Category: Lent 1

Striving with Satan

3/7/2022

The Temptation of Christ, Maestro Bartolemé, 1450-1493. Public Domain.

Invocavit Sunday (Lent 1)
Matthew 4:1-11
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 6, 2022

When people think of Satan, they often think of two extremes that are both false. The first extreme is that Satan is a harmless spirit, who couldn’t hurt you if he tried. (This is why many so flippantly play around with the occult, visit psychics, and try to make contact with the dead or other spirits). The other extreme is that Satan is an unconquerable foe against whom no one can help you, not even God. With this view, many look at Satan as God’s equal, an evil god, against whom all resistance is futile.

Both these extremes of course are wrong. Satan is not harmless. He is our evil foe. Scripture calls him a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and a dragon, who claims many lives. Satan is our arch enemy, our number one problem. His goal is to lead you into sin and unbelief and to send you to hell. And he’s very good at it. He has claimed countless victims in his millennia long career, and he is not done. Yet, Satan is certainly conquerable. He is not all-powerful. He is only a fallen angel. He is not able to do anything beyond what God permits. And, our Lord Jesus Christ himself has defeated Satan for us in human flesh, so that we too might share in Jesus’ victory over Satan.

Likewise, as with Satan, there are two extreme opinions about Jesus, both of which are false. The first extreme is that Jesus came to earth only to be our example, to show us how we can make it to heaven by our works. In this way, Jesus would be nothing more than a second Moses, a lawgiver. And he wouldn’t be any better than Moses, because Moses didn’t give any command that God himself didn’t give. This extreme leaves us with little hope of salvation, because our salvation would still depend on us.

The second extreme, is that Jesus did not come to be our example at all; we do not need to learn from Jesus how to behave; since Jesus has overcome temptation in our stead, we can freely fall into temptation without fear; our sinning doesn’t matter; we don’t need to resist Satan. This extreme is equally wrong, because it gives the victory back to Satan after Jesus has won it for us! If you continue in sin without repenting, then you lose your salvation, as Hebrews 10 states, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (25-26) Jesus did not come to earth only to be an example to follow. He came to earth to be our Champion and to defeat Satan in our stead. Yet, Jesus also is our example, whom we should learn from, so that we can withstand Satan when he attacks.

Correcting these extremes about Satan and Jesus is important when confronting our own battle with Satan in this life. You’ll notice that immediately after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be temped by the devil. And so, we too, when we are baptized into Christ and become Christians through faith, the Holy Spirit leads us through this wilderness to be tempted by the devil for an appointed time. We must recognize that Satan is our deadly enemy, who desires to destroy our saving faith, and Jesus is our example in how we must fight against him.

“If you are the Son of God,” Satan jeers at our Lord. And so, Satan accuses us saying, “If you are God’s own child…” But Jesus did not need to prove himself to Satan or meet Satan’s standard. And neither do we. We are God’s children, because God says so in our Baptism by the merits of Christ. So, Jesus teaches us not to be thrown off our footing when sparing with Satan. A key you find in every answer Jesus gives to the devil, “It is written.” We don’t fight Satan with lofty human wisdom, eloquent speech or convoluted philosophical arguments. We use the same sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) which our Lord took up in human flesh, the holy Word of God. Scripture was written for us to use it against Satan and his lies.

The first word of Scripture Jesus employs is, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” as quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3. This statement is often misunderstood to mean, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but also by what proceeds from the mouth of God.”, as if bread isn’t sufficient, God’s Word must be added. But that’s not what it says. Man lives by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God alone. Yes, you need to eat. Yes, the grain must grow; the livestock must be raised; the oil must be drilled, etc. But not a kernel will sprout but by the word of God. Not a loaf of bread, not a bite to eat, nor a shred of cloth to cover your naked body will be produced outside of the Word of God. God produces all these things by his omnipotent Word. And if he desires for you to live without them, he could sustain you by his Word alone. Yet, if God were to cause the earth to be filled with bread and every other delicacy we crave, as we now experience, yet were to withhold his saving Word from us, we would be lost. It would be better to starve in the wilderness, staring at rocks, than to live in a land full of bread without the Gospel of Christ, which alone gives life that will never die.

And so, when Satan lies to you and tries to convince you that you need things other than or more than God’s Word, employ this dagger to his heart: “Man lives by the word of God alone.” And trust in God to provide for you.

Second, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” After Satan tries to get Jesus to prove himself to be God’s Son, he then tries to get Jesus to test his Father himself. He did this by misquoting Psalm 91, yet leaving out the important line, “To guard you in all your ways,” as if God’s angels were sent to play games with Christians who like to jump off buildings and not to protect them from evil thrown at them by the devil and the sinful world.

And this is how Satan tempts us. He tempts us to put God to the test. We put God to the test when we purposefully do what God forbids with the attitude that if God loves me, he’ll protect me. So, Satan fools people into neglecting going to worship and hearing God’s Word, participating in unchristian activity like drunkenness and fornication, all the while thinking that God won’t let the saving faith depart from their hearts. God’s angels will attend me, even if I purposefully walk down the path of unrighteousness and unbelief.

Yet, Jesus teaches us to use Scripture: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. God indeed promises to send his angels to us and to provide for us an escape out of temptation, but we must not test him by fleeing from his angels and ignoring the way of escape he provides.

