The Third Sunday in Lent – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Luke 11:14-28

In Christ Jesus, who guards your heart from every one of Satan’s attacks, dear fellow redeemed:

The people were amazed! Jesus had just cast out a demon that was making a man mute, and now that man could speak! Jesus was not just another prophet; he was a prophet who had power, enough power to cast out demons! “Can this be the Son of David?” the people asked (Matthew 12:23). But not everyone was amazed. The scribes and the Pharisees rejected the idea that Jesus was the Son of David. So, when they heard the people asking this about him, they tried to come up with a way to discredit him. They couldn’t say that Jesus was faking it, because the miracles that he was doing were undeniable. So, they had to come up with another reason for why he could do what he did. And if they didn’t want to say that his power was coming from God, then that only left them with one other option. “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the price of demons,” they said. In their attempt to discredit Jesus, the scribes and the Pharisees had blasphemed him.

The scribes and the Pharisees may not have seen anything wrong with their accusation when they made it, but Jesus was easily able to poke holes in it. He said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” (verses 17–18). The demons were doing the work of Satan, work that Satan hoped would allow his kingdom to grow by adding more souls to it. If Jesus was in league with Satan, then having Jesus cast out his own demons would be self-destructive, and his kingdom would meet its end as a result.

If the coach of a sports team wanted his team to win the championship, then he would obviously want his team to win games. So, if the coach went to one of the rival teams and made a deal with them that every time their teams played each other, the rival team would win, you would think that the coach was crazy. After all, the coach could never hope to lead his team to a championship victory by losing. So, why would Satan do essentially the same thing?

The reality is that Satan is not welcoming attacks from Jesus; he is actively guarding against them. Jesus described Satan as a strong man who is trying to keep the goods in his palace safe, those goods being the hearts of every unbeliever. Satan wants every person to be a part of his kingdom. So, he guards their hearts with his full set of armor, which is every devilish trick that he has in his playbook.

You were once a part of Satan’s kingdom. From the moment that you were conceived, you were by nature sinful, which made you an enemy of God. Because of your sinful nature, you hated God and wanted to remain a part of Satan’s kingdom. And you saw being a part of the kingdom of God as foolishness. But God’s love was more powerful than your hate. He didn’t want you to remain his enemy. God wanted you to be a part of his kingdom. So, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus, to attack Satan’s kingdom and rescue you from it. Jesus did so by leaving his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, and coming down to Earth as a man. On Earth, Jesus challenged Satan on his own battlefield and won. Satan used every devilish trick that he had in his playbook, but none of them worked against Jesus. Satan thought that your heart was safe from Jesus because of his strength, but no matter how strong Satan was, Jesus was stronger. Jesus used his strength to “[attack] him and [overcome] him, [and to take] away his armor in which he trusted” (verse 22). And with Satan disarmed, Jesus cast Satan out of your heart.

Because Jesus has cast Satan out of your heart, you are like the people whom Jesus cast demons out of. You used to be possessed by Satan, and when you were, your heart was like a house that wasn’t taken care of: it was a big mess and was falling apart. The devil is the master of chaos. But after Jesus forced Satan out, the Holy Spirit moved in. Through the preaching of the Word and the administering of the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit changed your heart so that you no longer hated God but loved God. The Holy Spirit fixed up your heart so that it was no longer falling apart, and he cleaned it up so that it was presentable to God the Father. Now, when God the Father looks at your heart, all he sees is the new heart that Jesus won for you by his perfect life and his innocent death on the cross, a heart that now belongs to him.

But just because your heart now belongs to God does not mean that you can let your guard down. Even though Satan has lost the battle, the war is far from over, and he isn’t willing to give up on you yet. As the apostle Peter says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The apostle Paul also writes, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). When you are overly confident in yourself and think that you could never fall, like the scribes and the Pharisees thought of themselves, you leave yourself vulnerable to attacks from your enemy. Satan is constantly looking for an opportunity to strike at your heart and claim it for his own once again. He doesn’t want you to love God. He wants you to hate God and become his enemy again, and one of the ways that he tries to accomplish this is by convincing you to blaspheme God, like the scribes and the Pharisees did.

But we would never actually blaspheme God, right? We love God. We pray to him; worship him. We would never blaspheme him. So, we don’t need to worry about blasphemy. Unfortunately, it’s easier to blaspheme God than we may think. According to our Catechism, blasphemy is “[d]eliberate mockery, scorn, and disrespect” (Luther’s Small Catechism and Explanation, 275). There may be times when we are surrounded by people who are mocking God. In that moment, we might be tempted to laugh along with them so as not to cause any trouble for ourselves. That is deliberately mocking God. There may be times when we are going through a difficult time and God doesn’t seem to be listening to our prayers to deliver us from our suffering. In that moment, we might be tempted to become angry with God, which could lead us to deliberately scorning him. There may be times when we use God’s name to curse someone or something. That is deliberately disrespecting God’s name. It truly is all too easy for us to blaspheme God, and if we do, we are in danger of letting Satan back into our hearts.

Even though Satan is always waiting for the perfect moment to strike at your heart, you don’t need to fear him, because he already lost. You no longer belong to him. You belong to God. And because you belong to God, God is now the one who guards your heart by giving you his full armor. As the apostle Paul writes, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:11–13). With God’s help, you remain vigilant, so that you are always ready for an attack from Satan. And when Satan does attack you, you rely on the full armor that God has given you. That full armor is put to good use when you put your confidence and trust in Jesus who fights for you by continuously coming to you through his Word and Sacraments.

In the book of Hebrews, it says that the Word of God is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). And you know that the Word of God works against Satan, because Jesus used it to fend off Satan’s attacks when he was tempted by him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). But the Word is not just a weapon that God uses against Satan. God also uses his Word to comfort you. Through his Word, you hear that Jesus has delivered you from your enemies: sin, death, and the devil. Jesus put your sin to death with him on the cross. He defeated death by his resurrection from the dead. And because he has brought his blessings to you through his Word and Sacraments, the devil no longer has a hold on your heart. This means that you will not face eternal punishment in hell, for you are no longer a part of Satan’s kingdom. Rather, you will get to spend all eternity in heaven, for God has made you a part of his kingdom through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

In the waters of baptism, the filth of sin that stained your heart and marked you as a citizen of Satan’s kingdom was washed away. Your heart has been made clean. Through baptism, you have the comfort that your sins have been forgiven and that you are a child of God, an heir of his kingdom. But baptism is not the only Sacrament that God uses to bring you comfort. He also brings you comfort through the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

In Holy Communion, Jesus gives you his true body and blood in the bread and the wine. When you come to his table and eat his body and drink his blood, you receive the forgiveness of sins that he won for you by the shedding of his blood. And when you leave his table, you depart in peace, having the comfort of his forgiveness. Through the preaching of his Word and the administering of his Sacraments, God truly does guard your heart and fight your battles, giving you the comfort that you are safe with him.

Satan may be strong, but God is stronger. No matter how devastating the attacks that Satan throws at you are, they are no match for God’s defenses. You don’t need to fear the attacks of Satan, because God guards your heart, and no one, not even Satan, “is able to snatch [you] out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29).

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from “Exorcism” woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)