Sermon: The Visitation (OT)

30 May AD 2012

Sermon Theme: The Shoot of Jesse’s Stump

Summary: Fresh life from the dead stump of Jesse — the royal line of Israel was only a memory in the minds of most when Mary came to visit Elizabeth, carrying the One promised by Isaiah. Consider this growth in unexpected places — a green shoot from a dead stump; a woman too old to conceive now six months pregnant, greeting a virgin, pregnant also — God working in His own ways to accomplish His own purposes.

The Virgin’s Son embodied the fullness of the Old Testament prophecies and His birth heralded the advent and the impending fulfillment of the New. In His meekness and poverty, He brought heaven’s riches to earth to lavish upon those who are poor in spirit, humble before God, and seeking His righteousness.

Sermon Text: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. Isaiah 11:1-5

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of The Shoot of Jesse’s Stump, preached to the saints of God at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, Ernestville, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 138; Romans 12:9-16; Luke 1:39-45 (46-56)

See Aardvark Alley for more on The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also check out O Radix Jesse, one of a series of Advent meditations based on the O Antiphons and the hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

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Sermon: Pentecost (Gospel)

27 May AD 2012

Sermon Theme: Convicted

Summary: Jesus ascended into heaven yet remains among us in Word and Sacrament, coming to us as the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith. The Spirit works to convict the world — including us — of our sins yet also declares and makes us righteous, granting us the power to believe and to receive heaven’s gifts. Therefore, we know that Satan, that wicked Accuser, cannot convince God to judge us according to His wrath at sin but that the Lord will judge us in mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Sermon Text: “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Convicted, preached during the late service to the saints of God at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kansas City, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 139:1-12 (13-16); Ezekiel 37:1-14; Acts 2:1-21

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Sermon: Pentecost (OT)

27 May AD 2012

Sermon Theme: Your Dry Bones Live

Summary: Ezekiel 37 echoes, amplifies, and restores what God did in Genesis 2:7. After the Lord breathed into man the breath of life, Adam committed spiritual suicide by taking the fruit from Eve and eating. Spiritual death led to temporal and then eternal death. But we who are born without the breath (Spirit) of life find it given to us by the Holy Spirit, God’s divine Breath, as He comes to us in Word and Sacrament. The restoration of Israel’s dead bones and the promised return to their own land foreshadows the restoration of all who believe in Jesus and their resurrection to the perfection of life everlasting.

Sermon Text: The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.

“Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” Ezekiel 37:1-14

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Your Dry Bones Live, preached during the early service to the saints of God at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Kansas City, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 139:1-12 (13-16); Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

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Sermon: Easter 7 (Psalm)

20 May AD 2012

Sermon Theme: Blessed Is the Man

Summary: “Blessed is the man who perfectly, faithfully, joyfully fulfills the Torah, My divine Law,” says God. Yet if we are not every bit this righteous, we are not healthy trees planted in good soil and watered by the water of eternal life and we lose all hope of His blessings.

When we trust in Jesus and His all-availing sacrifice, God credits His Son’s righteousness to us. He doesn’t see us as stunted shrubs bearing poisonous fruit but tall, strong, and fruitful. As we continue in faith, the Holy Spirit works though Word and Sacrament, encouraging us to act in our lives as God sees us in His eyes.

Sermon Text: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Blessed Is the Man, preached to the saints of God at Zion Lutheran Church, Saint Louis, Missouri.

Other Readings: Acts 1:12-26; 1 John 5:9-15; John 17:11b-19

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Sermon: Easter 6 (Epistle)

13 May AD 2012

Sermon Theme: We Have Overcome

Summary: Unlike the civil rights hymn We Shall Overcome, Christians are certain that we have already overcome sin, death, and devil through Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Yet because we live in the “not yet” of time as well as the certainty of eternity, we also await our final victory in the resurrection to life everlasting as we daily sin and find ourselves in need of forgiveness.

