Undefeated by the devil

Genesis 3:1-15 ¹Now the serpent was more clever than any wild animal which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, ³but not from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it. You shall not touch it, or else you will die.’”

⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die. ⁵In fact, God knows that the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appealing to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She gave some also to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for their waists. ⁸They heard the voice of the Lord God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”

¹¹God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²The man said, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the livestock, and more than every wild animal. You shall crawl on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.

The Psalmist prays for certain victory: “Rise up, O Lord! Save me, my God! Yes, you will strike all my enemies on the jaw. The teeth of the wicked you will break.” (Psalm 3:7)

Rocky Marciano is the only undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion. His record is an amazing 49-0. He was small for a “big fellow” standing only 5’10”. His equalizer was his right hand.

Marciano began his boxing career in March 1947 with a knockout of Lee Epperson. He retired in April 1956 at the age of 31. 49 victories. 43 of them by knockout. Sportswriter John Schulian, who grew up following Marciano, said, “He was brutally strong. When you get hit you stayed hit.”

With an unblemished record of 49-0, Marciano hung up his leathers – retiring as the only undefeated heavyweight champion in boxing history.

We marvel at greatness.

Michael Phelps’ 23 Olympic gold medals.

Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors, including 4 U.S. Opens and 6 green jackets.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only undefeated NFL team in both the regular season and to win the Super Bowl.

We have a God who is undefeated. He is undefeated by the devil, by skepticism, by spiritual blindness, by dysfunction and by death.

Unlike these great athletes and teams, God gives his victory streak to us.

It’s hard to imagine a glorious, wonderful, perfect paradise. No sin. Bunnies and bears lions and lambs, creatures and the Creator all getting along. Best of all, people were walking hand-in-hand with God.

Into this paradise, Satan slithered in as a snake. He wormed his way into hearts of Adam and Eve.

In their first ever bout with the Serpent from hell, Adam and Eve were soundly defeated. With only a few questions … they were knocked out.

After they picked themselves up off the ground and brushed off the dust, they realized they were naked. They ran into the bushes to cover themselves with fig leaves.

God entered Eden and surveyed the battlefield. He saw the evidence of defeat all around him – the half-eaten fruit, the bare branches on his fig trees and his children cowering behind the bushes.

God didn’t hunt them down and hurl them into the eternal abyss. Instead, he called out, “Where are you?” That’s laughable because he knew exactly which bush they were hiding behind. Why did he call out? He wanted them to fess up.

Did they repent? Admit their mistake? Concede that they had been knocked out by a snake?

No. They made excuses. They blamed each other. They blamed the serpent. They even blamed God!

At that point, you would expect God to shoot lightening bolts from his hands to strike them down. … But he didn’t. He didn’t challenge them. Instead, he challenged Satan.

Like two boxers standing toe-to-toe at the weigh-in, God stood toe-to-toe with Satan. He challenged him to a fight. Winner take all. Satan against God’s Champion.

“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

God did not announce when or where this bout would take place. He didn’t even say who his Champion would be. That must have driven the devil crazy! “Which newborn will be my nemesis?!”

Satan knew that although he would get in a cobra-like quick strike on the promised offspring, he would not win. The God who created the universe with a word had just given his word that victory was assured.

Still, over the centuries, the serpent struck. The devil lied. Satan accused. The strong man threw his temper tantrums.

Satan used King Herod to try to kill the infant Jesus with the swords of his soldiers. The infant escaped.

The devil salivated as he tempted the Son of Man mercilessly in the dry desert. The Son of Man ordered, “Go away, Satan” (Matthew 4:10)!

When the devil finally recognized the Promised Seed of the woman, he let out a barrage of pugilistic strikes. He threw his jabs of hate and lust. A stab of pride and envy. But the hands that knew no sin blocked every one of them. Satan couldn’t touch the Son of God.

So Satan entered one of Jesus’ closest friends. Jesus told the Satan-possessed Judas Iscariot, “Do it quickly” (John 13:27). Satan tried to be so sneaky, but Jesus knew the secret the whole time. He allowed the betrayal to begin his victory over Satan.

Satan then whipped the city of Jerusalem into a religious fervor. That fervor intimidated Pontius Pilate so that he acquiesced to crucifying Jesus. As cowardly as Pilate was, he remained steadfast with the sign above Jesus’ head. Though it was meant as mockery, the sign proclaimed the truth: “Jesus of Nazareth. King of the Jews” (John 19:19).

Generations had passed. The serpent waited. Millennia had gone by. The serpent flicked his forked tongue in anticipation. As the offspring of Eve hung on the cross, the Ancient Serpent struck with a vengeance. He sank his fangs deep into the flesh of God’s Champion. The demons roared. The angels cringed. God’s Champion breathed his last.

The ancient serpent had won. Sin’s venom was too strong. Death had claimed another victim.

…

Not even close!

