Jesus taught us to pray; "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This first Sunday in Lent holds before us delivery from our enemies – the enemies of evil and temptation, the devil and sin. We dare not forget that we are constantly at war against lethal spiritual terrorists. Paul reminds us to "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."

Every day, we’re under temptation. From the lure of the forbidden and proverbial cookie jar to the draw of dark sites on the internet, from the gossip we’re just dying to share to the grudge we continue to nurse, even after all these years. Whatever the temptation, our minds are rarely at peace.

We’re constantly at war with ourselves, with a sinful world, and with the lies and deceptions of the devil. Luther understood that dilemma when he taught us to sing, "With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were our loss effected."

On our own we fail, "But for us fights the valiant One, whom God Himself elected." It’s good to know that we are not alone in our battle. Fresh from his baptism at the Jordan, Jesus was driven out by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. Christ Jesus, your brother and your God, knows all about temptation. Even better, he endured it without a single sin. Best of all, he gives you his victory as St. James explains in today’s Epistle.

Our battle against temptation is continuous. It’s an all day, every day thing. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. That desire brings forth sin and then sin brings forth death.

Sometimes we may wonder why we are in this battle. We sinfully wonder how God could let us get in this mess. Rabbi’s in James’ day and even some religions in our day teach that God is the author of temptation and evil.

But James makes it clear that we are not being tempted by God and that God himself tempts no one, since he himself cannot be tempted with evil. God does, however, allow us to live in the world that Adam and Eve and that we have polluted with sin.

Jesus explained in Matthew 15 that the desire to sin begins with our own hearts and minds. "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander."

And like Adam after the fall, we like to blame others for our sins. Today we try to shift the blame for our sin to others: it’s the fault of the parents, it’s because I’m poor, it’s because I’m rich, it’s because of my youth, it’s because of my health. Those things are to blame, not me. But James sets us straight – "each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire."

Paul wrote about the war within himself in Romans 7; "When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging a war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

We are tempted so much that temptation itself begins to seem like it’s no big deal. But James tells us the awful consequences of letting our sinful desires lure us: "Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." James goes on to warn about allowing ourselves to be prisoners of temptation; "Do not be deceived."

How do we break the bonds of temptation? How do we escape the shackles of sin? We can find freedom by repenting of our excuses, our unwillingness to take the blame for our own actions, by repenting of the sins we commit and of our sinful desires.

We are empowered to repent because Christ has overcome temptation and sin and death and though faith offers us the Father’s good gifts. The Father never changes, and neither do His gifts. As reliable as the sun, moon and stars which the Father created are, the good and perfect gifts which He offers us are even more reliable.

In Jesus’ wilderness journey, we see the perfect gift of his sinless life. We see Jesus as YHWH himself who would come and restore harmonious relationship with his creation as spoken of in Isaiah 43. "This is what the Lord says – he who created you O Jacob, he who formed you O Israel, ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my chosen people, the people that I formed for myself, that they may proclaim my praise.’ "

In God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac and the ram’s death in his place, we see the Father foreshadowing His Son as our sacrifice – the good and perfect death of Christ who suffered and died on the cross and endured death in our place for what we owe for our sins.

"Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." By the Word of through, by the Word of the Gospel, through the power of the Holy Spirit working through faith in our hearts through the Gospel, we are born into a new life. Through faith, the perfect life of Christ has been given to us.

That makes us the firstfruits of God’s creatures. That means that out of all the creatures of this world, you who are born of Baptism and the Word of God are part of God’s harvest forever. Of all the created things we reborn children of God are his peculiar possession, sacred to him, not only created by him, but brought forth in a spiritual birth by means of the Gospel.

The yin-yang symbol from Chinese philosophy has become very popular. It pictures a dualistic philosophy that there are two opposing, but complementary forces in the world – the forces of good and evil, light and darkness. The opposing dots in the larger areas of black and white represent the teaching that in goodness there is some evil, in light, there is some darkness.

This may seem true in our fallen world. People who are considered good do some evil. People who are considered evil do some good. But this is a false and deceptive philosophy. For before God "brought us forth by the word of truth," we were completely sinful, "dead in trespasses and sins." There was no spark of goodness in us at all.

Thankfully, the yin-yang is also false, for in God there is no sin, no evil, no darkness, "for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one." He is the "Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is always true, good, right, holy. He does not want to leave us in our darkness, and he always gives good and perfect gifts – gifts of forgiveness, life, and peace in Christ.

As precious as we are in God’s sight, with all the gifts that he has promised to us and gives us, does it make any sense at all that he would tempt us to fall away? So much for the notion, so much for those who teach that God would even or even could consider doing such a thing.

God the Father continues to feed and sustain our lives in Christ by giving us every good and perfect gift. Gifts that include his Word, Christ’s body and blood, and finally deliverance from this broken world, the ultimate gift being the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.

The daily battle against temptation and our many losses can be deeply troubling and discouraging. But don’t lose heart. Jesus has defeated those bullies for us. He paid our debt. He lived without sin. He put the devil in his place. Jesus won, but he gives his people the victor’s crown of life. Amen.