The Lutheran Hour
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"Devils Believe"
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Text: Mark 1:23-24
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! To all who are troubled and torn; to all who are lost and alone; to each person who is surrounded by the dark curtain of depression and doubt; the crucified and risen Savior bids you welcome. By His words, devils and demons are banished; by His crucifixion and resurrection, heaven’s doors are opened. May the Holy Spirit grant us faith in our Redeemer. May God grant a Christ-directed faith to us all. Amen.
It was several centuries ago when a most curious, but very deadly plague appeared in a small village in Lithuania. The disease was “curious” because, as soon as an individual contracted the plague, he or she would, almost immediately, fall into a deep, almost deathlike, coma. It was a state from which a great percentage of the victims never emerged. Indeed, the vast majority of the afflicted died within a 24-hour period of time. I say the vast majority died, because, occasionally, inexplicably, unexpectedly, a hardy soul would recover and very quickly be restored to the full bloom of health.
Unfortunately, tragically, this unpredictability presented a problem: in the 1700s, medical technology just wasn’t all that advanced. Without the modern electronic measurements of brainwaves and heart activity, those who were ministering to the afflicted had the almost impossible challenge of trying to determine whether a victim was dead or alive.
With the disease raging, everyone had agreed it would be best to dispose of the dead as quickly as possible. That attitude changed the day it was discovered that the village had, quite inadvertently, quite innocently, buried one of its citizens alive. Yes, that’s right – an individual whose earthly remains had been quickly interred, ended up dying from the burial, not the illness. Having been informed of the tragedy, the city fathers called everyone to a town meeting which had only one item on the agenda: How can we make sure such a tragedy will never ever happen again? After considerable discussion and deep deliberation, the town agreed they would, from that moment on, put food and water into the casket next to the person being buried. Further, they decided to add a tube which would extend from the casket up to the surface. This pipe was designed to provide fresh air and a means by which the seemingly dead, but possibly living, individual might call for help from above.
In truth, there was a group of townspeople, a small and vocal faction, who, believing themselves to be both proper and practical, put forth an alternative proposal, a far less expensive procedure. Unbelievable as it may sound, this group suggested every casket be equipped with a foot-long spike, a spike which would be mounted on the coffin’s lid, directly over the heart of the person who was supposed to be dead. When the casket top was closed, the spike would put an end to any possibility of someone being buried alive.
You know, when I first heard that story, I was amazed at how two totally different solutions were presented for the same problem. I was astounded to think that in this small community, there were two groups so diametrically opposed. In the face of a tragedy, one group was willing to do anything and everything necessary to provide people with a chance to live, and another group only wanted to make sure everybody stayed dead.
Now I’m certain many Lutheran Hour listeners may think I’ve invented that story. If it is an invention, it’s not mine. Some of you may prefer to believe individuals could never be so mean and mercenary, so cruel and calculating. If you really suppose that kind of thing could never happen; then, please go to an abortion clinic. Do your own survey to find out how many parents are terminating the lives of their unborn solely and completely because of cash considerations. Or, if that idea of an abortion clinic seems in poor taste, then, please listen in on the debates of some social scientists. Pay close attention as they dispute and deliberate on what should be done with those parts of the population which are no longer successful supporters of society, or meaningful contributors to the economy. Yes, it would not be impossible, or even out of character, for someone to suggest a stake through the heart.
Yes, such a thing could happen. Even more, such a thing can happen to you. Whether you are a Christian or not; whether you know it or not; whether you acknowledge it or not; right now, at this very moment, there are two groups who are thinking about you, your relationship with the Savior, and where you’re going to spend eternity.
On the one side of the struggle there is Satan. He, with his demonic henchmen, are dedicated to the task of making sure you are really, eternally, spiritually dead. To that end they have developed the tools and the skills to make sure that when you breathe your last, you will be a goner for all eternity. If you’re spiritually dead right now, and by that I mean, if Jesus is not your Savior, they’re glad of it. And, if you’re not dead, they stand eager and ready to nudge you along toward the direction of doubt and disbelief.
In complete contrast to the devil’s forces and the sinister principalities of darkness, stands the Triune God of Christianity – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He, along with His loyal angels, has shown that He is willing to pay the price, pay any price, even the price of the Savior’s life, to make sure that when you die, you will bypass hell and begin an eternity of joy and happiness in heaven.
