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.

Source: Sermons

The Lord is a Warrior. You want to be on His side!

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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 21

Isaiah 63:1-10

The Bible gives us many pictures of God, all of them true, but often quite different from one another, showing us different aspects of who our God is. The Lord is depicted as a kindly Father, a gentle Shepherd, a bleeding Savior dying a cross. Then there are the images like the one we have in Isaiah 63. The image of the LORD as a warrior, covered in the blood of His enemies. In this first half of Isaiah 63, we see the LORD making war against the enemies of Israel, but also against Israel when Israel turns away from their God, driving home this message: The Lord is a warrior, and you want to be on His side!

Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? As you recall Edom is the territory just south of the land of Judah, and Bozrah is one of the chief cities in the land of Edom. Edom belonged to the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother, who was also named “Edom,” which means “red,” because he was “red” like the earth when he was born, and because he craved the red stew his brother Jacob once made. In spite of their blood ties, the people of Israel and the people of Edom were ongoing enemies of one another. Here, Isaiah sees a picture of a mighty man marching back from the land of Edom, dressed in “crimson,” a shade of red.

Who is it? The LORD God replies, “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” The Lord is the One dressed in red, marching back from Edom. Isaiah then asks:

Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? The Lord answers, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

God has returned from Edom, covered in the blood of the enemies of His people Israel. Now, Edom wasn’t the only enemy of Israel, but clearly Edom was chosen to represent all Israel’s enemies because it means “red.” It’s a play on words, which goes together with all the other red images in these verses: the color crimson, the red splatter from the winepress after the Lord trampled His enemies like people used to trample grapes in the winepress to squeeze out the juice, the blood spattered on the Lord’s garments and on the earth where their bodies fell. It’s a graphic depiction of the Lord as a warrior bent on destruction.

But “God is love!”, isn’t He? Yes, God is love. And He wants all men to be saved. And He gave His own Son on the cross for the sins of all, so that all might believe in Him and actually be saved and become part of His people, members of His holy Church. But God is also a warrior. He wants us to understand that. He wants us to understand that all those who remain opposed to Him and to His people will not be put up with, will not be left alone forever to keep opposing His Church. The time will come when God steps in to make war against His enemies, and no one will escape.

The book of Revelation draws heavily on these images from Isaiah 63, where Jesus Himself is depicted with this very same imagery when He comes again at the end of this age to carry out His judgment against all who remained enemies of His Church. So, ultimately, this part of Isaiah’s prophecy is pointing forward, pointing ahead to Judgment Day.

But then Isaiah points backward, back to the beginning of God’s dealings with the people of Israel. He says, I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Now we hear of the Lord’s compassion for Israel as they were just starting out, His compassion toward Jacob and his family, His choice of that nation to be His own special people whom He would tend as a Shepherd, and for whom He would fight as a Warrior.

For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” Obviously God knew that they would eventually deal falsely, that the children of Israel would turn away from Him, for the most part. But Isaiah is setting the stage here, comparing God to an earthly father who expects great things from his children, who expects that, for all the love he will show to them, they will certainly love him in return! Surely they wouldn’t turn against their own father!

And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted. God saved the people of Israel over and over again, from famine in Canaan, from slavery in Egypt, from starvation in the desert, from enemy armies on their way back to Canaan. In every way, God became their Savior. And when they were afflicted by earthly troubles or foreign adversaries, “He was afflicted.” God didn’t relish the suffering of His people. When they suffered, God suffered.

And the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. For over a thousand years, God cared for the people of Israel, rescued them from their enemies, taught them, carried them, loved them. He was a Warrior for them, a Warrior on their behalf. Even when they went astray, He kept going back for them.

But, after over a thousand years of God’s care and nurturing and innumerable “second chances” that He gave them, they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them. After turning away from God and His Word and back to their idols over and over and over again, Israel’s persistent rebellion against God grieved His Holy Spirit to the limit of His patience. And then God, the Warrior, who had acted on their behalf for so many centuries, eventually turned into their enemy. When God, the Warrior, chooses to save and protect, no one can stand in His way. But when God, the Warrior, makes Himself the enemy of someone and fights against someone, well, no one can stand in His way there, either.

This verse is talking about the punishment of the Babylonian captivity. Sadly, it is also what happens when Christians stop living in daily contrition and repentance. St. Paul uses the same language as he warns the Ephesian Christians: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

So what lesson shall we draw from these verses? First, how good it is to be on God’s side. He is a loving Father who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. He patiently calls us to repentance when we stumble and calls us back to His Son, the Lord Jesus, where there is perfect acceptance and forgiveness of sins. And there is forgiveness in Christ precisely because the Lord is a Warrior on our behalf against every enemy. He took down Satan for us through the cross, and He’ll take down Satan once and for all on the Last Day. He battled against sin for us and won, and eventually He will save us from this sinful world. And in the meantime He defends us in just the right ways so that no evil can befall us. That’s the first lesson.

The second lesson is that you want to remain on God’s side, so that He never becomes your enemy. And that means, don’t become arrogant when it comes to your faith. Don’t become indifferent to the Word of God, or to the preaching of it, or to the living of it. Don’t let sin reign over you, so that you grieve the Holy Spirit. But live each day in contrition and repentance. Live each day remembering God’s saving acts on your behalf, which are more than you can number. He will not easily become the enemy of those whom He has purchased with the blood of His Son and whom He has called and brought into His kingdom. Always let the red blood of Christ mark the door of your heart by faith. Then you will have nothing to fear from the One who comes from Edom as warrior on the Last Day. Because He won’t be coming to fight against you, His people. He’ll be coming to fight for you, to save you from every last enemy. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Let God’s Word be enough for your faith

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Sermon for Trinity 21

Ephesians 6:10-17  +  John 4:46-54

We sometimes to refer to the Church on earth as the Church “Militant,” because when a person becomes a Christian, he becomes engaged in a battle, in a struggle, not against flesh and blood, but, as Paul writes in today’s Epistle, against forces of evil in the spiritual realm, against the devil and his demons and against their influence in the world. Christians are not couch-sitters but battle soldiers, equipped, not with firearms or physical weapons, but with the spiritual body armor and the spiritual weapon that God provides. The battlefield is your every-day life in this world, which is destined for destruction, and the struggle is real.

Among the spiritual pieces of body armor that God provides is the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Since today’s Gospel focuses on the faith of the nobleman who came to Jesus, we’re going to have a look at the faith part of the whole armor of God, which is essential for standing and withstanding in the battle that is raging all around us and in which God has made us all battle soldiers.

Jesus had performed a single miracle up in Galilee so far, His first miracle of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Then He had gone down to Judea and had performed many miracles there. And many of the Jews from up in Galilee had seen those miracles, because they had also gone down to Judea to attend the feast of Passover. Now Jesus is back in Galilee, back in Cana. And a nobleman from the town of Capernaum—about 16 miles away from Cana—heard of all the signs Jesus had been doing, and he was hopeful that Jesus could help his dying son. He went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

There’s faith there. A little faith, at least. Faith in Jesus’ power to cure an earthly disease. It isn’t necessarily saving faith—faith in Jesus as his Savior and Redeemer from sin—but at least the nobleman believes Jesus can help. He also assumes, apparently, that Jesus has to come with him, has to be there in the room with his son to perform some sort of healing ritual.

