Lenox Federated Church - Firm Foundations, Creation to Christ

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Firm Foundations

Creation to Christ

Lesson 34 - Jesus, When Tempted, Resisted and Rebuked Satan

Questions for the LFC Firm Foundations Coordinator may be emailed to firmfoundations@lenoxchurch.org

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REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What did John tell the people? John told the people to repent and be baptized.

2. What does it mean to repent? Repentance is a change of mind about ourselves, our sin, and God. It means we agree with God that we are sinners, that we have disobeyed His laws, and that we are unable to make ourselves acceptable to God.

3. Whom was John getting the people ready to receive? The promised Deliverer, the Savior of men.

4. Who were the scribes?

a. They were the Jewish religious leaders who made the handwritten copies of the Old Testament.

b. They were very proud of their learning.

c. They didn’t realize that it is not only important to know God’s Word but also to believe and obey it.

5. Who were the Pharisees?

a. They were some of the religious leaders of the Jews.

b. They tried to obey many rules of their own which they thought would make them acceptable to God.

c. The Pharisees were proud and thought that God accepted them because of their own goodness.

6. Who were the Sadducees?

a They, like the Pharisees, were religious leaders of the Jews.

b. They did not accept that all of the Old Testament was the Word of God.

c. The Sadducees were more interested in retaining their acceptance with the Roman rulers and their position as rulers over the Jews than they were in pleasing God.

7. Why didn’t the priests and other religious leaders accept John’s teaching?

a. They thought they were acceptable to God because of the things which they did.

b. They thought God would accept them because they were the descendants of Abraham.

8. Do we have to be baptized to be saved from the control and the punishment of our sin? No, baptism can do nothing to deliver us from sin’s control or make us acceptable to God. Baptism was the way God said that the people were to show they truly agreed with Him.

9. Who was always helping Jesus in everything He did here on earth? God the Spirit was guiding and helping Jesus in everything that He did.

10. What did God the Father say when Jesus was baptized?

a. God the Father said He was completely pleased with Jesus.

b. God the Father commanded the disciples to listen to Jesus.

c. He called Jesus His Son.

11. Did anyone else ever please God like Jesus? No, no other human being ever pleased God in every way as Jesus did.

When was the last time you failed to resist a temptation? Some temptations are quite obvious. Others are much more subtle. Sometimes we can be quite strong against temptation. But what about when we’re tired? Did you know that, as a man, Jesus faced temptation, too?

God created Lucifer perfect.

- But Lucifer (now known as Satan) made a choice to rebel against God in the very beginning.

- Since then, Satan, also known as the Devil, has been continually evil.

Satan tempted Adam to rebel against God. Now he was trying to tempt Jesus to rebel against God.

Satan wanted to bring Jesus under his control so Jesus would not be able to be our Deliverer.

Although Jesus is God, He was also a real man. He became hungry just as we do.

Satan was trying to make Jesus prove that He was the Son of God.

- Satan asked Jesus to do something which God the Father had not told Him to do.

- Jesus came down to earth from Heaven to do only what His Father wanted Him to do. Jesus was the Son of God.

- He could have turned stones into bread, but Jesus would not obey Satan.

- He would not do anything that Satan told Him to do.

We need food to keep our bodies alive, but God says that there is something much more important than food.

We need God’s Word to show us the truth and the way to everlasting life.

- Explanation:

Our bodies need food; obviously, without it we will die. But what benefit will it be if we have healthy bodies but die without God and suffer everlasting punishment? We not only need to eat food so our bodies will live, but we also need to hear and believe God’s Word so that we will be able to live forever with God.

Satan was quoting portions of Psalm 91:11,12.

- Satan knows the words of God in the Bible, but he uses them in the wrong way.

- Satan twists God’s words in order to trick people.

- Recall:

Remember how he tricked Eve? Satan asked her, “Did God say that you aren’t allowed to eat any of the fruit from the trees in the garden?”

Satan knew what God had really said to Adam, but he changed it just a little.

Satan is a liar and a deceiver.

- Consider:

Beware: Satan still uses this approach. He tries to make people think they should demand that God perform miracles to prove Himself to them. Satan tries to draw their attention to the spectacular and the miraculous and at the same time tries to keep them from giving attention to what God really says in His Word.

Satan told Jesus to throw Himself down from the temple to test God who had promised to take care of His Son.

- Jesus did not have to test His Father to see if He would take care of Him.

- God the Father had promised to take care of His Son, so Jesus simply trusted His Father’s words.

- Consider:

Down through the ages, God has proven Himself completely Faithful. We, too, can trust Him completely. We should depend on the Lord to do everything that He has written in the Bible.

Satan could offer Jesus control over the people in this world because, when Adam rebelled against God and followed Satan, Satan became the god of this world. Satan had gained influence over the minds of the people of the world so he could lead them to do the evil things he had planned.

Satan tried to get Jesus to worship him.

- Recall:

In the beginning, Satan tried to take God’s position as the ruler of the whole universe. Satan failed, but many angels followed him. Then Satan took control of the human race so that they would worship and serve him. Satan knew that Jesus was God’s Son, so Satan tried to take God’s place by asking Jesus to worship him.

All who have not been delivered by God from Satan’s control are serving Satan instead of God. Jesus defeated Satan by telling him what God really says in the Bible. Jesus did not change God’s words as Satan did.

Jesus did not obey Satan as Adam did in the garden of Eden.

Jesus knew, loved, and obeyed God, His Father.

Furthermore, Jesus is far greater than Satan: Jesus is also God.

- In the beginning, He created Satan as Lucifer, an important and beautiful angel who should have served God.

- Jesus will one day throw Satan into the Lake of Fire which God prepared for him and all his followers.

- Consider:

You may have seen movies or videos that present the struggle between the so-called forces of good and evil. Often this struggle is presented as if there were two equal forces battling against one another—sort of a “horizontal” battle.

But God’s Word tells us that God is supreme; He is the sovereign Creator. Jesus is God the Son—the supreme owner and Creator of all things. In His body of flesh, He suffered, just like we do. But He never sinned. Satan, that rebellious, created spirit being, could not make Jesus sin. Satan is a strong enemy, but he is no match for Almighty God. The battle is not at all like men show it. God is not a “force”; He is a Spirit. When Jesus came, He was God in a human body. God is totally superior to Satan in every way.

Satan knew he was defeated, so he left Jesus for a while.

- But Satan came back many, many times and tried in every way he could to get Jesus to disobey God.

- He tempted Jesus with every temptation people have ever faced. But Jesus did not do anything Satan said to do. Jesus always did everything that pleased God, His Father. God sent angels to take care of Jesus after Satan had left Him.

Jesus is the only one who has ever fully obeyed God and resisted the Devil. Jesus Christ was fully man; He is also God. He is the only one who can deliver us from sin, Satan, and death.

QUESTIONS:

1. Why did Satan tempt Jesus?

a.

b.

c.

2. Why didn’t Jesus turn the stones into bread even though He was hungry?

3. What is more important than food?

4. Does Satan know and use God’s Word?

5. Why could Satan offer Jesus the position of ruler over all people in every part of the earth?

6. How did Jesus fight against Satan?

7. Who is greater, Jesus or Satan?

Suggested Daily Bible Readings:

Day 166: 2 Kings, Chapters 18 and 19

Day 167: 2 Kings, Chapters 20 and 21

Day 168: 2 Kings, Chapters 22 and 23

Day 169: 2 Kings, Chapter 24 and Matthew, Chapter 1

Day 170: Matthew, Chapters 2 and 3