Sermon - Invocavit 2020 - Matthew 4:1-11

“Facing” or “overcoming” or “fighting your demons,” is an idiom we use with some frequency. Generally by this idiom we simply mean dealing with the issues we face personally on a daily basis. It could mean dealing with repressed emotions or figuring out how to deal with your spouse or your boss. Thus when we commonly use this phrase, we don’t actually mean it literally as if there are demons to fight, it’s more figurative than anything.

However, in all actuality, there are literal demons that we must face on a daily basis! The devil is real. Demons exist. They all really and truly fight against us in our real lives every day. The demons we face aren’t just repressed emotions or our projects we’re working on or other people in our lives. “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.”

We are fighting against real demons and the battle is taking place over your heart and in your heart. The battle we’re fighting isn’t fought with swords and guns, it’s fought with temptations and words. We can’t just fight this battle on our own, because to attempt such a foolish thing would be our demise. Rather, overcoming our demons begins and ends with Christ.

We saw what happens when man tries to fight against the devil on his or her own in Genesis 3. “Eve took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” The fruits of them eating that fruit are made quite clear in the words of God: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”The fruits of fighting the battle on our own against Satan is only death.

The ashes wiped on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday remind us of that difficult to swallow truth. So if you think that you’re gonna give it a go at life all on your own and overcome your demons by your own intuition, the outcome isn’t gonna be good. Therefore, as you head out into the battle that’s raging around you, don’t set yourself up for failure, rather be armed with the proper weapons and stand behind your champion who leads you into victory. 

Immediately after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by John, He “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil… And the tempter came and said to Him, ‘If you are the Son of God…” do this. The battle that we are engaged in against Satan is fought with words, thoughts, and desires. Satan fights you by tempting you! Jesus says “Temptations to sin are sure to come!” 

Satan tempted Jesus with mammon, presumption, and apostasy. Satan played off of Jesus’ hunger and wanted Him to make His belly His god, tempted Him with food. Satan fights against us and tempts us with food, money, glory, luxury, stuff. Have it all, Satan says!

Satan tempted Jesus to make a spectacle, a show, to throw Himself down off the temple and make the angels save Him. Satan tempted Jesus to be presumptuous and put God to the test where He hasn’t made any clear and certain promises. Satan fights against us by tempting us to be presumptuous, to behave foolishly and wickedly and just presume that God will rescue us after we defiantly do the opposite of what God has commanded of us.

Satan tempts Jesus to apostatize, to cease worshipping the true God and rather worship Satan in return for worldly glory. Satan fights against us by tempting us to fall away from the faith, to apostatize, to worship him instead of the Lord. He promises us all sorts of worldly glory! Kingdoms, riches, houses, money, status, popularity, if only you stop bowing down to God and instead bow down to anything else. 

Our hero Jesus from the very beginning of His earthly ministry faced these temptations, faced our demons and made them His demons, and He won! Jesus struck the winning blow to this skirmish and said “Be gone, Satan!” He cast him out and away! Jesus won this battle solely relying upon the Word. Every time Satan jabbed at Him with a temptation, Jesus responded with the Word of God.

Jesus took up the Spiritus Gladius, the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, that two-edged sword sharper than any other sword, and fought the battle against Satan and won. It is with the same weapon, the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, that we fight against the tempter and win! Take heart, dear Christians, you have been armed with that great weapon and you’re being prepared and built up to go to war and win.

The devil is fighting against you daily, every moment of every day the demon’s fiery darts are aimed directly at your heart wanting to win you over for Satan. Every day temptations are sure to come. Everyday you must fight and overcome your demons. But because you have the Word of God, you have what it takes to win the battle and not lose against his temptations! Your victory is certain!

Why is your victory assured? Because Jesus has already won the whole battle. Not just every skirmish, but the whole war has been won by Jesus already! At the beginning of His earthly ministry Satan tempted Him saying, “If you are the Son of God…” And again, at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as He hung on the cross, Satan tempted Him saying, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” The first time “the devil left Him.” But the second time, at the end of the war, Jesus cried out with one word: tetelestai! “It is finished!” With one word, Jesus crushed Satan’s head beneath His feet and destroyed our ancient enemy in one final blow.

The battle is over, the victory won! By the power of the Word of God, Satan, sin, and death have been destroyed and Christ, joy, and life have been brought to us. “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Christ has already won the victory on your behalf! It’s done! It’s finished!

All that yet remains is every little skirmish in every Christian’s life. Just like Christ, we’ve all been baptized and now under the power of the Spirit, we’re living out our days in the wilderness. On account of Adam and Eve’s sin, we’re left naked and exposed to our enemy’s attacks. Like Jesus, we’re starved and weak, easy prey for our enemy. Like St. Paul says of us, we’re servants of God who must endure “afflictions, hardships, calamites, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger.” But behold, in spite of our frailty and weakness, even though we’re dying, “behold, we live!”

Our weakness is Christ’s strength. Even though it might seem as though we have no hope against the evil one in the skirmishes we face, we need not fear. Just as “angels came and were ministering to Him” so does our dear Father in heaven send His angels to us to minister to us and strengthen us for the fight.

Our weakness is nothing to fret. Christ became one who was weaker and more frail, He became one from whom men hide their faces, He died upon the tree in the greatest act of weakness. In His weakness He was strong and He defeated Satan on your behalf. Even though we are weak and frail, with no hope of winning even a skirmish on our own, our Hero goes before us and fights and wins. 

“God’s word forever shall abide, no thanks to foes, who fear it; for God Himself fights by our side with weapons of the Spirit. Were they to take our house, goods, honor, child, or spouse, though life be wrenched away, they cannot win the day. The kingdom’s ours forever!”