Jesus’ first response is a warning, and an expression of righteous frustration on God’s part. Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe. Believe what? That Jesus can do miracles? Well, they already knew that, after seeing all the miracles He had performed in Judea and after hearing about changing water into wine right there in Cana. But this is important. The miracles were not the purpose of His coming. They were to be signs confirming His teaching and His identity as the Son of God. They were to be signs confirming that He had been sent by God, that He was the promised Christ, and that He was to be their Savior from the spiritual forces of evil, from sin, death, and the power of the devil. That’s what the people were supposed to believe, and not primarily because of the miracles, but by the power of Jesus’ teaching, that is, by the power of His Word, both the Word written in the Old Testament and the Word that He and John the Baptist had spoken. In summary, they were supposed to believe in His words and promises. In the end, His Word was supposed to be enough.

But hardly anyone believed yet in His words and promises. Their faith was limited to what He could do for them to improve their earthly lives. And even that faith was built on the foundation of what they could see with their eyes.

The nobleman was still in that category. But he was desperate, and he did believe Jesus could help his son, if only He could be there in the room where his son was. Lord, come down before my little boy dies!

Jesus was willing to help, but not to come down with the man to his house. No, Jesus simply said, Go! Your son lives. Nothing to look at, nothing to see. Just a word and a promise to cling to, a word the man was to believe, without seeing a thing.

And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went. Just the word and promise of Jesus. And the nobleman believed it. Maybe not yet with the full conviction of an unshakable faith (“I know for certain that my son is now healed! How happy I am!”), but he believed it enough to act on it. He stopped begging for Jesus to come with him. He left, hoping to get back and find things as Jesus had said. Again, it wasn’t a perfect faith; there were surely shadows of doubt in his heart. But it was still faith, clinging to the word of Jesus for dear life.

He started walking those 16 miles back to Capernaum, but had to spend the night somewhere along the way, because the miracle took place in early afternoon, and he could only walk so far before sunset. But he got up the next morning, still hopeful, and continued his journey. Then his servants met him along the way and told him his son had been healed the day before, at the same time Jesus had spoken that almighty word. Then we’re told that he himself and his whole house believed. Believed what? That Jesus had healed his son? That was no longer a matter of faith, but of sight. No, the man and his household now believed in Jesus Himself, that His word was powerful, that His word was true, that He had come from God, that He was the promised Christ, that their lives and their very souls were now safe in His hands.

With that kind of faith, the nobleman was prepared for what was to come, both for himself and for Jesus. Regardless of the miracles Jesus would do over the next few years, most of his countrymen would never believe in Him. Many would follow Him for a time, but then turn back when He didn’t perform signs on demand, like they wanted. And the sight that looked like total defeat for Jesus—bloody, beaten, and hanging on a cross with a crown of thorns pounded into His head—caused all whose faith was built on sight to turn away. “This can’t be the Son of God. Just look at Him dying on that cross!” But the nobleman and his family had been brought to a faith that was stronger than that, faith, not in what was seen, but in the word and promise of Jesus, which is true in spite of what anyone can see.

That’s the kind of faith we all need. That’s the kind of faith God wants to nourish and grow in each of us. God isn’t looking to create faith in you by showing you any other signs but the ones He has already given in Holy Scripture. He isn’t looking to bring you to faith or to strengthen your faith with bright lights or shiny visions or spectacular miracles, and certainly not with the testimonials that other people might give of such things. He gives you His Word, recorded in Scripture, and also preached by a pastor whom He has sent. And He expects that to be enough.

He gives you His word that the water of Baptism saves. You can’t see it washing away sin. You can’t see it giving new birth or sealing the new birth of faith. You can’t see the Holy Spirit working in it. But Jesus speaks the word that Baptism is a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit, and He expects you to believe it. He expects His word to be enough.

He gives you His word that “this is His body” and “this is His blood” in the Sacrament. You can’t see anything but bread and wine. You can’t see or taste the body that was sacrificed on the cross or the blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. And human reason tells you, “It can’t be Jesus’ body and blood. It must only be a symbol of those things.” But Jesus speaks the word about His holy Supper, “This is My body, this is My blood.” and He expects that to be enough.

Of course, it isn’t enough for our sinful flesh, for our fallen human reason. We demand to see a sign of God’s love and faithfulness, to see a sign that tells us, “The Bible is true!” or “God is truly on our side!” Or maybe we simply refuse to be comforted by God’s promises, we go on living in despair, as if the world really were out of control, as it appears, as if Jesus’ word about His reigning over all things at the right hand of God weren’t really enough.

No, you need to repent of your reliance on human reason and what your eyes can see. You need to repent of the despair and the hopelessness that your experience tells you is all too reasonable. And you need to listen to Jesus again, just to Jesus, just to His Word, and cling to it for dear life, whether it’s His Word about Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, or about the final victory of His Holy Christian Church—or about the raging spiritual battle in which you have been made a battle soldier, as Paul depicts you and all Christians in today’s Epistle.

With the shield of faith, He says, you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. What are those flaming arrows? They’re attacks on your soul—spiritual attacks. They come in the form of temptations. Temptations to sin against any of the Ten Commandments. Temptations to go along with the world in order to avoid persecution, to be silent when you know you should speak, to ridicule when God calls on you to show mercy, to hate when God calls on you to love. Temptations to despair, or to disbelieve God, or to forfeit the peace and joy that God offers in His Word. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows and say with Joseph, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

Those arrows also come in the form of persecution, demonic persecution, which may sometimes be direct, but is usually indirect, as the demons influence society and government to turn against those who believe in God, seeking to make your faith in God’s Word seem ridiculous, seeking to make you bitter and angry and sorrowful. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows, too.

Those arrows also come in the form of demonic lies, lies from false teachers and false prophets about who God is and what God’s will is, lies from government officials and candidates for office, lies from “scientific experts” to support demonic agendas, lies from your own neighbors and from your own culture about what is right and wrong. With the shield of faith, you’ll be able to extinguish those flaming arrows. That doesn’t mean the lies go away, or the persecution goes away, or the temptations go away. It doesn’t mean we turn the culture around or turn it back to God. It means the demons won’t be able to destroy you. They won’t be able to snatch you out of God’s hands. They won’t be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Faith is powerful protection in this battle, which goes together with the other pieces of armor that Paul mentioned. Keep your faith focused on the word of God alone. Believe what He says, no matter what things look like. Don’t worry about signs that you can see. You have the word of God as the true lamp for your feet and the light for your path. Let that be enough. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Jerusalem’s curse will be reversed when the Lord comes

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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 20

Isaiah 62:1-12

If you read toward the end of the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 28, Moses pronounces a series of blessings and curses upon Israel, blessings for obedience to the covenant of Mt. Sinai, curses for turning away from it. There Moses prophesies how God will come against this people of Israel with every form of punishment and affliction and trouble, until they’re utterly wiped out, if they stubbornly turn away from God and His covenant. Well, by Isaiah’s time, they had definitively turned away. And that curse was about to fall upon them at the hands of the Babylonians. But, as we’ve seen throughout Isaiah’s prophecy, a remnant would be saved, long enough for the Messiah to come to Israel and begin to build a new Israel, a new Jerusalem. And in the new Israel that God will create, growing out of that remnant, the curse upon Israel would be reversed and replaced with tremendous blessing. That’s what we hear about tonight in Isaiah 62.

