Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
"I’m starving!" Have you ever said that phrase or heard someone else say it? Most of the time, the person who says it is far from malnutrition! The human desire to eat, hunger, can at times be very strange and cause people to act very strangely. You’ve all heard the stories of pregnant women waking up in the middle of the night and sending their husbands to get pickles and ice cream. You have probably even heard of the horror stories of people stranded on an island or in the mountains and what they ate in order to survive: bugs, rodents and yes even other humans. I have never experienced hunger that severely, and probably would be safe in betting that most of you haven’t either.
Therefore, what our Savior endured for us in the wilderness is quite amazing. Forty days without food! Imagine how hungry you would be after fasting for forty days. Why did Jesus do it? As we listen to God’s Word this morning, we will learn that he fasted for forty days and faced the temptations of Satan for our sake. As our substitute, Theme: Jesus kept the Law for us! In the process of doing this, I. He defeated Satan our enemy and also II. He submitted to the Father’s will.
Introduction to part one: Scripture says that Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work. As we begin the Lenten season, our text takes us to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Right after the Holy Spirit descended upon him, Jesus was led out to the wilderness to inaugurate his earthly ministry with a mighty victory.
His victory was first that I. He defeated Satan our enemy.
Did Jesus know that it was the devil who came and tempted him? Yes, he did. And Jesus saw through the devil’s lies, when Satan attempted to slander the Father and when Satan attempted to offer Christ the easy way out.
Do you understand what Satan is tempting Jesus to do with the first two temptations? The first temptation attacked the provision of the Father. At first glance, it seems that Satan is only asking Jesus to prove that he is God’s Son by making the stone into bread. But, crafty as always, Satan really was implying that Jesus would have to provide food for himself since the Father wasn’t doing it. The second temptation attacked Jesus’ trust in God’s protection. Satan even uses part of God’s Word to test Jesus the second time. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "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.’" Satan quotes Psalm Ninety-one which speaks of God’s protection for his children. But the fiend implies that Jesus should test God out to see if he really means it. But the psalm nowhere implies that one put God to the test. In fact, Satan leaves part of verse 11 out, which gives the perameters in which God promises to protect believers. Psalm 91:11 says, “’He will command his angels concerning you in all your ways.” The word “ways” is a word that means the path of life which God has laid out for you. The word talks about your day to day course of life, actions and undertakings. So, Satan really was misusing God’s Word. It shouldn’t surprise us, and it didn’t surprise Jesus because Satan has been twisting God’s Word from the very beginning. From the time Satan said, "Did God really say, ’You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?", he had been maligning God and trying to use God’s Word against him. He was living up to his name Satan, which means, “the Adversary”.
When neither of the first two temptations worked Satan took one last shot. He attempted to offer Christ the easy way out. We aren’t really sure how much of God’s plan of salvation Satan understood, but he did know that Jesus was there to rescue the world. So his offer to give Jesus the kingdoms of the world comes as no surprise. “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me." By submitting to Satan, Christ would then be under Satan, the one he came to defeat. Satan wouldn’t have really been giving anything to Jesus!
Did Jesus flinch at any of these temptation? No. Instead, Jesus defeated Satan with God’s Word. He rebuffed each temptation with quotes from Scripture. Jesus didn’t use rationalization. Nor was he silent
He struck down Satan in three mighty blows from Scripture, “It is written: ’Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"... “It is also written: ’Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"... "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ’Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’" Even when Satan used Scripture, Christ showed that God’s Word interprets itself!
Satan had been defeated with God’s Word and tried to use God’s own Sword against him! Jesus maintained that God alone has the right to interpret his Word. Jesus faced Satan and his temptations head on, and still kept God’s Law.
How have you been doing? How well have you fought off Satan? Don’t we give into Satan’s deceptions and temptations all to often? He comes to us and tempts us not to trust God’s ability to bless us with all we need. Satan takes our eyes off the blessings which God has given us and says, “Look at all this stuff God hasn’t given you!” Satan even urges us to lust after and covet what others have received. Perhaps, God has chosen to bless our neighbor or friend with a new car every other year, or a new computer every other year, or perhaps it is something else. Whatever it is, Satan comes and tempts us. He gets us to balk at God, and to question why God hasn’t given us those things also. We begin to desire fortune, fame and the glories of this world instead of the Lord and his kingdom. Satan isn’t stupid! No he is a mighty foe! We cannot defeat him! In fact, all to often, we betray our Lord and foolishly fight on Satan’s side.
