Victory to The Defeated

The Fight For Our Eternal Lives

2.26.23 [Matthew 4:1-11] River of Life (1st Sunday in Lent)

It's the fight of our lives. Good versus evil. Charming beauty versus monstrous beast. Right versus wrong. Everything hinges on this battle.

We’ve heard all the taglines time and again, and most of us are over all the over-hype. It seems everything is hyped up to be more important than it really is. Culture wars. Real wars. Political battles. Even our entertainment is chock-full over overhype. From movies to sporting events, everything seems to be full of drama and hype.

And most of us are over it. Numb to it. Phrases like good versus evil, right versus wrong don’t even make us to blink. Telling us that everything hinges on the outcome of some event makes some of us roll our eyes. We’ve heard it before. And it wasn’t ever true.

So I know when I tell you that what we are looking at today is a matter of good versus evil, right versus wrong, and charming beauty versus monstrous beast I run the risk of going in one ear and out the other. But it’s true. Monstrous beast came after charming beauty. Wrong wrestled with right. Evil confronted good on good’s home turf. And it was the fight of our lives. The most important battle ever waged.

In round one, good had every advantage. The man of God and the prince of darkness collided in paradise. Everything was tilted in the favor of good. The conditions were perfect. It should have been an easy win for the good guys. But it didn’t turn out that way. The man of God snatched bitter defeat from the jaws of sublime victory. And nothing was the same after.

You heard the Bible’s rundown of the melee. Adam, the crown of God’s creation, and Satan, bent on wrecking God’s creation met in the Garden of Eden. And everything was good for the man made in God’s image. Adam's life was full of satisfying work and beautiful scenery and endless joys. His belly and his heart were full. He had just gotten married and life was perfect. The honeymoon never had to end. And it all came from God. But the devil was hellbent on taking it all away.

So Satan came to the woman, that amazing beautiful gift God made (Gen. 2:23) from Adam and (1 Cor. 11:9) for Adam. He cunningly questioned her: Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”? He knew what God had actually said, but he continued to rake her over until he could plant the seed of doubt in her mind. (Gen. 3:5) God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened. You’ll be like him.

Of course there was nothing wrong with Adam or Eve's eyes and they were already like God, both being made in his image. They didn’t know evil, but they already knew good perfectly well. But that wasn’t enough.

So Eve took some of the fruit and ate it. And Adam, who did not step up and defend God’s honor or safeguard his wife, joined in. Did he eat out of curiosity? Was he worried his wife now knew and saw things he didn’t? Did he partake so that he wouldn’t be left behind? The Bible doesn’t reveal Adam’s why, just what he did. Eve gave some of the fruit to her husband (Gen. 3:7) who was with her and he ate it. Then things fell apart. First within them. Their eyes were opened to their own shame. They became plagued by guilt and hid from God. For the first time, they were afraid. For the first time in human history, the man made in God’s image pointed the finger of blame at others. Then around them. Everything in the world changed. Death & decay arrived.

It’s hard not to sit here today and point the finger of blame at Adam and Eve. To wonder aloud how they could be so foolish. To question why we are punished for their wrongdoing. To speculate about how we would have acted & reacted if we were in their place in paradise.

Fine. Let’s do that. Let the one who is without like sin cast the first stone against these first people. Have you ever disobeyed God’s Law because you were curious what was on the other side of his commandment? Have you ever been jealous of people you know to be sinning? Have you ever accused God of withholding some good thing from your life? Have you ever longed to sit on God’s throne for a little while and call the shots? Who’s arm is still itching to throw?

One by one, we all see that we are not any better than Adam and Eve. Sin came through Adam but all of us have sinned like Adam. We have no reason to think we would have done better than Adam and Eve. About the best we can claim is that maybe it would have taken us a little longer to disobey God. But that was just round one.

In round two, good is playing on the road. In a hostile environment. The man of God is weakened, isolated, and vulnerable.

After fasting for 40 days and nights—making a difficult personal sacrifice in the name of God—the Son of God is tempted. (Mt. 4:3) If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. How many times have you and I lost our cool, our patience, our tight rein on our tongue—just because we were hungry or tired? How many times have we verbally abused our loves ones, just because we felt like our needs were not being met?

When that didn’t work, the Tempter didn’t throw in the towel. He took Jesus to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem. He said: (Mt. 4:6) If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. God will get you. How many times have we let our own insecurities drive us down a road where we question God’s care, concern, power, and love for us? How many times have we purposefully misapplied a Word from God so that we could justify our selfish behavior?