And it is precisely at this point that I have to stop in this message and do some explaining. When I talk about the devils and demons, many of you immediately start smiling. That’s because you’re thinking all this talk about devils and demons is nothing but a bunch of silliness. Some of you, like me, might even be remembering an old Walt Disney cartoon. You know the one which featured Mickey’s dog, Pluto. In that Academy Award-winning short subject, Pluto saved a cute, cuddly kitten from certain death. Then, when Mickey paid a great deal of attention to the kitten, Pluto got jealous. The climax of the movie came when the kitten fell into a well. As the kitten struggled in the water and Pluto struggled with his conscience, a small, pitch-forked devil appeared on his shoulder. That doggy devil encouraged Pluto to walk away and let the kitten die. Almost immediately, on the dog’s other shoulder, a mini-angel showed up urging Pluto to save the drowning feline. I haven’t seen that cartoon in more than 50 years, but I can still remember the dialogue. It went something like, “Let the kitten drown!” countered by, “No, save the kitten.” Apparently bad angels have low voices and good angels have high ones. Eventually, the good angel, who had been taking quite a drubbing from his evil nemesis, rolled up his sleeves and decked that tempter.
Now the problem is this: many people, when they think of the clash between good and evil – if they think of that contest at all – consider it to be nothing more than a joke, a cartoon, a story conceived for the entertainment and edification of children. Many people – maybe you – never consider that the competition for our souls is something which ought to be taken seriously by a sophisticated, modern-day adult. The number of people who take Scripture seriously is shrinking and many completely ignore Holy Scripture when it warns, “The devil is walking around like a roaring lion, looking for souls to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). For such folks, the story of the Satan instigated – and incredibly successful – temptation of humanity in the Garden of Eden is nothing more than an ancient fairy tale held over from an antiquated age of superstition.
If that is truly what you believe, please, allow me to invite you to invest a few minutes to consider an event which took place at the beginning of the Savior’s earthly ministry. Recorded in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, the incident occurred in Capernaum – a prosperous fishing village on the north shore of the Lake of Galilee. It begins when Jesus attended the local synagogue. There He, because He was an honored guest, was asked to address those who had assembled there. Back then, according to custom, a guest preacher would begin his discourse by quoting some saintly scholar or highly respected pillar of the past whose reputation was unassailable, incontrovertible, and irrefutable.
But guest preacher Jesus didn’t do what others normally did in similar situations. Jesus didn’t do what they did because He didn’t have to. He had been there when the world was created. He had been involved with setting Adam and Eve in the perfect garden. He had been wounded when our first ancestors deserted Him and succumbed to Satan’s sly suggestions to sin. He had been there when the Father promised to sacrifice Him so we might be bought back from the forces of death and hell.
No, Jesus didn’t need to refer to wise men of the past whose brilliance was a small candle compared to the Son of His all-knowingness. Had He not heard the complaints and criticisms of the Children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness? Had He not seen how the People of Promise constantly abandoned the Triune God to pursue adulterous relationships with false deities? He had seen all these things and so much more. Which is why, when Jesus spoke that day in Capernaum; when He spoke of sin and God’s grace; when He called people to repentance and the redemption He would soon buy upon Calvary’s cross, and at the empty and open tomb of Resurrection Sunday, Jesus’ words were filled with power and authority, sureness and certainty. Although we don’t have the text of the Messiah’s message, we do know the reaction of those who listened to Him. The Bible says everyone there was filled with awe, with adoration and admiration of the words of salvation which they had just heard flow with such certainty and surety from the gracious lips of God’s sacrificial Son.
Did I say everyone was in awe? Sorry, that’s not quite right. That day, not everyone was comforted by the message of the Christ; not everyone felt blessed by the hope He offered; the forgiveness He would bestow at such a terrible, personal cost. There was one person in the Capernaum synagogue who hated what he was hearing; one person who was both frightened, furious, and fearful. A man, possessed by one of the devil’s demons, cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”
Although the demon might not have wished to speak the truth, he was quite accurate in everything he said. Jesus was the promised Messiah and He had been born to live and die to redeem the sinful and lost souls of humanity. To that purpose Jesus dedicated and would eventually give His life. Understand, Jesus’ act of saving us is not confined to the day of His suffering, torture, and crucifixion. On the contrary, His entire life was lived rejecting Satan’s temptations and fulfilling God’s laws which we have broken. The demon was right: Jesus had come to offer Himself as the ransom price to buy us back from the slavery of Satan and sin, to break the stranglehold of eternal death. That He succeeded in His quest has been proven, beyond doubt or disputation, when He rose from the dead.
