At Your Strongest – Sermon on Ephesians 6:10-20 for the Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹ and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I love this text. I’ve always loved this text, but younger me really loved this text – however, for the wrong reasons. All this talk about strength, might, armor, wrestling, and facing powerful, cosmic enemies – it gets a guy’s juices flowing. It brings out the fighter and warrior in a man. Sorry if that doesn’t resonate as much with you ladies and mothers here. Maybe, you gals will need to calm down and restrain your husbands and sons and brothers after the service, so they don’t march off to conquer Manitoba or something.

The passage tells us about a war that surrounds us every moment of every day. And it’s good that it does because we would be completely unaware of this war unless Scripture told us about it. Being oblivious to a war that surrounds you is not good. The reason we would be ignorant of this war is that it isn’t a war that we can see. As we confessed in the creed earlier, we “believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and [maker] of all things visible and invisible.”

Today, we heard how in six days God created everything we can see (Gen. 1:1-2:3), but God also created things we cannot see (Col. 1:16). And, dear saints, the enemy in the war that surrounds you is in that invisible part of God’s creation. In fact, none of your enemies exist in the visible part of creation. You do not – I repeat you do not – wrestle against flesh and blood. Instead, you wrestle against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). And some of you men out there are thinking, “Cool, an invisible enemy! That’ll make our victory even more impressive!”

Calm down, guys. And take heart, ladies. Because, while this text is about fighting in an invisible war against an unseeable enemy, the battle plan is straightforward and simple.

Before we can even dive into that battle plan, we have to understand where this invisible war is taking place. To be ready for battle, you have to know the battlefield. And one of the ways our enemy has made us unprepared for battle is taking this text out of its context. You might be very familiar with this text, but do you know what comes immediately before it? Maybe. But, I’ll admit, that even as your pastor and as someone who gets paid to study and teach the Scriptures, I find it easy to forget the context.

The context starts back in Eph. 5:22. Paul has been laying out the callings and duties for Christians in their vocations. Christian wives are to submit to their husbands. Christian husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. Christian children are to obey their parents. Christian parents are do bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. And so on. It’s in that context that this passage about spiritual warfare falls.

In other words, you, Christian, need recognize that the battle described here is occurring in your everyday callings, vocations, and relationships. It’s there that you need God’s strength. It’s there that you need God’s armor because that’s where the devil and demons are attacking. They are attacking both you and those around you. Your daily life is the battlefield.

You husbands, wives, parents, and grandparents. The war is happening as you earn a living, as you keep the house, as you shuttle kids around. You kids, as you go to school, as you do your homework and chores, as you interact with your friends, the battle is taking place there.

There are two points I want to make sure you take away from this sermon, and this is the first. So, listen up: There is a spiritual war raging all around you every moment of every day, and you need to be strong and aware all the time. And that leads to right into the second point: You are at your strongest and are completely prepared for this war when you stand in the Lord’s strength and in the armor that He provides.

Right off the bat (Eph. 6:10), you are told, “be strong in the Lord.” Almost all of the popular versions of the Bible will read that way, and I understand why it’s translated that way. It’s a fine translation. But the verb there “be strong” is passive. When it’s only translated, “be strong,” you might start wondering how you go about becoming or making yourself strong.

I wish our translations read, “be strengthened in the Lord, in His mighty strength.” The text is clear. God is the One who makes you strong (Php. 4:13). Earlier in Eph. 3:16-17, Paul says that, according to the riches of His glory, God Himself grants you to be strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit so that Christ dwells in your heart through faith.

Not only does God make you strong, He also clothes you in His armor. You have the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the boots of the Gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. All of that, God’s strength and God’s armor, it all comes from God’s Word. God’s Word is truth (Jn. 17:17). Christ’s righteousness is given through the Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The Gospel is only revealed in the Bible. Faith is given through God’s Word (Ro. 10:17). The Scriptures are what make you wise to salvation (2 Tim. 3:15; Jam. 1:21).

Strengthened by God and armed with and by His Word, you are prepared for this war. But you still might wonder, “Am I properly trained for the war? What are my duties?” Well, you aren’t told to march off to war. You also aren’t told to retreat. Instead, four times in this text, you are told what your assignment is in the battle. You are to stand (Eph. 6:11, 13-14). The picture Paul is giving is that you are a particular kind of soldier – a sentry, who stands guard over the kingdom.

The picture of this passage is this: Christian, you are God’s soldier. As God’s soldier, your responsibilities are simple. You are a sentry who guards the holy ground of God’s kingdom. And God has placed you in a particular place – where no one else is stationed. You are there to watch and to pray. In other words, when the enemy attacks, you are not supposed to go off and fight alone. No. Instead, you stay in your post. You stand in God’s strength and in the protection of His armor. And you pray. With that prayer, you call in the reinforcements of the Lord’s army.

When you see the war raging around your spouse, your children, your parents, or any neighbor – stand your ground, man your post, and pray. You, dear saints, stand in the Lord’s strength and protection. And when the battle gets in close, take up the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Wield that sword against the devil, and he will flee.

Psalm 35 opens with a beautiful prayer for you to use in the battle. “Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! O Lord, take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation!’” Christ Himself is the One leads the charge against your enemies, and He turns over His shoulder to remind you that He is your salvation. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

The Fight – Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 for the First Sunday of Lent

Feb18

Matthew 4:1–11

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Our Old Testament and Gospel readings today both record the devil coming to tempt. The first temptation was in the perfection of Eden and was aimed at Eve and Adam. The second was aimed at Jesus who was alone in the wilderness. In the Garden, Satan succeeded, and in the wilderness, he failed – and failed miserably. Now, in the past, we’ve considered how both of those temptations are similar and follow the pattern that the devil uses with us.

The devil is a one trick pony who tries to get Eve, Adam, Jesus, and you to doubt God’s Word. In the Garden, the devil asks, “Did God really say?” And when he is in the wilderness with Jesus, the devil starts his temptations with, “If you are the Son of God…” Remember, at Jesus’ Baptism, God the Father clearly said, “This is My beloved Son,” so the devil is trying to cast doubt on God’s Word again. He does the same thing In the temptations he throws at you. Now, this is extremely helpful to know and helps us fight against sin. But there is a very important difference between the temptations Satan lobs at Adam, Eve, and Jesus and the temptations he hurls at you. The difference, mainly, lies in the devil’s goal. Think through this for a minute.

In the Garden, the devil only needed to get Adam and Eve to sin once. One sin would rip all of humanity them from perfection and holiness and plunge them into fallenness and corruption. One sin and Satan figured he could stop working and retire to Arizona or Florida. But he was wrong. God completely upended the devil’s plan and promised to send the Seed of the woman to crush Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15). So, with his plans thwarted, the devil had to continue to tempt all people while he waited for that Savior to be born.

When Jesus entered creation, the devil again saw his chance for an early retirement. Here was that long-promised Seed of the woman. If he could just get Christ to commit one sin, then Jesus couldn’t be the Savior of all humanity. So, the devil waited until he thought the moment was ripe. After Jesus had fasted for forty days and nights, the devil came with these three temptations that he aimed at the second Adam (Ro. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:45).

Do you see the difference? In the Garden with Adam and Eve but especially in the wilderness with Jesus, all it would take is one sin and the devil’s goal would be accomplished. Now, it wasn’t possible for Jesus to sin; He’s God and God cannot sin. But, hypothetically, if Jesus had sinned, there would be no Savior and no reconciliation with God. No mercy. No grace. No forgiveness. But, dear saints, that is not Satan’s goal when he tempts you. The devil’s goal is not to get you to sin once. No, he has to keep coming after you.

