"Has God Really Said?" First Sunday in Lent March 9, 2014 Matthew 4:1-11
He was there. He saw it all. And he was listening. He is a very good listener. Better than you and I are. He was there, listening as God was speaking to Adam. I give you everything. It's all yours. All that I have created is for you and your benefit. There's one thing I reserve, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This I withhold from you for your benefit. He heard all of this and he was listening intently as God spoke it to Adam. Adam didn't know he was there. Adam couldn't see him, but he was there. We see in the Genesis account that God was speaking to Adam but it's not expressly stated that Satan was present. But we know he was there. And he was listening. He let each word of God sink deeply into his soul. Satan knows how to listen. He takes every word God says seriously. He knows what it means better than we do. We know he was there and we know he was listening because he quoted God when he spoke to Eve. Has God really said? Satan cares deeply about the Word of God because he wants to use it for the opposite purpose for which God uses it. That's why the devil is so intent on listening to every word that comes from the mouth of God. He needs to hear God's word so that he can then twist it ever so slightly in order to plant doubt into our mind. There was another occasion. Nobody could see him, but he was there. The crowds were watching Jesus being Baptized by John. Satan couldn't be seen, but he was present. And he was listening. He listened to the word the Father spoke of His Son. He heard every word: "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." The crowds heard the voice. They saw the Spirit descending as a dove. But they didn't see Satan. But he was there, listening. We don't spend much time thinking about the power Satan has. And we never ought to ascribe more to Satan than what the Bible does. At the same time, we also never ought to downplay what the Bible shows us of him. Satan is a fallen angel. He has power you and I don't have. He is a spiritual being, as are the angels, able to move throughout time and space without being bound by time and space. Thus angels appear in forms accessible to us, such as Gabriel did when he appeared to Mary or such as in a vision to Joseph. Angels are powerful beings. They are soldiers who work for us on God's behalf. But Satan and the fallen angels, the demons, they are the enemy soldiers. They seek us out in order to destroy. And so Satan was right there to act toward Adam and Eve's downfall. He was right there in the wilderness to try to make Jesus fall. The Bible teaches that faith is an utter trust and belief in the Triune God. This is where Adam and Eve fell miserably short. One thing was withheld from them and it is the one thing they lusted after. It was readily apparent to them that all things were at their disposal! And that is no hyperbole; all things, freely given them by God. They truly had it all. Satan knew this. How could he top that? How could he entice Adam and Eve with anything better than that? Well, he heard God's word to them. There's no better way to undo God's word than to take that very word and twist it. Has God really said? Did God say you can't eat of any tree of the Garden? Now, I know God loves you, after all, look at everything He has given you! But could it be that He's holding out on you? Is there any good reason you can't truly have it all? After all, if you eat of that tree He has withheld from you--and just let that sink in for a moment, what reason could there be for Him to keep anything from you?--if you eat from that tree, and you have to admit, it looks really good and juicy, God knows that you will be just like Him. You'll know everything, just like Him. Now maybe it's just me, but it sounds like God is keeping all that for Himself, and maybe, just maybe, He doesn't love you as much as He has let on. God had called Adam and Eve to trust in Him. Instead, they listened to Satan. What about you? What will it be? Will it be faith? Or will it be what you see, which when you really look at it, doesn't look nearly so great as God has made it out to be. You look at your life, your circumstances, the difficulties, the failings, the letdowns. Your life as a Christian in this life is not exactly paradise. Has God really said He gives you all things? Has He really said He is with you in everything? Could it be rather that God is holding out on you? What will it be? Will it be holding firmly to God's Word, no matter the circumstances, no matter how much things may look like they're not as great as God has led you to believe? Or will it be listening to those enticing words of Satan in which he masterfully uses God's very own words and twists them to induce you to doubt? It is stark irony that the one eternally opposed to God and His Word is the most intent listener of it. Satan not only is opposed to God, but to you. The Bible is clear, Satan desires and is intent on your downfall. And