Oculi Sunday (Lent 3) – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Luke 11:14-28 “Deliver Us from the Evil One”
March 8, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord Christ, almighty Savior, we cry to You for aid against our strong enemy. You, who are the Stronger than the strong, deliver us, we pray You, from the evil one, and take sole possession of our hearts and minds; that filled with Your Spirit we may from this time forward devote our lives to Your service, and in His gracious working among us through His Word we may find our perfect freedom; for the honor of Your great name. Amen. (Parish Prayers, ed. Frank Colquhoun, p. 59)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 11th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
Now [Jesus] was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test Him, kept seeking from Him a sign from heaven.
But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “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? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who reveals to us His great and victorious power, the only power that delivers us from the evil one, dear fellow redeemed:
Have you ever wondered how a name like this is created? Beelzebul is such a weird name for the devil. Some attribute this as a separate demon’s name, but we see in our text Jesus calls out Satan by name. Where does this name come from? The Jews took this name from the Canaanites as they had it for the name of one of their false gods. And this false god helped with the tempting away of the nation. Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness” (2 Kings 1:2). The son of a king and now the King of the northern kingdom of Israel, is seeking help from the Canaanites lord of heavenly dwellings. That sounds like a nice name. As the devil tried the disguise, it did work for the most part because from the beginning, he was able to deceive them. Thus Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin—that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan (2 Kings 10:28-29). So, many years later, noting the devil’s lies, they put this name together which translates to the lord of the flies. And while we can ridicule him, he outmatches us on our own and we must continue to pray for the Lord to deliver us from the evil one.
The Lord hears this prayer, and He will answer it for this is His will, to destroy the devils work. This is where we find Jesus in our text, continuing to send the lord of the flies packing to the place of filth. Now [Jesus] was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test Him, kept seeking from Him a sign from heaven. On the surface, Jesus is casting out a demon and within the text we see Jesus in an invisible battle with the devil. Demons are desperate to attack people and Jesus, so they bring chaos and destruction, which we are seeing in our text. Jesus is casting out a demon and as He does this good thing, the crowd is sneering at Him and only there to watch Him do miracles. The demons understand who Jesus is better than the crowd. And if you listen closely, you can hear the devil’s voice from his first temptation out in the wilderness when he tells Jesus to turn the stones into bread.
But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “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? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. To say that Jesus is the evil one is flawed logic. Jesus is revealing Himself as the Savior by helping His people and they are acting like the kings of old by being enamored with only His power. This will not end well, as the question will later be asked in a letter to the Hebrews, How much punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of Grace? (Hebrews 10:29)
There is a warranted danger for hearing the gracious news of God’s love and rejecting it. This isn’t their first rejection, and it won’t be the last as this line of attack is not new. Jesus confronted them, For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no win, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Luke 7:33-34) To make such claims, these accusers need to have some kind of evidence that they are in league with the devil. What did John do? He preached the kingdom of God to the people. He pointed them to repentance with a baptism of repentance. He appealed to them that One greater than him was coming and then had arrived. The devil doesn’t care if people repent. Jesus comes, humbly taking the place of the repentant state, and with action, actively revealing the undeserved love of God. While Jesus does miracles of healing, the lord of the flies can only make himself look like light.
Beelzebul, the lord of the flies, with a name like that, the devil shouldn’t be able to trick us. He does well at tempting us with the power that Jesus has, daring us to be like this crowd. Wouldn’t it be nice if Jesus could just prove that He is at work to help us? Signs are a tempting thing, but giving into the temptations of the devil to even ask in a selfish way can be costly. The devil wants to distract us from Jesus’ will and love and get us to cling to him through the forms of an idol. There will be many out there who will also believe they don’t have to worry about the devil’s strength, because if they just avoid religion entirely, he shouldn’t be able to affect them. By not having faith, it doesn’t mean a person can escape. St. Paul points out, the void will be filled. What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:19-22)
While many will see the hardships that will come because of forsaking and doubting the strength of the Lord God, we note that we are not stronger than the Lord and it is only through His strength we are delivered from the evil one. As Jesus in this parable points out that the devil does have power, it is nothing compared to God’s power. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. The devil had the armor to accuse God’s people of what they had done. How they worshiped those false gods that in the end were and are demons disguised as light. They lose the armor of power without the devils accusations. As the idols looked to be pillars of the devil’s earthly kingdom, the stronger man brings His kingdom into focus. Jesus advances the kingdom of God by defeating the occupying forces of Satan and his minions, sending them into the filth where they belong.
What are we to do when these forces still try to attack us? There is nothing that you can do to stop him. It is what your Savior does for you. He comes to wage battle for you through the means of grace in this service. We see the power of His Word. It is sharper than a double-edged sword. In your baptism you are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, the ways in which He destroyed Satan’s kingdom. His body and blood brings to you the comfort of all that Christ has done for you. He takes away your sins with the greatest and visible sign of the cross. Your Savior also taught you, His prayer. You are taught to pray for God’s will on earth and for your daily bread. He provides you with strength and comfort in this life. He forgives you your sins as you forgive others, He leads you not into temptation, and delivers you from the evil one. The evil one who thinks he has your number. The stronger man delivers you from the hands of the strong man. Jesus Christ delivers you from the devil.
In their attempt to discredit Jesus, His enemies do point out a scary truth. There is no civil war happening within Satan’s ranks. He is bound and determined to come and attack Christians with all sorts of strife and temptations of old. His goal is to get you to doubt God’s Word and to bring you away from Christ entirely. Jesus is the stronger man, who overpowers the strong man. Through His death and resurrection, He has taken the strong man and thrown him out with the flies. You have been delivered from the evil one with Christ’s redemption. But Satan is not content with laying idle. As Satan continues to badger you, you know where we find our comfort and strength. You pray to God, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” You put your faith in Christ and in His sign of the season. It is what He has done that you are saved. The lord of the flies is in filth. The Lord of heaven and earth has redeemed you with His death on the cross. This is the stronger man. This is the sign of your deliverance from evil. Amen.
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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