Jesus couldn’t possibly understand—could He? During His time on earth, Jesus Christ was tempted just as we are. Billy Graham explains in this 1988 message from Rochester, New York. Watch more #MondayNightClassics weekly at 8 p.m. Eastern.
From our archives…
The Billy Graham Classics.
Now, tonight, I want to talk
about the temptations of Christ.
I want you to turn with me
to the fourth chapter of
the book of Matthew
and starting with
the first verse.
These words.
I want to talk about
the temptations of Jesus
tonight.
“Then was Jesus led up by
the Spirit into the wilderness
“to be tempted of the devil.
“And when he had fasted
forty days and forty nights,
“he was hungry.
“And when the tempter came
to him, he said,
“Since you’re
the Son of God
“command that these stones
be made bread,”
“but Jesus answered
and said,
‘It is written, ‘Man shall not
live by bread alone,
“but by every word
that proceeded
“out of the mouth of God.'”
“Then the devil taketh him up
into the holy city
“and set him on the pinnacle of
the temple and saith unto him,
“Since you’re the Son of God,
cast yourself down
“for it is written,
“He shall give his angels
charge concerning you
“and in their hands
they shall bear you up
“lest at anytime you dash
your foot against a stone.”
“Jesus said unto him,
“It is written again,
“Thou shall not tempt
The Lord Thy God.”
“Again, the devil taketh him up
into a high mountain
“and showeth him all
the kingdoms of the world
“and the glory of them
and saith unto him,
“All these will I give you
“if you’ll fall down
and worship me.’
“Then said Jesus unto him,
“Get thee hence, Satan;
for it is written,
“Thou shalt worship
The Lord Thy God
“and Him only shalt thou serve.”
“Then the devil leaveth him
“and behold angels came
and ministered to him.”
Yes, Jesus Christ was tempted.
The Bible says he was tempted
in all points like as we are
yet without sin.
He’s the only one
in the history of the world
including Adam and Eve,
that ever resisted the devil
completely and entirely,
was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why? Because he had no sin
within him.
There was nothing
the devil could appeal to him
inside of him
because he was sinless.
You and I have
the seed of sin in us.
We’re born in sin.
David said, “In sin did
my mother conceive me.”
And the Bible says,
“All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God.”
And the word sin means that
we’ve broken the laws of God.
We’ve broken
the moral laws of God.
And we’re all in that category.
And then in Ephesians, the sixth
chapter and the 12th verse,
we read these words,
talking about you and me.
‘For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood,
“but against principalities,
against powers,
“against the rulers of
the darkness of this world,
“against spiritual wickedness
in high places.”
Now much of
the New Testament
has to do with
spiritual warfare.
And no one is exempt
from this conflict.
God has no place
for a spiritual pacifist
because the Bible teaches that
the Christian life is not
a religious playground.
It’s not a sports field.
The word against stands out
five times
in Ephesians chapter six.
We’re told that it’s not
against flesh and blood,
but against four things.
Principalities, powers,
world rulers, spiritual host,
and there are a spiritual host.
There is a devil.
There are demons.
In II Corinthians 2:11
we’re told not to be
ignorant of the devil
lest Satan should get
an advantage of us,
for we are not ignorant
of his devices.
We’re to know the enemy.
In 1 Peter 5:8, the Bible says,
“Be sober, be vigilant;
“because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion,
“walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour.”
The devil is walking about
seeking whom he can devour.
Now, some of the names
that are given to Satan
and the devil and the tempter
in the Bible are, of course,
Satan, the deceiver, a liar,
a murderer, an accuser,
the prince and power of the air,
the prince of this world,
the god of this age,
the destroyer, the evil one,
Beelzebub.
All of those names are given to
a person that we call Satan.
Now, the Bible speaks of
his wiles, his devices,
his snares.
The Bible warns
that he beguiles,
he seduces,
he opposes,
he resists,
he deceives,
he sows tares,
he hinders,
he buffets,
he tempts,
he persecutes,
he blasphemes.
Now people have
a caricature of the devil
set forth in the works of
Dante and Milton.
These are wonderful portraits,
but they are
theologically false.