Because Jesus did not sin, the devil needs to continually tempt you – day after day, moment after moment. He can’t leave you alone; he has to keep pestering and tempting you. Even though you were born into the sin of your first parents, Jesus has rescued you by His perfect obedience. Now through faith, the devil does not own you; Jesus does. Christ has lived perfectly and has been tempted in every way as you are, but He did it without sin (Heb. 4:15). Jesus kept the Commandments in your place and credits His obedience to you through faith.

The day is coming when the devil will no longer be able to tempt you, but that day is not yet. So, the devil continues to work on you with his temptations, and you have to fight with all the resources God has given to you. Eph. 6:10-18 details the armor that God has provided for you – the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And remember when you read that passage, you are called to take up that armor and pray. Stand protected and call in the heavenly reinforcements to fight for you. God will send His holy angels to fight back against the devil on your behalf.

This is just an aside, but that is another difference between Jesus’ temptation and yours. Our Lord faced those temptations completely on His own. The angels only came to minister to Him after He resists the temptations and wins. You always have the holy angels assisting you in every moment and temptation.

Today, you should recognize that the devil is going to be after you constantly to try to get you to fall into temptation and sin to draw you away from Jesus. But even knowing this offers a key strategy to help you in the fight.

Adam and Eve’s fall was instant. But because you are saved and bought by the blood of Jesus, the devil is going to try, little by little, to get you to slowly slip away from the faith. For example, the devil isn’t going to tempt you to blaspheme God; he knows better than that. You aren’t going to just curse God. But the serpent will tempt you to skip church or your family devotions. Satan is going to work, little by little, to harden your conscience toward sin. And this means, dear saints, you need to be actively working to soften your conscience. This is difficult, painful work, but it is work you need to do. Here’s how you go about that.

We’ll use the 5^th Commandment as an example. The 5^th Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” and the Small Catechism’s explanation, “We should fear and love God so that we do our neighbor no bodily harm nor cause him any suffering but help and befriend him in every need.” Now imagine your conscience has a 5^thCommandment thermometer. There are degrees by which the 5^th Commandment is broken. Genocide would be way up at the boiling point. A little below that would be mass murder, then murder, then hitting and physically harming your neighbor. Way down at the bottom would be anger because when Jesus explains the 5^th Commandment, He equates anger with murder (Mt. 5:21-22). But anger doesn’t physically harm others like murdering or even hitting them does. Let me be clear, both are sin; both need repentance and forgiveness because they both break the 5^th Commandment.

Now think about where your conscience registers guilt because of your thoughts, words, and deeds somewhere on that 5^th Commandment thermometer. Maybe you don’t think twice about being angry in your heart because you figure everyone does it and that guy really was a jerk. But you wouldn’t go grab a baseball bat and hit him. So, the devil isn’t going to tempt you to do that sort of thing. Instead, what the devil is going to do is try to raise the temperature of your conscience just a bit. He’s going to try to get you to break the 5^thCommandment with more anger or holding on to that grudge a little harder. Once the temperature of your conscience acclimates to that level of sin, Satan can graduate you to the baseball bat.

What you need to do, dear saints, is stop excusing your anger. Recognize and confess it for the sin that it is. Let go of that anger and continually soften your conscience to the working of the Holy Spirit. Think through all of the Commandments like this. Recognize where your conscience registers sin and take that sin to Jesus. Confess it for the sin that it is and hand it over to the Lamb of God who takes away that sin and nails it to the cross.

And know this. The softer your conscience becomes, the more you will feel your sin. Real sanctification and actually growing in holiness is going to make you feel more and more sinful and cry out like Paul does in Ro. 7:24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The one who will rescue you is your great high priest. He can sympathize with your weakness because He was tempted in every way as you are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:14). He invites you now to come with confidence, right here, to His throne of grace. Here you will find mercy and grace freely given to you in Jesus’ Body and Blood which will continue to strengthen you for the fight against the devil’s temptations. And as you fight, remember that God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. He has promised to provide the way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Unmuted – Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 for the Third Sunday of Lent

Mar12

Luke 11:14–28

¹⁴ Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” ¹⁶ while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. ¹⁸ And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; ²² but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. ²³ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

²⁷ As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” ²⁸ But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The past few weeks including today, the Scripture readings have had us considering temptation, the devil’s work, and demons. Even though we might prefer to think about other things, Jesus wants us to know about and beware of the devil and the demons. Christ takes demons seriously. Our Lord doesn’t spend a lot of time warning us about our finances, sickness, or wars. But Jesus regularly and repeatedly warns against false doctrine and against demons. So, demons will be part of our focus today because that is what the text has for us.

Almost everything we know about demons comes from the New Testament. Demons are creatures; they are fallen angels. They, just like everything else, were created by God, and we know that they were initially created good because when God looked over everything He created, He saw that it was good (Gen. 1:31). Satan, who is nothing more than the chief demon, led the rest of the demons in rebellion against God. Demons are real, powerful, malicious, and malevolent. Scripture calls them the “cosmic powers over this present darkness” and the “spiritual entities of evil” (Eph. 6:12). But even if they all worked together, they would not have more power than God. They all flee from and melt before God’s Word.

Now, I want to clear something up from the sermon last week, but I want to preface it with this: If you ever have a question about anything I preach, please feel free to talk with me about it. I am not immune from preaching incorrectly. So, if you ever hear anything from my mouth as I preach or teach that doesn’t line up with Scripture, please point it out to me. And I’ve said this before, and it’s time to say it again. If you find that I am preaching contrary to Scripture and won’t receive correction, run me out of here for the sake of your soul.

In last week’s sermon I went off script for a bit and said that the demons, “are God’s demons.” I was very politely asked about that statement, and I want to make sure that statement isn’t misunderstood. God does not direct the demons to torment us. God tempts no one with evil (Jam. 1:13). To anyone who got that impression, please forgive me. That is not what I was trying to convey, and I should have been clearer than I was. What was meant by that is that the demons are completely under God’s control, and they cannot do anything unless God allows it. We know this because even Satan had to get God’s permission to torment Job (Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6). The other thing we should see is that God can even use the attacks and assaults of demons to bring about good. God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Ro. 8:28) – even the work of demons.

Now, to this Gospel text. We don’t learn about the tactics of demons here, but we do learn about one of their objectives or goals. A demon has made a man mute. Other places in the Gospels, demons will make people throw their bodies around (Mk. 5:1-5, 9:25-27) and speak through their voices (compare Mk. 5:7, 9). Demons seem to want to influence people in certain ways. Again, here the issue is this man is unable to speak. One of the reasons demons want us to be mute is that with the heart one believes and with the mouth he confesses and is saved (Ro. 10:10).

The demons do not want us to confess or praise Christ. They want us to be silent – especially when it comes to God’s Word. Demons do not want us to speak up for the unborn, about marriage existing only between a man and a woman, or even about the God-created differences between men and women. None of those are things are “political.” If you think those are only political issues, it shows that the demons are gaining ground over your thinking about those things. Satan and the demons want us to think that moral issues are merely political issues. Dear saints, Scripture and theology should be used in all aspects of life. Abortion, marriage, and gender issues are not political issues. Not even climate change is a political issue. God promised that until Christ returns to make all things new, “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). God does call us to take good care of the creation He has given us, but we cannot destroy it. We aren’t that powerful, and thinking we are is a form of idolatry. But the demons want to make us mute on a whole host of topics so they can deceive the whole world.

