Jas 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone
In Matthew 4:1 begins the temptation of Christ by Satan, this occurs immediately after He was baptized and before the start of His ministry.
Jesus was tempted 3 times by Satan:
1st Temptation: Food
I find it interesting that it started with hunger....which is why some fast, in order to exercise strength over their flesh. Flesh relates to our earthly desires, which if not tempered by the Holy Spirit may lead us into the snare of the devil. The desires themselves are not evil as they are given by God, the desire for food, sex, etc. It's how you go about satisfying those desires that can get you into trouble!
Mat 4:1-3 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him..........."
Psa 78:18: And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire. which leads us into the 2nd temptation of Christ.........
2nd Temptation: Testing the Lord
Satan tempted Jesus to throw Himself from the rocks so that angels would save Him, thus testing God's word. Satan quoted (mis-quoted) Ps. 91:11-12, he left out what did not suit him, part of v. 11. As we seen Satan can quote Scripture and he knows his Bible, so don't assume one who quotes Scripture is righteous by that alone, a Christian is known by his fruits.
An Old Testament example of testing the Lord is Israel's faithlessness in the dessert.
Exo 17:7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?" (referring to Israel's grumbling for lack of water [v. 2-6])
Psa 78:18 speaks of this saying And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire. [Read Exodus 16 and the Lord's provision of manna in spite of their grumblings]
3rd Temptation: Materialism - love of the world
1Timothy 6:9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
An often misquoted verse is 1Timothy 6:10 (below) as "money is the root of all evil". That's not what 1 Tim. 6:10 says, but rather "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Notice that it is the LOVE of money/riches which is the root of all evil, not riches itself. The desire for it and need to have material things, NOT how much you actually have. God gives the increase, but He does not want us to worship those blessings above Him.
Since the world belongs to Satan (he is the prince of this world [John 12:31), it was his to give to Christ when he said (Matthew 4:9 "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.") but Jesus did not cave.
1John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
When I am tempted I remember these 2 verses:
2Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
&
2 Peter 2:19 by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
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