Jesu Juva

“Christus Victor, Forever!”

Text: Luke 4:1-13; Romans 10:8b-13

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

From nearly its first pages until its last, the Bible is a book about battle. But not just good versus evil - that’s too abstract. This battle, these battles are personal. It is the devil against God. It is the devil against you. It is the devil turning us against one another. It is the devil turning us against God. And since the Bible is a book that teaches us about things from the beginning of time to the end of time, this is a battle that is not going away. In fact, the Bible says the warfare will intensify as time goes on. It’s only going to get harder to be a Christian; harder to remain faithful. So if you’re looking for easy, you’ve come to the wrong place.

You know this . . . to a degree. Because from the moment you were baptized, you have suffered the attacks, assaults, and temptations of the devil. And you’ve been hit, and wounded. You’ve hurt yourself, you’ve hurt others, and others have hurt you. You’ve wavered in your faith when the fight was long and strong, wondering about God’s care, wondering about God’s words and promises. Where is He when you need Him? Why is life so hard?

You’ve been attacked from the front, from those you knew were against you, attacked from the rear from those you thought were your friends, and then there are the surprise attacks you never saw coming. Maybe you’ve had some times of peace, but then the attacks come back twice as hard. And then you get tired, and maybe despair, and then wonder if it’s really worth it. Just give in. Give up.

And so it was for a very long time. Until one day, someone else showed up to fight. He looked like us, talked like us, lived like us, but the old tried and true attacks didn’t work on Him. For forty days the devil tried. In the wilderness. He had the home field advantage. That’s where his prey had been led - by the Spirit no less! - after His baptism. So He would go down, just like you; just like all the others. You couldn’t blame the devil for his confidence. He was batting a thousand, you know. He was undefeated.

But for forty days, nothing worked. How many temptations had he hurled at Jesus? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? You have to admire Him, standing firm for so long, under such attack. He had to be wearing Jesus down. Surely, success was just around the corner . . .

So when those forty days were ended, and Jesus was hungry, as Luke tells us, satan pulled out the big guns. Food had been his first temptation, and it had been so easy to bring down Eve in the Garden, especially with Adam standing there silent like a stooge. And that was with food all around them! So Jesus, wilderness, fasting for so long, surely . . . But Jesus pulled out the Word of God. He did not just let the devil talk. He was no stooge. Man shall not live by bread alone. Well played. There’s more to life than just food.

But that didn’t stop him before. When God foiled his hunger plan when Israel was in the wilderness with that infernal manna that he provided day after day, a little misdirection, a little sleight of hand, and the people crumbled. Moses disappeared for forty days on Mt. Sinai, and how easy it had been to plant the idea of another god in their heads, get them to build and worship a golden calf. Now, Jesus, where is your Father after these forty days . . . ? Look. Turn to me for what you need. I’ll give you what you want, what you’ve come for. I’ll take care of you. You can count on me! But again with the Word of God! You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

OK, Mr. Pious man! This is how you want to play it, huh? Let’s use the Word of God then - have it your way. Two can play that game. God said He would protect you, would send His angels to catch you, so show me! Prove it! I double dog dare you. You’re His Son after all, or so you claim. If He would do this for others, surely for you! So, here ya’ go - one, two, three . . . jump! You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

And then it was over. Christus victor! For the moment . . . The devil departed from him until an opportune time.

We should take a lesson here from Jesus. When the devil comes knocking, don’t open the door and let him in! Use the Word of God against him. One little word can fell him, after all, as we just sang (LSB #656 v. 3). Which I don’t think means just one word, the same word, all the time, but that there is a Word of God that counteracts all the suggestions, all the lies, all the games, all the deceptions of the devil. That’s what Jesus did. A Word of God against each temptation to disarm it, diffuse it.