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.

In Scripture, God’s silence is always a bad thing. Because when God is silent, when God sits back and says nothing and does nothing, it means He’s letting sinners self-destruct (as we always do, when left to ourselves) or be destroyed by other sinners. It means He’s punishing the wicked by withholding His Word from them, because they’ve despised it for so long. But His Word is the only thing that can turn destructive and self-destructive people around. And after the suffering of Babylon had done its work, God promised to keep silent no longer, but to speak and to act on Zion’s behalf, not only to get her back to her homeland, but to turn her into a righteous people, a bright and shiny people, a people that is safe from every enemy. This is God’s promise to keep sending His Word to His Church until He’s finished remaking it into the glorious Church it will be when Christ comes again.

The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. The new Israel that grew out of the remnant of Old Testament Israel was founded by Christ Himself, and the nations did come to the light of that New Testament Church. God has already given this Church a “new name,” a different name than the Old Testament Church of “Israel.” But another new name awaits Christ’s second coming, as John writes in the Book of Revelation, He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

Isaiah continues, You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Israel was forsaken. Israel had become desolate and empty and abandoned, just as Moses had prophesied that it would. But here God promises the reversal of the curse. Beauty. Royalty. Not the home of God’s disapproval any longer, but the ones in whom God delights, the Church that will become the Bride of Christ, of whom He is not ashamed, but in whom He rejoices, because she wears that wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness.

This is the Church that is created and sustained through the preaching of the Gospel, through Baptism, through the Supper of the Lord. It’s the Church that’s built through God’s promise to forgive us our sins and to accept us through faith in Christ Jesus. It isn’t our own goodness that makes us beautiful in this Church, but the grace and goodness of Jesus Christ, with which we’re clothed by faith in Him.

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.

These watchmen would be the ministers whom God sends to take care of the souls of His people, to preach and teach His Word, to administer His Sacraments, to keep watch over God’s people, and to keep watch for all the enemies who would come against them—the devil and the false teachers whom he sends to ravage the Church. This is God’s promise to keep providing ministers to His Church until the end of time, to keep preaching, administering the Sacraments, guiding, correcting, warning, and comforting God’s people until the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven.

The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”

Again, this is the reversal of the curse. The curse of Deuteronomy told of foreigners eating the crops and enjoying the vineyards that the Israelites had planted and worked for. But God swears that that won’t be the case in the new Israel, in the Messiah’s Church that will be perfected at His second coming. The Church, even in this New Testament era, is trampled by unbelievers on the outside and often by unbelievers on the inside. But that won’t go on forever. The Lord has sworn that the curse will be completely reversed when Christ comes again.

Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal (a banner!) over the peoples.

This is a paraphrase of what God had said earlier in Isaiah’s book, referring to the work of John the Baptist ahead of the public appearance of Christ at His first coming. God wants the world, and especially His Church, to know that salvation is almost here, so He calls for everything that would hinder it to be taken out of the way.

Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”

That message was essentially proclaimed by the angels at birth of Christ, by John the Baptist at the public appearance of Christ, by the prophet Zechariah, speaking of Christ’s Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem, when He brought salvation to His Church through His preaching of the Gospel and through His suffering, death, and resurrection. Now it remains the message of God’s preachers, comforting His people and pointing them to Christ’s second advent: “Behold, your salvation comes!”

And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.

How pleasant those words must have sounded to the people of Israel as they sat in their unholiness, in their captivity, in their desolation, and in their forsaken state in Babylon. How pleasant they sound to every sinner still today, when the sinner recognizes that this is God’s promise to forgive, to rescue, to restore, and to dwell among His people—all those who seek His forgiveness and acceptance in Christ Jesus. It’s a promise to end all the captivity of God’s people, whether that captivity is to sin, or to death, or to the devil, to reverse the curse upon Israel, to reverse the curse upon mankind, and to establish an eternal and glorious home for all who persevere in His Holy Christian Church. Rejoice in the reversal of the curse! The full reversal of it is still coming, but for all who belong to Christ Jesus, who are now counted among the children of the new Israel, the reversal has already begun, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us…that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Amen.

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The most important election of your life

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Sermon for Trinity 20

Ephesians 5:15-21  +  Matthew 22:1-14

We turn our thoughts today to the election—the most important election of your life, or of anyone’s life. But in this election, my vote means nothing. Your vote means nothing. It’s only God’s vote, God’s choice that matters. And, as we’ll see in the end, God’s choice has nothing to do with how good or bad the candidates are. It has to do with something else.

The Bible teaches that God elected certain people, that is, “chose” certain people to spend eternity with Him in His heavenly kingdom. This election took place “before the foundations of the earth were laid,” that is, in eternity. And it took place, not at any voting convenience center, but in God’s own counsel and plan. Knowing full well that mankind would rebel against Him, turn against Him, and disqualify themselves for eternal life in God’s kingdom, God made a plan of salvation that’s sometimes referred to as “election” or “predestination.”

But how do we look into this secret election that took place in God’s counsel before the foundations of the earth were laid? Jesus teaches us that very simply in today’s Gospel. He teaches us to start, not at the beginning, but at the end, which is very different, by the way, from the way that John Calvin and the Reformed approach it. Their whole theology begins with God’s election in eternity, and most of their false teachings flow from that mistake. No, we need to begin where Jesus begins, at the end of things. We are to look at the wedding banquet in the parable, at the end of the parable, and we are to notice who the guests are who are there in the end. That’s where Jesus points us with His concluding words, for many are called, but few are chosen. Few are elected by God.

Who are the ones at the wedding banquet at the end of the story? They’re the ones who have been called or invited by the king’s messengers, the ones who accepted the invitation and were brought into the wedding hall, and the ones who are still wearing the wedding garment when the King steps in. Those are the chosen ones, the ones chosen by God to spend eternity at the heavenly wedding banquet that He is hosting for His beloved Son, who laid down His life for His bride, the Holy Christian Church, and is soon to be joined to her in an eternal marriage.

With that in mind—who the chosen-ones are—let’s walk through the parable and see how those guests ended up there.

Now, Matthew 22 takes us into Holy Week—the Tuesday of Holy Week, as far as we can tell. Jesus is telling this parable to the Jews, some of whom were about to kill Him, in three days’ time. He says, The kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a wedding banquet for his son. This “arranging” of a wedding banquet is what took place in eternity. God saw that the human race would fall into sin, so He planned to save fallen mankind. That plan revolved around the Son of God, who would take on our human flesh, be born as a man, live righteously in man’s place, suffer and die for our sins. That was the price of atonement. That was the price of our reconciliation with God. And Jesus Christ, the Son of the King, has successfully paid it.

And he sent his servants to call to the wedding those who had been invited. God sent His prophets in the Old Testament to invite the Jews to take part in Christ’s atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. He told them about it ahead of time, and then, when Jesus was born, God began to tell the Jews that it was time to come in. As John the Baptist preached, and as Jesus Himself preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Repent and believe the Gospel!” In other words, “Come to the wedding!”

But they were unwilling to come. Some of the Jews believed in Jesus and came into His Church, to be sure. The chosen remnant of the Jews believed the Gospel. But the vast majority didn’t come—not because God didn’t truly invite them, not because it wasn’t intended for them, not because Jesus didn’t die for them, but simply because “they were unwilling.”

Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See! I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding!”’ But they disregarded it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

See how God, through His prophets, pleads with the people of Israel whom He has invited, whom He has called to the Holy Christian Church. Look at what I’ve done! Look at what I’ve prepared! I’ve sent My only-begotten Son to you. The Son of God has become the Son of Man, all for you, not because you deserved it, but because I want you to spend eternity with Me in My kingdom. So come to Him! Come into His Church! Come! Come! Come!

Does it sound like the King wanted these invited guests to come? Does it sound like God wanted the Jews to come into His Holy Christian Church? Of course it does! Because of course He did! Their ultimate exclusion from God’s election wasn’t because He didn’t want them in His house. Wasn’t because He failed to give His Son into death for their sins, wasn’t because He failed to invite them. It’s because, when they were invited, they didn’t want to come. And so they not only found better things to do. Some of them went so far as to kill the prophets, including John the Baptist, including the Son of God Himself, including many of the apostles whom He continued to send to the Jews, for a time.

But that time eventually ran out. Now, when the king heard about it, he was angry. And he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. What a terrible foreshadowing this was of the eventual destruction of Jerusalem, when the Romans came in and burned up the city of the people who had not only initially turned down God’s invitation into Christ’s Church, who had not only killed the Christ, but who had stubbornly continued to turn down the invitation even after they had killed the Christ, just as it remains to this day. Which is why you shouldn’t let anyone deceive you, telling you that the modern Jewish state is the chosen people of God. The very idea that God’s chosen people could stubbornly reject God’s beloved Son Jesus as their Savior from sin and death is not only absurd. It’s demonic.

But that wasn’t the end of God’s plan of salvation. Not by a long shot. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Let’s pause again for a moment and remember why they weren’t worthy. It had nothing to do with their sinfulness, with how decent or indecent they were. The unworthiness of the Jews was in their declining of God’s free invitation to seek and to find His acceptance in Christ Jesus.

Therefore go into the streets and invite to the wedding whomever you find. So those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the banquet tables were filled with guests. God’s plan of salvation (His plan of election) included the going out of the Gospel invitation into all the world, to invite anyone and everyone, Jews and Gentiles, bad and good, to the wedding banquet in the Holy Christian Church. Jesus told His apostles, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Proclaim God’s promise to forgive and to accept everyone through His beloved Son, through faith in Jesus Christ. And, as you know, people from every nation, tribe, language, and people have believed, have been baptized, and have entered the Holy Christian Church.

But not everyone who is outwardly a member of the Christian Church is a member inwardly. Not everyone who has been baptized remains a believer throughout their life. And that’s the sad reality Jesus depicts for us at the end of the parable. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

When God performs the final accounting on the Day of Judgment, He will not just look at which people are holding membership in a Christian Church on earth. He will be looking for faith in the heart, for genuine trust in the Lord Jesus and in His atoning sacrifice for our sins—for the faith by which a person is clothed with Christ Jesus, as with a robe of righteousness. That is the wedding garment that the guest in Jesus’ parable failed to wear.

Where God doesn’t find such a garment, such a living faith, it will be no better for that unbeliever inside the Church than it will be for any of the unbelievers outside of the Church. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.

So who, again, are the chosen? They’re the ones who have been called or invited by the king’s messengers, the ones who accepted the invitation and were brought into the wedding hall, and are still wearing the wedding garment when the King steps in. These are the ones whom God foresaw and foreknew in eternity, the ones whom He elected to inherit eternal life. But the decree itself of election included all the steps that were needed along the way. It included God’s intention of saving the whole human race. It included the sending of Jesus to pay for the sins of all. It included the going out of the Gospel invitation, and the work of God’s own Spirit to work faith in people’s hearts through the preaching of His Word. It included the justification in time of all who believe. It included the Spirit’s ongoing sanctifying work in the hearts and lives of believers. It included God’s continued care for the saints in His Church through the ministry of Word and Sacrament throughout this earthly life. And it included God’s commitment to give strength, comfort, and help to His children throughout this life, so that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. All of that was included in God’s decree of election.

So you can see why this is truly the most important election of your life, far more important than any earthly election. And it already took place, long before anyone was born. What you can do now, to “make your calling and election sure,” is to see to it that you do not decline God’s invitation into the Church of His beloved Son. If you haven’t been baptized, if you haven’t entered into the fellowship of God’s holy Church, don’t put it off. Now is the time. If you have done those things, then wearing that wedding garment of faith is your daily task. And having put on faith, put on love as well, living as those who are rehearsing for the King’s entrance into the banquet hall, not as those who are rehearsing for hell. Many are called, but few are chosen. Few are elected. If you heed God’s call and use the help He has promised, you will be counted among the blessed few. Amen.

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The Messiah and the Church He will build

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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 19

Isaiah 61:1-11

It was a Saturday, relatively early in Jesus’ ministry. He was back in His hometown of Nazareth, and, as He usually did, He went to the synagogue. And this time He stood up to read, and they gave Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Whether or not He asked for that book we don’t know, but He did intentionally open that book to the words you heard this evening from Isaiah 61 and read, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book and began the most important sermon the people of Nazareth had ever heard, saying: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” At first the people were impressed, but as Jesus’ words sank in and they realized what He was claiming, they turned against Him and tried to kill Him. They turned against Him, not only because He was claiming to be the promised Messiah, but because He revealed to them the awful truth that most of Israel was not going to have a part in God’s kingdom. No, Isaiah’s prophecy was to be understood, not about the nation of Israel, but about the new Church of the New Testament era. His prophecy in this chapter covers the whole New Testament, starting with Jesus’ ministry and culminating in the new and perfect life that awaits us on the other side of Judgment Day. And only those who believe the good tidings of the Messiah will be included in the kingdom of God.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me.” Jesus says in another place that the Father had given Him the Spirit without measure, had given Him the fullness of the Holy Spirit to dwell in Him as a Man. That’s all demonstrated for us in Jesus’ Baptism where the Spirit rested upon Jesus and the Father spoke from heaven, This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Because the LORD has anointed Me. And there’s that word “anointed,” which is where the word “Messiah” and “Christ” come from. By saying that these words were fulfilled in their hearing, Jesus was claiming as directly as anywhere in Scripture, “I am the Messiah. I am the Christ.” Not that He was literally anointed with the Old Testament anointing oil, as the prophets, priests, and kings were. He wasn’t. But He was “anointed” in a spiritual way, sent directly by God the Father to carry out His saving purpose for mankind, to speak the words of God, to act on God’s behalf, to offer Himself up as the sacrifice of atonement for mankind’s sins, to gather a Church to Himself, and to reign over God’s people forever. All of that was included in the Messiah’s mission.

To preach good tidings to the poor. “The poor” in this prophecy are those who recognize their spiritual poverty, their inability to reach God by offering Him their own righteousness. And the good tidings are not the good tidings of wealth or economic improvement, but the good news of another way to reach God, a free way, a way that actually works, the way of being justified through faith in the Anointed One.

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted. For all the physical healings Jesus performed during His ministry, it was the healing of the sad and broken hearts that was His primary task. Hearts that had been broken by their own sins, by the sins of others, by the terrible consequences of sin in this life, and, ultimately, by the reality of death, receive healing from Jesus, comfort in the fact that He came to conquer sin and death and to give eternal life to all who believe.

