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The Christian Church must remain Evangelical

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Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

Galatians 2:16-21  +  John 8:31-36

You probably know that Lutherans didn’t refer to themselves as “Lutherans” at the time of the Reformation. It was actually a derogatory term that was attached to them by the Roman Church, followers of this recalcitrant monk named “Luther.” No, the early “Lutherans” called themselves “Evangelicals.” (Our own church’s legal name is Emmanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church.) Now, today the term “Evangelical” has become sort of an umbrella term covering a large group of Protestants, mostly a mixture of Methodists and Baptists and Pentecostals. But originally it was the churches who aligned theologically with Martin Luther who used that name. “Evangelical” comes from the Greek word “Evangel” which means “Gospel,” “the good message.” They used that term because they recognized that the Christian religion is founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of God’s promise to forgive, to save, to justify sinners by faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again for our justification. They used that term, because they had come to recognize that the Roman Church, under the Bishop of Rome, had moved away from that “Gospel” foundation and back onto a different one, a very old one, the foundation of the “Law” as the path to God.

If following the path of the Gospel is called “Evangelicalism,” then following the path of the Law is rightly called “Legalism,” the teaching that, if you do the right things, if you offer to God the right things, then He will accept you, whereas the path of Gospel teaches that God will accept you, not if you do the right things, but if you believe in the right Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done all the right things in your place. And you may ask, “How could the Christian Church ever slide off the Gospel foundation onto a Law foundation? How could it possibly revert from Evangelicalism to Legalism?” But the truth is, it’s very easy to do. In fact, the Christian Church came very close to doing that very thing in the earliest days of its existence, twice!, even under the watchful eye of the original apostles. It’s the very thing St. Paul was addressing in today’s Epistle from Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

What was going on among the churches of Galatia that prompted St. Paul to write this letter? Well, Paul had recently founded those churches on his first missionary journey. He had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them, and they had believed. But after he left, certain Christian Jews came up from Jerusalem and were trying to convince the Galatians that faith alone in Christ wasn’t quite enough to be accepted by God. No, they also had to be circumcised, according to the Law of Moses, if they wanted to be saved. That’s “Legalism” replacing “Evangelicalism.” And it’s bad enough when people use obedience to the Ten Commandments as a path to God, which already doesn’t work. But it’s even worse when people want to impose extra laws on people, like being circumcised or observing dietary restrictions or other traditions. But that’s what Legalism always does. It loves to add more and more laws, more and more things you can do to ensure your salvation. It’s what the Pharisees had done among the Jews. And now, in Galatia, it’s what certain Jews from Jerusalem were trying to do with the Christians. And Paul has heard, to His horror, that they’re falling for it!

So he writes this whole letter to them to call them back to the truth of the Gospel. The words you heard in today’s Epistle actually refer back to another occasion when Evangelicalism was at risk of being replaced by Legalism in the Christian Church. And the apostle Peter was front and center in that controversy.

Earlier in chapter 2, Paul tells how he had been in the city of Antioch, a major city in Syria, to the north of the land of Israel. There were both Jews and Gentiles in that Christian congregation who had heard and believed the Gospel, that salvation is not to be found on the path of the Law but on the path of the Gospel, believing in the Lord Jesus for salvation. So they had set aside the Old Testament regulations about circumcision and about following a Kosher diet. Jews and Gentiles were happily practicing fellowship with one another in the Christian Church on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ, and Peter and Paul, who were Jews, were there at the time, and were eating together with the Gentiles without any issue.

But then certain men came from James in Jerusalem, men who still believed that there was a distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and that the Old Testament Law still needed to be followed. When they came, Peter gave into the pressure of their influence and pulled away from the Gentiles, giving them the impression that believing in Jesus wasn’t actually enough, but that they had to follow Old Testament ceremonial laws in order to really be accepted by God. And then Peter’s example began to lead still others astray. Legalism was starting to rear its ugly head.

So, Paul says, “I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.” And then he goes on to tell the Galatians what he said to Peter. Let’s walk through it together.

