Bethany Lutheran Church
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
Introit
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer Him: I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him: and show him My salvation.
Psalm. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High: shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Collect
O Lord, mercifully hear our prayer and stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to defend us from them that rise up against us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.
The Epistle and Gradual
Gradual
For He shall give His angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways.
V. They shall bear thee up in their hands: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Tract. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High: shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
V. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God: in Him will I trust.
V. He shall cover thee with His feathers: and under His wings shalt thou trust.
The Gospel
The Temptations of Jesus Christ
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #154 Alas and Did My Savior
Prayers
- Norma Boeckler, our highly regarded artist in India.
- Continuing successful treatment for Lorie Howell.
KJV 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
KJV Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
First Sunday In Lent
Lord God, heavenly Father, inasmuch as the adversary doth continually afflict us, and as a roaring lion doth walk about, seeking to devour us: We beseech Thee for the sake of the suffering and death of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, to help us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to strengthen our hearts by Thy word, that our enemy may not prevail over us, but that we may evermore abide in Thy grace, and be preserved unto everlasting life; through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
The Temptations of Jesus Christ
KJV Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Being tempted, or tested (James 1), is a familiar topic in the Bible and especially with Moses in the dry wilderness. The people saw and experienced the miracles, but they were still furious with Moses for "letting them out in the wilderness to die." Jesus did not simply go to the desert without reason, but was led by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the Word of God. Isaiah 40 begins the joyous section of the prophet with the voice crying in the wilderness - Prepare the way of the Lord.
When John the Baptist preached the coming of the Messiah, the tiny nation was electrified by Isaiah's book coming to life in Isaiah 40. At the time of Jesus, Israel was a captive nation, ruled by the Roman Empire, all of them slaves with harsh masters.
Jesus was the new Moses in repeating the fasting in the desert. People say it is impossible, but WWII proved that people could waste away because they were deprived of food and still had to work for their masters. References to this made in the Gospel of John. Jesus pointed out that Moses asked for food, but He could perform the miracle Himself. The people were still angry (though fed) and demanded another miracle.
Trials strengthen people because we become fearful more easily than we trust in God.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
This is exactly parallel with people today. If they cannot see God at work, they repudiate God and question whether He is capable. Faith and fear are opposites - one drives the other away. "If" can be a big word. Alexander the Great threatened Sparta with destruction, listing all he could do with his well trained army IF they did not obey. Their response was one word - IF. Alexander did not attack.
So many repudiate God in denying His Word in so many different ways. One Lutheran blog listed all the things that their LCMS no longer teaches. They no longer teach Justification by Faith. Gausewitz, who was WELS, did in his widely distributed Small Catechism, English and German, and Gausewitz was head of LCMS-ELS-WELS! More recently, Robert Preus taught the Chief Article in his book Justification and Rome. Two of his many sons are listed as editors of Justification and Rome. They still deny that their father taught the truth in his last book.
The denominations have gone the same way, and LCMS-ELS-WELS do the same in their fear-filled Church Growth propaganda.
- Did Jesus entertain people in His preaching?
- Did the Son of Great provide desserts and sweets? Or sell them?
- Did the Lord have a financial campaign for buildings?
- Did the King of Kings sell books about his successes?
- Did the Messiah count the numbers and let everyone know He was successful?
It has been subtle, but ever since the 1881 Revision of the KJV, the so-called scholars have undermined the divine nature of the Word of God. They remove words and phrases about the divinity of Jesus, even groups of verses, such as the woman caught in adultery (John) and the empty tomb (Mark 16:9-20). This may sound repetitious to some, but it may be startling to those 1 or 2 thousand who view the blog overnight. I was not taught the truth, starting in the 1950s and in college in the 1960s, especially so in seminary and graduate school at Notre Dame. Reduction of the Bible means passages not even seen, others distorted and watered down.
More treacherous are the places where the doctrine of the Bible is relatively vague, only to use that as a springboard for replacing God's Word with human reason.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
The truly gifted are those who can take any passage from the Bible and inject social activism into it, so we must be quiet lest the march to the Left continues without slowing down.
The Word of God is primary and everything else is secondary.
This is also the reason that the Evangelist with great care places it first: Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, that he might there fast and be tempted, so that no one might imitate his example of their own choice and make of it a selfish, arbitrary, and pleasant fasting; but instead wait for the Spirit, who will send him enough fastings and temptations. For whoever, without being led by the Spirit, wantonly resorts to the danger of hunger or to any temptation, when it is truly a blessing of God that he can eat and drink and have other comforts, tempts God. We should not seek want and temptation, they will surely come of themselves; we ought then do our best and act honestly.
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
KJV Psalm 91:9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Luther wondered - Why didn't Satan use the stairs? But no, he set Jesus on the very top of the Temple, omitting the key phrase to keep thee in all thy ways.
Is this not the same thing that Satan is using for all of mankind? Religion is powerful, and that means it is powerful for evil too. Many super-stars of the pulpit have found themselves lost and forgotten once they teaching the worst of blasphemies, wondering why their mysteries and axioms no longer served them. They could repent, but those people who followed their Father Below never seem make that effort - life was so easy before.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
In many ways, this is a warning from Jesus to those who would fashion a religion of their own, either through ease and luxury or - better yet - power and privilege. Trial and temptation are the same word in Greek, and that shows its purpose in this lesson and in James 1. A trial teaches us lessons. A temptation is really a failed effort ultimately to teach God.
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
This is a beautiful ending about Jesus. Because of His humanity, He could feel the temptation of Satan. He knew what was ahead in disappointments, arrests, torture, and death. That is why He literally shook (John's Gospel) when He looked upon Lazareth's tomb. Raising Lazarus from death and proving His divinity in front of the people from the funeral - that triggered the final days of celebration (Palm Sunday),
humiliation (mockery of His divinity), torture (with whips) and execution (on the cross). All would suffer from these terrible and terrifying events.
The angels ministered to Him, just as they came to Jesus' grave, to open the enormous stone, not to let Him out (as the Calvinists imagine) but to show the world He was raised from the dead and soon to sit down in glory on the right hand of the Father.
 at
The End |