Thankfully, we have Jesus who has already defeated Satan for us. As God’s Son, Jesus did not have a sinful nature like you and I, but Scripture does say that his temptations were very real. Why did Jesus undergo temptation? The author of Hebrews gives us one reason: “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (2:18) In winning the victory over Satan, the prince of this world, Christ our Prince of Peace defeated the one who also held us as slaves. Because Christ defeated Satan, those who look to Christ in faith, now also have the ability to defeat Satan. We are given the mighty armor of God’s Word and the shield of faith. God tells us to resist the devil and promises that when we do, Satan will flee from us! Jesus has defeated Satan, and has proven that he deserves the title King of kings and Lord of lords!
But Jesus did more than defeat Satan during these temptations. He also proved that he kept God’s holy law and what is more that... He submitted to the Father’s will.
“Help with the dishes.” “Feed the pets.” “Take out the garbage.” Throughout childhood, parents are constantly training children by giving them chores and responsibilities. Each parent may discipline differently and have a different plan for raising and educating their children, but in the end, we have a common goal: to help our children mature.
Did you ever ask yourself why the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to fast and to be tempted? What part of God the Father’s plan of salvation was Jesus fulfilling? In humility, Jesus working out our salvation by perfectly obeying God’s Word and even God’s specific will for him. Not once, did he hesitate. Throughout his isolation and fasting, Jesus trusted the Father’s love and followed his will. God the Father was helping Jesus mature as our Savior; to be completely humble under God and his Law. Not only did Jesus obey the law given for all mankind, but he also kept the will of the Father that he fast for forty days.
The same account in Mark and Luke tell us that these three temptations were only the culmination of Jesus’ temptation while he was in the wilderness for forty days. When Matthew says, “the devil left him” it doesn’t says that he never returned. No, Jesus faced temptation throughout his whole life on earth.
Jesus was constantly tempted by Satan, right up to the end, when Jesus faced the assaults of Satan in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross to give up his work of redemption. Scripture says that Jesus was tempted “in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.” (He. 4:15b)
Jesus submitted to the Father’s path of obedience, agony and the cross, not to gain favor for himself with the Father, but to gain favor for us with the Father. It may seem strange to go back to the beginning of Jesus ministry as we begin Lent, but this is where the great battle for the salvation of our souls jumps into high gear. It is during these three years that Satan and his minions give it their best shot to distract Jesus and to stop his work here. But, you know the outcome. Jesus remained faithful to the duties of his calling. He never took the easy way out. He never gave into temptation. In fact, he humbled himself even to die for us so that we might be saved.
This the comfort which we find in this season of Lent. Not that Jesus was a good man , but that he was and is perfect and without sin. In Lent, we tend to focus on the suffering which our Savior endured for our sins, his passive obedience to God’s will. It is really easy to overlook the fact that he actively was obeying God’s law and the Father’s will for the salvation of all people, his active obedience. Both are essential. Both move our hearts to praise our Lord for working salvation for us. Christ lived a perfect life so that we might receive his righteousness. When we stand before him on Judgment Day, we shall live eternally with him not because of anything we have done, but because he kept God’s law perfectly for us. We can be confident of this because the blood he shed on the cross washed away our sins.
General Collin Powell. General Truman. These names summon feelings of military pride and triumph. They are American heroes who make us proud to be Americans. How about Jesus Christ? Are you proud to bear the name of Jesus Christ? How can we not be? He is our victorious Prince of Peace! He crushed our great enemies; sin, death and Satan! Thankfully, he was not content to keep the victory to himself. He shares it with each and every of us. We have the victory! We are on the winning team! This is the news that sustains us each and every day. News that assures us that we will spend eternity in heaven with him. News we can be certain of because Jesus kept the Law for us. Amen.
