At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

People of God, rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

Imagine a man named Michael—46 years old. He is arrested, accused and convicted of murdering a 21 year old Domino’s Pizza delivery man. Michael was supposed to be put to death just the other day. But his lawyers went to court complaining that being put to death by lethal was too painful. That the pain involved make being put to death “cruel and unusual punishment!” And so Michael’s being put to death has been postponed. For how long? Oh, maybe a year—maybe longer—while legal eagles try to decide if receiving chemicals that relieve pain before the chemicals that stop his heart and lungs really makes the whole process entirely and completely pain free! When Jesus was put to death—no one was so concerned about Jesus’ comfort. Quite the contrary! No effort was spared to make sure Jesus suffered—as he paid for all our sins. Jesus’ agony was horrible beyond words—because of my sins and your mistakes. Jesus endured all that—the Lamb goes uncomplaining forth—because He loves us that much. Today—this first Sunday in Lent God’s Word comforts us:

Jesus Did It All For Us!

1. He overcame every temptation
2. He washed away every sin

When Jesus was baptized—he was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. In a most wondrous way he was equipped and prepared to save us from our sins. At once the Spirit sent Jesus out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. Right away Jesus went into face to face battle with the tempter, the father of lies, the murder from the beginning, the accuser—the ruler of the kingdom of the air—the lord of the flies—the one who is by death and decay and deception! The name Satan in Aramaic means adversary or opponent. And that is surely what the devil was. This time was painfully difficult! The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18 and again, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are—yet was without sin.” Hebrews 4:15 Forty days and forty nights Jesus had nothing to eat. Can you imagine how hungry he must have been? How simple it would have been to indulge himself—to make a stone into a warm fresh backed cracked wheat little bread with melted creamery butter and maybe some sweet fresh fruit jam or cinnamon or honey still in the honeycomb! But Jesus knew better! Jesus knew better than to do anything that the devil suggested. Jesus knew better than to use his almighty power as the very Son of God to satisfy his own desires. And so Jesus reminded the devil—what matters most is not bread for his tummy—but the bread of life—nourishment for his soul from the very Word of God! So it would go in this brutal one on one—hand to hand combat. The devil was as refreshed as he could be. Jesus—fasting 40 days and 40 nights. And yet—good in every way triumphed over the evil that is death itself! Jesus, our Champion, won the battle for us!

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. John—John the Baptist—the baptizer—fearlessly preached law and gospel! The puppet king—the king who was king at the permission of Caesar was a wicked man named Herod Antipas. Herod Antipas was guilty of having his brother’s wife—his sister-in-law Herodias. John the Baptist admonished him—warned him in public of his very public sin. Herod Antipas in shame and anger and frustration had John thrown into prison. It is terrible enough today—if you have ever been in prison—or visited someone in prison—as Jesus wants us to—you know how awful it can be. Imagine how terrible it must have been back then—with mice and rats and spoiled food and torture and filth. John was in prison—but the spread of law and gospel would not be halted by that!

Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” There was a passion—an urgency in the message Jesus preached. The time has come. God’s Word says again and again now is the time—this is the day—today while it is still light—before the night comes when it will be too late. How dark that darkness will be for eternity! There was a man named Richard Bright. He was one of those guys who looked so tough—so absolutely tough—he played a body guard for the bosses of organized crime in the movies. He was a body guard for Marlon Brando and Al Pacino in all the Godfather movies. He played a body guard in the Sopranos. He was tough! Well the other day—a Saturday at 6:30 in the evening—he got hit by a bus and killed! How could that be? Downtown Manhattan—with all the traffic jams. And I mean how big and noisy is a bus? Could we be hit by a bus? I would like to think not—but stranger things have happened. One of my grade school childhood friends lost her infant daughter—when she choked on something as small as a carpet tack that had worked its way loose—and crawling she found it and before anyone could stop her—she popped it into her mouth! We are exceedingly breakable—every single one of us. The kingdom of God is near! How near—no one this side of eternity can know. It might be exceedingly near for me!

Repent! Be sad and sorry for your sins—your mistakes! People keep changing the rules all the time! They keep making new rules all the time! Aurora, IL—where I used to go to Church—passed a new rule—a new law—that says you can’t leave your Christmas decorations up forever! They have a law that went into effect Ash Wednesday. This law says you can put up your seasonal decorations up to 60 days before the designated holiday. But then you have to take them back down—no more than 60 days after the holiday. So—it’s like you can have lights up for 4 months but not any more than that. If you do—you are breaking the law—and there is a fine—$50—for leaving your Christmas lights up too long! I don’t know! Do we need laws like that? Do we need to make it a crime—if somebody runs little colored lights around the edge of their garage—make it a crime—if somebody has a little Christmas tree that blinks in their front yard—even as the dandelions are growing all around it? Do we need people to call the cops because their neighbor has a plastic reindeer on their porch—and we have to look at it—when we are grilling bratwurst and roasting corn on the cob? It seems to me—that there are enough sins—painful hurtful mistakes that people make all the time. There are enough times and ways that we do something wrong—without saying—oh, by the way—you had better be prompt taking down those lights—or you are going to get a ticket for that, too! In the face of drug and alcohol and tobacco abuse—battered spouses and neglected children—racism and prejudice, bigotry and violent perversion of every kind—lets get those Christmas twinkle lights down?

