Luke 4:1-13

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, written by Martin Luther... was a hymn written when he was seriously battling Satan. Satan attacked Jesus, Martin Luther,... and he attacks you! Satan is always at work in your life trying to create doubt. He taunts you, your marriage, your family, and he even works in the church. He will continue to try to create doubt, and you will need some help to defeat Satan. Satan is very real... and he’s very smart. But never forget that he is very misleading and Satan is a liar! I saw the movie Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of Jesus Christ" last Thursday and Mel did an excellent job of showing Satan working in the background. If Satan will go after the Son of God, he will also... and does on a daily basis... come after you. You need a way to defeat Satan, a way to stop him in his tracks and send him away. Today, we learn by example as we hear how Jesus dealt with Satan.

The season of Epiphany showed us who Jesus is and it is the season of Lent that tells us what he must do to accomplish his work of redemption. The Gospel lesson show three temptations that Satan carried out in trying to divert Jesus Christ away from the cross and away from God’s plan of Salvation. Listen to these three temptations, the seeds of doubt, and how Jesus defeats Satan.

The event of the temptations immediately follows Jesus’ Baptism when the Holy Spirit descended down like a dove. In verse one, the Holy Spirit is mentioned twice. Verse one states: 1) Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, and 2) he was led by the Spirit in the desert. Jesus was led into the desert and he was tempted by the devil. It should be noted that Jesus was tempted by the devil, not just three times, but continuously. You too are tempted by the devil on a daily basis. If you are tempted, Jesus too was tempted. For forty days he was tempted, one on one, by the devil". The Scriptures talk about just three of these temptations, but there were many, many more.

Before we move into today’s lesson, I want to ask what does it mean to be "tempted"? Let’s take a look at the word tempt and temptation. These words have two meanings in the Scriptures: The first meaning is "the testing of our faith, which God uses to bring us closer to Himself."

The second meaning of is not to draw us nearer to God, but attempts to lure us away from God and His ways.

Let’s move on to the lesson. Scripture states that Jesus has not eaten during these forty days. This sets up the first of the listed temptations from Satan. Scripture states:

Satan tempts the hungry Jesus. You to can relate with Jesus’ needs. If you have not eaten anything all day, your stomach grows hungry and hunger pains set in. Jesus, in his human nature, suffered hunger just like you. Here, Jesus has not eaten for 40 days. Satan tempts one of the most basic human needs, the need to eat. After all, what is wrong with committing one little miracle so that you can satisfy your hunger? Prove yourself to be the Messiah, ... perform the miracle! Satan wants Jesus to follow Satan’s will, not God’s will. Go ahead, prove yourself ... Perform the miracle! He is planting a seed of doubt that God provides.

Jesus is the "Bread of Life" and He answers with the very word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Jesus trusts in God’s provision, not Satan’s will.

Satan begins his second attack.

As I stated earlier, Satan is the father of lies. He lied in the Garden of Eden to Eve and he lies to Jesus Christ claiming that he has the authority to give all the kingdoms of the world. That’s like claiming that I will give you your car if you do this, but you already own the car. Jesus created the World. But how could this be tempting to Jesus? Well, Jesus came to save the world, and Satan is offering Jesus the world, as if he has the ability to remove the need for Jesus to suffer on the cross. He is offering Jesus a short-cut and away around the cross. All Jesus has to do is worship Satan! To often, you seek the short-cut in life, and take the easy way out. Is this following your will or God’s will? Jesus came to carry out God’s will, not Satan’s will. Satan, the father of lies does not have the power and authority to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. It is a lie!

Satan tries another approach at tempting Jesus. Scripture states:

Jesus has used Scripture to defend against Satan, and now, Satan uses Scripture to lead Jesus into temptation. Satan calls on Jesus to prove his trust in God’s saving power. He says throw yourself down, surely the angels will save you! Satan is quoting from Psalm 91:11-12, except he changes it by changing a few words and altering the focus. Satan is using God’s Word wrongly and Jesus recognizes it. Satan is challenging Jesus to prove that he trust’s God’s Word as much as he says he does. But ...

Jesus stops Satan’s temptation with one sentence from Deut 6:16. We too are not to fall into this trap and test God by jumping in front of cars to see if God will intervene. We are to trust in God’s promise, but we are not to challenge Him. Jesus proved the promise once and for all on through His life, death, and resurrection. It is God’s Word that felled Satan’s temptations and it is God’s Word that brings you saving faith.

After Satan was finished with Jesus, Scripture states:

13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Notice the final words of this verse. Jesus defeated Satan in these temptation and left, but the Scripture adds "he left him until an opportune time." Jesus had to be on guard at all times while he was here on earth,... and so do you! You have to resist Satan on a daily basis, but remember that Jesus defeated Satan, not by His divine nature, but through his human nature (like you and me) through using the Word of God. In today’s sermon hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God", it is God and His Word that is our trusty shield and weapon to be used to defeat Satan and his seeds of doubt everyday. The hymn states "one little word can fell him." That little word is the Word of God. You received this Word in your Baptism and you continue to receive this saving Word through the Bible readings, the sermon, and the Lord’s Supper. You should find comfort in knowing that you have a trusty weapon and shield that provides the very same defense that Jesus used to defeat Satan. He didn’t use supernatural powers, but the very Word of God that you hold so dear. This is why it is important to continue to read God’s saving Word, to memorize it, to understand it, and to depend on it. You are to be on guard and the only weapon needed to defeat Satan is the Gospel itself.

Jesus came to earth to carry out God’s plan of Salvation by saving the lost. This is the very purpose of Jesus coming to earth, that is to be born, live a perfect life, to die on the cross as a substitute for your sins, and declare victory through His resurrection. He did this for you! You are saved through the faith that is given to you in God’s Word. The very Word that brings you faith also drives Satan away. We also rejoice in the prayer we will be praying, the prayer Jesus taught us to say, especially when you say "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil". The beauty of this prayer is that it is not a man-made prayer, but a prayer that is God-made and given to you by God. So today, we rejoice in faith, the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and the best defense system against Satan, .... the Word of God! AMEN