As St. James and Dr. Luther have both taught us, God tempts no one to sin or to engage in evil. He does, however, test and try His people, His sons and daughters, according to His good and gracious Will, in order to demonstrate, exercise, and strengthen their faith and life in His Word.
As we’ve been hearing over the past several weeks in the case of Job (in daily catechesis), God does permit the devil to assault the righteous with various afflictions and temptations — though always within the bounds and limits that God has set. But whereas the devil seeks to undermine the faith of God’s people in these ways, the Lord purposes to strengthen and preserve them in His Word and faith in the midst of their adversities, even unto death, in the hope of the Resurrection.
The Word of God is the hinge on which everything turns, the foundation on which faith and life and all things depend. So that is the point at which the devil attacks you, but it is also the way and means by which the Lord your God defends you, upholds you, and guards and keeps you from all evil. His Word determines and reveals what is holy, good, and right, and likewise what is sinful and unclean; not your wisdom, reason, or feelings (nor anyone else’s), but God’s Word does that.
So, for example, when the Lord brought His people out of Egypt and led them through the desert to the Promised Land, He tested them by way of the Manna He provided, as to whether they would gather it according to His Word and rely upon that gift of daily bread according to His promise. And that testing and training of faith and life in His Word was an echo of His Word concerning the trees in the Garden of Eden, those that were for eating and the one tree that was not for eating but for the worship of the Lord by way of reverent obedience to His command.
If it seems absurd that the eating of the forbidden fruit should have such deadly and devastating consequences for Adam and Eve and all their children down to the close of the age, it is because of God’s Word, which determines the significance of all things. That seemingly inconsequential eating was for sin and death, because God said so. Whereas the Lord gives you to eat and drink that which likewise seems inconsequential and insignificant, otherwise ordinary bread and wine, which at His Word are the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, the Fruit of the Tree of Life, given and poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins unto Life and Salvation.
So, too, it is God’s Word that makes the otherwise unthinkable sacrifice of Isaac an exercise of faith and worship on the part of Father Abraham — both the command that God gives him, and the promises of God to which Abraham clings in the certainty of the coming Seed, Christ Jesus.
What would ordinarily be a heinous and evil act is good and right and true, in this singular event, because of God’s Word; and then it is God’s Word that stays Abraham’s hand at the last moment and gives the Ram in place of his beloved son. It is God’s Word at all times that does all things.
Now, to be sure, while sin is determined by the Word of God, sin itself does not originate at all with God, but, as St. James has clearly written, sin emerges out of your own desires — out of your covetous heart and your own selfish will, set in opposition to the good and gracious Will of God.
And because sin originates from within yourself — because you are a sinner from the inside out, prior to and apart from any of the sinful things you do — it is impossible for you to fix the problem or save yourself. Indeed, without God’s Word, it is impossible for you even to know what is right and what is sinful. You cannot trust your own thoughts, feelings, or judgments — and yet, you do so all the time. You do trust in yourself, in your own reason and strength, your own wisdom and experiences, your own feelings and opinions, over and above — and against — the Word of God.
Time and again I talk to people who assert their own convictions and opinions with absolute and utter confidence, quite apart from any Word of God. And when I must speak the Word of God in correction of someone’s self-assured feelings and attitudes, that Word of God is typically rejected and denied, whether blatantly or simply through neglect. For no one likes to be told that he or she is wrong, not even by God. And so it is that sin continues to perpetuate itself and get worse.
But whereas sin originates in your sinful heart and mind and then emerges in your sinful actions, what originates from God — from out of His own great heart of love — is grace and mercy and forgiveness for sinners at the cost of His own Son, who is the only answer and solution to your sin.
That point is emphasized by St. Mark, even by the very simplicity and brevity of his account of the temptation of our Lord Jesus. He does not provide a description of the several temptations, in the way that St. Matthew and St. Luke do. Instead, St. Mark records only the raw fact that Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. And because this same Lord Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God in the flesh, His confrontation with Satan is decisive — not only as a good example for you to follow, but especially as His Victory on your behalf and for your benefit. For the Lord has entered the fray as your great and mighty Champion against Satan, sin, and death; and the truth is that He alone is able to survive that battle and overcome any and all of those enemies for you.
So it is that, in Christ Jesus, the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. His Victory over Satan is the very thing that has made your repentance possible. And His own Victory on your behalf is the very Gospel that is preached and given to you, here within His Church in the midst of the wilderness, that you might believe in Him, fear, love, and trust in Him, and so be saved.
It is important to recognize the way that Jesus obtains His Victory over Satan on your behalf. It’s not by a crushing show of strength and power, but by submitting Himself to be tempted in every way as you are, save only without sin. It is in your place, as the true Man, that He lives as you are called and catechized to live — as you should live (but you don’t). By the Spirit of God, in faith and love, Jesus entrusts Himself entirely to the Word and Will of His own God and Father, even unto His death upon the Cross as the sacrificial Lamb who is given in place of all the sons of man.
