Invocavit (Lent 1)
Matthew 4:1-11
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 9, 2025
Do you children know what Monergism means? Monergism comes from the Greek words for alone and working. Regarding our salvation, God works alone. You don’t help at all. As David went out on the battlefield by himself with his sling and sack of rocks to face the giant Goliath, so our Lord Jesus Christ went into the wilderness alone to face Satan, and He won without our help. Christ alone won your salvation. He did this through His active and passive obedience.
Jesus’ active obedience is when He obeyed God’s Law in human flesh in our place. St. Paul writes in Galatians 4, “But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Jesus fulfilled the Law for us. He did what Adam and Eve and every human being after them, including you, have failed to do. He withstood the temptation of Satan and was a perfectly obedient Son of God.
Jesus’ passive obedience is when He suffered the punishment for our sins. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” And again, in Galatians 3, he writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” Christ fulfilled the Law without your help. And He satisfied the wrath of God against all sins without your help by suffering alone on the cross. Christ worked alone to redeem you from your sins. That is Monergism.
Not only did God work alone to redeem you from your sins, but God worked alone to convert you to the saving faith. We rightly confess in our Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” We confess this, because the Bible clearly teaches that by nature, we are sinful and incapable of accepting God or believing the Gospel. St. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our trespasses and sins and were children of wrath like the rest of mankind until God made us alive by grace. And he writes in 1 Corinthians 12 that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit (vs.3). And as I noted last week, Jesus says that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). So, your conversion to the Christian faith is entirely a work of God. You were spiritually dead, and God made you alive. You were unwilling, and God made you willing. Your conversion to Christ is divine monergism, that is, God alone accomplished the work to make you a Christian.
Regarding your redemption and your conversion, the Bible rejects Synergism. Do you know what Synergism is? Synergism comes from the Greek words for together and working. Synergism means working together. We do not work together with God to redeem ourselves or justify ourselves before God. God works alone. We do not work together with God to convert ourselves to the saving faith. God worked alone to bring you to spiritual life. You accept the preaching of the Gospel, because the Holy Spirit works through the Word to create faith. In Baptism, it is God who works to forgive your sins, give you His Holy Spirit, join you to Christ’s death and resurrection, and make you God’s child. And it is God, who through His Word and Sacraments keeps you in the true faith. From beginning to end, your salvation is entirely God’s work. That is divine Monergism. Regarding your salvation, Synergism is entirely rejected.
Yet, in 2 Corinthians 6, St. Paul says, “Working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Paul says that we work with God. He even uses the Greek word “Συνεργοῦντες (synergountes), where we get the word Synergism. Yet, here, St. Paul is not talking about redemption, justification, conversion, or salvation. He is speaking of the activity of Christians in their daily renewal. While we do not work with God to save ourselves, after we have been converted and the Holy Spirit has caused us to be born again into a new creation, our new self does work with God. Our Lutheran Confessions explains it in Formula of Concord article II on Free Will, “As soon as the Holy Spirit has begun His work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and holy Sacraments, we can and should cooperate through His power, although still in great weakness. This cooperation does not come from our fleshly natural powers, but from the new powers and gifts that the Holy Spirit has begun in us in conversion.” (SD II:65)
So, regarding our salvation, God works monergistically. Yet, regarding our sanctification, that is, our daily renewal, we work with God, our new self being guided by the Holy Spirit to do what is pleasing to God. Some arrogantly ask, “If God does all the work for our salvation, why should we do any good works at all?” Yet, they ignore what God’s salvation does to us. God’s salvation makes us His children! If a father tells his son to take out the trash, does his son say, “Father, I know that I am your son by grace apart from my works and that I will remain your son whether I take out the trash or not, so I will continue to sit here watching TV and will ignore your command to take out the trash.”? How absurd! And should we behave in such a way to our heavenly Father, ignoring His commandments and doing whatever our sinful flesh pleases? No, having been saved by God through grace, by His work alone, we now seek to please Him as a good son seeks to please his father. We desire to work with Him for good, even if it is in great weakness.
