Christ Defeated Satan On Our Behalf

The Temptation of Christ

If Satan offered all the power of this world to you, could you resist? Not an easy question and we certainly hope we would, but we also know that we are tempted and fail every day for far less.

Keep in mind just how tempting Satan’s offer was. Naturally, Christ was not wooed by the power of this world. Rather, he stood firm in the scriptures, completely rejected the ways of the world, and thus defeated the great tempter.

Christ’s defeat of Satan was an incredible victory for us. The fall of Adam had given the world’s power to Satan. Christ came and took it back. He did what we could never do. Christ defeated Satan, led a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose again — all for our gain! He satisfied our debt and made us whole again.

Thanks be to God for his sacrifice and his gift of eternal life for us.

Today’s sermon is based on Luke 4:

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ⁵ And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶ and 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. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸ And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    to guard you,’¹¹ and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

¹² And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

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Announcements

Bible Study: Our midweek Bible study will resume, via Zoom, on Tuesday, March 8th. Please note it will continue on Tuesday nights due to Lenten services on Wednesdays.

Lent: Please join us at 6 pm for the worship service. Please note there is no soup dinner and worship starts at a new time (6 pm). If you would like to worship via Zoom, please email Andrew Berg and he will email a link.

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Prayer requests. Bring your prayer requests to Pastor Jenson, Deacon Poe, or Loyd Harris (bulletin typist). They will be printed in the bulletin and prayed in the Sunday service. The deadline is Tuesday. Remember to obtain permission if you are bringing a prayer request on behalf of another person.