perhaps in even greater irony, the Bible teaches that Satan believes. He knows who God is. He knows God better than you do. He has perfect understanding of who God is. The Bible says that he believes, but he shudders. He believes, he has this clear knowledge of God, but he does not have faith in God. He does not look to Him for all good. Satan is his own god. He is eternally damned and he wants you to suffer with him eternally. He is always there, unseen, to tempt you as he did with Adam and Eve. He will use his most potent weapon, God's very own Word, and twist it in order to get you to doubt God's very own Word. Has God really said, "You are My beloved son or daughter in Baptism?" Could that be true when He so often leaves you to struggle and suffer? Could it really be true if you still are wracked with so much guilt about those things you have left undone and have not rectified? Has God really said, "My forgiveness separates your sin from you as far as the east is from the west," when He keeps coming at you with His Law and condemning you as a sinner? Does God really love you if He keeps bringing up that you are by nature sinful and unclean and that in thought, word, and deed you sin against Him? Has God really said, "This is My body, given for you, and this is My blood, given for you," when clearly it could be nothing more than mere bread and wine? Has He really said, "This is for you, for the forgiveness of your sin," when clearly you can't be forgiven in a mere ritual? Satan despises the Word of God and that is what makes Him listen so tenaciously to it. If only we listened to God's Word as intently as Satan does! Satan despises it and so he twists it in any way he can to try to undo it. Sadly, we so often fall into the enticement of Satan instead of clinging tenaciously to God's Word. To all of Satan's temptations, do as Jesus did in the Gospel reading. Every time he says to you, "Has God really said?", trying to introduce doubt of God's Word, respond not with your own words, but with God's own words. Don't listen to Satan's twisting of them. Take them as what they actually say. When you are tempted to doubt if you are really God's son or daughter, respond to Satan, Yes, I know it's true. God said it, I believe it. I am Baptized, I am a child of the Most High God, the Creator of the universe and my Lord and Savior. I know Jesus died for every sin I have committed and I know the Holy Spirit has delivered that forgiveness and salvation to me in Baptism. Satan, you can't touch me, you can't undo God's Word, and you certainly can't do better than it. When the threat of despair comes because you keep falling and stumbling, because you sometimes give Satan a foothold, say to him, Yes, I know I am weak, and I know I fall into sin. But I know God forgives me of every sin, because He calls men I can see and hear to proclaim it to me and to announce to me, "In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all of your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." I know it's true because those men aren't acting on their own, as you are, Satan. They are speaking by God's command and in His stead. The words they speak are as sure and certain as if Christ my Lord dealt with me Himself. When you begin to wonder how it could really be true that simple bread and wine deliver to you the very body and blood of your dear Lord, throw into Satan's face the simple, clear, and direct words of your dear Lord Jesus Christ: "Take and eat, this is My body, given for you. Take and drink, this is My blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins." These words, Satan, are spoken directly to me, and you can never change them. You can try to twist them or cause me to wonder how it is possible that Christ actually comes to me with His body and blood, but you can't change what is. What is is what my Lord Jesus Christ has spoken. He is who I will listen to. He is who I will trust. He is who gives me life. You are forever damned, I am forever saved. Has God really said? This is what Satan said to Jesus. Has He really said You are His Son? "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Jesus--unlike Adam and Eve, unlike us--saw right through Satan's lie. He used the word of God, but he twisted it. This is temptation, and Jesus answered Satan, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.' 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.'" Three times Jesus shot back with the Word of God. The last time Jesus added this word along with it: "Be gone, Satan!" Satan was defeated. He knew it. He would show up again, when he would bruise the heal of Jesus, Jesus Himself suffering under the forces of darkness in being betrayed and crucified. But Satan knew. He had heard that word of God: He will crush your head. He had heard that word from the mouth of Jesus, God Himself, and the Father's beloved Son: Be gone, Satan! Has God really said? Yes, Satan, yes He has. And to that we say, "Amen." SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