All of us, at times, have fallen into the demonic temptation of being mute. Instead of speaking the truth in love, we fear losing friends, offending family members, or missing out on a promotion. Instead of fearing God, we fear being called judgmental, bigoted, sexist, homophobic, etc. The world needs Christians to speak the truth out loud now more than ever.

And, dear saints, here is why you can be bold when it comes to the truth. The demons are real, terrible, malicious, and dangerous, but they are also utterly defeated. Jesus says that He casts out demons by the finger of God. By His death and resurrection, Christ has disarmed the demons and put them to open shame (Col. 2:15). Jesus is the stronger man who has defeated Satan and all of the demons. And because Christ has won the victory over them, we can easily defeat them too. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourself to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

To see how defeated the demons are, pay attention to the little parable Jesus tells in this text. He says that when a strong man (and there Jesus is referring to the devil), who is fully armed guards (and keep that word ‘guards’ in the back of your mind because it comes up again in a little bit) his house (which is the world), his goods (I.e. sinners) are safely under his lordship. But Jesus says that when one stronger than him (and Jesus is referring to Himself) comes and attacks him, Christ takes away his armor, and divides the spoil (and that is you).

Just think about that. Jesus says that He has come to rob the devil’s house and you are the spoils, the treasure, the plunder that Jesus wants to rescue out of the devil’s cellar. Christ has won, redeemed, purchased, and grabbed you from the devil’s clutches. All by the power of His finger. And Christ opens your lips to declare His praise (Ps. 51:15) and the truth. He has pulled you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

So how do you know if you are in the kingdom of God or in the kingdom of the devil? Well, Jesus answers that. A woman says to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you.” Now, Mary was certainly blessed. She is the mother of our Lord. But Jesus says, even better than being His mother is to hear the Word of God and keep it. Though you were guarded by Satan, Jesus has come and rescued you with His finger transferring you into His kingdom. Now, you keep – which is the same word Jesus used to describe what Satan, the strong man, did with his goods he guarded and kept them. Now, you keep and guard the Word that Jesus used to deliver you from Satan.

With His little finger, Jesus destroys the stronghold and armor of the devil and claims you as His own. And He will never leave you or forsake you. Instead, Christ guards and keeps you now and for all eternity. This is why keeping, guarding, confessing, being unmuted when it comes to God’s Word is so important. With the shield of faith, you are able to quench all the flaming darts of the evil one (Eph. 6:16). Your voice unmuted and you open your lips so that you can boldly proclaim the excellences of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). May God grant us the boldness to speak the truth in love. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Conquered – Sermon on Luke 10:17-20 & Revelation 12:7-12 for the observation of the feast of St. Michael & All Angels

Oct2

Luke 10:17-20

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸ And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today, we consider the work of God through His holy angels. Some people have thoughts about angels that are more superstitious than biblical. And I have to admit that because there is so much false teaching and beliefs about angels that I tend to not preach or teach about them very much. So, let’s dive right in and consider what the Scriptures do teach about the angels. Please know that as I do this, I’ll be throwing out a lot of references; however, I won’t be giving you every reference that supports what I’m preaching. If you are interested in studying the Scriptures further about this, please ask me after the service, and I can print this sermon which has all the references.

Both the Hebrew (מַלְאָךְ) and Greek (ἄγγελος) words for “angel” mean “messenger.” Angels are spiritual beings with no physical bodies who were created during the first six days of creation. We know this because before the six days of creation there was only God (Jn. 1:1-3), and after the sixth day, God rested from all His work of creating. We can narrow the creation of angels down to one the first three days because in Job 38:4-7, God asks Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? … Who determined its measurements? … On what were its bases sunk or who laid its cornerstone?” There, God seems to be talking about the third day of creation when He created the land and sea. God says that as He created the land and sea, “the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” The singing of the morning stars and shouting of the sons of God were the angels because that is the same title they are given in Job 1:6.

We know that God created a huge number of angels. Heb. 12:22 says they are innumerable. The angels were all created good and holy by God (Gen. 1:31). Because they are holy, this day is called the feast of “St. Michael” and all angels. We don’t typically call angels saints, but remember that ‘saint’ simply means ‘holy one.’ The angels were created holy, and they retained their holiness. But here’s the thing: You are holy in a different and greater way. You, Christian, are holy because you have received Jesus’ holiness (is. 53:11; Eph. 1:4; Col. 1:22). Angels are holy, but not all angels remained holy. At some point before the devil tempted Adam and Eve, Satan led a significant percentage of the angels in rebellion against God and they fell. Those fallen angels, we now call demons. More on that later, but from here on, know that if I use the term ‘demons’ I am simply referring to fallen angels.

Scripture teaches that angels were present at the giving of the Ten Commandments (Dt. 33:2; Gal. 3:19). They were sent to proclaim the conception (Lk. 1:26), birth (Lk. 2:11), and resurrection of Christ (Lk. 24:5-7). In fact, angels remain at the empty tomb even after Jesus left.

There are different orders and classes of angels – Cherubim (Gen. 3:24; Ps. 80:1), Seraphim (Is. 6:2), archangels (1 Th. 4:16) are some of those. There are also greater and lesser demons (Lk. 11:15, 18-19), but Scripture doesn’t give names for them.

Even though angels are spirits, they can move and manipulate material things. They are able to take Lot and his family by the hand to get them out of Sodom before God destroyed it (Gen. 19:16). An angel would touch a pool in Jerusalem, and when people saw that the water was stirred, they would jump in to be healed (Jn. 5:4, 7). So, it may very well be that when you or someone you love has a close call that God’s angels have protected you from danger. Many Christians have stories about being helped in a particular situation by someone who suddenly appeared and wasn’t seen again. It could very well be that God sent an angel to help and defend in that moment. Also, there are times when Christians have helped someone who was in trouble, and they have a sense that something was strange or different about that encounter. It may be that an angel appeared to give an opportunity to the Christian to serve in a particular way. Heb. 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Scripture teaches that angels have power, might, and strength (Ps. 103:20; 2 Th. 1:7) which is greater than ours, and they use their strength to guard and protect us from things that would overpower us (Ps. 91:11-13). Demons are also strong. Scripture says that the devil holds unbelievers securely captive in his kingdom (Lk. 11:21-22), and believers can only withstand the attacks of Satan in the power of God (Eph. 6:10-17).

The angels’ work is to sing praises to God (Is. 6:3; Lk. 2:13) and to fight on our behalf (Ps. 104:4; Heb. 1:14); in other words, their tools are the song and the sword. A fantastic text about angels fighting on behalf of God’s people is found in 2 Kgs. 6:8-23 where Elisha and his servant get surrounded by the army of Syria during the night. Elisha’s servant is scared silly about being surrounded by this army. But Elisha says to him, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then, God opens the eyes of Elisha’s servant so that he can see a whole host of angels with horses and chariots of fire on the mountain near them, and those angels deliver them. In that account, we see the truth of what is said in Ps. 34:7, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.”

Hebrews 1:14 says that the angels are “sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” So, the angels serve you, believer, as you live out your vocations (Ps. 91:11-12), and they are present with you even as you are dying to carry your soul to heaven (Lk. 16:22). In fact, each believer has an angel (see Act. 12:15) or a whole squad of angels for protection. In Mt. 18:10, Jesus says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones,” and I would argue Jesus is referring to all Christians, “For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” I hope this is a humbling and encouraging thought.