Fearful of what was to come, the demon who believed in Jesus’ mission, and trembled at its consequence, spoke with an insight which was born of ancient knowledge. He challenged: Jesus, this sinner, his body and soul, belong to me. I own him. The terrible things he has done; the horrifying thoughts in his head, the sinful nature with which he was born, have given me my claim. I have a right to him and You’re getting involved with things which are not Your concern. Leave me and my tormented mortal alone. You have no right to interfere.
It was not the last time such an argument would be advanced by one of hell’s henchmen. Look at your own life. Have you not, at various times, heard your tempters whisper similar words into your ears? Have you not listened to their challenge: Jesus has no right to interfere with your lustful longings, with your unrestrained greed, your wicked wants and wishes, your sinful selfishness, your desire to seek after all that which is sinful, sensual, and immoral. Satan still suggests Jesus has no right to interfere with our depravity, our dishonesty, our decadence, our degenerate disposition.
Wishing to keep the lost far removed from the blood-bought forgiveness Jesus offers; wishing to stop anyone from looking at the cross of Calvary where the price of humankind’s redemption was paid; desiring to stop sinners from seeing the empty tomb of Resurrection Sunday; Satan has manipulated millions into believing the salvation story of the Savior is a myth, that the Triune God’s plan of redemption is interchangeable with the false beliefs of the world’s other religions. He has managed to convince people that they – not God – are in control and that they will never experience a Day of Judgment or eternal reckoning. That’s what the devil was saying to Jesus that day in Capernaum. Like the people in our opening story, Satan wishes to make sure your eternal death and everlasting damnation are certain. To make sure you will stay dead; he does all he can to put a murderous nail of false pride and inflated over-independence into your heart.
But Jesus? Jesus is different. Jesus wishes to save you from death. In the Capernaum synagogue that day, Jesus rebuked the demon who had possessed that poor man. With Divine authority, Jesus commanded, “Be silent and come out of the man.” No one should be surprised that the same powerful Word of God that brought this world into being, managed to bring the devil out of a man. The same omnipotence which had defeated the chariots of Egypt; which had shut the mouths of the lions to protect Daniel; which had guided the stone of the shepherd-king David to bring down Goliath; now ripped the convulsing and crying demon from the breast of that man and sent him screaming back to the pit of hell. The Savior’s word released that man from the bondage which had held him. There was rejoicing in his freedom, but Jesus alone knew that it would take more than a word to win forgiveness and free that man eternally from his sin.
On January 12, 1888, it was unseasonably warm in South Dakota. Children went to school without coats, hats, or mittens. By the end of the day the temperature had dropped and snow began to fall and blow. One farmer went to the school house to pick up his three children aged 9, 11, and 17. He had just gotten them situated in the wagon and was ready to get in himself when the horses, reacting to the blizzard, bolted and got away. Hours later, miles further, the farmer found his children. The older girl stood by the frozen bodies of her brother and sister. Heartbroken, she collapsed into her father’s arms. Later, when she was composed, she told her father how she had tried to take her big, heavy coat and wrap it around all of them. Then, with sadness, she whispered, “But the coat wasn’t big enough.”
My dear friends, in this world there are a lot of things which aren’t big enough. No matter how big a government might get, it will never be big enough to cover our sins, to bring salvation and bestow contentment upon all its citizens. Still, “it’s not big enough” can never be said about the love of the Lord. It is big enough when His children rebel; His love is big enough to transform murdering Moses into the leader of the Exodus. God’s love was big enough to repeatedly call the wandering Children of Israel back to faithfulness. His love was big enough to patiently teach the confused and misunderstanding disciples. God’s love remains big enough to embrace the entire world – which includes you and me. The Savior’s love which resisted the devil’s temptations; which endured unfair accusations; which suffered physical abuse; which kept Him on His cross and brought resurrection strength, is big enough to remove our sins and cover this world. Today Jesus’ love sends the Holy Spirit into the world. Repent, believe, be saved. Why? Because it would be a terrible thing if only the devils believed in Jesus. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for February 1, 2009
Topic: No Men in Church – Part 1ANNOUNCER: Why aren’t there more men in church? Pastor Ken Klaus responds to questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: And I am very much looking forward to discussing today’s topic. It’s been a big concern of mine for many years.
ANNOUNCER: I realize that. Our discussion today is prompted by a letter from a listener, who writes: “We have a son, 27 years old. We’re proud of him in just about every way imaginable, but for one thing: he has drifted away from church. We invited him to attend Christmas services with us, but he didn’t go. We don’t want to nag him – but we’re concerned that he doesn’t see a need for God.