The seed of the woman slept in the grave for three days. Then he rubbed the sleep of death from his eyes and marched resolutely out of the tomb. His wounds were marks of victory. The demons cried. The angels sang. The saints praised. The martyrs cheered.

All around the battlefield lay the casualties of this epic war between the Lord of sin and the Omnipotent Creator.

Death was broken. Satan had lost its sting. And the Ancient Serpent’s skull lay crushed.

The Promised Champion was still undefeated!

Since Satan couldn’t defeat God’s only-begotten Son, he has turned his attention to God’s other sons and daughters – us!

He uses the same strategy that was so effective in Eden. He tried it again in the desert against Jesus. The strategy is to cut you off from God and his Word.

He will tempt you to stay up late on a Saturday night so you are too tired to wake up on Sunday morning.

He will trick you into putting your family first with athletic tournaments and vacation plans over the worship of your Creator and Redeemer.

He will cheat you out of time with the Lord by letting you believe that time at work is more productive.

He will delude you into putting the lusts of your flesh before your respect for your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

He will ambush you into thinking pride, arrogance and ease are better suited to our society because humility, peace and bearing a cross is seen as silly in our current society.

The devil strikes … and we fall victim. We taste the forbidden fruit. We hide from our heavenly Father. We blame everyone else – even God – for our troubles.

But “for us fights the Valiant One whom God himself elected” (Christian Worship: 200)! Jesus’ victory is our victory. He death overcomes our death. His resurrection promises our resurrection.

When the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side on the cross to make sure Jesus was dead, out came blood and water. Blood and water are the signs and seals of Christ’s death. But blood and water are also the signs and seals of your life. The water of baptism seals you into Jesus’ victorious death and resurrection. The body and blood of the Lord’s Supper are a sign of Jesus’ triumph over sin and Satan.

As Satan once deceived Adam and Eve by a tree in the garden, so now Satan has been overcome by the tree of the cross. The source of death has become the source of life for us.

Satan could not defeat God and was thrown out of heaven. Satan could not defeat Christ on the cross or prevent him from rising from the dead. All that is left is for him to attack God’s children, hoping to drag as many of us into the pit of hell with him as he can.

Respect your enemy. He is relentless. After Christ crushed his head, he is mortally wounded. If a wounded animal is dangerous, a wounded demonic being is even more so! He is also enraged by Christ’s victory over him on Calvary. St. John heard the voice of an angelic messenger with grim news for us all: “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:12).

The devil is real. His mission is clear. When the devil approaches you with sinful temptations, he is not playing a half=hearted game for his own amusement. He is playing for keeps. He’s playing for eternity. His only goal is to separate you from your Savior Jesus.

God tells us in his Word to “Resist the devil” (James 4:7). Do not tolerate him. Do not make peace with him. Do not play around with sin, thinking you’ll be fine. Do not pretend that you and temptations can share the same space. Resist him. Recognize him for who he is. Stand firm in the full forgiveness Christ won for you. Daily put on your baptism garment so the devil cannot touch you. Live the new life Christ won for you when he walked out of the grave.  

Flee temptation. Get away from it. The devil cannot overpower you by force, but he can trick you into committing spiritual suicide. He cannot rip you out of Jesus’ arms, but he will try to persuade you to jump.

There will be times when you must take a stand. Be ready to fight. Satan is a serpent who is stalking you. There are times when you need to face him in battle. But know that you are not alone. The victorious Christ has given you the sword of the Spirit to swing at the serpent’s head and the shield of faith to deflect all the strikes of the Ancient Serpent.

Rocky Marciano was a perfect 49-0. He was undefeated! But he cannot give his victory streak to you. It’s his and his alone. If you have the guts to step into a boxing ring, you must earn your own winning streak. No athlete or team can pass their winning streak on to you.

But Jesus Christ, the Serpent Crusher, can! And he does!

What Jesus accomplished in the manger, in the Jordan River, in the desert, driving out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, dying on the cross, and rising from the dead – he gives all of that to you!

Now you can tell the devil to “Go away!”

You can tell your employers that you’re going to create your own work schedule, so you have time off to worship God. They can find some heathens to work on Sunday.

You can let your coach know that certain days are off-limits for games and tournaments because those days belong to the Lord.

You can brush the Cheeto dust off your chest, get up off the couch and go into battle against the spiritual forces of evil.

The devil takes the fight to you. It’s time to take the fight to him!

Stop and pray. Don’t let the devil get into your head.

Speak God’s Word out loud. The devil will run away shrieking.

Command your flesh to behave. Your baptism has made your body the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Share your faith with others. Tell the story about Jesus. Invite a friend to church with you. Let the Holy Spirit use you to claim another victim out of the enemy’s camp.

Live like you are undefeated. Because Christ has given all of his innumerable victories to you. He remains UNDEFEATED! Amen.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:57)