That’s not the picture of
the devil in the Bible.
Satan does not have horns.
He does not have hooves.
He does not have
a spike tail.
Now the devil tries to make us
think that he’s in hell,
but he’s never been to hell.
And when he gets there,
he’s not going to be
the head of hell.
He’s not going to run it.
He’ll be the chief victim.
He’s called the god of this age,
the prince of this world
and the prince of the air.
In Matthew 25:41,
it speaks of his angels.
Many people ask, “Where did
the devil come from?”
According to Isaiah 14,
he apparently revolted
against God.
He was the greatest and
the most beautiful of all of
God’s created creatures.
And for some unknown,
mysterious reason,
way back in the eons of time,
he led a revolt against God
and he was thrown out of heaven
and landed on this planet.
And he has been fighting
God’s purposes ever since.
And one of God’s purposes was
to populate this planet
with people that would love God
and serve God and obey God.
And ever since that time,
the devil has been active
in trying to gain this planet
and gain the people
that God put here.
I don’t understand it all.
The apostle Paul called it
the mystery of iniquity.
There are many things about it
that we cannot explain,
and I’m not going to
try to speculate,
but Christ was subject to
the temptations of the devil.
In Hebrews 4:15,
“He was in all points,
tempted like as we are,
yet without sin.”
And in Hebrews 2:18,
it says,
“In that he himself had suffered
being tempted,
“he is able to help them
that are tempted.”
Now let us study
and see how
Jesus met the temptation
of the devil
as a pattern for how we too
can meet his temptations.
Jesus was led
by the Holy Spirit,
after his baptism,
down into the wilderness.
That’s an area between
Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
That is a wild
and terrible place.
I’ve been there
and seen it.
And Jesus was in
that terrible wilderness,
40 days and 40 nights.
And he had nothing to eat.
He was thinking
and he was praying,
But Jesus was also obedient to
the will of God.
He was filled
with the Holy Spirit.
He spent his time in prayer.
He had a total knowledge
of the scriptures.
And at that moment,
when he was
hungry and tired
from the sun, the heat
and all the wilderness,
the tempter came.
He had
no human companion.
Jesus was alone
in that wilderness.
He could not share it.
Other conflicts, you can march
shoulder to shoulder,
but all secondary things
are swept aside.
You have to meet
the tempter alone.
They are three temptations and
he always uses the same three.
He used them with Jesus.
He used them with Eve,
Adam and Eve
in the garden of Eden.
He used them on you
the same way.
He doesn’t vary.
They are
the same things.
First is
the lust of the flesh.
Secondly, there’s
the lust of the eye.
And third, there’s
the pride of life.
Now, the first time that he came
to Jesus to tempt him,
he tempted him
to turn stones into bread.
He appealed to
his physical appetite.
This was
the lust of the flesh.
Now Jesus was hungry
at the end of 40 days.
And the devil knows
when to come.
He comes at
the opportune moment.
He comes to one of the strongest
appetites that we have,
which is hunger.
Thirst may be
number one.
And many people
will throw off
all the refinements
of civilization
like two mothers of Samaria
in the Old Testament.
They devoured;
they ate their babies
when they were so hungry.
Devil, the devil points to
the round stones and says,
“If you’re the Son of God,” or
“Since you’re the Son of God.”
He recognized
He was the Son of God,
because that word if
should be translated since.
“Since you are
the Son of God
“command that these stones
be made into bread.”
Now the very mention of bread
must have made the famished
body of Jesus leap with desire.
Jesus was in
the perfect will of God.
He was going according to
God’s plan and God’s purpose.
No accidents could happen
to Him.
He was on His way
to the cross
to die for
the salvation of the world,
to rise again.
He was in God’s perfect plan
and God’s perfect will.
Now the devil is coming along
and saying,
“Now you can do
something like this,
“and you can not only
feed yourself,
“but you can feed
the world.
“You can become
the bread Messiah.
“The whole world will
believe on you,
“if you feed
all the hungry people.”
God had planned for him
to be hungry
because God was also testing
and God had created the need,
but he made no provision
to meet the need.
And the devil says,
“Since God has made
no provision for you,
“act on your own initiative.”
