Luke 4:1–13

¹And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." ⁴And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'" ⁵And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." ⁸And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" ⁹And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,' ¹¹and "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" ¹²And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" ¹³And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Command this stone to become bread...we are tempted. We want bread. We want to be full and satisfied. It's all about fulfilling our desires and the temptations rage on and on. And we give in to them over and over. Get all you can out of life. Study hard. Get a good job. Be a success. It is better to gain the whole world than to worry about some fuzzy, ethereal, boring life after. Get more for yourselves. Don't worry about others. Don't worry if they have enough bread, just make sure you've got bread for yourself. Feed the hungry? Give drink to the thirsty? Visit the sick? Clothe the naked? Drive a mile out of our way to give someone a ride? Lift a finger to do a favor? Take a minute out of our busy schedule? Open our homes to the homeless? What!, am I my brother's keeper? Only if I have enough for myself first.

Take care of yourself first, then you will be able to help others...another lie from the father of lies. But, it makes sense to our logic. It seems rational. Like so often we resort to our own intelligence, our own reason to fend against Satan's temptations, even to justify our actions, but our reason fails and we fall prey to Satan's lies once again.

I will give you all the kingdoms of the world.... Yes, we want power. We want control. We want to be in charge. We want to make the decisions. We know best and want to tell everyone else what they should do. We may even be convinced that it is out of love that we tell others what is best for them and how they should live their lives. We want kingdoms, we want to be king, whether at home, in the family, at work, in the community or in church, we want to be the one who makes the decisions and calls the shots. Don't tell me what to do. That's my area. We want to be served rather than to serve. Our internal desires respond to these external enticements. Once again, we fall into Satan's clutches.

We are sinful. We cannot resist by any effort, any self-determination, any amount of intelligence. We don't have the resources to stand up to his temptations. Completely disastrous are the results when the Christian tries to resist the temptation with his own resources. Then Satan's victory is assured. There is only one weapon against his temptations—God's word. But Satan's strategy is to take that away from us because without the Word of God we fall from grace. We cannot stand against the external circumstances we call temptations either direct or indirect. He makes us too lazy to learn God's word. He makes us too tired. He makes us too busy. He makes it seem dull and uninteresting. Sunday morning we are more tired than on any other day of the week. But his most subtle and effective weapon is to twist God's word so that we think we have it, but don't. "It is written," says Satan, "he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you...and on their hands they will bear you up." Twisted, distorted, words taken out of context. Sounds good. It's right out of the Bible, isn't it? But no, it's twisted to mean something other than what God really said.

Sons of Adam and daughters of Eve are we all. "Did God really say you would die?" Satan asks from a tree in paradise. Satan takes away God's word by causing doubt, and then our faith falters, we are in his hands. We fall into his trap. And we are plunged into inevitable death; we are cast out of the garden into the wilderness. The door to paradise is shut tight, and an angel guards it to make sure no sinner can ever return.

We are the man who was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. And no, we don't have the strength to resist the temptation. We don't have the resources. Our natural inclination is to go with him. We fall into his trap. We give into to our internal desires. We are on under the curse of death. Every Christian has failed and continues to fail!

Lord, we confess that we are sinners by nature and unclean. From birth we are in Satan's power. He tempts and we fall into sin. We have obeyed the voice of temptation and have become the slaves of sin which leads to death. We cry to you, Oh Lord, God of our fathers. Hear our voice and see our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. Bring us out of this bondage with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He was the Son of God, made man. He was fully human and joined us in our humility and our suffering. He emptied himself of his divine powers and glory and submitted unto the law of God just as we are subject to God's law. He suffered as we suffer. Satan met him in the wilderness. He was tempted in every way just as we are tempted, yet without sin. As Adam was tempted and fell into sin, so Jesus was tempted, but he did not fall. Adam tried to use his own strength and reason, and it seemed good to him, but Jesus relied only upon the powerful word of God. Jesus responded to every temptation with, "It is written..." God's word was his only and complete defense against the power of the devil. Jesus did not use his own power or strength. He did not call upon his divine nature or use his power as God to resist temptation. He was in his humility. He was fully human. He fought Satan as a human being, using only the Word of God. Even though he was the Son of God, it was in no way easier for him to resist than for us, because he had emptied himself of his divine power, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

If you are the Son of God, serve yourself. Satisfy your every desire. Turn these stones into bread so you can eat and be satisfied. Don't worry about those 5000 who had no food but for five loaves and two fish, just make sure you have enough to feed yourself. Don't worry about those poor lost souls who have not a shepherd, they don't deserve your love. Don't worry about that poor man whom robbers left half dead on the side of the road, he is only a foreigner, so just go on your way. You are too important. You don't have time for all these pesky little problems people have. Just make sure you take care of yourself, then if there is anything left over, you can think about taking care of others. Get all you can out of life. Study hard. Get a good job. Be a success. It is better to gain the whole world than to worry about some fuzzy, ethereal, boring life after.

It is written, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. It's not what you earn; what you gain; what you accumulate. But it's by the saving power of every word that comes from the mouth of God, that the devil is stopped dead in his tracks. Not by intelligence—Jesus did not try to outsmart him. Not by debating—Jesus didn't argue with him. Not by trying harder to resist—Jesus didn't resist by his determination. But by the Word of God which is powerful to save all who believe in him. It is the sword of the Spirit. One small word from the mouth of God fells the ancient serpent, who so fiercely rages against us.

And by the word of God, Jesus stood against the devil for us. He fought our battle and won by the Word of God. He resisted temptation and overcame by God's word. He stood in our place in this wilderness of sin and he conquered. In the wilderness he stood up to Satan and by the tree of a cross he opened the door to Paradise to all who believe in him and leads us back into the garden. What good is it to gain all the world, and lose your soul? Jesus fought the fight to win your soul. So that regardless of the failures of all Christians, they still succeed in Christ. "We cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched are, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders." Yes, with the sing of the cross; with the wonder of resurrection from the dead. He has delivered us from the power of Satan. He has fought the good fight. He has won the crown of victory. He has been tempted in all things as we are, yet he did not sin. He stood up to the devil for us and he hands us the victory. Jesus Christ, our champion against the devil, endures and overcomes every temptation on our behalf by trusting in the Word of his Father. You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased. Now he says to you who believe and are baptized in his name, "You are my beloved sons and daughters, with you I am well pleased."

The Lord is not oblivious to our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. But has mercy upon us. He has brought us out of bondage through the "sings and wonders" of Holy Baptism, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and now he leads us by his sprit even in the wilderness.

And by the power of his word we shall live. By the power of his word we shall stand against the temptations of Satan. And this morning you will receive that powerful word that gives you life when you come to the altar and receive the body and blood of Jesus, your champion who has given you the victory.

Lord, we give you thanks and praise for your Word which gives us strength to overcome so that we will not fall away from Christ, but remain in faith until he returns for us. We pray that you keep and preserve our faith by the power of your Word so that on that day you will not hold us accountable for our sins, but save us from eternal darkness and woe.

The Lord has conquered. The Lord has overcome. The victory is won and the victory is ours today in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.