Luther's Words: Regarding Judgment Day

Since the Gospel is so despised, I suppose that Judgment Day is not far away, not over a hundred years.  God's Word will decline again and fall; and because of a lack of upright and faithful servants of the Word, a great darkness will come.  The whole world will turn wild and epicurean and will live wild and abandoned lives in all security.  But then the Voice will come and ring out: "Behold, the bridegroom cometh"; for God will not be able to put up with conditions any longer." 

(WLS #2166)

GOSPEL: Matthew 13:47-50

Reading
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:   Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.   So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,   And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Commentary
The people in Jesus' day, and yet our own would easily understand this lesson regarding the fisherman's net, and the good and bad fish.  Such represent all the world on the Last Day, when the Lord comes to judge the good and the bad.  Believers in God's sight are good, in that the righteousness of Christ is upon them.  Christ kept the law for us, in our stead and place, that we might be justified in His sight.  As for the bad which the angels gather and cast into the fire (hell), they did not believe in Christ nor seek His mercy while they lived.  Since they died in unbelief without faith, all their works are only evil.  This lesson serves as a warning to all men that one day their evil works will be judged.  Paul writes, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.  Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men."  Christ alone saves men from such judgment by His blood.  May all men everywhere repent of their evil and believe in His good.

EPISTLE: James 1:27

Reading
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Commentary
Jesus said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments."  Likewise First John 3:8 says, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."  When there is thus true faith, we know there will also be good works.  True faith cannot exist without obedience to God's commandments.  If then a person is living wickedly against God's commandments, and they yet at the same time claim to be Christian, such cannot be.  "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."  Likewise, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."  Thus when we see the widow or fatherless in true need, let us do what we can out of faith and love.  "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  Let every believer likewise keep himself (by God's strength) unspotted from this world, namely resist temptation, not giving in.

OT: Ecclesiastes 8:11-13

Reading
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.   Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:   But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

Commentary
By these words the Lord here shows us how to view the wicked of this world, who appear to get away with their crimes.  When men do wickedly, and it seems they are not caught (no sentence of punishment carried out against them), they continue in their evil path, reasoning they will get away with their crimes.  Though they do such an hundred times however, things will still go well for those who fear God (the reverential fear of believers).  Even if the wicked are given a reasonably long life  they will pass away soon enough.  Their life is but a shadow which quickly disappears into history, and no one will miss them when they are gone.  Of the wicked Psalm 52 says, "God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living.  The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him."

SERMON: Acts 25:6-12

Reading
And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto Caesarea; and the next day sitting on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought.   And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.   While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.   But Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?   Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.   For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar.   Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go.

 Paul Appeals to Caesar

Beloved of the Lord......Today just happens to be the last Sunday in the Church year.  Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent, and not long after is our blessed Christmas.  This last Sunday is a good opportunity to be reminded Christ will soon enough return.  There will be a Second Coming when He will deliver us from all evil.  He will come to us as a Savior and Deliverers, a Champion to rescues us in the nick of time.  But He will only come as an angry Judge to those who hurt persecuted His dear children.  Jesus said, "He that is not with Me is against Me."  Knowing Him who love you first then, you dear believer don't have to fear those powers that be.  Those governors of this world and her Caesar's, are tiny kings, small rulers who might parade around with pomp and circumstance, yet "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."  This means God will confuse them and mix them up.  Their plans to erase the Church will never succeed.  "Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." 

        You are Zion, dear believer and Christ is your King of Grace, but He is their King of Power, though they know it now.  He rules over you with grace and tender mercy.  He doesn't come to punish you, save, deliver, and rescue you from all evil of body and soul.  But as for your enemies, even those wicked kings and rulers, He stands over and above them with a sword to smite and slay them at will if they hurt or harm His sheep.  But as for you who continue to believe and trust in Him by His grace, as Luther said He's by our side upon the plain.  He is our Captain and Champion in this spiritual war which Jesus has already won.  Exodus 15 says, "The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name."  You are not alone in this battle against evil rulers, but He is your Captain, a Man of War standing next to you, even living within you by faith.  Jesus therefore said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."  Jesus also said, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."  We continue in this love simply by faith in Him who loved us first.  Trusting in Him, we see this battle which is set before us has already been won by Christ Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation.  That's why First Thessalonians 5 says, "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another."

