Sermon - Invocavit 2023 - Matthew 4:1-11

David and Goliath, Guillaume Courtois, between 1650-1660

Battling Temptations

1. Jesus’ triumph against temptation is our victory.

2. Jesus’ battle against Satan is an example for us.

1. How the devil tempts us.

2. These temptations are all ultimately idolatry.

3. We combat temptations with God’s Word.

4. We combat temptations with physical actions.

We live in a highly individualized age in which individuals define right and wrong, good and evil, for themselves. I’ve heard it said many times “you can’t legislate morality.” Except, that’s exactly what God’s law is and how God desires His law to be used among us: the law must legislate morality, define right and wrong. But, our world doesn’t like objective truth, it prefers to operate based upon individual feelings. 

One of the consequences of this is that there are very few preventative measures in our society, very few things that hinder us from falling into vices and evil behaviors. Afterall, if morality is left exclusively for the individual to determine, then who am I to say whether anything is beneficial or dangerous for another? This means that we don’t have much cultural help when it comes to dealing with temptations and vices. So the topic set before us today is a very important one in our age: namely, battling temptations. 

When we remember the temptation of Jesus, we are given hope because Jesus’ triumph against temptation is our victory. Moreover, Jesus’ battle against Satan is a wonderful example for all of us while we fight the good fight. We learn from Jesus how it is that the devil often tempts us, so that we can recognize temptations when they arise. We realize that all of the devil’s temptations are ultimately idolatry. We are thus emboldened to combat temptations with God’s Word and corresponding physical actions. May God give us the strength to face our wily foe and come out victorious.

What we heard read in the Bible were very encouraging, emboldening, and hope-filled words. What is most comforting is to know that Jesus has already conquered the devil’s temptations, and His victory is our victory! The first man, Adam, battled Satan’s temptations, and failed miserably! His temptations should’ve been easy to endure, afterall Adam was perfect and sinless, much stronger than we are. Additionally, Adam’s temptation should’ve been easy to endure, since he had tons of other options to eat from any other tree, including a tree that was called life! Yet he failed. His failure is our failure. “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… By a man came death… in Adam all die.”

But Christ Jesus is the second Adam! His victory is our victory! “By a Man has come also the resurrection of the dead… in Christ shall all be made alive.” So when “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” He fought the devil on behalf of mankind and His victory is therefore applied to mankind! Jesus brought the battle to the devil and forced the devil to tempt Him. Of course Jesus wouldn’t have sinned and given into temptation, that would go against His very nature. Instead Jesus underwent temptation, not as if it were possible for Him to fail, but so that He can conquer the devil on our behalf. So the first Adam’s fall was our loss, but the second Adam’s victory was our gain!

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus was our champion, who fought for us, so that in Him we are victorious! This is how it worked with young David defeating Goliath. The Israelites and Philistines were at war, but Goliath threw down the gauntlet and challenged the Israelites to a one-on-one battle. Whosoever champion wins the individual battle wins the war for their entire side. When young David lopped off the giant’s head he won the entire war for the Israelites against the Philistines. So it is that when Jesus defeated the devil His victory is applied to all of us! “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Of course Jesus overcoming the devil’s temptations was only a part of His battle against the devil. Jesus went on to the cross to finally and completely defeat Satan. Jesus carried our sins, which made us captive to the devil, and bore the full wrath of God for us, so that our sins are forgiven and we are declared righteous, meaning that the devil no longer has any claim on us! Through Jesus we have overcome the world! “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Jesus’ victory on our behalf gives us great hope whilst we face temptations now. Don’t forget this: we do face temptations now! But so long as we cling to Christ by faith and resist the temptations of the devil, Christ’s righteousness remains our own, and we shall depart this life as conquerors. Jesus is our confidence! He is our sword and our shield, our armor against the fiery darts of the evil one. Like David, we can go into battle against the ancient dragon with boldness, because we are confident that God fights on our behalf, and shall win us the victory. “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head… that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

Now, going forward with this sort of confidence in God, we can look to Jesus as a great example for us when we must battle against temptation. Our temptations won’t always be easy to overcome. Remember that Adam’s temptation should’ve been easy to overcome, while Jesus’ temptations were not easy whatsoever! Adam was tempted with one forbidden tree while he was surrounded by many other good trees. Jesus however faced temptation after He had fasted forty days and nights and was famished! Likewise the temptations we face won’t necessarily be easy to overcome. But by God’s grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we may overcome our temptations.

One thing which is helpful is to see how it is that the devil tempts us. The devil tempts Jesus with two sorts of temptations: temptation to doubt God’s providence and temptation to presumption. The first temptation to doubt God’s providence: “If you are the Son of  God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” When we are faced with suffering or dangers which threaten us, the devil tempts us to doubt that God will care for us. He tempts us to forget about God and take matters into our own hands. 

This can be easy to slip into today where we have so many safety features, medical technologies, and retirement savings that from the beginning of our life to the end we feel like we have everything all taken care of, and thus have little reason to trust God. So when something in our system fails we panic and mass hysteria ensues because we were trusting ourselves instead of God’s providence. A new virus without a vax, safety protocols which don’t work, politicians who lie, a downturn in the market, a war on the other side of the world, train derailments, massive inflation, and the list goes on. So when the devil tempts us to doubt God’s goodness, we hold firmly to God’s promises and trust that God will deliver us from evil as He sees fit.

The other temptation is to presumption: “The devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Here the devil tempts us to put God to the test, to presume that I can behave as foolishly and sinfully as I want, and God must still bless me. Here again this is very easy to fall into today, especially in our hyper-individualized libertine culture in which everyone does what is right in their own eyes. We figure if it feels good then we should do it, and we demand that God bless it.

But ultimately these temptations are all temptations towards idolatry. The devil revealed his hand when he showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of this world, saying: “All of these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” So it is that all sins are ultimately idolatry of the devil. Of course the devil doesn’t want us to realize this, since that sounds pretty bad to be devil-worshippers. But this is what all temptations are, they are a temptation away from God and His promises, and towards the devil and his lies. 

We can combat the devil’s temptations with two things: clinging to God’s Word and thus making corresponding physical actions. Jesus did both of these things: He clung to the Word of God against the devil, and He fasted physically for forty days. Likewise, we must learn to do the same. We must cling to the Word of God. Unless we know what God says we won’t be able to recognize temptation when it comes. How do you know, for example, that gluttony and fornication are sins unless it’s been taught in God’s Word? The world isn’t going to tell you right from wrong today, so only by hearing God’s voice will you be able to recognize the temptation. 

Also, you need to cling to God’s Word in order to be able to rebuke the devil with it. This is the authority that you have as baptized children of God: you get to rebuke the devil! You get to cast him away! You do that by speaking with the voice of God, using God’s own words against Satan and your own flesh. The Christian is to cling so tightly to the Word of God that God’s Word manifests itself in our bodies. Jesus fasted as a way of fighting the devil. Fasting is good for us still today in battling temptation. Not only ought we to fast from food, but from all of those things which might lead us to sin. 

In conclusion, dear Christians, let us bravely take up the sword of the Spirit and battle against our temptations every day. See that puny little David defeated a giant because God fought for him, so likewise Jesus fights for us, and in Him we can be triumphant when battling temptation. In the strength of the Lord you will be more than conquerors! God grant it! Amen.