The angels who guard, protect, and serve you always behold God’s face in heaven. You can’t see God’s face, but the angels who are guarding you can because they have retained their holiness since their creation. Also, this should give you an indication of how valuable you are to God. If you see someone walking around with bunch of large, armed, and intimidating bodyguards around them, what is your impression of that person? It would get your attention. You probably wonder what sort of person that is. Well, the Creator and King of the universe has given you a squad of mighty, powerful angels to protect you.

Even though angels have might and power and help us, we should not pray to angels. Every time in Scripture that someone begins to worship an angel, the angel protests and directs worship to God (esp. Rev. 22:8-9). We can certainly pray that God would send His angels to protect us, but don’t pray to them. Also, we shouldn’t listen to angels unless they are pointing us to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul says this in Gal. 1:8, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”

Finally, and maybe most importantly, we should realize that angels are present with us right here and now as we are gathered in worship. Hebrews 12:22-24 says that in church we have “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering…” Jesus says that the angels in heaven are joyful over one sinner who repents (Lk. 15:7, 10). As we confessed our sins earlier, a whole host of angels whom we cannot see or hear rejoiced as they heard Christ absolve and free us from our sins. Hebrews 1:14 calls angels ‘liturgizing’ spirits (most English translations will use the term ‘ministering’ but the Greek word there is λειτουργικός). So, using the liturgy is how we join our worship with the angels’ worship in heaven.

So, there is a quick overview of the Scriptural teaching of angels. Now, to what we learned specifically in our readings today.

A little context for Gospel lesson (Lk. 10:17-20) today helps. Jesus had sent these seventy-two ahead of Him to preach and heal in every town Jesus was about to go to (see Lk. 10:1-12). As He sends them, Jesus says, “Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Jesus says that they would be housed and fed by the people who welcomed them, and Jesus told them to heal the sick and say to the people, “The reign of God has come near to you.”

Now in our text, they are returning, and we hear them joyfully report that the demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name. They saw victories in their various spiritual battles. But Jesus says something even greater was going on that they couldn’t see. While those seventy-two were proclaiming the reign of Jesus, Christ says, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven.” So, the seventy-two saw victories in battles they fought, but there was a greater defeat, a bigger conquering taking place. And we hear about that in our Epistle text (Rev. 12:7-12) where the archangel Michael was given the privilege of throwing Satan (‘Satan,’ by the way, means ‘accuser’) out of heaven. How was Satan cast down and conquered? The text is clear. Satan was cast out by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony (Rev. 12:11).

Now, there are Christians who disagree with what I am about to say here, but I think we should see Jesus’ proclamation of seeing Satan falling like lightening and this text in Rev. 12:7-12 as the same event and as confirmation that the shedding of Christ’s blood and the preaching of the Gospel was what cast Satan down from heaven. This means that Satan is no longer able to accuse you before God which is what he was constantly doing day and night (Rev. 12:10). Remember how, in the book of Job, Satan was there in heaven before God by saying that the only reason Job loved God was because God was nice to him (Job 1:8-11, 2:1-5). But now, Satan has been conquered, defeated, and expelled from heaven.

However, there is also a warning at the end of that Revelation text. Satan is no longer able to accuse you before God because he has been defeated and expelled from God’s presence, but that doesn’t mean he is done accusing. The devil can’t accuse you before God anymore, but he can and does try to accuse you in your conscience, and he is very good at that. Satan will come to you here on earth and say that your sins are too many or too great to be forgiven. The accuser now roams about like a roaring lion seeking to devour you (1 Pet. 5:8), constantly whispering in your ear, “Did God really say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’?”

Dear saints, when the devil does this, he needs to be expelled from your conscience. How can you do this? How can you conquer the devil as he attacks you now? You conquer with the same weapons that Michael and the angels used – the blood of the Lamb, and the word of your testimony (Rev. 12:11).

Dear saints, when you confess your faith that Christ has been crucified and shed His blood for you, you expel Satan from your conscience and conquer over him. When the devil whispers his accusations, confess that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29) and has conquered the devil. Tell Satan, “Christ has taken my sins. So, if you want to talk to someone about my sins, you can’t talk to me about them anymore. Jesus has taken them as His own. Christ owns them now. He has died and shed His blood for them.” And the devil will have no reply to that testimony and is conquered.

So today, dear saints, come to Jesus’ table. Come as you join with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven singing the song of Jesus’ victory. Come, receive His body given for you and His blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. And know. Know that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus your Lord (Ro. 8:38-39). Satan has been conquered. He has been conquered by the blood of your Savior. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.^[1]

^[1] This sermon was reworked from 2019.

Enthroned – Sermon on Luke 24:44-53 for the Ascension of Our Lord (Observed)

May29

Luke 24:44-53

⁴⁴ Then [Jesus] said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

⁵⁰ And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

⁵² And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

And today, we will add.

Alleluia! Christ is ascended!
He is ascended indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Back in our epistle reading (Act. 1:1-11), Luke gave us a few more details about Jesus’ ascension than he gave us in this Gospel reading. I still have some questions about how this took place. How fast did Jesus ascend? Was it a constant speed from start to finish, or did He accelerate? If so, how fast did He go from 0-60, and what was His top speed? Of course, those details don’t really matter; if they did, Scripture would have told us. Once Jesus is out of sight, both Acts and this account of Jesus’ ascension shift our focus to the disciples.

As the disciples watch Jesus ascend, they gaze into heaven as a cloud takes Him out of their sight (Act. 1:9). Even though Jesus’ isn’t visible, they continue to stare into the sky. This leaves us with more questions. How long did they stare, was it minutes or hours? Did they talk with each other? Did anyone pass by and look up with them trying to see what they were gazing at? Again, we don’t know, and Scripture leaves us to have a holy, sanctified curiosity about those details. What is important is what the angels say when they arrive, “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” Then, the disciples return to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the Temple blessing God.

For three years, they had followed Jesus, enjoying His presence and teaching. They had watched Him heal the sick and raise the dead. Now, He is gone, and they didn’t know how long He will be away. But there they are in the Temple filled with joy and blessing God. You would think that the disciples would have felt lonely, abandoned, or even afraid – similar to how they felt between Jesus’ crucifixion and when He appeared to them after the resurrection, but they aren’t. They aren’t because their minds have been opened to understand all the Old Testament (Lk. 24:44-45), so they know Jesus’ ascension means that He is enthroned over all creation.

Jesus doesn’t ascend to heaven because He is leaving or abandoning us. He ascends to take His rightful seat next to God the Father on the throne of creation. Dear saints, right now your Savior rules and reigns over all things. But too often, we think that Jesus’ ascension is similar to how sleazy dads will say they are going out for cigarettes but never return. That isn’t the case. The ascension is not a farewell, it’s a coronation. Jesus has not left you as orphans (Jn. 14:16-18). When Jesus ascended, He didn’t desert you and vacate the world; instead, Christ was enthroned as King of all creation with all authority in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18). This is true even though it doesn’t always feel like it.

Down here on earth, we see Christians being persecuted in China, Egypt, and all over the planet. We see churches that used to proclaim the forgiveness of sins but now abandon every single doctrine of the Scriptures and even actively promote sin. We see all this and ask, “What kind of a king would allow this to happen?” And the devil whispers in our ear that the reason these things happen is because Jesus is an absent king.