Since we [who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners] have come to know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law; for by works of the law no flesh will be justified.

The Jews (even before Jesus was born) generally led lives that conformed outwardly to God’s commandments more than the lives of Gentiles did. They generally upheld marriage and sexual morality, they worshiped the true God, etc. The Jews might have claimed that they had earned God’s acceptance more than the Gentiles had, and the Pharisees did make that very claim at the time of Jesus. But Paul reminds Peter that, although they were Jews by birth, they knew better than to seek God’s acceptance through their obedience to the Law. Instead, they sought God’s acceptance by believing in Christ, which is not a work of the Law. Seeking to be acceptable to God by the Law is trying to put something into God’s hand. Faith, according to the Gospel, is coming to God to have Him put something in your hand—the righteousness of Jesus and the atoning price He paid for our sins by His death on the cross. Paul reminds Peter that they sought to be justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the Law, because no one who relies on the Law will be justified.

But, he goes on, if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were also found to be sinners, then Christ would be a minister of sin! That cannot be!

In other words, we’re seeking to be justified in Christ, by faith, according to the Gospel. But if God, instead of counting us righteous, were still to count us as sinners (for not keeping the Law well enough, for associating with the uncircumcised and eating pork with them, for example), then Christ would not be a minister of grace and life and salvation, as we thought. No, then He would be a minister of sin and death! And that simply cannot be!

For if I rebuild those things which I destroyed, I show myself to be a transgressor.

That is, when I became a Christian, I “destroyed,” I rejected the path of the Law as a path to God. If I now rebuild that path, if I revert to legalism, if I try to reconstruct the Law as a way to salvation—as you have done, Peter, by treating the Gentiles as unworthy because they don’t follow the laws of circumcision and dietary restrictions—then that is not Christ’s doing. No, if I do that, if I resort to legalism, I make myself a transgressor, because all who walk the path of the Law are transgressors, according to the Law itself.

For through the law I died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith—faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

The Law required the sinner’s death. So I gave it what it required—not by actually dying myself, but I have been crucified with Christ. When I came to faith in Christ crucified, God accepted His death in place of my death. God considers me, Paul the sinner, according to the Law, to have died. I, Paul the sinner, no longer live. If I did, I would be required to keep the Law in order to reach God. But I died to the Law and am now on a different path, the path of faith in Christ, the path of the Gospel, where Christ lives in me, Paul the believer, where Christ’s obedience is what counts before God, where I am justified before God, not based on what I’ve done, but based on what Christ has done, in whom I believe.

And so now I live, not to earn God’s favor, not to offer Him the gift of my obedience, but in gratitude to Him for His gift to me, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. So I do make it my goal to live for God, yes, to keep His commandments, but never in a legalistic way, never pretending that my obedience is what makes me acceptable to God, never adding additional laws as a way to be extra special in God’s sight. I live every moment of the rest of my earthly life in gratitude, and in faith.

And then the grand conclusion to his argument: I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness were gained through the law, then Christ died in vain.

In other words, if I can get to God by trying hard, by following this or that law, by doing a series of “right things,” then Jesus didn’t have to die. I could have saved myself. But, no, I uphold the grace of God. That is, I claim that Christ did have to die for me, that God’s grace is the only way for sinners to be saved, that the Gospel has freed us from legalism in all its forms, and we dare never return to it. The Christian Church must remain Evangelical!

Now, if St. Peter began to fall into legalism, if the congregations founded by the Apostle Paul in Galatia began to fall into legalism, is it really any wonder that the Roman Church eventually did, after so many centuries? If you buy this indulgence, you can earn God’s favor and forgiveness. If you observe this fast on this particular day, if you refrain from eating meat on certain days, if you go to Mass, if you pay for a Mass, if you pray to the saints and ask for their help, if the priest performs just the right gestures during the Mass, if they put the right number of candles on the altar, if you submit to the pope as the Vicar of Christ, if you enter a monastery or “get thee to a nunnery,” if you take vows of celibacy or of poverty or of obedience, if you pay your tithe, if your perform the required works of penance, then you may finally be worthy of the absolution, then you will be more acceptable to God, then you can hope to be justified.

