I found myself with time on my hands today (Thursday is my day off) being
somewhat restricted to the indoors due to a last-day-of-January snowfall.
Therefore, I resumed my sermon composition for the weekend of February 10
... and finished it. So, early though it be, here it is.
Romans 5:18-19 (12-19)
"Christ Graciously Saved Us"
Sunday, February 10, 2008; 1st Sunday in Lent
[Genesis 3:1-21; Matthew 4:1-11]
In the name of the Triune God-Father, X Son, and Holy Spirit. [Amen.]
(Rom 5:18-19 ESV) "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all
men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all
men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by
the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."
Introduction: Dear fellow saved saints of God.
Today [Tomorrow] is the 1st Sunday in Lent, which actually began this
past Wednesday ("Ash Wednesday"). Maybe some among us are thinking that we're
barely past Christmas so how can it be Lent already? Well, this year Easter
is the earliest it can possibly be which makes Lent begin the earliest it
possibly can. Let's do a little review about Lent and Easter.
Unlike Christmas and Epiphany, Easter is not a dated event in the
liturgical church year. Recall with me the formula for determining Easter
Sunday. It is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first
day of spring. This year that figures to be March 23 . very early! Once
Easter Sunday is determined, we back up 40 days (not counting the Sundays)
to arrive at Ash Wednesday. This year that figured to be February 6 . this
past Wednesday!
So . the word "Lent" comes from the Latin language and refers to the
lengthening of daylight that occurs this time of the year, hence, it refers
to "spring." Lent's length is 40 days, extending from Ash Wednesday up to
Easter Sunday. However, as I just said, it does not include the Sundays,
each of which is always a time to joyfully celebrate Christ's humble birth
and majestic resurrection.
Lent's emphasis (like that of Advent) is repentance. That is, by the
power of the Holy Spirit we apply to ourselves the five elements of (1)
recognizing sin as sin and the fact that we are sinners; (2) heartfelt grief
and sorrow over having sinned; (3) honest admission of our sins; (4)
realization and trust that Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins; and (5)
commitment to try to change from sinful to sinless living.
Lent's focused goal is the death and resurrection of Jesus. Throughout
Lent and, in fact, our entire lives, God's gracious Gospel is always
reminding and reassuring us that Jesus fully atoned for our sins. Because
of such and by Spirit-given faith in Him alone we have the certain assurance
of forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life with Him in heaven.
The bottom line is that Lent, with its emphasis on repentant
preparation for the grand and glorious celebration of our Savior's
resurrection from the dead, is all about focus. We focus with fear and
fright on the fact that we are sinful and deserve only God's severest
punishment as we say in Divine Service Settings One, Two, and Five,
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 CPH, Pages 151, 167, 213f.)
"Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.
We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done
and by what we have left undone. We justly deserve Your present and eternal
punishment."
as well as Divine Service Settings Three and Five,
(Ibid., Pages 184 & 213)
"I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities
with which I have ever offended You and justly deserve Your temporal and
eternal punishment."
At the same time, we focus with faith-given comfort and security on the
fact that our merciful and gracious God forgives us as we hear declared by
the presiding pastor in Divine Service Settings One, Two, and Four,
(Ibid., Pages 151, 167, & 203) "Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son
to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and
ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you
all your sins in the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy
Spirit."
as well as Divine Service Settings Three and Five,
(Ibid., Pages 185 & 214) "Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my
office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of
God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus
Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the X
Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Yes, Lent is a time for us to realize and admit with absolute accuracy
that .
Transition: Christ Graciously Saved Us to resolve the sad reality that Sin
Caused Death and resulting in the joyful reality that God's Grace Defeated
Death.
I. Sin Caused death. [12-14: "Therefore, just as sin came into the world
through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men
because all sinned-for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given,
but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam
to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of
Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come."] Death is bad. There are
no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Death is a horrible thing . totally and
completely not God's desire for us as Ezekiel recorded,
(Ezek 18:32 ESV) "For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Lord God . ."
Death is unnatural and hideous. It is anything but sweet as
Agag declared after Samuel summoned him,
(1 Sam 15:32 ESV) "Surely the bitterness of death is past."
Death is not fun or enjoyable. King David testified to that
when he wrote in Psalm 55,
(Ps 55:4 ESV) "My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death
have fallen upon me."
No one looks good dead. A lifeless corpse is simply ugly no
matter how skillful the undertaker is at applying cosmetics trying to make
dead bodies look good. Death is still death no matter how it looks or how
we look at it, and it happens because .
A. One man initiated sin. So, if death is really that bad (and,
indeed, it is!) then we naturally want to know how it came about. The
simple answer is found in God's instruction to Adam shortly after He created
him,
(Gen 2:16-17 ESV) "You may surely eat of every tree of the
garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
In fact, St. Paul emphatically stated,
(Rom 6:23 ESV) ". the wages of sin is death . ."
After Adam initiated sin, his .
B. One sin spread to all men. It's like a vicious virus. We know
how easily and quickly the common cold or the ferocious flu can spread among
us. However, some people are able to avoid it, especially with modern-day
vaccinations.
But that's not the case with sin. No one can avoid it.
It spread to all men, that is, all humankind . all people regardless of
gender, age, race, nationality, religious affiliation, . or whatever. That
includes you and me!
