Matthew 4:1-11

A Confrontation— with Consequences!

¹Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ²After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵Then 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.’”

⁷Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

⁸Again, 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.”

¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Have you ever been in a competition that involved one other person?  Perhaps you were in a spelling competition or a math competition at school and it came down to you and one other individual.  Whoever gave the last correct answer wins!  The winner might get a gold medal or a blue ribbon or perhaps even get their name on a banner for everyone to see.  And the other person?  Well, they might get their name mentioned briefly as “the runner up.”

While the consequences of being in a spelling competition or a math competition might not be anything more than someone enduring a temporary disappointment, there are competitions that are more accurately described as confrontations.  A confrontation can easily have consequences that are far more serious.  For example, I know two men who were involved in just such a confrontation.  One man was a soldier.  The other man was a police office.  The soldier shared with me that one night he was in a foxhole when suddenly an enemy soldier jumped into that foxhole brandishing a knife.  The soldier knew that only one of them would live to crawl out of that foxhole.  He made sure it was him.  The police officer told me that he was trying to arrest someone when suddenly the person started fighting him.  During the course of that struggle the person was able to get the officer’s gun.  Just as he was about to shoot the policeman, a fellow officer arrived on the scene and shot the attacker.  While it’s not unusual for us to be involved in a variety of competitions in our life, we certainly do not want to find ourselves in any one on one confrontation that involves some kind of serious consequences— especially life or death consequences.

As we gather together here in God’s house on this first Sunday in Lent, we are starting a new sermon series.  The overall theme for this series is:  Lent Reveals our Greatest Needs.  As we begin this sermon series this very familiar account from Matthew chapter four reminds us that one of our greatest needs is that we need to have Someone who is willing to fight for us!  With that need in mind let’s study this text using the theme:  A Confrontation— with Consequences!

Our text begins with Matthew telling us, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”  “Then”?  What is Matthew referring to here?  He is referring to Jesus’ baptism.  Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River marked the beginning of the public phase of His ministry here on this earth.  Jesus’ baptism is also when the heavenly Father proclaimed from heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).  The very first “task” that the heavenly Father assigned to His Son was that as the Messiah, as the Anointed One, Jesus was to confront Satan face-to-face.  Note very carefully, my friends, that this confrontation was not instigated by Satan.  Nor was this confrontation instigated by Jesus.  While Jesus was most certainly willing to enter into this confrontation with the devil, it was the Father’s will that His Son should be “tempted by the devil.”  The Father’s purpose for this confrontation was that His Son would overcome Satan’s temptations— with the ultimate goal of redeeming fallen mankind.  To that end Matthew very specifically tells us that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”

Satan saw this confrontation as an opportunity to achieve what he failed to achieve when he filled Herod with so much fury that “he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi” (Matthew 2:16).  Satan also saw this confrontation as an opportunity to achieve what he had achieved in the Garden of Eden where he successfully tempted God’s children, Adam and Eve, to rebel against their loving Creator.  Satan knew that Jesus— God’s own Son— came into this world to do what God had promised in the Garden— “crush” Satan’s head.  So Satan confronts the One concerning whom the Father had just said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,” with the same temptation that worked so successfully on Adam and Eve— doubt!

Since Satan knew how hungry Jesus was after “fasting forty days and forty nights” he said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”  By questioning Jesus’ divinity he was trying to raise certain doubts in Jesus’ heart and mind.  If Jesus really was the heavenly Father’s “beloved Son” then why was the Father allowing Him to suffer so much physical hunger?  In reality Satan was suggesting that Jesus did not have to wait for His heavenly Father to take away this hunger by supplying Him with food.  Since all things were possible for Him— if He was in fact the Son of God— Jesus could simply “tell these stones to become bread.”  Problem solved, right?

Jesus knew exactly what Satan was striving to do!  Jesus knew that if He gave in to Satan’s temptation, if He doubted that His heavenly Father would provide for Him, if He used His divine power to satisfy His hunger, He would be revealing a lack of trust in His heavenly Father.  The consequences of that lack of trust would not only be the complete destruction of the Father’s Plan of Salvation for this world, but it would also be the eternal destruction of all mankind!  Using the “sword of the Spirit” to defeat Satan’s temptation, Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Has Satan ever tried to use a similar temptation against you , my friends?  Has he ever tried to use the sufferings that your heavenly Father allows to come into your life to question or doubt the Father’s love for you?  Has he ever tried to convince you that instead of depending on your heavenly Father to take away whatever your suffering may be you need to find a way to take care of it yourself?  Satan may try to convince us that while we don’t have the power to turn stones into bread, maybe we can alleviate our suffering by working longer hours so that we have more money, or by using the things of this world to offset our suffering with pleasure.

