There is no sin in hunger. It is incidental to man as he passes through this scene. If the Son of God became a Man, and enter into the world where men are, He must at least expose Himself to the vicissitudes of human life. Well, He was hungry. “And now, help yourself,” was Satan’s suggestion. “Command this stone that it be made bread.” His answer is very beautiful: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’” (Lk. 4:4). Notice, the Lord Jesus not only quotes Scripture, but He quotes it as Scripture. He does not merely say, “Man shall not live by bread alone,” but “It is written.” He had the most profound respect for what God had written. I should like you to notice this because we live in a day when people say the books of Moses are not to be received. They are just human compositions. Do you know that the answers with which Christ overcame the devil were quoted from one of these books? The first quotation is from Deuteronomy 8, and the other two instances in His temptation are from Deuteronomy 6. Christ puts His emphatic stamp upon Moses’ writings, affirming their authenticity that they are God’s word.

Some people say the Word of God is not to be relied upon. Look at this blessed One, He should know its value and reliability. He was the incarnate Son of God, and therefore, as God, He knew perfectly what was and was not Scripture. He takes the place of dependence, and then He quotes that striking verse which Moses uttered to the children of Israel. The devil meets Jesus in the wilderness and tempts Him. Christ’s resource is Scripture, the sword of the Spirit, God’s Word. He hangs on God’s Word. He is here the truly obedient, as well as the absolutely dependent One, and Satan is foiled. How are you and I to meet Satan? Exactly the same way.