Jesus Overcomes Temptation in Our Place :: Matthew 4:1-11

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Temptation is as old as man and as new as this very hour. When the man and the woman succumbed to the first temptation in the garden (Gen 3:1-19), Satan gained control over this world. He’s been tempting us ever since. 

Did God really say, he whispered in the beginning (3:1). 

Really, truly, he still says today. Are you sure that’s what God’s word really says?

The original sin of self-idolatry in the garden (3:5) introduced into the world a terrible corruption: Death (3:19). Our sin immediately began weakening our flesh, causing all of us to capitulate habitually to more sin. The original sin brought us fear and trembling; shame, sickness, and sadness; death and despair. It made us blind and deaf to the Gospel. It caused all of creation to begin groaning under its weight. We began looking to ourselves for life. We began taking the name of the Lord in vain, making promises we knew we wouldn’t keep. We began despising God’s Word, changing it to suit ourselves. We began dishonoring our Father and Mother, insisting on doing our own thing. We began hating, cheating, stealing, lying, despising God’s gifts to us. We began worshiping our thoughts, words, deeds. And it began killing us all.

Is it any wonder God hates sin so much? Sin is pure evil. No sin is greater than another. They each end in death. They each end in separation from God. Ultimately, they each will end up in the unquenchable fire of hell. 

God didn’t create us for that fire. God created us to have life and life abundantly. He created us to prosper and grow, and to care and love. He created us for good. He created us to be in fellowship forever with him. He did not decree that people should become sinners. He will not lead us into temptation, which is evil. He desires all to be saved.

But we are all dying, and we cannot free ourselves.

To break the death grip on us all ... God first promised to send his son ... the True Son of Man ... our Lord Jesus ... the seed of a woman ... to crush the serpent’s head (Gn 3:15, Gal 4:4). True God became True Man ... One God ... The God with us. This Son of Man, our Lord Jesus became just like us, yet without sin. 

Today we see the beginnings of the fulfillment of that promises.

Immediately after his baptism, Jesus began facing every temptation of the Evil One. Like the man and woman in the garden, he was tempted to seek his own way of providing for body and soul (v 3). He was tempted to test the will of God (v 6). He was tempted to deny God (v 9). He was tempted in the wilderness (v 3) and the Promised Land alike (v 5). He was tempted to change his Word (v 6). He was tempted to abandon his ministry. He was tempted in the Garden. He was tempted to go his own way, to do his own thing. He was even tempted on the cross to abandon that cross. ... And he overcame it all. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on account of all that ... all that our sinless savior has done, we can have confidence that ...

BY HIS WORD, GOD WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE WILDERNESS OF OF TEMPTATION INTO THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM TO COME

This is our theme. This is where our reading from Matthew 4 is leading us today.

I

Many within Christendom today deny the existence of Satan, aka the Devil, aka the Adversary or Accuser. That’s because the world is still listening to the whispers of the devil’s temptation to question whether God really said. You should be shocked to learn that 62 percent of Americans today say that Satan isn’t real ... that he’s just a symbol. And the number of people who believe it continues to grow. You also should be shocked to learn that more than forty percent of Americans today believe that Jesus was a sinner. Did God really say, they ask you. 

You should know the answer: He had no sin (2 Cor 5:21). He was not just not guilty, he truly innocent (1 Pt 3:18). And God really did say that the Devil was evil, and that the Devil is real. He masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). He is a liar (Jn 8:44). He is deceitful (Eph 6:11). He is more powerful than you (Jude 9). He knows the Bible better than you. And given the chance, he will devour you (1 Tm 3:6) ... especially through your temptation to please yourself ... or as Paul tells Timothy to seek those who will change God’s Word to suit yourself.

It was not long after some Christians began denying the historicity of our Old Testament reading that they began denying the birth of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ. They reduced Jesus to nothing but a sinful man who didn’t rise from the dead. As Paul preaches, If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:14). 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, repent of your thoughts, words, and deeds, and believe the Gospel! The devil’s temptations are often overwhelming for the child of God who has tasted and knows the goodness of the Lord, who has received grace and pardon with God in Christ. But Jesus is not only greater, but the greatest. Jesus has overcome the world along with its temptations (Jn 16:33).

II

And (the Tempter) said to [Jesus], “If you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread (v 4). ... If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down (from the pinnacle of the temple) for it is written, he will give his angels charge over you, and in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone (vv 5-6). ... And, if you will fall down and worship me, all (the kingdoms of the world) will be yours (v 9).

Jesus was having none of it. 

Satan tried to make Christ doubt that he was the son of God. But Jesus is greater. He thought Christ would not notice that he was garbling God’s Word. But Jesus is greater. He supposed he could fell our Lord by dangling the bauble of wealth and earthly power before his eyes. But Jesus is greater. 

The first temptation consists primarily in Satan’s attempt to get Jesus to use his own power to serve himself in time of need. I am sure you have felt the same. The second temptation is aimed to cause doubt in God’s promises. I am sure you’ve felt the same. And the third presupposes that the kingdoms of the world are more glorious than the kingdom of God. 

III

But now on account of Christ ... sin, death, and the Devil are destined for the unquenchable fire of hell. 

We face these temptations almost every day. But unlike you and me, Jesus does not turn aside. He stays true to himself: Perfect in every way. Go away, Satan ... Jesus said. It is written, he declared faithfully.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus has overcome temptation for you. He turned back the temptations of Satan for you ... not just in the wilderness. Not just on the temple, or on the mountain. But he turned back Satan from among his followers, and he turned back Satan on the cross. Jesus, who knew no sin, took your sin to that cross and made certain it died with him, so that it would never be heard from again. God poured out all of his wrath upon that sin on the cross. Then he rose into eternal life. Sin and Death have lost their sting.

IV

And how do we know this? Because God’s Word really says so.

As Paul writes in our epistle ... Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:1-2). Indeed, it is on account of Christ’s death and resurrection that we have the forgiveness of sins. But Jesus also gave us that Word in his sacraments to strengthen the faith he gave us in the face of temptation. As the evangelist to the Hebrews proclaims, Because he himself has suffered and has been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted (Hb 2:18). He helps by drowning your sin daily and raising you into new life. Baptism is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior (Titus 3:5). Baptism unites us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Gal 2:20). On account of this, He has clothed you in the robes of righteousness to wear to the feast of forgiveness, our Lord’s Supper, which has no end. There, he delivers to you forgiveness of your sins. 

And how do we know this? Because God really said so. 

So hear and receive God’s Word and sacraments whenever you can. His means of grace contain and bring with them God’s gifts, his protection, his shelter, and his power against death and the devil and all temptation of body and soul (LC V 70). 

Then the devil left him, and behold angels came and ministered to him (v 11) ... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). 

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