Exodus 8:16-24; Ephesians 5:1-9; St Luke 11:14-28
Reception of Stan and Sarah Lemon and family
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
First things first. The devil is real. Do not be deceived otherwise. Neither be misled into thinking he has more power than he actually does. He is not God’s equal or opposite. He fell from heaven, or more precisely, he was εχβαλε, that is, exorcised from heaven; thrown down from that celestial paradise to roam and wander the earth, always dreading the coming Last Day when Christ, the Lord of Hosts, returns to judge the living and the dead and slam the him in his hellish cage forever.
Until then, he stalks in the darkness like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. It was he who slithered into the House the Lord built, getting his head in when he tempted Eve and muted Adam into sin. His whole body quickly followed and godly marriages have been feeling the poisonous effects ever since.
Do not be mistaken, beloved, the attempt to undermine and redefine and separate and destroy marriage is demonic. Whether at the national level or in your own bedroom. He seeks to rend asunder the one flesh union. Satan creates nothing. Nothing. He only destroys and corrupts. He seeks to enlarge his kingdom by the ruin and desecration of the kingdom of God. For unlike out Lord Christ, Satan’s kingdom is only and merely an earthly kingdom. He does exercise some power in this fallen work. But it is a limited and suppressed power.
Notice how the Egyptian magicians could reproduce some of the plagues by their secret arts. Staff snakes, bloody water, frogs. They could do these. And Pharaoh hardens his heart because of them. Even when Aaron’s snake staff ate up the snake staffs of the magi! But the king of Egypt grieves and embitters and the Holy Spirit by suppressing the truth.
Ironically, though, the magicians could not reproduce the gnats and the flies. Perhaps its divine irony because Beelzebul, which is who the crowds accuse Jesus in being in league with, means, Lord of the Flies. That’s what he is. Ruler of the dung heap. King of the maggots. He swarms and feeds off of death and carnage; enlarging his dark domain with every poor, lost soul he enslaves, dragging them back into sexual immorality and all impurity and covetousness.
He most certainly would not seek to divide his territory. That accusation against Jesus is just wicked and demonic in its own right. Satan seeks to mislead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. How so? Certainly by any means necessary, but all coming down to one thing: to deceive you with empty words, as St Paul warns. As it was with his false sermon to Adam and Eve, so it is in all his poisonous words to all their children. He has an ally in our own flesh with our weak and fickle hearts and itchy ears.
Beware of such things, beloved. He comes not as an imitator of God, as St Paul exhorts the Ephesians, but as an impersonator. He doesn’t create, but only tears down and destroys. He slithers in through the ear and infects the body and soul that ought to belong to the Lord. He moves and changes things ever so subtly until you view and accept them ever-so-slightly differently than how the Lord gave them.
He does this with all the Lord’s gifts. Marriage and children top his list, but its also clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home. And of course, preaching and the Sacraments. It drips in ever so slowly until at last you may not be blatantly against the Lord, but you certainly aren’t for Him; boldly confessing His Word and will against the hostile speech of a world at odds with the Christ and His Kingdom.
How shall you defeat this wily foe? With what shall you arm yourself and defend against his attacks? Of yourself you indeed have no strength. This is a battle you cannot win.
But our Lord Jesus Christ, your Captain and Avenger, has given you the victory! He, the Stronger Man, routes strong man Satan, not with His bulging biceps or futuristic technologies, but by placing Himself as bait before the ravenous jaws of the roaring lion. He becomes the snake of Aaron’s staff which struck the dust of the earth. That is, though He was at the right hand of God, He did not count equality with the Father as thing to be grasped. Rather, He made Himself nothing. He took on the form of a servant. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He filled her womb and was nursed by her. He became Man.
He loved you and gave Himself up for you, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Do you see? Aaron’s staff is a type of Christ who was to come. It was cast from the hand of the priest and became a snake, like the snakes of the Egyptian magi; even as Jesus came down from the right hand of the Father, becoming Man like all other men. Only as Aaron’s staff snake swallowed up the others, so Christ, in becoming Man, swallows up death in His own death. He turns Satan’s weapon against him and defeats him by it! Of this we sing in that great Easter sequence hymn: Life and death contended, in that combat stupendous. The Prince of Life who died, reigns immortal!
For Christ Jesus wields the finger of God, that is, the mighty sword of the Holy Spirit, the very Word of God, so not only slice and dice us to the bone, but to slay the fiery dragon and cut out His lying tongue. Do you hear how Trinitarian the exorcism of this mute man is? All exorcisms are. Yours was. Yes yours. It was the Finger of God which was placed into your ears and loosed your tongue in your Baptism. For you were mute and once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, called out of darkness to proclaim the excellencies of your Stronger Man who has won the victory.
