The Gospel text for today begins even as Jesus had just stepped from the waters of the Jordan. His hair still wet from the baptism He had received from John the Baptist and His ears ringing with the words of His Father, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”, He stepped onto dry land. Immediately the same Spirit of God who had descended upon Him, led Jesus away out further into the wilderness to do battle and wage war. This battle pit Jesus against the devil who had in the guise of the serpent tempted the first Adam and His wife to sin and won. Now we may be tempted to read this text and see this battle as onlookers and cheer Jesus from afar, but dear friends, this is your battle too. You are in Christ. In Jesus, all of you go toe-to-toe with the heavyweight champion of hell. When this one man enters the ring with the tempter, all of you step in with Him. Just as in Adam all humanity fell through temptation into sin and death, so in Christ all humanity will rise through obedience into righteousness and life. You are not in the audience; you are in the desert, for you are in Christ.

The Father had said, This is My beloved Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased.” Now Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights and was hungry. The devil came to tempt Him and to say, “Well, if your Father loves you and is well pleased with you, why did He leave you to suffer hunger? Why has He not given you something to fill your empty belly? Has He abandoned you? Why not help yourself? You are the Son of God, are you not? Would it be so wrong to make for yourself some bread from these stones?” But Jesus answered this vile tempter trying to plant seeds of doubt not with argument but with the Word of God. Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,'”. And the word that had proceeded from the mouth of God was this: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Do you see? The temptation was not simply to turn rocks into food; Satan lured Jesus to turn from the trustworthy words of His Father to the fickle feelings of the human heart. But instead of turning stones into bread, Christ stuffed the stone of His Father’s Word into the devil’s open, tempting mouth.

That same satanic mouth has dropped such doubting thoughts into your suffering heart, hasn’t it? At your baptism, too, the Father said, “You are my son or daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” But it doesn’t always seem so, does it? When the bills pile up, have you wondered what use is the Father’s rich grace if you haven’t money to pay what you owe? If you are so loved by Him, why did He allow you to be injured, to become ill, to be widowed or divorced, to spend hour upon hour in pain or misery or heartache or loneliness? If God is good, why is my life so bad? So goes the temptation to despair.

But as it was with Jesus, so it is with you. Satan is luring you to turn from the trustworthy words of your Father to the fickle feelings of your human heart. Do not trust yourself; trust your Father. In this sin-cursed world, there is no end of crosses, sufferings, and pains. But know and believe that behind these masks of suffering is the smiling face of your beloved Father. In love He is bringing you, cross by cross, suffering by suffering, beyond the tempter’s power into conformity with His beloved Son, and finally, to the glory of the resurrection.

In the next temptation, the Devil attacked the assurance of God’s Word this time misusing Scripture. “If you really are the precious Son of God, surely He will save you and do anything to protect you. Does it not say, He will command his angels concerning you?” Yet the devil omitted the words “in all your ways” from Psalm 91. The Father had not commanded Jesus to throw Himself down, so to do so would have been to “walk in a way outside God’s Word and command.” This really was a temptation to abandon the Lord’s clear Word. With this same temptation to abandon God’s Word the devil has shattered the outward unity of the Church into thousands of sectarian shards. Men and women, walking not in the clear way of God’s Word but in their own muddled emotions and opinions, have jumped from the pinnacle of truth and struck their feet upon the stone of heresy. The only solution is as Jesus said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” instead inscribe the Word of God to your hearts and minds, that the words of the tempter, the world and our flesh might be deflected by the power of that Word of truth.

The last recorded temptation has the devil holding prosperity and delight before Jesus. The devil knew that Jesus also knew that greater sufferings awaited Him if He followed His Father’s will. Therefore, the devil tempted Him with the easy way out. “You are better than this, Jesus. You who claim to be God’s Son are not worthy of this miserable life; see the riches, view the honor, covet the glory I would bestow upon you! All, yes, all this and more I will give if only you will get on your knees before me.” But our Lord came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many, as a ransom for you. And if He came not to be served, certainly He came not to pursue wealth, fame, and glory. He came to fear, love, and trust in God above all things, and in so doing, to fulfill the law for you. So He said, “Begone, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'”

In this battle in the wilderness, Jesus was showing that He came to reverse the results of that first battle between Satan and Adam. The first battle took place in the lush garden of paradise where the first and well-fed Adam was defeated by slick words of the tempter and forced to leave. But in the wasteland of the Judean wilderness, Jesus as the new Adam, as the one in place of Adam weakened by fasting defeated the temptations of the devil. Jesus kept the whole Law, served His Father, and served His neighbor even to the point of taking the punishment which all sinful descendants of Adam deserved. Jesus died on the cross to take the curse of sin upon Himself, to grant forgiveness to those who repent and believe, and to destroy the power of Satan to accuse those who have been redeemed and have been recreated through faith. Therefore, as you have been baptized into Christ, you too have been baptized into His death and His resurrection. You are a new creation created in Christ Jesus to walk in newness of His life. This battle fought and won by Jesus Christ is your battle and through faith in Him you are more than conquerors. He fought Satan and won so that paradise might be restored for you and for all believers in Him.  

When you fall prey to the temptations of Satan and sin again, flee to the One by whom Satan has already been defeated. As in Adam you died in sin, so also in the obedient Christ you live. Repent and return to Him. Leave the old Adam with his death and come to the new Adam with all His life. He will again receive and embrace you as His very own. He who was tempted for you is never tempted to turn you away. As you confess your sins, He points you again to His cross, to His empty tomb, and to your baptism as the pastor speaks the clear Word of truth, “I forgive you your sins in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” You are restored to the promise of sonship and heirs of your baptism when the Father declared, “you are my beloved son or daughter.”

He has inscribed His Word upon you in faith as Jesus Christ the Word made flesh now lives in you. You are able by His Holy Spirit to live by every Word that comes from the mouth of God, to remain in His ways, walking in His path. He gives you courage and strength even when the wilderness suffering of this life seems to be pressing you from all sides. Do not despair or give up hope. Whatever you do, do not take a fast from God’s Word, for there is the bread of life that sustains you during such times. Satan wants you to take the easy way of the world to pry you from the Father’s grasp, but rebuke Him, “Begone, Satan!” Pray, fast from the things that this world prioritizes, and fill yourself with God’s Word. Come to Bible Class, come to the extra opportunities to hear His Word during this Lenten season during the Midweek services. Come and be served by the One who came to this earth not to be served but to serve. Jesus will continue inscribe His name and His Word upon you so that nothing can separate you from His love. He promises to feed you with the true bread of His body and quench your thirst with His blood in the wine. Here you are able to see a glimpse into the future, to see paradise regained. You do not need to go spiritually hungry ever again.
As St. Paul says: “those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

Therefore, you are able to live this life as victors in Christ. In thanksgiving to Him, you are able to love and serve your neighbor and deliver this message of Christ to others so that they too may be rescued from falsehood and damnation. Let us then with confidence ever draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We have been freed from the tyranny of the tempter, and brought into the One who conquered the tempter for us, even Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Pastor Aaron Kangas