Luke 4:1-13 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, ² where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." ⁴ Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" ⁵ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ So if you worship me, it will all be yours." ⁸ Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" ⁹ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; ¹¹ they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" ¹² Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" ¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

"If." That's a simple little word, isn't it? If – a little word whose control of our thoughts, our dreams, our hearts and minds, far outweighs its miniscule size. Consider the power of if. A very successful businessman was driving with his wife along the interstate when he had to pull off to get some gas. He managed to find a small, one-pump station. While he took a walk to stretch his legs, he asked the attendant to "fill 'er up and check the oil." When he returned, he noticed his wife and the attendant were carrying on an animated conversation. He thought little about it until, as he got in and started the car, he heard the attendant say, "Hey, it was great seeing you again." As they drove away, the attendant stood on the asphalt waving. Curious. The exec asked his wife, "What was all that about?" She shared that she had gone to school with the service station attendant; they had even dated each other for over a year. With a semi-smile, the exec mused, "Boy, lucky for you that I came along. If you had married him, you'd be the wife of a gas station attendant rather than the wife of a chief executive officer." Without a moment’s hesitation the wife replied, "Dear, if I had married him, he'd be the chief executive officer and you'd be the gas station attendant." That's the power of "if."

Today's message revolves around the word if. This week in my religion class at Shoreland, one of the juniors asked me an intriguing question. Remember in the movie "Back to the Future" where Marty McFly went back in time, messed up his parents’ first date, and put himself in danger of never being born? The Shoreland junior asked if all the millions of babies our nation had aborted had been allowed to live, would America be different? I replied that it is an impossible question to answer, however, our nation and our world is probably inferior because of abortion. What if we had aborted the next Abraham Lincoln or Albert Einstein? What if the person who would discover the cure to cancer or AIDS hadn’t been allowed to live?

Historians love to play the game of if. They wonder how our world would have been reshaped if Hitler had developed the atom bomb first; or an alarm had been sounded an hour before the Japanese planes reached Pearl Harbor. Of course, the answer to all those iffy questions is, "We will never know."

The power of if. If you could go back in your life and change something, what would you do differently? If you had the power to take back a hurtful word; to be a little kinder to your parents before they died; to be a little more loving to your spouse; to not make that horrible, life-altering mistake; what would you change?

Satan knew the power of that little word "if." That word makes us consider the choices we have made. It makes us question our actions. It creates a battle within our conscience.

"I just couldn't help myself! It was like those chocolate chip cookies just jumped into my hand and shot straight into my mouth. If I could just be disciplined, I could lose this weight!" Temptation triumphed again. If it's not cookies, what temptations in your life triumph? You know the ones. They are the ones that you set out to do battle with on a daily or weekly basis, and it is an all out war. You are determined not to cave in, never to lose ... but you do ... and you experience the agony of defeat ... again. Who's your opponent? The temper that loses control? The tongue that gives in to gossiping? The laziness that lacks drive and robs your work by not giving your best? The appetite that appreciates too much alcohol? The royal attitude that has to rule instead of being the servant of all? "I can’t help myself! If I could just overcome in these battles, I’d be a better parent, a better spouse, a better employee, a better Christian."

Jesus has something to say to you about your battles. He knows how to defeat that little word "if." Jesus says to you, "I can relate. I went through what you went through." When Jesus was 30 years old, Satan unleashed a forty-day assault of temptation on the Savior. Satan had assumed that since the word "if" had worked so well on sinful humans for several millennia, it would also work well on the sinless Son of God. Three times the devil came. Three times the devil spoke. Satan said, "Jesus, if you are the Son of God, command these stones become bread." Satan was suggesting that Jesus could satisfy his stomach; Jesus could change things. He could begin right now. All Jesus had to do was follow Satan's suggestion to make himself a convenient meal.

Then the devil took Jesus into the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. Satan said, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you''' Satan was suggesting that Jesus could avoid all the misunderstandings and misconceptions of people. If he just did this one really big miracle, right here on the temple grounds, then people would be impressed. They would believe in him.

The third time, Satan took Jesus to a mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world with all their glory. Satan said, "All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Satan’s suggestion was a simple one. Jesus could avoid the agony, the misery, the torture, the cross, if he would only make one simple, very private gesture.

