“Jesus Won; Satan Lost; We Get the Prize”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow recipients of the Jesus Victory-Prize, grace, mercy,
and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord [Amen.]
“You strove with Satan, and You won;
Your faithfulness endured;
Lend us Your nerve, Your skill and trust
In God’s eternal Word.
“Be with us through this season, Lord,
And all our earthly days,
That when the final Easter dawns,
We join in heaven’s praise.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
418:2 & 4)
Gospel
Reading......................................................................................
St. Luke 4:1-2a, 13
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit in the wilderness 2afor forty days, being tempted by the devil.
13And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until
an opportune time.
Prologue: World Wars I and II were both fought seven plus
decades ago and were each touted to be the war to end all wars. American
ingenuity, creativity, and productivity rose to heights neither seen nor
imagined before. Military personnel and civilian workers combined their
intellectual and physical efforts to such a degree that the United States of
America became the major component of the Allied Forces in both wars. In
the process, however, much of the infrastructure and buildings where those
wars were fought were severely damaged and even destroyed in the efforts to
defeat the aggressive Axis Powers.
After doing so, however, we then gave our former enemies much aid
and assistance to restore and rebuild what had been damaged and destroyed.
Ironically, the Allied powers won the war; the Axis powers lost the war; and
the enemy that we helped defeat got the prize.
There’s a much greater and more significantly meaningful war that
was fought some 2,000 years ago. No, I’m not referring in this instance to
the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Rather, I’m referring to today’s
Gospel Reading in which Dr. Luke related the account of Jesus’ encounter
with Satan in the wilderness immediately after His Baptism in the Jordan
River by cousin John. However, it did foreshadow Christ’s
crucifixion-and-resurrection war with the devil which was a battle to end
all battles … sort of.
What’s especially wonderful about this wilderness clash between
Immanuel and Lucifer is that …
“Jesus Won; Satan Lost; We Get the Prize.”
Here we are already in Lent after the short five-Sunday Epiphany
transition from Christmas. It’s a 40-day season of penitential preparation
for the grand and glorious festival celebration of our Savior’s resurrection
victory over Satan, sin, and death itself (somewhat like Advent was for
Christmas). Its 40-day length of time extending from Ash Wednesday up to
Easter Sunday (but not counting the Sundays for reasons we’ll deal with at
another time) reflects, among other events, Immanuel’s 40-day wilderness
warfare with the devil.
Being obviously famished by having not eaten anything throughout
those 40 days, Jesus was apparently weakened by His human hunger. And,
being the opportunist that Satan is, he jumped at what seemed to be the
perfect chance to successfully tempt Jesus to sin as even he did some 4,000
years earlier with Eve and Adam … also with a food-related enticement. What
resulted in the context of the devil’s unsuccessful effort, however, is the
lesson that …
I. Improper Use of God’s Word Is Devilish Deception. (2b-3, 5-7, 9-11)
2bAnd when they were ended, he was hungry. 3The devil said to him, “If you
are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 5And the devil
took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time, 6and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their
glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7If
you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 9And he took him to
Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you
are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, “‘He
will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11and “‘On their
hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Second John verse seven reveals: “For many deceivers have gone out
into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the
flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” (2 John 7 ESV)
Saint John also tells us in Revelation chapter 12: “And the great dragon was
thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the
deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels
were thrown down with him.” (Rev 12:9 ESV) In addition, Jesus declared:
“When he [that is, the devil] lies, he speaks out of his own character, for
he is a liar and the father of lies.” (St John 8:44 ESV)
Satan used his keen trickery to lead Eve into sin by telling her
in opposition to what God had told her: “You will not surely die. For God
knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen:3:4-5 ESV) He is very powerful although
his power is subjected to God’s limitations. He is God’s bitterest enemy
who “hate[s] God and seek[s] to destroy everything that is good, especially
faith in Christ.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Page 112.)
Devilish deception accompanied by its cousin distortion is common
in all our lives and, as is true with all sin, is designed to separate
people from one another and, ultimately, from God. It comes packaged as
outright lies, half-truths, innuendos, insinuations, and even withholding of
the truth, and often results in heresy. It may be intentional or
unintentional, well-planned or unplanned. None of that really matters …
devilish deception is devilish deception any way it happens, and in the
Eighth Commandment (“You shall not give false testimony against your
neighbor” or as we older people learned it: “Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor”) God tells us to not do it … it’s evil … it’s
sin. The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther stated: “We should fear and love God
so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or
hurt his reputation … .” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation.
Copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 13 &
87.) Therefore, don’t gossip, don’t spread or even listen to rumors, and
make absolutely certain that, if you’re going to report something about
someone it’s the God-honest truth and you’re not saying it out of malice or
evil intent to hurt or harm others’ reputation, betray them, or slander
them.
But devilish deceit also takes other forms as well. You know,
things like it’s okay to live and sex together outside of marriage; it’s
okay to divorce simply for convenience sake or because we don’t “feel the
love” anymore; it’s okay for men to marry men or women to marry women; it’s
okay to murder unborn babies still in the womb or older or infirm adults
that are just a drain on society and can’t contribute to it in any
productive way anymore; it’s okay to neglect public worship for any reason
under one’s personal choice or control; or, and hold on to your seats for
this one, precisely following the worship liturgy and singing only the hymns
that are printed in the hymnal are what determine worship to be correct
(more on that item at another time). All of those things and many others
are products of devilish deceit.
