The Devil

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

Matthew 4:1–11 NIV

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

2/22/2026

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes: Standard

Opening Prayer:

Prayer of Confession

Merciful God, we confess that we have fallen deep into sin. We have turned away from Your Word and followed the desires of our hearts. Forgive us, Lord, and lead us in paths of righteousness. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Call to Worship

Leader: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

People: We confess our sins to the Lord and rejoice in His mercy.

Leader: Jesus was led into the wilderness and overcame every temptation.

People: We come to follow Him and live by His Word.

Leader: Come, let us worship the one who offers grace to all.

All: We lift our hearts to the Lord, our Savior and King!

The Devil

Movement 1: The Original Sin

This morning we begin our Lent series called "Sinners." Over the next several weeks, we're going to look at how Jesus engages sin of all types, at every level of our lives, and frees us to follow him.

★ I believe the original sin is believing we know better than God. ★ It's one thing to have thoughts, questions, or to wonder. Those things are natural. But when we follow those thoughts with our actions, they become beliefs. We prove with our lives that our desires and motivations matter to us more than God does, and that we trust ourselves more than we trust him.

I call it the original sin because it started before humanity even entered the picture. The devil rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. You only do something like that if you believe you know better than the one you're rebelling against. Then the devil brought that same temptation to Adam and Eve. He questioned what God told them about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He led them to trust their own judgment over God's word. It doesn't really matter what the reasons were. The fruit looked good. The serpent said it was fine. The result was the same. They believed they knew better than God. They fell, just like the devil did.

Every one of us has done the same thing. Every time we've followed our own desires instead of trusting God, we've repeated that original sin. We've said with our actions, "I know better."

Today, Jesus faces the same tempter, with the same temptation. Let's see how he handles it.

Movement 2: The Spirit Sails Jesus into the Wilderness

Just before our passage today, Jesus was baptized. The heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended on him, and God's voice spoke from heaven: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Then that same Spirit led him into the wilderness.

Three of the Gospel writers describe this moment, and each one a little differently. Mark wrote that the Spirit threw Jesus out into the wilderness. Luke said the Spirit led him. Matthew, though, uses a peculiar word. Matthew's word can also mean "to set sail." Jesus sailed into the wilderness by the Spirit.

There are no boats in the Judean wilderness. Just barren rock and dust. It would have made perfect sense up north by the Sea of Galilee, but not here. I think Matthew saw something powerful in that moment. The heavens had just opened. The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus like a mighty wind. Right then, Jesus unfurled his sails and let that wind carry him wherever God wanted him to go.

This matters for us, because in the biblical languages, the word for spirit is the same word for wind and the same word for breath. The very breath of God that just spoke love over Jesus, that claimed him as his Son and said, "I am well pleased," is the same breath, the same wind, the same Spirit that now fills his sails and carries him forward on his journey.

Where does the Spirit take him? Into the wilderness, to fast for forty days and forty nights, and to be tempted by the devil.

Movement 3: Temptation 1 — Bread (The Good at the Wrong Time)

The devil comes to Jesus at his weakest moment. Forty days of fasting. In scripture, the number forty often represents a full measure. Like Noah's flood, when it rained for forty days and forty nights. This fast was as much as Jesus could take. Perhaps the devil made him wait that long for that very reason, to catch him when he had nothing left.

"If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

It seems so reasonable. Jesus is starving. He has the power to create food from nothing. How could it possibly be wrong to eat?

I'm sure Adam and Eve asked the same question. "Why is it wrong to eat fruit from a tree? Every other day and every other tree, it's perfectly fine. Why would it be wrong right now?"

That's how temptation enters our lives. Think back in your own life as far as you can remember. What were those first moments you know you let sin in? When you were too young and too small to go out and commit a felony, what did temptation look like for you? Was it taking someone else's toy without asking? Going after the cookie jar when your parents already said no? Getting a little too artistic somewhere that was not supposed to be your canvas? Or maybe something happened by accident, but when you were confronted about it, you denied even knowing about it because you felt too ashamed.

It almost always starts small. It almost always starts with something that would normally be perfectly fine. We get tempted first not by things that are malicious and obvious, but by things that are good. Maybe even necessary. When we put those things above God, though, they begin to move us away from him. That's when we begin our fall.

Jesus knew his strength didn't come from food or water or rest. The source of his life, the thing that got him up every morning, was his relationship with his heavenly Father. He wasn't willing to let anything come between them. Not even bread when he was starving. So he told the devil: "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Rather than use his own authority as God's Son to provide for himself, he continued to put his faith in his Father. Provision was the Father's role, and Jesus wasn't going to take that from him.

Movement 4: Temptation 2 — The Temple (Testing the Creator)

So the devil whisks Jesus to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the temple. In response to the trust Jesus has placed in his Father's provision, the devil challenges him to see just how far it really goes.

"If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus quoted scripture, so now the devil quotes it right back. "Let's test this and see if it's really true."

In scripture, the ideas of testing, trial, and temptation all share a root in the concept of purification. Think of a metalworker refining ore in a forge. He takes raw material full of impurities, puts it into the fire, and works out those impurities until only the pure metal remains, ready to be shaped into whatever he designs.