Sermon Text: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is he who came by water and blood — Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 1 John 5:1-8

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of We Have Overcome, preached to the saints of God at Faith Lutheran Church, Knob Noster, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 98; Acts 10:34-48; John 15:9-17

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Sermon: The Commemoration of Job (OT)

9 May AD 2012

Sermon Theme: Our Redeemer Lives

Summary: Sitting in the rubble of his life, Job could still look forward to his Savior’s day and say, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” The hymn based on this Scripture concludes: “He lives, all glory to His Name! He lives, my Jesus, still the same; Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives, ‘I know that my Redeemer lives!’”.

Text: “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job 19:23-27

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Our Redeemer Lives, preached to the saints of God at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Ernestville, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 18:1-6; 2 Corinthians 11:16-33; Matthew 27:33-50

Collect: O Lord, our Rock and our Salvation, the rejected Stone who became Cornerstone, as the hope of seeing Your Day sustained Job in his trials and gave voice to his confession, we pray that You would engrave Yourself in our hearts and minds and sustain all who trust in You. Let not our troubles in this life cast us down from our secure position in You but keep us steadfast in faith unto life everlasting; for You live and reign with Your Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Further References: At Ask the Pastor, I’ve responded to a number of questions on why believers face pain, suffering, evil, and death. Among these are A Christian Response to Suffering and Death, A Loving God in a Disaster Filled World, Why Suffering and Death, Second-guessing God, Faith, Works, Suffering, and Salvation, and What Have You Learned, Dorothy?

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Sermon: Easter 5 (OT)

6 May AD 2012 — Cantate

Sermon Theme: Strength, Song, Salvation

Summary: Jesus sang a song of despair as He hung dying on the cross. Yet His death and resurrection won victory over sin, death, and hell and the salvation He won for us gives us the strength to live our days in peace and the joy to sing a song of triumph.

Sermon Text: You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” Isaiah 12:1-6

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Strength, Song, Salvation, preached to the saints of God at Zion Lutheran Church, Blackburn, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 66:1-8; James 1:16-21; John 16:5-15

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Sermon: Easter 5 (Introit)

6 May AD 2012 — Cantate

Sermon Theme: Singing a New Song

Summary: Jesus, God’s “right-hand Man,” worked God’s salvation for fallen mankind. In response, Christians sing a new song of faith in God’s Son, our mighty Redeemer. Thus, today’s introit gives name to the Fifth Sunday of Easter: Cantate Domino novum cantum — Sing to the Lord a new song!

Sermon Text: Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.

He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Introit from Psalm 98:1-4

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Singing a New Song, preached to the saints of God at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mt.Leonard, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 66:1-8; Isaiah 12:1-6; James 1:16-21; John 16:5-15

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Sermon: Easter 4 (OT)

29 April AD 2012 — Jubilate

Sermon Theme: Our Incomparable God

Summary: There is no comparison. No one is like God. Nothing else comes close. Because of this, we cannot understand Him in our own terms but can only receive Him according to His. He takes us when we are nothing — even less than nothing — and makes us His children and heirs of eternal life. He takes our sins and gives us holiness. He takes our weakness and gives us strength.

Sermon Text: To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:25-31

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Our Incomparable God, preached to the saints of God at Zion Lutheran Church, Blackburn, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 147:1-11; 1 Peter 2:11-20; John 16:16-22

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Sermon: Easter 4 (Epistle)

29 April AD 2012 — Jubilate

Sermon Theme: Reborn Free

Summary: Through Baptism, Christians are reborn to freedom. We are not freed from this world, in order to escape it. Rather, Christ frees us for this world, in order to serve it as Christ served us.

Sermon Text: Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 1 Peter 2:11-20

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Reborn Free, preached to the saints of God at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mt. Leonard, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 147:1-11; Isaiah 40:25-31; John 16:16-22

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Sermon: Easter 4B (Gospel)

28 April AD 2012

Sermon Theme: The Good Shepherd

Summary: Our Lord Jesus shepherds — pastors — us throughout this life and into life eternal. His is the only voice that never speaks falsehood; His are the only directions that never mislead us.

Should faith waver and we in any way doubt His love or His sincerity, we turn to His words, that He would lay down His life for His sheep. Not only did He lay it down but He took it up again. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have proof of God’s forgiveness and the certainty of life everlasting.

