august 6 2023
August 6th 2023
Old Testament: Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm: Psalm 119:9-32
Epistle: Romans 9:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21
Sermon Text: Psalm 119:9-32
Sermon Title: “The Close of the Commandments”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Come, everyone who thirsts; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price … inline your ear and come to Me; hear that your soul may live”. (Isaiah 55:1, 3a) “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law … give me live according to Your Word”. (Psalm 119:18, 25b)
Here, we have a gracious invitation from our Lord to come to Him; to partake of the gifts He has prepared for us in His Word (and sacrament). God broadcasts this invitation to all people, as does Jesus in the parable of the banquet, “Come, for everything is now ready”. (Luke 14:17b) Of course, no one is forced to come and “many alike began to make excuses” (Luke 14:18a) as to why they wouldn’t accept the invitation.
Those who refuse the invitation must reckon with the possibility that they have heard it for the last time. As the Apostle Paul declared, “behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation”. (2nd Corinthians 6:2b) “We must therefore pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift from it … how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation”? (Hebrews 2:1a, 3a) “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”. (Hebrews 4:7b)
After giving the first commandment, the Lord spoke these words, “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments”. (Exodus 20:5-6)
Martin Luther cites these words at the close of the Commandments in the Small Catechism and then asks, “What does this mean”? God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore, we should fear His wrath and not do anything against them. But, He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, we should also love and trust in Him and gladly do what He commands”. (Small Catechism, Close of the Commandments, explanation.)
Here we see how seriously God wants us to take His law and commandments. God calls Himself a jealous God, but not in the sense of human jealousy, which is often sinful and selfish. Rather, God is jealous because He is perfectly holy and righteous. He hates sin and insists on strict/perfect obedience to His Word. He will also not share with idols the love and honor that we owe Him and so threatens to punish those who hate Him. (Small Catechism, # 69) As the Psalmist declares, “He is not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with Him”. (Psalm 5:4) God is jealous because of His great love for us; for He does this for our good, for He alone knows what is best for us, and not we ourselves.
What does God threaten to do all who hate Him? He threatens earthly punishment, physical death, and eternal damnation. (Small Catechism, Question # 70) As Paul taught, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law” (Galatians 3:10) and “The wages of sin is death”. (Romans 6:23a)
God threatens such punishment out of His abundant love; to make us fear His anger, so that we do not act against His commandments and bring His wrath down upon us. (Small Catechism, Question 72) “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil”. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
The next question raised in the Small Catechism is about the difficult words from Exodus 20. “What does God mean, when He threatens to punish the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him and to show love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments”. (Small Catechism, Question # 71)
First of all, here is what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that the children of wicked parents are predestined to follow in their parent’s footsteps or that the children of godly parents are guaranteed to follow their parent’s faithfulness. We know this from many places in Holy Scripture, including the prophet Ezekiel who said, “the son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son”. (Ezekiel 18:20a) Each person is responsible for their own actions.
It does mean that whatever the parents are like, the children are more likely to follow. And “if the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren also hate God and follow in the evil ways of their parents, then God will during their earthly lives, punish them for the sins of their ancestors”. (Small Catechism, Question # 71, answer)
Also, that whenever the children of godly parents continue in the righteous ways of their parents, they will be rewarded in this life with God’s love and good gifts. For Paul writes, “Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come”. (1st Timothy 4:8b) Therefore, God wants us to keep His commandments perfectly in thought, word, and deed.
Of course, we are unable to do this because of our sinful nature, which still clings to us. James wrote, “Whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point, is guilty of all of it”. (James 2:10) John also taught, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”. (1st John 1:8) We even heard Paul speak of the daily struggle against sin in Romans 7 a few weeks ago. Therefore, “it is evident that no one can be saved by works of the law”. (Galatians 3:11)
Since we cannot be saved by the law, how then are we to be saved from the wrath of God against our sin? Where can we find so great a treasure? “God offers the forgiveness of sins only in the Gospel, the good news that we are freed from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin and are saved eternally, because of Christ’s perfect keeping of the law and His innocent suffering and death for us”. (Small Catechism, Question 84) “For, I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. (Romans 1:16)
So, we receive these gifts of God only in the Gospel; the means of grace; which are the Word and Sacraments; given every time we gather around them in this place. This Gospel truth is (clearly) made known in the Bible; in both the Old Testament which promises the coming of the Savior and the New Testament which tells of the Savior who has come; our Lord Jesus Christ. (Question # 2 Luther’s Small Catechism) Here in the Word, God reveals Himself and His gift of salvation through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. God does not speak to us except through the Scriptures and contained in the Bible is everything we need to know for salvation.