We see wars and hear rumors of wars. We watch as economies and cultures crumble and collapse. We see a large portion of our nation fighting with all their strength to be able to kill their own children in the womb. We see evil, violent people shooting in our cities and schools in Buffalo and Uvalde. And the devil lies to you saying, “If your King Jesus were still here, this wouldn’t be happening. He would whip these wicked people into shape. But He’s gone and I get to have my way down here.”

You see and feel your sins. You dive back into those transgressions of lust, greed, pride, and covetousness. You know that you should joyfully bow your head in thankfulness for all the gifts God has given you. You know you should open your Bible and bathe in God’s promises of mercy and grace. Yet, you’re perpetually unhappy and dissatisfied. You know you should be at peace, but you are always filled with anxiety because it appears as though Jesus isn’t listening to your prayers. And in all of this, you think, “If Jesus were here, I wouldn’t be struggling with these things. If I could just see Jesus, I wouldn’t give into these temptations and fears.”

Dear saints, repent. The truth is that even if Jesus were physically present and visible on earth, your life wouldn’t be any different. During His earthly ministry, Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. Jesus preached the Gospel to the lost souls of this world. For three years, God in the flesh proclaimed His kingdom to those under the devil’s power. And yet, they still didn’t recognize or acknowledge Him. Instead, they persecuted Him, spit on Him, and put Him to death. And during that same time, Jesus’ own disciples, who stood next to Him and touched Him, they denied Him, betrayed Him, and fled from Him.

Even though your doubt and sorrow scream otherwise, and even though the devil pushes you to discontentment and nudges you toward the cliff of unbelief, know that you wouldn’t be any better off if Jesus were standing right here in front of your eyes. And that is why Jesus ascended into heaven and went to His coronation and is, even now, enthroned over all things.

Jesus, the eternal Son of God, has ascended and brought His human flesh into God’s presence. Through faith, you are a co-heir of His glory and a brother to the King Himself. Christ is seated at God’s right and is telling His Father that you are worthy of eternal life because He has buried every sin you could ever commit through His death and resurrection. Jesus has fulfilled His promise to send the Holy Spirit, and whenever you hear His Word, the Holy Spirit is present with you. Now you, Christian, bring evidence of the saving power of Jesus wherever you go, tearing lost souls out of Satan’s grip.

As the Gospel spreads throughout the earth in every generation, Christ has been and continues to be present with His church. Even though He is hidden from our eyes, He is here claiming us as His own and delivering us into His kingdom. In the Absolution, Jesus is shredding and destroying the devil’s claim over you. Christ is present in His Supper healing and restoring you with His true Body and Blood (1 Cor. 10:16, 11:29-30). And because of His ascension, Jesus is able to do this in more than one place at one time. Because Jesus is ascended, He can unite every patch of His kingdom throughout the world and all time. Through His Word and Sacrament, Jesus brings you to Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. He unites you with innumerable angels in festal gathering and with the whole assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven (Heb. 12:22-23). And from His throne, Jesus, your Savior, is the King who hears every one of your prayers.

So, when the devil and the world are screaming at you that Jesus is absent, come to your church, and here you will find your King. Come, receive His gifts, and stand in His promised, though invisible, presence. Whenever you see evil and darkness, remember it isn’t happening because Christ has abandoned you; it is happening because He is with you and has claimed you as His own. This makes you a target for the devil, but Satan will always fail in his futile, vain attempts to snatch you from the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, your Savior.

Dear saints, you have been raised with Christ, so seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, when He appears, then you also will appear with Him in eternal, splendid glory (Col. 3:1-4).

Jesus, your Savior and brother, ascended with His hands raised in blessing, and He still blesses you from His eternal throne. And He will return again in blessing to usher you into His eternal kingdom.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Christ is ascended!
He is ascended indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Disturbing the Peace – Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 for the Third Sunday in Lent

Mar20

Luke 11:14-28

¹⁴ Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” ¹⁶ while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. ¹⁸And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; ²² but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. ²³ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This text is so full and rich, I could easily preach 847 sermons on it, but you’re only going to get one today. To some of you, “Sorry,” and to the rest of you, “You’re welcome.” Today, we’re mainly going to focus on the little parable that Jesus tells in v. 21-22 and then carry what we learn there to the blessing that Jesus gives to you in v. 28. But to do that, let’s quickly highlight a few things from the opening of the reading to get the context.

Jesus has cast out a demon that made a man mute. Some of the people marvel at this exorcism, but some (Mt. 12:24 tells us that they are Pharisees) say that it is only by the power of Beelzebul, which was a name for the devil, that Jesus can do this. Earlier this week, Anna asked me what text I was going to be preaching on I summarized the text. When I told her about the Pharisees’ accusation that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of demons, she said, “That’s so dumb.” Yup. And Jesus addresses the absurdity (v. 17-20). Then, He says something very important to set up the parable. “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” The grammar there makes it clear that Jesus says that it is, indeed, by God’s finger that He casts out demons which means that the kingdom of God has arrived. Christ the King is bringing the kingdom of God with Him as He throws out the demons He has defeated. Then, Jesus tells everyone what is going with this little parable.

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than [the strong man] attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides the spoil.” Let’s dissect this. The strong man with all his armor is the devil, the palace that the devil is guarding is the entire world which is under his power, and the goods that he is guarding are all sinners. Until Christ claims us as His own, we were under the rulership of Satan and the demons. Col. 1:16 says, “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”

Now, please don’t misunderstand this. Typically, when we think of people demons influencing people, scenes from the movie The Exorcist come to our minds. We do see that a few times in the Gospels. In this text, the demon makes the man mute. In Mt. 17:14-15, there is a demon-possessed boy who is repeatedly thrown into fire and water. Or the man who was possessed by the demon, Legion, who lived among tombs and could not be bound (Mk. 5:2-5). But that type of extreme demonic possession is extremely rare in Scripture; in fact, it never happens in the entire Old Testament. We only see it a few times in the Gospels and a couple of times in the book of Acts (16:16-18, 19:15-16). Most of the time, the Bible links what we think of as common illness with unclean spirits (Mt. 4:24, 8:16, 10:1; Mk. 1:32-34, 6:13; Lk. 9:1; Act. 5:16, 19:12). I’ve got a whole slew of references for that, and if you’re interested, just ask me after the service.

So yes, this extreme demonic possession does happen, but it is rare. What we do regularly see, throughout Scripture, is demonic influence and temptations. Just think of Job. When the devil went after Job, it was manifest with loss of property, children, and health. Because Job’s friends and wife only see that and can’t see that the devil is behind all of this, they wrongly think that Job has some secret sin that he must confess and repent. But they’re just plain wrong.

So, for you Christians here today, remember demons are real, and they do pester us trying to get us to fall into unbelief. But normally, they do so with things that disguise their evil intent. But Scripture helps us see through their disguise. It is right to recognize that the pandemic, the divisions in our families and country, and the wars and rumors of wars^[1] are all demonic. And it is right to see every stolen car; every case of cancer; and every addiction, struggle, temptation, and fear we have as a demonic attack. Recognizing this will help us do two things. One, it will drive us to prayer, and two, it will help us to have sympathy and patience when others wrong us instead of hating them.

Now, the eeriest part of this little parable is the condition of those who are guarded by the devil. Our translation reads, “his goods are safe,” which makes it sound like Jesus is saying there that the devil’s very powerful in his armor and palace. But that isn’t what Jesus is highlighting with that phrase. What Jesus says there is literally, “his goods are in peace.” The picture is that those under the control of the devil are content, safely tucked away, and quietly and lying there with no desire to leave the devil’s palace. Those who are under the control of the devil and his demons have grown so accustomed to being under his watchful eye with his strong armor that they don’t like it when they see Jesus, the stronger man, stripping the devil of all his protection and leaving him in nothing but his underwear. Those under the guardianship of Satan don’t like seeing their fellow goods are being plundered and taken away.

