/Teach me, Yahweh, the way of Your prescriptions; and I will keep (them)
to the end. Cause me to understand, and I will keep Your instructions;
and I will safe-guard it in all my heart. Cause me to tread the way on
the path of Your commandments; For in it, I delight. Stretch forth my
heart to Your witness; and not toward making my cut. Cover my eyes from
seeing worthlessness; in Your ways, revive me! Cause to stand, for Your
servant, Your spoken words; which are for the fear of You. Cover my
shame which I dread; for Your judgments are perfect. Look, I long for
Your visitation; in Your righteousness, revive me! /
The famous Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon searched for a fabled
fountain of youth. Many a fantasy & science fiction author have written
extensively about man's search for ways to extend human life
indefinitely. But these remain only fables, fantasies & fictions...for
man is unable to find extended life. No matter how hard anyone searches,
he/she will always fail to find eternal life. This is because mankind is
born of the flesh, dead in sin, and dead folk cannot seek out a single
thing!
So, as far at that goes, we have an awful lot in common with Lazarus,
who lies four days dead in the tomb. He couldn't seek out Jesus for life
now if he tried all his might. Nor could we, by our own reason or
strength seek out Jesus the life-giver, or come to Him. We are dead in
our trespasses, really & truly dead in our sin-filled flesh. Just as
dead as Lazarus, we cannot take even one initial step toward Jesus, to
receive the extended life from Him which we so desperately need.
"But I'm created in God's image, so there must be a spark of
seek-ability in me, isn't there?" you may hope. But that image of God
which Adam & Eve originally received has been corrupted, tainted, and
lost since the fall into sin. Since then, every inclination of the human
heart, including yours, is toward evil, continuously. Any step you do
take, therefore, is not toward goodness & life, but instead takes you
further into sinfulness and death. All you can do is make matters worse
for yourself.
"But Pastor, don't I have to invite Jesus into my heart, make Him the
Lord of my life, decide to be His disciple, and give Him my heart
first?" No! None of these things are required of us in scripture as
though we have to take the first step toward Jesus. Instead, you are
like Lazarus, dead & decaying, completely helpless & hopeless to do
anything to get out of your mortified condition. You were not *mostly
dead* like in the Princess Bride. You were completely dead in your sins.
Which is where the psalmist comes in to remind us in Psalm 119 that God
must act first to *revive* us. Just as Jesus had to come to Lazarus
(since the dead man couldn't possibly come to Him) so too Jesus had to
come first to you in order to revive you to new life. He did so by
making you born again to new life in Holy Baptism. Born anew of water &
the Spirit that day, your resurrected life in Jesus began! Buried with
Christ into His death, you were raised in Jesus on Easter Sunday to new
life!
Most of us were called to faith that very day of our baptism. For the
Holy Spirit called you by the same method Jesus used with Lazarus.
Jesus' very words called his friend to life again, and the Gospel
message is the power of God for your salvation, calling you to newness
of life. This is the same message of Jesus' love proclaimed to you this
day from the pulpit: that Jesus loved you so much that He died in your
place on the +, so that in Him you receive life everlasting as His gift
to you.
This seems to good to be true, because we think that we ought to
contribute something. But you are not revived by *your* ways, but by
God's ways. Jesus alone desires to be your Savior, and He gifts you with
the gift of salvation which includes both faith and grace. His Spirit
causes you to believe in your heart and keeps you in the one true faith.
And Jesus alone does everything which was needed to save you from sin,
death & the devil. It is a done deal, as He said at the +, "It is finished!"
The psalmist speaks about your revived life a second time when he
describes it as being "in God's righteousness". So your salvation is
never tied up in whether you do things right or not, but in the fact
that the only-begotten Son of God became a man to do everything right
for you, in your place. In active obedience, He kept God's Law
perfectly in your stead, earning the eternal life for you that you could
never earn. Then by His passive obedience, He did not resist the cup of
the +, but drank it willingly, so that by His death, it now becomes for
you the very cup of your salvation, of His shed blood for your
forgiveness. Where there is forgiveness, there is also salvation and
revived life! Amen.
John C. Drosendahl, Pastor
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