Matthew 4:1-11 (page 851, NKJV) “Lessons from Jesus’ Confrontation with Satan” + + Lent I / February 26, 2012 + + Summerlin Evangelical Lutheran Church, Las Vegas, NV
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ But He answered and said, ‘I is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but be every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set 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 shall give His angels charge over you,’ and , ‘in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Then the devil left Him and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” [Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Amen.]In the name of our Lord Jesus, fellow saints by His blood,
Have you ever wondered, why God put this record of Jesus’ three temptations in the Bible? We know that this wasn’t the only time Jesus was tempted. In fact, we know from another portion of Scripture that Jesus was tempted continually in life. The book of Hebrews says of Jesus that He was “…in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin,” (4:15). Temptation was a constant in Jesus’ life, just as it is in ours. So why are these three temptations singled out? And what can we learn here that can be useful for our lives as Christians? Well, there is much we can learn, both about our enemy, the devil and about our Friend, Jesus.
1. LOOK OUT FOR SATAN Maybe the first thing we need to state is something so obvious that we might even neglect to mention it and that is the fact that there is a real Devil. I mention that because according to the Barna Group - a respected Christian research group, 57% of the adults in America say that the devil is not a living being, but a symbol of evil. The same survey said that among Christians 46% deny Satan’s existence. I would hope and pray that every one of us believes that the Devil, or Satan, is a real, living being. Why? Because that is what the Bible says. Listen to these words from the Apostle Peter, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith,” (I Peter 5:8, 9). The Bible tells us about the Devil’s existence for a reason, so that we know that he is a very real, very dangerous enemy that Jesus faced and that we face every single day of our lives.
But just acknowledging the devil’s existence is only the start of what we need to know. We need to learn how consistently he is attempting to meddle with our thoughts and influence our words and actions. Jesus’ confrontation with Satan reminds us that the devil is not a being who lives so far away that we never have contact with him. No, this world in which we live is his turf. He is even called the Prince of this world, and we can expect him to approach us as cleverly, as cunningly and as calculatingly as he approached Jesus.
Look at how cleverly Satan approached Jesus. Keep in mind that Jesus, as the first verse of our text says, was “…led up by the Spirit into the wilderness,” (4:1). Actually says Jesus was “driven” into the wilderness-desert. See, it was the Father’s plan for Jesus to confront Satan. And as part of that plan it was the Father’s will for Jesus to fast for forty days and forty nights. So He’d be very hungry. And notice how Satan pounces on this circumstance. He plays on Jesus’ hunger. He tries to make Jesus’ hunger seem more important and more real than His Father’s words. The Father had said, “Trust Me! Don’t eat! I’ll provide!” But the devil was right there all the while saying, “You’re hungry! Trust me, you’d better eat!”
Does it sound familiar? Satan catches us right in the middle of a set of circumstances and then tries to make those circumstances more real than God’s Word and will. God says, “I will provide!” The Devil says, “Your bills are mounting up, you better start worrying.” God says, “I have forgiven you!” The Devil says, “How could He?” God says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.” The Devil says, “If God answers prayer then why are you struggling?” God says, “My commandments are good.” The Devil says, “How can they be good if they keep you from having fun and causes others to label you a loser?” God promises, “I am with you!” The Devil says, “Then why do you feel so alone!”
The second thing we can learn from this confrontation is how cunning, how slick Satan is. What could be more cunning on Satan’s part than for him to actually quote Scripture to the Lord Jesus? He takes Jesus up to one of the highest points of the temple complex and then intentionally only partially quotes verses 11 of Psalm 91: “He shall give His angels charge over you,” (4:6). So go ahead and jump. It’s a good idea!”