First He opened your ears to the preaching of His Word. This is the Finger and the Kingdom of God which has come upon you. This preaching then looses your tongue that you may speak and confess His saving Name. For most of you, this occurred first in your Baptism. There the Finger of God traced the watery Cross of the Crucified One upon your head and heart, marking you in body and soul, as a possession of the Lord Jesus Christ. He expelled the unclean spirit and made room for the Holy Sprit in the Name of His God and Father. They come and make Their home with you. As it is written, 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 (Jn 14:23).
This is what Jesus means when He responds to the Ave Maria of the woman in the crowd. St Mary, the Mother of our Lord, is indeed blessed, but not on account of the work of bearing and nursing the Christ Child, but rather she is blessed as you are blessed: in hearing the Word of God and keeping it. But not “keep” as in “do.” Rather, “keep” as in “guard,” “treasure,” “hold fast to.” In this St Mary is a wonderful example.
Stan and Sarah Lemon will remind us all of this in a moment. By their confession they shall turn our eyes to the Lord. For they shall once again publicly renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways and publicly confess the saving work of the Blessed Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They will do this, dear Christians, not only for their sake or mine, but for yours. By the grace of God every transfer or confirmation does so. They pledge themselves, even as you have, to regular and faithful hearing of God’s Word read and preached, to the frequent reception of the Lord’s Supper, to endeavoring to live a holy life according to this Word.
This is what our Lord has saved you for. He has saved you from the darkness and domain of the devil, rescued you from his sinister kingdom by blood and water and Spirit. He has laid siege to the house of the Evil One, plundering his ill-gotten goods, that is, you, and restoring you to your rightful house and home with Himself and His Father by His Spirit. All this, so that you may be His own, that He saves you for the purpose of living under Him in His kingdom and serving Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).
Indeed it is good, right, and salutary, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks to God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Come, then, and receive the Holy Eucharist, the very Body given into the jaws of death for you, the Blood that silences the accusations of the devil and mutes his foul mouth and lying tongue.
For you, beloved, are the dear Goshen of our Lord, the land where His people dwell, and no swarms of flies or their dark lord, shall overcome you. He is the Lord in the midst of the earth. More than that, He is the Lord of heaven as well. His kingdom stands and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. By His grace, through His Word, not only do you dwell in His kingdom, it is yours by faith. And you, beloved, are safe and sound in the home of your Father.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Reception of Stan and Sarah Lemon and family
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
First things first. The devil is real. Do not be deceived otherwise. Neither be misled into thinking he has more power than he actually does. He is not God’s equal or opposite. He fell from heaven, or more precisely, he was εχβαλε, that is, exorcised from heaven; thrown down from that celestial paradise to roam and wander the earth, always dreading the coming Last Day when Christ, the Lord of Hosts, returns to judge the living and the dead and slam the him in his hellish cage forever.
Until then, he stalks in the darkness like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. It was he who slithered into the House the Lord built, getting his head in when he tempted Eve and muted Adam into sin. His whole body quickly followed and godly marriages have been feeling the poisonous effects ever since.
Do not be mistaken, beloved, the attempt to undermine and redefine and separate and destroy marriage is demonic. Whether at the national level or in your own bedroom. He seeks to rend asunder the one flesh union. Satan creates nothing. Nothing. He only destroys and corrupts. He seeks to enlarge his kingdom by the ruin and desecration of the kingdom of God. For unlike out Lord Christ, Satan’s kingdom is only and merely an earthly kingdom. He does exercise some power in this fallen work. But it is a limited and suppressed power.
Notice how the Egyptian magicians could reproduce some of the plagues by their secret arts. Staff snakes, bloody water, frogs. They could do these. And Pharaoh hardens his heart because of them. Even when Aaron’s snake staff ate up the snake staffs of the magi! But the king of Egypt grieves and embitters and the Holy Spirit by suppressing the truth.
Ironically, though, the magicians could not reproduce the gnats and the flies. Perhaps its divine irony because Beelzebul, which is who the crowds accuse Jesus in being in league with, means, Lord of the Flies. That’s what he is. Ruler of the dung heap. King of the maggots. He swarms and feeds off of death and carnage; enlarging his dark domain with every poor, lost soul he enslaves, dragging them back into sexual immorality and all impurity and covetousness.
He most certainly would not seek to divide his territory. That accusation against Jesus is just wicked and demonic in its own right. Satan seeks to mislead you into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. How so? Certainly by any means necessary, but all coming down to one thing: to deceive you with empty words, as St Paul warns. As it was with his false sermon to Adam and Eve, so it is in all his poisonous words to all their children. He has an ally in our own flesh with our weak and fickle hearts and itchy ears.