KLAUS: You know, Mark, that’s not an unusual comment. It seems more and more young men don’t feel any kind of need to be close to the Savior.
ANNOUNCER: Have you made some sort of study of this?
KLAUS: Nothing scientific. Although I could say that when I was in the parish, I noticed that soon after we confirmed a class of young people, some of the boys just kind of drifted away and we rarely saw them in church.
ANNOUNCER: Drifted away? How so?
KLAUS: Well, they get involved with sports, and maybe their coaches would call for mandatory Sunday morning practices. Then came hunting season, or fishing season, or hanging out with friends who didn’t go to church. After a while, these young men just kind of disappeared.
ANNOUNCER: Now I’m sure there were exceptions to that.
KLAUS: Oh, yes, a great many exceptions. Still, if we were going to lose somebody, you wouldn’t ever go broke by betting that the boys would disappear before the girls.
ANNOUNCER: And that sort of thing happens in many churches, I would think.
KLAUS: Indeed. When I go out to speak, I find most choirs have far more women singing than men. Most Sunday schools hardly have any men teaching the children.
ANNOUNCER: You’re painting a very bleak picture. It seems our listener is not alone.
KLAUS: No, and I’m not even done yet. I especially think it’s sad to see all those “church widows.”
ANNOUNCER: Church widows? You mean the ladies whose husbands have died?
KLAUS: No, I mean those women who regularly bring their children to church, but they do so all alone. Dad is alive and well, but he never darkens the church doorway.
ANNOUNCER: So the kids grow up thinking “God isn’t for guys!”
KLAUS: Exactly. Which takes me to the worst part of what I’ve found in my very unscientific survey. In the last few years I’ve asked many people in many churches this question: “How many of you have a young man in your family or circle of friends, who, if Jesus came back today, you wouldn’t be entirely sure where he would end up?”
ANNOUNCER: What’s been the reply?
KLAUS: Well, except for one small church in Iowa, no less than 80 percent of the people raised their hands. In other words, 8 out of 10 people were concerned about the eternal destiny of some young man they know.
ANNOUNCER: Eighty percent, that’s a phenomenal number.
KLAUS: It’s a tragic number.
ANNOUNCER: Is there any reason why the young men of the church are slipping away?
KLAUS: I think there are all kinds of reasons.
ANNOUNCER: Such as?
KLAUS: Men don’t want to get dressed up for church; men don’t think they’re going to hear anything they don’t already know; men get involved with other things. In a farming community, for example, there’s spring planting, fall harvest. For high-schoolers, it might be some of the events we mentioned. Sometimes, it’s believing that all they’re going to hear is a sermon about some obscure Greek word, or some feminine-sounding message about how they’re supposed to love, love, love.
ANNOUNCER: How would you narrow this down for us today?
KLAUS: I think men think religion is for wimps. It’s not a manly sort of thing.
ANNOUNCER: So, in other words, they picture Jesus as the proverbial 98-pound weakling that was in the comic books?
KLAUS: Exactly. They fail to see Christ the Savior of power. Jesus took some pretty hard stands on issues – not to mention the fact that He did some pretty radical things.
ANNOUNCER: For example, clearing out the money-changers in the temple.
KLAUS: Yes, and He carried the sins of the entire world. That was an impressive weight, but He carried it for us. He willingly hung on the cross to save us. That’s the powerful commitment Jesus made for us. Churches don’t talk so much about that.
ANNOUNCER: Anything else you could say?
KLAUS: Well, other than serving as an officer or an usher, the church doesn’t have much for men to do. Men like to do something. They just don’t want to go to meetings.
ANNOUNCER: I can understand that. Well, we’ve used up all our time for today and haven’t gotten around to providing any answers. Should we continue with this next week?
KLAUS: Yes, and to help us, if you don’t mind, I would like to bring in Mr. Bruce Wurdeman. That’s Lutheran Hour’s Director of United States Ministries. Mark, we’ve described the problem – but he and his team have been working on some of the answers.
ANNOUNCER: And we hope our listeners will join us then to hear about this. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds” by Kenneth Kosche. From Christ Be With Me by the Kammerchor (© 1998 Concordia University-Wisconsin) Coronet
“Son of God, Eternal Savior” arranged by Michael Burkhardt. From Hymn Improvisations, vol. 1 by Michael Burkhardt (© 1993 MorningStar Music Publishers)
“Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me” by Donald Busarow. From Heirs of the Reformation: Treasures of the Singing Church (© 2008 Concordia Publishing House)