An Easy Strategy to Defeat the Devil! - Matthew 4:7-11

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Though the devil tried to use scripture against Jesus to trick him, Jesus wasn't biting.  He knew the right scripture to combat the devil's distortion of it.  Scripture is one of our main weapons to use when the devil tries to plant lies into our minds, which is his main strategy.  Listen to how Paul describes the power of God's word in fighting off temptation, 

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

Apparently the devil thought he could still get Jesus to fall.  I like to say in this last temptation he went for the "jugular".  In this last temptation he appealed to Jesus' greed and a lust for power. 

“If the words, all the kingdoms of the world, be taken in a literal sense, then this must have been a visionary representation, as the highest mountain on the face of the globe could not suffice to make evident even one hemisphere of the earth, and the other must of necessity be in darkness.” (Clarke)

9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

The devil lays out pretty clearly what Jesus will need to do to get what the devil is promising here.  At the heart of all temptation is an invitation from the evil one to bow down and worship him.  It's hard to believe he would think he can actually get Jesus to do this, but at least he is honest with what Jesus will need to do to take control of the kingdoms of the world.  

Kingdom means rulership and control.  Since the devil is the ruler of the world (1 John 5:19, John 14:39, John 12:31), he can legitimately offer this, but it is doubtful he would actually give it to anyone let alone Jesus.  But this fact reminds us that when we see what is going on in the world it should not be suprising to us, since the devil is the ruler of this world.  It is also the reason why a lot of people are blinded to the Spirit and the gospel of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 

Not only does Jesus dismiss this last temptation summarily, but also tells Satan to take a hike.  Note "Satan" and the "devil" are used interchangeably here because they are the sme person. See this link for more info: https://www.gotquestions.org/who-Satan.html

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Realizing his efforts were useless the devil/Satan/tempter left Jesus.  Jesus had won this battle, but the war was not over.  The ultimate battle would be on the cross, where Satan had thought he had finally won, but Jesus conquered him by canceling our sin debt and being raised from the dead.  

Notice when the battle was over, the angels came and attended to him.

 “These holy beings might not come upon the scene while the battle was being fought, lest they should seem to divide the honors of the day; but when the duel was ended, they hastened to bring food for the body, and comfort for the mind of the champion King.” (Spurgeon)

As we study Jesus' response and victory over temptation and the wiles of the evil one, we would do well to be prepared as the devil lurks around and seeks to destroy God's chosen ones.  We don't need to be afraid, just prepared with God's Word, the sword of the Spirit.  We can win just as easily as Jesus did using its inherent power.

Have you ever thought about the devil in this way?  What does it mean to you that you have the Sword of the Spirit, the word of God at your disposal?  Does this make you want to dig into God's Word more seriously?  I hope so. 

Like in any battle, the winner is the one who is more prepared.  God has given us everything we need to defeat the devil at every turn.  Our Lord Jesus has taught us how to fight the battle, let's go out and win!