Proper 5B (Pentecost 3 2024)

Text: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.” Mark 3:23-27

Jesus said, “A house that is divided against itself will not stand.” Abraham Lincoln spoke that line to say that the ‘house’ of our nation could not stand if it continued as it was: divided against itself on the issue of slavery. In other words he was making the appeal: “We cannot continue to be divided if we hope to stand.” For as well as President Lincoln knew scripture, he was using this line with a different meaning than Jesus had. Jesus was assuring them: “Don’t think for a moment that the Devil’s house is divided. If it were, then there’s no way that it could stand.” He’s making it clear that they aren’t just wrong, they couldn’t be more wrong! The devil’s kingdom is, in fact, united and strong.

In fact, that’s the very reason why they oppose Jesus.

Now, the whole topic of demons and possession requires a lot more time to discuss. It is most certainly real. There are demons being cast out regularly in churches around the world. If you’d really like to know more, the best resource I can point you to is a book, “I Am Not Afraid,” by Pastor Bob Bennett, who actually served down at Trinity, Reese, until a few years ago. The bottom line— and this is true for those of Jesus’ day and for us now— is that we really do not take the devil seriously enough.

I still remember, years ago now, visiting one of the concentration camps in Austria. Among the things they have preserved there so that we “never forget” is a line that was reportedly spoken by one of the soldiers who liberated the camp: “I’m still not sure if I believe in God. But, from what I’ve seen, I don’t have any doubts about the devil.”

Do we need to list the evidence that is all around you which points to the conclusion that the devil is real? Do we need to review the evidence— not only horrific acts carried out on a national scale, but the countless lives that have been destroyed in a million different ways? If you ever think about the spiritual warfare that rages around you, we probably envision ourselves as neutral parties who are, at worst, innocent bystanders who are caught in the middle.

Not only are we wrong, we really couldn’t be more wrong.

It’s no secret that God and His church have enemies. The list of opponents of the church seems to be long, diverse, and growing. The church, itself, seems increasingly fragmented and weak. But it goes deeper. Sin, itself, puts you under the devil’s power from the very moment you were conceived.

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they and all of their descendants were set with Satan and against God. That’s why they hid when God later came into the garden. They knew, instinctually, that God was now their enemy.

“Everyone who sins is a slave to sin,” Jesus warned on another occasion. The devil is called the “Prince of this World” for good reason. You and I delivered it over to him by your sin— your rebellion against God— not just once, at a tree in a garden thousands of years ago, but every day we continue to give it over to him. You and I are not neutral parties, bunkered down in our houses, just trying to live our lives while a spiritual battle rages around us. We were firmly bound in the devil’s house.

You’ve heard the words in the baptismal liturgy a number of times, just since I’ve been here: “The Word of God also teaches that we are all conceived and born sinful and are under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His own. We would be lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation.”

That’s why God’s statement to the serpent is such good news. “I will put enmity between you and the woman.” Because, from that moment on, they and all of their descendants— all the way down to you and me— are firmly bound within the devil’s house. But God would not allow that ‘peace’ to stand.

What they were witnessing as Jesus cast out demons was not the devil’s house divided. It was the exact and complete opposite. Jesus is the Promised One from Genesis 3. He is the One who would restore emnity between the serpent and the offspring of Eve. It is a sign that the Promised One has come, He has bound the strong man, and is plundering his house. It is the return— the breaking in— of the Kingdom of God, as God breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh.

Jesus, Himself, is the Promised One who was willing to be bruised in order to crush the serpent’s head, just as He had promised to Adam & Eve. That is, of course, precisely what happened on the cross. By taking away sin, has removed Satan’s claim on us and has reconciled us to God. Sin was removed so that the sin that made us Satan’s and separates us from God no longer puts us under the devil’s power, no longer separates us from Him.

Yes, the devil’s house is, in fact, united and powerful, but God, Himself, has now built a house, with Christ Himself, as the chief cornerstone. He, the rock that the builders rejected, becomes the cornerstone of God’s house.