It is no coincidence that this temptation follows immediately after the Baptism of Jesus, when God the Father declared Him to be His beloved Son and the Spirit descended visibly upon Him. Indeed, it is the Spirit who drives Him directly from the waters of His Baptism into the wilderness, in order to be tempted by the devil. This belongs to that great exchange of which I have often spoken, whereby Jesus assumes your place under the Law, and He bears and suffers all that you must face as a fallen child of Adam and Eve, so that what He achieves and obtains is for you and for all the sons and daughters of man. He is tempted just as you are, so that His Victory over temptation is now your victory by faith, just as His Cross and Resurrection are your forgiveness and your life.
Now, then, as you are baptized into Christ Jesus, and as you have been given to share His sonship and His life as a beloved child of God, you are likewise assaulted by the temptations of the devil, who is all the more desperate to lure you away from God and from your faith and life in Christ.
The most dangerous, dire, and basic temptation of all is to doubt and reject the Word and works of God, and to focus on yourself and your own works instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is obvious enough in the case of God’s Law, but it is also the case with respect to His Gospel.
Where God the Lord has declared that you are forgiven, and that you are His beloved child, you are tempted to look at yourself, to consider your circumstances, to recall your many and various sins of thought, word, and deed, and to focus on this or that within yourself, and so to conclude that God could not really love you or forgive you, and that you are not His dear child in Christ.
Because the Lord has chosen and determined to speak and act through your pastors, you might conclude that His Word to you — including especially His Word of Absolution or forgiveness — is merely the word and opinion of man, and that the real situation between you and the Lord your God is still up for grabs, something to be worked out in your own heart and on your own terms.
Whether such attitudes and conclusions lead you to pride or despair — the twin ditches into which a Christian falls too easily and often — either way, you have fallen prey to the dangerous sin of doubting the Word and work of God. Either way, in looking at yourself and your own works, you turn away from the Lord Jesus Christ, your Champion and Savior, the Word-of-God-made-Flesh.
From the first to the last, it is the Word of God the Lord — both to you and concerning you — which determines who and what you are and where you stand. That reality is utterly contradicted by the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh, but it remains the only truth that really matters.
Not only “good and evil” in general and in particular, but who and what you are and where you stand with God the Lord, is determined by His Word. It has been accomplished for you and for all people by Christ Jesus, the Son of God. And it is given to you by and through the same Lord Jesus Christ, by the Ministry of His Gospel in Word and Sacrament. The devil, the world, and your flesh have nothing to say about it, nor anything to do with it. For the Lord your God has spoken. And as in His creation of the heavens and the earth, His Word accomplishes whatever He says.
To be sure, the Law of the Lord declares and determines that you are a poor, miserable sinner, and that you deserve nothing but death and damnation, both now and forever. There’s no arguing with that Word of the Law, no bargaining with it, no denying it, and no escaping it. You can’t do it. But Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, the true and perfect Man, He has taken your place under that Law. He has allowed that Word of God to determine His reality, His life, and His death in your stead. And His perfect keeping of that Law, His fulfillment of that entire Law, and His innocent suffering and death under that Law, have become for you God’s Word of the Gospel.
His Gospel forgives your sins. His Gospel give you His Life. His Gospel fills you with His Holy Spirit and makes you His beloved and well-pleasing child. His Gospel is His last and better Word for you in Christ Jesus, in the forgiveness of His Cross, in the righteousness of His Resurrection.
That Word of the Gospel is not simply what is written once and for all in the Holy Scriptures, though it is certainly revealed there in its absolute truth and purity. It’s far more than “John 3:16” on a bumper sticker, a billboard, or a poster in the stands at a sporting event. The Gospel is chiefly the Word of Absolution or forgiveness that God the Lord speaks to you by name, and for you, personally, especially through your pastors in the here and now, within His Church on earth.
Thus, for example, His Word to you in Holy Baptism — by which He has named you with His own Name, united you with Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, in His Cross and Resurrection, and given you His Holy Spirit — that is His Word of the Gospel to you, which tells you who and what you really are and where you stand before Him: You are His child; He loves you, and He is pleased with you.
And His Word of Holy Absolution, spoken in His Name and stead by His called and ordained servants of the Word — that is His Word of the Gospel to you, which not only means what it says, but it does and gives exactly what it says. It forgives you all your sins for the sake of Christ Jesus.
And His Word to you again this morning, here at His Altar — “Take, eat; this is My Body, which is given for you. Take, drink; this is My Blood, which is poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sins” — that, too, is His Word of the Gospel to you. It is most certainly true. It is real. And as the Catechism has taught you, these Words of Christ, “for you,” call you to believe and trust what He says and does and gives to you. For as God speaks to you in Christ Jesus, so it is, absolutely.
His Word of the Gospel is your Mighty Fortress, your Shield and Strength against all the assaults and accusations of the devil. By that Word He guards and protects you from all evil. And as often as you have fallen prey to temptation and sin, He raises you up again and again with that Word of forgiveness. For the Word of God to you in Christ Jesus is your Life and your Salvation forever. This is most certainly true.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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