And so, understanding the distinction between Monergism and Synergism, and how we are saved by God’s work alone apart from our help, yet having been made God’s children by grace, we desire to work with Him, we learn how to understand Christ’s temptation from Satan. On the one hand, we see Christ battling alone without our help to vanquish our evil foe and win for us salvation. On the other hand, we see Christ giving us an example, so that we may learn to work with Him, to resist the temptations of the devil, and to not receive the grace of God in vain.
Christ begins His temptation after He was baptized and declared to be God’s beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And so, we cannot properly combat the devil until we first have been baptized, have put on Christ, and have become children of God. Then, we wear Christ’s victory, which He won for us without our help. Then also, our new self is empowered by the Holy Spirit to work with God to resist temptation and strive to please Him.
The first temptation Satan threw at Jesus was turning His tribulation against Him. Jesus had been fasting in the wilderness for forty days. The Holy Spirit had led Him into this situation. Satan tempted Christ to take off His divinely appointed burden and care instead for the needs of His body. Satan does the same for you. Although God has in His power to give you everything you could ever want, the Holy Spirit leads you through trials and tribulation for your own good. Satan tries to use these trials to turn you into your own flesh, to forsake God’s Word, thinking that God will not provide for you. And so, people choose jobs that keep them from ever coming to church, they become obsessed with turning stones into bread, that is, making money or solving their earthly problems, that they ignore God’s Word and preaching. Yet, Jesus teaches us to use Holy Scripture to combat Satan. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Deuteronomy 8:3). And so, you remind Satan and yourself that God will care for your physical needs if you seek first His kingdom and Righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
Next, the devil tempts Christ to test God. He misquotes Psalm 91 by taking out the line, “to guard you in all your ways,” so that it sounds like Scripture preaches a prosperity Gospel. Satan does the same to you. He tries to get you to blaspheme God by living an ungodly life, thinking that you are secure in your salvation even when you continue in sin, drunkenness, fornication, despising God’s Word, and other reckless behavior. Yet, Jesus employs Holy Scripture again, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deuteronomy 6:16). And so, you too, do not test the Lord, testing His patience, testing the power of your Baptism, by continuing in sins you know are wrong. Rather, use Scripture to warn yourself against such testing of God. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” God indeed sends His angels to protect you. However, if you continue to resist His Holy Spirit, you cast off the care of His angels and God will deliver you over to your own depraved sins which lead to death and damnation.
Finally, Satan tempted Jesus to worship him in exchange for the kingdoms of the world. Jesus Himself told His disciples that Satan is the ruler of this world (John 14:3). Yet, Satan can only give the things of this world temporarily before you die and go to hell. He can offer no eternal treasure. Only God can do that. So, Jesus again teaches us to quote the Bible, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” (Deuteronomy 6:13) Most people scoff at the idea that they worship Satan. Yet, Jesus teaches us that whatever you fear, love, and trust in most is your god. And so, whatever of this world that you love most, fear most, trust in most, is your god. And Satan is the ruler of this world for now. So, love of the world is the truest form of Satanism. So, when your love for things of this world demands your devotion above God and His Word, then you are bending the knee to Satan.
It is a great comfort that your salvation is by God’s Monergism. This gives you certainty that your sins are forgiven and confidence to rely on His Word and Sacraments to keep you in the saving faith. Yet, having been rescued from sin, death, and hell by God alone, He has made you His coworker in the Kingdom, although in this life, you can only work in great weakness led by the Holy Spirit. Yet, if you are a child of God, you will work with Him. God truly has made you into a new creation. If you stop working with God, that is a sign that you have rejected God and lost the faith. But Scripture teaches us to work, to strive with Satan using the weapons given us by God, His Holy Word found in Scripture and prayer. Using these tools given by God, you can indeed resist temptation and cause Satan to flee from you (James 4:7). And you can do this with confidence, because the battle does not depend on you. It depends on Christ, who has won the battle against Satan without your help.
And so, the greatest Word of God you can wield against Satan is the victory Christ won against Satan. God gives us that victory through faith as a gift apart from our works. And it is through faith in Christ that we work together with God and cause the devil to flee from us. It is through faith in Christ that we find the strength and will to follow God’s commandments. And it is through faith in Christ that we find victory, even after seeing our own failures again and again. May God the Holy Spirit lead us to spurn Satan through faith in Christ and grant us the aid of His holy angels, so that we do not labor in vain. Amen.
Matthew 4:1-11
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 9, 2025
Do you children know what Monergism means? Monergism comes from the Greek words for alone and working. Regarding our salvation, God works alone. You don’t help at all. As David went out on the battlefield by himself with his sling and sack of rocks to face the giant Goliath, so our Lord Jesus Christ went into the wilderness alone to face Satan, and He won without our help. Christ alone won your salvation. He did this through His active and passive obedience.
Jesus’ active obedience is when He obeyed God’s Law in human flesh in our place. St. Paul writes in Galatians 4, “But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Jesus fulfilled the Law for us. He did what Adam and Eve and every human being after them, including you, have failed to do. He withstood the temptation of Satan and was a perfectly obedient Son of God.
Jesus’ passive obedience is when He suffered the punishment for our sins. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” And again, in Galatians 3, he writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” Christ fulfilled the Law without your help. And He satisfied the wrath of God against all sins without your help by suffering alone on the cross. Christ worked alone to redeem you from your sins. That is Monergism.
Not only did God work alone to redeem you from your sins, but God worked alone to convert you to the saving faith. We rightly confess in our Catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” We confess this, because the Bible clearly teaches that by nature, we are sinful and incapable of accepting God or believing the Gospel. St. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our trespasses and sins and were children of wrath like the rest of mankind until God made us alive by grace. And he writes in 1 Corinthians 12 that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit (vs.3). And as I noted last week, Jesus says that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). So, your conversion to the Christian faith is entirely a work of God. You were spiritually dead, and God made you alive. You were unwilling, and God made you willing. Your conversion to Christ is divine monergism, that is, God alone accomplished the work to make you a Christian.
Regarding your redemption and your conversion, the Bible rejects Synergism. Do you know what Synergism is? Synergism comes from the Greek words for together and working. Synergism means working together. We do not work together with God to redeem ourselves or justify ourselves before God. God works alone. We do not work together with God to convert ourselves to the saving faith. God worked alone to bring you to spiritual life. You accept the preaching of the Gospel, because the Holy Spirit works through the Word to create faith. In Baptism, it is God who works to forgive your sins, give you His Holy Spirit, join you to Christ’s death and resurrection, and make you God’s child. And it is God, who through His Word and Sacraments keeps you in the true faith. From beginning to end, your salvation is entirely God’s work. That is divine Monergism. Regarding your salvation, Synergism is entirely rejected.
Yet, in 2 Corinthians 6, St. Paul says, “Working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Paul says that we work with God. He even uses the Greek word “Συνεργοῦντες (synergountes), where we get the word Synergism. Yet, here, St. Paul is not talking about redemption, justification, conversion, or salvation. He is speaking of the activity of Christians in their daily renewal. While we do not work with God to save ourselves, after we have been converted and the Holy Spirit has caused us to be born again into a new creation, our new self does work with God. Our Lutheran Confessions explains it in Formula of Concord article II on Free Will, “As soon as the Holy Spirit has begun His work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and holy Sacraments, we can and should cooperate through His power, although still in great weakness. This cooperation does not come from our fleshly natural powers, but from the new powers and gifts that the Holy Spirit has begun in us in conversion.” (SD II:65)
So, regarding our salvation, God works monergistically. Yet, regarding our sanctification, that is, our daily renewal, we work with God, our new self being guided by the Holy Spirit to do what is pleasing to God. Some arrogantly ask, “If God does all the work for our salvation, why should we do any good works at all?” Yet, they ignore what God’s salvation does to us. God’s salvation makes us His children! If a father tells his son to take out the trash, does his son say, “Father, I know that I am your son by grace apart from my works and that I will remain your son whether I take out the trash or not, so I will continue to sit here watching TV and will ignore your command to take out the trash.”? How absurd! And should we behave in such a way to our heavenly Father, ignoring His commandments and doing whatever our sinful flesh pleases? No, having been saved by God through grace, by His work alone, we now seek to please Him as a good son seeks to please his father. We desire to work with Him for good, even if it is in great weakness.
And so, understanding the distinction between Monergism and Synergism, and how we are saved by God’s work alone apart from our help, yet having been made God’s children by grace, we desire to work with Him, we learn how to understand Christ’s temptation from Satan. On the one hand, we see Christ battling alone without our help to vanquish our evil foe and win for us salvation. On the other hand, we see Christ giving us an example, so that we may learn to work with Him, to resist the temptations of the devil, and to not receive the grace of God in vain.
Christ begins His temptation after He was baptized and declared to be God’s beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And so, we cannot properly combat the devil until we first have been baptized, have put on Christ, and have become children of God. Then, we wear Christ’s victory, which He won for us without our help. Then also, our new self is empowered by the Holy Spirit to work with God to resist temptation and strive to please Him.
The first temptation Satan threw at Jesus was turning His tribulation against Him. Jesus had been fasting in the wilderness for forty days. The Holy Spirit had led Him into this situation. Satan tempted Christ to take off His divinely appointed burden and care instead for the needs of His body. Satan does the same for you. Although God has in His power to give you everything you could ever want, the Holy Spirit leads you through trials and tribulation for your own good. Satan tries to use these trials to turn you into your own flesh, to forsake God’s Word, thinking that God will not provide for you. And so, people choose jobs that keep them from ever coming to church, they become obsessed with turning stones into bread, that is, making money or solving their earthly problems, that they ignore God’s Word and preaching. Yet, Jesus teaches us to use Holy Scripture to combat Satan. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Deuteronomy 8:3). And so, you remind Satan and yourself that God will care for your physical needs if you seek first His kingdom and Righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
Next, the devil tempts Christ to test God. He misquotes Psalm 91 by taking out the line, “to guard you in all your ways,” so that it sounds like Scripture preaches a prosperity Gospel. Satan does the same to you. He tries to get you to blaspheme God by living an ungodly life, thinking that you are secure in your salvation even when you continue in sin, drunkenness, fornication, despising God’s Word, and other reckless behavior. Yet, Jesus employs Holy Scripture again, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deuteronomy 6:16). And so, you too, do not test the Lord, testing His patience, testing the power of your Baptism, by continuing in sins you know are wrong. Rather, use Scripture to warn yourself against such testing of God. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” God indeed sends His angels to protect you. However, if you continue to resist His Holy Spirit, you cast off the care of His angels and God will deliver you over to your own depraved sins which lead to death and damnation.
Finally, Satan tempted Jesus to worship him in exchange for the kingdoms of the world. Jesus Himself told His disciples that Satan is the ruler of this world (John 14:3). Yet, Satan can only give the things of this world temporarily before you die and go to hell. He can offer no eternal treasure. Only God can do that. So, Jesus again teaches us to quote the Bible, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” (Deuteronomy 6:13) Most people scoff at the idea that they worship Satan. Yet, Jesus teaches us that whatever you fear, love, and trust in most is your god. And so, whatever of this world that you love most, fear most, trust in most, is your god. And Satan is the ruler of this world for now. So, love of the world is the truest form of Satanism. So, when your love for things of this world demands your devotion above God and His Word, then you are bending the knee to Satan.
It is a great comfort that your salvation is by God’s Monergism. This gives you certainty that your sins are forgiven and confidence to rely on His Word and Sacraments to keep you in the saving faith. Yet, having been rescued from sin, death, and hell by God alone, He has made you His coworker in the Kingdom, although in this life, you can only work in great weakness led by the Holy Spirit. Yet, if you are a child of God, you will work with Him. God truly has made you into a new creation. If you stop working with God, that is a sign that you have rejected God and lost the faith. But Scripture teaches us to work, to strive with Satan using the weapons given us by God, His Holy Word found in Scripture and prayer. Using these tools given by God, you can indeed resist temptation and cause Satan to flee from you (James 4:7). And you can do this with confidence, because the battle does not depend on you. It depends on Christ, who has won the battle against Satan without your help.
And so, the greatest Word of God you can wield against Satan is the victory Christ won against Satan. God gives us that victory through faith as a gift apart from our works. And it is through faith in Christ that we work together with God and cause the devil to flee from us. It is through faith in Christ that we find the strength and will to follow God’s commandments. And it is through faith in Christ that we find victory, even after seeing our own failures again and again. May God the Holy Spirit lead us to spurn Satan through faith in Christ and grant us the aid of His holy angels, so that we do not labor in vain. Amen.
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