An overweight businessman decided it was time to shed some excess pounds. He took his new diet seriously, even changing his route to work in order to avoid driving past the Krispy Kreme shop. One morning, however, he showed up at work with a stack of boxes of hot, fresh donuts. Everyone in the office scolded him, but no one could curb his enthusiasm. "God told me to buy these donuts" he explained. "I accidentally drove by the Krispy Kreme this morning and I noticed that the ‘fresh donuts’ light had just been turned on. I felt it was no accident, so I prayed, ‘Lord, if you want me to have some of those delicious donuts, let there be an empty parking spot right in front.’ And sure enough, the eighth time around the block, there it was!"

There is not a person in this room who hasn’t struggled with temptation. If you gave up something for Lent, I imagine that you quickly noticed just how much you wanted to have or do the thing that you gave up. It is part and parcel of our human nature to feel the power of temptation in our lives.

We worship a savior who was tempted. The temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness is attested in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was "tempted in every way, just as we are," with the one caveat that Jesus was without sin.

The truth is, our observation of the season of Lent is greatly influenced by the story of Jesus in the wilderness. In all three years of the lectionary cycle, the gospel lesson on the first Sunday in Lent deals with Jesus’ forty-day period of fasting and temptation in the wilderness. The fasting during this forty-day period is the inspiration of our practice of giving up something for Lent. The fact that we observe forty days in the season of Lent (not counting Sundays) is patterned after the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, as well as the forty days that Moses spent with God on Mt. Sinai, and the 40 days that Elijah spent fasting before encountering God in the "still, small voice."

Temptation is so seductive. The power of temptation lies, not in the evil that we are tempted to do, but in the fact that there is always an element of something good that entices us. As Fred Craddock notes, "the tempter in Eden did not ask, ‘Do you wish to be as the devil?’ but, ‘Do you wish to be as God?’" In a light-hearted manner that captures our imagination C.S. Lewis also gives temptation serious consideration in his book The Screwtape Letters. In that book, the devil sends advice to an apprentice demon assigned to a new convert to Christianity, and the assignment of the apprentice demon is to cause the new Christian to lose faith. Throughout the book, C.S. Lewis shows how subtle and discreet the forces of evil are in tempting us away from faith in Christ. It is not power or might that the forces of evil use as their weapons, but seduction and deception.

The truth is, temptation seduces us into doing things about which something good could be said. Who would fault Jesus for turning stones into bread to feed the hungry? Why wouldn’t Jesus want to rule all the kingdoms of the earth--just think about all the good things he could do. Go ahead and jump off the Temple--the world could use a good demonstration of God’s power these days...

The power of temptation lies in the implied good that could result from particular actions.

Temptation is a powerful force to resist. It is a struggle between good and evil; and you know and I know that evil will not go down without a fight. In another work, C.S. Lewis said about temptation: "Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is . . . A [person] who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. ...We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it..."

Indeed, temptation is a formidable enemy. But Paul reminds us in First Corinthians that "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

And were it not for the example of Christ and his encounter with the enemy, then we might not know how to resist temptation. As Jesus goes into the wilderness after his baptism, he is all alone. In his battle against Satan, Jesus meets the enemy with only two weapons: he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and he is armed with the Word of God.

Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit that guides him through his wilderness experience. When we read the story of Jesus tempted by the devil, often we gloss over this detail. But how important it is to note that Jesus does not face the enemy alone! For the Holy Spirit is the presence and power of God.

How often we neglect that important fact in our lives! We walk through life either thinking that we can handle things on our own, or on the other end of the spectrum we despair at the idea of facing the battles of life on our own. Yet the sequel to Luke’s gospel, the book of Acts, reminds us that in the absence of Christ we have more than faith to sustain us: we have the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to be with us. It is the Holy Spirit that is the power of God at work within us to transform us and equip us.

And it is the Holy Spirit that is the power of God for us as we engage in our battles against temptation. God has given you the Holy Spirit. Use that gift. God is faithful; seek him in your struggles against temptation.

The other weapon that Jesus uses in his confrontation with the devil is the word of God. Three times the devil tempts Jesus, and three times Jesus answers with these words: It is written...

It is written...

In his battle against Satan, Jesus clings to the word of God. Satan tempts Jesus by daring him to use his powers as the Son of God to turn stones into bread. Jesus answers by quoting a fragment from a verse in the book of Deuteronomy: "One does not live by bread alone." It is a partial quote, but for those who knew the story of Moses and the Israelites the partial quote would have reminded them of the whole, which is a call to remember God’s provision for his people as he led them through 40 years in the wilderness, giving them manna every day. Moses then reminds the people that God fed the people manna "to teach you that [one] does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

And so when the devil tempts Jesus to feed his hungry stomach by turning stones into bread, Jesus recalls the word of God, and he resists because he knows that it is not bread that sustains him, but the breath of God within him.

The devil then tempts Jesus with political power. "Take a look at all the kingdoms of earth--they can be yours," says Satan, "if only you will worship me." Again Jesus remembers the word God spoke to Moses, and Jesus knew that the word spoken to Moses was also a word spoken to him, even as it is a word spoken to you and to me today. Again, it is a partial quote that would have brought to mind the whole, which includes the fundamental confession of Israel’s faith in the words of the Shema: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." It is the word of God that reminds Jesus that there is but one God worthy of our worship and adoration, and that God is not the devil. And so he replies to the devil, "It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."

The devil recognizes Jesus’ tactic, and so he decides to use Jesus’ own weapon against him. A third time he tempts Jesus, only this time he appends to his temptation a quote from scripture, from the 91^st Psalm: "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

Again, this is a reminder of how pernicious and deceptive that temptation can be. For though scripture is the word of God, it can be twisted and misused to serve purposes other than God’s purposes. The words are there, but when we use them for purposes other than God’s purposes, then the words are not the Word of God. For centuries the word of God was used to justify the practice of slavery, including in this country. The words are there, but they are not the word of God. My stomach turns every time I hear of pastors who have told beaten and abused women that they must remain in their abusive marriages because the Bible commands it; even worse, there are some that claim that the Bible says it is a woman’s place to accept the abuse with submission. The words are there, but when they’re used like that, they’re not the Word of God. The Bible is the word of God, but often misused and twisted in order to achieve purposes that clearly are not God’s purposes. The devil tempted Jesus with just such a use of scripture. And the practice continues today.

But Jesus knew that words of scripture could be misconstrued to the point that they are no longer the Word of God. And Jesus recognized the tactic of the enemy, and so a third time Jesus fell back on scripture as his weapon. "It is written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

And then the devil left Jesus alone.

It is written...

In his commentary on the temptation of Jesus, C.H. Spurgeon writes that Jesus "could have spoken new revelations, but he chose to say, ‘It is written.’ There is power in the Word of God which even the devil cannot deny."

In his great chapter on the full armor of God, Paul describes piece by piece the spiritual armor that we are to wear as we wage war against the forces of evil. It is worth noting that the only offensive weapon listed in the armor is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And in the psalm that is both the longest psalm and perhaps the most eloquent tribute to the majesty and glory of the word of God, we find these words, "Thy word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."

When you find yourself confronted with temptation, whose word comes to mind for you? Whose word do you trust? Whose word is written in your heart?