Finally, Jesus quotes, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve (Deuteronomy 6:13).” This word teaches us to serve our Lord in every faction of our life. Husbands and wives serve the Lord in your homes, workers at work, students at school. This word will remind us who we are and why we are doing everything in our life. It brings a constant check to our actions and a curb to Satan’s lies.

Jesus certainly is our example in battle against Satan. And as angels attended him in his physical weakness, so God sends his angels to minister to us as we battle Satan in this wilderness. Yet, unlike Jesus, we do not finish every bout untouched. We don’t seek to live by God’s Word alone, but we crave after bread in all its forms, even neglecting to hear God’s Word and find strength in the Gospel, so that we can pursue more wealth. We test God’s patience and love by going longer and longer without prayer, longer without hearing and meditating on God’s word, further down dangerous roads, dabbling in our vices, indulging in sins, confident we’ll turn back when we need to, the angels won’t let us go too far. We pray, “lead us out of temptation,” but only halfheartedly, while our eye is already on that sin we long to commit. And we worship and serve other gods, who have found a place in our hearts. It might not seem so brazen as prostrating ourselves before Satan and worshiping him, but we serve and trust and love other gods, wealth, power, comfort, the affection of others, more than God.

It's not that Jesus isn’t the perfect example, but that we fail to follow his perfect course. But Jesus didn’t come to be a mere example. He came to be our champion. During these forty days of Lent, we spend much time focusing on the passion of Jesus on the cross. Yet, here on the first Sunday in Lent, we see that Jesus overcomes Satan already in the wilderness. Jesus does not sin. And this we must keep in mind as we walk with Jesus to his cross on Good Friday. That Sacred Head there wounded is the same one who silenced Satan in the wilderness, who overcame every temptation. Our Jesus is without sin. Our Jesus is righteous, holy, perfectly obedient. But he suffers for sins he has not committed. Jesus is our perfect High Priest, able to sympathize with us in our weakness, yet he is not limited by his own sin, because he has none. Jesus is the perfect Sacrifice, a Lamb without spot or blemish, who can take our place under God’s punishment and satisfy his righteous wrath. Jesus makes atonement for our sins on the cross, because he defeated Satan in the wilderness. Jesus’ passive obedience on the cross was made perfect by his active obedience in the wilderness when he obeyed God rather than Satan.

And so, Jesus proves himself to be the Seed of the Woman, who crushes the Serpent’s head, even as his heal is bruised on the cross. And this grants us the greatest and only sure victory over Satan. We have Jesus. As long as we have Jesus, Satan loses. We only lose to Satan if we lose Jesus, because even if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who has made atonement for all our sins. Do not underestimate Satan. Yet, do not fear him. If you have Jesus, you have already won. Amen.

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Enmity with the Devil

2/22/2021

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Invocavit (Lent 1)
Genesis 3:15
Matthew 4:1-11
February 21, 2021

“The Lord God said to the serpent, …
‘I will put enmity between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise his heel.’” (Genesis 3:15)

