February 26, 2023 —
A Champion for the Defeated
Our Gospel Lesson recounts the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted by the devil.Jesus was holy in our place. Only one slip-up would have caused His mission to fail before it ever got off the ground! The devil knew it and pulled no punches. But Jesus, the “second Adam,” remained holy and won “round one.” And then He went on to win all the rest in order to save us from our many sins and failures.
Jesus’ epic struggle was made necessary by Adam’s epic failure. Adam too came into the world holy. But he quickly gave in to temptation and brought defeat onto all his children, us included. Jesus struggle with temptation was a second chance for mankind. That’s why Paul in our Epistle Lesson refers to Jesus as “the second Adam.” Jesus, born holy, stayed holy despite the devil’s temptations, so He could then credit His holiness to us through faith.
Our Old Testament Lesson is the story of how it all began. Adam was holy. The devil tempted him, he gave in, and we were all born defeated. So God promised our great Champion, His Son, who would undo the damage and defeat Satan for us.
The devil continues to tempt us and he uses the same techniques he tried with Jesus. We’ll talk about that epic struggle in our sermon: “ ‘If’ Can Be a Bad Word”
This Week’s Lessons:
Genesis 3:1–15
Romans 5:12–19
Matthew 4:1–11 (sermon text)
Psalm 46