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Big Idea
Tension: Why did the Spirit lead Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan?
Resolution: To succeed where Israel failed.
Exegetical Idea: The Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan so that he might succeed where Israel failed.
Theological Idea: When mankind shows himself faithless, Jesus was faithful.
Homiletical Idea: When we are faithless, Jesus is faithful.
Sermon Objective: To see Jesus both as the ultimate substitute for our imperfection and as the perfect model to follow in temptation.
Introduction: Temptation and Lord of the Rings
As you guys know, one of my favorite movies is the Lord of the Rings.
In fact, Mike Stewart and I were just talking about that.
And I love the Lord of the Rings, I think it is a brilliant and powerful story.
ANd ion that movie, they are trying to destroy the magic ring of power.
And this ring in it holds all the power of evil in it.
ANd in that movie, the again and again as characters come into contact with this magic ring, even teh best, greatest, and most noble characters become corrupted by this magic ring of power.
IN fac,t the only characters who don’t become infected by it are the characters who don’t touch it.
And even then, some are still twisted by its powers.
And I think that resonates with us.
Because we all know what it is like for something that we want or desire to tempt us or to twist us.
We all know what it is like for something that we really want to twist us.
And unfortunately, there is none of us who has been able to stand up to this terrible, brutish monster of temptation.
None of us, except for one.
And the story of that man is the story that we’re going to talk about today.
The Three Ingredients
The Spirit: The first thing that we see is that the Spirit led Jesus to be tempted by Satan.
The Spirit, the third person of the Trinity had just been given to Christ at his Baptism.
The Father had just spoken from heaven and said, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
And the Son receives the Spirit and follows him.
The Spirit has come upon him to empower him for his mission and to reassure him of his status as the Son of God.
The Wilderness: And we see here that he goes out into the wilderness.
Throughout Scripture we see that God brings his people out into the wilderness to test them.
He brings Moses out to the Wilderness to meet him at Mt. Sinai.
He brings his people out from Egypt and into the wilderness in part to test them.
He brings David into the wilderness and tests him with the kingdom.
He brings Elijah out into the wilderness and tests him.
And all of these characters have varied results.
The wilderness, in Scripture, is the place of testing.
It is God’s boot camp.
It is the forgery, the refining fire.
The wilderness is where God sifts the heart of his people, to see what, if anything, is there.
And they are always found wanting.
Here, in the wilderness, Christ will be tested severely.
Because we see that Christ was fasting in the wilderness for forty days, while Israel was in the desert forty years.
He is here to see if he can be the true Israel, the better Israel, the real Israel.
He will be tried to see if he succeeds where others failed.
In fact, the reason that Christ is called to the wilderness to be tested is to see if he will succeed where Israel has failed time and time again.
He will be brought to see if he can do what Israel could not, if he could stand where Israel fell, if he can be faithful when Israel was faithless.
The Devil: We also see that the Devil plays an important rule.
There are two interesting things about Satan in this story.
First, we need to recognize that Satan is not the archrival of God.
In fact, Satan cannot do anything apart from God’s permission.
The Devil is unable to tempt, to try, to test apart from God’s permission.
Like Satan had to ask to try Job, like Satan had to ask to sift Peter, so Satan can only work here if God allows it.
Secondly, you will notice that the name for Satan here is the “Devil.”
Now, Satan has different names.
Sometimes he is called the “Serpent” to refer to what he did in Eden.
Sometimes he is called “Satan” which just means adversary, someone who will do everything he can to oppose God and his ways.
But the name “Devil” means “accuser.”
When Scripture calls Satan the Devil, he is calling him the accuser.
This will be of no surprise, but the dominant picture of the Devil is of a lawyer.
And the root meaning of this word means a “divider.”
And that is essentially what the Devil seeks to do, to divide God and man.
This is what he did with Eve in , with Job in , and with David in .
Satan still tempts this way.
This is what Satan does by tempting you not to read your Bible or to pray or to come to church.
The Devil’s main approach in your life is to try to separate you from the lifeline of your relationship with God.
And it is no coincidence that as soon as the Son is baptized and receives the Spirit from the Father that the Devil shows up.
Because his temptations are carefully and precisely aimed at seperating the Son from the Father.
At attacking hte unity of God and the unity of the incarnation.
The Devil shows up now because he wants to stop this unity.
And with the three ingredients set, Satan sets out to tempt Christ.
The Three Temptations
Crisis
1.
The Temptation of Hunger
Jesus Fasted: So the first thing we see here is that Jesus fasted.
Now fasting is a discipline where you forgo eating to pray.
And it is a time of intense trusting in God and his Word.
Because in fasting, your normal physical strength fades away.
And your need for your dependency on God is strengthened and heightened.
And CHrist here, at the end of forty days, is spiritually strong, but physically weak.
It is precisely at this weakness that the Devil strikes.
If you are the Son of God: The Devil comes to him and first says, “if you are the Son of God.” Satan comes to Christ and says, “If you really are God’s Son,” what is he trying to get him to do?
He is trying to get him to think that God would want him to do this.
That this is a good thing that God would really want him to do.
What Satan is really aiming at is trying to get him to doubt God’s love for him in not providing for Him.
He’s saying, “Listen, if you are who you think you are, do you think God would really be offended by this?”
If you are the Son of God: The Devil comes to him and first says, “if you are the Son of God.” Satan comes to Christ and says, “If you really are God’s Son,” what is he trying to get him to do?
He is trying to get him to think that God would want him to do this.
That this is a good thing that God would really want him to do.
What Satan is really aiming at is trying to get him to doubt God’s love for him in not providing for Him.
He’s saying, “Listen, if you are who you think you are, do you think God would really be offended by this?”
Falling Action
Turn these stones to become loaves of bread: Now, this temptation is aimed very precisely.
Because it is very similar to the story of Exodus.
In the book of Exodus, God brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
ANd they were in the wilderness of Sinai, and they grumble against God because they are hngry.
And they say this in … So just like Israel came to the wilderness and was tempted with hunger, so Jesus comes to the wilderness and is tested by hunger.
Satan Tempts Us With Comfort Today: Listen Satan wants to work in the exact same way today.
Satan appeals to our physical weakness and appetites all the time.
Here’s what this looks like today.
“If God loves you, you don’t need to go to church.”
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