The Three Temptations - Part 2
“And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’
“But He answered and said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”’”—Matthew 4:2-4 (NKJV)
The first temptation that Jesus had to overcome was the temptation to put His own needs and desires first, and to satisfy them in ways that were outside of God’s will for Him.
We all must overcome this temptation to put our needs and desires first. We must not be driven by our own appetites but instead submit our needs and appetites to the higher goal of seeking God’s will, His Kingdom, and His righteousness first.
It is our natural inclination to be driven by our needs and desires. Years ago, I heard a state education official, who also had a law enforcement background, say that every child who gets in trouble for intentionally breaking a rule does so because he is trying to satisfy some need that he has, and he just makes a bad choice in trying to satisfy that need.
I’ve never been able to prove him wrong. From birth, we are naturally driven to satisfy our needs and desires, even if we don’t realize that is our motivation. It is this natural drive that must be subjected to the will of God, so that we satisfy our needs and desires in His ways, in His timing.
The first Adam never made it past this first temptation. He chose to satisfy his own needs and desires over the higher goal of obedience to God’s higher purposes. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, overcame all temptations, and as our model, He demonstrates for us how to overcome all temptation.
This first temptation trips up many, many ministers of God as we see them fall to the lusts of the flesh, often at the height of their ministries when they seem to be the most successful.
If the lusts of the flesh are not conquered, they will gain a foothold in our lives. As James tells us, these lusts will conceive sin (James 1:15). At this point demons join with us to empower the lusts. These lusts become habits and addictions. Then it is almost impossible to overcome the lusts without supernatural intervention and deliverance. Finally, if these lusts are not overcome, the resulting sin will lead to destruction and death in some form.
The life of Samson is given to us in Scripture as a tragic example of this failure to overcome the first temptation.
