CHRIST AND HIS WORD: STRONGER THAN THE DEVIL
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, as Your baptized children we come to You and ask You to help us every hour of every day to renounce the devil, all his works, and all his ways. Take not Your Holy Spirit from us, that the evil spirit may have no power over us. Amen.
Sermon Text: St. Luke 11:14-28. And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan is also divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Cleanse us by the truth; Your Word is truth. Amen.
Dear people loved by God in Christ, the One before whom the demons beg and plead: Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, in truth and love, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
From ancient time this third Sunday in Lent has been set apart for hearing the Bible’s teaching on the demons, so the Bible will form our thinking on it.
There are two extremes when it comes to the devil and demons, and their activity. On the one hand are people who don’t believe that the devil and demons are real; for them, it’s “fantasy.” This comes from the materialistic or naturalistic way of thinking that rejects the supernatural. It redefines the demons, defines them down, de-personalizes them.
On the other extreme are people who do believe the reality of such things but have an unhealthy fascination with them and want to know more about them. What used to be called “witchcraft” is considered cool now; there’s a whole industry for things like crystals or what’s called “new age spirituality,” but the more precise term is satanic arts, just to be clear what this is.
There’s something else too. You’ll find Christians who equate spiritual warfare with exorcising demons; they claim every sin or bad habit is an evil spirit inhabiting someone. This is true especially among the Charismatic or Pentecostal churches, since they include the casting out of demons as one of the signs of the Holy Spirit that is essential for true Christians today.
This is a false teaching. It’s unbiblical. We must beware of being fascinated with speculation about demons, demon possession, and exorcism, and the type of Christianity that puts the Christian in the center of spiritual warfare as the chief warrior in the battle against evil and the devil. As Luther says in the Large Catechism: “We are far too weak to deal with the devil and all his power and followers who set themselves against us.” Only Christ and His power can oppose and defeat the devil. True spiritual warfare isn’t dramatic or spectacular; it involves Jesus being present, and it involves His Word.
- Take courage, for the devil and demons are weaker than Jesus.
We see this right away in this text, which begins: “Jesus was casting out a demon.” By this time, Jesus had done this frequently and publicly. There are many accounts of Jesus casting a demon, or many of them, out of a person.
In this case, it says that Jesus cast out the demon, and then it says, “when the demon had gone out,” to show that it did go out at Jesus’ command. The Pharisees then tried to destroy Jesus’ credibility by saying He did this not from God, but by an evil power – “by Beel-zebub” or Beel-zebul, a name for Satan himself that means “lord of the flies” or “lord of filth.”
Jesus used this occasion to defeat their lie and teach about the demons. But not to satisfy curiosity! In teaching about the demons, it’s more that Jesus teaches us the truth about Himself, because He came to conquer the devil.
He tells this Parable of the Strong Man and the Stronger Man: “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.”
The “strong man, fully armed,” is the devil. How strong Satan is in his dealings with us! – picking on us like a bully does. The devil is fully armed, he has weapons to use on you. He has the demons and all the forces of hell to assist him. He uses the world and the opinions of others to influence you. In his temptations he makes them look appealing to your sinful flesh. In fact, your sinful flesh – something that’s part of you – is one of his weapons! He uses guilt, he uses fear, he uses power, he uses sadness, also the fear of death.
Satan then keeps you in the prison house with his accusations of how bad you are. With these accusations Satan isn’t giving the full picture, having you listen to the Law but hiding the Gospel. The devil “guards his palace,” as Jesus says, he would never let up, never let you hear the Gospel and be freed.
But Jesus promises in the words from Luke 11 that “a Stronger (Man) than he [Satan]” would overcome him. This is Jesus! the only one stronger than the devil. This promise came true when He defeated Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. Also every time He cast out a demon it was another victory. Finally, although Jesus appeared to be defeated on the cross, on the third day He rose from the dead He showed Himself stronger and overcame Satan.
“He comes upon him and overcomes him and takes from him all his armor in which he trusted.” Jesus rose from the dead, and then descended to hell to take Satan’s most powerful weapons – the accusations about our sins, and the fear of death and hell – and completely remove all their power over us. This parable of the stronger man is a preview of that.
This is the first thing to know: that the devil, and the demons, are strong but not as strong as Jesus. Jesus overcame the devil. He conquered sin, death, and devil. Satan’s accusations against you are false. He is a conquered foe.
So what do you need, when faced with fear of the devil and the demons? You need Jesus. “To have Him always near you,” and to “cling with resolution to Him whom Satan hates” (ELH #517 v. 15, 11).To make the sign of the cross, not as a superstition, but in faith claiming that you are one of the baptized, you’re His child, you’re with Jesus and He’s with you. To say the creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,” and say what we memorize in the catechism: “Who has redeemed me from the power of the devil.”
As Luther says: “When the devil throws your sins up to you and declares that you deserve death and hell, speak thus: ‘I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? I know One who suffered and made satisfaction for me. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where He is, there I shall be also” (Letter to Jerome Weller, July 1530).
So the first thing is that Jesus is always stronger than the devils and as He won the victory foryou in His life, death and His resurrection, He also wins the victory in you as you speak what Jesus has done, as your faith speaks. This brings us to the second thing, where your faith comes from: His Word.
- The devil and the demons are weaker than His Word.
In His teaching here in this text, Jesus also said this: “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
The devils are always looking for an opening. While this is a creepy sort of thing, Jesus says this to show that a demon was cast out but the man’s heart was still empty, not filled with Christ; so the demons came back. This shows the importance of His Word. The heart needs to be filled with His Word. So whatever damage the devil has done in your life, in your mind, in your heart, what you need is to hear His Word, the Gospel, and hear it more and more.
But this is the point: the Word is always stronger than the devil’s voice. It may not always feel like it. It’s hard to keep the Gospel – God’s loving words – with you, and much easier to keep hearing the devil’s accusing voice. But the Word of the Lord endures. He won’t take His Word from you. Coming to church, being in the Word, repeating the words of the blessing to yourself, saying the creed as protection against the devil and his lies, it does drive the devil away. This is what we have in our church, in the Lutheran Church: we believe His Word has power, power over the devil and all the powers of hell.
Just as the Word of God spoken to you in baptism is when the Stronger Man, Jesus, took you away from the devil and you renounced the devil, all his works, and all his ways, so now His Word of forgiveness spoken to you is how Christ comes upon Satan and overcomes him. Jesus is the Stronger Man.
He does this for you in His Word. “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God, and keep it,” that is, who – against the devil – cling to the Word: Christ and His promises. In Christ, and in His Word, we always win. Amen!