It was this legalism that had infiltrated the Roman Church that sparked the Reformation among Luther and the other Evangelicals. What the Reformers did was no different from what the apostle Paul did in today’s Epistle, except that the Reformers couldn’t stand on their own apostolic authority, like Paul could. They had to rely solely on the Word of God left behind for them, and for all of us, too, in the writings of the apostles and prophets.

And isn’t that what Jesus told us to rely on in today’s Gospel? If you remain in My Word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Free from the slavery to sin. Free from the condemnation of the Law. Free from death. Free from hell. Free from the devil’s power. Free from legalism, in all its forms. Because God has loved us and has given His Son into death for our sins, because we had no hope of saving ourselves by doing things required by His law, or by man’s law, or by any law of any kind. Jesus alone is our hope. Jesus alone is our confidence. Jesus alone is our salvation. Jesus alone is our righteousness. And the Word of Jesus—that is something you can stake your very life on, your very soul. Because while popes and councils may err, while heaven and earth may pass away, Jesus’ Word will never pass away. “The Word of God will endure forever.” That was the motto of the Lutheran Reformation, because that was what the Lutheran Reformers staked their lives on, the ever-enduring Word of God. Let us stake our lives on it, too, and let us always, always strive to be and to remain a truly Evangelical Church. Amen.

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Remain in the truth of grace, faith, and Scripture alone

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Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

Galatians 2:16-21  +  John 8:31-36

Lutherans traditionally stick to the ancient lectionary of the Christian Church, going back over a thousand years for most Sundays of the Church Year. But for almost 500 years, Lutherans have taken one Sunday out of the Church Year to thank God for the Reformation of the Church that He graciously brought about in the 16th century. Yes, we thank God for the Reformation, although many people curse this event in history, out of ignorance, or out of spite. We should thank God for it, not because it made the Church on earth perfect. It certainly didn’t do that. No, the Lutheran Reformation of the Church was about nothing more and nothing less than telling the truth, the very truth that Jesus spoke about in our Gospel, the truth that sets men free. The Lutheran Reformation was about telling the truth boldly, telling the truth courageously, telling the truth steadfastly, no matter what the consequences might be, because the truth sets men free, while error, falsehood, is poison to the soul. The Reformation was about standing up to popes and rulers and church councils, and demonstrating that they had not been telling the truth, that they had introduced poisonous lies into the Church, lies that needed to be exposed and eradicated. It meant turmoil in the Church and turmoil in society. It meant men like Martin Luther risking their reputations, their livelihoods, and their lives. And it meant congregations all over Europe having to choose between the glory and the prestige and the cultural heritage of Roman Church, on the one hand, and the truth as taught by a humble German pastor, on the other. What could cause men to take such a stand? What could move congregations to follow them—to give up so much, to sacrifice so much, including earthly peace? Only the power of the Truth and the strength of Spirit-worked conviction.

The truth that was revealed by the Reformation has been neatly summarized in three simple phrases (which Luther didn’t actually use, by the way, but which certainly describe his teaching): By grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone. That is the Truth in which we, the heirs of the Reformation, must remain.

We’ll begin with Scripture alone, the Word of God, because that’s where we learn about the grace of God toward the human race, and the faith by which sinners are justified before God.

Jesus spoke in the Gospel “to the Jews who had believed Him.” There were many who disbelieved Him, but these believed. How had they come to believe Him? It certainly wasn’t because the Church—religious leaders of the day—told them to! Quite the opposite! The Church told them that Jesus was a heretic who deserved to die. No, they believed by hearing the word of Jesus. They had heard from the Old Testament Word of God that the Messiah was coming to save them from their sins and to bring sinners into His eternal kingdom. They had heard Jesus’ word calling them to repentance and faith in Him, the promised Messiah—the Christ. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is always at work in the Word, they had believed Him.

Now Jesus says to them, “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” What does it mean to remain in Jesus’ word? It means to go on hearing it and to go on believing in, depending on it, hanging onto it for dear life. It means to stick with what Jesus says, no matter what anyone else in the world might say. It means to stay firmly rooted and planted in Jesus’ word, not as a part of your life, but as the very source of your life, for now and for eternity. Those who remain in Jesus’ word are truly Jesus’ disciples. They are the ones who know the truth. They are the ones who are set free.

But you know how crafty the devil is. He is constantly casting the Scriptures into doubt, always sending people back to their own reason and strength, back to their own human philosophies and traditions, back to what fallible men have said, in order to obscure the pure light of the Holy Scriptures, to keep men captive in his kingdom of darkness, or to bring the children of the light back into his darkness.

But the Word of God will never be silenced. Heaven and earth will pass away, Jesus said, but My words will never pass away. The light of the Gospel will never go out. And for those few, for us few who believe God’s word and promise, the Gospel is still the power of God for salvation.

The Reformation principle that Luther helped to restore was “by Scripture alone.” Not “by Scripture and church tradition.” Also, not “by Scripture alone and we don’t care what the Church has ever taught before.” But by Scripture alone God has revealed Himself and His saving purpose and plan to mankind. By Scripture alone we learn to know God the Father, and Jesus Christ, whom He sent. By Scripture alone the Holy Spirit teaches us the truth and enlightens our hearts to believe in Jesus. From Scripture alone all doctrine is to be drawn. And by Scripture alone we judge all doctrines, to see which are from God and which are from men. Men can err. Popes can err. Councils and theologians and priests and pastors and seminaries and synods can and do err. But the Word of the Lord remains forever. And those who remain in it will know the truth, according to Jesus’ own promise.

That truth centers around God’s grace in Jesus Christ. By Grace Alone, another Reformation principle.

Grace is God’s free favor and love toward mankind. It’s God’s willingness and desire to be kind and good and merciful to those who do not deserve it. Grace, by definition, cannot be earned, cannot be purchased, cannot be bartered for. Grace is always a gift, intended for those who can’t earn it, which is why no one who tries to earn it will ever receive it.

That was the case with the unbelieving Jews in the Gospel. When Jesus promised that those who remain in His Word will know the truth and will be set free, they answered Him, “We are Abraham’s seed and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. Now, a slave does not remain in the house forever. But a son remains forever. Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. You see, Jesus was offering them a gift, the gift of Himself, the gift of His sacrifice as payment for their sins, the gift of His righteousness as the replacement for their unrighteousness, the gift of freedom from slavery to sin, death, and the devil. He was the Son of God, the Son in the house who has the authority to set the slaves free. He was offering it as grace to needy sinners, but the sinners who stood before Him didn’t view themselves as needy, didn’t view themselves as slaves who needed to be freed. And so they remained slaves.

That’s why the Apostle Paul spends about two whole chapters in the Epistle to the Romans demonstrating from God’s Law that all flesh, all people, Jews and Gentiles, are sinners, condemned by God’s Law to death and sentenced to suffer God’s righteous wrath for all eternity. The main purpose of the Law is that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Why, then, does God justify anyone, if no one deserves it? Why, then, did God send His Son to redeem the lost and condemned human race, to be the propitiation, the sacrifice whose blood paid for all sin and whose righteousness satisfied the righteous requirements of the Law for all sinners? The answer is grace, grace alone.

Luther fought the battle against the Roman papacy, defending “by grace alone,” because the papacy had turned grace into an infusion of power by which God makes them able to earn God’s forgiveness and to merit eternal life. People do the same thing today when they think they are somehow worthy to be God’s children, worthy to be in heaven, deserving of God’s love and favor. But we hold to the Reformation principle that all people are, by nature, damned sinners, not worthy of a single favor from God, much less the free favor of eternal salvation and blessedness won for us by Jesus Christ. Sinners are saved from damnation, are justified, are made heirs of eternal life by grace alone.

That’s the reason why God saves and justifies sinners. How, then, are sinful human beings saved? How does God apply grace to people and to whom is it applied? How are sinners justified—counted righteous by God? You know this Reformation principle very well: Sinners are justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

That’s what Jesus had been repeating over and over and over throughout the Gospel of John. You’re probably most familiar with what He says in John chapter 3: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

It’s what Paul says throughout Romans 3, 4 and 5. It’s what you heard in today’s Epistle from Galatians 2. The righteousness of God is not something we have to perform or a standard we have to live up to. It’s a promise that God makes, something He promises to give, something that faith alone receives.

And if God counts you righteous, what good thing can you possibly lack? If God counts you righteous, then what does it matter if the whole world thinks badly of you? If God counts you righteous, what does it matter if you are rich or poor or smart or simple or famous or a nobody, if you have lots of friends or not a friend in the world? You have Jesus, His blood, His righteousness, His place as the Son in God’s household, His love, His friendship, His power, His strength, and His promise to see you safely through this valley of the shadow of death into His eternal mansions. That’s what you have by faith, my friends. See what a precious gift faith is!

Faith was under attack at the time of the Reformation. Rome taught that sinners are justified by faith plus works, with the emphasis on works. No one could be sure if he had enough works, and so, no one could be sure he had any of those blessings that God promises. But Luther taught the simple truth of Scripture, that sinners are justified by faith alone in Jesus, apart from the deeds of the Law.

You know that this battle goes on still today, the battle to preserve this saving truth that faith is the how of justification, that sinners are justified by faith in Christ Jesus and in no other way, certainly not by works, and certainly not by the absence of faith.

Many Christians through the ages have shed their blood defending this simple truth. They’ve faced homelessness and imprisonment and the sword—in some cases, at the hand of the Roman Church itself—for taking a stand on the Reformation principles of grace alone, faith alone, and Scripture alone. Will we be less willing than they to take a stand? Will we be content to hide out and escape persecution and trial and hardship by keeping our mouths shut, by going along to get along? May it never be so! God has graciously preserved us in His truth and will preserve us still, if we remain in His word. Even that is something we can only do with the help of His mighty, Holy Spirit who will continue to strengthen us through Word and Sacrament, in every trial, in every hardship, in the face of every challenge. Let us remain in the truth, together with Luther, and with the apostles and prophets, and with all the saints in heaven and on earth. Let us remain in the truth of Jesus Christ, in the truth of the Reformation: by grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone. Amen.

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Powerful preaching, forceful faith

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Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

Revelation 14:6-7  +  Matthew 11:12-15

The story of the Reformation is the story of a priest who became a great preacher, a man who witnessed the corruption of the Church and was called by God to speak up about it, to call the people of his day to repentance, to point them to Jesus, to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God. He was loved by many and hated by many and persecuted for his bold preaching. And as a result of his preaching, many people turned from the error of their ways to Jesus, and, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, they were given a place in the kingdom of God.

Of course I’m talking about the man whose name was John, the Baptist, of whom Jesus once said, Among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. He was the last prophet of the Old Testament. And as such, he didn’t merely reform the Church of God. He prepared it for its transition from the Church of the Old Testament to the Church of the New. His duty was to point to Christ, and to the kingdom of heaven over which Christ rules.

What is the kingdom of heaven? It is the reign of Christ as King in the hearts of men. Not the kind of ruling that forces men to follow Him or to obey His commandments. But the kind of ruling that brings with it the forgiveness of sins, that frees a person from slavery to sin, from the power of the devil to accuse and condemn, and even from death. It’s the kind of ruling that makes a person a born-again child of God and an heir of His heavenly kingdom.

Where is it, this kingdom of heaven? It isn’t up in heaven. Instead, it has come down from heaven. It’s wherever the Gospel is preached, where the Sacraments are administered. There is the kingdom of heaven! There the Spirit of Christ calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

And what is the Gospel? It’s what John the Baptist first began to preach. God has come to the aid of sinners. God has stepped into our earthly history. He has given His Son to be born as a man, to redeem us from sin, death and the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and by His innocent suffering and death. He did it, not because we deserve it or have worked for it. But by His grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. I think that passage would be better translated, “The kingdom of heaven advances forcefully, and forceful men lay hold of it.” In the parallel passage from St. Luke’s Gospel, it puts it a little differently. “The Gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is pressing into it forcefully.”

