RECEIVE GOD’S PROTECTION FROM THE DEVIL

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 also is 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. Lord, You are stronger than the powers of darkness, more powerful than anything the devil can threaten us with. Keep us from underestimating the evil powers. What wouldn’t they be able to do to us? But we are safe with You. When we’re under Your protection and belong to You, they can do nothing. We put our life in Your hands. You have redeemed us from the power of the devil. Amen. (Bo Giertz, To Live With Christ, 219)

Dear people loved by God in Christ Jesus, whose name Satan’s legions fear:

What does this mean, “I believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord?” I believe that … He has redeemed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil.

What does this mean, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?” God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil counsel and will … such as the will of the devil, the world, and our own flesh.

But what shall a person do, if he is not aware of such trouble and feels no hunger and thirst for the Sacrament? To such a person no better advice can be given than that … he will certainly have the devil about him, who with his lying and murdering, day and night, will let him have no peace within or without.

As we’ve just heard, in our catechism we Lutherans learn to be very aware of the devil, the demons, and why evil is present in our life and in our world.

We learn that Jesus redeems us from the power of the devil. We learn that what we need is for God to break and hinder the will of the devil in our life. And we “will certainly have the devil about” us, destroying our peace.

As always, the catechism isn’t teaching anything new. It’s what the Bible teaches. The catechism zeroes in on it to highlight this from Scripture for us.

For we hear Jesus teaching this same exact thing. It started when, as Luke says, “He was casting out a demon.” It seems Jesus was always doing that. So often in the gospels we hear of Jesus meeting a demon-possessed person. This is because the devils knew that Jesus had come to destroy their power, to destroy Satan and his works. They’re drawn into open conflict with Him.

In this case, “when the demon had gone out” by Jesus’ command, the Pharisees tried to destroy Jesus’ credibility. So Jesus teaches about the devil’s kingdom at length. He exposes what the devil does.

First, Jesus speaks about the power of the devil. He calls Satan “the strong man,” testifying to the devil’s strength and power that we are no match for. He describes the devil as being “fully armed,” equipped with weapons, and pictures the devil as guarding “his goods,” that is, people whom he has taken away or is leading away from Christ. We need to fear the devil’s strength.

Second, Jesus speaks about the devil’s will: “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.”

This speaks to the persistence of the devils. The demons return because more is needed than simply expelling something evil; what’s needed is for Christ Himself, for true goodness, to fill a person’s heart. It isn’t enough to say no to evil; the Christian must hate his/her sin, and love God and His ways.

We see here something about the will of the devil – as Luther says in the Large Catechism, “All his thought and desire is to deprive us of all that we have from God or to hinder it.” The devil wants to affect each person’s will, to make you want, desire and love what God doesn’t want for you; and to make you not want or love what pleases God. The cause of sin from the very beginning has been the will of the devil. It starts in your will, the “want-er” inside you. Just like with Eve, as soon as she desired the fruit the devil had won.

And finally, Jesus is teaching here that we will always have the devil about us, seeking to devour, always keeping us under attack. In this way Jesus, that Good Shepherd, is revealing to you that your greatest need is to be protected.

The first way that you are protected is that Jesus Christ Himself has redeemed you, not only from sin and death, but from the power of the devil.

This is what the season of Lent is all about, to show you this. You. Hear that Jesus took yourplace as the vulnerable one, to redeem you from the devil’s power. He wasn’t plunged into darkness; He went to meet it. He made Himself the helpless, weak one. Remember Gethsemane? Remember the darkness at noon on Good Friday and how He was forsaken by God? Remember the darkness of His tomb? He went into the darkness to shatter it for you.

He predicts this in these verses when He speaks about the “strong man, fully armed” who takes people captive – that’s Satan – but then along comes “a Stronger [Man] than he” who “comes upon him and overcomes him.” This is about Jesus’ victorious resurrection from the dead, when Jesus, the Stronger Man, descended into hell, and in the presence of the devil and all the demons Jesus “triumphed over them” (Co 2:15), He declared His victory. Christ shattered the darkness. You need to know: the devil is a defeated foe.

Not only is it the devil who’s defeated, but his power is broken. He has no power to accuse you of sins. He still will accuse, but his accusations are false, they fall flat. Jesus is there to say: “No, there are no sins in this one. I made the sins Mine. I died for them.” Jesus protects you from the devil first by redeeming you from his power. But God also protects you in the here-and-now.

God always uses means for protecting us. What we call the means of grace – His Word, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper – in this context are His means of protection. When we call them means of grace, we think of the forgiveness that we receive. Sometimes we don’t feel the need so urgently. But if you know they are means of protection from the devil, then you grasp the urgency.

First, baptism. Before baptizing the child, the pastor asks the child, “Do you renounce the devil, all his works, and all his ways?” The answer? “I do renounce them.” In baptism God is driving out devils. “Satan, hear this proclamation: I am baptized into Christ!” (ELH 246:3)

Second, after baptism, we look at what the Word does. Jesus speaks about this twice in these verses. Early in this speech He said, “I cast out demons by the finger of God.” In Matthew’s version Jesus says: “I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.” So the “finger” of God is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who uses the Word not only to create faith but to drive away the devil.

When you’re hearing the Word, the Holy Spirit is driving the devil from you; and Jesus – who says, “Away with you, Satan!” – is speaking to you. Jesus says it to Satan for you: “Away from him/her, Satan!” The Word being spoken to you, is undoing the devil’s work. Forgiving your sins. Giving you faith to believe God’s forgiveness. And empowering your will, making your forgiven self strong, so you say: “Satan, I defy thee. Fear, I bid thee cease. Naught to me thy story, told with tempting voice. Sin that once did blind me, get thee far behind me, come not forth again.” (ELH 263:2, 4, 5)

Jesus speaks about His powerful Word when He says He casts out demons by the finger of God, the Spirit of God. He also speaks of the Word’s power in our lives when He says in response to the woman who wanted to praise His mother: “More than that, blesséd are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” The proclaiming and hearing of God’s Word is the means for our protection against the devils. What Word of God? The Gospel.

This directs us to the Lord’s Supper. This Sacrament is the Gospel, in which there is only forgiveness, and Jesus says “for you.” The Lord’s Supper is for people who have the devil constantly at them. There isn’t a week, there isn’t a day, when that isn’t the case. Come to the Lord’s Supper to be protected from the devil and because of your sins. Here, in His Supper, you will receive forgiveness – so that your sins don’t harm you – and then you find that your Savior dwells within you now, the devil can’t come in. Amen!