But, dear saints, here is the good news: Christ has come to disturb the evil, demonic peace of Satan’s kingdom. In fact, the devil has been dealt a fatal blow; his head has been crushed by Jesus, the promised Seed of Eve (Gen. 3:15). And as the days get more and more evil, that evil is a sign of Christ’s victory over all the forces of darkness. The kingdom and domain of Satan is chaotic today precisely because Christ come bringing the kingdom of God with Him. The kingdom of God disrupts the peace of the devil’s goods and brings true peace. What the crowd was witnessing in this text – and, quite frankly, what we are witnessing today – is not some demons fighting against other demons trying to see who is the strongest. Instead, we are witnessing Satan being unseated. Jesus is the stronger man who flicks away the demons with His finger and brings God’s true peace.

Dear saints, the battle is won. You are the prize, the treasure, and the spoil. Christ has come and given His life for you. His blood covers you and cleanses you as a bride adorned for her husband (Eph. 5:25-27, Rev. 21:2). The war has been won by the Word of God. The Word of God speaks you righteous and clean, which brings us to that final verse.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” We know what it is to hear God’s Word, but what does it mean to ‘keep’ it? A lot of times, we think to ‘keep’ God’s Word is equivalent to obeying it. Yes, of course, we absolutely should obey God’s commands. But the devil wants you to think that only those who perfectly keep God’s commands are blessed so you think this blessing of Jesus isn’t for you. In other words, Satan wants to steal this blessing from you and make you think it doesn’t really apply to you. But the devil is a liar.

The word that Jesus uses here for ‘keep’ is the exact same word Jesus used to describe what the strong man did with his goods in v. 21 – he ‘guarded’ and protected them. Jesus’ blessing reads like this, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and guard it.”

Dear saints, Jesus calls you to a life of faith which wars against the demons by guarding the promises God has spoken to you. So, hear God’s Word and guard it, hold on to it, and treasure it. That is precisely what you are doing now. As you sit there listening to this sermon, you are engaging in spiritual warfare, and the devil is losing. So, keep listening, keep learning, keep repenting, believing, and trusting that God is good and that He loves you and has bought and won you through Christ’s death and resurrection because He has.

The spiritual warfare you are called to is made up of the little things of hearing God’s Word, coming to church, attending Bible study, talking with your children about God, and praying. In these quiet, simple things, the devil is stripped of his armor and his goods are plundered. By hearing and guarding God’s Word, you set up a barrier and sanctuary for yourself and your children. When you hear and guard God’s Word, you are engaging the enemy and reinforcing the defenses of the saints.

It doesn’t matter how strong the forces of evil appear to be. They have lost. Jesus has come bringing His kingdom with Him. Christ flicks away the demons like flies. Their demonic peace has been disturbed by Jesus. And He has freely given you true, eternal, abiding, and everlasting peace. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

^[1] The wars and rumors of wars are demonic even though they are signs that Jesus gives us to be looking for His return (Mt. 24:6, Mk. 13:7) and should cause us to raise up our heads because it means our redemption is drawing near (Lk. 21:28).

Disarmed – Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 for the Third Sunday in Lent

Mar7

Listen here.

Luke 11:14-28

¹⁴ Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” ¹⁶ while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷ But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. ¹⁸And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; ²² but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. ²³ Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴ “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus casts out a demon, and when the Pharisees see it (see Mt. 12:22-24), they foolishly say that Jesus is only able to cast out demons by using the power of Satan. Lord, have mercy. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Is. 5:20).

When people reject God, they also end up rejecting His standards of right and wrong, and most unfortunately they reject His mercy. But they still know that there is such a thing as right and wrong. So, they will do all sorts of mental gymnastics to fill the void of the true standards, God’s own standards, of right and wrong. And when they do this they sound like a crazy person.

This plays out in our readings this week when they show these two different reactions to God’s mighty hand at work. The ones who rightly understand God’s work are the least you would expect while those who reject God’s hand at work are those who should have recognized it. In our Old Testament lesson (Ex. 8:16-24), Pharaoh’s pagan sorcerers see the terrible plague of judgment through the gnats that were swarming all over, but they rightly conclude, “This is the finger of God.” Then here in our Gospel lesson, the Pharisees see Jesus being kind and gracious, mercifully casting out a demon by the finger of God, but they reject God’s work. Instead, they attribute Christ’s power and mercy to the workings of the devil.

If they had given it two seconds of thought, the Pharisees would have seen their accusation that Jesus is an agent of Satan is absolutely foolish – not only because Jesus is doing things that only God can do – but because their conclusion is completely devoid of any sound thinking and reason. But they didn’t think their accusation through. They prefer to stubbornly deny that Jesus is God in the flesh rather than acknowledging God’s mercy which is staring them in the face.

This darkened, thoughtless, irrational mindset is what we are seeing play out in our culture today. God is always at work in this world. But people who reject God are always inventing other explanations for what happens in creation no matter how ridiculous or ludicrous or silly it sounds. When someone is diagnosed with terminal cancer but then, suddenly, the cancer is gone, some will say, “It’s a medical miracle.” No, it’s God at work, healing and restoring that person, and Christians will rightly attribute that healing to God’s action and mercy. The more we learn about creation, the more we see how wonderfully and intricately God made all things. But atheists still attribute everything to random chance – which takes a lot more faith than believing in a creator.

The other side of this coin (I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks, and I hope my thoughts here are coherent enough) the other side of this coin is what we are seeing in the “cancel culture.” When people reject God, they also reject His holiness and purity. They lose any and all standards of right and wrong. But they know there is such a thing as right and wrong, so they look for another, false sense of holiness and purity, of right and wrong, but they have to make it up themselves out of their own design and imagination. And this leads us to a place where there is no objective standard or mutual agreement on what is right and good and what is bad and evil.

For example, our culture celebrates and awards all sorts of sinful, vile, disgusting, and, frankly, demonic things in music, television, movies, and online while they will reject and cancel Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. Suess, the Muppets, and Mr. Potato Head. It’s why some vandalism is called ‘peaceful protests’ and some is called riots and insurrection. (And please know that I’m not promoting either. I’m just pointing out the double standard.) It’s why you will have a person condemning injecting hormones into cattle (not because of dietary concerns, but because the rights of cattle are being violated). Then, that same person will turn around and celebrate injecting hormones into boys who think they are girls and vice versa. It’s why someone will call and write their representatives to protect the eggs of bald eagles and sea turtles (which is just fine), but then march for the right to kill babies in their mothers’ wombs.

So all of that is just pointing out how made up standards of right and wrong is bad enough. But let’s take it a step further. When popular opinion is the standard for right and wrong the most devastating thing that happens is that any sense of forgiveness or mercy is gone. And this is what we are seeing. If you go against the imaginary morals determined by nothing more than popular consensus, no amount of apologizing will result in forgiveness. Whatever goes against the made up, shifting, demonic morals of popular opinion has to be cancelled because there is no absolution. Mercy becomes a completely foreign concept.

The end result of all this is that people’s actions are insane. There’s no less harsh way to say it. And the scariest thing is that most people are totally at peace living in that quagmire of folly. Jesus actually addresses how they are at peace in their backwards thoughts in the little parable He tells in v. 21-22.

Again, Jesus says there, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe;but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.”