How was the kingdom of heaven advancing forcefully? The Gospel of Christ was proclaimed in the face of much opposition. It was proclaimed precisely where men did not want it to be proclaimed, and yet it could be silenced or stopped. Herod couldn’t stop the kingdom of heaven from being proclaimed by putting John the Baptist in prison. The Pharisees couldn’t stop Jesus from proclaiming it, until He Himself was ready to bring everything to its completion on the cross. Even then, the crucifixion of Christ couldn’t stop the Gospel from being proclaimed. The apostles and the ministers of the Church went out and preached, even though they were targeted and killed, one by one. And the Christians who heard and believed their Gospel spread it to their own families and fellow citizens even as they fled from persecution to one city after another.

And how were forceful men laying hold of the kingdom of heaven? Who were these “forceful men”? They were tax collectors, prostitutes, fishermen, a Roman centurion, a Canaanite woman, a village of Samaritans. They were little children, of whom Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” All of these were laying hold of the kingdom of heaven, pressing into it forcefully. Not by being wise or good or obedient. They were all sinners deserving damnation. But in the face of great sinfulness, in the face of great opposition by the world, in the face of all the devil’s temptations and accusations, by the power of the Gospel they all dared to trust in Jesus as their Savior, as the Christ, the Son of the living God. That’s no small feat. That’s the power of the Gospel, which is the power of salvation for everyone who believes.

That Gospel of Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Savior of sinner was powerfully preached in the world for many hundreds of years after Christ’s ascension, and the kingdom of heaven continued to advance forcefully around the world as the Gospel was preached.

The kingdom of heaven always advances forcefully, and forceful men always lay hold of it. But that doesn’t mean the Gospel is always preached as clearly and as abundantly as before. There came a time when the Gospel was preached less and less, as the Roman pope became less and less Christ-centered and more and more self-centered, less and less word-of-God oriented and more and more man-oriented. It became difficult for people to hear the Gospel through all the chattering of the pope’s men about other things, as they preached less and less about Christ and more and more about indulgences, works of penance and satisfaction, paying for one’s own sins, praying to the saints, worshiping the Virgin Mary, the sacrifice of the Mass, and on and on.

We celebrate the Reformation, because God raised up men like John the Baptist, men like Martin Luther and Martin Chemnitz and countless others who, in the face of great opposition, pointed poor sinners away from all those other things and back to Jesus, back to His Word, back to His works, His merits, His grace, and His promise of salvation by faith alone. Luther was, indeed, like that angel of whom we heard in today’s Epistle, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

Since the days of the Lutheran Reformation, the Gospel has been clearly preached again in the world. But again, that doesn’t mean it’s always preached as abundantly as before. The Scriptures do not depict for us a kingdom of heaven that spreads visibly over the face of the earth, gradually taking over the planet and enveloping the world in good behavior and charitable acts, nor do they depict a large Christian Church that fills the world with pure teaching and with orthodoxy. On the contrary, pure preaching is depicted in these last days as rare, and with regard to faith, it is not depicted as a common thing, but instead Jesus asks, When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?

No, the powerful preaching of the Gospel and the forceful faith that results will not be widespread as this old earth winds down. But the kingdom of heaven must remain on this earth until Christ comes again. The Word of God remains forever, as the Scriptures declare and as the Lutheran Reformers also proclaimed. There must be a Church on earth that preaches the Gospel and that hears and believes the Gospel.

As those who have been given the treasure of the Gospel and who have been given entrance into the kingdom of heaven, let us give thanks to God for His grace in giving us this gift. And let us see to that, by God’s grace, we do not take this treasure for granted, but stand upon it as Luther once stood, powerfully proclaim it, and steadfastly believe it. Amen.

Source: Sermons