King David stated that,
(Ps 14:3 ESV) ". there is none who does good, not even one."
His son, King Solomon, wrote,
(Eccl 7:20 ESV) "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth
who does good and never sins."
The grand Old Testament prophet Isaiah declared,
(Isa 64:6 ESV) "We have all become like one who is unclean, and
all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment."
And, St. Paul, who considered himself to be the chief of
sinners, wrote,
(Eph 2:3 ESV) ". we all once lived in the passions of our
flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
There is no vaccine that can prevent it. But there is a
cure for it. That Cure (with an upper case "C") is none other than
Immanuel. The only exclusive recourse is that .
Transition: Christ Graciously Saved Us to resolve the sad reality that Sin
Caused Death and resulting in the joyful reality that God's Grace Defeated
Death.
II. God's Grace Defeated Death. [15-17: "But the free gift is not like
the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have
the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ
abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one
man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation,
but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If,
because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more
will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of
righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ."] We live in
a contentious society. People seem to constantly compete with each other
about all sorts of things. Jesus Himself alluded to this when He said to
His disciples,
(Luke 12:51-53 ESV) "Do you think that I have come to give peace on
earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house
there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They
will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against
daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her
daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
The severest of contentions with which we compete on a daily
basis are temptations to sin. Regarding such temptations Martin Luther
wrote in his explanation to The Sixth Petition of The Lord's Prayer,
(LUTHER'S SMALL CATECHISM WITH EXPLANATION, © 1991 CPH, page 19) "God
tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so
that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or
mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.
Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally
overcome them and win the victory."
We sang about this is the hymn of the day a few minutes ago,
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 CPH, #657:2)
"No strength of ours can match his might.
We would be lost, rejected.
But now a champion comes to fight,
Whom God Himself elected.
You ask who this may be?
The Lord of hosts is He,
Christ Jesus, mighty Lord,
God's only Son, adored.
He holds the field victorious."
Nevertheless, the sad reality is that we daily sin much in
thoughts, words, and deeds, because of which .
A. We deserve the judgment of condemnation. That's right! We
deserve to be consigned to eternal separation from almighty God in the fiery
torments of hell!
Moses declared to the Israelites and us,
(Deut 27:26 ESV) "Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the
words of [God's] law by doing them."
something St. Paul highlighted when he wrote to the Galatians,
(Gal 3:10 ESV) "For all who rely on works of the law are under
a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all
things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.'"
However, the Good News is that .
B. God gives us justification and righteousness. Jesus Himself
fought the greatest battle ever . and won! His battle was against sin,
Satan, and death itself which He defeated with His holy life, innocent
suffering, crucifixion death, and majestic resurrection from the dead. He
now gives us the blessed gift of forgiveness of sins that results in the
additional gifts of salvation and eternal life with God in heaven for all
who by Spirit-given faith cling to Him as Lord and Savior. That is, as
Jesus Himself declared,
(John 3:16 ESV) "For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life."
St. Paul comforted the Romans and us when he wrote to
them,
(Rom 6:23 ESV) ". the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord."
and to the Colossians,
(Col 1:13-14 ESV) "He has delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we
have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
It all means, quite simply, that .
Transition: Christ Graciously Saved Us to resolve the sad reality that Sin
Caused Death and resulting in the joyful reality that God's Grace Defeated
Death.
Conclusion: The Holy Spirit inspired St. Moses to record that shortly after
Adam and Eve had given in to Satan's temptation and disobeyed God,
(Gen 3:8-10, 21 ESV) ". they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord
God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?' And he said, 'I
heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked,
and I hid myself.' And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments
of skins and clothed them."
There's no need to try to hide from God. In fact, it's impossible to
do so, as Adam and Eve found out. Guilt, fear, and shame that make us want
to hid from Him are swept away because
(1 John 1:7 ESV) ". the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."
The blessed result of that gospel truth is that,
(2 Cor 5:17, 20, 21 ESV) ". if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Therefore, we are
ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. For our sake he
made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God."
That same Holy Spirit inspired St. Matthew to record that, after Jesus
had successfully resisted Satan's efforts to lure Him into sin in the
wilderness immediately after being baptized by His cousin John in the Jordan
River,
(Matt 4:11 ESV) ". the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were
ministering to him."
Let's use this Lenten season and every season of the year to minister
to Jesus, who Himself ministers to us by giving us His mercy and grace in
God's Holy Word and the Blessed Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy
Communion. Let's minister to Him by serving one another taking to heart St.
Paul's admonition,
(Col 3:23-24 ESV) "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not
for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your
reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."
Let's do so remembering with grateful thanksgiving what Jesus said
about Himself, namely,
(Matt 20:28; Mark 10:45 ESV) ". the Son of Man came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
We now have the wonderful opportunity to follow St. Paul's advice to
the Galatians,
(Gal 5:13-15 ESV) ". through love serve one another. For the whole law is
fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
It's what St. Peter meant when he wrote,
(1 Peter 4:10-11 ESV) "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one
another, as good stewards of God's varied grace . in order that in
everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."
We do so this Lententide and always knowing that Christ Graciously
Saved Us to resolve the sad reality that Sin Caused Death and resulting in
the joyful reality that God's Grace Defeated Death.
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our holy
Savior. Amen.
In the name of the Triune God-Father, X Son, and Holy Spirit. [Amen.]
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