Well, we all fail miserably in all categories of sin, don’t we?
We misrepresent factual truth about other people and situations in ways that
shed darkness upon them, tarnish their reputation or validity, betray them,
and slander them. Thanks and praise to God that Jesus overcame Satan’s
attempts to deceptively lead Him to sin with temptations of His flesh, His
pride, and His will. What Jesus accomplished then and later on in the
Garden of Gethsemane He did for us. Not only did He overcome Satan’s
devilish deceptions but He also took upon Himself our failures to do so,
endured the punishment that we deserve for such, and shed unto death on
Calvary’s cross His holy blood that now cleanses us from all sin. Being
purified from sins of devilish deception and all other sins as well, we now
have the Holy Spirit’s guidance to recognize and act on the fact that …
II. Proper Use of God’s Word Gives Divine Direction. (4, 8, 12)
4And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
8And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your
God, and him only shall you serve.’” 12And Jesus answered him, “It is said,
‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus counter-attacked and overcame Satan’s devilishly-deceptive
temptations with sanctified use of God’s Holy Word. That’s what He desires
for us to do as well. But in order to successfully do so, we must be
adequately acquainted with God’s Holy Word. That means, quite simply, we
must be ongoing students of the Holy Scriptures by faithfully reading,
marking, studying, learning, and inwardly digesting them.
Personal and family daily devotions using a reliable resource such
as Portals of Prayer that our Fellowship Club makes available and special
Lent devotion booklets that other organizations make available (both of
which are in the narthex) along with reading portions of the Bible,
participating with other growing-in-the-faith Christians in a Bible study
group using materials that are known to be faithful to the truth of God’s
Holy Word, and faithfully attending Divine Services where God feeds us His
Holy Word along with Holy Absolution and Christ’s body and blood in Holy
Communion are all ways to become better “acquainted with the sacred
writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in
Christ Jesus.” After all, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good
work.” (2 Peter 3:15-17 ESV)
You see, the more we learn God’s Holy Word, the more we realize
that it’s all about Jesus. The more we learn about Jesus, the more we
realize that He’s intimately interwoven with us that happened through Holy
Baptism. And, the more we realize that Jesus is interwoven with us, the
more the Holy Spirit enables us to be able, like Jesus did, to recognize and
overcome Satan’s devilishly-deceptive temptations. That’s the impact of
what the anonymous writer of the Letter to the Hebrews declared: “We do not
have a high priest [that’s Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet
without sin.” (Heb 4:15 ESV) In addition, today’s Introit antiphon
testified to Yahweh’s love-commitment to us: “When he calls to me, I will
answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Ps 91:15-16
ESV) And the Lenten Gradual reminded and encouraged us: “O come, let us fix
our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2 ESV)
So, be fully aware that “There is always a tension between the
material and spiritual and the danger of neglecting the spiritual in the
pressing task of meeting the demands of the material.” In addition, “Those
who face temptation without adequate knowledge of biblical principles give
the advantage to the tempter, for it is like fighting without a sword.”
(Donald Guthrie in Jesus the Messiah: An Illustrated Life of Christ.
Copyright © 1972 by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI. Page 45.)
Thus, the bottom line is that “The Holy Spirit leads Jesus and abides with
Him through His temptation, affirming that Jesus truly is the Son of God.
The blessed Trinity likewise abides with us, that we may withstand Satan’s
temptation of our flesh, our pride, and our will. Through Holy Baptism in
God’s name, we are truly His beloved children.” (The Lutheran Study Bible.
E. A. Engelbrecht, Gen. Ed. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House,
St. Louis, MO. Page 1714.) So it is that we prayed in today’s Collect:
“Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk
through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come.”
Last Sunday was what has come close to being another national
holiday: “Super Bowl Sunday.” It was the golden edition of such, the first
Super Bowl having been played when I was an high school upperclassman. This
50th Super Bowl game had many unique items among which were “the old star
Peyton Manning and [Cam] Newton, the exciting face of the future.” (“Manning
was only part of an ugly game” by Tim Dahlberg in the Southeast Missourian
Sports, Monday, February 8, 2016, page 1.) The outcome of what sportswriter
Tim Dahlberg called “an ugly game” was that the Denver Broncos won, the
Carolina Panthers lost, but Denver defense standout Von Miller got the
prize … the game’s Most Valuable Player award.
As popular and attention-grabbing as that game may have been,
however, what should be a much more popular and attention-grabbing battle
was waged over 20 centuries ago. That was the battle between Jesus and
Satan, a battle that …
“Jesus Won; Satan Lost; [and] We Get the Prize.”
And that prize is none other than the forgiveness of all our sins,
healing of our sin-ravaged souls, and eternal with Jesus in heaven that He
won for us “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1
Peter 1:19 ESV)
With that overwhelmingly wonderful fact in mind, let’s follow the
encouragement Moses gave the Israelites in today’s Old Testament Reading:
“And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to
you and to your house … .” (Deut 26:11a ESV) Let’s do so always remembering
that, on the one hand, …
I. Improper Use of God’s Word Is Devilish Deception. (2b-3, 5-7, 9-11)
Realize it; recognize it; and be on guard to avoid it knowing that, on the
other hand …
II. Proper Use of God’s Word Gives Divine Direction. (4, 8, 12) With
that in our minds and hearts, today’s Epistle Reading gives us valuable
certain reassurance: “‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. For there is no distinction between Jew
and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who
call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
(Rom 10:8b-13 ESV)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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