[Machine transcription]
In the name of Jesus, amen. Dear saints, our Lord Jesus wants us to know about the unseen reality that surrounds us, and that is the realm of the angels and the fallen angels. the realm of the devil and the demons. Now, he doesn’t want us to know a lot about it. It’s not as if the scriptures is simply a handbook in the geography and inner workings of all of these things. In fact, there’s a lot that we would like to know that the scriptures don’t reveal to us. But in our text today, the Lord Jesus gives us those things which he wants us to know. It’s especially occasioned by the fact that he was there casting out demons, marvelously. There’s a demon who was mute and causing the person that he was controlling to also be mute and Jesus casts him out. The people were marveling because normally, especially the Jewish exorcists of those days, the ones that Jesus is talking about when he says, by whom do your sons cast them out. They would normally engage in conversation with the demons, figure out the name of the demons, use all these things to send the demon away. And if the person couldn’t speak, then those Jewish exorcists were basically useless. But Jesus doesn’t care. I mean, he doesn’t need to hear from the demons. He just sends it packing. And all the people are marveling, wandering at the authority that the Lord Jesus has over the enemies of God and His word.
But it’s interesting that while they’re there wondering, a dispute arises. Some say, well, we need to see more signs. But maybe even particularly, some say, no, we don’t think that Jesus is casting out demons by his own authority, by the authority of the Lord’s word. We think that he’s casting them out by the power of the devil himself. He cast out demons by Beelzebul, that is, the Lord of the demons, the chief of the demons. so that they make this claim that Jesus is a fraud, that he’s using demonic power to demonstrate this strength. And Jesus is going to reply to that argument. I mean, that is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Luke will tell us. But Jesus is going to reply to that argument in a number of ways. Number one, he says, if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will testify against you. But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, which is the biblical way of talking about the Holy Spirit, then you know that the kingdom of God has come.
And then Jesus tells this parable. That’s a marvelous parable of the, it’s a one verse parable, the parable of the strong man. It’s in Mark and Luke and Matthew. And each time, and this is I think, so here’s an opinion of mine. This is just a Brian Wolfmuller opinion, so take it or leave it. that it’s three times a little bit different and I think that those differences account for the fact that Jesus loved to tell it all the time. And he would give… I don’t know. Maybe you’ve heard of a preacher who might embellish stories a little bit differently one way or another if he’s telling them that Jesus is telling this parable and he embellishes it in one way, like in Luke, and he talks about how the strong man is fully guarded and it explains all of the guard that he has. And Mark, it’s a strip down but a little bit different. In Matthew also, I just, I think Jesus would tell this parable over and over again because it’s one of his favorites. That’s at least my opinion, but it’s one of our favorites, at least it should be, one of mine, because Jesus in this parable simply gives us the good news that he has overcome the devil.
The parable goes like this. If a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his goods are at peace, I think we’re supposed to picture like a knight. Think of a knight from the round table with all of his armor there, and he’s got his chain mail, and he’s got his shield, and he’s got his sword, and his helmet. And he’s standing there in front of the castle, and the drawbridge is up, and the moat is full, and he’s standing there, and you think nobody is going to be able to go into that place, into that castle, and take anything. He’s guarding it, so the goods are at peace, until… a stronger man comes, a champion, one who’s going to face this knight in battle and overcome him. And he beats him and he binds him up, he hog ties him, throws him to the side, and then goes and loots the castle. That’s the whole parable. It’s great.
Now Jesus is not teaching us how to loot castles. He’s not giving instructions on cat burglary. He’s describing himself… and what he does to the devil. The devil is the strong man. His castle is the world. His goods are you and I. We’re born under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as his own. But Jesus is the strong man, the stronger man. And he comes to rescue us, to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness and transfer us into the kingdom of light, his kingdom. of life and joy and peace and he’s done it he has done in fact when jesus uses this parable to explain to those who are accusing him of casting out demons by beelzebub he’s saying that this kingdom has come to you now that i am the stronger one that i’m sending away the demons not by the demonic power but because i’m the son of god who’s come to keep that ancient garden promise that the seed of the woman would trample on the head of the serpent
For this reason, this is how John says it, for this reason the Son of God was manifest that he might destroy the works of the devil. So Jesus is here, looting the devil’s kingdom, and we are that loot. We are the goods stolen back by our Lord Jesus and rescued, just like this mute man, who Jesus on this day gives the power to speak and freedom from the devil, and he would cry out the praises of God and confess his name.
Now, while we’re rejoicing in this parable, and it’s so good, Jesus is going to, though, give a warning. And he’s going to say to those who are listening and to us that it is not enough for him to simply transfer us out from under the demonic power. It’s not good enough. It’s not sufficient for Jesus just to remove the demons. that something else also has to happen, something positive has to take the place. So Jesus will tell this parable, or give this instruction really, which digs into the understanding of the spiritual realm more than anything else in any other scripture. Jesus says, when the unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and finding none. It says, I’ll return to my house from which I came. When it comes, It finds the house swept and put in order. It goes and brings seven other spirits, more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.
Jesus is describing the human heart like a home, like a room where the devil or the demons have taken up residence. And Jesus says that when the word of God comes along… When a person is baptized, when a person is rescued from the devil, that the devil himself, the demons, leave that room. But if that room is not then filled up and occupied by the Holy Spirit, then what happens is the demons roam around and come back and find the room empty and move back in. This is a warning. Jesus is saying to, well, he’s saying to the man that he just rescued, and he’s saying to us, I’ll send the demons out, but the Holy Spirit has to move in.
