First Sunday In Lent
February 18, 2024
Pastor Tim Weiser
Text: Mark 1:9–15 Other Lessons: Genesis 22:1–18; Psalm 25:1–10; James 1:12–18
Goal: That you are equipped by the word of Jesus’ saving work, begun at his Baptism and temptation, to resist the devil, confidently saying, “Get behind me, Satan. I’m baptized!” Thoughts from CPR by W. Mart Thompson, Associate Professor, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.
Sermon:
When you experience temptation, say, “Get behind me, Satan! I’m baptized!” The devil tempts us to set our mind on the things of man and not God. He tempts us to sin, to despair, to doubt God’s love and mercy. It’s a battle we face all the time from a hidden enemy. It’s why the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation. ”Get Behind Me, Satan! I’m Baptized!” is not a mere mantra. It is a confession of faith in the very work of Jesus, who defeated the devil. So how can we be so confident in saying this?
Mark, in his account of Jesus’ temptation, closely connects Jesus’ Baptism with his temptation. He writes that after his Baptism, the Spirit immediately hurled Jesus into the wilderness, where Satan tempted him for forty days. The word “immediately” connects these two events.
Here’s what happened: Jesus’ earthly ministry began as he was baptized by John in the Jordan River. It was a Baptism for sinners. That is important, as we’ll see. When Jesus came out of the water, an amazing cosmic event took place. Mark writes that Jesus saw the heavens “torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove” (v 10). As Jesus sees this, he hears God the Father say, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (v 11).
The Father says this because Jesus has set in motion his messianic work to save sinners. He is baptized with the sinners’ Baptism. He has come to be joined to our sinful condition. This pleased the Father. The Holy Spirit is also intimately involved as he now descends upon Jesus, anointing him for his messianic mission.
Jesus’ Baptism, therefore, was a huge inaugural event. The Baptism of our Lord is a very significant part of God’s plan of salvation. Jesus insisted on being baptized with sinners, and the Father commends and the Holy Spirit anoints him for it. The fulfillment of the messianic covenant, made long ago by Jeremiah and other prophets, is now being fulfilled!
If Jesus’ Baptism was the announcement that the Messiah had come to fulfill the covenant God made to save sinners, then Jesus being hurled into the desert was a declaration of war against Satan and the forces of evil. Yes, God had come to take on and defeat the devil!
Once a declaration of war is issued, it is going to happen. You’re committed! In the United States, it takes a two-thirds vote of Congress to declare war against an enemy. In the battle against sin and evil, there’s unanimous consent of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—at the Baptism of Jesus. The evil enemy will be attacked. The Holy Spirit immediately drives Jesus into the wilderness to take on the devil. But it is a very strange battle plan. Mark’s account simply says that out in the wild Satan was tempting Jesus for forty days. Imagine what a spiritually immature Peter might have said. Perhaps something like, “Come on, God. Knock this guy out! Don’t put up with this. He’s no match for you!”
Yet Jesus suffers Satan’s temptations for forty days. Why did he do this? It’s God’s plan to save sinners. Jesus must suffer temptation with and for us. He does this for forty days. He’s the promised Messiah who took the place of Israel, which fell into sin and unbelief. Jesus never yielded. He never fell to temptation. He trusted that God would provide for him. The writer to the Hebrews says he was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Heb 4:15 NIV).
After the forty days, however, the devil didn’t stop. Luke writes that the devil “departed from him until an opportune time” (Lk 4:13). He would hide his attacks. He would come at Jesus as he did through Peter during his earthly ministry. As he did at the cross, when hecklers taunted, “Save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (Mk 15:30). All were still Satan’s attacks, his temptations to abandon the mission to save sinful humankind.
That final attack on Jesus was at the cross, where the war had its crucial battle. There, Jesus’ Baptism would reach its fulfillment (cf Mk 10:39). When Jesus says, “It is finished” and breathes his last (Jn 19:30), the battle is over; the war is won. He descends into hell, as Paul writes, to make “a public spectacle of [Satan and his evil angels], triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:15 NIV). After the triumphal procession in hell, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. His resurrection announced to the world God’s victory over sin, death, and, yes, the devil!
“Get behind me, Satan! I’m baptized!” is not a mere mantra. It’s a confession of faith that Jesus defeated the devil. A Christian can confidently say this because Baptism gives the promise of that victory to you. The Baptism of Jesus resulted in the defeat of Satan. Your Baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection promises that same for you (cf Rom 6:3–4).
This is why telling Satan to get lost, that you are baptized, is a good strategy. You need such a strategy because the devil, though defeated, is still on the prowl. When an enemy is defeated in war, the leaders of the defeated country are to meet with the victor to acknowledge defeat and ask for terms of peace. However, the devil remains the “father of lies” (Jn 8:44) and acts as if he isn’t defeated—even though God has declared it so. For now, God allows this. So Satan still goes about prowling and seeking whom he may devour with his temptations, accusations, and lies.
But when he tempts you to doubt that Jesus completely paid for all of your sin, say, “Get behind me, Satan! I’m baptized!”
When the devil tempts you to despair, thinking life is hopeless, when he tempts you to indulge your sinful nature, say, “Get behind me, Satan! I’m baptized!”
And, when you fall and he accuses you of guilt before God, say, “Get behind me, Satan! I’m baptized!”
Therefore, when you face any of these attacks, you can confidently say, “Get behind me, Satan! I’m baptized!”
Now, though, a time is coming when you’ll no longer need such a strategy. Jesus has promised to rend the heavens again and come down a second time. When that happens, the devil will no longer be on the prowl. He will be cast from the earth and “thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14).
Until that time, you and I do well, in the face of Satan’s temptations, to look to the promise of Jesus’ victory in our Baptism and say, “Get behind me, Satan! I am baptized!” Amen.
