Epiphany 4C Sermon: Hope and Trust from Womb to Tomb

Preached on Psalm 71:1-11
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
31 January AD 2016

Title: Hope and Trust from Womb to Tomb (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Whether plagued by demonic forces, physical distress, foes of God and His people, or personal enemies, troubles can fill our days. We find refuge, health, and healing only in the Lord. Even before we ask, He answers.

He knows us deeply and completely. We were in His thoughts prior to Creation. He cared for us before we were born. He took us in His hands from our mothers’ wombs. He holds fast to us through this life and will lay us to rest in our graves that we might awaken to life everlasting.

There is nothing we can do to earn His favor. He loved us before we could or would love Him. When Christ called out, “It is finished, (John 19:30)” it was a sign that He had won salvation for all people throughout all time. As the sermon notes, Jesus’ declaration of forgiveness from the cross is “proactive, retroactive, completely active through all of time.”

Even before we are born, we can hear and be blessed by God’s living and active Word. And long after we die, we will hear and respond to His Word as He calls us forth into eternal glory. Truly, the Lord is the believer’s hope and trust from womb to tomb.

Text: In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me! Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

I have been as a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.

Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent. For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.” Psalm 71:1-11

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 Hope and Trust from Womb to Tomb.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-10 (17-19); 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13; Luke 4:31-44