I don’t know about you, but when I hear about demon-possession, I usually think of some scene from a movie. I do this, because it’s the only way I have of picturing demon-possession, since I don’t think I’ve ever personally faced someone who was demon-possessed. It just isn’t part of my every day experience. And I’m guessing that most of you here, too, probably have not personally witnessed a demon-possession the way we see it displayed in today’s Gospel text. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that demons don’t exist. Satan would rather have you believing that he doesn’t exist, than have you be afraid of him. He doesn’t go around in a red suit with pitch fork, horns, and a pointy tail. Instead, according to the Scriptures, he disguises himself as an angel of light, in order to deceive people into believing his lies.
Today, then, at least in our culture, the devil and the demons use different tactics in their attack on us. The greatest of these is the proclamation of false doctrine. Ultimately, they want to try to get you to doubt and disbelieve God’s Word. Because God saves by His Word, they will do everything in their power to try to steal this Word away from you and get you to believe a lie. This they do not only by the proclamation of false doctrine, but also by bringing various trials and troubles into your lives. This was Satan’s hope in the case of Job, when he thought that Job only trusted in God as long as things were going well for him. If adversity were to enter into Job’s life, the devil was sure that Job would curse God to His face. And so, many of the “demons” we face today come in the form of sufferings, troubles, temptations, and struggles in our lives.
But you’ll notice in reading the book of Job that the devil had to first get permission from God before he was allowed to do anything to Job. Job belonged to God, not the devil. The devil could not possess Job. He could only afflict Job, and that only if God allowed it. The same must be said of you at the outset of this sermon. Christians often wonder whether they could become demon-possessed as the man in today’s Gospel text was. The answer is “No!” As a Christian, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; He will not share it with the devil. The Father and the Son have also taken up residence in you, just as Jesus says, “If anyone loves me he will keep my Word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” As a Christian, you have been bought with a price, the price of the blood of Jesus Christ, who purchased you, so that you might be His own, live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. By way of your Baptism, God has transferred you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son. You are no longer enslaved to the devil. You are a child of God and an heir with Jesus Christ of eternal life, the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come.
The only way a Christian could become the property of the devil again is if he renounced Christ and went back to living according to the lusts of his flesh. As the Apostle Paul writes, “If you walk by the flesh you will die.” If you live according to your sinful nature, you’ll become a slave to that nature all over again, the end of which is death. A Christian, however, though he still sins because he is a sinner, lives in repentance. He confesses his sins, receives God’s forgiveness for Christ’s sake, and by the power of the Holy Spirit puts to death the lusts of the flesh and walks by the spirit. As long as we do not quench the Holy Spirit and resist His work of delivering Jesus and His righteousness to us, the devil can no longer have us.
We are the Lord’s. We who once did belong to Satan, who once wielded the power of death over us, have now been freed from his power and control by the Word of Jesus, just like the man in today’s Gospel text was. We, whose minds were once darkened by the lies of the devil, have now been restored to our right minds, minds that have been renewed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We, who were once naked and bruised under the abuse of the demons, have been clothed with Christ, healed of our wounds, and now sit at the feet of Jesus, where the devil and the demons can no longer take control of us.
The Word of Jesus has set us free, not only from the tyranny of the devil, but also from our enslavement to sin, death, and the Law. Though we’d like to blame all our ills and evils on the devil, he really is only partially to blame. If anyone is to be blamed for our slavery to sin, death, and the Law, it is we ourselves. This is what Adam and Eve should have confessed in the beginning. They are the ones who did what God told them not to do in eating of the forbidden fruit. The devil only provided opportunity. Yes, he told them lies and enticed them to do what God had forbidden, but he didn’t make them do anything. Yet, Eve blamed the devil, and Adam blamed Eve as well as God for giving Eve to him. And we blame Adam and Eve. Because of their sin we are born slaves to sin, death, and the Law. But the Word of God will not let us blame Adam and Eve for our sin. We have sinned against God’s Law, which justly accuses and condemns us. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to take the blame for you, becoming enslaved to sin and death in your place and letting the Law convict and condemn Him on the cross, so that you might be declared righteous through faith in Him and be adopted into God’s family. As sons of God that you are now in the Son, you are heirs with Christ of eternal life and with Him have the privilege of calling God your Father.
