Listen to Him! | Lent 1 | 22.02.2026 | Matthew 4:1–11 | David M. Wendel |

First Reading: Genesis 3:1-21
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19

Matthew 4:1-11 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.³ And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Sermon Title: “Listen to Him!”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Who are you listening to, most of the time? Who has your ear, so that you not only listen, but you actually hear and take to heart what you are hearing? The fact is, we are assaulted these days with a multitude of voices and messages, trying to influence our thinking, our behavior and yes, our choices in life. It comes through TV and social media, through advertising across all the platforms, with this company and that media giant and this celebrity and that politician and this podcaster and that social media influencer all trying to make their point to convince us to do this, that or the other thing. That might be the reason that there’s a lot of study today on the difference between “signal” communication and “noise.” I think it got its start in radio and TV, but its become critically important in military applications, like submarines, for example, where hundreds of feet below the surface, you live life in quiet and darkness, and everything you know comes from the sounds coming through the ocean, so that some of the most important people on the submarine are those always listening—trying to distinguish valuable, critical signal communications—from all the noise. Just watch the Hunt for Red October movie again sometime, and you’ll see how important that is. And there’s a lot of study going on today in leadership and business about distinguishing the signal communication, the important, valuable actionable information one receives, from the noise: the incessant, unwanted static that distracts us from what we want and need to hear.

This is, in a way, the contrast we see in our lessons for today, this First Sunday in Lent. The question being asked is, “Who are we listening to? Who has our ear, so that most of our time and attention is given to that person, message or medium?” Are we listening to God, or Satan and the forces of evil which seek to tempt us and lead us away from God?

The value of being in church every Sunday, is that we appreciate the thread, the continuity in the church year, presented in the lessons. Last Sunday, as we celebrated the Transfiguration, we were reminded of many things, as Jesus was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared and Peter, James and John experienced Jesus in His resurrection glory. And then, there was the voice from heaven, affirming Jesus, as God the Father’s beloved Son. But then, in what is often overlooked or ignored, God Himself speaks directly to us—to the disciples then, but also to you and to me, as the Father says, “This is my Son—LISTEN TO HIM!” So many times in life, we wish, we pray that God would speak to us—if only we had a word from God. And yet, there it is!  God, the almighty, eternal, omniscient, omni-present, all powerful God speaks to us, and what does He say? God says, “This is my only begotten Son—there is no other who is fully divine and fully human—one with me and one with you. So—listen to Him!” We have a specific, particular word from the Lord God, and what He tells us, is to listen to Jesus.

And it’s not insignificant that after the transfiguration is over, after Moses and Elijah depart, after the clouds dissipate, the disciples are left with Jesus only. Only Jesus. God tells his children to listen to His Son, Jesus—and then we are left with Jesus only. With all the other voices and noise and static in this world, clambering for air time and ear time, we are to focus on, listen to, only Jesus. And that’s important, as we see, in our account from Genesis, and in Jesus’ experience in the wilderness, how easily we might be led astray, if we listen, not to God, but to Satan, the tempter, the liar, the deceiver.

In Genesis, we see how easily Adam and Eve, our first parents, our ancestors, allowed the serpent, Satan, to get in their ears, tempting them to act completely contrary to the very specific, direct Word of God, to commit the first sin, the original sin. The Lord God couldn’t have been more clear, that they had everything else in the garden to enjoy, but they were not to eat of the fruit of that one tree. And instead, they listened to another voice and their own sinful desire, and they did the one thing they were commanded not to do…they ate. And then they blamed each other and the serpent. And finally, they suffered the consequences of their own actions. By listening to Satan’s temptations and their own self-serving thoughts and desires, they broke their relationship with God, their creator, and there were consequences—consequences for our first parents and for the generations of their children who came after. That’s what it means when the Scriptures tell us that our sin and disobedience follows us, causing problems for our children and our children’s children, for generations after. We all know, or we should know, that our disobedience affects others—our spouses, our children and grandchildren, and others we are acquainted with. Sin has consequences. Listening to the devil and demonic forces who try to tempt us away from God has consequences. Which is why the God the Father says to us, “Listen to Him. Listen to my Son.” Last Sunday, in our worship service, God spoke to each of us here, and He said, “Listen to my Son, Jesus.”

And now, here we are today, and while we are trying to listen to Jesus, the devil is in our ears, trying to confuse us and to distract us, to keep us from hearing Jesus. And oh, how clever is the devil! As he tempted Jesus with basic human needs—hunger, how often are we tempted to turn away from the Living Bread, to all kinds of other “food” in this life—substances which do not fill us with God’s presence, but which promise to provide fulfillment, happiness and satisfaction. Only to leave us more empty than when we began to eat. The devil sees how empty we are, at times in life, and he’s right there, tempting us, luring us, trying to get us to eat of the forbidden fruit—of illegal drugs and substances, immoral sexual gratification, power, pride and position in this world—there are so many forms of forbidden fruit, that it’s no wonder we are tempted! And it’s so easy to listen to the voice of evil influences outside us, but also inside us, which want to lead us away from God. But the Father God says, “Here is my beloved Son, listen to Him—listen to HIM—not the devil, not your own sinful inner voice.” And what does Jesus say, “Do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus says, live by the Word of God.

So, the devil gets in our ears next, encouraging us to tempt God by saying, “God, if you really love me, why won’t you give me what I want? Give me the job I want, the income I want, the physique I want, the healing I want?” But the Father God says, “Here is my beloved Son Jesus—listen to Him.” And what does Jesus say? He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, saying, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” In other words, trust God, rely on God and His will and way—not your own wants and desires.

Finally, the devil hits Jesus as hard as he can, offering Jesus everything He came for; the world, kneeling at His feet, the world, acknowledging Jesus as Lord, but without the pain and suffering of the cross, without having to die, an unblemished sacrifice Himself, for the sins of all of us, unworthy, undeserving creatures. But God says, “This Jesus is my Son—listen to Him.” And what does Jesus say? Again, quoting Deuteronomy, Jesus says, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”

Now ponder that with me. Why wouldn’t Jesus choose the path without struggle and suffering? Why wouldn’t Jesus accept the path that would make Him Lord of all, without Golgotha and the cross? Wouldn’t we always choose something other than pain, difficulty and sacrifice? That’s what Satan and the forces of evil are always whispering in our ear, trying to get us to ignore the fine print: the devil said, “All this I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me!” You see, there’s always a catch. Satan is a liar and a deceiver, as well as a tempter. Satan seeks to lure us away from God, even as the devil tried to turn Jesus away from the Lord God and His will and plan.

And that’s the signal communication, the important message which is hopefully, powering through the noise and the distracting voices of the devil and all the evil influences trying to get us to go our own way, in life and in Lent. For all the Lenten disciplines you may have laid out for yourself; for all the things you may have given up or taken on, this Lenten season; for all of us who haven’ really gotten into Lent, yet, may we set this as our primary focus: That we listen to Jesus and Jesus only. That we hunger and thirst, not for earthly bread but for the Word of God. That we not tempt God, but pray, “Thy will be done.” That we worship the Lord our God and serve only Him!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

©The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel
d.wendel@grace43081.org
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
Westerville, Ohio USA