Bible Text: St Matthew 4:1–11 | Preacher: Rev. Andrew Richard
When the children of Israel came to the Red Sea, they saw the water before them and pharaoh’s army closing in behind them, and they were very afraid and cried out to the Lord (Ex. 14:10). It was the very image of what we sang in the hymn: “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected” (LSB 656:2). But Moses spoke to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today…. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Ex. 14:13-14). And the Lord made a way where there was no way. He parted the Red Sea, led the children of Israel through on dry ground, and brought the waters crashing back on the Egyptians. “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected; but for us fights the Valiant One, whom God Himself elected.” Jesus fought for His people then, and we see Him do the same for us in today’s reading.
Now let us take up the temptations one by one, look at how to identify each, how to resist each, and see our Lord’s victory for us in each. First, “the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread’” (Mt. 4:3). This is the temptation to mistrust. The devil says, “If you’re a child of God, why are you so needy? Why are such bad things happening to you? Doesn’t God know how to treat His children well? Or did He lie to you when He said you were His child?” It’s the temptation to look at God with suspicion. It’s a very common temptation, this temptation of mistrust. It’s the same temptation the devil used against Adam and Eve, convincing them that God was holding out on them. It was the temptation to which the Israelites succumbed when they hungered in the wilderness, and forgot the power and lovingkindness of the Lord, and sinfully lamented, “You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Ex. 16:3). And it’s a temptation you know as well.
Jesus answers the temptation: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Mt. 4:4; Dt. 8:3). You must understand by His words that, besides the devil, your appetite is the biggest liar you’re ever going to have to deal with. Your stomach says, “I’m hungry; I need food now!” But we all know that’s not true. Man can go for hours, even days, without eating, even though he feels hungry. How long is a full stomach satisfied? How many of you have eaten a feast, and sat back in your chair afterward, and said, “I’m so full, I’ll never eat again!” and then had supper or a nighttime snack a few hours later because your satisfied stomach refused to be satisfied any longer? We feel hunger when we don’t need food, and yet we don’t naturally feel the need for that which is even greater, namely, the Word of God. What was it that brought plants and animals into existence? The Word of God. What was it that appointed plants to produce fruits, and seeds to sprout more plants, and the animals to be fruitful and multiply? The Word of God. What was it that gave man to eat of plants and of animals? The Word of God. The Word of God gives power to food to nourish you, and when that food is lacking, the Word of God can work wonders to provide it, whether it’s as miraculous as manna in the wilderness or as simple as Christians caring for each others’ needs. If God withdrew His Word, no seeds would grow, no animals would give birth, not a bite of the last food on earth would nourish us, and everything would turn at once to disorder and chaos. Yet such is our unfeeling flesh that we don’t sense the need for the Word of God like we sense the need for food, which we only have because the Word of God provides it.
So when you suffer the temptation to mistrust God because you feel a lack of the necessaries of life, you can say: “Should I question that I’m a child of God just because money’s tight, or I don’t have as much food on the table as I’d like, or I’m wondering how these bills are going to get paid? Money is here today, gone tomorrow, and when it comes to the stuff of earth, sometimes I have and sometimes I have not, sometimes I smile and sometimes I cry, sometimes I feel pleasure and sometimes I endure suffering. But my God isn’t changeable like this fallen world or like my fallen self. The grass withers and flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. I know whose I am. God called me His beloved child in Holy Baptism, and His Word is always true. Jesus told me not to worry about my life, and since He gave His own life for me, how great an assurance I have that I will receive all good things through Him and for His sake.” In this way we fight against the temptation to mistrust.