I.  Obedience, not rebellion.  Once again in our lesson today, Paul was falsely charged with evil by the Jews.  We notice in Paul's first answer or defense, he states he has not broken the laws of the Jews, nor profaned the temple, then he says "nor yet against Caesar, have I offended anything at all."  This means Paul had not broken any laws of the state.  Offend here means to sin or err.  As a citizen of the State, namely a Roman citizen, Paul's conscience was clear.

        Why is it so important that we as Christians obey the laws of the land, as Paul did?  First let it be said, where the love of Christ lives in the heart, there is also love of His Word.  Once there is faith, we see the law of God is good, though we are yet evil.  We don't in any way rely upon the law to take us to heaven, but the law now becomes by faith a rule or guide in our life.  Hence, "I delight in the law of God after the inner man."  Knowing we are freely justified by the blood of Christ, we keep God's laws out of love for God and neighbor.  One of God's laws is that we obey the laws of State.  We cannot be lawless rebels and disobedient, yet at the same time teach others to keep obey the laws of the land.  Thus if we break the laws of the state, yet we call ourselves Christians, we teach this world Christ is not really their Savior, for we ourselves who confess Him are hypocrites. 

        What is worse, if we rebel against the powers that be, we defile our conscience so that it burns like a hot iron.  Instead of rebellion, we should keep a good conscience NOT so that we are worthy of salvation, but in order that we don't lose it.  An evil conscience then is one which becomes hardened in sin without repentance and faith.  For example, if we go against our conscience so that it is defiled, such will ultimately cause us to let go of Christ.  If we know we've done evil since our conscience is guilty, soon enough we begin to justify our evil rather than confess it.  One becomes hardened in sin so they switch from repentance and faith to impenitence and unbelief.  When the evil conscience plagues us however, what we ought to do is confess and admit our sin to God, asking forgiveness for Christ's sake.  God for Christ's sake does not want guilty sinners to be afraid for Him, but come unto Him.  Jesus said, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out".  We come to Him because He promises forgiveness.  We need not be afraid of Him because He comes with grace and healing.  The only remedy then for a guilty conscience is Christ and His absolving Gospel which absolves all that we feel guilty about.  Hebrews 10:22 therefore says, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."  In the Gospel message of Christ our guilty conscience finds peace knowing God with His blood has sprinkled upon our hearts forgiveness for all sins.  The Gospel then declares all guilty sinners forgiven, and such gives the guilty conscience peace.  Even our bodies are washed with pure water.

        Again such forgiveness causes us to love and obey God's laws, even His law that we obey our Caesar.  First Peter two therefore says, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.  For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:   As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king."  By obeying every ordinance of man, God's honor among men is preserved.  By our obedience to state, we teach that the law itself is good and beneficial to us and peace is maintained. 

        We serve man by such obedience, for the sake of their own salvation.  We do not want to lead souls to hell by our disobedience, but we want to lead souls to heaven by our obedience.  Nor does it matter if certain "powers that be" are corrupt.  God gave us the phrase "the powers that be" not "the powers that be….unless they be corrupt."  God knows well there are corrupt powers on earth, and who in any position of authority is not already corrupted by sin?  What father or mother is not corrupt by sin, yet God gave them a position of authority.  Shall we teach our children to rebel because their parents are corrupt?  Doesn't God says, "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."  Col. 3:20  God then is never glorified by rebellion, nor our excuses to rebel, but He is only glorified by our faith in Him, and "let us not love in word only but in deed and truth."  If or rather when the powers which be are corrupt, we glorify God by obedience in faith, trusting that though they be evil, God is yet good, His ways are higher than our own.  And just as Paul as a citizen of state appealed to Caesar, so we by faith appeal to our eternal Caesar above, namely Christ the King of kings and Lord of lords.  When the powers that be are corrupt, such should indeed move us to pray more fervently and more often "For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."  Yes, above all things we should pray for the repentance of those rulers who don't believe, remembering Jesus said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

       

II.  Separation of Church and State.  We as Christians then live in two states at once.  We are citizens of this State called the United States of America, but we are also citizens of heaven while living on earth.  Philippians 3 says our citizenship "is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:  Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body."  As citizens in two arenas, we must always separate Church and State.  Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."  While there isn't enough time to cover all the bases of separation between Church and State, briefly the State rules by a series of laws which affect our body.  The Church however rules by the Word of God alone, and this Gospel Word moves and guides our soul without force.  "Love is the fulfilling of the law".  The Word creates faith and love, so the believer willingly does what is right and in agreement with the Word.  We obey all the laws of the land by faith and love for God and neighbor, and we disobey only when such defiles our conscience.  Moreover, as Christ by His blood has absolved our guilty conscience, so we preach Christ and His grace, that the guilty conscience of our enemy be absolved also, and Christ become their Friend and Savior.