When Adam sinned, he plunged the entire human race into sin and death. St. Paul explains, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” (Romans 5:12) And so, it is expected that our God, who created the world to be good and who warned Adam against eating the forbidden fruit, would punish those who sullied his once perfect creation. Yet, even in his doling out of punishment, our God shows his immense mercy and grace. While it is true that our sins merit us eternal damnation and separation from God, the punishments God gave to Adam and Eve that day were temporary and they did not even remove the earthly blessings he gave us in creation. Yes, the woman would experience great pain in child-bearing and would have strife as she struggled against submitting to her husband, yet God still blessed the woman with children and with a husband. Yes, the man would experience pain and fatigue in his work and would eventually die and leave all his riches behind him, yet God still blessed him with food, clothing, and all that he needs for his body and life.
Yet, to the serpent, Satan himself, God declared the ultimate punishment, complete destruction. And it is in the punishment of Satan that God first declares the promise of our salvation. God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God has put enmity between the devil and the mother of all the living. The serpent is Satan. This is not just any serpent. A snake is an animal not capable of enmity. Satan is a fallen angel, who possessed the serpent in order to tempt Adam and Eve into sin. Satan is at enmity with the woman and all her children. Satan is our enemy. In order for us to be saved, Satan must be defeated. So, in the very hour that Adam and Eve sinned, God promised their salvation by promising Satan’s defeat. The seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head. The bruising of the serpent’s head is the defeat of Satan. This will be accomplished through no one else that Jesus Christ, who was wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:4).
Satan is your enemy. In fact, the word Satan comes from the Hebrew word for adversary. Satan is the archenemy of God and his Church. If Satan is not your enemy, then you are his slave and he is your abusive father. But if God is your good and gracious Father, then Satan must be your enemy. Satan is the number one thing that stands between you and eternal life in heaven. For you to enter heaven, Satan must be defeated.
Satan attacks you in two ways. First, he tempts you into sin. Second, he accuses you of sin in order to bring you to despair and unbelief. He tempts you into sin by lying. Jesus spoke to those Jews who refused to believe in him, “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.” (John 8:44).
Satan lies. That is how he leads you into sin. “Did God really say?” That’s his trick. Yes, that’s it. He questions God’s Word, whether God’s Word is true, whether it means what it clearly says, whether it is clear, whether it is God’s Word at all. Yet, he uses the constant pressure of the sinful world and the corruptness of your own sinful heart against you. So, while in theory it seems quite simple to resist Satan’s lies (simply believe God’s Word), he succeeds against you over and over again, until your heart feels hollow and your sins pile up on your conscience and go over your head (Psalm 38:4).
And then Satan brings in his second way of attack. He accuses you. St. John records in Revelation chapter 12, “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the world….” And God’s people cried, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” This is what Satan does. He accuses us of the sins he himself has lured us into committing! And he is so brazen as to accuse us before the throne of God, as he did against God’s servant Job! In fact, the name devil comes from the Greek word for slanderer or accuser. The devil slanders and accuses us to our conscience and to our God.
So, in order for God to rescue us from Satan, he must rescue us from these two attacks of the devil: the devil’s lies, by which he tempts us into sin and the devil’s accusations, by which he draws us to despair and unbelief. Jesus Christ is our champion, who defeats Satan against both these attacks.
Jesus is the seed of the woman. It is peculiar that Scripture refers to the woman’s seed. Seed is something a man has. Usually when the Bible refers to someone’s seed, it refers to the descendants of fathers. But here, God speaks of the woman’s seed in order to prophecy the virgin birth of Jesus to his mother Mary. Jesus was born of a virgin, which is impossible by the natural course of things, because he is God. God himself, the eternal Son of the Father, came to fight Satan for us in human flesh. St. Paul writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Romans 5:4)
The Son of God obviously had no need for himself to be under the law or to fulfill the law’s demands. Yet, he did so in human flesh in order to be our substitute. Jesus was obedient under the Law in our place. Through faith, we receive everything Jesus has. Jesus in our human flesh obeyed the Law, so through faith we receive his obedience. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 5, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” We are made righteous, not by our own obedience, but by Christ’s obedience, which we receive through faith.
Again, St. Paul writes, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Through faith, we receive the credit for the obedience of Christ, just as Abraham believed God’s promise and it was counted to him as righteousness (Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6).
“And you shall bruise his heel.” This refers to Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus would be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. But in order to be a sacrifice for our sins, he needed to fulfill the Law in our place and be blameless like a lamb without spot or blemish. This is why the author to the Hebrews confesses Christ to be the perfect High Priest, he writes, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
This means that what we witness in Jesus’ temptations from Satan in the wilderness is our victory over Satan. Satan lied to Jesus. He denied God’s Word, he twisted God’s Word, he ignored God’s Word. Yet, Jesus in human flesh wielded the same weapon that is available to us humans. Jesus did not cast Satan away by his Divine power, but he strove with him as a man armed with God’s Word. And as a man, he defeated Satan’s lies. Jesus, our champion won.
This also means that the devil’s second attack is impotent against us. What can Satan accuse us of? Sin? What sin? Jesus is our substitute. He couldn’t get Jesus to sin. We receive Jesus’ obedience through faith. Satan’s mouth is shut by the obedience of Christ. In that Revelation passage, which I read earlier, where the people of God rejoice that Satan, the accuser has been cast down, it goes on, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” When Satan accuses you of sin, through faith, you have the right to say to Satan, “You lost. You strove with the man Jesus and you failed. You couldn’t make him sin. Yet, he has paid the debt of my sins. You cannot accuse me. I have Jesus. If you are to accuse me, you must accuse Jesus first, and I know you can’t, because I saw you lose to him in the wilderness.” That is the confidence that Jesus’ victory gives us. It gives us confidence to withstand the devil’s accusations against even our most grievous sins. This is not brazenness or impenitence over our sin. Rather, this is confidence in Jesus’ victory over Satan, in the success of his passion and death over our sins. It is confidence that Jesus’ blood washes us clean and that God’s promise of forgiveness is true.
The seed of the serpent also is at enmity with the Seed of the woman, Jesus Christ. Of course, Satan, being a spirit, cannot have physical seed. His seed are those who believe his lies and obey his will. That is why Jesus told the Jews that hated him that their father was the devil. They were obedient to Satan. Those who are obedient to Satan are at enmity with Christ. But those who are obedient to God are at peace with him. Adam was disobedient to God and brought us into enmity with God. So, our obedience to God must bring us into reconciliation with God.
Yet, how can we be obedient to God? An obvious answer is to follow the Ten Commandments. Yet, how do we do this? When we look at Satan’s temptation of Jesus, we see that he tempts Jesus to break the first three commandments. By telling Jesus to turn stones into bread, he was tempting Jesus to despise God’s Word, which is breaking the Third Commandment. Jesus resists temptation by saying that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. By selectively edition Scripture, Satan tried to tempt Jesus into testing God by leaping from the pinnacle of the temple. This would be breaking the Second Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” And finally, by tempting Jesus with the glory of the world in order to get him to worship Satan, he tempted him to break the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods.”  Yet, Jesus correctly declared that you should worship and serve the Lord God alone. These three commandments make up the First Table of the Law, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.”
Jesus perfectly teaches us how to resist temptation and be obedient to God. However, even with Jesus’ perfect example, the commandment still depends on us doing it in order to be obedient. Yet, we do not accomplish it. We fail to be perfectly obedient by our works. The only way we can be truly obedient is through faith in Jesus’ obedience. The Commandments demand love. We cannot love God if he hates us. We can only love him if he loves us. And we can only receive his love through faith in Christ Jesus, who was obedient on our behalf. It is through the obedience of faith that we are rescued from the oppression of Satan. And it is through walking in faith in Christ Jesus that we trample Satan under our feet. Amen.

