Invocavit Sunday (Lent 1) – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Matthew 4:1-11 “You Hold the Sword of the Spirit”
March 9, 2025 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
+ + +
We humbly ask You, O Lord, by the mystery of our Savior’s fasting and temptation, to endow us with the same mind that was in Him toward all evil and sin; and give us grace to keep our bodies in such holy discipline that our minds may always be ready to resist Satan and obey the promptings of Your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen. (The Lutheran Liturgy, companion altar book for The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 85)
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 4th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’”
Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him.
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who defends you from the devil with His Holy Word, and as you use it for your defense, you see the devil’s destruction, and in his destruction, you will attain the victory, dear fellow redeemed:
Now that it is a new year, I once again can start preparing myself for the upcoming hunting season. There is no time like the present to be prepared. In this preparation, I have already been told numerous times that I should be more armed than just my bow when I go out into the Oregon wilderness. There are many creatures out there that don’t have my best interest in mind. There are mountain lions, black bears, and grey wolves to name a few. It reminds me of the saying, “lion, tigers, and bears, Oh my!” While the Oregon wilderness is a place I need to be prepared for, Scripture tells us how we must be prepared for the wilderness we are currently wandering. It is not a safe place. The beasts that are out in the wilderness are much worse than the lions, bears, and wolves outside. Our wandering will be met by beasts that wish to tempt us to harm, but we see in our text, we are already armed against them. You hold the Sword of the Spirit, and it defends you from the temptations of the devil.
There is a joy you can have with the weapon you hold dear. You have it because the Word of God became flesh for you. St. John writes, the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8b) The work of the devil is to get you to fall, just like he has fallen and can’t escape the punishment that is awaiting him. God has us on His mind and He wants to destroy the tempter. To destroy the tempter and to save His creation, the Word made flesh must do battle against the tempter and overcome him. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry. Out in the wilderness the predators hunt and they go after the weak. Jesus as true man is in a very weak state, and the devil underestimates that weakness.
To be weak and hungry in the wilderness is nothing new. After the race from Egypt, the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3). While we see God’s people, who watched His great miracles and yet doubted His ability to feed them, it gets worse if you look back at the beginning of creation. The Devil tempted Adam and Eve with something to eat. They caved when God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…” (Genesis 2:16-17a). And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Where Israel and Adam fail, Jesus is sustained not by food, but by the very Word of God.
This is the taste that we have of the tree of life that was taken away from mankind. The Word of God brings us life. As Jesus speaks to the devil from a book of the law, He reveals to the devil that He isn’t hungry like the devil thinks. He is physically hungry, but He is not spiritually hungry. The devil tries and fails to get Jesus to put trust in His own powers and perform a miracle for Himself. Jesus has successfully beaten back the first temptation, but there are going to be others. The devil is not done using Jesus physical state to his advantage. The devil being cast out from heaven, needs this advantage because he also is not at the top of his game. Jesus says, “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none (Matthew 12:43) Our enemies are not happy. They are restless, and they will hunt those in the wilderness who have lost their way or let their guard down to the physical and spiritual dangers of life.
Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” The devil has gone to a direct quote of Scripture, or is it? When we hear right out of Psalm 91, we hear, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11-12). Do you hear what the devil left out and why it was important that he did it? Of course, God loves us, but He does not want us to put ourselves directly into the line of danger and sin. God’s Word will never tell us it is okay to sin. In taking seven words out, the devil has changed the meaning of the text. We see the importance of checking what God’s Word says for it is our sure defense. If we lack our knowledge of Scripture, we can lose our defense, and the devil will trick and tempt us into sin. Like Adam and Israel, we have then lost, and we can find ourselves lamenting as to why God would put us in this position. We can confess, why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? (Psalm 42:11a) Our turmoil is our own when we fall to temptation. It is when we are armed with the sword of the Spirit that we can beat back the devil’s attacks.
Jesus uses His very Words, the Words and commands of God to destroy the devil’s temptations. You see just how effective it is in the last temptation. Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me.” This is a crucial temptation, because on the surface it appears to give Jesus a way to escape the suffering and death of the cross. If you were in Jesus’ position, the temptation to avoid the cross would look good. But it’s not as it appears as the devil doesn’t have kingdoms to get rid of. While he is the ruler of sin and the world, it is God who has the ultimate authority over all. Therefore, though Jesus is in the role of a servant, Jesus is also the Son of God, and the devil is claiming something that is already in Jesus’ possession. God the Father, has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
The kingdom of God comes when God the Father sends the Holy Spirit and by His grace you believe the truth of His Holy Word. It is this Sword of the Spirit that even Jesus uses with a great command to defeat the temptations of the devil. Knowing where His kingdom is, Jesus knows exactly how to thwart temptations. He doesn’t fall for it here, He doesn’t let the crowds make Him a bread king, and He tells Pilate His rule is not of this place. And as Jesus has His kingdom, He put it aside so that He might bring the world into it. This means He must not cave to the devil, and He must instead go to His death on the cross. This message of the cross, the message that destroys the works of the devil, is found in the Word you hear.
St. Paul records why it was important for Jesus to set His crown aside and take on the devil. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5). In taking on this journey, this means that Jesus would be tempted by the devil to break the law of God. If Jesus would have failed in any way, then there would be no salvation for you. As you hear in His Holy Word, this did not happen, and Jesus beat back the devil and his temptations. He endured them, He endured the law, and He endured your suffering and death, making you an heir to what the Word brings, eternal life.
Hearing that you are God’s children, the text reveals to you the great power the Word has over your enemy the devil. Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” While the devil thought the Son of Man was too weak to endure, Jesus points out the devil will always listen to God’s command. Where you have faltered in service, Jesus serves His Father to the complete letter of the law. And as He willingly followed the plan of His Father and faced off with the devil, He willingly destroyed the devil, not with His great power, but with His suffering and death. The devil’s temptations have severe consequences, and they will relentlessly come because of his defeat. So, you put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). You clothe yourself in Christ and He defends you with the sword of the Spirit. The Word of God reveals the devil’s temptations, brings you to the cross, and it does cause the devil to take flight.
Now, until the end comes, the devil will come back with temptations again. While the significance is there for the three that are described by Matthew, these are not the only temptations Jesus faced. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus faced it, all and He does not abandon you in the heat of these attacks. He is with you in His Word. He is the sword of the Spirit. With Him as your defense, the devil will flee. And after the skirmish and the devil has fled, like the angels for Jesus, the sword of the Spirit gives you nourishment and strength to heal as you read and hear how it continues to give you forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. 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.
+ + +