The craving was legitimate,
but Satan suggested satisfying
it in an unlawful way.
And you can feed the hungry.
And isn’t it interesting that
when Jesus died, He said,
“I finished the work
the Father sent me to do.”
But when he died,
there were many people
that he hadn’t healed
and thousands of people
that were still hungry.
He came
for another purpose.
Oh yes,
He feeds the hungry.
He’s interested in
the hungry and the homeless.
And we as Christians
in obedience to Him
should do all we can
for them.
But there is something
very much deeper.
And that deeper thing is
the cross,
the redemption of Christ
and the resurrection,
because without the cross
and the resurrection,
there could be no salvation
of your soul.
Now, the second temptation
that the devil gave Jesus
took him up on
the pinnacle of the temple,
which is the highest point
in all the area.
And you could look 600 feet down
on the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Jerusalem was the center
of Jewish life at that time.
And the pinnacle was
the most awe-inspiring
place of the temple.
And the devil said to him,
“Since you are
the son of God,
why don’t you
cast yourself down,
for it’s written
in the Bible,
“He shall give his angels charge
concerning you and,
“in their hands,
they shall bear thee up,
“lest at any time
“you dash your foot
against the stone.”
The devil uses scripture.
The devil can quote scripture,
but he misquoted it.
He was quoting
Psalm 91: 11-12,
but he left out one of
the most important parts
of that passage.
It says, “For He shall give
His angels charge over thee,
“to keep thee in all thy ways.”
He left that out.
Notice the subtlety of Satan.
You don’t have to
cast yourself down,
but this is an opportunity for
a venture of faith, the heroic.
Now he, he tempted Eve
in the same way,
the pride of life
will make you wise
so that you will
become as gods.
The angels would catch him.
Dazzle the multitudes,
put on a big show,
put on a big spectacular.
The whole world
will be watching.
And instead of taking the long,
hard road of teaching
and preaching and persecution
and healing and dying,
you can do it all
in one great moment
in which the angels will be seen
coming and catching you
and everybody will believe.
God’s plan was that
He’d go to the cross.
It had been planned.
It had been predicted
in the prophets
that He would go to the cross
and die for our sins.
And if He hadn’t done that, none
of us could have been saved.
And Jesus answered again,
“It is written.”
He used that three times.
“It is written.”
It’s important to know
the word of God.
And when Satan comes
with his temptation,
you quote
a verse of scripture.
That’s one thing
he can’t stand.
It’s the sword of the Spirit.
It’s your one weapon
that you can use.
“It is written, ‘Thou shall not
tempt the Lord Thy God.'”
Now, how do we tempt God?
We tempt Him when
we leave the appointed course
of obedience
to go the path of evil
and temptation
and expect to be
delivered.
There are many people that
go on doing evil after evil,
after evil, after evil and
they expect God to rescue them.
It’d be like playing with
a rattlesnake.
And then the third temptation
was the temptation of ambition.
The devil now uses
his trump card.
No other person in history
had ever resisted this one.
He strips off his disguise.
He takes Christ
to a high mountain
and shows him all
the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time.
And the devil said to him,
all this power,
all these kingdoms,
all these nations,
all these riches,
all this glory,
I will give you,
if you will worship me.
Just bow your knee
a few minutes,
bow your head to me
and it’ll all be yours.
In a moment of time,
the splendor,
the sovereignty,
the power, the pomp,
the dazzling power of
Nineveh and Babylon
and Persia, and Greece,
and Egypt and Rome
and France and Germany
and Italy,
China and India
and America,
and the Soviet Union
passed before Jesus.
He could have had it all.
Forever.
You say, “Did the devil have
the power to offer him that?”
Jesus didn’t say he didn’t.
He has tremendous power.
He’s the prince of this world.
He’s the prince and power
of the air.
He’s the god of this world.
Now, Christ had already
been promised
all the kingdoms
of this world,
but only by suffering
on the cross.
He’s going to get them.
He’s going to be
the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords
and He will rule the world
in that future day
when we’ll all be
in God’s kingdom,
if we know Christ.
But Satan’s pride would be
forever satisfied
if only Jesus Christ, God’s Son,
would bow to him.
This is the most craven,
crawling picture
of what Satan really is.
He hungers for glory
and for worship.
You’re never more
like the devil
than when you want credit
for what you do.
What about you?
Is that like you?
The Psalmist had predicted,
quoting God,
“I will give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance.”
The devil promised Christ
all of it
if he would bow his knee
to him.
If men will but serve him,
he will give you
fame and honor
and wealth
and position,
but he gets many of you
cheaper than that.
He gets you so cheap.
People today will
stifle their conscience,
murder their principle,
compromise with evil
in order to secure
what they desire.
Satan says for a moment,
bowing of the head
and that money
will be yours.
That office will be yours.
That political prize
will be yours.
That position will be yours.
That fame will be yours.
That business will be yours.
That sexual satisfaction
will be yours.
That central pleasure
will be yours.
If you just bow to me.
And how many people do it?
“What shall it profit a man
“if he gains the whole world
and lose his own soul?”
Suppose you gained it all
but lost your soul
that is eternal.
What have you gained?
You’ve lost in this world
and you’ve lost
in the world to come.
Now, how did Christ gain
the victory?
Let’s summarize a moment
because it’ll help you.
When you have to face
the tempter
when you go home tonight
or tomorrow at the office
or in the school
or wherever you are.
The temptation
to cheat.
The temptation
to take a drug.
The temptation to take
a short cut that’s wrong.
The temptation
to tell a lie.
First, by obedience
to the will of God.
You just say,
“Lord, I will obey you,
but I need your help.”
Because none of us can live
the Christian life alone.
We just can’t do it.
It’s the Holy Spirit
that He gives you,
to live in you
and through you.
I cannot live
the Christian life.
The Holy Spirit must live it
through me.
And then secondly,
by being filled with
the Holy Spirit.
Have you been filled with
the Holy Spirit?
And then thirdly, by spending
much time in prayer.
You don’t have to kneel down
every time you pray.
I have a daughter that thinks
you have to kneel down to pray.
And she gets up
every morning, real early
and prays two hours
before the children get up,
but on her knees.
And if you felt her knees,
they’re like leather.
And the doctor has already said
she’s getting arthritis from it.
And I told her, I said,
you don’t have to do that.
I said, you can pray
all the time everywhere
as, as she does.
But she feels that God has
called her to that ministry
of prayer and study
of the scriptures
on her knees
every morning.
But you can pray
all the time.
Even right while I preach
like this, like I’m doing now,
I’m praying. I’m saying,
“Lord, help me to say
the right thing.
“Help me to say the thing that
will help somebody
“that is here tonight
that needs this message.
“Because this message is
for somebody here tonight,
“for many people here tonight
that need it.”
And then fourthly,
you meet the devil
by knowing the scriptures.
He’s the only person who never
surrendered or yielded Himself
to the temptation of Satan and
He did it by quoting scripture.
He said, “It is written.”
In James 4:7, it says,
“Submit yourselves therefore
to God.
“Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.”
I was having a struggle once
over a certain thing
and I knew Satan was
wrestling with me.
And I remembered
that passage in James,
“Resist the devil
and he’ll flee from you.”
And I was resisting him,
but I’d forgotten the first part
of the verse,
“Submit yourself therefore
to God.”
First, you submit yourself
to God and say,
“Lord, I want to be
in your will.
You take charge of my life
as Lord and Master.”
Then when you resist the devil,
you have the promise that
he’ll flee from you
and you can overcome him.
And then in Revelation 12:11,
it says,
“By the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of their testimony”
they overcame the accuser.
And in 1 Peter 5
it says,
“Be sober,
be vigilant;
“because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion,
“walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour,
“whom resist steadfast
in the faith.”
Are you resisting him?
Are you submitting to God?
First of all, you have to
really know Christ.
In a world in which
the dominant religion is
now secularism
and the lifestyle is
materialism,
we need to understand
God’s word,
so we know how to quote
and apply it properly.
God doesn’t call us into some
place where we get all alone,
just as Christians
and live that way.
It’s a calling
to life and society.
It’s to live Christ out
in the life,
in the place
where we are.
