Lent 1 March 10, 2019 Luke 4:1–13
Jesus says: You are to die for. I forgive you!
PRAYER
Why? Why would Jesus go out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil? I thought we were supposed to stay away from temptation? I thought we, with the Spirit’s help, were to steer a wide path away from all temptation, lest we fall into sin and do great harm to ourselves and others? Lord, please help us with this!
Just previous to Jesus heading into the desert, he was baptized by John the Baptist to show that he associates with us humans, in every way, even though he needs no baptism. Why? Because he’s not sinful! Even so Jesus receives a huge blessing in his baptism, for at his Baptism he hears his father speak words that are truly a joy. Blessed words that every son (and daughter) need to hear from his dad. “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased!”
There are many such words our kids need to hear from our lips! “I love you!”; “You are a gift from God!”; “I forgive you!”; “Please forgive me!”; “I hear you!”; “Help me understand you!”; “Let’s pray!” I’m positive we could all come up with many more such phrases.
The Holy Spirit was also present at Jesus’ Baptism. The Spirit descended upon Jesus to be with him, lead and guide him! Why was that needed?! Even though Jesus is God, he’s also 100% human, like us in every single way, except for sin. The Holy Spirit was present to assist Jesus as a human, just as He’s present to assist every single one of us in whom he lives. He descends upon us at our Baptism, and through the water and the Word gifts us with faith in Jesus’ cross work and therefore forgiveness and the eternal life that faith gives!
What a true blessing for Jesus to hear words of blessing from his father and to have the Holy Spirit with him because the very first thing that Jesus does after his baptism is head off into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan! What? As I said earlier, why is Jesus doing this? For himself? For us? Yes, and yes! “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.”
Jesus as the Son of God allows many things happen to him. Things that illustrate the connection and fulfillment of all the things in which God’s Old Testament kids, the Israelites, messed up! When Jesus was about 2 Joseph hurries off to Egypt with infant Jesus and Mary so as to escape Herod’s evil attempt to kill the real King of the Jews! When Herod dies the family returns and settles in Nazareth. The Israelites were brought out to Egypt and so was Jesus brought out of Egypt!
In our text Jesus heads into the wilderness for 40 days. No coincidence there! That’s the number of years God’s people marched around in the wilderness complaining and failing at every temptation that Satan flung their way! Jesus heads into the wilderness to fulfill what they failed at doing and to show us, you and me, how it’s done!
Does the Holy Spirit not know that the devil is out there, ready to tempt Jesus? Of course he does! He’s God, he knows all! Then why lead Jesus into the desert? Why? For Jesus and for us! For Jesus to be strengthened in the truth of who he is and his true calling! To be fortified all along by properly defeating Satan’s temptations, so that when Satan comes with his final onslaught of temptations in the Garden of Gethsemane and on trial before the Sanhedrin and then before Pilate and while being scourged and upon the cross of Calvary, Jesus will not give into Satan’s constant temptations to betray his father’s will and trade us in, all, for life lived a little longer on this earth!
You see, Jesus believes you are to die for! And he will go through all that he must in order to fulfill his calling. And in such you are forgiven! That’s how much he loves you! (If you are reading this on our website after seeing our Jumbo Tron messages in downtown Fort McMurray or have come to our website via another route, know this, Jesus believes you are to die for! He loves you fully, and is willing to take you (and all peoples), wherever you are, whatever you’ve done, thought and said, and says to you that with his death on the cross that you are forgiven! You can’t change that! You are forgiven!!! And nor do you want to!) Just like me, just like you, just like every other single person of all times and places, people who mess up daily, Jesus loves mess ups and thinks we are to die for, and therefore he did, in order to forgive us all!
Incredible Love! Other worldly love! And that’s exactly it! Jesus came from heaven above to love us, by even allowing himself to be tempted so as to show us how to pass the test when Satan, or our sinful nature or this world come calling, each and every day, to sink us, defeat us, and make us feel as if Jesus doesn’t love us!
Truth is we are unworthy of Jesus love! Truth is when we face the temptations to doubt who we are in Christ, and do not stand on God’s truth of Jesus limitless love for us, we will fail! Whenever we stand on our own strength against Satan or this world or our own selfish nature we will fail. IF we do not know Scripture we will be duped by Satan’s lies (as if he owns anything in this world and has anything but temptation to hand out) and we will fail! Satan is cheat, a liar and truly the one whose only desire toward us is to draw us away from Jesus and kill us!!! Whenever we do not come back at Satan, the world and our clinging sinful nature with the Truth of the Word to help us stand our ground, we will fail! And we will fail IF we do not call on the Spirit who lives in us asking that he would deliver us. God’s Word says, “call upon me in the day of trouble (and temptations are real trouble) and … what? What does God say he will do? (Pause) He say, …
I will deliver you!” But, I and you, we do not always see our weakness and his almighty strength!
However, all of our failures do not deter Jesus, IN THE LEAST from dying in our place and then rising again to prove that His father had accepted his sacrifice in our place upon the cross!
Jesus loves me in spite of me. Jesus loves you in spite of you! In spite of our sin! In spite of our rebellion! In spite of our selfishness! In fact there is nothing in us that attracts us to him! But he loves us, because, He Is love!!! And he loves you! And that love, that grace, is also our strength to say NO to Satan, the world and our old nature!
Jesus, the eternal Son of God with whom the Father is well pleased, and the Spirit abides, faced temptations! And so will we until our last breath as his baptized followers! However, standing on Jesus forgiveness and his Word we have the promise that we will not be put to shame. Paul shared this very fact in our second reading this morning. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
God will either deliver us by a successful resistance to the temptation, leaving us with nothing to be ashamed of, or he will forgive our falls into temptation so that our shame is covered by the righteousness of our crucified and risen Saviour, Jesus. Thank you Jesus that you were willing to face all things for us and for believing that we are to die for! And dying for us in order to forgive us! Amen!
Luke 4:1–13
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” 9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” [Satan lies about Scripture conveniently not completing the quote] 12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Psalm 91:1–13
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
Deuteronomy 26:1–11
1 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. 5 “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
Romans 10:8b–13
8 “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”