How did Jesus stand up to temptation?

With Scripture. In Matthew 4:1-11, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, where the devil tempts Him three times. Dr. Toby Holt shows how Jesus, the second Adam, stood where the first Adam fell. After forty days without food, Jesus faced three temptations: to satisfy His hunger, to prove Himself by a spectacular leap, and to seize the world's kingdoms by worshiping Satan. Each time He answered, "It is written." Where Adam fell in a lush garden, Jesus stood firm in a harsh desert. The devil even twisted Scripture, but Jesus used it rightly.

Questions this study answers:

1. What was each temptation aimed at? The first appealed to bodily appetite, the second to pride, the third to the desire for power — targeting the whole range of human weakness.

2. Why did Jesus answer with Scripture every time? Because God's Word is the believer's true weapon against temptation. Jesus modeled how to resist the devil by standing on what is written.

3. How does this connect to Adam in Genesis 3? Adam fell in a perfect garden, but Jesus, the second Adam, overcame in a barren wilderness — succeeding where the first man failed, for our sake.

"Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" — Matthew 4:10 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.