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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning, this first Sunday in Lent, is from the Gospel reading, The Temptation of Our Lord Jesus. You may be seated.
This morning’s text talks about something that most of the world scoffs at, or maybe we should say most of first-world countries scoff at, because they seem to be more enlightened than supposedly. And that is the reality in the existence of Satan or the devil. Scriptures speak very plainly of it. And it truly is the unenlightened who disbelieve in such a creature. And that is what he is. He’s a creature. He is not equal to God. It is not as if God is good and Satan is evil and they’re on an equal plane. God is God, and Satan is nothing more than a creature. Once an angel, who, like Adam and Eve, but preceded Adam and Eve in rebelling against God, was kicked out of heaven by God. And so he went down to try to destroy then God’s creation, where God said everything that he had created was good. And he did change it, didn’t he? Well, not so much him.
And that’s important to remember. Satan did not force Adam and Eve to do anything. Satan has no power to force you to do anything, right? But boy, does he know how to trip your triggers, to touch your buttons, to flip your switches. Boy, does he know exactly what it is to suck you in. And it’s different for each one of us, isn’t it? What is my weakness isn’t yours? And what is your weakness isn’t theirs? There are some things that some people in their life, they don’t seem to struggle with, and there are other things that they do. We try to convince ourselves that we’re different, better than, or not as awful as, and yet we still listen to his temptations.
Satan is an expert in the Scriptures, but he is no theologian. Let me say that again. He’s an expert in the Scriptures. He knows them backwards and forwards. He can quote, or shall we say, misquote any piece of Scripture correctly at all. But he does not understand to whom they apply and the power therein because he is not a theologian. The little children you saw up here singing… They’re theologians. They understand God in a very simplistic but a very powerful way. For they believe something they cannot see, and they trust in something they cannot prove, and they take as truth that which has been proclaimed to them. That’s a powerful gift that God has given you and me as adults.
The problem is, with the time factor and chronological difference between those toddlers and you and me, we’ve allowed and have succumbed to the temptation to think that between our two ears is true enlightenment. We understand the world and see the rough edges of it. They’re so innocent. Please talk to their preschool teachers after you leave. I’m the grandfather of one of them and trust me, it came from his father and from me and so forth and so forth. It runs deep in that one.
Satan is all about trying to buy you. You see, there is a tit for tat. We understand a tit for tat. Someone offers you this; there’s always going to be a price to pay. Is the price worth it? Here comes reason again. Here comes logic and rational thought. Is the price worth it? For you and I know there are many things that we’ve set and weighed the options. If I do it and I don’t get caught. If I don’t do it and don’t get caught. And so we weigh these options and we consider whether it’s worth it or not. Most of the sins you commit, you don’t even think about because it’s such a habit of yours, isn’t it? Most of the sins you wrestle with, you don’t even think about because it comes so naturally, because it flows from who we are as sinful human beings.
Oh, we will always have those moments when we’re weighing options and so forth, but the most problem that you and I have are the daily sins that just come out. And isn’t it interesting that until we are put into a headlock by God and we’re finally still sinning, do we even recognize it as sin? Most of the time, if there’s no foul, there’s no crime. Keep rolling. Yeah, keep rolling.
Because what Satan offers you is immediate gratification, but there is always guilt and shame that follows. Guilt and shame are a very powerful tool that God loves to use to turn you back to Him. Guilt and shame also is a powerful tool that Satan loves to use against you that drives you to despair. And despair of God’s forgiveness is a scary place to be. Judas, who hung himself, is the example to remember of what despair leads to without God’s good news of redemption.
Satan’s motto is, “Glory now! Joy now! Joy now! Suffering later, difficulty later, problems later.” That’s that fine print. And everyone in hell, if you were to interview them here before, you would say, he’s right. That is how it is. We had glory for a moment, and then a moment became trying to capture that glory day in and day out, and then before I knew it, it’s gone, and now I have an eternity of suffering, of sorrow, of… But not the kind of suffering that you and I can ever experience in this world. Not the kind of suffering that you and I can ever experience in this world. For no matter how bad life is in this world, it isn’t hell. They’ll tell you that. And they’ll tell you straight up.
Jesus, on the other hand, comes at you as not misquoting Scripture, but showing himself to be Scripture-fulfilled. Truth incarnate. The Word made flesh. He shows you to be… I’m Scripture in the flesh. And all I desire is for you to see in me your salvation. Your freedom from fear of death and shame. Your forgiveness that wipes you clean. That’s my desire. And it isn’t a tit for tat. It’s a free offer. It can be rejected. And it is, as the testimony of those in hell will testify. But his motto, rather than Satan’s, is struggle now, suffering now, difficulty now, which is in hell, glory later.