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Lead Us Not into Temptation

3/2/2020

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James Tissot, Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness, 1886-94, MetMuseum.org, Public Domain

Invocavit (Lent 1)
Gen. 3:1-21; Matthew 4:1-11
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 1, 2020

And Lead us not into temptation.
What does this mean?
God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.

Jesus teaches us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer that our heavenly Father would lead us out of temptation. This is an important petition. We must not think that temptation is no big deal or that because we have the forgiveness of sins that it doesn’t matter whether we fall into temptation. Temptation leads to false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. It was falling for temptation by our first parents that plunged our human race into sin and death. The Apostle warns, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13) And so it behooves us to pray to God for aid against temptation, so that we do not fall into a worse condition than we were in before we had Jesus.
God tempts no one. The tempter himself is Satan. In our Old Testament and Gospel lessons we heard how Satan tempted our first parents and won and how this same Satan tempted our Lord Jesus and failed. Jesus then became the perfect high priest, being tempted like us in every way, except without sin (Heb. 4:15). These were two very different outcomes, yet the old tempter didn’t change his technique. In both cases, Satan did what he always does. He lied.
“Did God really say...”, the serpent asked. He knew full well what God had said, yet, you’ll notice that he does not ask if God said what he actually said. He doesn’t ask if God really said that they were forbidden to eat of the tree that was in the midst of the garden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Rather, he asked whether God forbad them from eating from any of the trees. He tricked Eve into engaging with him, but she was unprepared. The lies kept spewing from the liar’s mouth until Eve and her husband forgot the command of the Lord.
Likewise, Satan lied to Jesus every step of the way. Yet, Jesus did not consider the devil’s lies. He didn’t weigh them against sound reason. Rather, he responded with the holy Scriptures, the Word of God, which St. Paul calls the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). Of course, Jesus did not need to quote Scripture and say what was written. Jesus is the incarnate Word Himself, the Son of God. He certainly could have driven Satan off immediately. Yet, Jesus purposefully used a weapon that each of us has at our disposal in order to teach us how to fight against Satan.
In the first temptation Satan attacks the Third Commandment, which teaches us to fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching and God’s word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Again, Satan is sly. He tells Jesus to prove that he is the Son of God by turning stones into bread. Jesus is hungry. He hasn’t eaten in forty days. And he certainly has the power to turn stones to bread or even raise up children for Abraham. Yet, Jesus knows that he does not prove himself to be the Son of God by satisfying his bodily hunger, but by doing the will of his Father, who sent him.
This teaches us that there is nothing more important than hearing and learning the Word of God. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This isn’t hyperbole. You need to hear God’s Word more than you need to eat. In the Lord’s Prayer, we are taught to pray six petitions that have to do with our spiritual needs. Yet, we are taught only to pray one petition that concerns all our needs of the body. Yet, we think our bodily needs are more important. Satan frequently and with much success tempts Christians to consider their jobs, investments, property, and all other stuff more than hearing, learning, and conforming to the Word of God! It is God’s Word that gives us faith in Christ. God’s Word gives us the Holy Spirit. God’s Word gives us eternal life. Yet, we seek after bread, which perishes.
In the second temptation the Liar attacks the Second Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” Satan in this temptation uses the Word of God. Yet, he misuses it. He perverts it, cutting it up and putting it back together. God indeed promises the protection of angels, but Satan leaves out the phrase, “to guard you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:11) Satan means for Jesus to put God to the test, which Scripture clearly forbids (Deut. 6:16).
Satan uses such a trick on us today. Then he tempted Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple. Now he tempts us to thrust ourselves into licentious sins. To behave licentiously means to behave unrestrained by the law, as if you have a license to sin. Satan misuses the Gospel itself, the greatest Word from God, to persuade Christians into un-Christian behavior. Scripture teaches us that we are saved by God’s grace apart from our works. And because Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, God’s grace will never run out. Where sins increase, so grace abounds all the more (Romans 5:20-21). And what does the tempter do with this beautiful Gospel message? He asks, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” Even more, he asserts this! He convinces Christians that their sins cannot harm them, so long as they have a superficial knowledge of Christ. And he encourages Christians to continue in fornication, adultery, drunkenness, rivalry, slander, hatred, and any sin under the sun, with the false promise of rescue you from your sins even if you do not repent. “Cast yourself down into the abyss of sin! Don’t hold back! He’ll command his angels!” Yet, such reckless behavior would be to put God to the test. Christians must fight temptation and repent of their sins daily.
The tempters final test attacks the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods.” This seems like a wild attempt of a desperate fool. Who would bow down to Satan? Yet, imagine all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. Such a vision would certainly instill awe and wonder in any of us. And how quickly people turn from worshiping God in order to gain even the smallest portion of this world’s wealth.
We truly behave like addicts. The addict chases a temporary pleasant feeling and keeps running back to it over and over again until he is left empty, broken, with ruined relationships, no job, and utterly unsatisfied. And then the addict continues to chase after that drug that ruined his life in the first place. And this is how we behave as we strive after earthly treasures that moth and rust destroy and thieves break in to steal. It is as Paul Gerhardt wrote in his hymn, “What is all this life possesses?/ But a hand Full of Sand/ That the heart distresses.” And so, we need to learn to turn from the lies of earthly riches and bow down only to the true God in heaven.
Jesus did a good job countering all the devil’s attacks. He effectively used the Holy Scriptures to foil the tempters power. Yet, as you’ve no doubt picked up, Jesus is a lot better at this than we are! He went three for three! How many times has the devil scored on you since you’ve woken up this morning? Indeed, it would be a sad and tragic case if Jesus came to earth and strove with Satan simply to show us how it’s done.
Although, we Christians try to use God’s Word to resist temptation and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are indeed successful against Satan, we do not always stand victorious. We let our guard down. We fall for his tricks. We behave like soldiers putting down their shields and taking off their armor in the middle of the battlefield, oblivious to the myriad of arrows zinging around us. We underestimate the danger of temptation. But remember, Satan is like a snake. If he can fit his head in, he can fit his entire body in as well. If you give the devil an inch, your treacherous heart may betray you and give him a mile.
And then the devil enters into the next stage of his attack. He accuses. Yes, the same miserable being that tricked you into sinning against your God then accuses you of sin and he tells you that you cannot be saved by grace. You’ve soiled it. You must make atonement for your sins. Or perhaps, even despair.
Yet, Jesus did not strive in the wilderness with Satan for his own sake. And he didn’t do it simply to give us an example to follow. Rather, our Lord who so successfully used Scripture to battle Satan fulfilled Scripture itself; a portion of Scripture Satan knew quite well, because it was to him that these words were first spoken:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
Jesus Christ himself is the seed of the woman, born of the Virgin Mary. He has come to bruise the head of Satan and win a total victory. Jesus defeats Satan by his perfect obedience to God the Father. Jesus withstands the temptations of the devil in our place. He is the only human being who has never sinned. And Jesus suffered the price for our sins. That is what God meant when he said that Satan would bruise Christ’s heal. Jesus was indeed crucified after Satan enticed Judas to betray him and the chief priests to cry for his blood. Yet, Jesus’ wound was only temporary. After making full atonement for all sins he was raised from the dead. Jesus’ wound has healed. He is victorious over Satan. Satan’s wound will never heal. He is judged.
Jesus said “Begone, Satan.” and Satan departed. We too have the authority to say those powerful words. After Adam and Eve failed to cover up their sins with fig leaves and got expelled from the Garden of Eden, God clothed them with the skin of an animal. You must slaughter an animal to take its skin. This foreshadowed the work Christ would do for us. Jesus offered himself up as a blameless sacrifice in order to clothe us with his righteousness. Scripture says, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:26-27)
Through faith in Christ Jesus we share in Christ’s victory. The evil foe, who has no equal on this earth is no match to us. Christ Jesus has given us a little word that can fell him. We are baptized into Christ the victor. Christ Jesus has washed away our sins. We are forgiven. Satan cannot harm us. Amen.