Whenever Satan tempts us like this we always need to recognize exactly what Satan is trying to do to us!  His goal is to fill our hearts with doubts concerning our God and lead us to trust in ourselves.    Since the consequences of doubting our God can have an eternal impact on our soul, we need to follow Jesus’ example and use the “sword of the Spirit” to defeat Satan!

Failing in his attempt to use Jesus’ hunger against Him, the devil confronts Jesus a second time by taking up Christ’s chosen weapon.  He challenged Jesus by quoting Scripture!  Matthew writes, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.  ‘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.”’”

“The highest point of the temple” in Jerusalem was on the edge facing the Kidron Valley— which plunged some 450 feet below where Jesus was standing!  Satan was confronting Jesus with a temptation that seemed very simple!  “If you are the Father’s ‘beloved Son’ then surely you trust Him enough to fulfill His promise to protect you from harm, right?  So prove it!  Throw yourself down!  You have nothing to fear— if you actually believe that the Father will protect His ‘beloved Son’!”

Once again Jesus knew exactly what Satan was striving to do!  Jesus knew that if He gave in to Satan’s temptation, if He consciously did something to see whether or not His heavenly would fulfill His promises,  He would be “testing” His heavenly Father.  The consequences of that “test” would not only be the complete destruction of the Father’s Plan of Salvation for this world, but it would also be the eternal destruction of all mankind!  Using Scripture to interpret Scripture Jesus defeated Satan’s temptation by saying, “It is also written:  ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Has Satan ever tried to use a similar temptation against you, my friends?  Has he ever tried to get you to “test” the promises God has made to you in His Word?  Has he ever said something like, “Go ahead and commit that sin.  Hasn’t God promised to forgive you?”  Or maybe he has tried to convince you that you can go out and sow some “wild oats “ and then repent down the road!  Look at the thief on the cross!  If Jesus forgave him, Jesus will certainly forgive you, right!

Whenever Satan tempts us like this we always need to recognize exactly what Satan is trying to do to us!  His goal is to lead us to take God’s grace for granted, to “cheapen” what Jesus has done for us (Pointing to the cross) and “test” the promises God has made to us.  Since the consequences of  “testing” our God can have an eternal impact on our soul, we need to follow Jesus’ example and use the “sword of the Spirit” to defeat Satan!

Having confronted Jesus with two powerful temptations— and failing both times!— Satan now confronts Jesus by striking at what Satan considered to be the “heart” of Jesus’ mission here on this earth— ruling as the King of kings over all nations.  Using the most insidious and alluring temptation of all, Satan “took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’”

Was Satan actually able to give Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor?”  Were they his to give away?  No!  But since Satan is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44) he certainly had no problem lying to Jesus— if it got Satan what he wanted!  And what did Satan want?  He wanted Jesus to at least consider the possibility that He could reach His “goal” without having to suffer the shame and the agony of being nailed to a cross.  (Pointing to the cross)  There was a shortcut that Jesus could take.  All He had to do was “bow down and worship” Satan.

While this shortcut would have been very appealing to any other ordinary human being, Jesus instantly rejected it in a very forceful way.  Jesus knew that if He gave in to Satan’s temptation, if He tried to avoid the suffering and the agony of the cross He would be rebelling against His heavenly Father’s will.  The consequences of that rebellion would not only be the complete destruction of the Father’s Plan of Salvation for this world, but it would also be the eternal destruction of all mankind!  So once again Jesus used the “sword of the Spirit” to defeat Satan.  He said, “Away from me, Satan!  For it is written:  ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Has Satan ever tried to use a similar temptation against you?  Has he ever tried to get you to rebel against God’s will for you and replace it with your own will, your own plan, your own idol?  Has he ever tried to convince you that you can avoid the suffering and the shame that you encounter as you stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  Has he ever tried to convince you to look around and see all the “fun” that other people are having, look at all the “success” that other people are enjoying and want the same for yourself?  Whenever Satan tempts us like this we always need to recognize exactly what Satan is trying to do to us!  His goal is to lead us to push God out of first place in our heart and replace Him with an idol!  Since the consequences of replacing God with an idol of any sorts will have an eternal impact on our soul, we need to follow Jesus’ example and use the “sword of the Spirit” to defeat Satan!

So what do we learn from all this, my friends?  We learn that since Satan is a fallen angel he is so much more powerful than we are.  We learn that since our confrontations with Satan do indeed have consequences we make sure that we never try to battle Satan and his temptations on our own!  We turn to our Savior.  We trust in our Savior.  We ask our Savior to fight for us!   Standing next to our Savior— or maybe even a little behind Him!— we say to Satan, “Away from me!”— confident that Satan has no choice but to flee!  (See James 4:7)

To God be the glory!

Amen