Now, it’s helpful for us to understand this, and maybe in this way. I think Luther helps us when he’s reflecting on the prayer of Mary. Remember when Mary learns that she’s going to be the mother of the Messiah, and she cries out, my soul rejoices in God, my Savior, my spirit rejoices, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. And Luther is reflecting on this idea that all of us have a soul and a spirit, and he explains it like this. Do you remember in the Old Testament that Moses received the instructions from the Lord to build the tabernacle? There was the outer court, which had a wall around it. And then in the middle of that outer court was the tabernacle itself, which had two rooms. The first was the holy place, where the incense was and the showbread and the candelabras. And then there was a veil, and you would go through the veil into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was.
Luther says, that is a beautiful picture of how we are. The outer court is like our body, our physical body. And then in the midst of it is our soul, like the tabernacle. But in the heart of the soul is a very unique special place, like the Holy of Holies, that is our spirit. So that we have a soul that governs and speaks and thinks and reasons and wills and feels and all of this sort of thing. But in the midst of that soul is a room or a space, if you will, a house like Jesus talks about in the parable. And that’s your spirit. And in your spirit will dwell either the unclean spirits, the demons, or the Holy Spirit. It can’t be vacant. It has to be one way or another. If it’s empty, the devil moves in.
And we have this even in our baptismal liturgy, we had the baptism this morning, where it says we’re born under sin and under the captivity of the devil until Christ claims us as his own. So that in the heart of the unbeliever, the devil himself and the demons are there and they’re ruling. This is why we have an unclean spirit ourselves when we’re captured by the unclean spirits. But when the Lord comes along by his word, by the power of the gospel, In the strength of the absolution, through the gift of baptism, even in the Lord’s Supper, the devil is sent out of the heart, and the Holy Spirit fills it.
This is just a reinforcement, by the way, of the importance of daily praying for the Holy Spirit, remembering the prayer that Jesus taught in Luke 11, where he says, The Father will give the Spirit to all those who ask. And when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our spirit, in the holy of holies, that room that the Lord has built for his presence in our inner life, then there is no room for the devil there. There’s no room for the demons. They have no access. The Holy Spirit is there.
Now, just like in the Old Testament, no one could go into the Holy of Holies because the Lord dwelt in there, but people could access the outer court and even sneak their way into the tabernacle, so the devil can, in one way or another, according to the Lord’s will, access our physical body. He can even access our soul, throwing thoughts into our mind or our imagination. So there’s some demonic activity that happens in our bodies and in our minds, but that holy of holies, that part of your heart that is the seat of the Lord, that belongs to the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit dwells in you, you belong to God.
Now this is important for a number of reasons. But one of them is that this is a unique understanding of the way the devil works that we have as Lutherans that most Christians today do not. For example, most Christians will say that if someone is troubled by the demons in their body, by some form of possession, complete or partial or whatever, then they can’t be a Christian. The Holy Spirit has left them. And we say absolutely not, that is not true. That the devil can capture, according to God’s will, part of someone’s or all of someone’s life, and yet their heart belongs to the Lord Jesus, and he has them, and is bringing them through the troubles of this life and to the joys of life eternal.
This is so important because one of the things that happens as Christians, we think, well, you know, the devil is not messing with us or not around us or whatever, or that he… No, the devil, because you’re a Christian, hates you even more. attacks you even fiercer. And it’s important for all of us to recognize, especially when in the midst of difficulties and troubles of this life, when they just don’t make sense, and we can’t figure out why that’s happening or why this person is thinking this way, or the things that are going on around us are just totally unclear, that we’re able to recognize that as spiritual warfare. and that the devil himself is busy. He’s like a roaring lion, and he’s hungry. He’s seeking for whom he can devour.
But here, dear saints, is the good news that the Lord Jesus gives us. Your heart is not empty. That room, that Holy of Holies, that the Lord has built into you is filled with the Holy Spirit. And week after week, you come here so that you would hear the Word of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit. You come here, you open your Bibles day by day to hear the Word of God and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I think that’s why Matthew tells us the story of this woman who’s listening to Jesus preaching these things, giving us this insight into how it is in the demonic realm, showing us the things that we can’t see.
And she’s almost overwhelmed by the teaching. It’s right at the end of the verse, we almost might just miss the story because we’re thinking about all the demon stuff. But there’s this woman in the crowd and she raises her voice and says, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed. You can imagine this lady saying, I wish that you were my son. And Jesus says, no, no, that’s the wrong blessing. He said, more or rather, blessed is he who hear the word of God and keep it. When we hear the word of God, the Lord fills our hearts and our minds with His Spirit so that we have nothing to fear.
I mean, first of all, we don’t fear the devil. You are not authorized to fear the devil, that you are to fear God and fear him alone, so that the devil is not frightful. The demons are not scary. In fact, James tells us, remember this passage that we have to hear over and over so that we can start to believe it, resist the devil, and he’ll flee from you. The devil is afraid of the Christian who’s clothed in the armor of light. I will soon, Jesus says, crush the devil under your feet. I’ve overcome him and set you free from the fear of death, free from the fear of the devil, so that the devil has no authority over you.
One little word, any word from the scriptures can overcome him and send him packing. I suppose the old theologians warned us that there’s two wrong ways to think about the devil. That is too much or too little. Ha ha. that we probably are tempted to think too little about the devil, to forget that he’s prowling around. But when we do think about him, the danger is thinking too much of him. We get impressed that he is the strong man.
But dear saints, you have a stronger. You have Jesus, whose word sets you free, whose blood covers you, whose spirit fills you, and his bringing you through all this spiritual warfare and all the troubles of this life, into the joys of life eternal. And one of those joys will be that while we’re rejoicing in the eternal banquet of heaven, the devil will be in the lake of fire. So we rejoice in the strong man, overcoming the devil and dividing his spoil, bringing us to his church. May God grant us this joy and confidence in the name of Jesus. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.