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Invocavit (Lent 1): Good Overcomes Evil

3/11/2019

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Matthew 4:1-11

There is both good and evil in the world. Which do you think is greater? Many by observing history determine that there is more evil than good in the world. One would think that the Second World War, which caused the death of over 60 million people yet saw to the collapse of perhaps the most evil, murderous governments in human history, would have put an end to mass murders. Yet, in the decades since nations from around the world have attempted genocides and performed mass murders on their people. Even in our country there is a silent mass killing of the unborn which has reached over 60 million victims since 1973. It certainly has become apparent that when evil is overcome in one place it pops up in another.
Evil is ubiquitous; it is everywhere. We see it even in our own hearts, as Jesus himself tells us. So, it appears that evil is greater than good and ultimately evil will triumph over good. Yet, in our Gospel lesson we learn the exact opposite. Good triumphs over evil. Christ Jesus is God. He is the source of all good. Satan is evil. He is the source of all wickedness. Satan tries to defeat Jesus by tempting him into sin, but Jesus overcomes Satan by withstanding temptation.
Jesus’ victory over Satan is significant for us in two ways. First and most importantly, Jesus is victorious in our stead. He is our substitute. God credits Jesus’ obedience as ours. Second, Jesus overcomes Satan’s temptations as our example. We learn from Jesus how to overcome temptation in our own day-to-day lives.
Jesus is our substitute. You must understand this if you are to understand that you are saved by grace. Many believe that when God saves by grace, he simply overlooks sin. If someone is confronted with breaking one of God’s commandments the response is often, “But God loves everyone.” or “Jesus says, don’t judge.” or “Everyone’s a sinner.” Yet, that God saves by grace does not mean that God simply overlooks sin or doesn’t care about sin. God is a righteous God. He hates sin and punishes it. Good must triumph over evil, not simply ignore it. Rather, that God saves by grace means that God saves us through Jesus apart from our works. Grace means that God saves us apart from our works, but not apart from Jesus’ works.
What does it mean that God saves us through Jesus? It means that Jesus fulfills all righteousness through his own obedience, so that we might be saved through faith. Sin is disobedience to God. We are disobedient to God. Jesus is obedient to God and God credits Jesus’ obedience to us through faith. We are sinners because our first father Adam was disobedient to God’s command. Christ comes to undo the sin of Adam through his own obedience, as St. Paul writes in Romans 5, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (vs. 19) God looks at you favorably, because of Jesus’ obedience.
Jesus’ obedience is divided into two parts: his active obedience and his passive obedience. Jesus’ active obedience is where he fulfills the obligations of the Law in our place. St. Paul speaks of this in Galatians 4, “But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (vss. 4-5) Jesus Christ, in human flesh, does what no human being from Adam to this generation, has been able to do; he obeys God’s law perfectly. He does not do this for his own sake, but for ours. God credits this active obedience to us by grace.
Christ’s passive obedience is his willing suffering and death for our sins. St. Paul speaks of this passive obedience in Galatians 3, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” (vs. 13) and again, in Philippians 2, “And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.” (vs. 8) This passive obedience is usually what we think of when we think of Jesus as our substitute. He suffered in our place. Yet, it is both his active and his passive obedience which saves us. If Christ had not been actively obedient in fulfilling the commands of God’s law, his passive obedience in suffering for our sins would not rescue us. Jesus needed to be perfect for his passion to save us. Christ redeems us with a great exchange: he exchanges his perfect obedience for our sin and the punishment we rightly deserve he bears on the cross and gives us full remission of sins and eternal life.
Christ’s victory when tempted was essential to his victory over the grave. And the ramifications for us cannot be overstated. In this episode we see a battle between the two greatest extremes: the greatest Good verses the greatest Evil. The victory of the Allied powers over the Axis of Evil is nothing in comparison. And what is truly remarkable is that Jesus does this in human flesh. He is our David, who slays our Goliath.
In each of Jesus’ three temptations from the devil, he does as a human what we humans fail to do. Yet, he endures temptation just like the rest of mankind and he overcomes the same temptations, which fell Adam and Eve, the children of Israel, and you and me. And he does this by using the same tool that is available to us: the word of God. This is how the author to the Hebrews is able to write, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