Finally, the Father of lies took the Truth up to a very high mountain. He gave him his last, best, and final offer. All the kingdoms of this world and their splendor can be yours. (Mt. 4:9) Bow down and worship me. How many times have we given into sinful cravings for power, influence, and achievement? How many times have we taken an ends justify the means attitude toward our lives? How many times have we tried to justify sinful behavior with excuses like sometimes you gotta fight fire with fire or sometimes you have to get your hands dirty?

Each of us has lived under far less stress, been surrounded by far greater blessings, and fallen into the very temptations Jesus denied. We all may think we would have done better than Adam and Eve, but in the words of Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. We think we have a plan—but ultimately that plan always relies on our own wisdom, understanding, and self-discipline. And when those things get punched in the mouth, our commitment, our faithfulness, and our discipline dissipate. We’re no better than Adam and we have no chance of measuring up to Jesus.

But this second battle was bigger than the first. We are told that through Adam, death came into this world to all people. But God so loved this world that he gave it the gift of his Son. This Son of Man came to be and do what Adam did not. What we could not. He always and only did the right thing. Whether he was hungry or well-fed. Whether he was surrounded by good people, bad people, or all alone. Jesus chose the path of righteousness when it was unpopular, painful, shameful, & even suffering unto death. That was round three.

In round three, Satan filled the heart of one of Jesus’ disciples to betray him. He leveraged the jealousy of the Jewish leaders, the hatred of the crowds in Jerusalem, the cowardice of Pontius Pilate, Simon Peter, and so many others to convince Jesus that he was alone. That God didn’t love him. That people would only believe in him if he proved his God-ness by coming down from the cross & saving himself. Jesus resisted. He came to do what Adam had not and we could not. He came to gift us his righteous record. He allowed the finger of guilt to be pointed squarely at him. He stood condemned in our place, even though, as we see in Matthew 4, he was without sin. He said and did all the right things all the time. He came to set us free from sin’s tyranny. The gift of his righteous life, his innocent death, and his powerful resurrection brings us justification. In Christ, God declares each believer not guilty.

And he gifts us something more in granting us court side seats to this fight. We get to see the devil’s tactics and the Son of God’s strength.

As we survey these temptations, I want you to notice three things, each of great importance in our modern struggle against temptation.

First, none of these sins would have hurt Jesus’ neighbor. Far too often, the way we decide if something is sinful is to use the lowest common denominator of the golden rule. Just because I don’t see how something hurts or harms my neighbor doesn’t mean it’s not a sin. God’s Law does that for me. Don’t let Satan edit down the Law.

Secondly, it is not hard to imagine other people supporting Jesus in doing what the Tempter was suggesting he do. Having sinners decide if something is sinful is as foolish as asking the people sitting at the bar if you should drive home tonight. Don’t let sinners censor God.

Finally, look at the lever the devil pulls. He moves the fulcrum with each temptation, but the lever is the same. It's doubt. The first two temptations start with If you are the Son of God…you shouldn’t have to deal with these problems. The final temptation questions the wisdom of God’s plan. God wants all people to be saved. Couldn’t Jesus do that by ruling all the kingdoms of this world? Wouldn’t he be able to accomplish the plan of salvation without all the pain of the cross? Don’t let doubt undermine what God does & promises to do.

But don’t just focus on the Father of lies, Satan. Concentrate on Christ. Study how your Savior responds and reacts to temptation.

Look at the power of your Substitute and Savior. Look at what your Redeemer gives you. A blueprint for how to respond to temptation. With each doubt Satan raise, there is a powerful promise of God that defangs the Serpent. It is God's Word that gives man life & breath. God’s love does not need to be put to the test because he has proved it in the person and work of his Son. If he did not spare his One and Only Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, give us everything we need for body and life. We don’t need to resort to evil means to accomplish good things. God promises that he works out all things for our eternal good.

That’s his promise as we stand on the battle field. We live in a world that is prone to overhype—and filled with exaggerations, lies, and evil. But we must remember our Lord Almighty’s victory. He would not tolerate sin in any form—even if no one was going to get hurt. He would not indulge in temptation—even if there were crowds of people encouraging him to do the wrong thing. He combatted the devil’s seeds of doubt with the faithful, reliable, sure word of God. May God help us follow him in battle. He will do this and because of him, we are already victorious. Amen.