God uses testing to purify us. Despite all the fear and superstition that surround the devil, the Bible tells us God keeps him on a short leash. God allows the devil to test us. In today's passage, God's own Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. That testing can be devastating when we give in and fall into sin. It can also be purifying and strengthening when we resist.

Sometimes that means choosing to trust God in our weakness, rather than taking matters into our own hands. Sometimes it means that on a day when we haven't seen God's provision come through yet, we choose not to throw ourselves into a worse situation just to get his attention, because we're wondering whether he really knows or really cares.

We are impure, imperfect creatures, and it is through these trials and tests that our faith is formed and begins to shine. So it is right, in certain times and places as God allows, that our faith is tested. It is not right for us to test God, because he is already pure. ★ The creation does not test her creator. She responds to him. ★

Jesus answered, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Movement 5: Temptation 3 — The Kingdoms (The Con Man)

For the final test, the devil takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he says, "if you will bow down and worship me."

The devil is trying to give Jesus everything. But it all already belongs to him. Satan has no real claim on creation. He has no desire for it and no care for it. We, as descendants of Adam and Eve, were meant to be the caretakers of this world, but we forfeited that role when we chose to trust the devil rather than follow God.

So this image is not the devil as a mighty warlord with a death grip on the world, offering to hand it over if Jesus will bow. The devil doesn't have control over creation. Sin and death do. He's not a warlord. He's a con man. A shady salesman trying to sell something that isn't even his. He's going to the true heir of all creation, the one who will rule it all when the time is right, and trying to convince him to take the deal early.

Everything about this offer is wrong. Misrepresented. Miscommunicated. At this point, Jesus is done.

"Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

The first commandment. The first part of the covenant. The first rule. He doesn't need to argue. He doesn't need to parse through the devil's deal. The test is over. As soon as the devil leaves, God sends his angels to attend and minister to Jesus.

Movement 6: Application — Patience, the Antidote

The test was over, and Jesus came through it. He knew we would face our own tests. That's why he taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." He wanted us to ask God to lead us through our trials and bring us out the other side as quickly as possible. Testing can make us stronger, but only when it comes at the right time and place and we are prepared.

Jesus didn't go running into the wilderness looking for the devil. He was sailed out there by the power of the Holy Spirit. That Spirit never left him. It was right there with him the whole time.

We are all going to face temptation. It doesn't matter if you can't remember ever sinning before, or if your life feels so full of sin you can't imagine fitting any more in. You will be tempted again.

Here is what I want you to notice about Jesus in this passage. He didn't debate the devil. He didn't argue or try to outsmart him. Every time the devil came at him, Jesus gave one response, and each response was really the same. He told the devil no. Whether the devil tried to get him to do something good at the wrong time, to test God's provision and protection, or to claim what was rightfully his before the right moment, Jesus simply said no.

He didn't use God's word as a weapon to wage war on the devil. If we try to wield scripture like a weapon for our own purposes, we fall into the very trap the devil set in the first temptation: using God's power for our own benefit. We are not called to wage war on the devil. Jesus shows us that clearly. We are called to resist and to trust.

So what carried Jesus through all three temptations? What is the common thread across every scripture he used, across every "no" he spoke? I believe it is patience.

We often think of patience as delayed gratification. Waiting. Giving up something we want now in the hope of getting something later. Whether it's food, protection, or ruling the world, that certainly applied to Jesus here. Patience is something even more than delayed gratification, though. ★ Patience is the gift the Holy Spirit gives us to receive God's perfect timing. ★

For most of us, the things that make or break our lives come down to timing. On our own, we don't have it. We don't know what the future holds. Whether it's a major decision or a small one, we can't see the big picture: how everything is connected and orchestrated so that it works out for the good of all those who love God.

But God does.

When we put our trust in him, even when questions and doubts come, and we choose to trust God anyway, he gives us patience. The ability to wait on him. To wait on his signal. To wait for him to send his Spirit to fill our sails again and move us forward. To give us perfect timing that we could never achieve on our own.

Think of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Patience is not usually considered the sweetest of those fruits. But it just might be the antidote to the forbidden fruit. Instead of grasping after the knowledge of good and evil, when we practice patience and wait on God in the midst of trial and temptation, we are saying to him, "Lord, we don't know what the right thing to do is, or when and where to do it. But you do. We're choosing to wait on you to lead us."

Reflection Questions

Where are you facing temptation today? Where do you feel your faith is being tested? If you notice the devil at work in your life, get into God's word. Let it give you firm ground. Talk to God. Be in prayer. Ask his Spirit to come and fill you and give you strength to stand.

Keep your eyes on Jesus and wait patiently for God to move.

You don't have to fight the devil. As James tells us, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

Closing Prayer

Jesus, thank You for coming down from heaven, to rescue us from sin and death. Thank you for being the perfect example of what it looks like to be a child of God. You showed us what faith looks like when we are tempted to depend on ourselves instead of You. Help us to know ourselves in our weakness and to see what it is you love in us there.

Help us to be patient as we wait on our Heavenly Father to provide us our daily bread and deliver us from the trials we face. Help us to be patient with ourselves as we face and live in our weakness. Help us keep our sails open to the truth that comes from Your voice, speaking Your love over us, so that we are never deceived by the lies of the devil. Fill us and give us the strength to follow where You lead us.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.