In the first temptation, Satan attempts to make Jesus commit the same sin he lured Adam and Eve to commit on that dreadful day. Turning stones into bread is eating the forbidden fruit, because it is doubting that God will provide for the body while neglecting God’s Word. God gave Adam and Eve more than enough food to satisfy their bodies, but Satan convinced them to be dissatisfied with what God had given them. The desire to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was an accusation that God withheld something good from them. Satan tempts us into this same sin today. He drives us to break the Third Commandment by despising God’s preaching and word, because we think God will let us starve or lose our house if we worship him instead of working. But Jesus, who hasn’t eaten in 40 days still trusts that God will provide for his body. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Thus, it is written for us as well.
And so, the swing which fell our first parents, and which caused the children of Israel to grumble in the wilderness, and which leaves churches sparsely filled throughout the land, failed to fell Jesus, our champion.
In the second temptation Satan broke the Second Commandment by misusing God’s Word. He quoted Psalm 91, which we recited in our Gradual. Yet, Satan leaves out a very important line, so as to mislead Jesus. The text goes like this, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” (v. 11). Yet Satan takes out the line, “to keep you in all your ways” and thus totally changes the meaning of the text. The verse is meant to encourage you with the promise of guardian angels to keep you in the true way. Satan changes it into some warped prosperity Gospel, which promises the service of angels for your any whim.
And this is what Satan does today. He lures people, who are altogether too willing to be lured, to omit parts of Scripture that makes them uncomfortable. So, we have Christians who love to talk about how gracious and loving God is, but they deny the need for repentance, remorse over sin, or amendment of life. Yet, you cannot receive forgiveness of sins unless you repent of your sins. Just last month the United Methodist Church, America’s third largest “faith group” in the United States voted by a narrow 53% majority to maintain the church’s opposition to same-sex “marriage” and openly-practicing homosexual clergy. This means that nearly half of the delegates for that church body reject what the Bible teaches about homosexuality.
The Bible is clear that such behavior is sinful and that those who practice it will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). And this is not just an outdated teaching of a bigoted St. Paul, who had never met a homosexual. Rather, St. Paul ministered to such sinners, confronted them with their sin, brought them to repentance, and comforted them with the sweet gospel of free forgiveness for Christ’s sake, as he himself writes after condemning homosexual activity, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)
Our church’s stance on homosexuality or fornication or any other now socially accepted sin is based solely on the Word of God, which our Lord Jesus teaches us to hold fast to when assaulted by the devil. The rejection of what the Bible teaches against sexual immorality shows an overall rejection of what the Bible teaches against sin as a whole. We are all sinners. And we all need to repent of all our sins, whatever our personal sins might be. Scripture is very clear that if you do not repent of your sins you cannot be saved. It is a lie of the same devil, who tempted our Lord Jesus in the wilderness, that we don’t need to turn from our sins and ask for forgiveness. Rather, God teaches us in Scripture that we must daily repent of our sinful desires and receive forgiveness for Christ’s sake. Picking and choosing what you want to believe from the Bible is putting God to the test, but trusting in God’s Word even when it is difficult will lead you out of temptation.
The final temptation might seem like the easiest one to resist. Who would bow down and worship Satan? Yet, Satan succeeds in this temptation most frequently. Because, whenever you fear, love, or trust in anything other than God, you are bowing down and worshiping a false god. False gods can be money, possessions, power, sex, sports, even your spouse or children. And behind every false god is a boastful Satan. Satan caused Adam and Eve to worship themselves instead of God in the Garden. He led the children of Israel to bow down to every god in heaven, earth and sea, made of stone, metal, and wood. And our generation is no better as people labor for the most unsatisfying gods imaginable. Yet, Jesus teaches us the most important commandment, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
Jesus loves the Lord God with all his heart, soul, and mind. He worships him perfectly. He is the only human being, who has ever done this. All of us have fallen short. Yet, through faith in Jesus God credits Jesus’ perfect obedience to us. Through your faith in Jesus Christ, God is pleased with you on account of Jesus’ obedience.
Yet, faith in Christ not only credits you with Jesus’ obedience like a transfer from one bank account to another. Faith in Christ changes you from a slave to your sinful desires to a child of God. As a child of God, you desire to imitate Christ, because you hate the evil, which Christ overcame for you. In Christ’s temptation you not only see the obedience, which saved you from hell. You also see Jesus demonstrate the weapon God has given you to overcome the devil every day. That weapon is the word of God, which reveals to you your Savior Jesus and guides you in the way of the LORD.
Christ Jesus overcame the greatest evil in the universe through his perfect obedience through life and his willing death for the sake of sinners. Good overcame evil. And through faith in Christ, God overcomes evil in you. Not only does he forgive the evil you have done, but he thwarts the plans of Satan through you. Let us ever walk with Jesus, so that we might trample Satan under our feet every day. Amen.

