Matthew 4:1–11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’”
Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him. (ESV)
Prayer: Heavenly Father, strengthen us by Your Word and Spirit, that we may not fall into sin, or from saving faith in the times of our temptation. Fix our eyes on Jesus who conquered temptations for us and give us humility and sincere trust in and reliance on Your saving Word. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Fight the Good Fight
I. What fight?
II. With what?
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
The Lord saved the people of Israel from their enemies in the exodus by letting them pass through the Red Sea on dry ground and swallowing up Pharoah and his chariots in the waters. From there, the Israelites journeyed to Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Throughout their journey in the wilderness, we hear about Israel’s grumbling and lack of faith. They got hungry, thirsty, and impatient—even making a golden calf. Finally, when Israel was set to enter the promised land of Cana, the twelve spies who were sent to investigate the land came back with a bad report, that it would be too dangerous for them to take the land. They said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” They were afraid. They didn’t think they could win. They seemed to have forgotten that the Lord who had just saved them from Pharoah’s armies was with them. Because of this, the Lord sentenced them to wandering forty years in the wilderness for each of the days the spies had spent in Cana. When Israel was tempted in the wilderness, they failed.
Now over fourteen hundred years later, Matthew records, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John, he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. Unlike the Israelites, who were washed in the Red Sea, but failed God’s test in the wilderness, Jesus succeeded. Matthew is showing us that Jesus did what Israel failed to do. He came to do what Israel could not.
Israel failed the test, which is why Moses promised a greater prophet, Jesus. When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they grumbled for food. Jesus, however, though fasting forty days and forty nights, did not give in to the devil’s temptation to turn stones into bread. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” When the Israelites heard God’s sentence that they would have to stay in the wilderness forty years, they sinned by testing God by going against his word to fight the Amalekites and the Canaanites and were thus defeated. But Jesus, when he was tempted to test God’s power, refrained. Instead, he said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” When the Israelites had doubts and suffered wrong, they gave up their faith in God and worshiped an empty idol—the golden calf. But Jesus, when offered everything by the devil, said, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’”
The author of Hebrews writes, “[Jesus] was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus became man to do what we could not. He came to fight our battle against sin, death, and the devil. Jesus perfectly kept all of God’s commands. He loved God above all things and his neighbor as himself. But then he went to the cross to carry the sins of unfaithful Israel and all people, so that we could be forgiven. Though innocent, he died on the cross as the greatest sinner to ever live. He did this so that he might crush the head of Satan, freeing us from his terrible jaws. His resurrection on the third day is undeniable proof that death has no power over us! When Jesus called out from the cross, “It is finished!” It was finished. The devil was conquered. All debts were paid. Your sins are forgiven. Through faith, the power of Christ’s resurrection is yours, and the way to Paradise opened for all believers. This is most certainly true!
Now here is the problem. Paradise is open, the promised land awaits, but we are still in the wilderness. And so, we fight the good fight. But the question is—what fight?
Our fight is not a personal or national conflict. It is spiritual. Scripture says, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The Apostle Peter reminds us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8). Your enemy is the devil, and he is assisted by this fallen world and our own sinful flesh. When the Lord made you his child through baptism, the devil put a target on your back. His primary goal is to lead you away from Christ and to himself. The devil wants you in hell.
If the devil has the audacity to tempt Jesus, God’s own Son, we should expect nothing less. We can assume that the devil tempted Jesus with more than just the three temptations we saw in our lesson, but it does teach us something that these are the temptations that both Luke and Matthew record for us. I want us to think about these three temptations briefly and also realize how powerful these temptations are in our lives.
First, the devil tempted Jesus to turn the stones into bread. If you are God, prove it. What is this temptation really? It’s to place your physical needs over and above your spiritual ones, as if food for the body is more important than food for the soul. We face this temptation every day. Christians regularly neglect God’s word for the sake of making more money, having more time to relax, and many other fine things. It’s not that working is bad. It’s not that relaxing is bad. But anything can be dangerous, especially, when it causes us to forget that our spiritual wellbeing should always take priority in our life. If we realized how much of a spiritual battle we are in every day, we would place a much higher priority on being in church, receiving the sacraments, praying, and growing in the Word.
Second, the devil tempts Jesus to test God. The devil knows the Bible too. Throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple, “He will command His angels concerning you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” The devil wants control. He wants to control God. He tempts Jesus to test God and place himself over the Father. If you are the Son of God, doesn’t he have the responsibility to care for you? We face this temptation every time the devil tempts us to specify how and when and what God must do for us. Is it God’s duty to care for us? Yes. He has promised to. But that doesn’t give us the right to test him. To dictate how he helps. He is the teacher and we are the student. God tests us. We don’t test him. Faith doesn’t try to control God. Faith trusts that God will care for us and that he works all for our good.
Finally, the devil tempted Jesus with the power, the riches, and the glory of this world, if only he would bow down and worship him. The third temptation is the most brazen, but for us Christians, the most powerful of them all. When we prefer what this world promises us to what God promises us, we bow down before Satan to worship him. In a sense, this was the fast-forward button for Jesus. Forego the cross, receive the glory now. Ignore your calling as Savior, enjoy the benefits now. We face this temptation every day. We each have our own various callings. Yet, how often do we want to avoid our present callings and responsibilities, so that we can have glory now… peace now… ease now. When we put our fear, love, and trust in earthly promises, we are not worshipping God.
The devil is quite active today, questioning us as he did in the beginning, “Did God really say?” He lies about who God is, to lead us away from reliance on God. He lies about how a sinner is saved. The devil teaches salvation by works so that we will not trust in Christ alone for our salvation. He lies about right and wrong, making perversion permissible. He lies about matters in life, trying to lead us to rely on what is perishing so that we will perish with it.
You and I are in a real battle in our journey in the wilderness. A spiritual one with an outcome that will determine our eternity. Just as a soldier needs to be armed for battle, so does the Christian. By our Lord’s example, Jesus teaches us our greatest weapon against the devil. To every temptation, Jesus replied, “IT IS WRITTEN.” With these words, Jesus teaches us to rely on his almighty Word. The Bible is our best defense against the devil and his lies. When you face temptation, say, “It is written.” God’s word drives the devil away. As Luther writes, “One little word can fell him.”
When we are tempted to doubt our salvation, let our Savior’s proclamation from the cross sound clear: “It is finished.” When you know the Gospel, but the devil makes you feel unforgivable, remember these words: “If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (I John 3:20). When we are consumed with earthly worries and cares, remember the words of Scripture, “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you,” and Jesus who said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” When we are bombarded to question the teachings of Scripture by the devil and the world, may we recite what Jesus said of Scripture, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
What I want you to remember from today’s sermon is that we are in a fight throughout our journey in the wilderness. The devil will tempt you this way and that along the way to get us to lose sight of your goal and this battle. And the truth is, while Jesus has taught us our best defense, we fall for the devil’s tricks and get dehydrated along the way. But we can thank God, that Jesus isn’t just our example. He is much more. He is our Savior. He perfectly resisted temptation and paid for our sins on the cross. He won the victory! It is written! Christ conquered for us! And he who won the victory has given us his Word, so that we might know victory too. This victory he shares with you in Baptism where you were given Christ’s perfect righteousness and holiness. We go back to our baptism every time we repent of our sins and trust in Christ. You proclaim and receive his victory, every time you come to the Lord’s Supper, where you receive the forgiveness of all you sins. Christ won our salvation. He gives you salvation. And he wants you to believe it and put your trust in him. The devil will always tempt us, but Jesus will never forsake us. So, fight the good fight, trusting in your dear Lord Jesus. The promise land awaits! Amen.