To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Again, Jesus never broke anyone out of a physical prison. This was the proclamation of liberty and freedom to those who had been bound by sin and by the power of the devil.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. That was Jesus’ mission, to proclaim that now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. As we talked about on Sunday, the terms of God’s pardon, of God’s acceptance, are finally within reach. The Messiah Himself will pay the atonement price with His own blood, and the only remaining “term” of the pardon is to seek it from the Anointed One whom the Father had sent. And when Jesus makes that promise, the Holy Spirit is there, working to persuade sinners to believe it and to receive it.

And the day of vengeance of our God. This isn’t vengeance upon all men. It’s His vengeance on all the enemies of God’s people, and on all who continue to remain enemies of God, refusing the pardon that Jesus offers.

To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty in place of ashes, The oil of joy in place of mourning, The garment of praise in place of the spirit of heaviness. Again, the comfort is for those who mourn, not for those who boast. The beauty is for those who were sitting in the ashes of repentance. The oil of joy is for those who had been crying tears of sorrow over sin. The garment of praise is for those whose spirit had formerly been heavy with depression and despair.

That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” Christ came to make His people flourish and thrive, like trees, to give them life in the kingdom of His Father. That life is planted there by the Lord God Himself, so the glory and the praise for it belong to God alone. As the Psalm says, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be glory and praise.

And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. Now, if these words began to be fulfilled in the hearing of those in Nazareth, then this prophecy isn’t about rebuilding Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. It isn’t about rebuilding Jerusalem or the land of Israel at all. It’s about the New Testament Church, which is from the remnants of Old Testament Israel, from Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus, the Anointed One.

Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. Again, it’s Gentiles coming into the Church of Israel and expanding it throughout this New Testament period.

But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God. This is exactly what Peter wrote to the New Testament Christians, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.

“Their land” has now become the heavenly territories, the mansions that Jesus is even now preparing for His Church, as the Church of Christ finally overcomes all her enemies and receives the heavenly reward, while the enemies of God, who were rich and powerful in this life, are left with nothing.

“For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”

On this earth it was the unbelieving Gentiles who were famous, “men of renown,” as it says in Genesis 6. The true people of God have no power in the world. We’re small. We’re unknown, in many cases. We’re insignificant. And we have to be content with that in this life. But that will all change after Judgment Day, when the people of God finally enter into their glory.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

While the Church is pictured here basking in the glory of everlasting life, we don’t have to wait till then to rejoice in the Lord and to be joyful in our God. Because already in Holy Baptism He has clothed us with the garments of salvation and with the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Already now we bear the name of the Triune God and have been made heirs of the heavenly lands. The people of Nazareth scoffed at Jesus when He offered them all this, but you have humbled yourselves before God. You have believed in His proclamation of pardon and peace and comfort. And so you belong to the Anointed One. Remember that, and rejoice in it, no matter how bad things get this side of Judgment Day. Because on the other side, you know what glory awaits. Amen.

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The authority to forgive sins on earth

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Sermon for Trinity 19

Ephesians 4:22-28  +  Matthew 9:1-8

It’s a wonderful story we have before us in today’s Gospel about the healing of the paralytic. It’s especially memorable when we pull in some details from Mark’s Gospel, who explains that the paralytic was brought to Jesus in a very special way, by being lowered down by his four friends through an opening they had made in the roof, because the house where Jesus was preaching was so crowded with people that they couldn’t make a path to carry the stretcher through on foot. The faith of the five men was clearly on display as they went to such lengths to reach Jesus, because they believed that He could and would have mercy on the man who was paralyzed. And He did! But not, at first, in the way that everyone was expecting.

This healing account teaches us the lesson that was behind all of Jesus’ healing miracles: the lesson that Jesus, the Son of Man, was speaking and acting on God’s own authority, in everything He said, in everything He did. Jesus represented God the Father, not only because He was the Son of God, but because He had come into the world as a Man to be the perfect Mediator between God and man, with all the authority to speak and to act on God’s behalf. And the specific authority He displays in today’s Gospel is the authority to forgive sins—sins that had been committed against God, sins that would otherwise keep a person out of the kingdom of heaven, sins that would otherwise condemn a person to hell. It’s that authority to forgive sins that we want to focus on this morning.

The paralytic was successfully lowered down through the roof until his bed was lying on the floor right in front of Jesus. Matthew writes, When he saw their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven you.” No one was expecting those to be the first words out of Jesus’ mouth. Clearly the paralytic has come to receive physical healing from Jesus. But Jesus, the great physician of the soul, has diagnosed a deeper problem, a need to know if God was angry with him—a question that often troubles people who suffer from a chronic disease or illness. “Is God angry with me because of my sins? Is God punishing me with this illness or with this trouble that won’t go away?” Jesus sees the man’s doubts, as well as his faith that Jesus will help him. So God the Father speaks through His Son, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven you.”

And, behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes.” Mark and Luke add the rest of what they were thinking: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” You see, it is blasphemy, insulting God!, to pretend to speak for God without permission, without authority from God to speak for Him or to act on God’s behalf. The sins Jesus forgave at that moment weren’t sins that the man had committed against Jesus Himself, as if the man had made fun of Jesus or had slapped Jesus across the face. Anyone can forgive the sins committed against him or her, because, in that case, the one doing the forgiving is the one who was originally offended, and forgiveness means that you’re no longer holding that offense against the offender. Your relationship is healed. Forgiveness means that the one who has been offended is no longer angry over the offense, no longer angry at the offender.

But what Jesus did was something else. He didn’t forgive the man for offenses committed against Him, the Man Jesus. He forgave the man for all the offenses he had ever committed against God. And the scribes were right—only God Himself can forgive the sins committed against God. Only God can unlock the prisoner’s shackles and set him free death and eternal condemnation—unless God has authorized someone to forgive sins on His behalf.

And that’s exactly what God has done.

God the Father sent His Son into the world with the full authority to act on His behalf, to forgive sins in some cases, where the terms of the pardon (set by God) are met, and to withhold forgiveness in other cases, where the terms of the pardon are not met.

Now, what are the terms God has set for His pardon (for His forgiveness)? Well, first, atonement needs to be made for the sins committed against God. That lesson was driven home for the people of Israel through all the sacrifices for sin that God’s Law demanded. Atonement has to be made. Forgiveness has a price. In this case, the price of forgiveness is blood, that is, death—the death of God’s only-begotten, beloved Son. That is the price required for paying the sin-debt every sinner owes to God. And it has been paid, once for all, by Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. And because God is eternal, not bound to the progression of time, as we are, the future sacrifice of Jesus, from the perspective of the paralytic in today’s Gospel, was just as valid for his forgiveness as the past sacrifice of Jesus, from our perspective, is for us. So that term has already been met; Jesus’ atonement is available for anyone and everyone to use in order to satisfy the terms of God’s pardon.

The other term of God’s pardon is that it can only be given out to the one who seeks it from Jesus Himself. Anyone seeking God’s forgiveness in some other way, in some other place, for some other reason, cannot have it, just as anyone who doesn’t seek God’s forgiveness at all, because he’s happy holding onto his sins, cannot have God’s forgiveness. But to the one who seeks His forgiveness through Jesus, God the Father speaks through the mouth of Jesus Christ, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven you!” And it’s not blasphemy at all, because Jesus has the permission and the authority to speak and to act on His Father’s behalf. As He said after His resurrection, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”

He goes on to prove that authority to those who accuse Him of blasphemy in today’s Gospel: Is it easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And the paralytic was immediately healed, with power only God can give, proving that Jesus, the Son of Man had authority from God to forgive sins.

