated authority over the kingdoms of the world. Why wait? I can give it all to you right now. And maybe he showed Jesus a panoramic view of world history. We don't know. But he's saying, Jesus, you can have the crown now and skip the cross. I love Jesus'

Crown Now Skip The Cross

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response here in verse ten. He simply says, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And once again Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy chapter six and verse thirteen. He dismisses the devil with his authority. Now this entire time Jesus has been in control, and Satan knew it. That's why Matthew says in verse eleven, then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him or to Jesus. By the way, every response of Jesus came directly from the book of Deuteronomy. I've often wondered how well I would do if Satan tempted me to sin and all I had on hand was the book of Deuteronomy. Well, that's all Jesus needed to counter every attack in this sword fight. Have you ever thought about the fact that Satan is still tempting people today with the same strategy? The first temptation says, Look, if you have a need, if it's a legitimate need like hunger, go ahead and fill it. You you deserve it. Jesus had a legitimate need for food

Deuteronomy As The Sword

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and the ability to create it. But Satan was effectively tempting him to fill his desires his way and leave God the Father out of it. We need to go to the Father, just as Jesus effectively did, and ask him, Do you want me to have this desire? Is is this what you would be pleased with? The second temptation is, look, do you really believe God cares about you? Does he know about you know the problems you have in life? Well, just remind yourself that he does know and he delivers this promise I will never leave you nor forsake you. The third temptation is to assume God's will shouldn't be hard or difficult. Uh Satan wants you to think that you can have a crown of gold without a cross of wood. But Jesus promises to teach us and refine us through those fiery trials of life that cannot be avoided. So when the tempter comes your way and he's going to come today, I want you to think of two words. First, run. And I mean run to the scriptures. Use the truth of God to fight the lies of Satan. And secondly, remember. Remember that whatever you're going through, the Lord Jesus has been touched with the feelings of your infirmities. In every respect, Hebrews 4.15 says, He has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

Run To Scripture And Remember

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He's experienced temptation. He knows what you're feeling today. Well, with that, we're out of time for today. Until our next wisdom journey, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.