Does that sound familiar? I’m a victim of Satan’s cunning whenever I use Scripture to justify my sinful actions. “God wants me to be happy so how can something that makes me feel so good be so wrong?” Or, “God tells my spouse to love me so, if he or she doesn’t love me the way they should, I’m justified in leaving.” Or, “you can’t expect me to love someone who has done something so wrong.” Or, “God says He has forgiven all sins so how can this sin harm me?” But remember, the one behind those cleverly disguised lies is the same cunning enemy who whispered into Eve’s ear, “You will not surely die”—a bold-faced lie! John doesn’t call him “the Father of Lies” because he’s not good at what he does!
There is one other thing we want to note about Satan from this confrontation, and that is that he is calculating. Notice how he took Jesus up on top of a high mountain and then offered Him a choice. “OK, Jesus, there are two paths to glory. One is the path Your Father has laid out for You. That is the path of rejection, the path of the cross, the path of suffering and death. The other path is simple, one little compromise, one moment of worship, just once and all this will be Yours. Skip the suffering and dying, one little bow and You have the world.”
Sound familiar? Think of how often the tempter has prompted us to forsake the LORD God. “You’ll feel better about yourself if…” “You’ll feel more important if…” “You’ll be happier if…” And the “if” is always followed by something that is so sinful, but the devil makes it look so good. “All this will I give you.” But the reality is that the Devil has nothing good to give us. “You will be like God, Eve.” What did she get? She got guilt, sorrow and death. “You will make a quick buck, Judas.” But what did he get? He got nothing but guilt and despair, and lonely death, and worst of all - eternal death. The temptations of Satan are sugar-coated poison. They look so alluring; they hold such promise; but in the end they destroy not only temporally but eternally!.
2. LOOK UP TO JESUS And if we’re honest today, we’ll have to admit that the Devil has done a pretty good job of destroying a lot of things in our lives. Far too many times, he has tripped us up and trapped us by his clever, cunning, calculating lies. Far too many times he has led us astray and damaged our relationship with our God and with others. Far too many times we’ve left our God in the dust and listened to the Devil’s empty promises.
That’s why we not only want to learn lessons about Satan from these verses. Even more importantly we want to look at the Savior in these verses and learn all we can about Him. First of all, remember that Jesus is a Savior determined to secure our salvation. He knew that the Devil is the one who had taken the human race captive, so when He began His ministry, He sought out the enemy--our enemy. As we said, Jesus was “led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” What better way to show the Devil who was Boss and Master than to take him on One on one.
Second, note how Jesus confronts Satan. He quotes Scripture. In every case, in every temptation, Jesus countered-punched the Devil’s temptations by quoting God’s Word. In so doing, He not only successfully resisted temptation, but He showed us how we can do the same. Do you ever wonder why we ask children in Sunday School and Youth Confirmation classes to memorize Bible passages? We are loading them with ammunition for their battles against the Devil. Do you wonder why we keep encouraging teens and adults to continue with the Word to be faithful in worship and Bible classes? It’s because we need to keep re-arming ourselves with the only weapon that can successfully fend off the attacks of Satan, the one who wants to drag us into his hellish lair and keep us there forever!
Finally – and this is something we want to think of every time we think of Satan – Jesus conquered him. Every time He and the devil clashed, every single time, Jesus was as successful as He was there in the wilderness-desert. The Bible not only says that He was tempted in every way just as we are; it also says He remained without sin. And the beautiful thing is that He was successfully fighting Satan for us, so that He could trade His perfect record for our miserable one. For every time you and I have set our trust in God’s promises aside, Jesus held on to God’s promises without wavering. For every time you and I listened to Satan and excused our fall into sin, Jesus cut through the devil’s lies and held to the truth. For every time you and I have taken the easy road, Jesus stayed the course……..all the way to the cross, to render the final crushing blow to Satan. So that our sins could be completely forgiven, so that our every fall into temptation could be erased, so that Satan could never again successfully accuse us before God, Jesus suffered hell in our place. Let this be the thing we remember above all when we read this account of Jesus’ confrontation of Satan. Remember that this little victory early on in Jesus’ ministry was just a foretaste of the ultimate victory that Jesus won for you and for me at the cross and confirmed at the empty tomb. Amen.
Response: General Prayer, p. 5, folder.