Sermons

Christians suffer in many ways for righteousness’ sake, the righteousness of forgiven sin. It is as the Apostle St. Paul says – the Gospel of Christ’s forgiveness is a stumbling block for many and foolishness for others.1 And so, we suffer ridicule, slander, etc. This being the reality Peter urges us to…

Be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for
the hope that is in you.

The things which we learn from the Transfiguration confirm our destiny. They guarantee our safety in the arms of God. They create peace in our hearts, and whenever we review the Transfiguration, those events nourish and strengthen that faith and peace.

The good life, that is spiritual life, can be obtained only through Christ Jesus. There is no other door or path under the sun. Many imposters come promising to make life good, but they deliver only destruction. Jesus says, I Am the door. All who hear His voice flee those who would destroy life and they follow Jesus into the truly abundant life.

Jesus says,
“If you forgive the sins of any, they
are forgiven them.”
Jesus is the authority.

The Resurrection of our Lord. The greatest miracle in the bible.

We sing “Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.” It is a powerful prayer, for it prays to Christ Jesus that we may be liberated or rescued from our sins.

We do not see the deep things of God revealed in the natural creation … In nature, we see only relentless decay and death. There is no mercy.

Only in the person and work of Jesus Christ do we see the glory in which death must give way to life. Jesus’ glory is mercy.

… In this passage Satan confronts Jesus. Satan has been the enemy of God and all humanity from the beginning. Satan’s purpose is to destroy our life with God. The Lord says this of the devil that he “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him… “

So, we see, Luther teaches that the salt is the Word of forgiveness which Jesus Christ gives to us. It is the Word of absolution which takes away the sin of the World. Those believing in this absolution are living the salty life.

Jesus’ absolution is the only thing that sustains the earth …

In regard to the cross, the requested signs, stumbling blocks and folly, the theologian Paul Kretzmann says this, The preaching of the Cross was therefore in emphatic contrast to both positions. It offered no sign, but merely referred to the greatest miracle that was ever seen in the world, the death and resurrection of Christ, John 2:18–19; it brought no reasonable arguments, but simply preached Christ crucified, announced the salvation of mankind through the merits of Him who died for all.

Into this darkness comes a great light – Jesus stepped in. He stepped squarely into the middle of the darkness with the light of His Gospel. The light of Christ cuts through the spiritual darkness and enlightens all who receive it. Those who receive it become the children of God and live in the joyous ways of the One true God.

How can Christ be speaking 700 years before His birth? Of course, we all know. Christ is the eternal Son of God. He is true God from everlasting to everlasting. Remember how Jesus says, “before Abraham was, I am.” Abraham lived about 2000 years before Jesus’ birth, yet Christ was living before Abraham.

In the Old Testament, Christ makes many appearances, but not in the flesh of Jesus. He appears as a man yet is treated as God. E.g. read through Genesis 17.

Where is this wonderful place Isaiah foresaw? Isaiah tells us where it is.

It is a highway in the wilderness. It is the Way of Holiness.

It is in the wilderness. The wilderness is the world we live in. This highway holds its right of way in the midst of this world. It is not something in the future. However, it is invisible; that is, invisible to the eye of flesh. It is visible only to the eye of faith. All who travel that highway enjoy all of its benefits.

He bears the name Baptist from the outstanding feature of his public work, since he baptized those that confessed their sins. It was necessary, to this end, that the hearts of the people be properly prepared, and therefore John came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea … heralding the approach of the kingdom of heaven.

The reason God calls Zion the highest and greatest is because from Mt. Zion all of God’s spiritual blessings flow. Zion is the spiritual giant, the greatest of all. Sinai is the taller physically, but Zion towers above Sinai and all other mountains spiritually.

Why? Because Zion is the mountain of the Cross and the Temple. Zion is the place where God located, and still locates, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His patience, His gentle fatherly love and much more.

Whose names are in the Book of Remembrance? Whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life? In that book are the names of all who have washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb, that is, trusted in Christ’s word of absolution. Jesus’ absolution comes with authority, for it was bought and paid for by Jesus’ death. His death satisfied God’s justice, for Jesus paid the death penalty on behalf of us all.

In this case it is the Israelites, God’s own people, who had become the self-righteous “arrogant evildoers”. The self-righteous need no savior. In fact, the savior is a “stumbling block” for them as Paul writes in First Corinthians.

These “arrogant evildoers” were those Israelites who did not believe that Jesus is the Christ of God. Their evildoing was to reject the word of Christ, replacing it with their doctrines, and in the end crucifying the Christ of God.

The message of this day is a message of comfort, joy and hope for those living in this world of death. Jesus focuses us on our ultimate destiny which is the resurrection of the body. Christ Jesus himself in this Gospel reading comforts our hearts with the promise and certainty of the resurrection of the Body. This promise comes from our God who is… The God of the living.

At the time of the Reformation a deep darkness, a spiritual darkness, had enveloped the church. False teaching concerning the way of salvation had crept into the Church. In other words, the very heart of the Christian faith had been greatly obscured by the darkness.

The Christian faith is the light of the world. It is the light that reveals the ways of God. When that light is obscured, only the ways of the world remain. Mankind apart from the ways of God can only grope about in the darkness of spiritual ignorance. The fruit of that ignorance is decay in all aspects of life, for deep darkness shrouds everything.