Lent 1 -Facing Life with Jesus – Facing temptation

O Almighty and eternal God, we implore You to direct, sanctify, and govern our hearts and bodies in the ways of Your laws and the works of Your commandments that through Your mighty protection, both now and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.

In this season of Lent we are on a forty day spiritual journey where we will walk with Jesus as we face the issues of life. Each of us need to face life as it is with Jesus for without Him we can not stand, but with Him, we will be able take life as it comes to us. Today, as we face life with Jesus- we face temptation.

When the Devil was defeated in the wilderness, he did not give up. He waited for another opportunity. Jesus was never free from temptations. It is true with Christians as well. The closer you get to Christ the more you are going to be tempted. The Devil never quits unless you surrender or you die. This calls for you and me to be constantly on the watch, ever to be prepared. Let us consider several things we need to know about the Devil.

1. The first thing we learn about the Devil is that He is real. Listen to verses 1-2 of our text for today: “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil.” Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit for a specific purpose 0 to be tempted by a specific person. That person was the devil. The problem with temptation, for certain people, is that they do not come to realize that temptation comes from a specific source. Temptation comes from a certain person and that person is the devil.

The devil is not someone made up in the minds and the imagination of people. He is a real person with real motives and real causes. He has a plan of attack. He has a certain procedure in which he operates.

Created good he opposed the Lord and fell. In the book of Revelation we are told: ‘And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9) The devil is a real person. A fallen angel who opposes all that is good. He has lost his home in heaven and now prowls upon this earth.

Transition: Not only is the Devil a real person we also see from our text the source of temptation.

2. The source of temptation. Jesus was tempted by the Devil. Not only is the Devil a real person he is one who has come to seduce, entice and lure us away from God as he tempts us. This is his strategy. He plan is to wage war on Christians. Having lost the war in heaven and having lost his place in heaven the Devil now lives upon this earth choosing to pick on God’s children. Quite clearly we can see that the Devil is nothing but a big bully. What do we say about such people? They prey upon the weal. They can not defeat someone their own size so they lie in wait for one weaker and more vulnerable.

Transition: This is a picture of the Devil. He is real. He is a real person. His strategy is the dilution and the destruction of Christians and all others that fall victim to his prey. But how does he operate. He attacks with half truths.

3. He attacks with half truths. On three different occasions the devil tempted Jesus by saying two little worlds if and you. “If you are the Son of God command this tome to be bread…” To you I will give all this authority and their glory - it has been delivered to me and I give it to whom I will if you, then, will worship me, it shall be yours.” If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from here…” What the devil has to say was true. Jesus was the Son of God. The devil put that truth into his temptations but he used the truth with a smattering of lies so as to make any of the truth which he spoke a half truth. This is the tactic of the evil ho puts a little truth in every lie to make it sound like truth. And with that half truth he deceives and leads astray all who would listen to him.

The only way for us to confound and defeat the devil is to gird ourselves with God’s truth. Every time Jesus was tempted by the devil the only weapon that He used with the Scriptures – the Word of God. Without being armed the Scriptures we are lost and we will not be able to stand up to the devil. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Arm yourself with God’s Word. It is the only tool we have to fight off the temptations of the devil. This is what Jesus used to fight temptation. If that was the only weapon that Jesus used can we try any other?

Transition: Our own efforts can not work against temptation. Only God’s Word will work in defeating Satan and his cunning ways.

4. From our text for today we also see that the Devil never quits. He is persistent. On three different occasions Jesus was tempted. Each time there was a different approach. The Devil came to Jesus again and again with one temptation after the other to wear Him down and draw Him out. The Devil came when Jesus was weak after having fasted for 40 days. So also when we are weak and vulnerable that is the time we are most susceptible to be lead astray by the Devil’s lies. And after Jesus stood the testing this time we are told that the Devil left Him but only until another opportune time. Again and again, and again Jesus was tempted. So likewise the Devil will be persistent in his temptations seeking to entrap us and lead us astray in any way that he can,

Conclusion: We battle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and rulers in spiritual places. The devil is someone that we should take seriously. Jesus took him seriously by defeating him in the desert and at the cross. As we live our life facing temptation may we look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who has resisted the Devil and promised to give us His Word and his grace to face temptation. This is how you and I face life with Jesus. This is how we face temptation when it happens and when it comes. Look to Him to fight the Devil for us. In Jesus’ Holy Name. Amen

Woodcut by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld, a nineteenth-century German artist known especially for his book Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden (‘The Book of Books in Pictures’), ©WELS.