CLICK HERE to hear the sermon audio.
CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
A troubled conscience is a terrible burden to have to bear. It’s not unusual for someone who gets pulled over for a speeding ticket to have a nervous reaction, whether they start sweating, shaking, or have some other physical manifestation of anxiousness, even if they are pretty sure they have done nothing worse than exceed the speed limit. After all, just because the individual knows of nothing worse, that doesn’t mean government agencies don’t have something else in their file, or maybe the legislature has passed a new law that the individual doesn’t know about. They say that ignorance is bliss, but it also makes for a lousy umbrella. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
How much worse it can be, then, for the sinner who is concerned about his standing before the Lord. After all, the sinner cannot claim ignorance. The Law of God is written into the hearts of all mankind, and the righteous God demands perfection. At least the police officer understands and accepts that even a car set at the speed limit on cruise control might go a mile or two above the speed limit, and usually they tend to give a little leeway anyway before they pull over a speeder. But the Law of God is absolute. Even the smallest infraction is worthy of condemnation, and the Judge is perfect in righteousness. David confesses that God is just when He speaks and blameless when He judges. And that is true because only God is without sin. As you sing this hymn, you feel the weight of your sin. Listen to these words again:
Should some evil thought within
Tempt my treach'rous heart to sin…
Should some lust or sharp temptation
Fascinate my sinful mind…
Or should Satan press me hard…
If the world my heart entices
With the broad and easy road,
With seductive, sinful vices…
The life of a Christian is full of these burdens. The sins we commit; the temptations we face; the enmity of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh: these weigh heavy on human hearts. And should the devil feel as if you haven’t been sufficiently swayed into sin, if you haven’t suffered enough under the awful temptations he sets before you, he will add physical and mental affliction with the load of sin and conscience.
At times like this, the Christian must cry out to the Lord:
Jesus, grant that balm and healing
In Your holy wounds I find,
Ev'ry hour that I am feeling
Pains of body and of mind.
For only in the blood of Christ, the medicine of immortality, can this spiritual affliction be put away from you. Only in His wounds can you find relief.
Ev'ry wound that pains or grieves me
By Your wounds, Lord, is made whole;
When I'm faint, Your Cross revives me,
Granting new life to my soul.
Yes, Your comfort renders sweet
Ev'ry bitter cup I meet;
For Your all atoning passion
Has procured my soul's salvation.
We who are baptized in Christ share the suffering and the comfort of Christ. No matter how bitter the cup we must drink, we cannot consume a cup any more bitter than the cup of suffering our Lord consumed in His suffering and death, bearing our sins to the cross: and He drained that cup of sorrow to the very bottom. None of God’s wrath against sin is left in that cup for you to swallow. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. …As you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.”
With that in mind, we pray:
O my God, my rock and tower,
Grant that in Your death I trust,
Knowing death has lost its power
Since You crushed it in the dust.
Savior, let Your agony
Ever help and comfort me;
When I die be my protection,
Light and life and resurrection.
By the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, no enemy—not the devil, nor the world, nor our own sinful flesh—can make any accusation against us. They have been stripped of their power. Death no longer has any sting; the grave wins no victory. For in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is applied to us in the bloody waters of Holy Baptism, we shall be raised, too—raised to new life: nevermore to sin, nevermore to suffer, nevermore to die. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ! In the name of the Father and of the (†) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment