VICTORIOUS OVER SINS (02-17-13)

First Sunday of Lent

Matthew 4:11

Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

He is the Son of God, the Lord of the Most High, and still He was tempted. 

Satan knows that He is the son of God, and yet, it still had the guts to tempt Him.  OR, a better way to put it – Satan knows He is the Son of God, THAT IS WHY, it gathered all his guts to tempt Him.

He succeeded before when He tempted Adam, who gave in to its wants and “through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men.”  And Satan would do anything to prevent man from achieving the promises of salvation.

The temptation of Jesus focused on Satan's determined effort to keep Jesus from the cross.  It didn't want Him to die so that we may live for it knew Christ's death will destroy evil, death, and Satan himself. The proof of his desperation was his willingness to compromise with Jesus by letting Him rule over an earthly, materialistic kingdom.

But, Satan would never succeed the second time.  But, it would never stop.  Satan returned throughout Christ's ministry: through demon-possessed people, the hardened hearts of the scribes and the Pharisees; His own family who cannot understand His mission in life, His own disciples; and finally in the colossal struggle in Gethsemane, where for the nth time, He accepted His fate by following the will of God – “I shall drink the cup which the Father has given Me”.

And as we become victorious against temptation, God will send His angels to minister on us, guiding us, protecting us so that Satan may not succeed again in separating us from the One, True God.  Resist temptation and live life fully with the Lord.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, teach us to be vigilant in the eyes and the heart, strong in spirit and virtue in resisting temptation.  Amen +

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness…