Lent III: Oculi – March 8, 2026

Praise to you and peace from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

A certain demon possessed a man and prevented him from speaking.

This was a bad thing. Why did this demon do this to the man?

Jesus comes along and casts the demon out of the man.

And the man's tongue was loosed and he began to speak again.

This was a good thing.

It was a wonderful miracle, and Jesus showed his authority and the power even over demons.

The people marveled at what they saw, and they recognized that this is extraordinary.

This is something that they'd never seen before.

But not everyone rejoiced. Some of Jesus' enemies used this occasion to accuse

Jesus of being in league with the devil.

They said, he cast demons out by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.

In other words, they were claiming that Jesus is doing the devil's work. And this is ridiculous.

It makes no sense. Jesus points out very clearly, he says that a divided kingdom cannot stand.

So if Satan were casting out demons within his own kingdom, then his kingdom

would not stand. it would be divided.

It would collapse. It would not endure.

The devil does not work against himself. So this claim is ridiculous.

So Jesus, who is good, is accused of being evil.

The prophet Isaiah spoke about this when he said in chapter 5.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

And this is exactly what the devil does. He tricks us, and one of his tricks

then is to obscure the difference between good and evil, between a truth and a lie.

And he confuses people so that we no longer can recognize the truth.

We see this already in the Garden of Eden. When the serpent came to Eve,

he made the forbidden fruit attractive, as if it was good to eat.

He made the forbidden fruit, that which was bad ought to be good.

And he also essentially said, God is withholding some good from you.

So if you eat this fruit, then your eyes will be open, and then you will see

what he's withholding from you.

In this way, the devil made God who was good appear to be evil.

And Eve and then Adam fell for the devil's lie and ate the forbidden fruit.

The devil still works the same way today.

Marriage, children, and family are good gifts from God, and they are a blessing

for our society and for one another.

But the devil attacks these institutions, he wants to destroy them.

The faithful preaching of the gospel is good. It brings forgiveness, life, and salvation.

And yet false prophets distort the truth and they spread false doctrine.

And in doing so, they seek to destroy the church and lead people away from Christ.

God has also established earthly authority.

Government is meant to reward the good and punish the evil. but sometimes misguided

leaders punish those who are good.

And yet they allow wickedness to flourish.

In our culture, those who promote sinful acts are often portrayed,

they portray themselves as being compassionate, loving, and caring for all people.

Whereas we who know God's word and stand on what is good and moral and true

are oftentimes labeled harsh, intolerant, or narrow-minded.

Again, the devil calls good evil, and he calls evil good, and this is his trick.

Look at our epistle lesson today from Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

St. Paul calls us to be imitators of God, to imitate him, to reflect him and his love.

And then St. Paul warns us against sexual immorality, impurity,

covetousness, filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking.

These sins are bad. and if someone continues in them living a life of unrepentance,

then they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

St. Paul warns us against the kingdom of darkness and that we are to walk in

the light within God's kingdom and among God's truth.

Verse 9 says, For the fruit of light is found in all that is good.

The fruit within your life is found in all that is good and true and right.

So living an unrepentant life is bad. Living a repentant life is good.

Lent is a time of repentance where we recognize our sin which caused Jesus to

die upon the cross and then we seek the forgiveness of sins in the precious gospel.

There is good and evil. There is a kingdom of God and there's a kingdom of Satan.

There's a kingdom of light and there's a kingdom of darkness.

These two kingdoms are opposed to each other.

Which side are you on? You cannot remain neutral. You cannot sit on the fence.

There is no middle ground. For Jesus said, he who is not with me is against me.

And he who does not gather with me scatters.

Which side is Jesus on? His enemies

tried to make it look as if Jesus belonged to the kingdom of Satan.

They did not like Jesus. They did not like the fact that he was gaining popularity.

They did not like the fact that he is performing these miracles.

And they did not like the fact that they could not trap him.

And so what do they do? They try to discredit Jesus. us.

They try to make it appear that as if Jesus is on the side of the devil,

but nothing is farther from the truth.

Jesus did not come from the kingdom of Satan. He came to destroy.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus confronted the devil.

First time he was in the wilderness when Jesus was tempted three times by the

devil, but Jesus never gave in and responded with the word of God.

Throughout his ministry, he cast out demons. The gospels record Jesus casting

out demons on seven different occasions.

And Jesus also healed the sick.

He raised the dead. And all of these prove that Jesus is the Son of God.

On Good Friday, Jesus atoned for your sin and mine, the sin of the whole world,

not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.

He is the righteous one who suffered and died in our place.

And we call that Friday of Holy Week good, good Friday because of what Christ

did for us and for our salvation.

