Prayer of the Day: Almighty and merciful God, You sent Your Son into the wilderness to face the tempter and to overcome where we fall. Strengthen us by Your Holy Word, guard us in every trial, and lead us to trust not in ourselves but in Christ alone, who has won the victory for us; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” Then the Devil took him into the holy city. He placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, and he 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 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written: You shall not test the Lord your God.” Again the Devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will bow down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the Devil left him, and just then angels came and served him.

Lent is one of the longest seasons in the church year. How long is Lent? Well, it is 40 days long. Why is it 40 days? Interestingly enough, it is based on our text this morning: Jesus being in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. Is 40 days a long period of time, or is it a short period of time? Well, I suppose that depends. As someone who preaches multiple sermons and conducts multiple services per week during Lent, I can assure you that it is indeed quite a long period of time. If you are not eating, then 40 days is a really long time.

Our text says that after fasting 40 days, Jesus was hungry. Talk about an understatement! Here we see Jesus dealing with adverse circumstances. How does He handle them? As the Son of God, but also as the Son of Man. Jesus, like us, dealt with temptations. But Jesus gives us victory over temptation. He shows us how to deal with it: identify temptation’s motive and then take shelter in the Word. Victory over temptation comes through Christ. We pray: Sanctify us, O Lord, by Your truth; Your Word is truth. Amen.

Satan seizes on the environment and the situation to try to get Jesus to cave. You can see the poison in his words: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” He is essentially saying, “Oh really? So you’re the Son of God? Some Father you have who has placed you out here to be desolate and hungry. Why don’t you use that Son-of-God power and change these stones into food? You are obviously hungry. So, since you are the Son of God—right?—then prove it.”

What is the motive of the tempter here? He is trying to seize upon Christ’s hunger. But this temptation is more than simply satisfying His hunger. Satan is trying to get Jesus to rely on Himself instead of relying on His Father. Jesus Himself taught us to pray to the Father, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and He understood what that really meant. Daily bread includes more than physical food.

Jesus answered, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” He is quoting Moses, which He does time and again in this section. Israel in the wilderness failed to live on God’s Word and trust God to provide for them. Jesus would not fail, no matter how hungry He was.

We will all face temptations. But we have the same answer Jesus had. We have a Father who cares for us. When faced with temptations, we need to do what Jesus did: live on God’s Word and trust God to provide.

Satan was not deterred. One temptation gives way to another. The Devil took Him into the holy city, placed 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 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

You can observe the craftiness of the father of lies here. Jesus just defeated him with the Word of the Lord, so Satan quotes Scripture too. Here he quotes Psalm 91.

What is the motive in this temptation? To get Jesus to arrogantly prove the strength of His faith. If Jesus did what Satan suggested, it would appear to prove that He trusted His Father. The problem is that doing something reckless that God has not commanded is tempting God, not trusting God.

How does Christ defeat Satan? It was dangerous for the serpent to quote Scripture to Jesus. He responds in kind. Jesus said to him, “Again it is written: You shall not test the Lord your God.” It would not be right for Christ to put Himself needlessly in jeopardy, for that would be testing His Father instead of trusting Him.

Would you walk up and down the middle of a busy street? Of course you would not. But what if you did and said, “God will take care of me”? You would be putting Him to the test. That would be the opposite of trusting God. That is what Satan was tempting Jesus to do: validate belief in God by doing something dangerous.

Well, Satan once more raises the stakes. Again the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said to Him, “I will give you all these things if you will bow down and worship me.” What did this look like? It must have been magnificent. But what is the motivation? Satan is saying, “As the Son of God, you deserve this. I will give it to you. You just need to kneel. You can skip the cross. You do not need to suffer.”

Jesus remains undeterred and dismisses the devil: “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” This is Catechism 101—the First Commandment. It is what the devil has always been after: to be in the place of God.

Would it have been easier for Jesus simply to kneel instead of marching to the cross? Of course it would have been. That is why Jesus gives the strongest rebuke: “Go away, Satan!” It echoes the rebuke Peter received when he tried to remove the cross. Even suggesting it is satanic. He is ordered to go away, and he must obey.

So what is the takeaway from this account? First, identify temptation. That is easier said than done. Temptation never introduces itself honestly. It cloaks itself in reason and justification. Eve saw that the fruit was good. It didn’t appear to be evil. Identifying something as both tempting and sinful is the first step.

Next, consider its source and motive. The devil tries to get us to do what we should not. The world pressures us to conform. The flesh desires what we know is wrong. All of it is a ploy against the First Commandment—to trust something other than God.

What do we do then when we see the temptation? Be like Joseph and flee. Do not be like David, who looked and did not turn away. As James says, desire conceives sin, and sin brings forth death. Control what you can. Do not test the Lord your God.

Sometimes you cannot flee. Then you do what Jesus did: “It is written.” “Go away, Satan.” As James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

So… how are you doing in resisting the temptations? Are you defeating them, or are they defeating you? We fail a lot, don’t we? In fact, it seems like most of the time we succumb. But wait… I thought that we were strong Christians. We should stare down any and every temptation and send it packing, right? Wrong—so, so very wrong.

The takeaway is not that we need just to identify temptation better and try harder. The takeaway is that victory over temptation comes through Christ our Savior.

You do not have to ever face temptation alone. That’s what the devil wants you to do—to think that you yourself can handle whatever he has to throw at you. That’s when disaster happens. Was Jesus alone when He faced the tempter here in the wilderness? No, He had His Father with Him. When you are tempted, are you alone in the hour of temptation? No—never. You have Jesus. He makes victory over temptation possible. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

Here is the greater, sweet Gospel takeaway from this: Jesus does it all for you. Jesus didn’t have to deal with this. He could have flexed His divine power and chased Satan away. But He goes through this temptation for you. He went through death on the cross for your sins.

When tempted, don’t rely on yourself. When you have fallen into temptation, don’t rely on yourself to make up for it by trying harder. Rather, rely on the One who is your righteousness and salvation. Rely on Him alone who made up for your sins. He forgave your sins on the cross. He was righteous for you. Rely on that. That is victory over sin and death.

Jesus defeated temptation, and we can defeat it through His victory. It’s not about how strong your willpower is. It’s not even about how strong your faith is. It is about how strong the One in whom you have faith is. It’s about whom you are going to believe: what God says, or what Satan falsely claims.

Jesus didn’t give in. He stared temptation in the face and defeated it—not just here, but all throughout His life. He doesn’t kneel. He goes to the cross. He pays for your sin. That is real love—love that defeats your enemies for you, love that dies for you, love that makes you victorious. We are hit or miss when it comes to temptation, but Jesus is rock solid, both to help us overcome it and, as Savior, to forgive the times we fail. All praise and thanks be to Christ, who defeats temptation and gives us the victory He earned.

—Pastor Pastor Ben Libby

Redeemer Lutheran Church
Cheyenne, WY

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