Jesus gives us a picture of something very important. He has us imagine a strong man with lots of armor. Picture a mountain of a man, a knight or a champion, with strong, thick armor – an imposing, dangerous, well protected warrior. And he is standing in front of a palace protecting it because the goods in that palace are very important to him. And Jesus says that this strong man’s goods are “safe.” But the Greek there is a little euphemism. It literally reads his goods are ‘in peace.’ In other words, the goods that this strong man is guarding aren’t going to walk away or escape. Instead, they are ‘in peace,’ so the strong man doesn’t have to have his head on a swivel and focus on everything going on around him. Instead, he can direct all his attention to protecting his palace and goods from intruders who would take his goods away. Everything in the palace is buttoned up and he only needs to protect what he has.

But then, suddenly, a stronger man comes and attacks the strong man, strips him of his armor, and leaves the strong man with nothing but his underwear. And the stronger man is robbed of his goods and spoil. That’s the picture.

Now, remember, Jesus is saying this in the context of having just cast out a demon that made the person mute. For some reason, this type of demon was considered especially difficult to cast out. (I don’t know why, so don’t ask.) But Jesus simply casts the demon out so the man can speak. Here, in this little parable, Jesus explains what is going on when He drives out demons.

The strong man with all his armor is the devil. And the palace that the devil is guarding is the entire world which is under his power. The goods that he is guarding are all sinners – even you and me. We were under the rulership of the devil. And the eeriest part of this little parable is when Jesus says that the goods are ‘in peace.’ It’s a false peace, but the goods don’t mind that. Those under the control of the devil, according to Jesus, are in peace, safely tucked away and quietly and contentedly lying there with no desire to leave the devil’s palace.

This is the saddest part of that text, and it shows us how serious our condition is before Christ plunders us. Jesus, the stronger man, has come and is plundering the devil’s goods which were at peace. He’s rescued this demonized, mute man. But this makes the other goods that are under the devil’s control – specifically here it is the Pharisees – uneasy. They want to remain there under the control of the devil and at peace (which, again, isn’t true peace at all, but it’s what they think of as peace). They have grown so accustomed to being under the watchful eye of the devil with his armor that they don’t like it when they see the strong man stripped of all his protection and left in nothing but his underwear while their fellow goods are being plundered and taken away.

Two weeks ago, we heard how Jesus battled the devil in the wilderness when He was tempted. Jesus already demonstrated His power there when He overcame the devil’s temptations. Throughout His ministry, Jesus cast out demons and was taking back the goods that were in that false sense of peace in the devil’s palace and giving them God’s true peace that surpasses all understanding. And Jesus completely disarms of the devil when He liberates all captive sinners by His cross, death, and resurrection.

So, Jesus has defeated the devil and has taken you, the spoil, fulfilling a familiar text, Is. 53:12. Because Jesus poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, God says, “I will divide him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong.” Dear saints, the devil is completely disarmed and utterly powerless over you because of what your Savior has done.

I promised in my sermon on Wednesday night to address this. What was the armor that made the devil seem so strong and imposing? The strength of the devil, as best as we can conclude, is our sin and our guilt. That’s his armor and strength. Every time that we sin, we give the devil power over us. The devil’s power isn’t that he can do a lot of mean, evil things. We know that the devil is limited in his evil by God from the opening chapters of the book of Job. God has to remove His protection from around Job for the devil to have any access to him. And even still, God doesn’t let the devil do whatever he wants (Job 2:6). Instead, the devil’s power is the guilt of humanity. Because of God’s Law, which we sinners have broken, the devil has a just claim to own us. That is where Satan’s power lies.

But now that power is gone. Dear saints, Jesus has come and removed your sin and guilt. He has stripped away any of the devil’s accusations against you. Beelzebul, that lord of the flies and king of the dung heap, has been disarmed. Your guilt is atoned for and your sin is taken away. The devil has no armor and is completely helpless. As we often sing, “When Satan tempts [you] to despair and tells [you] of the guilt within, upward [you] look and see Him there who made an end to all [your] sin. Because the sinless Savior died, [your] sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon [you].” You are the treasure, the spoil, that Christ has won for Himself. God be praised!

I want to close with a final thought, then, about evangelism and witnessing today. When you encounter people who reject God and His mercy and His holiness and try to replace it with their own ideas of right and wrong, there is nothing more for you to do than to be faithful to what God’s Word says. I can’t give you specific advice on how to handle each situation. But with gentleness and love, point out the truths of God’s Word.

Show others how shallow and empty it is to be in the devil’s palace. It won’t be easy. They’re not going to want to hear it. Remember, they are in peace and totally content in the palace. But you, dear saints, can show them the peace of Christ who has disarmed and stripped the devil of his armor. You can proclaim Christ’s cross and empty tomb which gives true and eternal peace with God.

And to encourage you in this, hear again how our Epistle lesson (Eph 5:1-9) closed, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).” Dear saints, you are (notice this isn’t an exhortation to become something) you are light in the Lord. Faithfully walk as children of the light as you hold fast to what is good and right and true. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Caught – Sermon on Genesis 3:1-21 for the First Sunday in Lent

Mar10

Listen here.

Genesis 3:1-21

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LordGod among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, Updated Crushing the Serpent's Head Cross
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.

¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

²⁰The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And, in this way, sin entered the world. Now, instead of running from the devil, Adam and Eve run from God. To really get at this text we need to see how faith is attacked, lost, and restored.

Scripture is clear, “the righteous shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4), and, “whatever is not of faith is sin” (Ro. 14:23). Adam and the woman had faith in God before the Fall. The faith that they had was created by the promise of God. This is may be a little bit difficult for us to grasp, but, when God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and commanded Adam and the woman to not eat of it, He was giving them a promise to believe. God didn’t put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden so Adam and the woman could choose God or reject God. God put that tree in the garden as a promise. Basically, that tree was God acknowledging that there was evil, and by commanding them to not eat of it was God saying, “There is evil, but I don’t want you to experience or even know what evil is. If you know evil, it’s not going to go well for you. In fact, you are going to die.”

Temptation in the Garden of Eden But Satan comes along and puts a question into the mind of the woman. “Did God actually say?” This is the one attack of the devil. He always is trying to get us to doubt the Word and promise of God. “Did God actually say, you should not eat of any tree in the garden?” And notice that the woman adds to God’s promise. She says, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, neither shall you touch it, less you die.’” God had never said anything about not touching the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (at least, it isn’t recorded for us). Satan is attacking God’s Word, but Adam and the woman have not fallen yet. The serpent sees his opening and tells an outright lie, “You will not surely die! For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Now, remember that God had created Adam and the woman in His image – they were already like God, and God declared that they were good. But Satan put before the woman the possibility of becoming more like God and better than they had already been created. It was an outright lie. So, when the woman sees that the tree is good for food, a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she is seeing something that is not true. The devil’s lie has already taken root. In this way Adam and the woman’s faith is attacked.

Now, that faith is lost. The woman looked at the tree and saw that it was to be desired to make one wise. That phrase, right there, is so important as you go about your daily life. To tempt us into sin, the devil gets us to think that God is somehow holding out on us, that He hasn’t given or won’t give us everything we need to live and be happy. It’s a downright, blatant, brazen, barefaced lie. The devil wants us to ignore God’s Word and think that God is holding out on us and limiting our fun by giving us commands. Whenever we fall into sin, it is because we don’t trust that God is good and will give us all good things at the right time. Don’t listen to the devil’s lies.