In the Old Testament reading, we heard God’s gracious and free invitation to “Come … without money and without price … listen diligently to Me … incline your ear and come to Me; hear (My Word) that your soul may live”. (Isaiah 55:1b-3a) He wants you here to receive His precious gifts, to be forgiven and to receive strength for the week ahead. “God’s purpose in giving us His Word … is to rescue sinners by calling them to contrition/repentance and faith”. (“The Saving Truth”, Marquart, page 70)
The Bible contains everything we need for “Christian living”. All of Psalm 119, which we read a portion of this morning, is a testimony to the goodness of God’s Word and the necessity of hearing, reading and learning it for our everyday lives. So, the Psalmist asks, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your Word … I have stored Your Word in my heart, that I might not sins against you”. (Psalm 119:9, 11) “Give me life according to Your Word … strengthen me, according to Your Word … put false ways far from me, and graciously teach me Your Word”. (Psalm 119:25b, 27b, 29)
The Apostle Paul also makes this quite clear saying, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God might be equipped for every good work”. (2nd Timothy 3:16-17) “Devote yourselves to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and to teaching”. (1st Timothy 4:13) “For whatever was written in former days (the Bible) was written for our instruction, that through endurance and the through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope”. (Romans 15:4)
Therefore, we should never think that it is okay to reject the hearing of the Word of God, to treat it as being of no value, “to despise preaching and His Word”. (Third Commandment explanation) Rather, let us heed what the author of Hebrews declared. “Let us draw near (to God) with a true heart, in full assurance of faith … let us hold fast the confession of our hope, without wavering, for He who promised is faithful … not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the Day (of His return) drawing near”. (Hebrews 10:22-25)
Knowing all of these truths about Holy Scripture our Lutheran Confessions teach, “We believe, teach, and confess that the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments are the ONLY rule and norm according to which all doctrines and teachers alike must be appraised and judged”. (Epitome, Part 1, paragraph 1) As it is written, “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. (Psalm 119:115)
In closing this morning, let us review some of the attributes of Holy Scripture, which testify of Christ. First, of all Holy Scripture is inspired by God as we have already heard the Apostle Paul testify about in 2nd Timothy. Second, since it is inspired/breathed out by the perfectly righteous and holy God, we are confident that the Word of God contains no mistakes. They are “infallible truth, free from every error … there is no lie, no deceit, no error; not even the slightest, either in content or in words”. (Calov, cited by Preuss, page 77)
If we give up this doctrine of inerrancy, Scripture loses its authority; “If there is a lapse of memory or a mistake in Scripture, even in matters that seem of little importance, we can no longer call Scripture the Word of God … if it can err in one point, it can err in another”. (Calov, Preuss, pages 79-80) If there are errors in the Bible, it means that God can lie, but Paul declares, “God never lies”. (Titus 1:2b) The writer of Hebrews also, “It is impossible for God to lie”. (Hebrews 6:18b)
Third, Holy Scripture has authority and all who would claim to be Christian must accept this authority. “Every Word of God must be believed … simply because God has declared it … even though our reason may not understand or grasp it … Revelation is above reason, therefore reason cannot sit in judgment of Scripture”. (Gerhard, Preuss, page 90-91) For Paul declares, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ”. (Romans 10:17)
We see here how these attributes of God’s Word are interconnected. “The authority of Scripture must be received, for Scripture owes its origins to God alone and was written under His divine inspiration”. (Preuss, page 93) The authority of Scripture also establishes the authority of the church (not the other way around as some believe) and affords us the only way of knowing the true church”. (Quenstedt, Preuss, page 98) There are also many internal criteria by which the Scriptures are able to persuade us of its divine authority. We will not have time this morning to delve into these, for they would take a sermon all by themselves.
The fourth attribute of Holy Scripture is its efficacy. God’s Word does what it says as we heard in last weeks Old Testament reading, “My Word, which goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to ME empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it”. (Isaiah 55:11) We also heard Paul say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. (Romans 1:16)
To the Word of God is attributed the power to convert and regenerate, to bestow faith, to purify, to justify, to sanctify, to renew, to preserve in grace and faith, to save, and even to harden hearts and damn as Jesus said of the parables a few weeks ago. As we heard from the Lutheran Confessions, the Word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can do these things even when delivered by wicked men, hypocrites or false Christians.
The fifth attribute of Holy Scripture is its clarity; meaning that although there are a few things in God’s Word that are hard to understand, “all necessary doctrines and teachings are clearly revealed in Scripture”; (Quenstedt, Preuss, page 157) for example of how we are justified and made righteous before God.
Why would the Word of God itself, repeatedly exhort us to read it, if would be of no use to us? Yet the Apostle John said, “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name”. (John 20:31) Again, “everything a believer must know to be saved … and do to live a God pleasing life is contained in Scripture”.
So, here is my summary of what we just heard regarding the Holy Scriptures. Jesus said it. Jesus doesn’t make mistakes. Jesus never lies. Jesus’ Word is clear. Jesus means what He says. Jesus’ words accomplish things. Again, it is Jesus’ Word. Therefore, when we are tempted to doubt or reject the Word of God, may we keep in mind Peter’s testimony; “Lord, to whom shall we go? You (alone) have the words of eternal life”. (John 6:68b) This we will do, by the grace and with the help of God. Amen.
The peace of God …