Title: Resisting Temptation: Christ's Victory and Our Hope
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11
Sermon Summary: This sermon explores the significance of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, connecting it to the broader narrative of Lent and Christ's redemptive mission. It emphasizes how Jesus' resistance to Satan's temptations was crucial for our salvation, demonstrating that victory comes through endurance and faith in God's word rather than displays of divine power. The sermon highlights the ongoing spiritual warfare against Satan and provides guidance for believers to resist temptation through reliance on Scripture.
Key Points:
- Jesus' temptation occurs after His baptism, marking a public declaration of His identity
- Satan attacks God by tempting humanity, God's beloved creation
- Jesus resists Satan's temptations using Scripture, not divine power
- Christ's victory over Satan comes through the cross, not immediate destruction
- Believers can resist temptation by relying on God's word
- Lent is a time to reflect on Christ's suffering and ultimate victory
Transcript:
Here we are at another beginning of Lent. Another year, beginning of our journey to the cross. Another season of remembering the suffering that Jesus did undergo for us men in our salvation. As is our tradition at the beginning of Lent, the first Sunday, the gospel reading is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, which might be a little surprising if we're thinking of Lent mainly as a time of reflecting on Jesus' passion. Why not start with Jesus in Jerusalem? With Judas seeking to betray him and with chief priests looking for an opportunity to arrest and crucify him. Why begin with this account that happened almost three years before his death?
The answer to that question teaches us something about Jesus' victory over sin, death, and the devil. In Matthew, Jesus' temptation happens right after his baptism. At his baptism, the heavens are opened and the voice of the Father from heaven announces, "this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Jesus' baptism marks a turning point in the narrative. At his baptism, his identity is publicly announced for all the world. Before that point, only some people knew who he was. Mary and Joseph, of course. People like Simeon, who got to hold him when he was just an infant in the temple. And Anna, the prophetess. The shepherds and magi. John the Baptist. But at his baptism, God declares for the whole world, this is Jesus, this Jesus is my beloved son. The very son of God. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity made flesh, the one whom God had promised would destroy the devil and win redemption for the world. At Jesus' baptism, he is anointed, so to speak, as the son of the living God.
John heard that voice from heaven. The crowds on the banks heard it as well. So also...did our great enemy, the devil. If I were to ask you, who is God's greatest enemy? You would probably respond, Satan. And you'd be right. But if they're enemies, they have to wage war. And if I were to ask you, how exactly does Satan wage war against God? How would we answer that question? Despite what you see in Hollywood, Christianity is not a dualistic religion. We don't believe that Satan and God are equal but opposite forces, battling each other with the same power and strength, each trying to gain an advantage. Far from it. God is God. Satan is merely an angel, a creature, creation of God, and creatures have no power over their creators.
So how does Satan attack God? He can't overthrow the Lord. He can't march into heaven and destroy him. So instead he attacks what God loves the most, mankind made in his image. Every time we suffer the attack of the devil through temptation to sin, we experience Satan's attack against God. Because what he wants you to do is to deny through your sin and reject the relationship that you have with God, your father and the redemption that you have through Jesus Christ, his son and instead choose to walk away and live in the fallenness of sin and death. Satan can't storm the gates of heaven, but he can lure us in. Into the trap of sin and selfishness. And if far enough down that road of sin, in unrepentance, also eventually to eternal death.
So when Satan sees Jesus alone in the wilderness for 40 days, he sees there a great opportunity. He knows that his greatest threat is that he will be defeated by the offspring of the woman. Remember what we read in Genesis just a few moments ago, that after the fall into sin, God pronounced this curse upon the devil, that the offspring of the woman would crush his head, even as Satan would strike his heel. For thousands of years, the devil had time to ruminate on that curse, that end that had been foretold to him, his destiny and fate. He knew his defeat was going to come from a man, from the offspring of the woman. That through this man would come his death, his destruction, his condemnation. And of course, he knew that his defeat would be inevitable. Whatever God says comes to pass. The Lord is no liar. When the Lord says something, it will happen. He will be crushed beneath the foot of the offspring of the woman.