Jesus was given an opportunity to change his life, if …

The bombardment during the forty-day temptation time was relentless. But at the end of it, Jesus stood as the champion. He beat the bully. He overcame the temptation trickery. He never caved in. He beat those temptations because he knew you wouldn't. But Jesus' now calls you to stand next to him, put your foot on Satan's neck, and listen to him call you a winner. Because he won, you won. When you enter the battle today, go into the fight knowing you're a champion with Jesus. Tell him what you've said so many times before in your weakness against temptation, "Jesus, I just can't help myself!" And what's Jesus' response to you? "I know you can't, that's why I'm here."

Lent is a time for us to wake up; a time to realize we cannot have it both ways. We cannot keep switching sides. We can't say that we have fellowship with the light while we are walking in darkness. We can't hold onto Jesus without renouncing Satan and his works and ways. We cannot cuddle up to the snake. We must stomp on it.

But no matter how much we learn, no matter how hard we try, no matter how often we attempt to make the right decisions, we fail. We are sinners. We can never defeat Satan like Jesus did. But the great news is that we don’t have to go into battle against Satan by ourselves. Jesus fights for us. Martin Luther puts it this way: "With might of ours can naught be done; Soon were our loss effected. But for us fights the valiant One Whom God himself elected."

Jesus defeated Satan. By grace through faith, God has placed us together with Jesus. So Christ’s power, Christ’s blood, Christ’s death and resurrection are more than Satan can handle. With Christ living for us and dying for us, we have the victory over Satan.

It’s a bit like this. Let’s say you enter a golf tournament. It’s a best ball tournament. That means your four teammates all take a shot. The best shot counts for the whole team. But guess who’s on your team? Tiger Woods. Of course, nine times out of ten his shot will be the best. Your team wins the tournament because you’ve got the world’s best golfer on your team.

In a way, that’s what Jesus does for us. Of course, Jesus is an even better Savior than Tiger Woods is a golfer. Tiger Woods doesn’t win every tournament he enters. But Jesus won every victory over Satan. Jesus never sinned. Therefore, we have the victory over Satan. We have forgiveness of sins. We have eternal life in heaven.

If. Imagine Satan had come at you, one-on-one, to tempt you. If you were given the choice and the chance, what would you have done? Since you have fallen victim to far smaller temptations, you surely would have failed in these as well. When given the chance, you go a little faster than the speed limit allows. You’ve taken the bigger pork chop off the serving plate. You haven’t always spoken well of those around you. We are all suckers for Satan’s suggestions. Satan knows our weaknesses. He knows that there is not a person who has ever lived, who has managed to always do good and never sin. All of us have, at one time or another, listened to Satan's whisperings and jumped at the opportunity to fail and fall.

I imagine, having had thousands of years of unbroken successes, Satan didn't think things would be different with Jesus. Jesus, true God, but also true Man, would succumb. Maybe Jesus' hunger would bring him down; maybe it would be his desire to simplify his work and take a shortcut that would accomplish the job. And if these failed, most certainly Jesus would enthusiastically embrace the idea of winning everything he was working for, but without the shadow of the cross darkening his future. As far as Satan was concerned, it was a done deal. Who wouldn't change the dark moments of their lives, if they were given the chance?

My friends, I know of only One: Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The Savior saw through Satan's subtle suggestions to sin. The Savior knew that every package that is postmarked in hell will always come wrapped in a pretty bow. Jesus knew. That's why that day in the wilderness, he did something truly remarkable: he refused to rewrite his life; he declined to walk the easy path; he turned away from temptation and toward the cross which would end his earthly journey of humiliation and suffering. That day in the wilderness, Jesus said, "If the cost of making my life easier means millions will suffer the horrible horrors and fierce fires of hell, I will suffer, and I will die. And he did. He suffered and died for you and for me. He suffered and he died so that we might be saved. If he hadn't, our futures would have been truly different. But that "if" is a foolish one. Jesus has borne our grief and carried our sorrow. Jesus was pierced for our sins; he was crushed for our iniquities. And now, by his scourging, we are healed and saved. Now because Jesus defeated Satan, we have the power over Satan as well. About all this, there are no ifs, ands, or buts. Amen.