The experience of Christ after His Baptism shall teach us, in the first place, how every Christian after he is baptized is enrolled in the army fighting against the crafty devil, who makes frequent attacks, and stirs up persecutions all the days of our life. If this bitter enemy does not succeed with his afflictions and temptations, to overcome Christians, he seeks to hang them upon the cross and to murder them as he did Christ.
This peril threatens all Christians. Nor ought we to expect anything else. If he did not spare Christ, but attacked Him so persistently, he will much less spare us, whom he knows to be weak and unprepared. We should therefore be ready to meet this danger when it comes, and learn of Christ how to repel the enemy. This however can only be done through faith in God and His Word. If we put on this armor and use it properly, we are secure against the devil and his attacks; but if we have it not, or are ignorant of its use, we are hopelessly lost, and will become a prey to our deadly enemy.
Every Christian should therefore earnestly read the Word of God and hear it preached, so that he may become well acquainted with it. Besides, we ought to pray incessantly to God to let His kingdom come unto us, to lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us from all evil. (Luther’s House Postil, Sermon for Invocavit, Volume 1, p. 257)
#14 In Christ’s Kingdom Judgment is Different
Posted in 2023 Doctrine & Practice.