Repent! Be sad and sorry for your sins—your mistakes! Imagine a movie about an alcoholic hung-over cop—and the prisoner he is supposed to transport—just 16 blocks--pinned down—being shot at. And the police officer tells the criminal—I am a bad man! Not—I have failed to be a good man—I have failed to be a hero—I have failed to be a role model. But I am a bad man! Oh, it’s easy to eat your pop corn, your Raisonettes—and drink your soda and say to yourself—obviously this is a bad man! He has about 2 and ½ days worth of whiskers—he has bags under his eyes—his hair is greasy—he’s hung over—people keep suggesting Tic Tacs and he keeps drinking shots of Canadian Club! But to think of yourself soberly and say honestly—I am a bad man? Me? I don’t think so…. When you hear about people who undeniably have done something horrible—absolutely horrible—unspeakably evil—right away people begin to think of them as some sort of victim. They must have had a horrible childhood. Something must have gone horrible wrong when they were little. Somehow they can’t really be responsible for what they did! The fact is I am a bad man—and so are you! We are bad because we are sinners—through and through corrupted and fatally flawed by damnable sin. We are without excuse!

Repent! Be sad and sorry for your sins! It is tempting to think you can save yourself—save yourself from your sins—from the fires of hell. The fact is—we can’t even save our selves from earthly fires! It was reported a terrible house fire—in the middle of the day—up north. Four adults in the house—a two story house—only one made it out alive? Is that possible? If there were literally flames in the building—in the next room—or in the hall—or in the same room—wouldn’t you go out the nearest door—or out the window? If you were in the kitchen or the bathroom—wouldn’t you start splashing water? Even out a second story window—it’s not that far—if you would hang from the window—and fall into the pine shrubs? Even if you got kind of scorched or your arms got burned—wouldn’t you get out some how? Apparently people don’t! The smoke in your eyes and in your lungs—the flames spreading—people going back for some things or stuff—and they are trapped—and overcome—or the whole building collapses—literally falling down all around them--and they die! We are overwhelmed by our sins. Our sinful lives come crashing down around our heads!

Repent! Be sad and sorry for your sins! This doesn’t come naturally! In fact dead in trespasses and sins. Did you hear about the big bank robbery in England—the biggest one ever? How much did they get away with? Some $92 million? What did you think? Oh, how terrible? Or did you kind of think to yourself—cool? I wonder how they did it? How did they get around all the security? Will the make a movie about this heist? How did they make their get away? Did they have a whole bunch of little Mini-Coopers? Will they end up drinking drinks with those little umbrellas on some island while Scotland Yard is all frustrated—Interpol looking like Inspector Clouseau? Be sorry for your sins—the clever ways you cheated on your taxes—the clever ways called in sick and went to Packer games or Brewer games. The clever ways you cheated and deceived and no one ever knew—except you and Jesus knew!

Repent and believe the good news! Be sad for your sins—and live in the joy of God’s unconditional forgiveness! I was in a place that sells snooty coffee—and sandwiches the other day. The ½ sandwich of the day was called a “goodie two shoes” sandwich. I asked the worker lady—what’s a “goodie two shoes” sandwich? She said it had different kinds of lettuce and greens and sprouts and all kinds of special sauce—but no meat! She said—we are encouraging not eating meat for Lent—you know! Oh, there’s nothing wrong with eating a salad sandwich—nothing wrong with vegetarian vegetable soup and some nice herbal tea! But you don’t earn brownie points with your heavenly Father—no matter how many goodie two shoes sandwiches you eat! It’s not what goes in—but what comes out of our heart that matters!

Repent and believe the good news!” Believe the Good News. Live the Good News! Share the Good News! Put your faith into practice! Did you hear about the basketball team—where the manager was autistic—quiet and withdrawn. It was the last game of the season—the last few minutes—when the coach put him into the game. How swell was that? This very quiet introspective young man shot and missed—shot again and missed. And everybody just wished he could make just one shot—one lay up—one free shot. And then he took a shot—a long one—a three pointer—and all the ball touches is the net. Swoosh! And then he shot again—another long one—another 3 pointer—two and three and four and five baskets in a roll. And suddenly the coach is thinking—what? I should have let this kid play all year long? Believe the good news. Know deep in your heart of hearts that Jesus has forgiven all your sins. Then with the strength and power and love of the Gospel you can love and forgive one another. Your houses will be homes in the warmest most tender sense of the word. And Jesus will be glorified. His kingdom is exceedingly near. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz