Category: Sermon Page

St. Michael and All Angels, September 29, 2024.

The Victory in Heaven
Brings Hope on Earth! Text: Revelation 12:7–12 Other Lessons: Daniel 10:10–14; 12:1–3; Psalm 91; Luke 10:17–20; Matthew 18:1–11

Sermon Theme: The victory in heaven brings hope on earth!

Sermon Goal: That hearers rejoice because Michael and all the other good angels have enforced the Christ’s victory against Satan and all other evil angels so that they can no longer come into God’s presence to accuse sinners. Based on a sermon by Dr. Charles A. Gieschen

Sermon: One of the greatest lies Satan has succeeding in having people believe is that he is a mythical figure depicted in Scripture and not a real being. If you don’t think Satan exists, he can work under the radar much more effectively. The Scriptures, however, reveal Satan for who he truly is! This is clear from Satan’s presence in the Garden of Eden as tempter of Adam and Eve to his presence in the desert tempting Jesus.  It is the work of Jesus in overcoming Satan and the forces of evil that comes to a climax in our reading from Revelation 12. There we heard of the work of God’s good angels, namely Michael and company, in bringing an end to the activity of Satan as the accuser who accuses sinners before our God day and night. Satan is depicted as a prosecuting attorney who argues against sinners before God. He accuses sinners of not being worthy of fellowship with God now and for eternity. The joyous message of this text is that this accuser of all mankind, Satan, is no longer in heaven to bring accusations against us. This text unveils this truth for us: The Victory in Heaven Brings Hope on Earth! Satan’s rebellion and removal from heaven is one of those mysteries of which God tells us very little in his Word. We do know that Satan led a substantial rebellion of angels after creation and before the fall of Adam and Eve. Revelation 12:4 indicates that up to a third of the angels listened to the temptation that Satan later used on Adam and Eve: “You will be like God.”  The scene is not a pretty one; the powerful angel Satan kept reminding God about the sins of mankind day and night! The one who deceived Adam and Eve continued to remind God of the ongoing pattern of sin in Adam’s descendants, including us. The good news trumpeted by our text is that this accusation activity of Satan is no longer effective due to his defeat in a great a war—cast out of heaven, thrown down to earth: “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (vv 7–9). No longer does Satan have his day in God’s court to bring accusations against us.  It appears, from first glance, that the source of this victory is the power of Michael and the other good angels of God, almost as if Satan and his angels were not as strong. Our text tells us how the martyred Christians overcame Satan and the rest of the evil angels: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even to death” (v 11). If this is how these Christians overcame Satan, it is also how created angels overcame him.  The song of praise in our text puts credit where credit is due: “the blood of the Lamb.” This is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ as the unblemished, perfect sacrifice whose blood makes payment for all sins of mankind. The basis for Satan’s removal as the accuser before God is the blood of the Lamb. Satan can no longer accuse sinners because Christ paid the price of all sin and has taken his place before God as the Advocate of all sinners, interceding for us. John writes of this wonderful work in his first epistle: “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 2:1–2). The apostle Paul also tells us of Christ defending us before the Father: “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Rom 8:34). The source of this victory in heaven, then, is the blood of the Lamb. This victory in heaven brings us hope on earth. Satan’s destiny: “And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (20:10). We thank God for this victory in heaven, won by Christ on the cross and carried out by Michael and the angelic hosts. This victory fills our earthly struggles with hope as we press toward our heavenly goal. Surrounded and protected by these angels, we join their voices in praising the Lamb: “Worthy are you . . . for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (5:9–10). Amen.

Pentecost 18 (Proper 20), September 22, 2024
Faithfulness in Time of Betrayal
Text: Jeremiah 11:18–20
Other Lessons: Psalm 54; James 3:13–4:10; Mark 9:30–37

Sermon Theme: Let us commit our cause to the Lord God. Sermon Goal: That you would be encouraged to trust humbly in God’s resolution in the face of a world so filled with false teachings by false teachers and filled with hatred. Based on a sermon outline from Concordia Pulpit Resources by Rev. Dr. Douglas L. Rutt, Sermon: To what are you committed? What kinds of commitments have you made in life? What are some of the things that are most important to you? We as human beings often have causes to which we’re committed. It may be something small, or it may be something grandiose, even world-changing. It’s inspiring to hear about people who have made great sacrifices and overcome enormous obstacles for their cause.

