Listen here.

Matthew 4:1–11

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ 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.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written,

‘You shall 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 glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Immediately before He is tempted, Matthew tells us that Jesus was Baptized. Now, in your Baptism, God made the same statement over you that He made over Jesus in His Baptism, “You are My beloved child, in you I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17). The Scriptures promise that God will never hold anything good back from you. If God is for you – and He is – who can be against you? God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for you. And that same God will graciously give you all things (Ro. 8:31-32).

But this also means that, in this life, you are in the devil’s crosshairs. Satan hates you and will tempt you to doubt that God is truly your Father who gives you all things. The devil tempts you to sin by putting God’s promises in front of you, but he wants you to lay hold of those promises in your own way and timing. But Satan’s way never brings the joy that God wants to give you.

You want justice against someone who has hurt you. God has promised to give you justice, but Satan tempts you to get that justice sooner by breaking the 5^th Commandment and hurting them. You want physical pleasure and companionship. God is happy to give that to you too, but the devil tempts you to seek that pleasure outside of marriage or on websites breaking the 6^th Commandment. You want your reputation to be better than it is. Well, God has promised you that you are His child. But Satan tempts you to lie or gossip about that person and break the 8^th Commandment. And on and on it goes.

We see the devil doing this this in the temptation of Jesus. The first temptation Satan puts in front of Jesus is to turn stones into bread. Now, Jesus hasn’t eaten anything for forty days, so He is hungry. But Jesus will eat again, even before our text ends (v. 11). So, the devil says, “Go ahead. Eat now. Turn these stones into bread.”

Jesus resists the temptation. He resists not because He isn’t hungry or doesn’t like bread. Instead, Jesus wants more bread than Satan can provide, and Jesus wants to eat that bread in eternal fellowship with His Father and with you, His bride.

The second temptation of the devil is for Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. The devil says, “God will protect you by sending angels to make sure you don’t even hurt your foot.”[1]

Again, Jesus resists the temptation. God will protect Jesus, but God had sent Jesus to have His heel bruised while He crushes the devil’s head. The devil knows this; he was told so. But Jesus doesn’t want God’s protection until He has extended the protection of His blood over you.

The third temptation is for Jesus to have all the kingdoms of the world if He will simply give a quick moment of worship to the devil.

Again, Jesus resists. He will have all the world’s kingdoms. But Jesus only wants those kingdoms when you have been forgiven, when you are died for and redeemed by His cross.

Now, there are two great errors we can fall into when we consider the temptation of Jesus. The first error is to think, “Jesus overcame temptation, so I need to follow His example.” And then we come up with all sorts of gimmicks, steps, and works of piety that we think will keep us from sin, but they all fail.

The other error is to think, “Jesus overcame temptation, so I don’t have to.” God forbid even the thought. Yes, your sin is forgiven, but don’t ever think it is trivial.

Instead, rejoice in Jesus’ temptation. Rejoice because Jesus has endured where you have fallen and obeyed where you rebelled. Rejoice because Jesus knows the temptations you face, and He will always provide a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).

And rejoice that the devil left Jesus. The accuser left Jesus because there was no sin to accuse Him of. That also means that the devil will leave you who are in Jesus because, on the Last Day, Satan will have nothing to accuse you of either. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Satan even quotes Ps. 91:11-12. Interestingly, Satan stops there because Ps. 91:13 says, “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.”