Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from 2 Cor. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Judging and evaluating the larger movements of human history, and even the history of nations, is a very difficult and tenuous thing in the present moment. Few people are able to rightly see and judge the evil, damning, and destructive dynamics that begin ruining their nation and plunging it into utter demise.
- This is the explanation for Nazi Germany, for the rise of the Soviet Union, and now for the demise of Western Europe and the United States. The changes are relatively slow, and some people are clever to invent excuses and rationalizations, while others are dull and dim-witted and vulnerable to accepting the rationalizations. They don’t realize that their nation has been high-jacked, sabotaged and destroyed until it is too late.
- Most people are like the proverbial frog placed in a pot of tepid water on the stove – it is comfortable, and while they may notice that the temperature is rising, they enjoy the added heat. They don’t understand what is happening, the danger they are in, until it is too late and they are cooked.
- This is what has happened to numerous cultures and nations in the past, and it is exactly what has been happening in Western nations, including the United States, for several decades now. And in our current time, the water temperature is just about to reach the point of no return or escape – and the implosion is going to be irreversible. It is also going to be catastrophic.
- At such times in human history, for the people living in such decline, it is equally difficult to read, judge, and evaluate what is happening in the great cosmic war between good and evil. Even Christians struggle with disappointment, fear, and even dismal dread when living in the midst of what appears to be demonic victory. We can lose our faith.
- But then we have a “confirmation.” We may lament that this class in our congregation is but “one” Confirmand – some of you can remember much larger classes. But this one Confirmand demonstrates what the apostle is emphasizing in our text – and something that is going to be very important for us to remember over the next few decades, and perhaps centuries. And that is the reality that “SATAN’S HOUSE IS BEING PLUNDERED.”
- In the Old Testament Lesson we read of Satan’s greatest victory, of plunging humanity into sin and death. We also read of God’s promise of a Savior Who would crush the devil’s head. Jesus gave us a parable about “binding the strong man” so that one can enter his house and plunder his goods. Jesus was describing His own ministry and work of redemption.
- And though the blasphemies against God and His Son, which we read of in the Gospel Lesson, certainly continue all around us, the reality is that Jesus has bound the devil and is to this day plundering his house – and we are all evidence of it, all of us who are believers in Jesus. And our celebration of a “confirmation” is also evidence that even in our deplorable times, Jesus will continue to plunder Satan’s house.
- Paul lays the foundation of our confidence by reminding us that:
I. God Raised Christ Our Savior And Will Also Raise Us – And Bring Us Into His Presence
Text: “Knowing that He Who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence.”
A. This Is All By His Grace
Text: “His grace extends to more and more people.”
B. This All For You, For The Sake Of God’s People – And We Understand That God’s Glory Is In What He Does For You, His Love For You, And His Gift Of Salvation
Text: “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”
C. So We Believe, And So We Speak – And God’s Servants Will Continue To Do So Till The End Of Time, Plundering Satan’s House And Stealing Human Beings From Him And For God’s Kingdom
Text: “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believe, and so I spoke,’ so we also believe and so we also speak.”
Statement: Certainly some will flee from the church in dismal times – and this has already begun. Anyone can read the statistics in regard to the decline of the church, and those “churchly” groups that are growing hardly resemble the faith taught and proclaimed in Holy Scripture. But lest we be tempted to judge wrongly – and to also capitulate, we must remember what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. Our redemption is accomplished; we have been forgiven and saved by God’s grace. The beginning of the final victory has already occurred – Christ is risen, and we are assured that we will be raised with Him.
Application: Yes, the time is often hard to pass, especially when the light seems to be fading and the darkness gaining control. But this is a temporary illusion, limited spatially and temporally; overall, God is surely winning, He is plundering Satan’s house and reclaiming people and this world for Himself. And one day, His victory will be complete and utterly undeniable – and we will be vindicated fully and completely.
Transition: It is important for us to know these things, and to remember them, especially in dismal times, for if we remain aware and firmly grounded in truth and reality, then:
II. By Faith We Will Judge Rightly And Will Not Lose Heart
Text: “So we do not lose heart.”
A. What Is Seen Is Certainly Dismal – But It Is Transient And Temporary
1. Our outer nature wasting away
Text: “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”
2. All of the sin and woes of mankind which are afflictions to the godly
Text: “The slight momentary affliction . . . “
B. But What We See By Faith Is Glorious And Eternal
1. We are to receive an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison
Text: “This slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
2. We are looking forward to a building from God eternal in the heavens
Text: “We know that if the tent, which is our earthly home [our body], is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
3. So our inner nature is being renewed daily – the slight momentary afflictions can only prepare us for glory
Text: “This slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
4. So we look not at the transient things but the eternal things
Text: “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Statement: This will become more and more important to children of God in the next few years, for what will be seen will perhaps be even more grotesque than what we are currently exposed to in a culture and society that has truly run amok. And when the institutional church appears imperiled, and perhaps even has to shut down, then our eyes will have to focus even more exclusively on “the things that are unseen,” for they are eternal and will never pass away. Blessed are all who “have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” This is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Application: These eternal things are “presented” to us and made visible to us through God’s Word – the Holy Scriptures. “Heaven and earth shall pass away” but the Word of God abides forever. This is what has been written, and this is what we preach and speak. We do so because “we have the same spirit of faith” given to us by God Himself. You have this faith as well, Logan. Make sure that you allow God to protect it and preserve it in you through His Word. Jesus has bound and plundered Satan’s house to have you as His own dear child. He is doing this all over the world – regardless of the “appearance” of what can be observed with our eyes.
Conclusion: For all of us, let us pray that God enable us to judge rightly the things that can be seen around us – and to understand the true state and nature of the culture and world in which we live, so that we understand the evil that is coming, and not participate in it. We should not have had such a struggle to see clearly – but youth has no personal history to provide context. We who are older do not have this excuse. So we had best understand and consider the amount of energy and sacrifice that will be needed to oppose what seems to be coming. And we better pray that God provide us with younger people to join us and help us.
And as we do so, let us take great care to remain safe in the faith, in the teachings of God’s Word, so that we do not lose heart but continue to “believe” and so to speak! Remember, what is seen is transient; what is promised and unseen is eternal. Even now “SATAN’S HOUSE IS BEING PLUNDERED” – thanks and praise be to God. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.