To be “committed to a cause” is to be all in for the sake of that cause. In today’s Old Testament Reading, we get a touching look into the life of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah faced many obstacles in his ministry and often went to the Lord God to plead his case in the face of all the adversity he had to confront. That’s why he’s known as the weeping prophet. He was betrayed by his friends; he is surrounded by deceit and treachery. He cries out to the Lord in ways that remind us of Christ’s own betrayal, persecution, and suffering. And yet, he is committed to the cause to which God called him, to make known his Word to the people of Judah, to call Judah to repent of its apostasy and idolatry. In the face of many reasons to despair, Jeremiah clings to the rock of his salvation. Jeremiah was committed to the cause of showing the way to eternal life. Jeremiah is a powerful example to us as we navigate the trials and challenges of our own lives as the people of God. As Jeremiah committed his cause to the Lord, Let Us Commit Our Cause to the Lord God. The Lord God knows our plight (vv 18–19). Sometimes in life, as we face hardships, injustice, or persecution, we can conclude that God is absent, silent, or doesn’t care.  We wonder why we might need to face a certain challenge. Sometimes we might even feel betrayed by our own family or friends.  In the case of Jeremiah, it’s the Lord God who reveals to him the scheming and treachery of his friends. God knew of their scheming before Jeremiah did. In Jeremiah’s case, the Lord revealed the murderous plots to him directly.  God knows the challenges and troubles we face, even before we do. Sometimes we can experience the emotions that Jeremiah felt, like a lamb being led to slaughter. God cares about what happens in this world, and he invites us to bring our cares and concerns humbly to him, and he will deliver us (Ps 54:7).  The Lord God judges in righteousness (v 20a). The Lord God does care about what happens in the world and what is happening in our lives. Despite his troubles, Jeremiah proclaims that the Lord God is righteous and judges in righteousness. This means he judges in holiness and love. Sometimes it can look to us as if that’s not the case, when evildoers seem to prosper and good people do suffer. But the Lord God sees way beyond what we can see. This is even more true when we suffer for his name’s sake. The suffering we face because of our commitment to the Lord is something we can count on (Jn 16:1–4a). It seems we live in a world that is becoming angrier all the time. People often are blinded to the truth that is right before their very eyes. This is especially true when it comes to respecting the Lord God.                        The vengeance of the Lord is fair retribution for those who have fallen away from all that God had given them and who chased after other gods. Those other gods can be anything we put our trust in above all other things, and so we can fall into idolatry also.  The Lord God judges “the heart and the mind” (v 20). We may not be worshiping Baal or other spiritual beings, and by outward appearances we may not be plotting the murder of God’s prophet, but the Lord God judges the heart, our innermost thoughts and desires (1 Sam 16:7). Everyone falls short of what God demands. Nevertheless, the Lord also provided the way for our minds and hearts to be washed clean and seen as perfect in his sight. It is through a simple trust in the perfect life, atoning death, and victorious rising again of Jesus Christ.

     Just as Jeremiah faced hostility because he committed his cause to the Lord God, we also may—probably will—come up against opposition and hostility because of our commitment to the cause of the Gospel as we live out our faith in a world that seems increasingly to be in conflict with the Word of God. Just as Jeremiah committed his cause to the Lord God, knowing that God was his strength and shield, so we also can confidently and humbly commit ourselves to the cause of the Lord God, who would do so much, even give us his Son. In that way, we will see what Jeremiah called God’s vengeance. It is a fair justice that his Son took upon himself by his life, death, and resurrection for us and our salvation. And that is a cause worth committing ourselves to, knowing that God is faithful, just, loving, and caring, despite the obstacles we face in this life. Amen.

Pastor: Tim Weiser

Pentecost 16 (Proper 18), September 8, 2024
Reversing the Ramifications of Sin Text: Isaiah 35:4–7a
Other Lessons: Psalm 146; James 2:1–10, 14–18; Mark 7:(24–30) 31–37 Sermon Theme: Be strong, fear not! The Lord will come and save you, reversing the ramifications of sin.
Sermon Goal: That you not fear your afflictions but trust that the Lord will one day reverse all the ramifications of sin that he now asks you to endure with faith in Christ. Based on a sermon outline in Concordia Pulpit Resources by Rev. Stephen K. Preus.

Sermon: The Lord’s promise through Isaiah, did not fade. And God’s kingdom has not fallen. It stands. Forever. Because Christ Jesus fulfills this prophecy of the Lord’s prophet. And our text points to the greater hope of the new creation for all those who cling to the Lord Jesus and the ransom he gave on the cross. He will come in triumph to set creation free from Satan and the curse and give his people the redemption of their bodies (cf Rom 8:19–23). He says to all of you today: Be Strong, Fear Not! The Lord Will Come and Save You, Reversing the Ramifications of Sin. The feeble and the fainthearted need not fear their enemies. The Lord is coming with vengeance against his and his people’s enemies (v 4). It stands because Jesus came to destroy our spiritual and greatest enemy: the devil. The Son of God became flesh “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). Jesus did this in our Gospel (Mk 7:29), in his temptation (Mt 4:1–11), and then on the cross for us all (Gen 3:15), rising victorious over sin, death, and the devil. This means Christ also came to destroy the sin, sickness, disease, deformities, and death that Satan has brought into this world. So, all who are a part of Christ’s kingdom, find your strength in him against his and your enemies, and fear not!  The Lord’s vengeance is recompense, a repaying for all the evil the enemies have done against God’s people (v 4). God used the nations of Assyria, Babylon, and others to humble and discipline his people. But he also repaid those nations for all the evil they did against God’s people (cf 2 Thess 1:6). The devil, who works evil through so many agencies in the world, might also appear to be winning, and God uses our setbacks and seeming defeats to discipline us. But the devil’s time is short (Rev 12:12). He has already been repaid in the crushing defeat of Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. And recompense is finally and ultimately coming in the end when Christ returns and the devil is forever relegated to the prison prepared for him and his angels (Mt 25:41). The Lord’s goal in this vengeance and recompense is salvation for his people (v 4). The Lord is a God defined not by wrath but by love (1 Jn 4:8). While the immediate purpose of his coming for his Old Testament people was vengeance and recompense of the wicked, that had the decisive purpose of salvation for God’s people, delivering them from those enemies. The same is true spiritually speaking. Jesus’ attack of the devil, the stronger man against the strong man, was to save you and have you as his own so that you might “live under Him in His kingdom” (Small Catechism, Second Article). You need not seek vengeance (Rom 12:19) but can leave that to God. You can focus instead on the salvation he has already won for you and has in store for all who believe and are baptized into Christ. That salvation includes the truth that You need not fear because the ramifications of sin will be reversed (vv 5–6a). When Jesus came, “then” (vv 5, 6) God’s kingdom came to reverse sin’s ramifications.    When Jesus came, he healed bodies just as Isaiah said (cf Lk 7:22). The “eyes of the blind” were “opened” (cf Mt 20:29–34). The “ears of the deaf unstopped . . . and the tongue of the mute [sang] for joy” (cf Mk 7:34–35). The “lame man [leaped] like a deer” (cf Mt 9:6–7). Jesus showed himself to be the one who made all these appendages and could heal them, reversing the curse of this world. And what he did physically, he also did spiritually (Jn 9:39). The Gospel of Jesus Christ enlightened the eyes of the disciples’ hearts and those of many others who sat in darkness (Eph 1:18; Lk 1:79). He opened their lips so that their mouths declared his praise (Ps 51:15).     Now, through the Gospel proclaimed in church, the eyes of your heart are opened, you hear his promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation, you follow him and sing hymns of thanksgiving for his salvation. On the Last Day, you will experience this completely, both body and soul, in the kingdom of glory. All of sin’s ramifications will be reversed forever. The curse that now leads to being blind, deaf, lame, or mute will forever be lifted from God’s people in the resurrection. Find joy in your baptism, where God gave you the Spirit (Acts 2:38), for he “is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:14). Amen.