The Good News is that there is, now, enmity between you and Satan— Satan is no longer your master, he is, once again, your enemy! Your sin was paid for by Christ on the cross so that you could be gathered into His kingdom and set free.

Every time another person is brought to the waters of baptism, Jesus continues to plunder the devil’s house. He has plundered you from out of the devil’s power by claiming you as His own in baptism, writing His name upon your forehead and upon your heart.

That’s why we still sing the son of Zechariah with such joy: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Abraham, He has come to His people and redeemed them. He has raised up for us a mighty savior, born of the house of His servant David. Through His holy prophets He promised of old that He would save us from our enemies, from the hands of those who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant. This was the oath He swore to our Father Abraham: to set us free from our enemies. Free to worship Him without fear, holy and righteous in His sight all the days of our lives.”

Because you rarely take the devil seriously enough, you rarely take your freedom seriously enough. You are not neutral parties wandering through this world, simply trying to live your lives in the middle of a spiritual battlefield. In Christ you have been set free from your enemies— freed from the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh.

Not only has God reestablished His kingdom—not only has He built His own ‘house’— here in this world, “4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5).

Even now God’s will is being done in you as He beats down Satan under your feet, as He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh, which do not want us to {teach His word in its truth and purity and lead holy lives according to it}, and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His word and faith until we die.

Consider what Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller recently said in a discussion of the book of Job: It all started, he points out, when God bragged about Job to Satan. God said, “Hey, look at Job, I’ve got Job. He’s mine, he belongs to me. He’s my Christian.” And He uses… Job to mock and taunt the devil. The Lord continues to do the same thing with His Christians. He uses His Christians to mock the devil. And we have this in Romans chapter 16[:20], where Paul says that, even now, the Lord is putting the devil under *our* feet! …The devil is under His feet already, Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus, He’s crushed the devil under His foot, but now Jesus is ruling and reigning and putting the devil even under *our* feet and using *our* feet to crush his head. That’s what He’s doing here in the book of Job—taunting the devil with His Christian” (Issues, Etc., episode 1553, “Introducing the Books of the Bible: Job” with Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller, June 4, 2018, approx. 20:00 – 22:00).

And that is what He does in your life, too. Think about it: What is the devil’s greatest tool? What is the greatest weapon that he wields? Death. He has all sorts of tools, all sorts of temptations at His disposal, so many different ways that he tries to deceive and mislead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. But the greatest weapon that he wields is the curse of death that he put Adam and Eve and all of their children under. But your Savior has defeated death by rising from the dead. By faith, you are able to stand at the grave of a loved one and speak of victory. You lay down to bed each night in the knowledge that you sleep more soundly in your bed than you will in your grave— because, unlike your alarm clock this morning that you ‘snoozed’, there will be no ‘snoozing’ when the trumpet sounds and the dead are raised imperishable and you shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52). On that day, the devil will be crushed fully and finally. All his might will have come unravelled as He is forced to see the mass of humanity that he worked so hard to bring under the curse of sin and death standing before God once again, imperishable, undefiled, unfading (1 Peter 1:4) through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:23). Satan’s humiliation will be complete as you reach out your hand a take from the fruit of the tree of life and eat, because “3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it.” You will not need to hide yourself. “4 [You] will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:3–5).

The scribes could not have been more wrong about Jesus and about what was going on as He cast out demons because they vastly underrated both the power of the old, evil foe, and the power of their savior. They just could not have been more— blessedly!— wrong about Him.

Don’t miss what He did then as He was bruised in order to crush the serpent’s head for you. Don’t miss what He is still doing for you and through you as He helps you to stand firm against every assault of Satan, and enables us always to both confess and believe God’s Word truly and purely and yes, even using your feet to crush Satan’s head by enabling you to lead a holy life.

What a blessed way to be wrong.