        This brings us to our last point.  If our State commands us to do something against God's Word, we by our conscience which is bound to the Word, must not obey.  If they command us to abort our children, use birth control, or stop preaching against homosexuality or Islam, we are bound by the Word to disobey, which is to obey God above man.  As citizens of the State let us remember our Constitution is the highest law of the land, above every President and member in Congress.  If any law compels us to do what is against our Constitution, we need not do it.  We appeal to our earthly Caesar here by means of the court system, all the way to the Supreme Court if need be.  If they fail there, as Paul's Caesar did, we commit our life and keeping to God, as Paul did even in the hands of the State.  Remember Paul said, "if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die."  If the State wrongly puts us to death when we are innocent, we glorify God by being martyrs for Christ.  It is also true Christians may by their own conscience decide differently, yet each keeps their clear conscience.  In the Civil war there were Christians in the south who sided with the states, for the Constitution grants certain state rights, and there were Christians in the north due to the Constitutions rights of federal power.  Both sides who kept their conscience clear through Christ are as one in heaven now.  What does all this mean?  It means dear believer, regarding the laws of state be sure to keep your conscience clear.  As members of State your Constitution is your Caesar, but God also says "the powers that be are ordained of God."  Obey all laws so your conscience is not defiled, remembering your highest law comes from Christ, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  Likewise do not rebel but obey, yet obey only in faith allowing no man to be a lord over your conscience. 

         Finally, though our present State is now in a very dismal state, and persecution may well be on the horizon, do not despair for Christ is by your side upon this plain, and "Lift up your eyes for your redemption draws nigh"  As Paul said, so say we "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."  Amen.

Thanksgiving GOSPEL: Luke 12:22-32

Reading

And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.   The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.   Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?   And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?   If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?   Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.   If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?   And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.   For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.   But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.   Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Commentary

When we hear these words spoken by our Lord Jesus, we should give a sigh of relief.  How senseless it is to worry about our food and clothing, knowing "the life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment."  Every day of our life we live under His grace and not His wrath, and God knows how to give even before we ask.  Yet we should ask, "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find."  In order to help us think aright, Jesus points out that the birds of the air neither sow nor reap….namely they are not farmers who must plant crops and harvest, yet God provides for them.  How much more precious are we to the Lord than these animals which do not have souls?  Jesus gave His body and soul in exchange for our own upon the cross, so can He ever fail us in any way?  If then, or when we find ourselves filled with fear and worry, we are to remember our Heavenly Father knows well what we need and He will provide.  Even when He holds back blessings so that we are tried, such is a greater blessing in disguise.  Let us be sure then to put God's Kingdom, His Word, Christ first in our life, and then everything else will fall into place.  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

Thanksgiving EPISTLE: I Timothy 4:1-5

Reading

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.  For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:  For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Commentary

These verses teach us that in the end times (in which we are now living), some Christians will be led astray by "seducing spirits", and being seduced, they themselves will speak "lies in hypocrisy."  Outwardly they will appear to be good keepers of God's law, "good Christians", but they will teach and preach error, even with the knowledge they are teaching error.  They will know they are lying.  This will cause their conscience to burn more and more (like a hot iron), yet they will not confess their lies nor retract their false teachings.  They will forbid to marry, as if marriage is evil, and they will forbid the eating of certain meats.  In the following verses we see God does not forbid us from eating any certain foods, but we are to receive such with thanksgiving.  We do not here make a commandment and say it is sinful to eat a meal without praying first (for that would be legalism), but it is always sinful to eat and enjoy the food God has given without being thankful.  Since we do not in any wise deserve our daily bread, yet God freely gives such from heaven being gracious, let us always remember to give God thanks from the heart, which then expresses itself by our lips.  "O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercies endure forever!"