Sermon Text: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

“This charge I have received from my Father.” John 10:11-18

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of The Good Shepherd, preached to the saints of God at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Marshall, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 23; Acts 4:1-12; 1 John 3:16-24

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Sermon: Easter 2B (Epistle)

15 April AD 2012

Sermon Theme: Proof Positive

Summary: Sometimes we hear of “blind faith” regarding Christianity. Existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard spoke of a “leap to faith” (often mistranslated as a “leap of faith”) necessary to resolve paradoxes in Christian doctrine. It is true that one either has or has not faith — there is no middle ground. Unbelievers have no faith in Christ and so cannot move to claim and hold onto His promises. Yet the “leap” is not made blindly but based on the biblical record, with eyes firmly fixed on Jesus.

Likewise, existing believers do not cling blindly to the Christian Faith. What we believe is predicated on actual historical events — particularly the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe God’s Word because that Word became a flesh and blood human being whose life, ministry, suffering, and death were witnessed by many and whose resurrection was attested by the women, Peter and John and the other apostles, the Emmaus Road disciples, Paul, and “more than five hundred brothers at one time. (1 Corinthians 15:6)”

What we have isn’t wishful thinking, satirized by Joe Hill as “pie in the sky.” Faith;— “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1)” — is certainly created and sustained by the Holy Spirit. Faith, however, doesn’t spring into being in a vacuum; nor does it continue on its own. Rather, our “assurance” and our “conviction” flow from the fact that Jesus Christ is who Scripture claims He is and did and does everything God’s Word says He did and does.

In the past, God used established historical events such as the Red Sea crossing throughout the Old Testament and Creation in Isaiah, to guarantee His promises. Now He points us to Jesus, who “has risen, as he said, (Matthew 28:6)” to attest to the truth and inerrancy of His Word, to guarantee our forgiveness and new life, and to demonstrate His ongoing care for His Church and His entire Creation.

Sermon Text: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But 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 John 1:1-2:2

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Proof Positive, preached to the saints of God at Faith Lutheran Church, Knob Noster, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 148; Acts 4:32-35; John 20:19-31

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Sermon: Easter Day B (OT)

The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord
8 April AD 2012

Sermon Theme: Dining on Death

Summary: Today, much of the world’s dining included breakfast at church. Many more will have special dinners with family and friends. However, a knowledgeable Christian realizes that the day’s most important meal is supper — the Lord’s Supper.

Eating and drinking are essential parts of our lives. We also forge and sustain relationships with others through table fellowship. We know that we enter table fellowship with God at our Lord’s Table but we still might wonder: While we eat what God provides, what (if anything) does God eat?

Isaiah answers us: God eats death and all its trappings. He dines on Devil, death, and hell in Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we swallow our Savior’s body and blood in the Lamb’s Victory Feast, we do so knowing that He swallowed up the enemies that stood between us and eternal life with His Father.

Sermon Text: On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:6-9

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Dining on Death, preached to the saints of God at Faith Lutheran Church, Knob Noster, Missouri.

Other Readings: Psalm 16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8

Please visit Aardvark Alley to read The Resurrection of Our Lord, which includes Saint John Chrysostom’s Paschal homily celebrating death being swallowed up by the One whom it swallowed.

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Sermon: Good Friday Tenebrae

5 April AD 2012

Sermon Theme: Distress and Darkness

Summary: The darkness that covered the earth at Jesus’ crucifixion visibly illustrated sin’s dark shroud that wrapped itself around mankind and veiled all Creation since the Fall. When God’s appointed time to banish the darkness came to fruition, He did so not by speaking light into being as He did in the beginning.

Instead, God fought darkness with greater darkness, extinguishing the light of His only begotten Son’s life on Golgotha’s cross. Yet even as dark despair seemed to triumph, the Great Light promised through Isaiah shown most brightly, dealing death a mortal blow, toppling the prince of this world from his throne of lies, and bringing eternal life to all who believe.

Sermon Text: For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony!

If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. Isaiah 8:11-9:2

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Distress and Darkness, preached to the saints of God at Faith Lutheran Church, Knob Noster, Missouri.

Other Readings — The Seven Words from the Cross: Luke 23:33-34; Luke 23:39-43; John 19:25-27; Mark 15:33-34; John 19:28; John 19:29-30; Luke 23:46

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