Your Relationship With the Devil

Matthew 4:1, Jesus in the desert for forty days. Forty is the number of testing. The flood was forty days. Moses was on the mountain forty days. The Hebrews searched the promise land for forty days. Goliath challenged Israel for forty days. Jonah warned Nineveh there were only forty days left until judgment.

Matthew 4:1, the idea is not just that he was there forty days and then the devil showed up. But that he was continually tempted over the period of forty days.

Matthew 4:4, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3

Matthew 4:5, Satan quotes Psalm 91:11-12.

Matthew 4:7, Jesus responds with Deuteronomy 6:16

Matthew 4:10, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:13

You have a relationship with Satan. For some, your relationship is actually a good one. It’s warm and cozy and honestly, pretty friendly.

Take a moment to reflect: What is my relationship with the devil like? Are you closer than you should be? Are you friends?

Jesus had a relationship with the devil; they were enemies!

Let’s look at How Jesus treated the devil. Or

I. How to make the Devil your enemy:

1. Him. (Matthew 4:3)

• Satan is appealing to more than Jesus’ stomach. He wants Jesus to use his power to satisfy his flesh. He is tempting Jesus to use his deity to overcome his human experience.
• By insisting on playing by “our” rules, Jesus showed us how to Human Well. He taught us to live by the Word of God.

2. Him. (Matthew 4:5-7)

• The “Pinnacle” of the temple probably refers to the southeast corner of the temple, where there was a sheer drop of around 450ft.
• Psalm 91 promised that the angels would not let him stumble. What a sight Satan proposes. To throw himself out into the air and let the angels come down to rescue him and lift him up.
• Satan’s capitol, his operating budget is showmanship. God sent Jesus in a very humble way. Satan is tempting Jesus to put on a Messiah Show.
• We can be tempted to do ministry in a way that is showy instead of authentic.

3. him. (Matthew 4:8-10)

• The temptation to “bow down” to Satan and receive the world is actually the temptation to skip the cross. Satan offers Jesus another path, other than the cross, to rule the world. Jesus did not desire in his flesh to go to the cross, nor in his spirit to endure hell. But love propelled him. Satan suggests another way; just bow down. Jesus refuses, choosing instead to go to the cross.
• We don’t have to go to a cross, but we do have to tell people about God’s Great love.

4. Him. (Matthew 4:10)

–Matthew 4:10: ESV: “Be gone Satan”

–NIV: Away from me Satan!

–KJV: Get Thee Hence.

James 4:7: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

How can we resist Satan?

• Refuse dwell in temptation.
• Put up fight. Ephesians 4:27
• Do work of God: 1 John 3:8:

5. Him. (Matthew 4:11)

• Even after a victory, you have to continue to fight and refuse the work of Satan. The Devil left Jesus, but hew as still hungry. He could have chosen to go ahead and turn those stones to bread. But he continued to refuse Satan’s advances.
• When God gives you a victory, live in that victory.

II. Pastoral Encouragement: Declare war on the devil =

• God has already defeated the enemy.
• Clarity is when: You take a public stand for Jesus.
• Clarity is Internal: Stop playing games with sin.
• Clarity is when you put your hope solely in Jesus Christ.