Beware of such things, beloved. He comes not as an imitator of God, as St Paul exhorts the Ephesians, but as an impersonator. He doesn’t create, but only tears down and destroys. He slithers in through the ear and infects the body and soul that ought to belong to the Lord. He moves and changes things ever so subtly until you view and accept them ever-so-slightly differently than how the Lord gave them.
He does this with all the Lord’s gifts. Marriage and children top his list, but its also clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home. And of course, preaching and the Sacraments. It drips in ever so slowly until at last you may not be blatantly against the Lord, but you certainly aren’t for Him; boldly confessing His Word and will against the hostile speech of a world at odds with the Christ and His Kingdom.
How shall you defeat this wily foe? With what shall you arm yourself and defend against his attacks? Of yourself you indeed have no strength. This is a battle you cannot win.
But our Lord Jesus Christ, your Captain and Avenger, has given you the victory! He, the Stronger Man, routes strong man Satan, not with His bulging biceps or futuristic technologies, but by placing Himself as bait before the ravenous jaws of the roaring lion. He becomes the snake of Aaron’s staff which struck the dust of the earth. That is, though He was at the right hand of God, He did not count equality with the Father as thing to be grasped. Rather, He made Himself nothing. He took on the form of a servant. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He filled her womb and was nursed by her. He became Man.
He loved you and gave Himself up for you, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Do you see? Aaron’s staff is a type of Christ who was to come. It was cast from the hand of the priest and became a snake, like the snakes of the Egyptian magi; even as Jesus came down from the right hand of the Father, becoming Man like all other men. Only as Aaron’s staff snake swallowed up the others, so Christ, in becoming Man, swallows up death in His own death. He turns Satan’s weapon against him and defeats him by it! Of this we sing in that great Easter sequence hymn: Life and death contended, in that combat stupendous. The Prince of Life who died, reigns immortal!
For Christ Jesus wields the finger of God, that is, the mighty sword of the Holy Spirit, the very Word of God, so not only slice and dice us to the bone, but to slay the fiery dragon and cut out His lying tongue. Do you hear how Trinitarian the exorcism of this mute man is? All exorcisms are. Yours was. Yes yours. It was the Finger of God which was placed into your ears and loosed your tongue in your Baptism. For you were mute and once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, called out of darkness to proclaim the excellencies of your Stronger Man who has won the victory.
First He opened your ears to the preaching of His Word. This is the Finger and the Kingdom of God which has come upon you. This preaching then looses your tongue that you may speak and confess His saving Name. For most of you, this occurred first in your Baptism. There the Finger of God traced the watery Cross of the Crucified One upon your head and heart, marking you in body and soul, as a possession of the Lord Jesus Christ. He expelled the unclean spirit and made room for the Holy Sprit in the Name of His God and Father. They come and make Their home with you. As it is written, 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 (Jn 14:23).
This is what Jesus means when He responds to the Ave Maria of the woman in the crowd. St Mary, the Mother of our Lord, is indeed blessed, but not on account of the work of bearing and nursing the Christ Child, but rather she is blessed as you are blessed: in hearing the Word of God and keeping it. But not “keep” as in “do.” Rather, “keep” as in “guard,” “treasure,” “hold fast to.” In this St Mary is a wonderful example.
Stan and Sarah Lemon will remind us all of this in a moment. By their confession they shall turn our eyes to the Lord. For they shall once again publicly renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways and publicly confess the saving work of the Blessed Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They will do this, dear Christians, not only for their sake or mine, but for yours. By the grace of God every transfer or confirmation does so. They pledge themselves, even as you have, to regular and faithful hearing of God’s Word read and preached, to the frequent reception of the Lord’s Supper, to endeavoring to live a holy life according to this Word.
This is what our Lord has saved you for. He has saved you from the darkness and domain of the devil, rescued you from his sinister kingdom by blood and water and Spirit. He has laid siege to the house of the Evil One, plundering his ill-gotten goods, that is, you, and restoring you to your rightful house and home with Himself and His Father by His Spirit. All this, so that you may be His own, that He saves you for the purpose of living under Him in His kingdom and serving Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).
Indeed it is good, right, and salutary, that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks to God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Come, then, and receive the Holy Eucharist, the very Body given into the jaws of death for you, the Blood that silences the accusations of the devil and mutes his foul mouth and lying tongue.
For you, beloved, are the dear Goshen of our Lord, the land where His people dwell, and no swarms of flies or their dark lord, shall overcome you. He is the Lord in the midst of the earth. More than that, He is the Lord of heaven as well. His kingdom stands and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. By His grace, through His Word, not only do you dwell in His kingdom, it is yours by faith. And you, beloved, are safe and sound in the home of your Father.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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