The text before us is actually a perfect example of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 5: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s sins against them. Now, reconciling the world to Himself doesn’t mean reconciling or forgiving the sins of everyone in the world—or everyone in the room. That’s not what Jesus did in today’s Gospel. But one by one, as the word about Christ brought people to faith, He reconciled them to God through faith. He forgave them their sins, according to the terms of the pardon set by His Father: that atonement had to be made, and that God’s forgiveness has to be sought from Jesus and from nowhere else.

But then St. Paul goes on in 2 Corinthians, and God has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Just as God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, forgiving sins to those who sought forgiveness from Him and through Him, so the Lord Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, has appointed ministers, who are His divine ambassadors to call sinners—in His name!—to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus, and to forgive the penitent and believing in His name.

So Jesus said to His apostles, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And again after His resurrection, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. And still there are many people today who call themselves Christians who hear a pastor pronouncing the absolution and cry out, “Blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins! I don’t need any man’s forgiveness! I’ll just go directly to God!” Well, good luck with that! I wonder how they hope to approach God, or where they hope to find Him! The truth is, it is God who has given this authority to men, to deal with sinners and to forgive sinners in His name. It’s an authority that Christ has delegated to His Church, which calls men to wield the authority of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, according to God’s command and according to those same terms of forgiveness that God Himself has established. They are to forgive sinners on the basis of Christ’s atonement, when the sinner seeks forgiveness from Christ, through the ministry that Christ has established on earth.

Now, that forgiveness may be given through the spoken absolution alone, as we do at the beginning of our services. There you hear, both in the confession of sins, and in the words I speak after the confession of sins, those same “terms of pardon” referenced, the atonement of Jesus as the basis for forgiveness, and the seeking of forgiveness from and for the sake of Jesus, which is what “believing in Jesus” means. You also hear in that absolution the very same words that Jesus spoke to the paralytic: “Your sins are forgiven you.” And you even hear the reference to the fact that Jesus has given me, “as a called and ordained minister of the Christian Church,” the authority to pronounce forgiveness in His name. That same forgiveness is also given in Holy Baptism, as Peter urged the crowds in Jerusalem to be baptized in the name of Jesus “for the forgiveness of” their sins. And it’s also given in Holy Communion, where Jesus has given this sacramental meal to us Christians to eat and to drink His body and His blood, which were given and shed for us “for the forgiveness of sins.” All done by the authority of Him to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given, who has authorized ministers to forgive sins in His name.

And that makes the absolution certain. That makes it something you can rely on, something you can believe in, something that your faith can stand on. “God’s authorized minister has examined me and has found that the terms of God’s pardon have been met. Atonement has been made for my sins. And I am, right now, seeking God’s forgiveness from Jesus and for His sake alone. God’s minister has, therefore, absolved me of my sins, with the full authority of God. So I know for certain that God is no longer angry with me, but that He has welcomed me into His kingdom and will give me eternal life. The forgiveness I have received through God’s authorized minister—in Baptism, in the absolution, and in the Lord’s Supper—is God’s own forgiveness, because God has given to men the authority to forgive sins.” Rejoice in that authority! Take great comfort in it! And, having put on the New Man through faith in God’s promise of forgiveness, live as the new person—the forgiven person!—God has created you to be! Amen.

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Some deliverance now, perfect deliverance in its time

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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 18

Isaiah 60:13-22 (ESV)

There was a lot of Law in the first part of Isaiah 59, which we heard last week. The second half of that chapter we heard way back on the First Day of Lent, and after all the Law of the first part, we heard in that second half of the chapter God’s gracious promise to send the Redeemer to Zion, to save those who were crushed by the Law. We heard the first part of Isaiah chapter 60 even earlier, at the beginning of this year, on Epiphany, where God foretold the great expansion of Israel—of the people of God—to include the Gentiles together with the Jews in the Holy Christian Church.

Remember, all three parts of these last 27 chapters of Isaiah revolve around the three themes: (1) Earthly deliverance for Israel from captivity in Babylon for the sake of the coming Messiah, (2) spiritual deliverance for Israel through the work of the coming Messiah, and the expansion of Israel to include the Gentiles, during the New Testament era, and (3) final deliverance for the new, expanded people of Israel at the Messiah’s second coming, in the new heavens and the new earth. Those three themes are found in each of the three sections of 9 chapters, but each 9-chapter section focuses on one of those themes. These last 9 chapters focus on the final deliverance. And just as there is a progression from earthly deliverance to spiritual and then heavenly deliverance, so there is a progressive shift away from the earthly nation of Israel in these chapters to the spiritual Israel of the Holy Christian Church.

And so we pick up the prophecy this evening in the second half of chapter 60, where the Lord uses picture-language to describe that spiritual Israel (the Holy Christian Church), partially during this New Testament era and partially after this world ends, with one era sort of blending into the next.

The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

The “glory of Lebanon” was their trees. Lebanon was famous for the quality and abundance of wood for construction projects. Here the Lord promises that His sanctuary, His temple would be rebuilt with the help of foreign nations. That happened literally for Israel after their return from captivity. It’s happening spiritually right now as the Christian Church continues to be built throughout the world. And it will happen perfectly in the heavenly sanctuary above.

The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Again, that happened literally only to a small degree for the nation of Israel. It’s happening now spiritually as former persecutors of the Church repent and become members of it. And it will happen perfectly at the Last Day, when every enemy of Jesus and of His beloved Church will bow down before Him in shame and recognize that He has loved us, His dear Christians.

Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

The nation of Israel was literally restored, and some degree of majesty was seen there again, and they received some help from foreign rulers (that’s what it means to “suck the milk of nations and to nurse at the breast of kings”). But the focus of these verses has shifted to the New Testament Church. Not that the Church appears majestic in this world. And yet the Gospel has successfully gone out to every corner of the earth, bringing sinners to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. And, at many times over these past 2,000 years, the Church has been nurtured and protected by the kings of the earth, just as the Lord promises here in this chapter. Notice, it’s not about the Church taking over the kingdoms of the world. It’s about God using the governments of the earth, whether good or bad, whether full of Christians or full of pagans, to preserve His people throughout this New Testament era, until Christ comes again, usually through laws like we have here in the United States, laws that protect Christians’ ability to assemble peaceably and to speak freely, and to practice our religion in the world. St. John pictures this preservation in Revelation, where the Church is pictured as a woman who is fleeing from the dragon (the Devil), fleeing into the wilderness of this earth, where she will be cared for during this New Testament age.

But that’s not a guarantee that the governments of the world will always protect and preserve the Church. On the contrary, human governments are more often portrayed in Scripture as hostile to the Gospel. Still, what Isaiah promises in this chapter has certainly been fulfilled over and over throughout history, and we should give thanks to God for such providence.

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

And here the Lord transitions from the Church in the world to the Church as it will be in heaven. Everything we have here will be replaced with something far better. Gold in place of bronze. Silver in place of iron. Iron in place of wood. Peace and righteousness in place of toil and injustice. Safety in place of violence. Salvation in place of destruction and death. Praise in place of groaning and sighing.