Just as Christ himself in this world, in this morning’s text, it wasn’t as if after these three attempts by Satan, that was it. And it wasn’t as if there were only three. Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, constant. You know it and I know it. We experience it in this world. A continual, constant drip. Is Satan in your life and mine?
Christ lived the perfect life. He didn’t bend when you and I have bowed. He didn’t give in when you and I have jumped off the cliff. He didn’t listen and think when you and I have already acted out the thought. If you ask anybody in heaven, they will say to you, he’s right. I had struggle, there was difficulty, but it doesn’t compare to the glory I’m in now for you. I’m not followed by the drip. I’m not dealing with myself.
Because really, Satan’s doctrine is you walk by sight, by experience, by thought, rather than by faith. And Jesus’ concept is you walk by faith, by grace, through faith, in the words and promises of God, not in the rational thoughts or the assessment by your brain.
There’s a saying that people may have heard, and they may think it came from the Bible, but they are wrong. There’s a statement that says something like this: God helps those who help themselves. It is not in the Bible. It is a misunderstanding at best, and it is damnable at worst. God only helps the helpless. He never helps those who help themselves because those who help themselves really don’t need all of God.
Look into the eyes of someone sitting in a hospital bed, or I should say laying in the hospital bed, that that will be where they end their life, and tell me what helpless looks like. Visit someone in a nursing home who is living in a bed, and tell me what helpless looks like. And then look at yourself in the mirror and tell me how often you have that look in your eye. I can tell you it doesn’t cross my eyes very often until God has me in that headlock or on my back and I realize how helpless, helpless I am.
Satan is always trying to tell you, you can do it. You can take care of yourself. You can just trust in God by doing something because he only helps those who help themselves. Because God’s not going to really provide for you. You know, you have to do something about that. Jesus is always telling you, I’ll provide for you, but I provide for you through my word. I provide for you. I provide for you the same ways I provide for all of those who have lived their life and are now dwelling in hell. I provided for them. They didn’t ask for it, but I provided for them. Have you always asked for it?
But do I provide for you? Yes. I provide for all physically, but I only provide for you spiritually through my word and my promises. There you are taken care of. Let them take your husband. Let them take your wife. Let them take your house. Let them take your children. Let them take anything in this world, but no one can take your God from you.
Struggle now. Glory later. Glory now. Struggle later. The conflicting messages of Satan and our Lord Jesus. Isn’t it interesting? Adam and Eve had everything in front of them. They were in a garden of Eden with everything to eat and fill their stomachs, to satiate their palates, to tantalize their senses of smell and hearing and all that. And they just were to stay away from the tree that God said, don’t do that. Honor me. Love me. By staying away from that one tree in this veritable full garden of fruit. And they failed, just like you, just like me.
And yet in a desert, destitute of anything, Jesus doesn’t fail for you, does he? Jesus remains holy for you and your sake. Jesus stands on the line and does not cross it so that you have his forgiveness.
The writer to the Hebrews in the book of the New Testament, the fourth chapter, says this about Jesus in this setting: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heaven, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, meaning our confession of faith, what we believe to be true. And he goes on: For we don’t have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. He knows what it’s like to deal with yourself.
Satan is very powerful, but Satan can’t force you to do anything. Your greatest enemy is you. You struggle with you. Satan assists you in that struggle. But it’s you who are the problem because you can’t get away from you. You go to bed with you, you wake up with you. You look at you in the mirror, you deal with you, and you deal with what you have done in the world. And you deal with what’s been unjustly done to you in the world. He stood the line and did not bend so that he could give you his holiness, righteousness, and blood.
So the writer goes on: Let us then with confidence, not fear, with confidence, not trepidation, confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive damnation, mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. A little later on, he says this: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery of death.
In other words, he didn’t save us from death, did he? He saved us through death. We all will die. But only those who are in heaven know that it’s through Christ’s death that they live. And everyone in hell knows it’s through Christ’s death that they are in hell. He goes on: For surely it’s not angels that Jesus helps. He helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every single respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God for you to make propitiation or payment for your sins.
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help you who are being tempted. And although he was the Son of God, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to you who believe in him. This is the message of the temptation of Christ for you, that you see this stark blackness and whiteness, the difference therein, that Satan loves to say, it’s 50 shades of gray. It’s not.
And everybody in hell can tell you that, and everybody in heaven can tell you that, but God’s Holy Spirit is convicting you and showing you that this is true about you. You are his beloved brother and sister in Christ for whom he died, for whom he stood the line and was tempted in every way, yet did not succumb for all the times that we have. Not for just the ones that we struggle with and weigh the options, but for the ones that flow out of our lips and we don’t even think about it. Especially for those.
In the name of Jesus, our brother in Christ. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
