From Blessing to Testing, Part 5, or How to Make the Devil Leave You Alone (Just

TEXT: Matthew 4:3-11

At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus had a triumphant moment when He was introduced by John the Baptist as "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." He was baptized in the Jordan and everyone saw the Spirit of God descend on Him in the form of a dove. Everyone heard God the Father declare from Heaven, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased." From that mountain-top experience, Jesus went into the wilderness -- literally. He went to fast and pray for forty days and forty nights. At the end of this period, as we have seen from this passage, the devil came to tempt Him. The devil gave Jesus three opportunities to walk away from the path that God had prescribed for Him, and every time, Jesus responded with the Word of God which exposed the false foundation of Satan's promises.