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THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENTFebruary 18, 2024Pastor Tom SteersChrist the Saviour Lutheran Church, TorontoOur Opening Hymn: 655 “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” by Martin LutherLutheran Service Bookhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ViZi7M5p4The Invocation Confession and Absolution Page 184-185The IntroitPsalm 91:1-2, 9-10, 13; antiphon Ps. 91:15a, c, 16When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place – the Most High, who is my refuge –no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy)Lord Have mercy upon us.Christ have mercy upon us.Lord Have mercy upon us.Our Collect Prayer: O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Saviour we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.Our Bible Readings:Old Testament Reading Genesis 3:1-21 Psalm 32 (antiphon v. 7) Epistle Reading 2nd Corinthians 6:1-10 Gospel Reading Matthew 4:1-11THE NICENE CREED Page 191 HYMN OF THE DAY: 656 “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” by Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igH38WLuyC0 THE SERMON –Our Bible passage today from Genesis goes to the heart of our problems: sin and death.Here is where it all started. The Church season of Lent confronts the very roots of our deepest and darkest spiritual issues; and it will not be satisfied with band-aid solutions. The secular world today has relegated satan to a bad halloween joke. In fact, in our post-enlightenment world, one of satan’s greatest tricks is to try to make us believe he doesn’t exist, that the unseen spiritual world doesn’t exist, and above all that God doesn’t exist.But the handiwork of the devil is in our world, and we do experience it: disease, hatred, greed, pride, death.Yet the ultimate solution becomes clearer when we address what happened in that garden paradise long ago. God created a perfect paradise for His most beloved creation: man and woman.It was a world without disease or death.The Lord planted a wonderful garden for them. In Genesis 1, verse 29 God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.”Of only one tree, one, did God say: don’t eat from it. It doesn’t seem like much of a restriction.Then comes satan. He approaches the woman and asks a question he knows is a lie to get Eve to rebel against God. To deny God’s Word. To deny God’s command. And to tempt Adam and Eve to even be like God Himself.But does God immediately destroy them?No.Instead in Genesis 3:15, God responds by promising a Saviour.He says to satan:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;he (the offspring of Eve) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”Eve’s eventual offspring, Christ, will smash the head of satan, and destroy his power over humanity.The cost will be the crucifixion, a nail driven through the heel of Jesus.When Adam and Eve only deserved destruction, God promises deliverance through a perfect Adam, Christ.Jesus will meet satan and temptation, and triumph over them, where we could not.Only one of us, who was both true man and true God, managed it, and our hopes are pinned on Him alone. So, having seen how our first parents didn’t handle temptation, let’s now look at how Christ did.Immediately before our Gospel passage in Matthew today there’s the account of Jesus’s Baptism, and God’s declaration that, “this is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”Christ is not only the nation of Israel, but all of God’s humanity reduced to one man.Jesus has received John’s baptism of repentance as the representative and substitute for the human race.Thanks to God’s intervention, Israel had passed through the waters of the Red Sea, and was delivered from slavery, yet fell away from God and built an idol, a golden calf.Christ passes through the waters of Baptism and is declared by God to be His beloved son.Israel would wander through the desert to be tested by God for 40 years, frequently complaining, often failing. Christ would be tested for 40 days in the desert without food, ultimately tempted by satan himself, and still beat the devil where we failed.Christ will overcome satan in the place of, and for the sake of, us.One of the first things Israel did, after God delivered them from bondage in Egypt, was to complain about the food. They go so far as to say, maybe it would have been better for them back in Egypt, even though they were starving there. When God produced Manna from Heaven and quail for them, they still complained.Moses warned them: you’re not protesting to me; you’re grumbling against God.Jesus, not having eaten for 40 days, still doesn’t grumble against God the Father, or complain. So, the first temptation when satan shows up is: I know you’re the Son of God, Jesus, why don’t you feed yourself? Turn the stones into bread. You can do it.But Christ won’t use His divine power to serve Himself. He will not be the wrong kind of Son.He’s going to use His divine power to save humanity. Later in His ministry Jesus will create food out of almost nothing to feed thousands, but His power won’t be used in a self-centered way. He will go on to even sacrifice His life for us.Jesus knew well what Israel failed to learn in the desert for 40 years, and that is to trust and abide in the Word of God. Christ quotes Deuteronomy, Chapter 8, verse 3, when He says to satan, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”In the second temptation, the devil takes Christ to the pinnacle, the highest point, of the Temple and says, ‘throw Yourself down. God will have His angels protect You.’The devil is suggesting Christ attempt suicide to see if the Father will save Him.Satan is referring to Psalm 91, but he’s misquoting it, lying, and leaving out a critical line of Scripture.The devil fails to include verse ‘11 b’ where the Lord promises, “to keep you in all your ways.”The Psalm describes God’s, “protection from dangers that approach the righteous.” The Psalm doesn’t speak of testing God to see if He will do what Scripture promises.Satan wants Christ to check whether God will live up to His Word and save Him, just as the people of Israel wondered whether God would provide for them.But Christ will neither doubt God’s promise, nor His power. Jesus will not deviate from God’s ways, but instead quotes Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, verse 16, “You shall not test the Lord Your God.” A lesson neither Israel nor humanity has ever really learned. The third temptation satan throws at Christ goes to the heart of where Israel and humanity generally fail. Satan shows Jesus the majesty of all the kingdoms of the world and says: Jesus this is Yours, with all the power that goes with it, if you’ll fall down and worship me. Here it is. We can see the temptation with non-believers playing itself out today, and even with some believers.Will you worship this world, and all its attractions?Will you give in to the desire to be powerful on Your own, to make yourself ‘like God’?Or will you worship the true, Triune God, and accept God’s only Son, Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Saviour?It’s that simple. Christ resisted this temptation and sent the devil packing. He wins out over satan where the world cannot.With all the devil’s wiles there is one name he’s terrified of, and that sends him running: Jesus Christ.Martin Luther in his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” wrote, “one little word can fell him.”There are some ‘churches’ who preach this passage from Matthew as a moral ‘how-to’ lesson of what you should do when satan tempts you.But what God is conveying to us in these divinely inspired verses, is that where we failed in our temptation with the devil, we have a Victor, a hero, a champion, who withstood everything satan could throw at Him, and won.And through the victory of the crucified and risen Christ, you will win as well over the power of the devil, which is sin and death.That’s also what the Apostle Paul was saying to us today.When Paul writes that Jesus has conquered these two – sin and death –he is talking about the forces that were unleashed in the Fall, and that have plagued us ever since. Yet Christian believers will win because we have a Saviour – Christ.Through Christ, through Him alone and His payment for our sins, eternal life and paradise will be one day be yours Christian.And even though we walk through the wilderness, the desert of this world, filled with sin, disease, and death – that is not the end for you. Let us pray as we travel this Lenten journey over the next 40 days for God’s guidance, and give thanks for His deliverance.Let us remember, now and always, that along with the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter morning, there will one day be your empty tomb, as Christ takes you to Heaven’s eternal promised land. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 Post Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN 938 “In Peace and Joy I Now Depart” by Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7600yg-c9A8