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Invocavit (Lent 1): Christ our Victor

2/19/2018

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Matthew 4:1-11

February 18, 2018

"Do you renounce the devil? Do you renounce all his works? Do you renounce all his ways?" These three questions have been asked of baptismal candidates at Baptism since ancient days. And for good reason. We are baptized into Jesus' Baptism. Immediately after Jesus was baptized at the end of chapter three in Matthew's Gospel he is led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And so, we too, after being washed in Jesus' Baptism enter into battle with Satan.

Considering our track record and how our first parents so miserably failed in their first encounter with Satan, this probably seems like a daunting task. As Martin Luther describes the old evil foe in his hymn, "A Mighty Fortress," "on earth is not his equal." And so, how can we possibly be a match for this enemy we have renounced?

To find some comfort and hope we should look to a Bible story, which should be well known to all of you. Goliath of Gath was a Philistine warrior, who stood over nine feet tall! He stood between the Philistine and Israelite armies and proposed a wager. Set any Israelite soldier against him, and if the Israelite could kill Goliath, all the Philistine army would be their servants. But if Goliath killed the Israelite, then the Israelite army would be the Philistines' servants. Goliath was terrifying. And the stakes of his wager were incredibly high. So, the Israelite army remained in their camp afraid.

Yet, a young shepherd boy named David came. He did not arm himself with mail or even carry a sword. Rather, David came to slay the Philistine in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. And he did. God guided the stone from his sling right into the Philistine's forehead and Goliath fell dead. And David took Goliath's sword and cut off his head. The Philistine army fled as the Israelite army recovered from their terror and chased after them and plundered their camp.

Shortly after Satan deceived Eve and led Adam into sin, God put an end to Satan's notion that he would continue to win the victory over Adam and Eve's children. God made a promise, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal." (Gen. 3:15) This was the first promise God made that Christ would be born of a woman to fight our battle against Satan. It is as Luther wrote in that same hymn,

With might of ours can naught be done,
Soon were our loss effected;
But for us fights the valiant One,
Whom God Himself elected.
Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is,
Of Sabaoth Lord, And there's none other God;
He holds the field forever.

Jesus Christ is our shepherd boy, who goes and fights Goliath for us as we cower on the sidelines. Luther rightly says of him, "There is none other God," yet, this Jesus Christ is also true man. He became a human being, the offspring of Eve, so that he could fight Satan in our place. As St. Paul writes, "But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5) God is not under the law. But he became under the law in human flesh in order to battle Satan for us.

And so, after Jesus' Baptism the Spirit leads him out to the battle field to fight Satan. Yes, Jesus finally defeats Satan and crushes his head when he dies on the cross, but unless Jesus wins this battle against temptation, then the battle on the cross is lost before it begins. You need to know how important this temptation of Jesus is and how necessary it is for us that he wins. The stakes are too high for him to lose. If Satan wins and Jesus sins, then we all become servants of Satan and his angels forever. Yet, if Jesus wins, Satan and his demons become our servants.

Jesus won. Although Satan used his finest cunning and thousands of years of expertise to draw Jesus into sin, taking advantage of physical weakness, twisting God's Word, and offering great riches, Jesus defeated Satan.

Now, I have a question for you. When Goliath fell dead and David hewed off his head, did the Israelite army run away and hide? Did they surrender to the Philistine army? No! They chased the Philistines down like dogs hunting a fox and they plundered their goods! Now you have witnessed your champion Jesus make minced meat out of Satan. Should you now surrender yourself to this evil foe? No! Christ has given you the victory! When he wins, you win!
Satan doesn't only tempt you to sin. He also accuses you of sin. He's an insidious little creep. Not only does he try to get you to break God's commandments, but then he accuses you of being a law-breaker in hopes that you will despair of God's love for you. But in Christ's victory over Satan, you have a retort against the devil. "God has put on my flesh and blood and defeated you on my behalf, Satan! And in Baptism I have put on Christ! You can't accuse me, because I have a champion in heaven, who gives me victory over you!"

This must be the primary message you get from the temptation of Jesus. Jesus defeated Satan and gives you the victory. Now, his journey to the cross should make more sense. The sinless Son of God gives us the victory over Satan, and then he takes on our sins and goes to the cross to die for them. He can't die for his own sins, he has none, Satan failed to deceive him. He dies for your sins. Jesus can crush the head of Satan on the cross, because he defeated the tempter in the wilderness. And Jesus gives you the victory of both these battles.

Yet, the fact remains that we baptized victors in Christ must still walk through this world with an angry devil, who will try to lead you astray and destroy your faith, so that you lose your victory. As we sing,

I walk in danger all the way. The thought shall never leave me
That Satan, who has marked his prey, Is plotting to deceive me.
This foe with hidden snares
May seize me unawares
If ever I fail to watch and pray.
I walk in danger all the way.

And so, Jesus' victory over Satan not only assures you that he has won in your place. But it also gives you an example to follow to defeat Satan. You have put on Christ in your Baptism and through faith. This means that you are righteous before God. Yet, this also means that Christ gives you strength to battle Satan with his Holy Spirit.

In the first temptation, Satan tries to get Jesus to despair of God's goodness and trust in himself. Jesus is hungry after fasting forty days. "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread." Surely Jesus could have done this, but Satan is trying to get Jesus to doubt God's providence. So, Jesus responds, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" And so, Jesus teaches you what is most important even as you are tempted by Satan. How often does Satan turn your attention away from God's Word to focus on your belly or your bank account, as if God doesn't know how much a loaf of bread costs? And do you place your trust in God or do you neglect hearing God's Word and prayer, so that you can take care of yourself and your wants as if God won't take care of you? Let this be ever on your tongue, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." God will take care of you. He knows your needs. And he says that you need his word more than food, drink, house, home, money, goods, etc.

Next, Satan twists God's Word. He tells Jesus to test God by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple and he sites Psalm 91, "He will command his angels concerning you... and... On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone." Now, if you were paying attention to the Gradual this morning you would notice that Satan left out an important phrase, "To guard you in all your ways." The angels are sent to guard us in the ways God has sent us. This means according to God's Word. If God doesn't promise it, then don't hold God to that promise. Jesus responds to Satan with clear Scripture, "It is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."

Satan knows Scripture and he will gladly misuse it. And you have all heard Scripture be misused. False preachers misapply God's word all the time to get people to believe things that God never actually said. Jesus says, "Don't Judge," so false teachers conclude that God is okay will all kinds of sins and no one needs to repent. Scripture says, "God is love," So, false teachers distort the word love to mean accepting sexual perversion. Scripture demands that you follow God's Law perfectly and that those who break God's Law will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So, false teachers say that you cannot be saved through faith alone or trust in the forgiveness of sins, but you must follow God's law perfectly or you will go to hell. False teachers come in many shapes and sizes, but they always distort God's word to say what it doesn't actually say. So, learn from Jesus. Take the clear passages to defend against distorted Scripture.

Satan tried to use riches to get Jesus to fall. It didn't work. Jesus again uses God's Word, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." And he sends Satan away. This again should be on our lips and on our heart every day. There are many false gods to seek after: money, power, sex, drugs, popularity. And Satan knows them all by name. All of us must be reminded every day that God is God and we are here on earth to serve him.

"It is written," Jesus said three times to Satan. That's quite remarkable. Jesus is God. You'd think that he would simply smash Satan's face with lightning or something like that. But Jesus isn't beneath using the written Word of God as his weapon. And neither should you be. Jesus used God's Word to defeat Satan and he teaches you to do the same.

Imagine that a great knight, who had fought and won many battles, gave his battle sword to a peasant boy. Do you think that boy would treasure that sword highly? Or for a more contemporary example, if your father or grandfather were to give you his rifle that he used to fight Nazis in World War II, would you toss it in your garage to rust away? Of course, you wouldn't. You'd prize it, keep it clean, and put it in a place of honor. Well, Jesus gives you a much more valuable and useful weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17) And Jesus doesn't just give it to you to put in a trophy case. Jesus tells you to use it. And he promises that it will work well, just as it worked well for him.

God's Word is a powerful weapon to aid against temptation. Jesus has demonstrated this to us. And even more, God's Word is a powerful defense for your faith. Satan's ultimate goal is for you to doubt the forgiveness of sins won by Christ for you. He wants you to doubt God's love and think that there is something lacking in you that God cannot fill. But God's Word again gives you confidence. Your baptism joins you to your victor Jesus. Jesus has won the battle in the wilderness and the battle on the cross for you. And he gives you victory even over your grave. You have received the same Holy Spirit as Jesus. And just as Scripture promises the protection of angels to Christ, so do you have the same host of angels protecting you. When Satan attacks your faith in Christ and God's Love for you, you can respond, "It is written, 'God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'" (1 Corinthians 15:56) Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

Striving with Satan

Enmity with the Devil

Lead Us Not into Temptation

Invocavit (Lent 1): Good Overcomes Evil

Invocavit (Lent 1): Christ our Victor

Rev. James Preus

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