And then on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead.

His resurrection is the announcement that sin is paid for and that Jesus won

the battle. It's by means of the cross and open tomb that Jesus crushed the head of Satan.

Satan is strong, but Jesus is stronger.

And the blessings of the cross and the open tomb came to you during your baptism.

And you are now forgiven in Christ and your sin is removed and you have eternal

life on account of Christ and you are a child of God.

You walk in the light of Christ and when the devil attempts to accuse you,

you say to him, be gone Satan.

I am a baptized child of God and Christ is my one and only Savior.

We will sing the hymn, God's own child, I gladly say it as a closing hymn.

And listen to what stanza three says.

It puts our victory over Satan this way. Satan, hear this proclamation.

I am baptized into Christ.

Drop your ugly accusation. I am not so soon enticed.

Now that to the font I've traveled,

all your might has come unraveled and

against your tyranny god my lord

unites with me yet jesus gives us a warning he says that an unclean spirit when

it goes out of a person it seeks seven more spirits more stronger than itself it tries to come back in.

Beware. This is a warning for all of us. Do not take the gospel for granted.

Do not think that you can dabble in pornography or sexual immorality or gambling

or alcohol abuse and think that these won't affect you.

Be on your guard. At your baptism and later in your confirmation.

You renounce the devil in all his works and all his ways.

You were washed of your sin in the waters of holy baptism and you were given

the gift of saving faith in Christ.

Your life is now swept and put in order. You belong to Christ.

You trust in Jesus, but the devil wants back in.

And he does not stop attacking. He continues to tempt you.

He looks for moments of weaknesses in your life and mind.

Our opening hymn says it well, I walk in danger all the way.

The thought shall never leave me. That Satan who has marked his prey is plotting to deceive me.

This foe with hidden snares may seize me unawares.

If I should fail to watch and pray, I walk in danger all the way.

So the devil is real.

He is strong and he is dangerous. He will do everything in his power to take

your faith in Christ away.

He wants you to worship idols. He wants you to become addicted to this or that in a sinful way.

He wants you out of God's kingdom and back into his kingdom.

But by God's grace and strength, resist the devil.

Stand firm in the faith. Do not let your guard down. Rather,

watch and pray so that you may not fall into temptation.

You cannot fight Satan on your own. You need God's word and the sacrament to

strengthen your faith and to drive the devil away.

And when you fall, do not despair,

repent, and receive the forgiveness of sins and continue to hear the preaching

of the gospel and continue to receive the Lord's Supper for the forgiveness of all your sins.

As Jesus was speaking, a woman came up to Jesus and said, Blessed is the womb

in which your mother bore you and at the breast at which you nursed.

And Jesus said, Yes, Mary.

He said, Yes, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Mary, the mother of our Lord, was certainly blessed to be sure,

but she is ultimately blessed by hearing the word of God and keeping it.

You are blessed when you hear the word of God and keep it.

Jesus does not say blessed are the popular, the healthy, the rich.

Rather, he says blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

The word keep in Greek means to guard or protect.

It's a military term. So just as soldiers guard and protect the homeland,

so also we should guard and protect God's word from false doctrine and false teachings.

We should protect it as we are in this midst of a spiritual battle, the church militant.

Jesus won the victory, but the devil refuses to quit.

He seeks to destroy all that is good. And so we fight against the devil by guarding

and keeping God's word and the precious gospel.

Hold on to God's word. Cling to it. Trust in Christ and his many promises.

And those who do so will be blessed with life and salvation in Christ.

You are blessed. Cling to Christ alone. He is your refuge and strength,

the very present help in trouble.

You are blessed because of the word of Christ richly dwells in you.

You will be blessed when you partake of the Lord's Supper here this morning.

God's word protects you from the devil's lies.

It keeps you in the one true faith. It drives the devil away.

And God's word declares to you that you are righteous in God's eyes through faith in Christ.

God's word washes away your iniquity and it strengthens your faith in Christ.

Jesus cast out a demon from a mute man and the mute man could now speak.

And he gave Jesus all praise and thanksgiving and honor. And I'm sure he was very thankful.

So it is with you. Your lips are not mute. They are not bound, they are open.

And therefore, with your mouth, you give God all glory and thanksgiving and

praise for what Christ has done for you.

You now speak to others about Jesus, that he is your one and only Savior and theirs as well.

Are you? You are not a slave of Satan. You are a child of God within his kingdom.

You walk in the light of Christ.

In Christ, you are blessed.

In Christ, you are free.

In Christ, you are righteous.

And God has declared you to be good, very good in his eyes on account of Christ.

Thanks be to God. Amen.