“Satan’s Triple Play”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. There are two important messages from the Lord for you today in the
traditional Gospel Reading for the First Sunday in Lent, the temptation of
Jesus. The first message for you in this story is the Good News of Jesus
winning for you SALVATION. The second message for you is the example of
Jesus resisting TEMPTATION. You are invited to follow the sermon outline
on the last pages of the bulletin. There is an interesting contrast between the original temptation and
fall of humanity into sin, recorded in today’s Old Testament Reading, and the
temptation of our Lord Jesus, recorded in today’s Gospel Reading.
The first temptation took place in paradise, a lush garden. The second
temptation takes place in a bleak, desolate wilderness. This illustrates
what the Lord proclaimed to Adam after the fall: “Cursed is the ground because
of you. . . it will produce thorns and thistles for you.” This contrast
between the paradise of Eden and the barren wilderness also symbolizes the
effects and results of sin on our world. Paul puts it this way in today’s Epistle Reading: “Sin entered the
world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all
men, because all sinned.” The dead wilderness symbolizes the sentence of
death we all deserve on account of our sins. The original sin passed down
to us from Adam, and the actual sins we as a consequence all commit in our
lives. As Paul writes in the next chapter of Romans, “For the wages of sin
is death.” “BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Good News in the story of the temptation of our Lord is his triumph over sin
and Satan. As Paul continues in today’s Epistle Reading: “Just as the
result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one
act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For
just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so
also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” It was not for his own sake that Jesus fasted for 40 days in the
wilderness and three times resisted the temptations of Satan. As we just
confessed in the Nicene Creed, it was “for us men and for our salvation” that he
conquered sin and Satan. You see, in ancient warfare there was a custom called a “strong man
battle.” A familiar example from the Bible is David versus Goliath.
Each side would pick its strongest warrior, and the two of them would fight each
other on behalf of the opposing sides. That’s what Jesus is doing for you
in today’s Gospel Reading. He fought and defeated Satan on your behalf,
“for us men and for our salvation.” Paul puts it this way in 1st
Corinthians: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. . .
Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Your sins are all forgiven because of Jesus’ triumph over sin and
Satan. For, his perfect, sinless life made him a worthy sacrifice to offer
himself up for the sins of the world. “Behold the Lamb of God,” John the
Baptist proclaimed, “who takes away the sins of the world.” “He is the
atoning sacrifice for our sins,” John the Apostle writes, “and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world. . . And the blood of Jesus his
Son cleanses us from every sin.” That is the first message for you in
today’s Gospel Reading, the Good News of Jesus winning for you SALVATION. The second message for you is the example of Jesus resisting
TEMPTATION. Peter writes, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” Jesus by his example shows us how
to, “resist him, standing firm in the faith.” Satan tries to use on Jesus his most potent strategy, his best weapon,
which we could call, “Satan’s Triple Play.” This is often summarized as
“the devil, the world, and our flesh.” But, the order in today’s Old
Testament and Gospel Readings is actually reversed, “our flesh, the world, and
the devil.” This UNholy trinity worked on Adam and Eve, and too often it
works on us, too. But, Jesus by his example shows us how to thwart,
“Satan’s Triple Play.” Satan first tempts both Adam and Eve and our Lord himself with the
flesh: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”;
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” In these accounts hunger and indulgence in forbidden food symbolizes
all the sinful cravings and lusts and weaknesses of the flesh. As Paul
says in Galatians, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh. They are in conflict with each other.” Jesus by his example shows us how to triumph over the lusts of the
sinful flesh: “The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God,
tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man
does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God.”’ “It is written.” That is the key to overcoming “the devil, the
world, and the flesh.” Paul puts it this way in Ephesians: “Be strong in
the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the full armor of God so
that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that
when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you
have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth
buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and
with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of
salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” The only way to defeat Satan is with God’s armor, God’s mighty power.
And the key weapon in that spiritual armor, the key channel for his spiritual
power into your life, is, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
One of the traditional prayers of the church puts it this way: “Blessed Lord,
who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that
we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that
by patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast
the blessed hope of everlasting life.” Following this first temptation, intended to arouse the lusts of the
flesh, Satan moves on, in both his temptation of Adam and Eve and our Lord, to
the second phase of his triple play, the world: “The woman saw that the fruit of
the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye.”; “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.’” Adam and Eve succumbed to the allurements of the world and ate the
forbidden fruit which was so “pleasing to the eye.” If our Lord had
yielded to Satan’s temptation and swooped down from the temple before the
astonished crowds below who would witness this amazing feat, he would have
received from the world what is really the greatest treasure the world has to
offer: the recognition and honor of men. You see, that’s the prize that motivates us humans more than anything
else. Sports figures, politicians, television and movie stars, other
celebrities, they’re in it for much more than money or power. What they
really crave, what they’re really seeking above all, is prestige, the
recognition and honor of their fellow men. That’s the allurement Satan is tempting our Lord with when he says, “If
you are the Son of God, throw yourself down”: Recognition and honor from
the astonished crowds below who would witness this amazing feat. “Jesus
answered him, ‘It is also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’”
Once again, our Lord fights Satan’s temptation with “the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.” Finally, Satan tries the third gambit of his triple play. A
DIRECT challenge to God’s sovereignty. A blatant temptation to reject the
Almighty and his Word and follow the devil instead: “The woman said to the
serpent . . . God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the
middle of the garden . . . or you will die.’ ‘You will not surely die,’ the
serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”;
“Again, the devil 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.’ . . . Jesus said to him,
‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve
him only.”’” There are two important messages from the Lord for you in the
temptation of Jesus. The first message for you in this story is the Good
News of Jesus winning for you SALVATION. The second message for you is the
example of Jesus resisting TEMPTATION. Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “When you are tempted, God will also
provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Jesus shows us by
his example the way out for us from “Satan’s Triple Play.” When you are
tempted by the devil, the world, and the flesh, fight as our Lord himself did
with, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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