Yet, we still have to face the demons in this life. Though they cannot possess us, they are still allowed to oppress us. Though we are free from their control, they still make life difficult for us, especially since we are God’s children. Their main goal is to get us to turn away from Him. And so, though we are free in Christ, it doesn’t always feel like we’re free. We still experience troubles, sufferings, temptations, and struggles in this life. These may or may not be brought on by demons. They may be the result of our own sin. God Himself not only allows the cross into our lives, but even gives it to us. It’s what He laid upon us at our Baptism, where He crucified us with Christ. His purpose, of course, is different than that of the demons. Instead of using the cross to try to push us away from Him, He wants it to cause us to cling to Him all the more, turning to Him as our loving heavenly Father and bringing our requests before His throne of grace with all confidence, so that we might receive mercy and find grace to help us in our times of need. And though He might even use Satan to achieve His purposes, He causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, just as He did for Job. The Apostle Paul complained to God about a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, as he called it, that was given to keep Paul from becoming arrogant on account of the revelation that was given to him. Three times he pleaded with the Lord that He remove this thorn, this affliction (whatever it was). But the answer God gave him was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul responded by saying, “I will boast, therefore, all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
And you can say the same things, too, with regard to the thorn or thorns in your flesh. Paul intentionally leaves us in the dark about what his thorn in the flesh actually was. That’s so that you could insert your own hardships, sufferings, and struggles into this verse and confess these words for yourself. Your thorn may be some sin you continue to fall to and cannot overcome. It might be some irritating job or boss you have to face every day. Maybe it’s the daily grind and routine of life. Maybe it’s boredom, depression, guilt, or trouble in a relationship. It may be the struggle of some issue in your life you’ve inherited from your parents. We’re celebrating Fathers’ Day today, and yet unfortunately our fathers are the cause of many of the thorny issues we face as adults. We have all been wounded in some way by our earthly fathers, and that is because they’re all sinners. They can’t help but hurt us in some way. But our heavenly Father is not like that. He disciplines us for our good. And even if our earthly fathers have hurt or harmed us, God still works it all together for our good. And so, we too can boast in our weaknesses, because the power of Christ is displayed through them. Though we are weak, He is strong.
Our thorns may not be removed right now, but they will be. Someday the devil and the demons will all be thrown into the Abyss of hell, never to bother us again. In the meantime, we can live under the comfort of God’s Word that though we must live with them in this life now, we are not enslaved to them. They cannot possess us. Again, we belong to Christ. With His blood He purchased us for Himself. Through Baptism He has freed us from sin, death, and the devil, given us a new birth, and made us children of God. Through our God-given faith in Christ we are heirs with Him. His Father is now our Father, who loves us as His dear children and whose ears are always open and attentive to our cries. Under Him we do not live as slaves, but as sons with whom He is well-pleased. When the devil and the demons oppress you, then, do as the Apostle Peter says and “humble yourselves under the might hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.”
Jesus came to set the captives free, among whom you also were one. Now you too may return to your homes, your jobs, your vocations and declare how much God has done for you. With His cross and resurrection He has overcome the strong man who held you captive to do his will, and with His Word He has cast him out and continues to declare you free with His words of absolution today. In your Baptism He has clothed you with Himself and His righteousness, so that you no longer stand before God naked. He has given you a new mind that you might know Him and believe His Word. And He has seated you at His feet, where He protects you from the hurt and harm the demons intend to inflict upon you. Go from here today and live as the free person that you are now in Jesus Christ, knowing that in Him you are no longer a slave to sin, death, the devil, or the Law, but that you are a son of God and an heir with Christ of eternal life, the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come. Amen.