Pentecost 15 (Proper 17), September 1, 2024 A Defiled Heart Made Clean Text: Mark 7:14–23 Other Lessons: Deuteronomy 4:1–2, 6–9; Psalm 119:129–136; Ephesians 6:10–20 Sermon Theme: God takes our defiled hearts and creates clean, fruitful hearts by his Gospel. Sermon Goal: That you confess that your hearts produce nothing but evil but that by the Gospel God creates in you new, clean hearts that desire to keep His commandments. Based on a sermon outline by Rev. Stephen K. Preus.

Sermon: “Just follow your heart.” Undoubtedly you’ve heard this popular advice from someone before. A sinful heart is the source of a sinful intellect and intuition, a sinful understanding and will. That’s the way the Scriptures speak of the heart. Thus, the solution to “Just follow your heart” cannot be “Just follow your intellect” or “Just follow your intuition.” Both of these are defiled as well. The only real solution is God acting outside of us and for our benefit. And that is what he does! God Takes Our Defiled Hearts and Creates Clean, Fruitful Hearts by His Gospel.

Every heart is by nature defiled and yields only evil. The Pharisees and scribes lived as if something else defiled people. They believed and lived as if what defiled a person is what goes into him—like the right foods eaten the right ways—which are really mere outward works, even those invented by man instead of those commanded by God.

He teaches the crowd that “there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him” (v 15). Jesus did not want the crowd misled by the moralism of the Pharisees.

Jesus corrected the disciples’ false belief to prepare them to teach others the same. He teaches the disciples that it is not what goes into a person that defiles him, since what goes in enters not the heart but the stomach and exits to the latrine. It is what comes out of a person that defiles him, because “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts” and so much more (v 21). Original sin causes actual sins. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. And this is true of us all, but not Christ. God creates new, clean hearts in us through Christ by his Spirit-filled Gospel. This clean heart has existed only in one man: the God-man, Jesus Christ. His heart was pure and holy, since he is God’s Son made flesh from the virgin Mary (Lk 1:35). From his heart came forth love for both God and man, fulfilling God’s Law for our sakes (Gal 4:4–5).

From his heart flowed water and blood as he was pierced for our defiled hearts (Jn 19:34), cleansing us by his atoning blood (cf Lev 16:30).

This shows us the Father’s heart of love for us, that he gave his only Son into death for our sin (Rom 8:32).Through the Spirit-filled Gospel, God gives us what Jesus gained on the cross.

Christ rose and sent the Holy Spirit to take what is his and “declare it to you” (Jn 16:14). So all Jesus accomplished with his holy heart, the Spirit now declares to be your own.

By the Gospel, he washes you thoroughly from your iniquity and cleanses you from your sin, making you whiter than snow and creating in you a clean heart (Ps 51:2, 7b, 10; cf Jn 15:3).

Through faith alone, our hearts are newly created by this Spirit-filled Gospel (Acts 15:9). Through faith, we receive and benefit from what Christ gained in his life, death, and resurrection and what the Spirit gives us in the Gospel. This faith God gives us as a gift of his grace alone (Eph 2:8).

With such hearts, we can approach God’s throne of grace and “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22).

Then, with our newly created hearts, we bear fruit by the strength God alone gives. We must remember that our sinful hearts were not removed in Baptism but remain in us until we die. So in spite of our faith and sanctified good intentions, those evil thoughts and that catalogue of vices will continually seek to defile our hearts (Rom 7:18–19).

But we return to the cleansing of our baptism by confessing our sins and receiving in faith the absolution: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9).

And our newly purified hearts are zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). Just as evil thoughts flow from the defiled heart, so “the springs of life” (Prov 4:23) and “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22–23) flow from the heart that’s cleansed by the Spirit-filled Gospel (cf Mt 23:26). But we do not look to our hearts to decide what good works are. Instead, God prepared for us beforehand what those good works are to be (Eph 2:10). They are done according to his Law and lived out in our assorted stations in life within the three estates, as Scripture teaches (see Old Testament Reading).

Our strength for these works of love comes only from the heart purified by Jesus’ blood (Heb 9:14).

Paul sums it up: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim 1:5).

So find strength in the purifying blood of Jesus. Once shed. Continually given in his Supper. For you. And you have a defiled heart made clean and fruitful once more. Amen.