The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.

These beautiful words are quoted almost verbatim in the book of Revelation as John sees behind the curtain of death, as he sees what life will be like for believers in heaven. And notice how God-focused this vision of heaven is. It’s not about having fun with your favorite pastime or hanging out with your friends or loved ones. The focus, the focus of eternal life will be the LORD God—the same LORD God who loved us and gave His Son into death for our sins, so that we could be with Him forever.

Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation;

Heaven is called “the home of righteousness,” because, finally, we will all be righteous, not just by imputation, not just by God counting us righteous for Christ’s sake, through faith. But, finally, all citizens of heaven will have sloughed off this sinful flesh, with its taint of corruption and self-centeredness. No longer will we covet. No longer will anyone stumble or fall. Heaven will be our home forever, to the glory of the God who redeemed us, and worked in us all these years by His Holy Spirit, to finally transform us completely into image of God in which man was first created.

I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.

“In its time,” God says. Not in our time, when we want our final deliverance to come. In “its” time, at the right time, as decided by our God, whose wisdom and knowledge are beyond our understanding. The Lord knows just when He should come to put an end to the sorrows of this life. And when the right time comes, He won’t delay any longer. He will “hasten it.” Behold, I am coming soon, says the Lord. Let this promise draw your gaze heavenward, to the time of the final deliverance of God’s people. Put your trust in your Father’s perfect timing, and that faith will lessen the harshness of this world’s evil. Amen.

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Powerful spirit-allies against our spirit-enemies

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Sermon for the Festival of Michael & All Angels

Revelation 12:7-12  +  Matthew 18:1-11

The Church’s commemoration of Michael and all angels on September 29th goes back a long, long time, to the 5th century AD. We continue to celebrate this festival, because it’s useful to have a day when we Christians can come together to hear what God teaches us about the angels and to give thanks to God for their indispensable service.

Today’s Gospel was chosen for this day long ago, because of that little phrase that Jesus adds at the end of the text about the angels. He’s sternly warning His hearers not to dare to harm or to offend or to despise a little child who believes in Him, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. Now, that verse doesn’t teach us a whole lot about the angels. But it does teach us that little children who believe in Jesus (and that also includes adults who have the same humble, simple, child-like faith in Jesus that the little children have) have angels of their own, angels assigned to them, who stand before God the Father, ready to guard and protect His dear children. There’s some incentive there, isn’t there?, first, to be very careful how you treat and even how you think of these little children, and, second, to be careful to maintain a humble, simple, child-like faith in Jesus, so that you, too, may always have the help of the guardian angels.

Let’s go back a little bit. The word “angel” means “messenger.” In the beginning, when God created all things visible and invisible, He created the invisible hosts or armies of spirit-creatures—sinless creatures, with a mind and a will, but without flesh and blood. We learn in Scripture that they worship God continually, with humility and with reverence. We also learn that these creatures were created to spend much of their existence serving the Lord God by ministering to human beings. Most of them were glad to comply, but some of them, led by a high-ranking angel who is later called Satan or the Devil, chose to rebel against the Lord God, for reasons that aren’t clearly revealed to us, although pride is mentioned as the devil’s sin. Those angels were cast out of heaven, removed from their ranks in God’s heavenly armies, and Satan was allowed to tempt our mother Eve in the Garden of Eden. And after she and Adam fell into sin, the unholy angels, whom we usually refer to as unclean spirits or demons, were given some freedom to deceive and to torment human beings on earth.

Meanwhile, the armies of holy angels kept their place in heaven and are sent by God to do many things that God simply doesn’t want us to know about. But some things He has told us. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear the Lord, and he delivers them…The Lord shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Or as the writer to the Hebrews writes, Are not all angels ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? They keep watch over God’s children (both young and old). They provide protection in ways that we can’t even imagine.

Now, angels appeared on and off to God’s people throughout the Old Testament times, and also in New Testament times. Some of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament tell some fantastical stories about angels, where several angels are named, but if we stick with the canonical Scriptures, we know the names of only two angels. Gabriel, whose name means “mighty one of God,” appeared to the prophet Daniel, and, later, to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and then to the virgin Mary, announcing that she would be the mother of the Son of God. And then there is Michael, after whom today’s festival is named.

Michael’s name is a question: “Who is like God?” He shows up, at least, by name, only four times in the Bible. The first time was back in the book of Daniel, chapter 10. An unnamed angel was speaking to Daniel in a vision, and he tells Daniel that he was delayed in coming by the “prince of the kingdom of Persia.” The word “prince” seems to refer to a high-ranking angelic authority, except this one was an evil one who opposed the angel sent by God. So we’d call him a high-ranking demon. But Michael came to help this angel. The angel calls Michael “one of the chief princes.” Another word for a “chief prince” would be an “archangel,” so this verse seems to indicate that there are a number of archangels, of whom Michael is one. Later in that same chapter, the angel refers to Michael as “your prince,” and in chapter 12, he’s called, “the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.” So Michael is the archangel whom God placed in charge of protecting, either the Old Testament people of Israel in particular, or all the people of God in general. From the little we’re told by Daniel, we conclude that there are both angels and demons in charge of various regions of the world, with many angels at the command of each commander, and that there are battles going on in the spiritual realm that we cannot see.

What was the battle that John described in today’s Epistle, Revelation 12? Given the vision that comes right before, which seems to describe the devil’s failed attempt to defeat Jesus during His earthly ministry, it seems that this vision is meant to teach us about the spiritual victory that took place in Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, including also the victory of the Gospel going out into the world to bring people to faith in Jesus. Whether or not there was an actual battle at that time in the spiritual realm between angels and demons isn’t clear, because Revelation is a prophetic vision. What is clear is that, because of Christ’s death on the cross, and because He now stands at the right hand of God as our Mediator, and because His Gospel has gone out and brought many sinners to faith, the devil, the great accuser of mankind, no longer has a case to make in heaven against those who believe in the Lord Christ. The devil has been “cast out of heaven,” in that sense.

But that means that he and his angels have been cast down to the earth, to persecute and trouble us here during this little while until Christ returns for Judgment Day. As John heard the voice in heaven say, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. And so it’s fitting today, as we consider the holy angels, that we take a moment to consider their unholy counterparts and the ways they threaten mankind.

There are some who think that it was demons who married human women back before the days of Noah, having hybrid children with them who were supernatural giants. But that idea is contrary to what the Scriptures tell us, because spirits can’t produce children, since they have no DNA to pass on. But we are told that demons were behind much of the idolatry that took place in the Old Testament. They were involved in sorcery and witchcraft. They took possession of people’s bodies at the time of Jesus and for a while thereafter. And even today they seem to be able to afflict individuals in strange and supernatural ways.

But, understand, their primary tool is deception, because they’re in league with the devil, who is called the father of lies. So even as they afflict people, they employ deception to mislead those whom they are afflicting. They may be behind some of the stories about apparitions or ghosts as they deceive people into thinking they’re the soul of a lost loved one. They may be behind some of the stories about aliens, and about supernatural creatures that roam the earth, always deceiving people about their true nature. They are likely also behind the supposed apparitions of Mary and of other saints, always deceiving people into looking away from Christ and obsessing over the supernatural occurrences themselves.

