v When I was coaching high school basketball I learned that the key to defeating our opponents was to know them well.
Ø We’d even drive for hours to watch our opponents play.
Ø We’d study our opponents so thoroughly that we could teach our team their plays.
Ø The time spent scouting paid off because we beat many teams that had more talent than we.
v Human beings face a formidable opponent everyday - Satan.
Ø Satan is a fallen angel and has great power.
Ø His goal is to take as many of us to hell with him as possible.
Ø The Bible does more than warn us about Satan’s intent and his attacks. Our text give us the opportunity to watch Satan in action and to see how he can be defeated.
Ø We can prepare well to battle Satan by watching how Jesus handled temptation and by trusting that Jesus defeated temptation.
v After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness where Jesus stayed by himself for 40 days and 40 nights.
Ø During this time he didn’t eat anything. Being the human being that he was, he was hungry at the end of those 40 days.
Ø Though Satan had been tempting Jesus that whole time, we only hear about the last three temptations.
v Satan began by saying, “Since you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread.”
Ø I’ve always been puzzled by this temptation. What would be so wrong for Jesus to do what Satan suggested? We learn why it would have been wrong from Jesus’ answer. He said: “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Ø Jesus was telling Satan that it isn’t food that sustains us but God’s Word. Now Jesus wasn’t thinking about Bible study but about the creating and sustaining power of the words God speaks. The only reason bread fills us and energizes us because God tells it to. Without his Word, bread and every other kind of food would be useless to us. If that’s true, then God can certainly sustain us without food. That’s exactly what God the Father had done for Jesus during those 40 days in the wilderness. Even though he didn’t have a bit of food during that time, God the Father miraculously sustained him. Therefore had Jesus relieved his physical hunger by turning the stones into bread through his own power instead of relying on his Father to provide, Jesus would have committed the sin of distrust.
Ø Satan still uses that temptation on us today. If money is tight at home so that we don’t think we’re going to make ends meet, we may be tempted to fudge on our timecard at work so that our paycheck will be bigger at the end of the month. Or we may be tempted to save money by taking some office supplies home from work for personal use. Any time we think that there is a better way to provide for ourselves than to trust in God’s continuing care we fall for this temptation of Satan’s.
v Satan didn’t seem to be the least bit discouraged when Jesus defeated him in that first round. Satan showed great resourcefulness when he took Jesus to the high point of the temple in Jerusalem and told him to jump down (a distance perhaps of about 450 ft. if this was the side of the temple that hung over the Kidron Valley). Satan even quoted Scripture to show how God had promised to send his angels to protect his people.
Ø In the first temptation Satan had tried to get Jesus to show lack of trust in his heavenly Father, and now he was trying to lead him into a false trust.
Ø Although Satan had used Scripture to back up his point, Jesus responded with another passage to show how Satan had twisted God’s promises. Jesus said: “It is written: “Don’t test the Lord your God.”
Ø While God has promised to care for us he doesn’t want us to take foolish chances. It’s sinful to think that we can drive recklessly or to fill our bodies with junk food and not exercise saying: “When your time is up, it’s up.” In one sense that’s true but God has told us to care for ourselves all the while trusting that he will watch over us. By our carelessness we can shorten our lives by foolish chances we take. So while God has promised to watch over us and to protect us, we are to go about our God-given responsibilities with due diligence to our own safety (look both ways before crossing the street, walking instead of running when at the pool, etc.).
Ø Perhaps what’s most important for us to learn from this second temptation is how Satan knows God’s Word well but isn’t afraid to twist it for his own purposes. In the same way false prophets too know well God’s Word but twist it (whether they mean to or not). So be careful about the kind of Christian books you read or music you listen to. It may sound great because they use God’s Word, but ask yourself if that Word is being used correctly. If not, that message might as well be coming from Satan himself and it will do our faith great harm.
v Although he was 0 for 2 in his tries to tempt Jesus, Satan wasn’t deterred. Next he took Jesus up a high mountain and there showed him all the nations. He told Jesus everything he saw could be his just by bowing down to him.
Ø Again I’ve often wondered why Satan thought Jesus might fall for this temptation. After all wasn’t Jesus God? Didn’t he already have all the nations under his control? In one sense yes but in another sense no. As God Jesus did have control over all things but when he became human he set out to earn control of all the nations by going through with the work of salvation God the Father had set out for him. This was work that would cause Jesus to suffer intensely for the sins of the whole world. Therefore by telling Jesus to bow down to him, Satan was offering Jesus a short cut to that glory. Satan was telling Jesus that he could get what he wanted without suffering.
Ø Thankfully Jesus knew that the “small” price Satan asks his intended victims to pay is always exorbitant for Satan’s short cuts always lead to dead-ends. That’s literally what would have happened to Jesus had he bowed down to Satan – he would have had to die for his own sin of worshipping someone other than God. That would have been bad news for us too because Jesus could no longer have become our Savior. Like the paramedic who gets into an accident rushing to help others will first need help himself, so Jesus would have needed a savior had he fallen for Satan’s temptation.
Ø But Jesus did turn Satan back. He firmly told him that God is the only one we are to worship. Then Jesus told Satan to go and he did.
v Wouldn’t it be great if we could handle temptation the way Jesus did?
Ø We can. Did you notice how Jesus repelled Satan’s attacks? He didn’t unleash his divine power on Satan although he could have easily gotten rid of him that way. Instead Jesus defeated Satan with the Sword of the Spirit – God’s Word.
Ø We have that same Word available to us and are to use it when Satan wants us to trust or worship anything other than God. But before we can use the Word we need to know the Word. Had Jesus not known the Word he wouldn’t have known how to respond when Satan quoted Ps. 91 and told Jesus to jump from the temple because God would protect him. In the same way if we don’t know God’s Word we won’t be able to use it. The Bible is not a good luck charm that bring us blessings because we have it prominently displayed on the coffee table. What good would a gun in a display case do in deterring a grizzly bear if we don’t know how to use the gun?
Ø Friends, take the time to learn God’s Word and then use it. Don’t think that we study God’s Word here in church as an academic exercise. We study it because it’s useful, no, essential in our daily lives.
Ø And like Jesus we can tell the devil to take a hike when he tempts us because James said: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
v But the fact still is we fall for Satan’s temptations because we’re not good at using or we refuse to use God’s Word in the fight.
Ø At times like that it’s great to know that Jesus didn’t fall for Satan. He defeated him and passes that victory on to us. Like the soldier who is awarded a medal for bravery but gives it to one of his comrades, even though this soldier ran from the battle field, Jesus give us credit for his victories over Satan. He does that so we can enjoy the benefits of victory over Satan, namely eternal life in heaven. So when we do fall into sin remember that we also fall into the arms of our loving Savior who has forgiven those sins. Trust that your sins are wiped clean from your record and be reenergized to go back out and fight Satan’s attacks.
v While Satan is still a formidable foe we don’t have to be afraid of him.
Ø We’ve had a chance to scout him today and know how he operates.
Ø He’ll come after us when we’re weak and vulnerable.
Ø He’ll promise blessings he never delivers.
Ø He’ll twist God’s Word to say what it doesn’t.
Ø And he’ll offer shortcuts to happiness that always lead to dead-ends.
Ø Because we now know this, we can face him and defeat him. No, we dare not take Satan on alone but we don’t have to. God is with us and he has given us the Sword of his Word to slice through Satan’s temptations. Sure we’ll still fall for Satan’s temptations daily but Jesus is there to daily pick us up and dust ours sins off of us so that we are ready to fight another day. Because Jesus has already won the war for us, we will keep battling Satan until our dying day. Amen.
