Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church

Taking Satan Down

Matthew 4:1-11

March 9, 2025 anno Domini

True or False. There are 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. False. There are 40 days in Lent, but there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and the Resurrection of our Lord. Put your phones down. Trust me and check my math later.

The Sundays in Lent do not as Lent. They are Sundays in Lent but not of Lent. The season of Easter lasts seven sevens, 7 weeks and there we will observe the Sundays of Easter.

I know this is very exciting information but this is why pastors make the big bucks and have all those books in their offices. What is the point of excluding the Sundays from Lent? More importantly is there some Scripture in our future or am I just going to spend the sermon telling you interesting liturgical minutiae?

Lent is a season of repentance. It is a time the Church encouraged fasting, prayer, and charity. You deny your flesh by fasting. You exercise your faith through praying. You act like a child of your gracious Father by being gracious with your wealth. However, Sundays are the exception. They are not part of Lent because we gather, as the earliest Christians did, to celebrate the resurrection. And if you’re fasting celebrations aren’t very fun. Don’t schedule your colonoscopy for April 21. You’ll ruin the feast of Easter. The early church forbid Christians from fasting on Sundays because every Sunday was a feast day.

So today we feast on our Lord’s victory over Satan in the wilderness, because during the week it appears the Devil is winning. Here are the headlines of his handiwork in Minnesota this last week:

• Mother who drowned baby in bathtub sentenced to 30 years in prison.
• Man convicted in fatal 2023 shooting at St. Cloud party
• Body of ice fisherman recovered from Cannon Lake
• Bill banning trans athletes in girls sports fails in Minnesota house
• Worker raped at Eagan job site sues drywall company after firing her.

The Devil is busy not just among the children of men, but also among the children of God. He didn’t leave you alone this week either. He tempted you to sin and you did. In the middle of the pastor’s sermon some disgusting thought crossed your mind. He dangled some new shiny object in front of you or displayed some image on your screen and you clicked. You lusted or coveted or hated or despaired. He called to mind that sin of long ago, that big one, maybe the one no one else knew about, the one that could have ruined your life. He holds that before your conscience like an iMax movie to beat and batter your faith, which is really battering your Christ.

The Devil preaches that Christ is only for good sinners, for sinners who are fighting a better battle than you, who are more disciplined, who have greater faith or lesser sins. “Yes,” says the Devil, “Christ came for all, but after what you’ve done how could you think He came for you?”

The Devil wants you to think he’s winning and you’re losing, but the reality that is preached and proclaimed every Sunday is Jesus won, you win, and the Devil is a loser, a sore loser, and a loud loser. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus beat the Devil. 

The most important part of that victory is that Jesus beat the Devil as a man. Jesus was tempted in earthly, human ways, just as you are, and He used no other weapon than the weapon you also have – the Word of God.

What did the Devil go after first? He went after basic physical needs. Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights. He was hungry. In the wilderness with no food. The Devil baited him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Use your Godly powers to your own advantage. Bread out of stones. Jesus wouldn’t even break a sweat. And oh, would that bread taste good, probably as good as that fruit in the garden that Eve saw.

Jesus answered with the Word of God. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. The Son of God did not become man to be Jesus Almighty, to use His Godly powers for His belly and passions like all the pagan and mythological gods. The Son of God became a man to do what man did not do, trust His Father, rely on Him, not do anything or take anything the Father had not given Him. So, Jesus went hungry. He could easily have ended His suffering, but His Father’s will was for Him to suffer. The Spirit led Him into that wilderness. This is where His Father wanted Him to be. And always remember this – Jesus is there for you. Even His hunger and His temptation are for you. He’s obeying God’s Word perfectly for you, as your substitute – the man for all men.

Next the Devil goes after love. Every human needs love. Without love life becomes chaotic, broken, and disordered. Especially important for sons and daughters is the love of a father. That should not surprise us since God reveals Himself to us as the Father. Men, that means you have the greater responsibility in marriage and parenting. Satan tempts the Son with the love of His Father. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you.’” “If Your Father loves You Jesus, He’ll save you.” The Son loves the Father and the Father loves the Son. There is no need for a test of that love. The very reason Jesus willingly obeys His Father, willing suffers and denies Himself is because He loves the Father. That’s what love does – it obeys, it suffers, it sacrifices, it gives. This is the Son’s love for His Father and for you.

The greatest need of every human is worth and value, to be esteemed. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they knew perfectly their high value, that God Himself made them in His image. They were the prince and princess of the world, under His Kingship, but since sin entered the world, every man and woman, every boy and girl, has struggled seeking worth and value. Why do you think mediocre boys want to pretend to be girls and play sports? So, they can win. So they can have esteem.

The Devil goes after Jesus’ worth and value. He promises to put the whole world under Jesus’ feet. The glory of the world for Jesus. All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. It’s the same trick the Devil pulled on Eve. Eat this fruit and you’ll be like God. It’s a scam. It’s like those emails from that attorney in Nigeria saying some distant relative in the Timm family left 9 million dollars. Why would I bite into that? Because that would be valuable. What power and glory I could have with 9 million dollars (minus the $100,000 I gave to that wonderful thoughtful Nigerian lawyer).

You shall worship the Lord Your God, and Him only shall you serve. Jesus is content being the only begotten Son of His Father. He is glad to be where His Father has set Him. He is satisfied though He is hungry. He is pleased to be betrayed. He is willing to be nailed to a cross. He gladly goes to death. Death did not take Jesus. He gave Himself over to death. Jesus knows He is valued and esteemed by the Father. Jesus is so precious that His Father is willing to offer Him up for the sins of the world, for your sins. When that work is finished the Father will exalt Him. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Jesus is content for you. He stays in His place for you. He lives for you. Obeys for you. Dies for you. He beats Satan for you. Satan will go after you the same way he went after Jesus. He’ll tempt your belly and physical passions with phony food. He’ll tempt you to test and doubt God’s love. He’ll tempt you to leave your place and seek a better one. Today you learned his ways. You also learned he lost, not to God, but to a man, to your brother, to your Savior Jesus. Jesus relied on the Word of His Father. He trusted, loved, and obeyed. Now you know how to bring Satan down. In the name of Jesus. Amen.