Unfortunately, the woman does. She takes the fruit, eats it, gives some to her husband who is with her, and he eats. The eyes of both are opened. They had become something more. Now, they knew evil, but it was not better. What had been good, their nakedness, was no longer good. They sew fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths. Their faith is lost.

But now, we will see how beautifully God restores faith. Adam and the woman hear the sound of God walking in the garden, but they hide. They figured that God was coming in order to punish them. But the God who had created the heavens and the earth, the God who had created all the birds of the air, all the fish of the sea, and all the animals of the land didn’t need to come and find them in order to punish them. If God was going to punish them, there is no need to drag this whole thing out. God is not showing up in this text now to punish Adam and the woman. He’s coming to restore what was lost. He is coming to restore faith.

Adam and Eve hide from God.jpg But even as God does this, we will see the horrific consequences that sin and evil has brought into God’s good creation. God calls to Adam, “Where are you?” God still wants to have fellowship with Adam and the woman even though they have sinned, broken His commandment, and lost their faith. But rather than confessing and repenting of his sin, Adam dodges the opportunity saying, “I hid from You because I was naked and afraid.” So, God gives Adam a second chance to repent, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

But sin has so marred Adam that he dodges this second opportunity. He blames the woman, but ultimately, notice that he blames God, “The woman, whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.“ God gives the woman a chance to repent and asks her, “What is this you have done?“ But the woman doesn’t do much better than Adam, she says “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

The terrible, horrific consequences of sin are already evident. Adam and the woman pass blame, they don’t protect or care for each other, the whole thing is an absolute mess. They are caught and they don’t return to God in faith asking for His mercy.

Adam and the woman will hear God tell them about the mess they have brought to creation – pain in childbirth, pain in eating, and death. But first things first. God’s first response isn’t to lay into Adam and the woman. The first thing God does is deal with Satan. God doesn’t have a conversation with the devil like He did with Adam and the woman. There, in the Garden, God told Satan that He was coming for him. God would send the Seed of the woman to crush the serpent’s head. And Adam and the woman believe this because, notice, at the end of this text, she is no longer called ‘woman.’ Adam 1 Corinthians 13 7 - Love Bears All Things gives her the name Eve. She wasn’t called this at any point before in Scripture. Adam gives her the name ‘Eve’ which means ‘life-giver.’ Here’s how we know faith is restored. Eve was already going to be the mother of everyone who would be born. But Adam, the father of faith, changes her name to Eve because she is the mother of all who would believe in the promised Seed who would crush the serpent’s head.

God promised that He would free Adam, the woman, you, and me from the clutches of sin and death. And, today, we have seen Jesus doing this very thing. Opposed to Adam and the woman, who had no lack – they weren’t hungry – Jesus defeats the devil’s temptations in the wilderness when He was starving after fasting for forty days. Jesus will leave the wilderness and cast out the demons. He will heal, restore, forgive, and resurrect those who sit under the curse. But most importantly, He will suffer God’s wrath against all sin – your sin, my sin, the sin of the whole world – on the cross. He does this because though you are caught in sin, your God is merciful and gracious. He wants you to be caught in His loving arms for all eternity, safe and secure from all evil.

Repent. Believe. Live. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Devil’s Lie – Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent on John 8:42-59

Mar18

Listen here.

John 8:42–59

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. ⁴³ Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. ⁴⁴ You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” ⁵² The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ ⁵⁵ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” ⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

So, you wake up this morning. Shower (hopefully). Get dressed. Drive yourself over to church. Grab a cup of coffee. Catch up on how others’ week went and talk about the weather. Grab your bulletin. Sit down in your pew. Speak some Scripture. Sing some songs. Confess your faith. Pass the offering plate. And this is the Jesus you hear?

Combative Jesus. Intolerant Jesus. Name-calling Jesus. Rude Jesus.

Jesus is fed up because these people, like you, have believed the devil’s lie rather than the truth of God’s Word. So, Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush. The people arguing with Him are Satan’s spawn, children of the murdering devil.

Jesus says something extremely important here. Look at the last sentence of v. 44. Our translation reads, “When he (that is, the devil) lies, he speaks out of his own character.” What Jesus actually says is, “When [the devil] speaks the lie, he speaks out of his own character…” Now, it’s not that we have a bad translation, but that little nuance gets to the core of what the devil is constantly doing to you. He tells you his one lie.

The one lie that is under all of the devil’s work is simply this: God is not good and does not love you – which is the boldest, basest lie there is. But the devil doesn’t just come out and say that. Instead, the devil disguises that lie. Little by little, Satan is always pointing you away from Jesus crucified for the complete, total forgiveness of all your sins.

You don’t get that promotion, raise, or contract. The devil comes along and says, “You must have made God mad. Until you get yourself in order, God isn’t going to bless you or help you.”

Then, rather than fixing your eyes Christ crucified for you, you put every aspect of your life under a microscope. You examine your motivations and try to make them purer. But then when blessings do come your way, you pat yourself on the back and, like little Jack Horner, say, “What a good boy am I.” And the devil has you right where he wants you.

Or you keep falling into the same sin. No matter how hard you try, you can’t keep yourself from doing that one thing. So, the devil comes along and whispers his lie into your ear. “Sure, God said that He forgives sin. But You can’t expect Him to forgive it all the time. Maybe you haven’t repented enough. Sure, you believe in Jesus, but you must have not fully yielded to Him.”

And you fall for the devil’s bait. Your eyes are diverted just a little from Jesus. You go off and try this program to keep you from falling into sin. Or you go and try to make up for your sin by doing some good work. And you trust in your self-improvement rather than in Christ’s sacrifice.

Repent. Knock it off. Stop believing the devil’s lie. All your works, all your efforts, all your striving does is take the crucified Jesus, the only Jesus, out of the equation. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your salvation. And when your salvation, or even the maintenance and preservation of your salvation, rests on you, you are going to fall big time. And every time you fail, the devil’s lie is easier to believe.

That is why Jesus is so combative and abrasive in this text. Jesus in this passage shows us what God meant what He said that He is a jealous God (Ex. 20:5). God wants you for Himself. That is why Jesus came and gave Himself for you. He wants you to trust in Him for your salvation and for everything else.

Jesus, by His cross and death, has secured for you an eternal redemption and given you an eternal inheritance. His blood poured out for you on Calvary will absolutely purify your conscience (Heb. 9:11-15).

Jesus doesn’t give you credit or leave part of the job in your hands. He works repentance in you. He puts His Word of forgiveness in your ear. He turns your heart of stone into a heart of flesh. He raises you from death. He pays your debt in full by His precious blood.

That is Jesus’ word, that is His promise, to you. Keep that word. Trust that promise, and Jesus says, “You will never see death,” because Jesus will pull you through death to eternal life with Him. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Pastorsamwise

"Don't the great tales never end?"

Tag Archives: Devil

At Your Strongest – Sermon on Ephesians 6:10-20 for the Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity

The Fight – Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 for the First Sunday of Lent

Unmuted – Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 for the Third Sunday of Lent

Conquered – Sermon on Luke 10:17-20 & Revelation 12:7-12 for the observation of the feast of St. Michael & All Angels

Enthroned – Sermon on Luke 24:44-53 for the Ascension of Our Lord (Observed)

Disturbing the Peace – Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 for the Third Sunday in Lent

Disarmed – Sermon on Luke 11:14-28 for the Third Sunday in Lent

Caught – Sermon on Genesis 3:1-21 for the First Sunday in Lent

The Devil’s Lie – Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent on John 8:42-59