The problem today, though, is that we don’t know the Word. Not well enough, anyway. Or know it, but don’t believe what it says. Or believe it, but don’t care. Or care, but we’re just to weak, our sinful natures too strong. So this season of Lent does two things: one, it calls us to once again take up the Word of God and plant it deep in our hearts. So when temptations come, we might respond as Jesus did. So that we you are tempted to despise or hurt or lust or steal or slander or covet, your first impulse isn’t to do those things or plot to do them - but to respond with the Word of God. Or even if you don’t know a specific Word, to use the words that Jesus did. To say, no! I do not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Or, no! I will not put the Lord my God to the test. Or, I will worship the Lord my God only - which means I will not look for good or life in any place or any person beside Him alone. Now, you will still fail and fall into sin, but with the Word of God in your heart and in your mind and on your lips, you will have victories, too.

Especially because the second thing this season of Lent does is that when we fail and fall into sin, it tells us (as we sang today): fix your eyes on Jesus (Gradual). That is, on His cross. That is, on His victory. For there is the later, opportune time the devil was waiting for, that opportune time when he could, perhaps, bring Jesus down - literally! That time when Jesus was in another kind of wilderness, all alone, weak, hungry, thirsty, dying. So renew the attack! Your Father doesn’t love you. Your Father isn’t taking care of you. Your Father isn’t faithful and reliable. So save yourself! Ready? Here ya’ go - one, two, three . . . jump!

But here again, Jesus responded with the Word of God, time and time again, until finally He says: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46)! And He dies not in defeat, but in victory. Which the empty tomb showed three days later.

So in Jesus, when we fail and fall, we have hope. In the victory over sin, death, and the devil won for us by Jesus, and that same victory given us here by Jesus in the water of forgiveness, the word of forgiveness, and the bread and wine for forgiveness. That as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, though the devil, the world, and our own sinful natures are ruthless and relentless, though we are attacked by these things, we may finally overcome them and win the victory. That we not lose faith, but that Jesus’ victory be our victory.

But if the devil did not give up against Jesus, know he isn’t giving up against you either. And if he departed from Jesus until an opportune time, there will be an opportune time for you as well. And maybe you know of those times when you are particularly vulnerable to sin and the temptations of the devil. If so, good! Be in the Word of God and prayer at just such times. But I want to mention one that I think is true for us all, and a particularly heinous and dangerous temptation the devil has used a lot especially in our day and age, and that is: my sin doesn’t matter. That if I’m forgiven, then I can go ahead and sin! It’s all good in Jesus.

Now, you know that doesn’t sound right, and you know that isn’t right. But how often so we live that way? And do you think living that way shows a true faith? Do you think living like that is safe or dangerous? And even if you couldn’t answer any of those questions, this one will do. Ask yourself this: Do you think the devil loves it when you act that way? As if your sin doesn’t matter because Jesus will just forgive you? If the devil would approve of that, then maybe that’s not good for us. Is there a disconnect between the heart and the life, the heart and the mouth, with such a life? Should we not rather, as St Paul says, believe with the heart and confess with the mouth? Believe with the heart and confess with our lives?

So this season of Lent encourages us to take up the battle once again. The battle that, yes, Jesus won for us in His death and resurrection, but that continues to rage around us. This battle that started at the beginning of time and will last until the end of time. This battle that we do not want to fight, but we also cannot avoid. This battle the devil will continue to bring into our homes, our churches, our families, our hearts, our minds, everywhere you are. He will press you hard. He will act as your friend. He will lie to you, or give you just enough truth to deceive you. He’ll make you proud if that will help his cause, or he’ll shame you. He’ll flatter you and ridicule you. He’ll fight fair and he’ll fight dirty. He doesn’t care! He has no rules in this fight; only one concern: to drag you down to hell with him. And maybe there are or have been times in your life when it seems he has done just that. And if the fight was our alone, he wins.

But that one day, when someone else showed up to fight, everything changed. Though he looked like us, talked like us, and lived like us, He did what we can’t - He won. He won in the wilderness, He won on the cross, and He won with the empty tomb. Victory upon victory, and so now for us, grace upon grace. So we take our place in the long line of those who fight. And we take our place in the long line of those who have traveled to the font, and from the font to the altar, to receive the victorious forgiveness of Jesus that we need. And then to live not in sin, but in Jesus. His Word, my word. His life, my life, His forgiveness, my forgiveness. Until at last, His kingdom, my kingdom. Him, my Christus victor, forever!

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.