So Satan's not trying to win the war. He knows it's already lost. But like every other defeated enemy, they rarely just lay down their arms, throw up their hands, and surrender. They continue to fight on. trying to inflict as much damage upon the victor as possible. Satan knows he'll be defeated. But he wants to still succeed in bringing pain and harm to our Heavenly Father by bringing pain and harm and hell to us. So he sees Jesus in the wilderness, and he devises a plan. He knows that through the cross would come the redemption of the world.
So he has a different idea altogether. He puts all of his chips into this basket to try to get Jesus to turn away from that path, to not go to the cross. All of Satan's temptations of Jesus are to get him to act here and now, to show his divine power and his authority, to destroy the devil in his power and his glory and majesty. What's wrong with that? You'd say, that sounds like a great idea. Destroy the devil. We don't have to deal with him anymore. If Jesus had done that there in the wilderness, sure, Satan would be defeated, but also there would be no defeat through the cross. There would be no redemption for mankind. There would be no salvation for us. And Satan would win. At least that moral victory that he wants of bringing as many of us down to the fiery lake with him.
Notice every temptation is pointed towards this purpose. Show me that you're the son of God. Show me your divine power. I'm weak. Destroy me now. If you're the son of God, command these stones to become loaves. If you're the Son of God, throw yourself down. Show us your power. But Jesus doesn't show his divine power. He resists that temptation. Instead, he answers back, not with divine authority and might, but with the only weapon and tool that we have been given to use for our defense against Satan: His very word and promise. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone. It is written, you shall not test the Lord your God.
Tempting though it would have been, I'm sure, to destroy the devil. to show his divine power, to show his majesty and the glory of triumphing over his enemy, Jesus does not do it. He knows the time has not yet come. He doesn't want to obliterate the devil in this way. He has to crush his head when his heel is bruised. That is to say, through his own suffering and death. Jesus knows that the victory that he is going to win over Satan and our sinful flesh at the cross is worth the price and worth the wait. Because it means salvation for us. It means salvation that's achieved not just by God in his divine nature, but also in his human nature. The offspring of the woman. The God-man who by his blood redeems us from all sin and from death.
Where does this leave us? Because Jesus resisted temptation for us, we have the hope of eternal life through the cross and resurrection of our Lord. Of course, Satan still seeks to tempt, seeks to attack, and seeks to lure us away from Jesus. He has not given up even now, even knowing that his defeat is imminent. But there we have the example and the promise of Christ our Savior. We have the very word of God, the sword of the Spirit through which we slay the evil one. It is written. When Satan tempts us to go beyond what God has said, to seek something he has not promised, we respond back with the very word of God, the words of Jesus Christ that are on our lips. It is written and whatever the command and the promise God has spoken. In so doing, we drive off the devil and his attacks and his temptations.
Earlier we said that Lent is all about the suffering that Jesus went through for our salvation. But even here at the beginning of Lent, we see, of course, his suffering through the temptation, but above all, How all of this is geared towards his final victory on the cross. Jesus won the victory not by retaliating but simply by enduring. By allowing Satan to do what he would do. Knowing that he was sowing the seeds of his own destruction. And that's what we are called to do too. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. We don't have to charge and assault him and seek to destroy him. We simply hold fast to the word and promise of God. We know that his destruction is assured. And that as we take refuge in the faith and promises that God has given to us, we have safety and security for ourselves and our children. We know that Jesus has won that for us through his death on the cross. That he did not bypass that suffering. That as the God-man, he underwent that battle with Satan for us. Through his blood, redeeming us from sin and death forever. That we too could share in the spoils of his victory. Forgiveness in life and salvation that he has won for all those who believe in him.
In the name of Jesus, amen.