Aside from afflicting or appearing to individuals, the unclean spirits are secretly influencing the governments of the world, and the beliefs of society, and especially the beliefs within the Christian Church itself. St. Paul writes that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. Those doctrines of demons have thoroughly infiltrated the outward Christian Church and are taught and believed by millions. As for the societies of the world, if it seems like some of the things people are believing and promoting in the world are unthinkably insane and unspeakably wicked, you can be almost sure that demons are behind it, lying and deceiving, influencing and tempting both the leaders and their followers. But be careful, because, as masters of deception, they can also be behind some of the responses to the madness!

Thankfully, the Lord has given us plenty of armor and a powerful weapon against the unclean spirits. Paul talks about it in Ephesians 6: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

So use that armor that God has provided. Trust in the Lord Jesus, risen from the dead, in His victory over the devil, and in His promise that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Know God’s Word, which is dependably true, so that no demon can deceive you with falsehoods. Rely on God’s promise in Holy Baptism, where He placed His almighty name upon you, which no demon can defeat. Rely on God’s promise in Holy Communion, where the very body and blood that already defeated the devil are placed into your bodies. Pray always. And, as Peter writes, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, being steadfast in the faith…Resist the devil, James says, and he will flee from you.

And remember that, in the face of all these powerful, wicked, deceptive spirit-enemies who wreak havoc on the world and on the Church, you have even more powerful allies in the spirit-realm, Michael and his angels, whom your Father in heaven will graciously continue to send to the aid of all who call upon the name of the Lord, to encamp around those who fear Him. So rejoice in them, give thanks to God for them, and take heart, because, although the world is filled with demons and their allies among the sons of men, Those who are with us are more than those who are with them, and with the help of God’s holy angels, our final victory is certain. Amen.

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Recognizing the hopelessness of your situation is the first step

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Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 17

Isaiah 59:1-11

There are two fundamental teachings of the Bible, that run throughout the entire Bible. We’re studying this right now in our online study of the book of Romans (which we’ll probably end up doing here in person, too, at some point). In fact, in the book of Romans, St. Paul quotes one of the verses we have before us this evening in Isaiah 59 in order to highlight those two teachings. We refer to them as the Law and the Gospel. The Law is the teaching that runs throughout the Scriptures that presents God’s righteous requirement that man must be righteous, as God is righteous, in order to be acceptable to God. It’s the natural path, the default path, that all men start out on. But the message of Scripture is that this path necessarily leads to death for all who walk it. If we are to be acceptable to God, if we are to be saved from sin, death, and the devil, we have to walk the path of the Gospel.

The path of the Gospel, as we constantly present it, is the path of recognizing our sins, recognizing that we are failures on the path of the Law, recognizing that no one is righteous enough to be acceptable to God, and mourning over it. Then it’s hearing the good news, that God the Father has given His Son Jesus Christ into death for your sins, has given Him as a free gift, and that He will cover, with His own righteousness, all who run to Him in faith, that all who believe in Christ Jesus are forgiven and will have everlasting life.

Much time is spent in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, in convincing the people of Israel that the path of the Law is futile, because they kept on stubbornly trying to walk it, in defiance of God’s Word, in defiance of God’s mercy. Defiance, not because keeping the Law is against God’s will, but because they refused to acknowledge their sins and their need to be saved by God’s mercy instead of by their own attempts at Law-keeping.

That’s why we have a very direct, very stern preaching of the Law again in Isaiah chapter 59. Let’s walk through it briefly. And remember, as we do, that it’s directed to those who are secure in their sins, to those who keep avoiding the path of the Gospel, because they are determined to be saved by the Law instead.

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

In other words, God says to them, you’re suffering now, and you will suffer more, not because I’m unable to save you, or unable to hear your cries for salvation. No, you are suffering, and will suffer much more, because you have sinned against Me and refuse to repent. You have sinned against Me and yet you still think that you deserve My help, that you have earned My favor on the path of the Law. So, as long as you keep trying to approach Me on the path of the Law, the Law will continue to reveal your sins, and, therefore, you will not receive My help.

For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.

What exactly were the Israelites doing? They were mistreating their neighbors with their hands and with their tongues. Some were guilty of actual murder. Others, of supporting the murderers. Others, of simply looking the other way. God could speak the same condemnation on our country, and on all the nations of the world, as some people murder little babies in abortion, while others support them in such murder, while others simply look the other way. Wars, violence, bloodshed take place everywhere. But iniquity takes many, many forms, not just violence. It’s every moment lived without concern for God, without concern for His Word, without concern for one’s neighbor. Lips speak lies, tongues mutter perversity, and hearts are bitter, and loveless, and cold.

No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands.

Now, calling for justice and pleading for truth were especially relevant in Old Testament Israel, as the whole nation of Israel was the visible Church of God, and God’s covenant with them governed their society as a whole. So when injustice took place in Israel, when the government failed to condemn the guilty and failed to uphold the case of the innocent, it was the responsibility of all the citizens of Israel to seek justice for their neighbor and to speak up for what was true. Some schemed to take advantage of their neighbor, some took bribes to let the wicked get away with it, and some just grew lazy and indifferent to the injustice happening all around them. “As long as I’m doing ok, I’m not going to get involved.” And God looked at it all and said, “You’re all guilty before Me, all of you who practice these things!”

He goes on: Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

These are the verses that Paul cites in Romans chapter 3. And here we have to take note that Paul applies these words, not just to the openly wicked and evil criminals in the world, but to all people everywhere. Not that all people are guilty of every possible sin, not that all people are going around literally shedding innocent blood, but all people participate in these kinds of sins. If God were to judge us by His holy, righteous Law, the Law would find sins in every human being. All who are judged by the Law will be found guilty.

Therefore, Isaiah says, justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes; We stumble at noonday as at twilight; We are as dead men in desolate places. We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We look for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us.

We don’t behave justly, and, therefore, we don’t get justice from God—at least, not the kind we want. Because, the truth is, when God punishes sinners, that is justice. When God condemns the unrighteous, that is righteousness. But that doesn’t help the sinner. There’s no salvation on the path of the Law, because all are lawbreakers. There’s no light for us to walk by, if we have to come up with our own source of light. We can’t save ourselves. Period.

That Law-message is a hard message to hear, but sinners need to hear it until they finally break, until they finally acknowledge their sins, until they finally stop trying to get God to accept them based on their works.

But when we do acknowledge that God is speaking the truth, when we do acknowledge that we can’t save ourselves, when we finally recognize the hopelessness of our situation, that’s when God comes running to us with the Gospel, which doesn’t make its way into our short 11 verses this evening but which is the theme of the whole Bible. “Look, you sinners! Since you stand condemned if you stand under the Law, come out from under it! See, I offer you another way, another path to walk. I give My Son on your behalf, to be the sacrifice of atonement, to be your Mediator, to be your Savior and Redeemer. Repent of your wickedness and approach Me through Him, and I will hear you. Approach Me through Him, and I will give you justice, righteousness, peace, salvation, and eternal life.” This is the way of grace. This is the way of faith, the way of the Gospel. And it’s the way that works.

Recognizing the hopelessness of your situation is the first step to salvation, which is why the Law of God is always needed this side of heaven. But God holds out new hope in the Gospel. Hear it and believe it, and then spend the rest of your life as a thank-offering to the God who gives you hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Source: Sermons