We are to hold belief
and behavior together.
We relate salvation and ethics
in the person of Christ.
Do you do that?
You receive Christ
into your heart.
He lives in your heart.
Then you go out and apply it
in the neighborhood
with other ethnic groups
or with other people that
you should be applying it to.
Do you really
know Christ yourself?
You say, “Billy, there are times
that I think I do.
“And there are times
I’m not sure.”
If you have a doubt,
why don’t you settle it tonight?
Some of you have been baptized
and you’ve been confirmed,
and you made some promises and
others made promises for you,
but you’re not sure that
you’ve kept them.
And you’d like
to recommit and rededicate
your life to Christ
tonight.
There are others of you
that are just not sure that
you’ve ever received Christ
really in your heart,
But you want to make sure,
and you want to be certain that
all of your sins are forgiven.
That you’re going to heaven.
That if you died,
you’d go to heaven tonight.
I’m going to ask you to get up
out of your seat
and come and stand
in front of the platform
as hundreds of people have come
in these last two services.
And after you’ve all come,
I’m going to say
a word to you
and have a prayer
with you
and give you
some literature
to help you
in your Christian life.
If you’re with
friends or relatives,
they’ll wait on you.
Or if you’re in a bus,
they’ll wait.
We’ll only keep you
a few moments.
Why is it important
to come forward publicly?
Jesus died on the cross
publicly for you.
People were sneering, laughing,
misunderstanding,
but He hung there for you
in the will of God.
He said, “If you’re not willing
to acknowledge me before men,
“I’ll not acknowledge you
before My Father,
“which is in heaven.”
There’s something about
the public commitment
that God honors,
and you know it yourself.
It gives you an assurance.
So, you come right now
and I’m going to ask that
no one leave the stadium now,
and everyone in
an attitude of prayer,
as people are
already coming.
You get up and come,
old and young,
whatever background
you have,
you’ve come and make this
certainty tonight, quickly.
We’re going to wait on you.
trom over here,
you may be in the choir and
God has been speaking to you,
get up and come.
You can make that decision
to follow Jesus Christ
just as these many hundreds
are doing here
in Rochester, New York.
The number on your screen is
a number that you can call
for spiritual help
and for counseling.
Call that number right now.
It could well be
the most important call
you’ve ever made.
♪ To Thee whose blood
can cleanse each spot ♪
♪ O Lamb of God,
I come, I come. ♪
There are many people,
there are many people
that have been watching
by television,
and you can see here
in Rochester, New York,
many people coming
to make their commitment
to Christ,
to make certain of
their relationship to God.
You can make
that same commitment
by receiving Christ now
in your heart.
Pick up the telephone
and call that number
that’s on the screen.
God bless you and be sure
and go to church next weekend.
If you just prayed that prayer
with my father,
or if you have any questions
about a relationship
with Jesus Christ,
why don’t you just
call that number
that is on the screen.
There will be someone there
to talk with you, pray with you
and answer those questions.
And remember,
God loves you!
If you would like to commit
your life to Jesus Christ,
please call us right now,
toll free at
1-877-772-4559.
That’s 1-877-772-4559.
Or you can write to us at:
Billy Graham
1 Billy Graham Parkway
Department C
Charlotte, NC 28201
Or you can contact us on the web
24/7 at PeaceWithGod.tv.
We’ll get the same helps to you
that we give to everyone
who responds at the invitation.
On behalf of
Franklin Graham and
The Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association,
thank you for watching and
thank you for your prayers.
(Billy Graham)
There’s only one way,
only one hope.
♪ Hear the sound of
a brand new day ♪
♪ Witness the story
that never fa-a-ades ♪
♪ Come, come with me ♪
♪ To the Billy Graham Library ♪
It’s Anne,
she’s in trouble.
If you don’t take it to the edge
every chance you get,
you’re dead already, baby.
I was in trouble
and I didn’t know what to do.
(slap)
“Ow!”
(Nazi)
Where are the Jews?
I knew that I could
take on the world.
It’s like you’re in a dream,
but not really a dream,
this is reality.
I don’t really believe
in all this but
I know something crazy
is happening right now.