Second, “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”’” (Mt. 4:5-6). This is the temptation to presumption, that is, the temptation to step outside of one’s calling or even outside of reality entirely and have a false expectation that God will act our way. There are stairs, ropes, ladders, and all manner of descending safely from a height to the ground. Why would anyone think he could set aside the very obvious things God has provided and send himself plummeting to earth as if gravity were not from God? The Israelites succumbed to this temptation in the wilderness when they demanded water. It wasn’t only mistrust that time, but “they tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’” (Ex. 17:7). They wouldn’t look at the things the Lord had already shown and given to determine that the Lord was among them. The ten plagues in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the constant pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, the daily manna from heaven―all of it they deemed insufficient evidence of the Lord’s presence with them and demanded that He prove Himself to them on their terms by giving water. Ah, how often our false expectations of God have left us disappointed! “He should have done this instead of that! If God really cares about me, He’ll provide this or do that.” And then we want God’s sympathy in the midst of our disappointment, as if our presumption doesn’t deserve His wrath instead!
Jesus answers, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Mt. 4:7; Dt. 6:16). You will have God on His terms, not yours. And that is actually a great relief. When man tries to get God on human terms, all he can come up with is works righteousness and failed attempts at self-justification. He goes splat on the floor of the temple and earns only hellfire for it. But “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord” (Is. 55:8). His way is to become a man, and count your sin as His own, and His righteousness and your own, and die for you to forgive your trespasses, and rise from the dead to declare you righteous, by His grace alone, apart from your works. Man’s way is to demand a mere drink of water, and the Lord’s way is to accomplish the exodus. As the Scripture says, the Lord “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). So when confronted with this temptation to presumption, say, “No, no, my way of things would have left me trying to work my way into God’s good graces and failing miserably, whereas His way of things has granted me forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace and not by works. His way is best. I will do the duties God has given me to do in my various stations in life. I will live as God has arranged and ordered the world. Even when walking down a hundred steps from the top of the temple to the ground seems inconvenient compared to jumping, I will walk the hundred steps nonetheless, knowing that presumption jumps to its death and faith takes the stairs.”
Third, “the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (Mt. 4:8-9). This is the temptation to apostasy, the temptation to leave the true God entirely and hold fast to a false god. The devil showed riches and glory and power and pleasure―all the common false gods. These are the things the heathen chase in an effort to attain happiness. Moses had warned the Israelites about the luxurious life of apostasy in Deuteronomy 6, “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Dt. 6:10-12).
Jesus quotes the very next verse to the devil, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Mt. 4:10; Dt. 6:13). It doesn’t make sense to bow down to the devil. These things aren’t ultimately his to offer, for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness” (Ps. 24:1). It doesn’t make sense to chase after gold, which can’t redeem your soul and which brings more danger than security, as it says in Proverbs, “The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat” (Prov. 13:8). It doesn’t make sense to pursue limited power as an absolute good, for who besides God rules over all the earth? Or what glory of man is there that isn’t in the end brought down to the dust in death? Are not earthly pleasures momentary by nature and not lasting? Why would we exchange the kingdom of heaven for a fallen world? Instead say, “Christ is my wealth and glory and strength and pleasure. The world will chase its idols, but I am at rest in Him who is all-sufficient, who can say, ‘Be gone, Satan,’ and the father of lies with all his idols must whimper and tuck his tail between his legs and leave.”
I said at the beginning of the sermon that Jesus fights for His people. As much as today’s reading is the greatest lesson in resisting temptation that we have, our Lord’s ultimate point in being tempted was to do for us what we hadn’t done. In other words, we are spectators at His temptation before we are participants. The Israelites stood still on the sidelines and watched as David approached and defeated Goliath, and only after the giant was conquered did the people themselves confront the enemy with confidence. So also we watch Jesus win the victory, and supply what we lacked, and do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. Then we live the Christian life with confidence, knowing, as it says in Hebrews, “in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18). We are always and only saved by Christ’s works, not ours. And this does not make us lax in resisting temptation; rather, Christ’s victory over the devil is our strength in the midst of temptation and the assurance that temptation doesn’t have to end in sin. Today is the skirmish that builds up to the full pitch of battle on Good Friday. Jesus fought for us in the wilderness. Jesus fought for us on the cross. In Him we have the victory already, and in His victory may we find strength to resist temptation. To Christ be the glory forever. Amen.